Back to drawing board after bond issue failure

Re “Schwarzenegger Bond Issue Not on June Ballot,” March 16

With the failure of his massive bond package, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can now do what his Republican predecessors did: raise taxes to pay for the improvements California needs. This pay-as-you-go tax plan would cost roughly half of the governor’s bond package because there would be no bond-related interest required to pay off the debt. I’d guess, however, that he will remain a “girlie man” on the tax issue until after his reelection bid.

RICHARD VARENCHIK

Santa Clarita

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The Times’ analysis of the failure of the infrastructure bond (March 17) quotes GOP strategist Kevin Spillane as saying that average voters feel little passion about infrastructure and would prefer that state leaders focus on schools, healthcare and jobs. Perhaps that is the real failure -- to help the public see the fundamental link between infrastructure and the high quality of life we take for granted.

Last summer, we watched an entire city wither before our eyes without the water supply, power, communications and mobility that modern infrastructure provides. In California, any number of factors could cause critical systems to fail and cascade into a New Orleans-level disaster. But we remain skeptical of calls for increased investment to maintain existing systems and build new ones. The task of ensuring the reliability of our many critical systems will be long, arduous and costly.

Perhaps the next step should be to convince the public that infrastructure does matter so they demand that officials invest wisely in our critical systems.

RICHARD G. LITTLE

Los Angeles

The writer is director of USC’s Keston Institute for Infrastructure.