Moving Once Is Enough

I have paid attention to both the printed news and television regarding the Santa Barbara Police Station.

Let me get this straight. We are going to pay $300,000 for a study to tell us how to proceed with the new S.B. Police Station. The current police station, we are told, is too small and not earthquake-retrofitted, and we need to:

A) move the police out of their current headquarters

B) demolish the present building

C) build a state of the art police headquarters on the site

D) move the police back into the new state of the art building.

Where are you going to move the police? Incidentally, moving costs money. I know because in show business you move a lot.

The temporary headquarters will be earthquake proof. But how much will the rent be?

How long will it take for the new building to be ready for occupancy? (They always get this part wrong.)

Assuming that we still have a poice force (remember we are broke and laying off people) how many people will be actually working in the “state of the art” building?

My solution to this cockamame scenario is this: Find an empty earthquake-proof building and adapt it to the police requirements. Move once and once only.

Forget about wasting the money in a “study.” Forget about two moves; move once into a remodeled building and use the money saved to hire additonal policemen. If you have any money left over, use it for education.