Paul Elerick's Views

December 19, 2007

Debbie Hale, Executive Director of TAMC (Transportation Agency for Monterey County) reports some good news about their passenger rail plan. I reported in this column last week that Monterey County had removed the rail project from their proposed tax measure, which made it sound like their plan for passenger rail from Monterey to Salinas was dead. True enough, the rail component was taken out of their tax measure, but TAMC still intends to get funding for rail extension to Salinas. They have a plan to insure the rail extension is built, whether their tax measure fails or passes. They are also counting on Santa Cruz County to help fund the Pajaro Station out of traditional state funds, even though our tax measure fails. TAMC is trying to get the word out that rail is still "on track" in Monterey County.

This is good news for those of us who want to see passenger rail restored to Santa Cruz County. Unfortunately, our counterpart to TAMC, Santa Cruz County’s Regional Transportation Commission has taken the opposite position on passenger rail. Members of the RTC who support highway widening, and County Treasurer Fred Keeley, are telling voters that if a tax measure to widen Highway 1 isn’t approved by Santa Cruz County voters, there will be nothing allocated from state transportation funds except to continue the piecemeal widening of Highway 1. RTC Commissioner Campos put it most bluntly at Thursday’s RTC public meeting. "If the highway tax measure doesn’t’ pass, there will be no money for anything else". His plea to the RTC commissioners was to "get behind a tax measure to widen the highway for the good of all", asking for a show of hands from commissioners supporting his request. He didn’t get it. Even staunch highway supporter Supervisor Beautz said she couldn’t do that at this time. This subject will be continued for the next several meetings until a decision is reached.

As in past public meetings on this subject, speakers at Thursday’s RTC meeting were against highway widening at least by 10 to 1. But since public opinion on highway widening has never carried any weight at these RTC’s hearings, most of the speaker’s points probably went on deaf ears.

December 11, 2007

Would a "Regional Transportation Commission" function better if it were made up of all Central Coast counties? We need something to break up the "good 'ol boy" network known as the business community, or at least some way to make them less powerful.

Here in Santa Cruz County, the business community representatives to the recently concluded Transportation Funding Task Force were successful at reducing a proposed tax measure's allocation for passenger rail from $50 million to $35 million dollars. Their reasoning was unclear, but they felt threatened by a passenger rail. I guess people who were riding along comfortably on a train couldn't stop and shop till they dropped at the various shopping areas between Santa Cruz and Watsonville. Task Force members representing the Santa Cruz County Conference and Visitors Council, an employee of Granite Rock and Barry Swenson, Builder, Santa Cruz Business Council, Chambers of Commerce representatives from Santa Cruz, Capitola and Watsonville, plus employees of firms that promote development projects all voted to cripple passenger rail.

Last Wednesday, a Caltrain rail extension was dropped from a list of projects that Monterey County transportation officials hope a sales tax will help fund over the next quarter century. Their Transportation Agency for Monterey County approved a 25-year improvement package wish list that boasts more than 20 road and transit projects at a cost of $1.8 billion. But rail wasn't to be included. Over the summer, officials from the Monterey County Hospitality Association and the Monterey County Farm Bureau withheld their support from an earlier draft sales tax proposal, arguing there wasn't enough focus on highway and roads projects that would benefit their industries. They also complained about proposed spending on a Caltrain rail project included in the earlier draft. But after Monterey officials eliminated the rail spending, both groups sent a letter last month indicating they would back the sales tax effort.

Both Monterey and Santa Cruz County tax measures will require 2/3's vote to pass. As proposed by the Transportation Funding Task Force, Santa Cruz County's tax measure faces stiff opposition. It's not clear what's going on in Monterey County.

One advantage to a truly regional commission would be to promote better communication between all central coast counties. An example of missed communication is that Monterey County's Transportation Commission apparently dropped their plan for Caltrain passenger rail on Wednesday, while on Thursday, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission held their monthly meeting, heard a lengthy report supporting a passenger rail station at Pajaro Junction (Monterey County), but nothing was mentioned about what Monterey County had done the day before.

Maybe this isn't a big problem. If Santa Cruz County RTC does what their opinion survey said people's top priority is – a passenger rail service between Watsonville and Santa Cruz, and fixing local streets and roads, we'll be OK. We can always hope.

December 5, 2007

Friday, Sharon and I joined some of our San Jose friends for lunch at Magianno's Little Italy Restaurant in Santana Row. This was our first excursion to this very up-scale shopping center in San Jose. For those who haven't been there, and you're into such things, you should plan to spend the day. Their website says they have 70 shops, 20 restaurants, 5 spas, and 1 hotel. We also saw a movie theater in there somewhere. Since we only had time for lunch (two hours), I can only comment first hand on that. It was everything our guests said good about it. Great Italian menu, reasonable prices, and they make sure you don't go away hungry. It reminded me a little of the old Garden City Haufbrau that used to be near the old downtown San Jose Library. That place was demolished years ago if favor of San Jose's urban renewal projects.

We took the long way out of Santa Row, getting a local's tour of what was there. I now know what a "boutique hotel" is after seeing Santana Row's Valencia Hotel from the street. It seemed to fit into Santana Row's personality, between the restaurants, condominium apartments and street-side eateries.

The first thing that came to mind was what's in store for our beachfront La Bahia. Let's hope that planning for the new La Bahia includes some of what is already available in San Jose at Santana Row. Think transportation: The Valencia is near enough to transit, including San Jose's airport to attract people who would not need their automobiles to enjoy a stay there. They offer a great convention site for Silicon Valley companies.

One major non-starter for the "new" La Bahia is parking for its visitors. If people must depend on cars to get to that destination, where are they going to park? The Valencia in Santana Row has parking available all over the place. There are huge, multi-story parking garages within a block or two from the hotel, and they work. Each parking stall has sensors wired into a computer display which lets you know how many available parking spots are available on any given floor of the parking structures, which by the way, offer free parking for shoppers.

La Bahia probably will never be any closer to an airport than it is now, but with some forward thinking, a passenger rail service could be implemented to stop right in front of the hotel. Message to the business community here in Santa Cruz: Get behind a passenger rail system that will really do something for business. Widening Highway 1 isn't going to bring any more visitors to our fair city, but a passenger train will without adding more automobiles to the equation.

Santana Row is located in San Jose near the intersection of Winchester and Steven's Creek Boulevards. If you're looking for a different experience, wear your walking shoes, bring your checkbook, and drive over the hill to check it out. We're planning on going back soon.

November 27, 2007

For those who enjoy college football and like Stanford, here's a way to enjoy those Saturday afternoon games in Palo Alto a lot more. Caltrain stops at the "Stanford" station on game days, and picks up after games. No more traffic hassles, parking hassles at the stadium, you are delivered within sight of Stanford's remodeled stadium, which turns out to be 3 tenths of a mile walk. We (my grandson, his dad and I) drove from Aptos to Diridon Station in San Jose. It took 45 minutes door to door. Parking at the train station is $2 for all day; the three round-trip tickets cost $18. We walked from the parking lot to the station in 2 minutes, jumped on the train that was waiting. It's the only way to go to a Stanford game, as others at the station already knew about. The train was nearly full, but we were still able to claim upper deck seats to watch Santa Clara Valley towns roll by on our trip to Palo Alto.

We enjoyed the game, Stanford lost a close one, and the thousands of Notre Dame fans had a chance to cheer their team. We had a chance to greet the Stanford players after the game, grandson got four autographs on his Stanford cap, we walked to the Stanford Station and were on way home.

The reason I mention this at all is to point out how do-able passenger rail really is. "Stanford Station" is a paved spot the train stops at near the stadium. Expensive stations at each stop are not a requirement for passenger rail. We could have passenger rail stops in Live Oak, Capitola, Seacliff, La Selva Beach and then maybe another in Watsonville that would serve the public much like Stanford Station serves Santa Clara County's public. We just need a commitment from our Regional Transportation Commission to make this their number one priority.

I also noticed how easy it was for bicyclists to put their bikes on and off Caltrain cars. That's something else we could do if we had a passenger rail system. With a connection to the planned Pajaro Junction rail station (thanks Monterey County for your foresight), people could visit Santa Cruz County and leave their cars at home. What we need to do is expedite a rail-trail for hikers and bicyclists.

I know that some members of the business community are smart enough to figure all this out. Now we need them to get some courage to speak out for proper funding of a future passenger rail service and a real rail-trail.

November 20, 2007

The 26-month effort by the RTC's Transportation Funding Task Force ended with a disappointing thud (for me) and victory for the highway wideners. As I mentioned weeks ago in this column, the task force was clearly front-loaded with members who wanted to widen Highway 1, and they really used this majority to strip funds for alternative transportation, passenger rail funding especially, from the proposed ballot measure. Here's exactly how front-loaded it was. By my count, the vote to approve ballot language that would widen Highway 1 passed by 43-16. That gave them the five votes required to meet and surpass the 2/3rds majority needed to win the day for them. Hopefully, RTC Staff will be releasing an "official" record of the final votes.

From my recording of the votes, here's who voted to widen the highway.

The auto advocates were picked by the RTC to represent people who commuted by car or were seen as advocates for advancing automobile use.

Business promoters, the largest group supporting the highway, were representatives of various Chambers of Commerce, the Santa Cruz Business Council represented by their paid consultant from Stockton, a group called "the land use development community", and the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors.

The Task Force members who receive County funding, being aware of which side their bread is buttered on, all voted for widening. They were very aware that the majority of the Board of Supervisors supports highway widening.

Then there were the "Highway Advocates", including elected members of the Board of Supervisors, Pirie, Beautz, and Campos (they happen to be the Board majority that favors highway widening) and some others that left us puzzled what they were thinking about. A case in point, why would a representative of Watsonville Wetlands watch vote for a 35 year tax to widen the highway?

Three task force members representing Labor all supported the highway widening tax measure. One saw passenger rail as a threat to her bus drivers union, the others saw the highway possibly bringing union jobs to the County.

So who voted against the highway widening tax? No surprises here. Organizations representing the bike community, People Power, the Sierra Club, California Coastal Commission, Friends of the Rail Trail, Mission Pedestrian, and the Coastal Watershed Council. UCSC, long a supporter of alternative transportation and the Campaign for Sensible Transportation representatives also voted against it. The City of Santa Cruz representative, Mayor Reilly also voted no, not wishing to support such an unbalanced plan, and remembering that Santa Cruz voters rejected the 2004 Measure J (to widen the highway) by a huge margin, nearly two thirds being against it. Virginia Johnson from Ecology Action voted against it too. This after working long and hard to reach a compromise with the "business community" members of the task force. They abandoned her with a "no" vote on her motion to include a strong ballot statement on fighting global warming.

What was approved by the Task Force?

A $600 million dollar, 35-year ½ cent sales tax to be used for:

This is supposed to be a balanced plan?

So what's next?

The Regional Transportation Commission will decide what to do at their December 6th meeting. They can accept the task force recommendation as worded (doubtful), modify it (probable), before recommending it to the Board of Supervisors to be put on the November 2008 ballot.

If the Task Force recommendations go to the ballot as is?

There is no way it will get a 2/3 majority, and that's what's needed. A detailed analysis made by the Campaign for Sensible Transportation explains why. Also consider the fact that 38% of the voters who were polled said they were going to vote against any new tax measure, a highway widening tax appears dead on arrival. For these reasons, and the fact that there is opposition already forming to oppose the measure, the RTC should rethink their push to widen Highway 1.

What might have been?

A plan that included improvements to Highway 1 without widening, street and road repair and maintenance, properly funding a passenger rail service, bus service including putting school buses back into service was totally ignored by the RTC. This plan required only a 20-year tax, not the 35-year tax the RTC wanted, keeping the cost to taxpayers down to less than $350 million dollars. It also balanced spending over all components. The plan, submitted last May to the RTC by the Campaign for Sensible Transportation as "Plan C" can be reviewed here.

November 13, 2007

We should all remember our veterans more than one day a year. Sharon and I have the privilege of having friends like Don Young, John Altman, Ed Newman and Jim Shand who are WWII vets that we certainly remember more than one day a year. In this small group of vets, you're looking at a former P51 pilot, Battle of the Bulge and German prisoner of war survivor, a Navy Petty Officer who served on a destroyer during the battle of the North Atlantic, and a Navy veteran that fought in the Pacific. There are probably more WWII vet friends that I'm missing. We owe a lot to these veterans.

I know of only two young men who are involved with George Bush's war. They are no less brave, and no less loved by their families and friends than the older veterans. The one difference: I'm glad the WWII vets were there for us when it counted. I'm not glad that today's soldiers must fight George Bush's war.

The "Electoral College Initiative" is a scam. DON'T SIGN IT!

The California Republican Party is back with their blatant "Steal the State" plot to change our elections laws to give them 22 of California's electoral votes. The "Electoral College Initiative", once thought dead, has been revived. Petitions are being circulated with payments over $2 per name being paid the initiative backers. So far, the major financial backers are still under cover but Paul Singer, a former Rudy Guiliani finance committee chair, has donated $175,000 to pass this thing. If it reaches the ballot and is approved by the voters, it makes it impossible for the Democrats to win the 55 electoral votes in California. It will portion them out by counties. That would make sure the Republicans get up to 22 of the electoral votes, enough to swing the past several national presidential elections.

So be prepared to be clip-boarded by sincere signature gatherers. They will probably have other petitions to sign, like to stop the war, end global warming, etc., and buried in these will be the Republican's poison pill. When the governor pushed his initiatives back in 2005, they used the same technique with signature gatherers in downtown Santa Cruz, getting $5 per name. That was more than enough to get a lot of signature gatherers on the streets. These people are deadly serious. Back in 2005, I watched them in action at the Santa Cruz Farmer's Market. When I attempted to correct some of the bad information a woman signature gatherer was giving out, she went screaming to the police saying I was harassing her.

These people have until mid-November to get this qualified for the June 2008 ballot. You can prevent them from doing this by emailing cdpfraudbusters@cadem.org if you see the Electoral College initiative signature gatherers in your community. This is a California Democratic Party website. Let them know the petitioners location so they can dispatch local activists to shine a light on Republican disinformation.

November 6, 2007

We always feel sad when a landmark Santa Cruz business goes away. Such was the same when Adolph' Restaurant went out of business. We happen to know now what happened. Following up on a recent tip that the California Grill in Watsonville employed all the former Adolph's cooks we dropped in there on a Monday for lunch, and the place was packed. A neatly dressed, pleasant mannered man seated us; a friendly waitress took our order, and promptly returned with the two great Greek salads. I asked the man who seated us if he was the owner, and he said he indeed was and did indeed own the former Adolph's in Santa Cruz. We found out from him that the cooks and staff were all his employees from Adolph's.

So what happened? Pretty simple to explain by the owner. His lease on the Adolph's building in Santa came up for renewal. The new rent went up from $6,000 to $13,000 per month, along with a boost in the utilities. He said he expected a 20% or so increase, but not one in excess of 100%! He tried to negotiate a fairer lease but the landlord turned him down. In came a Chinese buffet restaurant to replace Adolph's. I never saw many cars in their parking lot, and not being a fan of Chinese buffet menus, never went there. Apparently other people had the same thoughts. The Chinese buffet restaurant went out of business, but I see a new sign on the Water St. building saying another one is "opening soon". I wonder how much their monthly rent is?

When you read the rants in our daily newspaper about how Santa Cruz government drives businesses out of the city, consider there may have been greedy landlords involved instead.

So, for those who crave the old Adolph's menu, try the California Grill in Watsonville. It's as good as ever, and they've added a great breakfast menu. I can heartily recommend their breakfast scramble, having enjoyed one last Friday morning. The California Grill is located on the southeast corner of Freedom and Airport Boulevards in Watsonville. Take the Airport turnoff from Highway 1.

Other reasons for driving south

You may not believe this, but the drive from Aptos south to Watsonville's shopping center takes less time than driving to Capitola's 41st Avenue Mall. The latest congestion-inducing mess at 41st that includes a Home Depot, new Safeway and even more planned retail has grid locked that intersection. You can usually count on two or three light changes before even getting onto 41st Avenue from Highway 1, not to mention the number of light changes between Clares St. and the Mall. I'm not sure who caused this situation, the City of Capitola or the County, but widening Highway 1 will do nothing but compound this traffic problem.

October 30, 2007

The main meeting agenda item was a review of the countywide opinion survey completed in early October. The consulting company that conducted the survey presented their findings, along with what was learned. Not surprisingly, their take on the survey was similar to ours. People wanted a balanced transportation plan, favoring passenger rail, public transit and road repair over highway widening. Our Campaign for Sensible Transportation was given five minutes after the consultants to present our analysis of the results, which closely matched theirs. The only negativity displayed during the evening was when one member of the anti-rail group objected to our being given time to present our analysis, an objection that went to the full committee for a vote. The anti-rail group lost this one, by a vote of 11-25.

There was a surprising large turnout from members of the public. Many filled out cards requesting to speak and were recognized throughout the evening by convener Fred Keeley. There may have been one member of the public speaking in favor of widening the highway, all the rest opposed widening. Many speakers spoke about their concern about global warming and how adding freeway capacity encourages more cars adds to this problem. This concern was also high on the list of survey respondents.

