As someone who served on Lubbock’s last road bond committee as vice-chair in 2022, I feel compelled to alert citizens regarding the $103.4 million road bond proposal on the Nov. 5, 2024 General Election ballot. This bond, which is being promoted as beneficial to the entire city, has several issues that undermine its financial sensibility, fairness, and effectiveness. I’ll explain why I urge my fellow Lubbock residents to vote against this proposal.
More: Lubbock City Council calls $103M street bond election for Nov. 5
Rushed Process and Lack of Transparency
The road bond committee process was alarmingly rushed, beginning just after the runoff election which selected the new Mayor and the City Council representative for District 2. The runoff winners were sworn in on June 25, with the first road bond committee meeting taking place a little over two weeks later on July, 12.
The final three meetings took place all in one week, on July 22, 25 and 26.
Decisions that will impact our city for years to come and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars over at least 10 years were made hastily, without adequate time for thorough consideration and public input. This lack of transparency is unacceptable. Lubbock’s residents deserve a well-thought-out plan that reflects their needs and concerns and makes financial sense, not a rushed proposal.
Questionable Conduct of the Committee
The integrity of the committee process is also in question. One district, District 2, effectively had no representation at all on this committee, which highlights the issues around how committee members were selected and appointed this time.
The “Citizen’s Advisory Committee”, the official name for it, is supposed to be made of 13 members. Each of the six City Council representatives gets to choose two appointees each, with the Mayor selecting one.
According to several accounts by people involved in the process, the idea was that the 2024 Citizen’s Advisory Committee would include the same members from the 2022 committee. The two representatives who served for District 2 in 2022, myself and one other, did not receive that invitation.
As a result of the short notice and other factors, three individuals on the committee represented districts they did not reside in, raising serious concerns about their ability to represent the interests of those communities accurately. Additionally, some votes were taken without a quorum present, further undermining the legitimacy of the decisions made. This problematic conduct cannot be ignored.
Disproportionate Allocation of Resources
The proposed road projects are disproportionately located in only two of the six City Council districts, districts 4 and 5, primarily in newer, developing areas on the far southern edges of town. Meanwhile, older core areas of the city which have been consistently neglected in past road bonds, are once again left out.
Two of these proposed road projects, two pieces of 146th Street from University Avenue to Avenue P and Slide Road to Quaker Avenue, are currently dirt roads that are relatively recent additions to the city’s boundaries compared to the original boundaries of Lubbock.
There are still many miles of dirt roads in the original areas of town that people live on that have yet to be paved after many decades.
This inequitable distribution of resources fails to address the pressing needs of our longstanding neighborhoods, perpetuating a cycle of neglect that has happened in Lubbock for far too long.
Financial Irresponsibility
In addition to the above, Lubbock voters approved a $200 million road bond only two years ago. Those approved projects from 2022 are not yet completed, and some of them won’t be for a few more years. We also haven’t allowed much time for the debt from that previous bond to be paid down before taking on more.
For these reasons, in a city our size, road bonds should be done at a rate of about every five to six years, not every two years. Road bonds should also be used in a way that will maximize the return on investment for taxpayers and benefit the most number of citizens possible.
Conclusion
The 2024 road bond proposal is fundamentally flawed. It is the product of a rushed process that involved questionable conduct and an unfair allocation of resources, and it is financially irresponsible. As residents of Lubbock, we must demand better. We deserve a road bond that is fair, transparent, and equitable, one that addresses the needs of all our communities, not just a select few. I urge you to vote against Prop A and advocate for a more inclusive and thoughtful approach to our city’s infrastructure needs.
(Adam Hernandez is communications chair for Lubbock Compact. He ran for Mayor of Lubbock in 2022 and 2024.)