Every neighborhood should have somebody like Barbara Quattro.

She's one of those people who rattles cages at City Hall, a woman who gets mad when she sees trash on the streets, a civic activist who's spent weekends planting trees in esplanades. When she complains, the mayor listens. And one of her long-running complaints is that the city government has dragged its feet on building a library and multi-service center in Alief.

"It's just disappointing," Quattro told the Chronicle last year. "By the time they get around to building that building, I'll be so old and senile I won't even know it's happening."

At long last, her wish is about to come true, but only if Houston voters approve a bond issue appearing on the ballot this election day. Alief's long delayed library and multi-service center is one of more than a hundred projects – from replacing leaky roofs to renovating old fire stations – whose future depends on the passage of Houston's bond propositions.

The spotlight of public attention has focused on the billion dollar pension bond referendum, Proposition A, whose passage is absolutely critical to Houston's financial future. But if you're a Houston voter, you'll also find on your ballot four bond issues that will pay for a long list of projects and equipment essential to our city government.

Proposition B would authorize the city to borrow $159 million for the police and fire departments. The Houston Police Department needs the money for everything from improvements to its training academy to pouring new pavement at HPD facilities. The Houston Fire Department would use its funds to pay for renovating and expanding some of its fire stations. And both departments need to tap the bond money to update their aging fleets of cars, trucks and ambulances.

Proposition C would authorize $104 million in bonds for park improvements, including upgrades to 26 of the 375 parks around the city, making sure they are usable, safe and fun. To take one example: Baseball and soccer are popular with both young and older athletes in many neighborhoods, but many city ball fields are equipped with old wooden light poles. The bond issue would allow the Houston Parks and Recreation Department to replace them with new metal poles, energy efficient lights and underground wiring. The upgrade would also include a remote control feature that would reduce personnel costs.

Proposition D would raise $109 million for a variety of public health and solid waste disposal expenses. Much of this money would go to renovating and rehabilitating old multi-service centers, which are used as everything from health clinics to election polling places. Houston's Solid Waste Management Department, the people who pick up our garbage, would spend their share of this money on a "to do" list that includes a new disposal facility and a storm water mitigation project.

Proposition E would go a long way toward upgrading library services throughout the city with a $123 million bond issue, directly benefiting at least 24 of the city's 42 libraries. Not everyone can afford a home computer, yet in this digital age access to a computer is crucial to success. That's why it's such a shame that so many of Houston's neighborhood libraries are in disrepair. The bond proceeds will replace the roofs and repair the exteriors of ten libraries and will rebuild four neighborhood libraries.

Maybe you're wondering why these propositions don't include money for flood control after Hurricane Harvey. It's a logical question with an equally logical answer. In order to appear on the ballot in November, the plans for these bond issues were presented to city council in early August, weeks before the storm hit.

Beyond that, flood control in the Houston area has mainly been the responsibility of the county and federal governments. When voters ask why more hasn't been done to mitigate flooding, those are questions that need to be addressed mainly to the county judge and commissioners as well as our elected representatives in Washington.

Of course, the city government bears responsibility for drainage from Houston streets. But under Rebuild Houston, the infrastructure program financed by drainage fees on monthly water bills, the city is converting toward a "pay as you go" model and moving away from bond financing for road and drainage work. The idea is similar to cutting up the credit cards Houston has traditionally used to pay for these projects. That will eventually save the city the fortune it's currently paying on debt service, freeing up more funds for roads and drainage. Still, it's no wonder taxpayers are now asking questions about why the city doesn't already have more to show for all the money we've paid in drainage fees. In the wake of Harvey, we need a robust debate about why we haven't seen faster results out of Rebuild Houston.

Taxpayers may be tempted to take out their flooding frustrations on these bond issues. But that's not a good reason to force our police officers to continue driving around in broken down vehicles, nor to make our firefighters continue working in stations badly in need of renovation. What these bonds will finance are expenses tied to core services and basic amenities citizens have a right to expect out of their city government.

Propositions B, C, D and E won't attract as much attention as the pension problem.

They're the sort of traditional bond issues municipal governments routinely put before voters. Nonetheless, it's important Houstonians cast their ballots in favor of all the city's bond issues.