There was a motion and second to adopt a proposed "Mobility Plan", put together by members of the RTC staff, and presented by their director George Dondero. It basically fully funded highway widening, proposing $300 million out of a total $600 million dollar tax package. Many in the audience did not view this as a balanced transportation plan. The pro-highway backers supported it, of course. A motion by a highway supporter to kill debate failed, and debating continued until about 10:15 PM. It will be resumed at the next (and last) meeting of the task force. This is scheduled for Wednesday, November 14th, 6:30PM at Del Mar Elementary, 1959 Merrill St (off 17th Avenue). There is no scheduled end-time for this meeting; it could last well past 10:00 P.M. The objective is to hammer out a final transportation tax measure to forward on to the Regional Transportation Commission. Personally, I don't see two-thirds of the task force agreeing on anything, and that's what is needed for a recommendation to be forwarded to the Regional Transportation Commission.

On the bright side, check out the updated Campaign for Sensible Transportation's website. It has added new links and shows how to use public transit to reach the airport in San Jose. Click on "how to go places" for details.

About those mortgage foreclosures

The real estate "industry" is not making as much money these days. Irresponsible lending and borrowing has put people with huge loans in a bad way. Their house payments, already painfully high, are going higher and prices of homes, already painfully high are dropping. Buyers who bought into the housing market when homes were appreciating in value at 20% or higher per year, hoping to sell in a few years are screwed. Not only can't they sell their investments (homes), their payments are going to be higher and they can't meet them and the mortgage companies will foreclose. Lending institutions and borrowers who deal in speculative home purchases are hurting, especially the homeowner who will soon be looking for a place to live.

Spraying the light brown apple moth and computer voting

It hasn't gone unnoticed. The makers of a spray to control a destructive insect said they couldn't tell us the chemical contents of the spray. Trade secret. The manufacturers of touch-screen (paperless) voting machines say the same thing. The source code for the computers that control vote counting is a trade secret. Both companies that stand to make big bucks from the state should be held more accountable. Having an unknown chemical dropped on us at night is just as disturbing as keying in my vote and not being sure it's counted correctly. Action has been taken by Secretary of State Debra Bowen to correct this problem. Anybody who has been even close to the computer programming community knows that it's possible to illicitly modify computer code. Let's hope Bowen gets the backing from the citizens of California and her peers in the California legislature to hang tough on this issue until the problems with touch screen voting are resolved. We need to have the same level of commitment from state officials who are running the apple moth eradication program, something that hasn't been seen yet.

October 23, 2007

I'm impressed with the survey that EMC Research, a consulting company out of Oakland, recently completed for the RTC. It appears that the questions were fairly worded; I can only find a few that could have been worded differently. They seemed to include widening the highway in too many questions, and downplayed options that left widening out. They also reported that support for widening had remained consistent over the years, but their chart shows support declining from 66% in 1996 down to 62% in 2007. But in general it was just fine. Readers can make their own judgment by checking out the results themselves. It's HERE on the RTC's website.

However, the headlines in the Sentinel screamed at us that voters want to widen Highway 1. What I learned from the survey was that the majority of voters wanted a balanced approach to solving future transportation problems, with train service and doing road maintenance as the most popular projects mentioned. That put highway widening in third place. The survey also showed that voters would favor a tax measure that included rail over options that left out rail.

This is going to be a challenge for the Transportation Funding Task Force majority that has been successful (up to now) in killing any and all discussion of rail service by "tabling" several line items tied to passenger rail. The votes have been mostly the same, 24 in support of discussing rail to 42 in opposition, voting to table. Votes to take these items "off the table" to re-enter the discussion have failed by about the same number of votes. We'll see how the anti-rail lobby Task Force member handles the results of the survey.

It will also be interesting to see how the RTC reacts to the survey too. The RTC majority has a chance to reflect the wishes of the voters who were polled, by changing their "Widening Highway 1 is our top priority" official position, to something that reflects what people said they wanted – a balanced transportation plan with passenger rail and road repair ahead of highway widening.

A Happy Event Last week Sharon and I attended People Power's annual fundraising dinner at Gabriella Cafe. The restaurant was packed wall-to-wall with members and supporters of People Power celebrating the 18th year of their organization's existence. People Power Director Micah Posner welcomed everybody at the door, and ushered them to their tables. If you don't know about People Power, check them out at their informative website here. A quick overview. They support all means of alternative transportation (to the automobile) and are very strong advocates for our bicycle community.

A Sad Story

As we were leaving Gabriella Café, we drove past the Sentinel building. The evening was a little misty, but that great "Sentinel" sign was still shining brightly on the Church St. side of their old building. Lined up at the curb outside the building were all their old printing presses, neatly lined up and covered to keep them dry, as they awaited their journey to the salvage yard. We were to find out the next day that the truck carrying some of them overturned on Highway 17 at the "valley surprise" curve near the summit. That managed to close both lanes for hours. The printing presses broke a retaining strap, shifted, causing the truck to tip over. Those printing presses got their last licks in. The roadbed was damaged by their weight as they tipped over. Those of us who don't understand or appreciate the corporate mentality making decisions like moving the Sentinel's office to Scotts Valley and printing what's left of it in San Jose are left to wonder why this had to happen.

October 17, 2007

The Obama Campaign held one of the nicest, friendliest political get-togethers I've ever attended on Sunday at Harvey West Park. About thirty supporters attended a barbeque picnic, met friends, new and old. Santa Cruz Vice-Mayor Ryan Coonerty spoke briefly about his experiences working in Washington DC before returning to Santa Cruz, how broken the political system there is, and now Barack Obama impressed him as somebody who can fix that. It's great to know that the next mayor of Santa Cruz is out there for his choice for president. Others were just as enthusiastic. We were reminded that the absentee ballots for California's February presidential primary election are due out in less than 100 days. Also, a reminder was given to Obama precinct workers not to bad-mouth other Democratic candidates during the campaign. As one attendee chimed in, "we may have to support one of them --- for Vice President!"

The Elerick household is solidly lined up for Obama. I was one of the "undecided" until Hillary signed onto the Lieberman-Kyle senate bill setting us up for a confrontation with Iran, an issue so popular with the Bush, the Republicans and Joe Lieberman.

Hillary, why?

Can PVUSD politics get any nuttier?

The Committee for Good School Governance led by Bruce Woolpert, CEO of Graniterock, is upset by the way local media covers the shenanigans of Pajaro Valley Unified School District. They propose hiring their own news reporters.

Of all the coverage this story has received, the Register-Pajaronian's version is the most complete. It will be interesting to see how our local daily and weekly newspapers respond to the request to publish the Committee for Good School Governance's view of the news. If they do, it better be under the heading of "paid political announcement". It's time somebody reminded this group that what they are proposing is not freedom of the press; it's their desire to control the press by editing our school district's news. This item may be on the PVUSD Board of Trustee's meeting agenda, not yet published on their website.

Next Regular Board meeting is:
October 24, 2007
District Office Boardroom
Closed Session: 6:00 PM; Public Session: 7:00 PM
294 Green Valley Road, Watsonville, CA 95076
Please call 786-2135 if you have any questions.

October 9, 2007

Back in the June 16th edition of this column, I reported that the RTC had finally agreed to conduct an opinion poll to survey how people felt about being taxed to pay for transportation improvements. I also said that opponents to Highway 1 widening would be looking for fairness in the way the questions were posed to voters.

I don't think it will shock readers to know that I'm not a supporter of widening the highway, but I'm also a member of the RTC's Transportation Funding Task Force, and agreed to participate with an open mind, as long as the other side did the same.

Unfortunately, the feedback the Campaign for Sensible Transportation is getting from friends, neighbors and strangers who have been called by the polltakers is of concern to us. People are questioning the fairness of the survey. Mostly, they say the questions are worded so that answers will support widening the highway. Nobody was allowed to review the survey questions prior to the consultant's poll. In fact, one member of the task force was even denied the knowledge of when the poll would be taken.

The survey started on September 30th and ran through October 4th. If you were called and participated in this survey, and felt the questions were unfairly crafted to get answers favoring highway widening, please let your feelings be known. The best way to do this is via email to the Regional Transportation Commission, info@sccrtc.org or calling them at 831-460-3200.

The consultants are now tabulating the results of the survey, and supposedly these will be made available to Transportation Funding Task Force members sometime before their next scheduled meeting on October 29th, 6:30pm to 10:00pm at Shoreline Middle School. This meeting is open to the public.

October 2, 2007

All the attention to moveon.org's New York Times ad asking if General Petraeus should be referred to as General Betray-Us amazes me. Moveon actually benefited from this attention, getting their message to millions of people outside the reach of the New York Times. You can see the ad yourself here. However, congressional Republicans and many Democrats, some of our own representatives, (Sam and Diane, what were you thinking!) voted to denounce the ad. For some reason they disagreed with our own constitution when moveon.org questioned the decisions of a top general officer. Moveon.org with more than three million members is not exactly a trivial organization. Want to know more about moveon?

Reaching back to my early political awareness, (was it the 8th grade back in rural Michigan?), it reminds me of the public attack on President Truman when he fired General Douglas Mc Arthur for insubordination. It was almost like any criticism of the military, especially a General, was forbidden by some secret code of conduct. People howled for Truman's removal from office. We all know now that HST turned out to be one fine president, and his courageous leadership kept the military from taking power away for civilian authority for a long time. Maybe forever.

The Sentinel again pans local progressive leadership

This past week's signing of a Climate Action Compact by county leaders including Mayor Emily Reilly, Supervisor Neal Coonerty and UC Chancellor George Blumenthal didn't make it through the Sentinel's gauntlet without their usual potshots. They downplayed the significance of such an important step, and somehow got back to their favorite issues, widening Highway 1, an eastern access to UCSC, and broadsiding slow growth policies. The Climate Action Compact was simply a straightforward agreement to reduce the community's carbon footprint and encourage the growth of "green" business.

Opponents to freeway widening had contemplated attending the signing ceremony with signs pointing out that widened freeways meant adding to global warming, but were asked not to do that, taking attention away from the importance of the Climate Action Compact. It's too bad the Sentinel couldn't have kept their negative opinions to themselves on this issue, and given it a chance to succeed. If you missed their "opinion", check it out here, along with several interesting comments from their readers.

September 25, 2007

Without a doubt, this is one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen. I'm sure all you movie buffs have read all the reviews from the pros, so I'll not go there. But if you have a son or daughter who is considering volunteering for George Bush's war, or if you know of anybody whose sons or daughters are considering this, ask the parents and children to see this film together before anybody enlists. I believe this is a most revealing and realistic portrayal of what our young men and women are being put through once they are sworn in as soldiers, trained and sent to Iraq.

What's going on at KSCO radio?

The announcement that KSCO is for sale was in Sunday's Sentinel. Let's hope it stays a local station, but gets an owner more tolerant of progressive ideas. KSCO has been there for us through some pretty bad times, like the 1989 earthquake, the storms that washed away homes and people, and just the daily traffic updates, and that has been appreciated by everybody. But unfortunately, the shrill Zwerling family editorials and daily doses of Rush Limbaugh have chased many of us away. Especially since KRXA AM540 has been on the scene. KRXA now has local morning radio at 8AM with Dale Julen, focusing on Santa Cruz issues, and an afternoon radio program from 3PM to 6PM hosted by Peter B. Collins covering progressive issues throughout the area and the country.

Democratic Party "beanpoll" results

During the recently concluded Monterey and Santa Cruz County Fairs, Democratic Party booths conducted highly unscientific polls testing Democratic Presidential candidate's popularity. Both conducted "bean polls", asking people to cast votes by placing a bean in the jar with their candidates name and picture on it. The results:

Note the Santa Cruz Dems gave people who weren't registered a chance to cast a vote using a different color bean. Looks like they had a good chance to register new voters!

September 18, 2007

Since Labor Day, the Seabreeze has been open for business. We dropped in on Sunday after seeing their "open" sign in front of their neat old building at 101 Esplanade in Rio del Mar. Better known as "the flats parking lot" to locals. There's a long history involved with this building, the first one built on that street in the 1920's boom. It survived as a beach bar until sometime in the early 1980's, remaining closed until now. In another column, I'll be able to relate some of the hurdles imposed by our County that the current owners had to jump over to restore, remodel and reopen this landmark. Key word - reopen. Stay tuned. You'll not find a nicer place to visit at Rio del Mar beach. It may not be the old sandy-floored beer bar it was in the 70's that we remembered, but it's a lot nicer place now. Santa Cruz County Fair 2007

This year's fair has to rank as one of the best ever. We had the pleasure of attending two days, Tuesday and Saturday. On Tuesday, we made a beeline to the Crosetti Exhibition hall to see how our seven-year-old grandsons' entry fared in the "collections" competition. We were almost as excited as our grandson to see the blue ribbon attached to his display of Yu-Gi-Oh memorabilia. All the exhibits were wonderful, and it's too bad they all didn't get a blue ribbon. Both of our days at the fair ended at the Alaskan Pig Races, with an animated audience cheering on the favorites. Saturday's 4:30 PM winner: Harry Porker!

We didn't see any of the controversy involving the Hell's Angel's motorcycle clubs getting asked to leave because they were wearing their club t-shirts and emblems. We didn't even see the booth that the Hell's Angels were using to sell the same clothing they were banned from wearing at the fair. But why are adult members of a motorcycle club hung up on making their political statement at the county fair? Our fair is primarily for kids, and those of us who wish we were kids again. The animals, the magical clowns, the racing pigs, the riding contests, even the auto races, are meant to be enjoyed by the entire family. Next year, how about selling less motorcycle club memorabilia, especially if what is sold there at the fair isn't allowed to be worn at the fair.

Politics at the Fair

The Santa Cruz Democratic Party had an interesting addition to their booth at the fair. People could vote for a Democratic Party candidate of their choice by putting a bean into a glass jar with the name of their candidate on it. This seemed to be very popular with those passing by the booth. I'll try to get the results after the fair closes on Sunday and report them here next week. Prediction? Lots of support for Obama. His campaign even had their own booth at the fair. I contributed with the purchase of two campaign buttons.

September 11, 2007

Recently, Pajaro Valley Unified School District superintendent Mary Ann Mays moved the location of her monthly management team meeting (over 100 employees) from PVUSD offices to Graniterock Company's large conference room. These meetings are not open to the public, or even to members of PVUSD's Board of Trustees unless they are specifically invited. The reason for moving the meeting was given that a larger meeting room was needed, and Graniterock's room met that requirement. It was also free.

While cooperation between private business and public educators isn't always a bad idea, remember it was Graniterock's CEO Bruce Woolpert who headed up a Committee for Good School Governance last fall. This group elected the new majority of PVUSD's Board of Trustees with very slick mailers to district voters and backed them financially.

Pavex, a division of Graniterock, has been awarded an $8 million dollar contract with the District, something that they probably would have gotten anyway. But when does cooperation cross the line and become conflict of interest? Why would a company like Graniterock want to risk being viewed as having a conflict of interest with PVUSD? Do they even care?

PVUSD was soundly spanked by this year's Grand Jury. Since then, the Board majority voted to hire a law firm to respond to the findings, with a report being due in October. If PVUSD can afford a legal team to answer a Grand Jury's findings, shouldn't they be able to afford to rent a more public meeting room?

Read the Grand Jury's "Report Card" here. It's too bad that holding off-site, closed-to-the-public management meetings at a supplier's headquarters wasn't included in their findings.

September 5, 2007

This event is another reason we love living here. I don't think we've missed a single one. Yesterday we had the pleasure of accompanying our daughter and our seven-year-old grandson out to the fairgrounds to set up his collection of Yu-Gi-Oh memorabilia. Considering he started this collection when he was four, he's pretty proud of it. We were at the exhibition hall at 9:15, and quite a few people were ahead of us in the first-come-first-served line. But things ran so smoothly, thanks to a super friendly competent team of fair workers. Before we left, people were streaming in with their entries to the fair's hobby and collection competition. Make sure you check these out when the fair opens on September 11th, at which time all the judging of the entries will be complete. What is so amazing is the age range of the contestants. Probably seven is the youngest, but there were some senior citizens there with their collections. Two seniors that come to mind are the guy with the great cribbage board collection, and another with scale model WWII aircraft. If you can make it past the homeland security searches at the gates, and the glitzy carnival attractions, the rest of the fair promises to be great fun.

Some more news about our "slow growth" county

Mid-county developers must be salivating over what they have to look forward to in the Aptos-Soquel Drive area. Somewhere between 300 and 500 new residences are being planned or already started. They break down like this:

Regarding affordability of these proposed homes, only the Temple Beth El project appears to be committed to building some, more than a token amount anyway. I'm sure there are other projects on the drawing board that I'm not aware of. These projects represent a rather small area of mid-county. There must be many more throughout the county.

Transportation Funding Task Force

For those who follow this one, the word from Fred Keeley, Task Force Convener, is that the Regional Transportation Commission has selected a consulting company to do a countywide survey to determine what people want to see on a transportation ballot measure. That firm is Evans/McDonough Company, picked out of four companies that were interested in the job. However, the next Task Force meeting that was scheduled for September 26th has been cancelled, with word that it will be rescheduled in October when results of the survey is available. Stay tuned for results of the survey!

August, 2007

Capitola has its own version of term limits, requiring only that elected city council members step down after two terms, sit out two years, and then can run again. This can go on forever, and allows termed out city council members who have termed-out to serve on city commissions before they run for city council again, keeping their place in the public eye. Term limits in Capitola have impacted much more than just that city. Commissioner Dennis Norton, long a champion for promoting passenger rail on the county's Regional Transportation Commission, was termed out in '06, replaced by Kirby Nichol whose top priority is widening the highway. It's no coincidence that the county's purchase of Union Pacific's right-of-way has been slowed to a crawl since Dennis has left the RTC.

