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By Jon Coupal
It’s a safe bet many Californians would love to update their homes or businesses if they could. New windows, a new roof, perhaps new furniture and equipment are needed, but the inflationary cost of goods, coupled with the financial strain many are experiencing due to California’s COVID restrictions, have put desired upgrades out of reach. Except, of course, for our Legislature, who have no qualms about spending more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars to build themselves a new office space.
You read that correctly, more than $1 billion in taxpayer dollars is slated for a new office building for state politicians, all while the people who paid those tax dollars struggle to make ends meet. It’s no wonder that, according to a recent poll, 76% of voters – including majorities of Democrats, Independents and Republicans – reject the Legislature’s over-the-top and unnecessary building project.
The lawmakers’ billion-dollar boondoggle was born out of the need to upgrade the historic Capitol Annex, the legislative office building added to the state’s Capitol in the 1950s. Maintenance of the Annex was largely ignored by the state over the years, leaving it long overdue for health and safety improvements, the cost of which is pegged at around $500 million. But rather than rehabilitate the Annex, the Legislature is bulldozing ahead with a demolish-and-rebuild plan to erect swanky new digs fit for a tech titan. Their plan includes soaring exterior glass walls, as well as a 200-space underground parking garage (for their sole use) that will require up to 100 rare and historic trees in Capitol Park to be uprooted, and a new visitor center that will excavate the iconic West Steps.
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