Last May, Hollister city “leaders” approved by a vote of 3-2 the expenditure of close to $400,000 to install surveillance cameras downtown.
Although the mayor and the retired law enforcement member of the city council voted against the resolution, they support the idea of surveillance and record keeping of information, but could not justify the cost.
With more pressing problems facing Hollister, the last thing we needed is 81 surveillance cameras; that’s two cameras for every one thousand of Hollister 36,095 residents.
Much was touted that the surveillance camera program was approved with an economic investment purpose in mind and would have a positive economic outcome on our economy. How that is to occur remains a mystery, when one considers that the company that was awarded the contract is located in Morgan Hill.
With that in mind, if you were given the opportunty to invest $400,000 of Hollister's tax dollars in your community, how would you do it?