Capitola's "new" council is busy getting rid of several environmental ordinances passed by the previous council. Two that come to mind are the ban on Styrofoam containers the fast-food chains love to use. Another is the ban on power leaf blowers that pollute the air with exhaust fumes and obnoxious loud noise. The current council openly admits to support changing these sensible rules to favor "stakeholders" in their community. So far these have been defined as large landscape and gardening companies, and the fast-food lobby that is so well represented in Capitola.

When did the term "stakeholder" get twisted around to refer only to those with financial clout? What do the residents of Capitola have to do to become stakeholders? How about electing a new city council?

We'll get a chance to modify the state's term limits law next February. If passed, it would allow state assembly and senate office holders to serve longer in their current jobs but still be limited to total time in office. That means making it possible for a person to serve 12 years in either the assembly or senate. Right now they are limited to a combination of six years in the assembly and eight years in the senate. It makes sense to keep good assembly members in office, like our current 27th Assembly District representative John Laird. Why would be people of California be better served by losing the chair of the budget committee and other leadership positions John has held for most of his nearly six years in the assembly? We all need to become stakeholders in the February election and vote to change term limits. This won't be an easy task, especially with the negative press state legislators are getting because they haven't approved this year's budget. Actually, "they" is the wrong word. The state assembly and the governor have approved a budget that the state senate has not passed, thus holding it hostage. The Republicans in the senate can do this, as they have enough votes to prevent the two-thirds majority needed to pass it. It's almost like they're trying to poison the ballot measure to change term limits.

July 17, 2007

California National Guard's Newspeak TV Commercial

Another sign of desperation from the military. A TV ad for the California National Guard featured a neatly uniformed young woman soldier, extolling the benefits of enlisting in the Guard. I almost mentally turned this off, as I usually do, but I caught the end of the commercial. It was like a kick in the stomach. The young woman solder was praising the quality and loyalty of the friends she has made since joining the Guard. She wanted us to know that it was her friends in the National Guard who helped her get though her "deployment". Deployment to where? Iraq? Iran? Are we brainwashing the public and our National Guard recruits that a "deployment" is to be expected? Mark the word "deployment", along with "embedded" as words that have just been erased from my vocabulary.

July 9, 2007

On July 3rd, we noticed Park Rangers putting up orange mesh fencing at the entrances of Seacliff and Rio Del Mar Beaches. Lots of it. We were never quite sure what it was meant to do, keep people in or out. Probably to monitor people entering the beach area with fireworks. The fact that nobody was killed or no houses burned down will probably lead the parks department to think this program was successful. But it sure didn't keep fireworks off the beaches. There was plenty of evidence of this on the morning of July 5th, when we took a walk in this area. Exploded and unexploded fireworks, garbage, cans and bottles. State Parks had cleanup crews in before 9AM on the 5th cleaning up full garbage cans, and they did a great job. Now if we could only convince people to pack their own trash!

Aptos Parade - Some changes

The parade seemed a little quieter than usual this year. Not as many spectators. It was great that Assemblymember John Laird was chosen as this year's Grand Marshall. It wasn't so great to see parade organizers putting John well back in the parade lineup. What was wrong with having the Grand Marshall leading the parade, as was the tradition before the Aptos Chamber of Commerce took it over? Also noted, Congressman Sam Farr, along with the Democratic Party well behind John. Sam was riding in a classic Mercedes, along with Santa Cruz City Councilmember Lynn Robinson.

Fast Drivers – Changes needed

Why is it that except for the Fishhook widening project area, Highway 1 is posted at 65 miles per hour? And people seem to thing that driving that fast is a requirement? Next time somebody passes you on Highway 1 going 65 or faster, check to see how many of them are at the next off-ramp intersection with you when you're going 55 or less. Why is it nobody is considering a 55 mph speed limit to conserve energy and reduce tragic accidents. No politician wants to be identified with a Richard Nixon administration policy of the 1970's, is probably the answer.

July 5, 2007

It would be safe to say that the Grand Jury report recently released has received wide distribution, both in the Sentinel and Register-Pajaronian.   What's missing is public comment from the "Committee for Good School Governance", the influential group that helped elect the PVUSD board majority.  It was their candidates who were not paying attention to business, supposedly CGSG's strong suit.  It was their candidates who chose to bring back Mary Ann Mays as District Superintendent, who had previously resigned due to the "micro-managing" and "meddling" by the previous PVUSD board members.

Let's give the micro-managers and meddlers a standing ovation.  If what is written in the Grand Jury's report proves to be true, we should demand more micro managing and meddling from the board.  Let's hope that PVUSD's administration doesn't get away with blaming the report as being politically motivated.  We need some real answers here.

June 26, 2007

A full-page ad in both the Metro caught my eye in last week's weekly newspaper (It also appeared the next day in the SC Good Times). It's hard to miss, but for those who did, it reads:

"Begin Your Future Today"

"It has been called "the greatest entry-level job in California" ... and for good reason. Our officers earn a great salary and a retirement package you just can't find in private industry. We even pay you to attend our academy. There has never been a better time to join. We're the largest law enforcement agency in California, and we're growing. So apply today, and discover why thousands of men and women are proud to wear the uniform."

First I was irritated that the military was running ads to beef up their slumping enlistment stats. Then, perhaps it was the CHP or local police agencies looking for recruits. But looking carefully at the ad, the picture of a uniformed officer, and their advertised website, it was the California Department of Corrections – The PRISON GUARDS organization who ran the ad.

It helps explain why California is spending more building new prisons than new education facilities. Personally, I found this ad offensive. We are cultivating a new career path in "the largest law enforcement agency in California"? We should be spending money on education and health care, not prisons and prison guards. Why not look at reducing the number of inmates by releasing prisoners doing time for minor drug offenses? After that's done, and overcrowded prisons still exist for really bad people, what's wrong with sending them to other states that have the capacity? The only objections to this that I've heard are from ... you guessed it, the prison guard's organizations. They need to grow California's prison population to justify all the promises to those new recruits who are attracted to their "help wanted" ads.

Zero media coverage on a violent June 14th incident

Something bad happened to a man at a west side bar at closing time on June 14th. It's very hard to follow up, since no names of those involved have been made public. The Sentinel's "Cops and Courts" blog has an entry that you can read here. Since when is a person getting beaten bad enough to be flown to a trauma center not newsworthy? I've heard different versions of what happened, but they all described a violent event, involving several people. All names and places have been kept away from the public. Wouldn't it be nice to know if the victim of the beating survived? We can read volumes about a city council member's comments to a police officer during a private conversation between the two of them, get names of every transient who is arrested. Why not a report on an act of violence that really hurt somebody?

June 20, 2007

Sharon and I left last Saturday afternoon about 2:30 for San Jose. Looking forward to a wedding and reception at the Sainte Claire Hotel in downtown San Jose, we also had reservations to spend the night there. Not making the Aptos to San Jose trip on Saturday afternoons often, it was a shock to see traffic on Highway 17, coming into Santa Cruz, backed up from the Fishhook to Mt. Hermon Rd. in Scotts Valley. Both lanes at a stand still or walking speed. Some of these folks were going to wish they had stayed home.

Without going into how nice the wedding and reception was (both were fantastic), it was the hotel and downtown San Jose which really got our attention. This old hotel has been "restored" more than once, but the last time they got it right. Everything from the elegant old lobby to the freshly updated hotel rooms, made our stay exceptional. We were met at the curb by a parking attendant who whisked our car away, after taking us to the check-in desk, just a few feet away. Each and every hotel employee smiled, looked you in the eye. They made you know they were glad you were there.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel restaurant the following morning (Sunday), had our car delivered to the front door of the hotel, and then cruised around downtown. We lived in San Jose during the 1960's, and haven't spent much time there together since. But I think we will be spending more time there. Valley Transit Authority's light rail now goes just about everywhere in Santa Clara Valley. See this map, to see where you can go with a $2.25 senior citizen day pass, or regular day passes for $5.25. It's taken a long time for VTA to reach this level of service, but they have done a great job.

There are blocks of new condominium buildings between downtown and San Jose State University campus. All within an easy walk of light rail. They're probably not any more affordable than condos around here, but they sure have access to amenities that we don't, all by way of clean, efficient light rail (and bus, might I add) transit.

Of course we had to drive by our old neighborhood, and were glad to see everything looked so nice. Other neighboring areas, like Willow Glen and the Rose Garden, always picture-perfect, looked even nicer after 37 years.

Are we ready to leave a move back to San Jose? Not a chance, but we're looking forward to another weekend in San Jose in the near future, even if it's just to sight-see, riding around on their light rail system!

June 13, 2007

As reported over and over in the Sentinel, Good Times and other weeklies, some kind of survey will be done to determine what people want and what they are willing to pay, for transportation improvements in the county. The Regional Transportation Commission somehow came up with money to pay for the survey. As of now, the RTC and their paid consultant will determine what questions are to be put to voters. Eventually, the results of the poll will be tabulated and turned over to the Transportation Funding Task Force, probably after August of this year, to help members decide what to propose as a county transportation-funding plan.

Opponents of highway widening will be looking for fairness in the poll questions. We know only too well that questions can be tuned to produce the answers desired. If the answers don't please the organization paying for the poll, we may not see them. Also, if the questions are biased towards widening, opponents are not going to accept the results.

An example of what can happen is the "summary study" presented at last week's RTC meeting. It was billed as a pre-release of the total study being done on the feasibility of widening Highway 1. The cost of the total study is now well over $9 million dollars. The summary has conclusions that are about as wild as you can imagine. They project that by 2035, without widening, traffic on Highway 1 will be "twice as bad" as it is today, and drive times between Morrissey Blvd and San Andreas Rd. will take an hour, at the speed of 12 miles per hour. The report goes on to say that with a widened highway, traffic will be able to travel the same distance at 60-65 miles per hour.

The "summary report" appears to have been rushed to publication to get in front of the RTC's survey. Of course the Sentinel did their thing with it, as usual, editorializing that the report justifies widening Highway 1. It's interesting that there was no mention of cost, how long the project would take, and why people should be interested in traveling at 65 MPH between Santa Cruz and Capitola for example.

Unless opponents to widening the highway are given the chance to review the poll questions for fairness and accuracy before it's taken, don't hope for too much.

However people are much smarter that pollsters give them credit for. Looking back, the ill-fated Wingspread development sponsored polls that the developer touted as showing total public support for his project. It went down to defeat by a 2-1 margin. Were those questions skewed in favor of the developer? You bet! I know, because I was called and asked to take the poll, heard every question, and responded to each one. Let's hope for the best on the RTC's poll, that they don't stack the deck too badly in favor of widening. Given an objective poll, my guess is that voters will say what they did in November 2004 to Measure J when asked if they wanted to widen Highway 1. 57% said NO!

June 6, 2007

At times it seems like every Santa Cruz County resident holds a membership in Spa Fitness. You see their access cards on just about everybody's car keys rings. Of course that's an overstatement.

I've been a member since 1979 (or close to that), when their center was located in the old Safeway/K-Mart complex on 41st Avenue and Highway 1. They have expanded to two new locations on 41st Avenue and to Watsonville since then. The Jenkins family, owners of the business, must be doing something right. Each new "spa" is better, and always staffed with nice people, who seem to stay working there. I know the Jenkins took some flack for raising the annual membership fees to some of the long time members, but they continue to add amenities to their facilities. Every Santa Cruz business could take a lesson from the Jenkins' Spa Fitness Centers.

The latest addition is the new three-story parking garage at the 1100 41st Ave. Spa. I believe it was made necessary because a leased parking lot across the railroad tracks next to the Spa is destined to become a housing development. The garage is well lighted, with wide parking stalls, plenty of accessible spaces, too.

As long as we're talking about positive things, Capitola should be commended for getting housing built next to those railroad tracks. What a concept! New housing next to a rail line! And next to shopping, too! I won't go into what's being proposed to replace the farmer's market parking lot in Santa Cruz. A five story parking garage? We frequently visit the farmer's market in Santa Cruz on Wednesday when we can't wait for the Saturday market at Cabrillo. Now we'll have a place to park in Santa Cruz, but no farmer's market? Am I the only person who doesn't have a problem finding a spot to park in the many Santa Cruz parking lots and garages now?

Very Important Election in Monterey County on Tuesday

By the time you read this, Monterey County residents should know who will be calling the shots in their county for the next 25 years. Will it be those who live there who want a say how their county is developed, or will it be high-rollers from out of town, bent on adding 100,000 new homes over the same period of time. To get a feel for what's at stake here, the Los Angeles Board of Realtors just sent $150,000 to defeat Measure A, the initiative put on the ballot by residents favoring the environment and slow growth. Local TV has been saturated by ads from both sides. Actually, there are four ballot measures for voters to chose from, A, B, C and D. It's pretty easy to decide how this should come out. When KSBW-TV station manager Joseph W. Heston editorializes against measure A and B, and for C and D, it's a no brainer. Vote yes on A and B and no on C and D! We'll know Wednesday morning.

May 30, 2007

Sharon and I have been visiting this part of the 50th state each year since 1985. I actually "visited" there in 1956 as a guest of the United States Navy. We have visited Maui and Kauai as well, but keep returning to Oahu. Also, we keep returning to the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel, a nifty nine story building south of Waikiki Beach, very near Diamond Head. Another draw for us is my brother and his family who live in Waipahu, about 20 miles west of Honolulu.

That brings me to a subject that Santa Cruz County residents can identify with – traffic congestion. For those who haven't experienced rush hour traffic on Oahu's "freeway" system, it's right up with Los Angeles and Washington D.C. areas. But in the late '80s, before the next set of lanes were added to their H1, there was a strong voice for doing a light rail from west Oahu to downtown Honolulu. (The H1 is their east-west freeway from Honolulu to the Waianae coast). The issue never even made the ballot, and was opposed by people who couldn't understand why a rail that didn't stop at their own front door would still be a good investment. So the H1 is now eight to ten lanes wide, and it still grinds along during commute hours at our Highway 1 commute hour pace. Nothing changed, except west Oahu (Ewa area) now grows tract condominiums instead of sugar cane. No more cane on Oahu, and their pineapple industry is losing the battle against sprawl.

All that being said, Hawaii is still a wonderful place. They have two daily newspapers that actually have news in them. They have great little neighborhood restaurants. The people running their hotels and working in them are gracious and actually appreciate our being there. Sharon and I are welcomed back at the New Otani as "Mr. and Mrs. Elerick" by the parking attendants, coffee shop workers and front desk personnel before they even see our check-in information. We'll miss them all until next year, and have to be satisfied with our Israel Kamakamiwo'ole CD's. If you haven't discovered "Iz", check him out on iTunes or your music store.

Watsonville Air Show shows off the military

I was looking forward to being home in time to see the Watsonville Fly-in over Memorial Day weekend. How things have changed. Parking was directed to an area south of the runways, all handled well, but then we followed the taped walkway to the ticket booth, and continued on into the "show". This meant walking through military helicopters, some as large as a small house, Harrier fighter jets, a large Nevada Air Force Reserve cargo plane, all staffed with different uniformed young men. (There may have been young women, but I didn't see any). They were dressed in battle camouflage and were stationed at the helicopter and cargo plane tours, and guarded the runway that attendees needed to cross to reach the rest of the show. Not to be overlooked was a portable refreshment stand right in the middle of the military aircraft display, blaring rock music right out of a Hollywood war movie. Uniformed Navy personnel worked the booth.

None of this went unnoticed by the younger generation. Kids of Boy Scout age could sit in the cockpit of the cargo plane, talk with the "troops", almost a requirement before getting to the rest of the show because they were all there by the entrance from the ticket booth.

How much nicer it would have been to have the P51's and other "antique" aircraft available for kids to touch and feel. Maybe even a WWII vet who actually flew them. The old planes were there, but behind tape barricades. We may have missed the B17, as it was there on Saturday. Message to the Fly-In staff: No more military recruiting at your event or I'm asking for my $10 back!

May 8, 2007

What's wrong with the plan to bring San Jose tourists to the Boardwalk via Santa Cruz Metro Buses on the weekend? This was worked out by our SCMTD – run four Highway 17 Express buses from Diridon Station in San Jose directly to the Boardwalk on weekends. VTA (San Jose) had some concerns but they worked through those. So did our SCMTD. They needed just one more agreement to make it go, that being a dedicated bus lane on Ocean St. in Santa Cruz. They ran into opposition from businesses and residents on Ocean St. that didn't want to give up their Ocean Street parking spaces on Saturday and Sunday. Ask your Convention and Visitors Council why they have a problem with this, because they did, as did other business not wanting to give up their weekend parking spots on Ocean St. Asking people to park around the corner doesn't seem like that much of problem to me. The issue hasn't been before the city council yet, according to Mike Rotkin. It seems like a great idea to me – support local businesses, including the Boardwalk, and keep several hundred cars off Highway 17 and Santa Cruz streets on the weekend. More on transportation – that "Task Force" again

For those who haven't kept up with this, the Transportation Funding Task Force has one official meeting left. But wait! Now it looks like an opinion survey will be done sometime in the near future. This is the same survey that only a few weeks ago, advocates for widening the highway were opposed to, saying it was "too early". Six separate plans were presented at the TFTF meeting on May 1st, with at least half of these plans requested that a survey be done. Why shouldn't the public be asked what they want and what they are willing to pay for? The RTC staff will attempt to consolidate the six plans into something less than that, which might be doable, as some are similar in content. As convener Keeley put it, you still have the "bookends", which would be the Santa Cruz Business Council's plan for widening and zero for rail, and the Campaign for Sensible Transportation's plan, that calls for no widening and solid support for passenger rail. See five of the plans that were presented here. See the Campaign for Sensible Transportation's plan here. Supervisor Beautz made an oral presentation of a transportation plan, but didn't have anything written. However, when asked what her plan for compromise was (her plan didn't include enough funding to complete the widening), she suggested that they go "as far as they could with it", even if it meant only widening the freeway to Capitola! That would just about guarantee that Highway 1 widening will be going on for the next two decades. It looks like the Task Force will indeed get to see the results of an opinion survey before they make a final recommendation, which could take it into two more meetings after the survey is completed.

