Lubbock City Leaders Just Don’t Get It When It Comes To Roads

I hope y'all don't mind me speaking for you, but I think I've got a pretty good grasp of what's going on.

I'm all about roads. My top three concerns when it comes to the City of Lubbock are roads, policing and curtailing the unwanted pet population. (I'd throw in parks/green spaces, but that's for another time.) When I run for office, you're going to hear those three things again and again.

Our new mayor and City Council have put together a "Citizens Advisory Council" to look at street improvements and whether to hold another bond election in November. Guess what, gang? We need street improvements. What this is really about is trying to put together a group of concerns to "sell" the idea to the public. It will not sell.

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The problem is simple: we the people of Lubbock don't think we should be putting streets on a credit card. We feel like this should be done with the money on hand. The very fact that you're going to put this up for election and incur those costs tells us that you're not responsible enough to be trusted with a megaproject.

I'm not sure if everyone is aware of this, but oil is used in asphalt. I think you're all well aware of how much the price of that has gone up. This means the city is looking at a double-whammy. No. 1, the cost to borrow money has gone up, and no. 2, the cost of the construction has gone up.

It's simple, the last administration blew it by not getting it done when the price was right. Now would be the worst time to try to correct that error. I'm telling you right now that this committee will get hyped (often with the encouragement of developers who want new roads near their land) and recommend we spend more cash on a proposition that's doomed to fail.

The city needs to patch the potholes, hope costs go down, and the public trust goes up.