This will be my last word on the 11th Street bond issue that will appear on the Opinion page. Letters to the editor, however, will be accepted through noon Monday, April 25.

In addition to the reasons I’ve cited before, which I will reiterate, there’s another reason to approve the bond issue on May 14.

If we don’t maintain our streets, we’re going to be in a world of hurt. Just look at Corpus Christi. Need I say more?

My reasons for supporting the $6.4 million bond issue are:

• Street work isn’t going to get any cheaper, and putting off the inevitable just might cost taxpayers more in the long run.

• The annual tab to the average taxpayer would be $82.52 a year for 15 years, with total tax bills over time fluctuate, depending on annual property appraisals and changes in the tax rate – which will happen with or without a bond issue.

• The bond issue will cost the average taxpayer $1.59 a week over a year’s time. That compares to a pack of cigarettes at about $6.70, which, for a smoker with a pack-a-day habit would cost $46.90 a week.

• Compare that $1.59 a week to a six pack of beer that costs at about $6. Not many six packs last a week.

• Compare that $1.59 a week to a 12-pack of Cokes™ that will cost you $3 to $4 bucks, which might last you a week, maybe two.

• Compare that $1.59 a week to the cost of loaf of bread at about $1.20. Make that two loaves at $2.40 a week.

• Compare that $1.59 a week to a bottle of bad wine that you’ll spend $6 for – and even bad wine doesn’t last more than two days once you unscrew that cap.

Yes, the work will be an inconvenience for the residents and businesses on 11th Street. However, I seem to recall residents of Oleander Street writing letters to the editor commending the workers who rebuilt that street. There’s no guarantee that company – Island Construction – would get the bid, but there’s probably a good chance of it, given their track record.

The bottom line is, you can’t get there from here. So we’ll have to shoulder some inconvenience for a short time to get a major convenience that will last a long time.

Isn’t 11th Street worth more (even though it won’t cost you more) than the average taxpayer spends on cigarettes, Cokes™, bread, bad wine and beer – in a week?

Eleventh Street is a major street, and with the traffic light at Access Road 1A and State Hwy. 361 now fired up, the south end of the street is likely to get even more traffic. That will increase wear and tear, and hasten the need to rebuild it – at greater expense if we don’t OK the bond issue.

Nobody wants taxes to go up. On the other hand, the cost of not approving the bond issue will almost certainly cost taxpayers, and dearly, in the long run.

I can’t see the wisdom of spending less than our weekly tab for cigarettes, soft drinks, beer, wine or bread to make a major improvement to our city’s infrastructure.

We strongly support this bond issue that will save taxpayers in the long term and deliver a job well done in the short term.

Mary Henkel Judson is editor and copublisher of the South Jetty. Contact her at southjetty@centurytel.net, (361) 749-5131 or P.O. Box 1117, Port Aransas, TX 78373.