May 1, 2007

Along with about 700 other paying guests, our Campaign for Sensible Transportation sponsored a table for this event. John Laird has always listened to our ideas for alternative transportation, to the point of suffering the expected bad-mouthing by the Sentinel's editor for not getting more money for widening Highway 1. It was reassuring to hear the applause when John said he would be pushing the Governor to restore the transit funds that apparently have been used elsewhere.

Other than a dreadfully long and hard to follow speech by California State Controller John Chiang, the evening was great. Fred Keeley made an impassioned plea to the audience to sign the petition that would alter current term limits laws. In February of '08, there hopefully will be a ballot measure that would allow state legislators (Assembly and Senate) to serve in either capacity for a total of twelve years. Today's term limits allow a person to serve a maximum of six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate. The change would allow John Laird to continue to run for his Assembly seat for another six years. Without it, he's out of a job in the Assembly at the end of this term.

I signed the petition and urge others to do the same. John Laird's strong leadership in the Assembly for the past six years followed an equally impressive six-year record by Fred Keeley in that role, needs to be continued for another six years.

It was interesting to hear from Keeley that all four candidates for John's Assembly seat, should he be termed out, have all signed the petition to change term limits to allow Laird to stay in office. That would be Bill Monning, Emily Reilly and Barbara Sprenger who were all in attendance at John's event. The fourth candidate, Gary Smith, a CPA from Monterey really hasn't made himself known to many people yet.

No Child Left Behind program, State Testing of little kids not my idea of an education

I look forward to volunteering for a couple hours each Thursday at Mar Vista Elementary School. Of course, the big draw is my grandson, his wonderful teacher, Michael Pushnik, and the 18 other lively 1st graders. But for the past two weeks, I was greeted by a 4 x 8 banner hanging over the sidewalk leading to the office (and main entrance to the school). The sign was large enough that adults had to duck their head to walk under it. It was crime-scene yellow with big, black, block letters announcing: STATE TESTING THIS WEEK, and then in smaller letters, something about being ready to do your best on the testing. What a negative, threatening message for kids to see as the come to school!

If posting such banners is a requirement of No Child Left Behind, that's not good. If the school's administration did it on their own, that's no good either.

On the brighter side, the sign was not there on Saturday at the school's annual Carnival. Maybe the STATE TESTING was complete, or the administration staff got a clue.

April 26, 2007

Democrats better pay attention to what happened to us back in 1994. Republican Bruce Mc Pherson squeezed out a 49.5% to 47.5% victory over Bill Monning in the November election. I'll not go into what happened during the Democratic primary, but for those who remember, it wasn't pretty.

Actually, things got worse than that for the Democrats. In 1996, an incumbent Assemblyman McPherson was elected to the 15th Senate District. There were three serious candidates, Republican McPherson, Democrat Rusty Areias, and Green Party candidate Coffin. Mc Pherson won, with only 47.1% of the vote. Areias took second with 45.8%, 3,608 votes behind McPherson. Coffin got 4.5%, 12,089 votes that could possibly have gone to Areias. That along with the "Democrats for McPherson" gang gave us McPherson for twelve long years. At some time in the future, we'll cover what happened when Democrats developed amnesia and supported a Republican. I know some of my fellow Democrats are still blaming the Green candidate for handing the election to McPherson. Personally, I blame those "Democrats for Mc Pherson".

Now we have another complex situation in the 27th AD. Our own John Laird is scheduled to be termed out of office after this current two-year term in 2008. However, voters may be given a chance to change the term limits law in February of 2008, giving Laird a chance to hold his Assembly job for a while longer. At one time there were five Democrats ready to run for Laird's seat should voters decide not to extend term limits. At last count, three still had their hats in the ring and all three are saying they will not run against Laird if term limits are changed, which is good. They are also all aware that as serious candidates, they can't let the rest of the field get a head start in case term limits stay in effect, and Laird is indeed termed out.

Who am I supporting? Taking nothing away from the other two candidates, the one best qualified is Bill Monning. Click here to see why he's my choice.

April 17, 2007

Efforts by Seacliff residents to get a park for kids are looking better. For those who haven't followed the Seacliff-Needs-A-Park (SNAP) organization that has worked for years to make this happen – lots has happened. The nine-acre parcel at the corner of State Park Drive and McGregor Avenues is actually three separate projects. One third has been developed as affordable housing, the church presently located in Capitola on Depot Hill owns another third – they plan to build a new St. John's Episcopal church on their three acres. One viewer of the drawing of their proposed new structure commented that it's too bad they couldn't move their old church to the new property, as what they are proposing wasn't very pleasing to the eye. The final three acres were bought by South County Housing, the developers of the newly created affordable housing on the property. They plan to sell 1.25 acres to the county and pursue building more affordable housing on the rest. The 1.25 acres are being considered for rezoning to a parks designation, and County Supervisors recently sought Coastal Commission permission to do this, which has apparently been granted. All this sounds like a win-win situation for everybody. The neighbors have a fighting chance for a kid's park, the county has a chance to have more affordable housing, and there will not be a need for a parcel tax, which was defeated by a small margin the last time it was on the ballot.

Actually, the parcel tax would have passed had it not been for a flier to neighbors paid for by the Santa Cruz County Republican Central Committee, and a campaign against the park by one Mr. Phil Trounstine who deserves lots of credit for defeating the park ballot measure. Now if the county can do their part, maybe Mr. Trounstine and the local Repugs will lighten up on a group of parents with little kids who need a safe park. SNAP may still carry the day! We all have Seacliff Beach State Park

Seacliff Beach State Park has to be one of the crown jewels in our state park system. As a matter of fact, its number five on the popularity list of all our state parks. Those of us who use this wonderful facility on a daily basis have a beach walk of about a mile available for a morning stroll. You can meet and greet your neighbors there during the week; it gets more crowded on the weekend. We had the pleasure of meeting our friends there last week. - Wolfgang Rosenberg, Marvin Kaplan and Paul Blue. We enjoyed each other's company, sharing our mutual feelings about the Bush administration. There is nothing as beautiful as a walk along the beach at Seacliff, sharing it with friends and neighbors. That $125 for the annual State Parks pass is the best investment we make.

April 11, 2007

As the Transportation Funding Task Force grinds out their final proposal, it's becoming clear what those favoring a tax to widen Highway 1 want. They will have their "number one priority", the $345 million dollar widening project, on their ballot preference perhaps with two or three other transportation projects. There will be some money for bus transit, and some for road maintenance and repair. The wideners may have enough votes on the task force to have their way. This will fit into their goal of not exceeding a $575 million tax measure. They will propose a 30-year ½ cent sales tax, along with some combination of vehicle registration fee of $15 per automobile, and some type of gasoline tax to pay for it.

Those not wanting to see the highway widened (see today's construction zone at the Highway 1/17 Merge Lanes project) will propose a tax measure that features alternatives. They also favor fixing today's roads and maintaining them. Also on their list will be adding metered on-ramps for today's highway, putting school busses back on the road, pushing ahead with the rail line acquisition, preparing the rail line for passengers and a coastal trail. They also will propose pedestrian/bicycle overpasses for today's highway, and an improved Metro bus system.

But wait. Both of these proposals will require voters to approve a tax measure by a 2/3 majority. There may be other versions of a tax measure proposed too. For those of us who worked to defeat Measure J in 2004, we think the widening proposal is dead on arrival, for a number of reasons. Perhaps any tax measure will suffer the same fate. We know the widening lobby is prepared to pour around $400 million into a campaign to widen Highway 1. That, along with the daily drumbeat for widening by the Sentinel is probably what we're looking at. Regardless of what the results of any poll will be, people are going to see this on the November 2008 ballot.

There also is a possibility that the Transportation Funding Task Force comes up deadlocked, unable to get the 2/3rds majority of the members to agree on anything. That would give the RTC a free hand to put widening on the ballot by itself, something that the majority of them would prefer to see anyway. As a task force member who will be voting for alternatives to widening Highway 1, I'm still concerned that this version of a tax measure will never see the light of day. The decision as to what goes on the ballot will probably not be made before the June meeting of the RTC.

April 4, 2007

We had the honor of attending Manuel Santana's 80th birthday celebration at Jardines De San Juan Restaurant in San Juan Bautista. Just being at Jardines is a treat, but getting to celebrate Manny's 80th with him was something special. The mariachis, the great food and drink, and the spectacular setting were just what a man like Manuel Santana deserved for the event. I couldn't begin to list all the 250 or more attendees, so I won't try. We joined Wally and Lois Trabing at a table, along with Bert and Lois Muhly, Elsie Beltram and her daughter Nan, and others. I asked Wally Trabing what he thought about his previous employer, putting their offices up for sale. Wally authored a great column in the Santa Cruz Sentinel for years. His reply: "I told them they wouldn't be able to survive after I retired, and I was right!" You go, Wally!

Our first awareness of Manuel Santana was on July 31, 1970. That was the day our family completed the move from San Jose to Aptos. We were desperately in need of something to eat, and I remembered seeing this Mexican restaurant nearby in Seacliff. Never having been there, we decided to give it a try. It was a sunny afternoon, the place was packed. My wife Sharon, son Paul and daughter Denise and I were seated at a table next to three of the most fascinating characters I'd even seen. Right away, I knew we'd made the right decision to move to Aptos and have lunch at Manuel's restaurant. We got to know these three gentlemen over the next 36 or so years. They were Manuel Santana, John Tuck and Bruce Bratton.

Transportation funding again. So what's wrong with doing an opinion poll?

The Transportation Funding Task Force continues. We're now looking at meetings into May, as the group sometimes bogs down in repetitive speeches by members who feel it necessary to repeat a point already made. This was the case when the subject of conducting a public opinion poll to determine what voters would be willing to pay to improve transportation in the County. The issue was eventually tabled, i.e. killed, by the pro-Highway 1 widening members. Supervisor Jan Beautz, Santa Cruz Business Council rep Jim Conklin and their followers spoke endlessly about it "being too early to conduct a poll". Too early? The Transportation Funding Task Force would be well served by a valid poll done by a reputable firm. It's clear that the pro-widening group would have a hard time trying to sell a 30-year sales tax that included widening Highway 1 if the survey showed that this didn't have public support.

The RTC chose not to do a post-Measure J defeat poll in November of 2004, for almost the same reason. They didn't want to hear why voters said no to widening Highway 1. They chose instead to coast along with the mixed message that Measure J failed because of having some alternatives to widening in the measure.

March 27, 2007

The things I remember about WWII years as a young boy in elementary school are quite vivid. I remember my parents listening intently to the evening news about "the War". The radio brought things home that were as clear as TV does today, maybe better. Edward R. Murrow and Gabriel Heatter are commentators names that come to mind. I learned a lot about geography from listening to my parents talk about places like Tulagi, the Solomon Islands, and so many other places under the heading of war news, reported so clearly in the evening news from WGN Chicago. We knew what it meant to see a Gold Star emblem in a neighbor's window.

I can still see the dust coming from our teacher's boyfriend's car, as he came tearing down the road to the school we attended. The year had to have been 1945, as he was home for good after serving in the Army. More than our teacher and her soldier shared the emotion of the moment. Every student in that one-room country schoolhouse cheered their long embrace.

What's missing from today's news reporting? Families who have been devastated by sons and daughters being killed in Iraq are suffering in the same way as parents did during WWII. But they have been lied to as to why they have lost their sons and daughters. Sanitized TV clips of camouflaged U.S. troops kicking in doors of pitiful civilian Iraqi shacks somehow doesn't explain or justify over 3,200 dead U.S. troops and thousands more dreadfully maimed. It also has never justified the "shock and awe" of American bombs killing thousands of Iraqi civilians, countless women and children. I am so disgusted with our "war president", who has managed to hijack enough public opinion to continue his "mission".

As mentioned here before, I'm a Netflix customer and have used their library of documentary films to fill in lots of the things I never knew about WWII. How did things happen in Germany that led their citizens to ignore the Holocaust? How could these things have happened in my lifetime? What justified raising sons (probably not daughters then) to go off to war? I recommend watching "Sophie Scholl: The Fatal Days" for a scary view of the past. People were called traitors for opposing Hitler's military ambitions. Very bad things happened to them, from being accused of "not supporting the troops", to being executed.

It's time our elected majority of congress stood up and called this "war against terrorism" just what it is – a big lie, a way to get control of a poor country's oil supply. The same kind of B.S. that was fed to German people prior to justify WWII is headed our way unless congress cuts off the war funds.

March 20, 2007

One member of the public at the last TFTF meeting got everybody's attention by reminding the group that the Task Force was formed to make recommendations to the Regional Transportation Commission. That being said, he pointed out that members of the Regional Transportation Commission who hold positions on the TFTF were making an awful lot of the motions that were being passed. For example, RTC Commissioner, County Supervisor and highway widening advocate Jan Beautz made the motion to include $345 million for the Highway 1 HOV widening project. Jim Conklin, representing the Santa Cruz Business Council seconded the motion and it passed 33-19, a simple majority but not the 2/3rds that will be needed for the final cut. At the last meeting, Supervisor Ellen Pirie and highway widening advocate, also a member of TFTF, made a motion to reduce road repair from the recommended $250 million to $100 million. This also passed, with support from County Public Works, John Presleigh. Considering that Pirie and Beautz, as county supervisors, sign Presleigh's paycheck, he probably made the right decision.

It's becoming clear that getting a 2/3rds majority on a tax measure to be forwarded to the RTC will be difficult. Already another meeting has been added to the schedule for deliberation. It's going to be very difficult for responsible members of the TFTF to make any recommendation when so many unknowns still exist. For example:

• A schematic layout of both HOV and Auxiliary Lanes, shown overlaid with today's four-lane Highway 1 is needed. Some members of the TFTF can accept an eight lane freeway between 41st Avenue to State Park, some cannot, and some don't know that's what is being proposed.
• Current cost estimates are incomplete. No financing costs and mitigation costs are being made available to the Task Force. Perhaps they are not available to anybody, but they should be
• The EIR is another work in progress. The task force is asked to make financial decisions and technical decisions based on guesswork. The EIR is less that half complete, and even that information is not available to the public.

People in high places have reached out to TFTF members and asked them to work hard for a solution that involves compromise. Would you be interested in compromising with an organization whose leaders say that if you don't agree with their highway widening plan, they will do it anyway, taking longer but taking funds from good projects to pay for it?

March 13, 2007

I'm an average Joe User of the Internet and E-Mail, and recently invested in a new PC Desktop. The motivation was to get a new computer and operating system as painlessly as possible.

The only pain involved was the Circuit City sales staff, my first stop. I was lectured on the reason I needed a wall-sized monitor (cost more than the computer), and how the small monitors with built in speakers were no good. After that sage advice, the salesman left to "help another customer", never to come back I left without buying, considered briefly driving over the hill to Fry's, but then went across the freeway to Staples, where two knowledgeable young men helped me within a minute. I left 15 minutes later with just what I wanted, assisted by one of the employees pushing my purchases on a cart, and loading them in my car.

The Junk E-Mail filter that came with new PC was worth any inconvenience of upgrading. My old Spam filter used to catch about half of the garbage that comes across the Internet, the new one gets 98% of it, which means between 150 and 250 unwanted E-Mails go straight to a Junk E-mail folder. Yes, it was Windows Vista Home Premium that came with the package. Well worth the wait, (and no, I don't own any Staples or Microsoft stock ;-))

More news on the Transportation Funding Task Force

With only two deliberation meetings left, there still remains a lot of work to do. The agenda for the next meeting on March 13th is posted here. So far, nothing on Plan Alternative 1, the largest list of options, has been voted down. Two options have been "tabled" for future discussion. As reported in the Sentinel, the biggest surprise is the Coastal Trail Network getting the most votes of the six items address so far, getting 44 votes. At an earlier meeting, Highway 1 HOV lanes (widening) got 33 votes. But just to keep this in perspective, the Coastal Trail Network is a $24 million item, the HOV Lanes widening comes in at $354 million. There are 11 items remaining yet to be even discussed, plus 2 that have been previously tabled. Unless something unexpected happens, we're looking at more than the two remaining scheduled meetings. One of the 11 remaining items is the $333 for Road Maintenance and Repair. See all the glorious (goriest?) details here.

There are still questions to be answered as to the exact number of voting members that will be left on the task force to vote. There have been five formal resignations (from the 83 organizations that were still involved as of March 1st. From the 78 remaining organizations, 13 have not attended any (or very few) of the meetings over the past year and a half. We could see the final number between 65 and 70. This will all be revealed at the RTC's Transportation Policy Workshop on March 17th. The TFTF Staff report is online here.

