Opinion: What El Cerrito really needs

 

By Betty Buginas 

You know what El Cerrito needs? Police, fire, childcare, and senior services. 

The city has talked for years about the need to replace the Public Safety building, but it has no plan to pay for one. These are the people we count on in a major emergency such as an earthquake or fire, as well as for our day-to-day safety.

The department that does the most amazing job through creative use of resources is the Recreation Department. Its services are more essential than the title implies. It teaches life-saving swimming skills. It keeps our kids safe and engaged after school and all summer. It provides senior services, benefiting not just seniors but also the overtaxed family members caring for them. It provides classes and services that benefit the health and well-being of all ages.

While the staff does an incredible job utilizing facilities across town and pairing with schools and other community partners, the heart of its operation is the Community  Center and pool. The Community Center needs renovation and the pool needs even more repair beyond the recent work.  But there’s no money for that.

The city’s senior center closed and was never replaced. There’s no money for that.

Sixty-five percent of El Cerrito households do not have a library card. The 35% who do are increasingly utilizing online services. Essential police, fire, childcare, and senior services will not be shifting online.

It does not make sense to spend piles of money 30-plus years into the future replacing our library with an overpriced, oversized facility in an apartment building we won’t own in an inconvenient location, while neglecting other critical city-owned buildings. Even if the City Council does an about-face and selects a different location, Measure C taxes can only be spent on a library. It’s nuts to increase the cost of operating and maintaining a library to up to $800,000 a year when we need money for police, fire, childcare, and senior services.