When local governments run short of money, as so often they do, one of the easiest budget items to cut is infrastructure maintenance. After all, the pavements and park greenery could still be fixed next year, so not many voters will care or even notice that routine upkeep has been skimped yet again. Maintenance cutbacks are politically much safer than discontinuing some popular service program.

In regard to Ken Garcia’s column (The Examiner, April 29) about taxpayers saying no to more expenditures, I couldn’t agree more. It seems like San Francisco is a city that expects its residents to have endless cash reserves, when The City itself does not. All this while The City pays employees, such as the head of Muni, ridiculous sums of money, while that agency underperforms year after year.