March 05, 2007

This group met at the Scott's Valley Senior Center for their third deliberation meeting on what a possible transportation tax measure will contain. As a level-set, convener Fred Keeley announced that eight members of the task force will be recommended for removal, mostly due to lack of attendance or their specific request to be removed. They include LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens), Brown Berets, League of Women Voters, and the Rails to Trails Conservancy (not Friends of the Rail Trail). The final decision on these removals will be made at the RTC's Transportation Policy Workshop on March 8th.

So if these members are removed, the new total number of voting members will be 69. Important numbers remember: It takes a simple majority of members present and voting to add an item to the list of approved projects. An unofficial member count at the meeting was 51. Adding the HOV Widening Project to this required only 26 votes – it got 33, not quite the 2/3 majority it will take to get this into a ballot measure.

There will be a full-court press by the widening lobby to raise this number to a 2/3 majority of those present a voting when the final tax measure is crafted. Unless more than 51 of 69 members show up and vote, a full-blown highway widening measure will most likely go to the ballot in November of 2008. Hopefully, as the week unfolds, an official attendance list and updated membership roster will be made public. The most current official task force roster can be viewed here.

Based on today's official task force roster, the highway wideners have the advantage of having so many members who will vote their way. Appointed to the task force by the RTC were:

Eight individuals representing "auto advocates and commuters at large"

Twelve individuals from organizations representing the "business community": The Santa Cruz Association of Realtors, Santa Cruz Business Council, Santa Cruz Visitors and Convention Council, "the land use development community", and also eight members of various Chambers of Commerce within the county.

Three individuals are commissioners from the RTC: Ellen Pirie representing the County of Santa Cruz, Jan Beautz representing the "highway construction authority" and Tony Campos representing the RTC. All three are on record as passionately supporting highway widening.

Three individuals representing "Improvement Associations" and an anti-passenger rail organization who have long been on record as supporting highway widening.

It's going to be nearly impossible to hold off the highway-widening lobby when they have a 26-vote head start. On the other side of the issue, the are possibly 10 organizations who don't support widening but favor a number of alternatives that have yet to play out in the task force deliberations. That leaves the remaining members of the task force in a position to make a difference. My guess, however, is that the majority are in favor of widening.

So far, the task force has only voted on adding $345 million dollars to fully fund widening, and $90 million to expand the bus service. The next meeting is Tuesday, March 6th - 6:30 at the Mid-County Senior Center at 829 Bay Avenue in Capitola. It will be interesting to see how the next items on the list are dealt with. They include the Coastal Trail Network, several passenger rail-related projects, and the big one - $333 million for road maintenance and repairs. Come to the meeting and see what happens.

I'm waiting to see the final version of a tax measure (if and when one is approved and sent to the RTC). On one hand, I think the public will vote down anther measure to widen the highway, and that there is real support to improve transit alternatives in the county. On the down side, if a ballot measure to widen the highway is rejected (again), will the RTC do it anyway, by redirecting funds from good projects to achieve their goal of widening Highway 1? Given today's makeup of the RTC, that's exactly what could happen!

February 26, 2007

Our dear friends and neighbors here in Aptos, Don and Viviane Young, were honored by their family and friends at their 50th Anniversary celebration recently. We were honored to have been invited.

This celebration was wonderful! Don and Viviane have been our neighbors since 1970 and we have had so much in common with them. We've lost count of the number of door hangers we've hung over the years, phone calls and precincts walked.

We worked together on Camacho for Congress campaigns, and then finally got rid of Burt Talcott when Leon Panetta was elected and booted old Burt out the door. Surely everyone remembers Republican Congressman Burt Talcott and his greatest accomplishment, a bill defining a dress code for Congress members. (see BrattonOnline photo 2 weeks ago) I've lost count of the number of political campaigns we've worked on together since then.

The party included a room full of friends and family, a band, a DJ, and a wonderful slide show put together by Don and Viviane's granddaughters, including pictures of their wedding that took place in Paris in 1957. But the best part was seeing Don and Viviane's friends, many who were colleagues of Don's during his Cabrillo faculty days, nice people we have gotten to know over the years. Also many of them we see each week at the farmer's market at Cabrillo on Saturday mornings.

People should consider throwing anniversary parties every year. They're a great excuse to get friends together, play great old music, and swap grandchildren stories. Here's to Don and Viviane – Happy 50th anniversary and many more to you!

Grim way to start 2007

George Bush and his wrecking crew continue to flaunt their power. The 21,500 troops "surge" that the American public is against, has happened. The Iraq Study Group that recommended against this and for withdrawal continues to be ignored. Bush has fired all the generals who opposed him. The Republicans in the Senate have the votes to keep the Iraq issue from being debated. Only a few bits of good news: The House passed a resolution opposing Bush, but it was only an "advisory" one. What good is any advisory bill when Bush has ignored every other legitimate demand to get out of Iraq? Am I the only one who gets angry when anybody who opposes Bush is accused of not "supporting the troops"? Is killing more troops supporting them? Let's support them by bringing them home! Here's a website that we should all keep fresh on our Google list: http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/ The site contains a reality check as to what Bush's Iraq war has meant to families of the thousands who would be alive today if his "mission" had never been launched.

February 20, 2007

Two of the three Santa Cruz County's Regional Transportation Commission's requests for CMIA (Corridor Mobility Improvement Account) funds were rejected out of hand by the California Transportation Commission. This is the money being contended for by every county in California that became available with the passage of Prop 1B last November.

Rejected were funds for auxiliary lanes widening Highway 1 between Soquel Avenue and State Park Drive, with the reason given that they were a poor return on investment. We could also have added that people didn't want them. Good decision by the CTC!

The CTC partially funded the Morrissey to Soquel Avenue widening project. This one-mile extension of the current widening that's going on at Highway 1 and 17 will receive $12.6 million of the $18.1 million needed. The CTC advised Santa Cruz RTC to get the rest of the funds from "other sources". This is another widening project that the public opposed 2-1 at public hearings.

But who can understand the CTC's logic rejecting full funding for a safe intersection at Salinas Road and Highway 1 in Monterey County, just south of the Santa Cruz County border?

Santa Cruz County's RTC should show leadership as a REGIONAL Transportation Commission and ask the state to divert money targeted for the unpopular widening of Highway 1 between Morrissey Blvd. and Soquel Avenues, for funding the badly needed safety improvement in Monterey County. One that affects mostly Santa Cruz County residents traveling in and out of Monterey County.

Transportation Funding Task Force Meeting at Mission Hill School

49 members of the 77 members task force showed up at this meeting, well over the 39 members needed to form a quorum. The meeting resolved two significant issues in the two and one half hour meeting. They were:

1. After lengthy discussion of Santa Cruz Mayor Emily Reilly's attempt to include an alternative to straight yes or no votes on issues (by indicating degrees of agreement on a scale of 1 –5), the task force chose not to do that, and voted to adopt the six procedures recommended by convener Fred Keeley. Leading the opposition to Mayor Reilly's motion was 1st District Supervisor and freeway widening advocate Jan Beautz. 32 of the 49 voting members voted not to consider Mayor Reilly's proposal and to adopt the recommend six procedures.

2. Voting to begin debating issues from the top (Regional) to bottom (Neighborhood) passed by about the same majority with 35 in favor. There were more good reasons presented by members speaking in favor of starting with neighborhood issues, but in the end 35 of 49 voting members said start with regional issues. Speakers favoring this seemed to want to get freeway widening as the first issue of debate. The procedures adopted by the task force are complex, and allow thorough discussion by both sides of the freeway issue. As a task force member representing the Campaign for Sensible Transportation (we oppose widening), this isn't a big deal. Those favoring highway widening will have a hard time selling their program to the group no matter when it's debated, first or last.

One thing this meeting had going for it was venue. Mission Hill School has to be one of the nicest school facilities in the county, besides being easy to get to. The next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 PM on March 1 at Scott's Valley Senior Center, 370 Kings Village Rd. in Scott's Valley. This city doesn't connect with Highway 1 but has its own transportation issues. Getting a quorum there may present a problem.

February 15, 2007

I'll have to admit, my awareness of current popular music has fallen off over the years. Ever since the Eagles, Janis Joplin, and the other great musicians of the 60's and 70's have fallen off the charts, there have been few replacements. However, watching the Grammy Awards show the other night, it was pure delight seeing and listening to the Dixie Chicks. Especially watching them win the Grammy Award for all five categories they had an entry in. For those that missed what has happened to this group over the past three years, they have been boycotted by right wing DJ's for their public statement that "everybody in Texas doesn't support George Bush", or words to that effect. Besides making a gutsy public statement, they are a great singing group. Check 'em out here.

The Bush-loving media

Let's see. So far George Bush has totally ignored the recommendations that his own Iraq study group presented him with. Totally ignored the recommendations of military experts who advised against the "surge" of 21,000 additional troops in Iraq, Totally ignored the results of November's election and countless polls that are for getting the hell out of Iraq.

But the networks and mainstream press keep ignoring what he's doing. They've even taken to rounding off the American casualties to the nearest 100. Do they really think we don't know? Do they really think we're that interested in the sad case of Anna Nicole Smith? When NBC's Brian Williams took off his "Bush" button for his evening news program, it appeared to be a good sign. (Bush button=American flag lapel pin). But somebody must have complained, it's back.

Transportation Funding Task Force – Chapter II

The Sentinel painted a rather gloomy future for the task force in Tuesday's edition. They were focused on the low attendance at the Watsonville meeting a week ago as an indication of lack of interest by members. Could be, but for most members who live north of Watsonville, (and most members DO live closer to Santa Cruz), making a 6:30 meeting on a storm-threatened night a bigger challenge than it probably should have been. It's easy to see what could happen if task force members don't find their way to Mission Hill Jr. High on Thursday evening for the next meeting. There will be a hue and cry by the freeway widening advocates to eliminate task force members who haven't attended enough meetings. Message to task force members: Be at the next set of meetings where the future of transportation in Santa Cruz County may be decided. The meeting starts at 6:30 at Mission Hill Middle School, 425 King Street, Santa Cruz.

February 9, 2007

With Task Force Convener Fred Keeley at the helm, the Transportation Funding Task Force (TFTF) met for the first time in several months on February 6th at Watsonville's Senior Center. An earlier meeting scheduled for January 31st was cancelled because it wasn't announced to the public with 72 hours notice, a Brown Act requirement. There was another problem last night, when enough TFTF members to constitute a forum failed to show up. The meeting went ahead after formal adjournment, with the understanding that no official action could be taken by the group. A quorum would have needed 39 members present. Only 29 were present at 7:00pm, for the meeting that was to have started at 6:30.

The meeting was a review of the Transportation Funding Improvement Plan, an 80-page document that I summarized here last week. RTC Staff and Fred fielded over 20 questions from the audience. Lots of good questions needing answers came up that require research by RTC staff, and will be responded to at future meetings.

It was apparent that members present who favor widening Highway 1 and killing any alternatives like rail will be will trying to have their way with TFTF decisions. Those of us who disagree with them have our work cut out for us.

The remaining meetings will be formatted much like a California Assembly session, according to Fred. Motions addressing the plan will be accepted; they will require 50% of those present and voting to pass. Any member can call for a five-minute break to meet with their allies or whomever they choose. But the requirement of two-thirds approval of the group is required before a plan is finalized and forwarded to the RTC. There will be some interesting discussions as this plays out. If you want to see what's about to happen regarding transportation in Santa Cruz County, you should attend one or more of these public meetings. All meetings will be held from 6:30 to 9:00 pm at the following locations:

February 15 – Mission Hill Middle School, 425 King Street, Santa Cruz
March 1 – Scotts Valley Senior Center, 370 Kings Village Rd, Scots Valley
March 6 – Mid County Senior Center (note location change), 829 Bay Ave, Capitola
March 13 – Temple Beth El, 3055 Porter Gulch Rd, Aptos

Additional Meeting, if needed – location and date yet to be determined The Draft Transportation Funding Plan is available at http://www.tftaskforce.org/plan.htm

February 1, 2007

Those fortunate enough to have attended the January 25th People's Democratic Club meeting heard a fascinating report from Gary Patton and what he's doing with the Planning and Conservation League. PCL is focusing on what will be the results of November's election, and the passing of all five state bond measures, 1A – 1E. Clearly facing the most scrutiny are 1A and 1B, which open up the possibility of billions of dollars for transportation expansion (most of it for freeways), that encourage development to take place, always farther and farther from places of employment.

Global Warming and the passage of AB32 by the legislature is another big issue. AB32 is a law with real teeth in it, meant to curb things leading to global warming. It was carried forward by the Democrats, with the Republicans balking all the way, demanding payback to business and industry to make it less costly to them. When it became apparent that the Dems were going to have their way, the Governor jumped on the bandwagon, claiming AB32 as his own.

Another alert from Gary was that the Governor plans another multi-billion dollar bond ballot measure in 2008. With the 2006 measure sailing through, he's looking at a repeat performance. The governor hopes that people buy into the idea that bond measures are "free money", and not taxes. Where do people think these billions of dollars are coming from?

The fine print on Prop 1E that provided millions to repair and build new levees also has a kicker in it. It builds levees that provide land for future development, and also money to replace the new homes that are destroyed when the levees fail. Does this make sense?

Transportation Funding Task Force moves ahead to the decision-making stage

The entire draft TFTF plan is available now. It's an excellent document, well written by the RTC staff, and lays out options that will be discussed in the next series of task force meetings. Go here to read the details of three plan alternatives, especially the suggested sources of revenue needed to execute the plans:

Plan Alternative 1 (The "Comprehensive Congestion Relief Plan")

Widens the highway, fixes the roads, adds transit, upgrades the rail line, creates a starter passenger rail service and a Coastal Rail Trail. Plus lots more

Cost: 1,260 million

Plan Alternative 2 (The " Moderate Traffic Congestion Relief" plan)

Widens the highway with auxiliary lanes, some odd new freeway intersections, and other goodies from Alternative1.

Cost: $578 Million

Plan Alternative 3 "Dual Option Ballot Measures"

(Actually two plans, 3A and 3B)

Alternative 3A - Highway 1 "Improvements" - Widens the highway with HOV lanes. Nothing else. Fixes no roads, adds no transit, no rail trail, zero for everything else. Just widens the highway.

Cost: $357 Million

Plan Alternative 3B "Congestion Relief and Safe Neighborhoods"- Includes just about everything BUT widening Highway 1. It includes Bus Service Expansion, Park and Ride Lots, Coastal Trail Network, Freight Service Rail upgrades, Starter Passenger Rail, lots of community projects.

READ THE REPORT

Cost: 357 Million

Plans 3A and 3B are referred to as "dueling initiatives", and could possibly be on a ballot head-to-head.

The next set of task force meetings:

• Wednesday, January 31 – Live Oak Senior Center, 1777 Capitola Road at 17th Ave
• Tuesday, February 6 – Watsonville Senior Center, 114 East Fifth Street
• Thursday, February 15 (Please note this date has changed from previous e-mails) – Mission Hill Middle School (auditorium), 425 King Street, Santa Cruz
• Thursday, March 1 – Scott's Valley Senior Center, 370 Kings Village Road
• Tuesday, March 6 – New Brighton Middle School (multipurpose room), 250 Washburn Ave, Capitola
• Tuesday, March 13 (if needed) – Temple Beth El, 3055 Porter Gulch Road, Aptos

January 24, 2007

More of the same from Bush

Just watched/listened to Bush's State of the Union speech. It would have been nice to have at least one surprising piece of good news, not that it was expected. The only message that come out loud and clear: "Iran and Syria are next!" and that we'll still be in Iraq until he's no longer calling the shots, unless the Democrats step up to the plate. Here's hoping they do. Senator Webb from Virginia's rebuttal speech gave us some hope.

Transportation Funding Task Force – Draft report to be released

Fred Keeley has set the next task force meeting for January 31st, 6:30PM at the Live Oak Senior Center. A draft transportation plan composed of three alternatives; a comprehensive approach, a moderate approach and a dual measure approach will be presented to the group. Printed copies of the plan will be made available to task force members at the meeting. This meeting is open to the public. Another meeting called by Fred Keeley, for January 30th, for members of the media, will feature a preview of the plan. Yours truly as a media rep for BrattonOnline plans on being there.

One of the questions that need to come up is what about public opinion surveys. Surveys are critical to decision makers, and even more critical are the questions people are asked. Equally important is who gets to prepare the survey. Reliable sources say that there will be a survey, but who is paying for it, and who is conducting it needs to be made public.

The name of an individual who has a reputation for fighting tax measures came up as the guy who's getting the contract. This is the same person who recently beat back a group of young Seacliff parents and others who were trying to pass a parcel tax for a 1.25-acre park for their children, by just a few votes. Also contributing to the parcel tax defeat was a last minute mailer/hit piece by the Republican Central Committee of Santa Cruz County. If you want to see what these scrooges killed, click here.

PVUSD pot is starting to boil

As predicted here, the PVUSD Superintendent that resigned in a huff last year, has been rehired. Officially, this is only temporary, but Mary Ann Mays has her job back, and don't expect her to be losing it. What was really unnecessary was a closed session, late night decision to do it. The Woolpert-selected board members clearly had the votes to make this happen. What's the point in not putting this on an agenda where people can at least make comments? This is the same resigned superintendent who had a problem with allowing parents to "opt in" about releasing personal student information to military recruiters.

