So far the Save the Grape Bowl group has raised approximately $40,000 with another $20,000 on he way. (As of August 1, 2007) They did this in about a year and I congratulate them. With that said, at the current pace it will take them 60 to 70 years to raise the money. So my question is - How can we get this done?

I'll give you two options. One would be to raise the sales tax in Lodi by one-quarter of one percent or $0.25 per $100 spent and target the money for the Grape Bowl. This would get it done in two years or less and the cost would be about $100 per household in Lodi.

The second option is to try to use a redevlopment agency (RDA). This could get it done with no direct cost to the tax payers but it would take longer.

Either one of these would work well but the RDA would be easier to implement because the sales tax probably would never pass. As such, I'll take a try with the RDA.

Let me know what you think about the two options or give me another but let's all be honest and say the fundraising idea is not going to work.

Always taking a side.

John