NO on OO: No ballot-box budget, even for kids

Kids are good. Ballot-box budgeting is bad. This measure says it will help youth in Oakland by setting aside a specific portion of the city's general fund for children's services. It is strongly supported by an organization I work with and respect, Kids First!

But there are two humongous things wrong with Measure OO:

• One, the city already has the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth, a good program that supports public and private youth programs. The City Council recently renewed it through 2020.
  
• Two, ballot-box budgeting like this will hurt all the other parts of the city's budget, including many that serve kids, such as libraries and parks. This would be a permanent set-aside for one particular program, regardless of future needs.
  

Especially in a year when Oakland's trying to figure out how to handle a $42 million budget shortfall, this ballot-box budgeting is a bad idea. It feels good, but it'll have terrible unintended consequences.

I don't live in Oakland, so take this recommendation with that caveat. But I've heard confirmation from enough Oakland residents to strongly recommend that you vote No on OO.