RTC continues to push funding to widen Highway 1

As predicted here, the RTC voted on January 11th to submit requests for funding auxiliary lanes and space for an HOV lane from Santa Cruz to Park Avenue in Capitola. Want to imagine what eight paved lanes will look like if this ever happens? This request will go forward to the California Transportation Commission some time in February, asking for some $60 million dollars from Prop 1B bond money. Lots more money will be needed. Thanks go to Supervisors Mark Stone and Neal Coonerty, Santa Cruz Mayor Emily Reilly, and Capitola representative Dennis Norton for voting against doing it. Also voting no at the January 11th meeting were 25 members of the public, all speaking in opposition, while 5 said it was a good idea. However, as usual, the RTC vote was just the opposite of the public's vote. They voted 8-4 for going ahead, and most of these eight yes votes are willing to consider taking transportation funds from good projects to pay for widening, thus avoiding a ballot tax measure again.

January 17, 2007

Automobiles We Have Loved

One of the best features of BrattonOnline is the weekly photograph, especially when it features old cars. Any old cars from the mid 1960's back to the 1940's and earlier will do. There must be a lot more old car pictures out there. Pictures of parades, beach parking lots, outdoor sporting events just about all include cars. How about poking around in the family albums and sharing them?

As an unabashed car nut, I was hooked at an early age, about 16, living in a small southwest Michigan town about the size of Capitola. THE event of every year was when the new Ford, GM and Chrysler models arrived at the dealer's showroom. The Ford delivery I most remember took place in the evening, sometime in September of 1954. Nothing will ever match the excitement of seeing a bright red 1955 Ford Thunderbird be started and backed off the car carrier. There were other models too, like Ford's Crown Victoria, a somewhat garish chrome-bedecked car with a plastic sun roof, but the T-Bird stole the show. You could always tell a Ford from a Chevy from a Chrysler product, just by looking at it. Today's cars are almost photocopies of the rest, no matter if they are made in the U.S. or Japan. Even a new Mercedes has the profile of a luxury Lexus or GM car.

Currently in the news, Toyota is about to become the largest, most successful automaker in the country, beating out the perennial leader, GM. NBC will be running a series on this subject all week, it will be interesting.

Over the years, the U.S. automobile industry atrophied, starting in about 1970. There have been exceptions, but most cars after the classic 1965-1968 Ford Mustang years, after turning ten years old, were last seen headed for the crusher and recycling. I'm sure they have been reincarnated as Hondas, Toyotas and Nissans. Too bad our GM, Ford and Chrysler designers and manufacturing engineers couldn't keep up. But it's good to know that Toyota has five plants in the United States, probably Honda and Nissan have more.

Remembering MLK

My grandson's father asked him what Martin Luther King did to have a holiday named after him. Keith (my grandson) didn't hesitate a second, and responded with "Martin Luther King showed us how important it is for black people and white people to get along". That was from a six-year-old first-grader, a far better and more prompt answer than I could have come up with. Let's hear it again for Keith's teacher at Mar Vista Elementary, Michael Pushnik, and parents that care about what their son is learning.

A Netflix DVD to put in your queue

For you Netflix fans, check out "WWII: The Lost Color Archives", two great documentary DVD's. Lots of inspirational stuff here, heroic actions, and some grim reminders (sometimes we need them), of the horrible things that happen when countries attack other countries. Two things that stand out: A Nazi newsreel shot of a gloating Adolf Hitler meeting with "his troops" at the Russian front during the summer of 1942, when all was going well for the Germans. The other scene was that of a two-year old Okinawan girl, trembling with fear and from starvation, being comforted by a U.S. Marine near the war's end in early 1945, prior to Hiroshima. Like the song says, "When Will We Ever Learn?"

January 10, 2007

Eight lanes of Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Park Avenue in Capitola!

Yep, that's exactly what the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission wants to do, and will be voting on Thursday, January 11th to request state funding to make it happen. This came to light on Friday, January 5th when their meeting packet was published.

So what happened between the time the RTC planned to ask for funding to extend auxiliary lanes (freeway lanes) from Morrissey Ave. to Soquel Ave and last Friday? A group of non-elected people called the ITAC (Interagency Technical Advisory Committee) and "staff" were directed to come forward with the recommendation to go for widening the highway all the way to Park Ave. You can read the staff report, resolution, and view the proposed project map here.

There are so many flaws in this proposal it's hard to list them all here. But consider:

• The Transportation Funding Task Force headed by Fred Keeley and funding for over a year is just a few weeks of finalizing recommendations to the RTC. These will be based on input by 75 to 100 task force members and hundreds of Santa Cruz County residents. The RTC looks like they are prepared to toss out any recommendations from the task force that don't widen the highway.
• The EIR for the total widening project that the RTC has funded to the tune of $8 million has not been completed, or if it has, not turned over for public review. What if its auxiliary lane (freeway lane) option proves to be undesirable or not workable?
• What about giving the citizens of Capitola a say if they want an eight-lane freeway going through their city?
• What about the businesses, post office and mobile home parks that will be impacted heavily (replaced?) with the freeway expansion?
• What about the fact that Capitola residents rejected Measure J, the freeway widening initiative in 2004? 57.4% of Capitola voters said NO on Measure J.

The RTC will be voting on this at their January 11th meeting. The meeting is scheduled for 9AM at the Santa Cruz City Council Chambers. You should call your county supervisor before then or attend the meeting (they are all on the RTC) and let them know if you agree or disagree.

While it's expected the RTC proponents for highway widening have the votes to pass this resolution, that doesn't mean they're going to have their way. Opponents are meeting regularly to look at different measures that can be taken to steer the county's transportation plan towards a more balanced solution to traffic problems. A one-pony "widen highway 1 or nothing" show can't be allowed to win this race. If you want to get involved, check out the Campaign for Sensible Transportation's website at www.sensibletransportation.org

January 3, 2007

Trains and Trails Symposium on TV

Community TV will be showing a videotape of "Trains and Trails in Santa Cruz County", the symposium that was held on December 14th at Jade Street Park in Capitola. The show times:

1/18/2007 at 11:00 AM
1/19/2007 at 3:00 PM
1/22/2007 at 9:00 AM
1/25/2007 at 8:00 PM

These showings will be on Comcast Channel 25 and Charter Channel 71. And for those who weren't aware (I wasn't until now), Community TV publishes their programming schedule at http://www.communitytv.org/Schedules.html We should take advantage of this tremendous community asset while we can!

Happy New Year 2007?

We can only hope that 2007 brings the end of the U.S. involvement in Iraq. With headlines on the January 1st Mercury-News blaring the number "3,000", we were reminded that nothing George Bush says or does will change this. 3,000 U.S. military personnel have died for Bush's cause. Thousands more have been maimed for life. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens are dead, and for what?

The only difference between this war and Vietnam is that we are prohibited from seeing the coffins that are returned to Andrews AFB. The same devastation to families who expected to see their sons and daughters return home alive, but instead get the worst possible news. Our media leaders should demand access to what's really happening.

There are millions of U.S. citizens who are voting age adults who were not even born during Vietnam. Maybe it's time for the networks to draw out news clips of Vietnam from their archives and remind people of what's really going on?

The Democrats have been given an opportunity to change things. Let's hope the do it, and fast. If they don't, the number 3,000 will only continue to grow larger.

Goodbye to a friend – Paul Sanford

The tragic loss of Paul Sanford has been reported in at least three daily newspapers. Paul was a friend, and a person with incredible energy. Paul served several years on the Democratic Central Committee as Secretary, during the same years I also served on the DCC as its chair. We worked well together, and Paul could always be counted on to do what was needed. In November of 2000, when the election theft in Florida was taking place, Paul took time away from work to go there and volunteer as a vote-count auditor. How frustrating it must have been when the Supreme Court ordered that the recounts be halted and the election be given to Bush.

Paul and I had been scheduling a "cup of coffee" together for several months, but never quite got around to making it happen, something I'll always regret not doing.

December 20, 2006

Rail Symposium fills Capitola's Jade Street Community Center

As noticed in previous columns, this event was an informative session for people interested in rail and trail options in Santa Cruz County. A standing room only crowd of over 250 attendees heard from a panel of six experts in the field of transit, trains and trails. The event was filmed by Community TV and will be broadcast some time after the first of year, after it is edited for TV. I'll find out as soon as the broadcast date is set and publish it in this column.

There were so many pieces of good information exchanged. Assemblymember John Laird did a great job keeping the panel members and questions from the audience on subject. We learned that:

Larger (more coaches) trains could run during morning and evening commute hours. Shorter trains throughout the day.

Passenger rail and bus transit could (and should) be complementary. Bus routes wouldn't have to parallel the train tracks, but could be changed to bring people to and from rail stations.

Anti-rail (pro freeway) people always attack passenger rail as not being self-supporting, requiring "tax-payer subsidies". One panelist's response was "all transit is taxpayer funded". As if the money to widen Highway 1 is coming from another source?

A passenger rail service could generate operating funds by running tourist trains, like an evening dinner train up to Davenport or tourists from all over going to the Boardwalk. It's all a matter of making it happen. This is something that would definitely promote economic development; the business community needs to go public with their support of this.

Anti-rail people have always decried the Federal regulation that requires them to sound their loud horns at every major crossing. This goes away with new technology of quieter alarms that are activated by the crossing guardrail mechanism.

It was interesting to see who attended the symposium, and who didn't show up. New 3rd District Supervisor Neal Coonerty and his new staff person, Linda Wilshusen were there, 1st District Supervisor Jan Beautz' staff member Dave Reetz was there, sitting in for Jan who would have been there if she could have. Regional Transportation Director George Dondero was there, as a member of the panel, as were many RTC staff employees. Scott's Valley City Councilmember Cliff Barret and Santa Cruz City Councilmember Ed Porter were there too.

Cliff Barret's attendance was significant. He was the only member (out of 22) of either the Regional Transportation Commission or the Metro Transit District to attend the symposium. And he's only an alternate member of the RTC! Other electeds and RTC commissioners may have been there, but I didn't see them, and I looked.

Our county spends big bucks sending staff and electeds to Sacramento and other places to lobby for more freeways. Why couldn't the RTC and Transit District been better represented at the symposium? They should all have been there to learn something about rails and trails. What are they afraid of? At least five times the number of people attended the rails symposium than attended any of the Highway 1 "widening education" meetings.

People were encouraged to find out that Monterey County has plans to turn the Pajaro Station into a rail hub, with connections to Gilroy, San Jose, Salinas and just about everywhere, and that's planned for 2010. A passenger rail service between Santa Cruz and Pajaro Station should be considered as another reason for the County to purchase Union Pacific's rail line.

The success of passenger rail, rails-with-trails, and other rail transit systems that are available today are too numerous to list here. Be sure to watch this excellent symposium on Community TV and hear about them.

Holiday Greetings!

It's great to have a way to wish you and yours a very happy holiday season. Thanks to all of you for the nice comments about Bratton Online and Elerick's Input, and for spreading the word that it's out there. Stay safe and healthy over the holidays and enjoy. We're taking the next week off too!

December 13, 2006

Supervisors get it right

At last week's Board of Supervisors meeting, Norm Hagen was appointed to the SC Metro District Board of Directors. The vote was 3-2, not exactly a landslide, with Supervisors Pirie and Beautz supporting Pirie's candidate William J. Comfort. Last week I commented on why Mr. Comfort wouldn't be a good fit for this job, consistently speaking out against alternative transportation, especially the rail line purchase. The appointee to this position will most likely be the Metro District's representative to the Regional Transportation Commission, the agency that is negotiating for the purchase of the rail line. Congratulations to Norm Hagen and the three supervisors who voted for him, Mardi Wormhoudt, Tony Campos and Mark Stone.

Mardi's Great Party

As briefly announced in the Sentinel (small picture with caption), Mardi Wormhoudt's friends and family celebrated her "retirement" from the Board of Supervisors with a great event at the Attic in Santa Cruz. The Sentinel reported over 300 attendees in the brief caption under the photograph of Mardi. One of the attendees was Sentinel Editor Tom Honig. Tom, you could've written a great story about this party yourself! It could have replaced your daily Highway 1/17 Merge Lanes highway widening report.

Lapel pins with a picture of Wonder Woman, complete with flashing light were handed out at the check-in table! Lots of captivating events took place, including Fred Keeley's return of prized bowling shirt to Mardi as a gift. He was wearing it to begin with, but had to strip down to a tank-top undershirt and briefs to get the famous bowling shirt off. Fred has never appeared so underdressed in public! Gary Patton held the audience in awe with his words of what working with Mardi (and others in Santa Cruz) has meant to him, and what we all are indebted to Mardi for. John Laird was at his best as M.C. Events like this need to happen more often (but not necessarily just when people leave office.)

Auxiliary Lanes (highway widening to you and me)

The Campaign for Sensible Transportation members continue to be asked by people on the street: "Why are "they" going ahead with widening Highway 1 after we voted it down back in 2004?" "They", the Regional Transportation Commission, are doing exactly that, by requesting $11 million dollars of Prop 1B funds from the State to extend Highway 1 "auxiliary lanes' widening from La Fonda to Soquel Ave. It looks like another trip to Sacramento to oppose this will be required, whenever the California Transportation Commission decides to hold their prioritization meeting.

Rail and Trail Symposium – last minute reminder
Thursday, December 14th at 440 Jade Street in Capitola
(Jade St. Park Community Center)
Music and social 1/2 hour starts at 6:00 PM. Program from 6:30 to 8:30
Knowledgeable and entertaining speakers on subjects of rails, trails and transit.
Moderated by Assemblymember John Laird
Admission: FREE (donations welcome)

December 6, 2006

Why Final election results absentees are late

Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin gave the People's Democratic Club a nuts-and-bolts rundown on this years tallying of the November 7th election. Gail and her team did an excellent job that was made even harder by the introduction of touch-screen voting machines, requiring extra auditing for these votes. To the system's credit, they all passed the audits, but required extra time and effort to make sure everything was above the board. Good job! On the other hand, we used to see election results a lot faster on election night. We pay a price for "compliance" with the Help America Vote Act, that insures that people with disabilities can vote independently, as with the touch screen ballots. You have to be happy with our local elections department. They are the best.

But then again, you have to wonder why 18,000 votes were lost on touch screen ballots in Florida this year, in the same precincts that the infamous Kathryn Harris managed to steer Florida into the Bush column back in 2000. I'm still looking for a way to be supportive of touch-screen voting. Meanwhile, I'll continue to vote by mail, something everybody should seriously look at doing. Excellence in Teaching at PVUSD

Our youngest grandson is a first-grader at Mar Vista Elementary School in Aptos, the same school our son and daughter attended. He has had excellent teachers, both in kindergarten and now in first grade, but it's his current first grade teacher that has him totally excited about learning. The teacher's name is Michael Pushnik. He has Keith reading books and doing math with enthusiasm, even his little homework assignments. And somehow he finds time to introduce his students to music and art. Mr. Pushnik is an accomplished accordion and piano player. He plays music in classes for singalongs. He teaches 1st graders concepts of geometric shapes like spheres and cylinders, and the students just eat it up!

Maybe I'll comment in a future column on just what George Bush's "No Child Left Behind" has really done to our public schools. For now, lets all say thanks to the Michael Pushniks's of the teaching profession.

Board of Supervisors transportation politics

Again, the County Board of Supervisors has an opportunity to appoint a member of the public to the Santa Cruz Metro Transit Board, an action that will take place before you read this column. They are filling the position held by Mike Keogh, who is resigning at the end of this month, and will be for the period of one year, the time left on Keogh's term.

This is a major appointment and there are contenders for it. Most of the background of this can be found on the Supervisors online packet, Item 50. Two of the three candidates are known to be knowledgeable about county transit issues and supportive of the rail line purchase. These are Norm Hagen, nominated by Supervisor Campos, Jim Rapoza, nominated by Supervisors Stone. Then there is Supervisor Pirie's candidate, Jim Comfort, also knowledgeable about county transportation issues. But Comfort has been an outspoken opponent of rail transit and the rail purchase. He is also a strong advocate for widening Highway 1. The person getting this appointment to the Metro District Board will also get a SCMTD seat (and vote) on the County Regional Transportation Commission! Let's hope the right decision is made, and either Hagen or Rapoza get the appointment.

November 29, 2006

Environmental Organizations hold a Summit Meeting

Some of you may have attended this daylong "Environmental Organizations Collaboration Summit". It was a well-planned full day meeting called by Ecology Action. An incredible turnout of about 90 people representing Santa Cruz County Environmental organizations. Unfortunately, this meeting was held on the same day that the PRT Symposium was held, which also attracted about 90 people.

A summary report will be available to attendees in December. The facilitators prepared a wall-sized time line chart showing key accomplishments in the environmental community, up to today. Attendees were welcomed and asked to add any missing items. By noon the entire wall chart was filled up with accomplishments, hundreds of them. Impressive. An example of what one person, Paul Mc Grath, brought to the meeting was his car-pool coordinating RideSpring website. It's best understood by checking it out here

There are many car pool programs around, but this one is the best I've seen. If people used the empty space in cars by sharing rides, we wouldn't need to build more freeways or widen the ones already built, and here's one way to make that happen.

