When I moved to Clearlake in 1981 it was obviously a diverse community, full of strong-minded people whose opinions differed about practically everything – but everyone did seem to agree about one thing: the roads were terrible.

“You could lose a Volkswagen in some of those potholes,” people said.

Now more than 30 years later the roads are if anything worse. No longer a joking matter, their abysmal condition is putting a tremendous drag on the city’s prosperity, and also degrading the lake on which our whole community depends.

Measure H, virtually identical to Measure J (which barely failed to receive the two-thirds majority needed for passage in 2012), will place an additional 1 percent sales tax on transactions within the city limits, and devote three quarters of the proceeds directly to road repair, with the remainder financing code enforcement – something else that is desperately needed if Clearlake is to have any chance of becoming the thriving little town its natural assets should make it.

This tax will be paid by visitors and residents alike, and will remain entirely at home rather than being shipped off to Sacramento: it is the only feasible way to finance these essential repairs.

Please vote Yes on Measure H.

Victoria Brandon lives in Lower Lake, Calif.