Editor:

Thanks kindly to your fine paper and reporter Thomas Pendergast for the critically important article detailing the insufficient funds for building our community’s water pipeline system to properly manage westside fire risks. The reporting was top-notch, and effectively highlighted the ongoing and significant risk issue for our community, and also the need to get things done – pronto.

We’ve all known for a while that the next natural disaster could create some serious issues – from road management, to suspect water pressure, to silent warning sirens that have been indefinitely deactivated, to insufficiently staffed police and firefighter resources. Given this obvious framework, it is particularly concerning that the fiscal mismanagement related to these issues seems more and more acute as each successive budget is passed by downtown interests who seemingly lack the foresight, insight, or concern to prioritize the safety of westside residents.

Folks have reached a limit, and want clear answers rather than excuses from city agencies. I’m glad to see Connie Chan asking tough questions, and I imagine we’ll see Joel Engardio following suit shortly.   It’s simply not acceptable for our community to be exposed to unmitigated dangers from poor management, especially as we all know that the odds of an earthquake or tsunami in the future are by definition set at exactly 100%. With the main variable being size rather than occurrence, are we truly ready, or just subjected to feeble leadership and misguided fiscal decisions from so-called public servants who have yet to appreciate the possible magnitude of the problem? Chance favors the prepared. If there are public servants who are disillusioned into believing that this preparation comes free of charge then they should be identified and removed, immediately.  

Thanks again sincerely,

Geoffrey Moore