One Ear to the Tracks, A Symposium on Rail Transportation for Santa Cruz County

Keeping on the same subject matter, symposiums mark your calendars for December 14, 6:30PM for this event at Jade Street Center in Capitola. With Caltrain and Amtrak both scheduled to stop in Pajaro by 2010, it seemed to a diverse group of advocates for rails, trails, and sensible transportation that Santa Cruz County residents could benefit by knowing more about rail transportation. The event will be moderated by Assemblymember John Laird, and will include experts from around the United States presenting different options for train and trail systems.

Speakers include:

• Mike Hart, successful owner of Sierra Railroad, will address the freight and recreation potential of the corridor.
• Michael Jones, principal author of the authoritative guide to rail with trail facilities in the United States, will discuss the feasibility of placing a trail adjacent to the existing rail line.
• Bill Burgel, vice president of rail operations of HDR Consulting in Portland, Oregon, will speak on practical application of electric light rail and trolley systems for the Santa Cruz corridor.
• David Nelson, of the Transportation Research Board, will speak on the use of light DMU vehicles to provide affordable rail transit in smaller metro areas.
• Debbie Hale, Director of the Monterey County Transportation Commission, will speak on their plans to turn Pajaro into a rail Hub with connections to Caltrain and Amtrak.
• George Dondero, Director of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission will speak on efforts to acquire the Union Pacific right of way and planning for the rail trail.

If you can help publicize the event, would like to become a sponsor, or to receive more information, contact Micah Posner at 425-0665 or micah@peoplepowersc.org

November 22, 2006

Tim Fitzmaurice for Santa Cruz Man of the Decade!

Nobody comes even close to Tim. If there were a contest for Man of the Decade in Santa Cruz, Tim would win. For pure consistency in progressive values, it's Tim. For standing up for the Metro employees during their strike for fairness, it was Tim. For opposing the ill-advised beach-area plan, Tim led the way to a win. For speaking out against the repeal of rent control at De Anza mobile home park in the face of a Chicago-based landlord with deep pockets, and most importantly for carrying the ball for so many who supported Measure G, to increase the minimum wage in Santa Cruz, it was Tim.

Tim Fitzmaurice was the perpetual whipping boy of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, along with the other two council members who were elected with him in 1998. It's pretty amazing how the Sentinel writers blame Tim's "no" vote on the Coast Hotel expansion as having killing the project. They must have forgotten that the City Council approved the project by a 4-3 majority vote, and Santa Cruz spoke back with a successful petition campaign to put the issue on the ballot after which the developers withdrew their plan. The Sentinel carried their grudge to the last minute in Sunday's edition with a front page headline blaring that "Left Of The Left" was leaving the Council, and a final low blow headlining him as being "against economic growth". How about a headline complementing him for defending neighborhood quality of life? He was there for the west-side neighbors who stood to have a massive Coast Hotel expansion change their lives forever. He spoke out against what would happen to the lower income residents of Clear View Court when a massive Coast Hotel parking garage threatened their access to sunshine, – forever.

We again pay the price for term limits. Tim, we wish you the best, we're going to miss you!

Is "affordable housing" really affordable?

The latest battle over land use appears to be the need to rezone a 14 acre piece of property in Aptos to accommodate housing instead of it's current designation, Parks and Recreation. All this to accommodate a "state mandate" for counties to set aside a certain amount of acreage for affordable housing – or else! There are similarities to the push to develop the former Par 3 Golf Course at the intersection of Highway 1 and State Park Drive, and the push to build a larger Coast Hotel. The people that live nearby already are immersed in traffic, and don't want to have their afternoon sun blocked forever with multi-story condos.

The biggest deception of all is to imply that these condos will be "affordable". Since when are half-million dollar dwellings affordable by people needing a break on housing costs? It appears that this is another state government "mandate" being pushed by the California Home Builders Association and their allies, along with our friend State Senator Don Perata. Remember him? He led the way to reapportion the 11th State Senate District to make sure the Central Coast (i.e. Santa Cruz) didn't get a chance to be represented by one of us in the State Senate.

What's the penalty if the County Supervisors just vote "no thank you"? The threat of noncompliance is that the state will withhold funding for "affordable housing". How much does that funding reduce the cost of a two-bedroom condo facing Highway 1?

Not much, I'll bet.

November 15, 2006

The Voters Have Spoken

Mostly good news, some GREAT news on the national elections. Locally, we have a new County Superintendent of Schools, brought about by an excellent candidate and a hard-working campaign team. All but one of the Santa Cruz City ballot measures passed. Unfortunately, the one that failed was Measure G, the Minimum Wage Initiative. One can only wonder how the No on G gang convinced the voters of Santa Cruz that paying a fair minimum wage is bad. Several reasons come to mind:

• The state passed a minimum wage increase already, to be effective in January. A good move by our electeds in Sacramento. Maybe people thought that was enough?
• The Democrats at the Federal level are talking about a nation-wide minimum wage increase. With the change in Congress, that will probably happen too.
• No on G's intimidating ads and signs, threatening loss of small businesses and the jobs that go with them. How would you like to go to work everyday, and see a No on G sign in your employer's place of business with that message?
• It's going to be hard to not shop at businesses that joined the No on G gang. The owners are all decent people, I'm sure. They just happened to blow it on this one.

The anti-minimum wage people need to learn from history. Remember when restaurant and bar owners all said they would go out of business if smoking were banned in their establishments? We all know what happened there – business increased and employees were happier and healthier.

The other local Santa Cruz measures passed, which was good news.

Do Doorhangers and GOTV postcards really work?

There are still hundreds of provisional and absentee ballots to be counted, so with a few close races (Watsonville and Capitola City Council, Santa Cruz Port District), local results won't be known for sure until later this month. Preliminary analysis of over 50 candidates and measures shows that over 80% of them that made the Progressive Coalition's doorhanger and postcard came up winners. This in spite of what happened in PVUSD's school board election. See next paragraph:

The Woolpert School of Governance wins in PVUSD

Each of the candidates endorsed and financed by Bruce Woolpert's Committee for Good School Governance won election in PVUSD. His committee now has the votes to rehire Mary Ann Mays, former Superintendent of PVUSD, who quit in a huff a few months ago because of "meddling" by school district trustees.

What comes next? A Committee for Good City Government? County Government?

November 6, 2006 The Day Before Election Day

An interesting political tactic being used by the Anti-Minimum Wage Initiative (No on G) campaign has been to surround themselves on the mailers and doorhangers with "Democrats". The most flagrant of these was their LOBA/No on G sponsored doorhanger with a few top-of-the-ticket Democrats. (Limited to Feinstein, Farr, Laird, and Garamendi) along with their city council candidates and a few local and state ballot measures.

Any Big D Democrat worth a toot would pick up on this being phony. Why?

The omission of Debra Bowen for Secretary of State. Fatal flaw, as any good Democrat knows this is the most important office on the ticket, with the Governor's office looking like it's staying with Arnold. The good-old-boys-for-McPherson made sure Bowen stayed off their doorhanger.

What does "Sources: Democratic Women's Club of Santa Cruz County, LOBA, and the California Democratic Party" really mean? You can bet the CA Democratic Party doesn't have an endorsement for the No on G 'ers.

Regarding the Democratic Party, this is the party that historically stands for good wages, and raising the minimum wage is what Democrats have always been about. Some local business-owning "democrats" are trying to mislead us again. If low paid workers can't get the support from the Democratic Party, then whom do they go to?

And then there's the situation with the Democratic Women's Club of Santa Cruz County. Checking with reliable sources in the DWC, I learned they had "nothing to do with the No on G doorhanger", nor had they contributed one cent to their cause. They did, however admit that the DWC officially voted to oppose Measure G. Message to DWC members: Hello?? What were you thinking?

Where's the outrage from the DWC rank and file? Where's the outrage from the California Democratic Party? At least one citizen, Paul Ortiz, was mad enough to ask that his letter protesting the misrepresentation of the Democratic Party be forwarded to Congressman Sam Farr. You can read it here at the Santa Cruz Democratic Party's Yahoo Listserve. (You may have to sign up to become a free member of the group). The letter is also appended at the end of this article.

It will be interesting to see what happens in this election. There is so much at stake here. I'm betting that most of the progressive measures and candidates will win. Yes on Measure G will prevail and our lowest paid workers will come closer to a fair wage and can continue to live here. Debra Bowen will be our new Secretary of State and we won't have Mc Pherson's pre-programmed voting machines making sure we never win another election.

Letter to Democrats on its way to Congressman Sam Farr

November 5, 2006

Dear Congressman Farr, (Sam)

Hello Sam, we have met on several occasions. I am a professor at UCSC. You met with my colleagues Profs. Dana Frank, David Sweet and I two years ago to conference about US policies vis-à-vis Central America.

I am writing to alert you to the fact that your name (as well as the name of John Laird) is being used on an election door hanger by political forces who are fighting against the Santa Cruz minimum wage measure (Measure G) which appears on the November 7th ballot. The door hanger contains lots of text and I will excerpt here the relevant sections. (I would be happy to provide a copy of this door hanger to you.)

The text of the door hanger begins as follows: "Santa Cruz Voter Guide: Democrats & Locally Owned Businesses Recommend....Sam Farr....John Laird...No on G, Protect Locally-Owned Businesses." At the bottom of the flier the text reads: "Sources include Democratic Women's Club of Santa Cruz County, Locally Owned Businesses, and California Democratic Party."

I know that you will be shocked to learn that the California Democratic Party is opposed to increasing the minimum wage and I know that you will be dismayed to learn that your name is being used by people who want to defeat this ordinance. Of course, we both know that the California Democratic Party had nothing to do with this flier and that they are being cynically misused here by the dishonest individuals who funded and created this door hanger.

If the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce is opposed to Measure G they have every right to create an election door hanger to support their position. However, local Democrats who are opposed to increasing the minimum wage have no right to hoodwink the public into thinking that the California Democratic Party supports their reactionary position.

This situation is disturbing to me because I still believe in the image and reality of the New Deal Democrats, the party that used to stand on the side of the working class. This door hanger places the Democrats on the side of reactionary politics and places Santa Cruz Democrats to the right of the national Democratic Party! The door hanger represents the kind of cynicism and corruption which has turned so many citizens in our society against politics in recent years. We already knew the Republican Party is opposed to raising the minimum wage. Now the Democrats are too?

In Santa Cruz there are some employers who are forcing their employees to attend captive-audience meetings where they are being "educated" (forced) to declare their allegiance to voting against Measure G. (I can provide more information about this if you'd like.) I ask you Congressman Farr: is this the kind of politics that the Democratic Party now represents? If so, I fear that Santa Cruz will once again, in the not too distant future, go back into the "Republican column."

I sincerely hope that the California Democratic Party will have the integrity to take proactive measures to distance itself from the fringe elements who created this door hanger. In addition, I believe that if there are elected Democratic officials behind this mailer they should not receive the endorsement of the Democratic Party in future campaigns. They are free to run as Republicans, Independents, Greens, or Libertarians.

I am frequently asked to endorse local Democrats for political office. I am afraid that until this door hanger situation is cleared up I cannot and will not endorse Democratic candidates for office in the future. I cannot allow my name or reputation as a progressive activist to be associated with a political party that opposes raising the minimum wage.

I hope to hear from you soon and would be happy to provide you with additional information. Please do not allow the Democratic Party to be associated with such Bush League tactics (please excuse the pun!)

Respectfully Yours,

Paul Ortiz, Ph.D.
1675 River Street,
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
[electronic signature]

CC: John Laird, State Assembly, 27th AD

November 1, 2006

Words that I will never use again.

Let's start with the word "embed". This has been co-opted by the Bush administration to describe certain news reporters in Iraq who travel with the military. "Embedded" means they have made an agreement with the administration to have what pictures they may have taken, or news stories they have written, be approved by a government censor.

101 Americans died in Iraq during the month of October. We're looking at 3,000 dead sons and daughters by the end of November, along with tens of thousands of Iraqi people who have died since the Bush "mission" in Iraq began. We can only hope for a better Congress after next Tuesday.

The Election

By all the "experts" predictions, this will be another low voter turnout election. But statewide, there are many local issues that could make the "experts" wrong. Our county is an example. Many of us are working on local campaigns. At the end of this article, I've listed the campaigns that I'm familiar enough with to recommend how people should vote.

If you're on the same page with most of these, and want to make a difference next Tuesday, here's a chance to be involved. Show up at SEIU's office at 517 Mission St. in Santa Cruz on Thursday, November 2nd at 10:00AM. Volunteers will be assembling the Progressive Coalition's doorhanger/voter guide that contains just about the same recommendations printed here. Call Glen Schaller at 331-4824 and let him know you'll be there. Glen's email is glenschaller@baymoon.com. If you would like to do more, like walking the doorhanger prior to Election Day, let Glen know.

Here are my recommendations for next Tuesday:

Cruz County Superintendent of Schools - Michael Watkins
Santa Cruz City Council - Bruce Van Allen

Santa Cruz City Measures - Yes on All

State Ballot Measures

State and Federal Representatives

Phil Angelides - Governor
John Garamendi - Lt. Governor

Debra Bowen - Secretary of State
John Chiang - Controller

Bill Lockyer - Treasurer
Jerry Brown - Attorney General

Cruz Bustamante - Insurance Commissioner
Betty Yee - Board of Equalization

Voting Absentee? Ballots are Due by 8 PM, Tuesday, Nov 7 Postmarks Don't Count

Don't mail your ballot after Friday, Nov 3

Where to take your absentee ballot: Weekdays through Nov 7
8 AM to 5 PM
Watsonville City Hall
215 Union St, 2nd Floor, Watsonville

County Elections Office
701 Ocean St, 2nd Floor, Santa Cruz
Sat & Sun Nov 4 & 5
9 AM to 5 PM

Watsonville City Hall
215 Union St, 2nd Floor, Watsonville

County Elections Office
701 Ocean St, 2nd Floor, Santa Cruz
Any Time through Nov 7

Drive-up convenience White Drop Box at the County Building
Outside Entrance, 701 Ocean St, Santa Cruz

Election Day Tue, Nov 7 Any Polling place
Polls Open 7 AM to 8 PM
For Assistance, Call the County Elections Office, 454-2060

October 25, 2006

Internet mischief or a criminal act
The local Democratic Party had their website hacked quite cleverly over a week ago, very likely by a member of the local Republican Party. The SC Good Times, the Sentinel and the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian reported this in detail, so this isn't new news. The news to me is that there hasn't been an outpouring of outrage by their readers! Are people just becoming used to being beaten by Republican dirty tricks?

People seem to accept this as something that is OK! Well, it isn't. Consider that fact that this was an overt act to falsely direct volunteers to work for the local Democratic Party to a bogus website and to get Democrats to vote for Republican candidates. We wish the District Attorney's office success in determining that a crime was committed.

For those that missed the above mentioned news coverage, the Santa Cruz County Democratic Central Committee's website was "spoofed" by dishonest people who faked a similar website, but included information on Republican Party candidates. The phony website was tracked and determined to be owned by a member of the local Republican Party. Go get 'em, District Attorney's office!

More tricks on the local scene
What happened at the UCSC city council endorsement forum? Invitations to candidates went out by email on a Friday for a forum on the following Sunday. All of two days notice. Meanwhile, Bruce Van Allen had left on that Friday to attend an ailing parent in Oregon, and never saw the invitation until he returned on Monday to find he had missed the forum and a chance to be endorsed. Just about every legitimate candidate forum has always provided the courtesy of two weeks notice, so what's with the two days, UCSC?

On Golden Parachutes
Another shocker slipped to us in the Sentinel last week was the contract that has been offered to outgoing County Superintendent of Schools Diane Siri. You can read what the Sentinel report has to say here. What needs explaining is why a retiring Superintendent needs to have a contract for anything, without a specific justification by the new Superintendent! You would think a retiring county employee who has been drawing a $140,000 salary for years, could afford to do some consulting gratis if indeed it was asked for.

More details on the Siri retirement contract have been reported to include consulting on "district reorganization". Could this be another run at an "Aptos Unified School District"?

October 18, 2006

There are a few things that stand out on both of these transportation initiatives. 1A seems to lock gasoline sales tax revenues forevermore into placing transportation as the number one priority in the state. This sounds like the familiar mantra of our local Regional Transportation Commission: "Widening Highway 1 is our highest priority". Even in the event of economic recessions, natural disasters, or if people just get tired of building wider freeways, we could be locked into 1A. Proposition 1B, 1A's companion on the ballot goes into more detail about what the $20 billion dollars will be spent on. Please note all the same buzzwords our local Measure J promoters used in 2004 when this highway widening tax fell flat with the voters. Here they are, directly from the 1B's text:

(In Millions)

Congestion Reduction, Highway and Local Road Improvements              $11,250

Reduce congestion on state highways and major access routes             $4,500
Increase highways, roads, and transit capacity                          $2,000
Improve local roads                                                     $2,000
Enhance State Route 99 capacity, safety, and operations                 $1,000
Provide grants for locally funded transportation projects               $1,000
Rehabilitate and improve operation of state highways & local roads        $750

 
Public Transportation                                                   $4,000

Improve local rail and transit services, including purchasing
vehicles and right of way                                               $3,600
Improve intercity rail, including purchasing railcars and locomotives     $400
 

Goods Movement and Air Quality                                          $3,200

Improve movement of goods on state highways and rail system,
 and in ports                                                           $2,000
Reduce emissions from goods movement activities 1,000
Retrofit and replace school buses 200

 
Safety and Security                                                     $1,475

Improve security and facilitate disaster response of transit systems    $1,000
Provide grants to improve railroad crossing safety                        $250
Provide grants to seismically retrofit local bridges and overpasses       $125
Provide grants to improve security and disaster planning in publicly
owned ports, harbors, and ferry facilities                                $100

There may be some highway projects in the state that make sense; probably most of these are in Southern California. These initiatives carry enough clout that even the Sierra Club has not taken a position for or against them.

More that half of a $20 billion dollar bond measure for freeway expansion isn't the right balance. It should be the other way around, with the majority of the bond money going to Public Transportation. Maybe that way, there would be money to start work on the high-speed rail between northern and southern California, a project that was purposely left out of 1B.

October 11, 2006

Against my better judgment, I tuned in the debate between Arnold and Phil Angelides, our Democratic flag-bearer for Governor. Actually, Angelides did a good job. It's a shame that the Democrats don't seem to get behind him, like the Republicans do for Arnold. Arnold's "George W. Bush" TV spot with Bush smirking in the background, was good for awhile, but now it's time promote Angelides. Just bashing Bush isn't going to win it. It's still not too late to send Arnold back to the movie sets.

More on that Committee for Good School Governance

In an earlier comment here in Bratton Online, I took issue with the "Committee for Good School Governance" headed up by Granite Rock CEO Bruce Woolpert. One issue was that I couldn't find a website for them. Well, now they have one. It's http://www.schoolgovernance.com . People need to check this thing out. The Governance Committee is comprised of 16 high-powered members. You'll find them listed on the website. As best I can tell, there are 11 Republicans, 3 Democrats, and two that are not registered to vote in Santa Cruz County. Nine list job titles of CEO, Executive Director or President, two list credentials as Supervisor, two as business owners, and one as Civic Leader. You can form your own opinion of this group. But the one thing that stands out here is they will have plenty of funding for school board candidates that they want to see elected.

I tend to question whether we need them. At one time they had County Superintendent of Schools Diane Siri as a member, but no longer. Perhaps Diane figured out she didn't need them either.

One of Woolpert's claims to fame is his success in mastering the Baldridge Award process at his company. What I remember about Baldridge is that it pushed measurements and goals, to the point of pain. Endless meetings, dreadful organizational infighting. The company I worked for, for 30 years, pushed Baldridge to the max in the '80s, and even got awards. But somewhere along the line they forgot to stay in touch with what their customers wanted. That division is now owned by Hitachi, thriving on the same industry that my ex-company gave up on.

Couldn't we do better than have our students just learn how to pass exams, to meet our measurement goals to keep the State off our backs? How about teaching our kids to learn how to think for themselves, develop a love for reading, creative writing, and math?

October 5, 2006

The latest ploy by the Regional Transportation Commission to promote Highway 1 widening is to publicize it as a "done deal". See what they are promoting here This follows three "open houses" at various places in the county that were staffed by polished consultants showing off wall-sized maps and bar charts. The one I attended seemed designed to convince people that Highway 1 widening was a foregone conclusion. It's hard to understand who's paying for all these shows. It could be part of the $8 million dollars allocated to do the environmental studies that are required before the project ever gets approved. Or it could be covered by existing funds that should be directed to fixing our streets.

The pro-widening majority on the RTC and their supporters are busy trying to come up with a way to pay for widening. Those opposing their efforts are concerned that they will succeed in promoting a tax measure that pays for non-widening items, while leaving existing RTC funds wide open and available for widening the highway. Of course, the Transportation Funding Task Force will have something to say about all this, but will they listen?

It's important that people keep informed about what the RTC is up to. They have a schedule laid out to widen the highway all the way to Soquel Ave, and then on to San Andreas Rd. They have also come up with a new term for widening – "auxiliary lanes". This option was on display at their open houses. What this really means is widening the highway (as it was rejected with the defeat of Measure J) but without any changes to the interchanges. Another lane of freeway traffic at 41st Avenue with today's interchange is almost a joke if they weren't serious about it.

A friend from Aptos who also attended the open house was as irate as I was. She's going to "vote no" on any proposal for transportation tax measures, including Measure 1B on November's ballot, since there's no guarantee that if it passes, Santa Cruz County's RTC won't turn it over to the highway wideners. I have to agree with her!

And again!

Another piece of the overall plan to widen the highway is known as the Highway 1 Soquel Ave/Morrissey Auxiliary Lane Project. Again, it's being promoted as a "done deal" on the website. Check it out, along with the amazing photograph of the current Highway 1/17 Merge Lanes devastation, as if it were something we want to see extended! This is another project that is not funded. Widening opponents from People Power and the Campaign for Sensible Transportation took the train to Sacramento to testify at a Caltrans hearing earlier this year. They requested Caltrans not fund the project, and had a letter read at a subsequent Caltrans meeting in Fresno stating their opposition to this stealthy approach to highway widening. Caltrans agreed by not funding the project, but it's still being shown by the RTC as if it were set to go.

September 27, 2006

Often referred to as "the Doorhanger", this get-out-the-vote effort has usually been contentious enough to generate several look-alikes in the past. An exception was 2005, when just about all political activist organizations teamed up to defeat Arnold's propositions. It has not always been that way.

There have been separate doorhangers for a Hotel Tax Initiative (remember Q, T, O, and W?), various Council Candidates and County Supervisor doorhangers (Mathews, Kennedy, and Coonerty), Green Party at least in 2000, when Nader ran, and probably others. But the real deal continues to be the countywide Progressive Coalition doorhanger, usually with 3 or more versions and put out by the Progressive Coalition, whose core members are Labor and Progressive Democratic Clubs. This GOTV effort has mostly always received the backing of elected Democrats, state and federal because it carries their names and the Democratic ticket.

However, local squabbles usually mean multiple doorhangers. While this November's doorhanger content has not been set, expect more than one doorhanger. Perhaps in Santa Cruz, and perhaps in Watsonville, but for different reasons. Watsonville has a new group of young activists, and a large number of ballot measures and candidates. They may choose to do a city doorhanger to emphasize these. There may be candidates in Santa Cruz who don't make the final cut on the Progressive Coalition's doorhanger, and as in the past, they will do their own.

The Democrats (with a big D) tend to stay away from the countywide doorhanger if it doesn't include every Democrat on the ballot. Sen. Feinstein is their prime example of why they stay out of the coalition. Diane doesn't always make the cut. Also she never, ever has sent any financial support for the doorhanger, unlike Sam Farr who has always been on it, and helped with the funding. Then too, there were major disagreements when Gore was not at the top. (Nobody was).

The Business Community Doorhanger in 2002

The Business Community (read Convention and Visitor's Bureau) got the support of the local Democratic Party for the Hotel Tax back in 2002. Some Big D Democrats campaigned against fellow Democrat Dennis Norton when he ran for reelection as Capitola City Councilman. Dennis voted no on the Hotel Tax because his constituents didn't support more hotel promotion in their city. Dennis won his election by just ONE vote in 2002, and the Hotel Tax failed miserably in Capitola.

It will be interesting to see how the business community fares this year on their opposition to Measure G, the Minimum Wage Initiative. Any bets on another Business Community doorhanger opposing Measure G and supporting candidates for the City Council in Santa Cruz that oppose G also?

September 20, 2006

The "moderates" point of view

It's interesting to see how local endorsements play out for November's election. Take the race for Santa Cruz City Council. Incumbents Mike Rotkin and Cynthia Mathews have done well with the much more conservative Democratic Women's Club. They along with newcomer Lynn Robinson received enough votes from 92 voting members to be endorsed. The swing factor was the DWC's massive absentee voting population, reportedly accounting for two-thirds of the 92 votes. The DWC failed to endorse the only woman running for Capitola City Council, which also is hard to understand. The DWC failed to take a position on Measure G, the Minimum Wage Initiative.

The "somewhere in the middle" view

The Democratic Central Committee was not quite as generous with their endorsement. Only Mathews was endorsed. They also failed to take a position on the Minimum Wage initiative. They did endorse the progressive school board candidates, and stuck with the recommendation of "no endorsement" for a corporate sponsored Democrat in PVUSD's trustee area 7 election.

The "Progressives"

At the joint People's Democratic Club, Green Party, and SCAN endorsement forum, candidate Bruce Van Allen was endorsed by all three organizations, by large margins. The Greens also endorsed Christopher Cobb and Simba Kenyatta. These three were the only candidates to support Measure G.

Earlier, the Pajaro Valley Caesar Chavez Democratic Club endorsed Van Allen. Previously SEIU 415 and the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council endorsed him. Mike Rotkin also was endorsed by SEIU.

Measure G (minimum wage) is the most revealing of endorsements (or lack thereof). The two incumbent candidates for City Council are Democrats and are opposed to Measure G. The only reason given at a forum is that the proponents of Measure G should have "talked with them more before submitting their initiative to the voters".

Measure G should be championed by all Democratic organizations. Who besides the Democrats would be expected to defend a higher minimum wage? The Santa Cruz Green Party is there for the workers, as is organized Labor, SCAN, PDC and PVCCDC. What happened to the Democratic Central Committee and the two Democrat City Council members, (and Democrat candidate Robinson) who don't support Measure G?

All endorsements are not in yet. It will be interesting to see the final tally of endorsements and how they stack up after the November election.

September 13, 2006

The Committee for Good School Governance, led by Bruce Woolpert, president and CEO of Graniterock Company is really flexing its muscles in the PVUSD School Board election coming up. They have probably spent over $7,000 in local ads announcing their existence, and meet regularly to plan the election of their slate of candidates. These candidates will have taken the Committee's "oath", describing what they will have to do in return for support of "the Committee"

Reliable sources say that at least three of the four PVUSD Trustee candidates running for election will be endorsed by the Woolpert committee. These three will most likely be:

• Libby Wilson
• Leslie L. DeRose
• Kim Turley

By the time you read this, these three candidates for PVUSD Board of Trustees will probably have signed the Committee's oath of allegiance at Graniterock Headquarters.

So who makes up this Committee? Some of the sixteen members (current or prior) are:

• Former Watsonville Police Chief and Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ray Belgard
• Farm Bureau Executive Director Jess Brown
• Rocky Franich, President of Marty Franich Ford
• Doug Kaplan, cofounder of Lomak Property Group and a former Pajaro trustee
• Retired Aptos Fire Chief and Aptos Chamber of Commerce president Gary Smith
• Elia Vasquez, a farmer and Farm Bureau activist.

Another "civil activist" group called "Community Oversight for Student Achievement" led by former PVUSD Trustee Jane Barr is reportedly represented at Woolpert's committee meetings by none other than - Jane Barr! Jane's self-appointed mission is to see former PVUSD Superintendent Mary Ann Mays rehired. Ms. Mays quit in a huff a few months ago, complaining about "micro managing" by certain Trustees.

What would happen if any of the 1,200 PVUSD teachers and other employees of the District would do something as unprofessional as throwing a hissy-fit and resigning while under contract? Rehire would not be one of the options!

We'll be looking closely at campaign contribution reports when they are published. Of course, that will be after the election for final reports.

With all the money at these two committee's disposal, you would think they could afford a website. If they have one, somebody please email me where to find it! More on this subject as it unfolds.

September 5, 2006

Last week a man was shot and accidentally killed by a hunting companion near Cabrillo College while attempting to kill a wild pig. Our condolences go to his family, and to the companion who now must live with this the rest of his life. Much has been written about this in both local daily newspapers, but they have failed to explain why Fish and Game, in such a populated area, issued a hunting permit. Do the hunters need to pass a proficiency test? Do they really need to use .45 caliber pistols? Does Fish and Game have proper knowledge of the area they say it's OK to hunt in?

PVUSD School Board

Four seats are up for election to the PVUSD's Board of Trustees in November. Three of the four feature an incumbent running for reelection. Area 1's incumbent is not running.

Something new has been added to this local election. Two "civil activist" groups, the Committee for Good School Governance, led by Bruce Woolpert, president and CEO of Granite Rock Company and Community Oversight for Student Achievement, led by Jane Barr, have surfaced. Well, "surfaced" may be the wrong word. But at least one is well funded. Expect them to choose a slate of candidates to support. I hope one of them is Area 1 candidate, David Wright, who I'm supporting.

August 30, 2006

During the past few days, we have been saturated with:

1. The saga of a mentally ill man, longing for attention, confessing to the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, a crime he probably didn't commit.

2. The story about Pluto no longer being defined as a planet.

3. Locally, a few pro-development people are mad at their newly elected 3rd District Supervisor for hiring staff members they don't like.

Meanwhile, thousands of Americans and Iraqis continue to die. How many and who are they? Go here and see their names and how many are dying. These are the thousands who have returned home in coffins. The filming of these returning coffins is not covered at all by our corporate media because the Bush people say no. The media should have the guts to make this happen. They should also be required to run a front page biography, every day, of every casualty of Bush's adventure to promote "freedom and democracy".

More on those important candidate forums:

The People's Democratic Club held an early candidates forum on August 24th. Following candidate presentations, the Club endorsed:

1. Capitola City Council: Sam Storey and Maureen O'Malley-Moore
2. Soquel Creek Water District: Bruce Jaffe and Don Hoernschemeyer
3. Measure H - City of Santa Cruz Sales Tax Replacement: YES
4. Measure K - City of Santa Cruz Adult Marijuana Criminal Offenses - Lowest Law Enforcement Priority Initiative: YES

Assemblymember John Laird will moderate the forum. Sponsoring organizations will caucus after the forum to vote on whom they want to endorse.

August 23, 2006

It's easy enough to take what we have for granted. But we shouldn't. Every time I drive past the Porter-Sesnon property, now part of New Brighton State Park located between Highway 1 and the ocean, I'm amazed. There is absolutely NOTHING except open space. No buildings, paved trails, not even fences. Which is exactly what most people wanted back in 1988 when they voted to reject Wingspread. Wingspread proponents said we needed the "revenue" to keep the County solvent, that we needed the sports fields that were thrown into the pot. Well, it's 2006, and the County is still functioning, quite well thank you, and without the massive Wingspread development.

City Council elections coming up

It's also easy to say County residents shouldn't be concerned with what City residents vote on. We can't vote on City issues, so why be concerned?

One reason is that we're all in this together. Citizens throughout the County, including voters in Santa Cruz, Capitola and Watsonville led the fight to preserve the above-mentioned Porter-Sesnon property. The same thing took place in 2004 when a countywide committee was formed to stop Measure J, that would have wasted half a billion dollars to widen Highway 1. An excellent rule of thumb for supporting candidates running in jurisdictions that you can't vote in? Pretty simple. Would you want to see a Coast Hotel in Seacliff or Opal Cliffs neighborhoods? A paved "bike path" across the Porter Sesnon park property? A multi-story parking garage in Aptos Village?

One or more city council members will have seats on various County commissions and boards, including the Regional Transportation Commission and the Metro Transit District. Will they support improving transit, or throw in with the Highway wideners? Will they demand that future development pays its own way? Support those candidates who come closest to your vision for Santa Cruz County's future.

The latest on what's happening with the Santa Cruz Action Network.

Several long-time SCAN members who felt there is still a place in Santa Cruz for true progressive community members to have a voice, met at London Nelson back on July 18th. Following a potluck/social hour, those members present approved a revised set of bylaws, and elected a new steering committee. It was also decided to hold an endorsement meeting for local Santa Cruz issues, including city council and ballot initiatives, and possibly other elections. If you want to promote Progressive Politics in Santa Cruz County, you're invited to renew your membership or join SCAN. Here's how:

August 16, 2006

Dear Bratton Column Readers,

Paul Elerick

Transportation Funding Task Force

Why am I pleasantly surprised? The make-up of the Task Force is front-loaded with advocates for widening the highway. For example, members include the paid consultant of the Santa Cruz Business Council, a major supporter of Measure J, the highway widening initiative, and the City of Watsonville's representative (an employee of Granite Construction)! Task Force members who favor widening the highway are, generally, in line to make some money off this. Those Task Force members who favor alternatives, generally, know that widening 1 will not solve anything. Task Force membership list is posted here. [note: this is a link to a pdf file]

People attending the public workshops, including Task Force members, are saying, "Fix the roads!" and "Enforce traffic laws", "Improve the bus system". Go to the website and read over 500 individuals comments for yourself. Widening the highway is only mentioned in a few of the written responses.

Funding for continuing the Task Force was approved (unanimously) by the RTC at their August meeting. This went unreported in the Sentinel. Instead they chose to feature a front-page picture of an obsolete 5-engine diesel freight train, under a caption that implied passenger rail was coming our way.

Hopefully there will be additional meetings scheduled by Mr. Keeley, with perhaps a different format than the first series of meetings. Several Task Force members have asked to be "educated" on just what is possible in the way of funding for transportation projects. As a member of the Task Force, I'm optimistic that this work will result in something we can all be proud of. And it won't include adding another lane to Highway 1!

I would urge readers of this column to stay tuned to future Task Force announcements and become involved. The alternative to becoming involved is more highway widening like the three-year disaster called the Highway 1-17 Merge Lanes Project.

The Highway 1-17 Merge Lanes project is a three-year construction effort that supposedly will make this intersection of two state highways safer. Considering the fact that this project does nothing at all to fix the "fishhook" curve, it is really a misuse of $54 million dollars that should have been allocated to fixing our County's roads. Take for examples Amesti Road in South County that has been closed for 10 years due to a slide, and El Rancho Drive in North County that has been washed out for about the same amount of time.