For those of us in Montara, Moss Beach, and El Granada, the Board of Supervisors is our city council. Unfortunately—because supervisors are elected at-large and there are only five seats on the board—the interests of the Coastside are poorly represented, if at all, on the board.
If you live in Half Moon Bay, the quality of your life is greatly affected by the way the county manages planning, parks, public works, and other issues on the Midcoast. April would make Half Moon Bay a better place to live as well.
April Vargas supports district elections for the board, something you won’t hear from any of the current incumbents.
In the meantime, the issues of the Coastside are barely recognized by the current board. It would be refreshing to hear the needs of Coastside residents acknowledged by the Board of Supervisors.
April is a longtime community activist who played an important role in making the Devil’s Slide Tunnel a reality. She’s a major presence in our community, and she has been involved in county issues for more than a decade. I know that when I attend a Board of Supervisors, Coastal Commission, or community meeting, I’m more likely to see April there than anyone else. April has worked tirelessly to improve our local environment, and was an early advocate for Barack Obama’s candidacy for president.
April Vargas is an ideal candidate for the Board of Supervisors, and an ideal representative of the Coastside.
Read original editorial...
Submitted by Ian Butler
25 comments:
I like April personally, but she's had a few "dings" along the way that make me wary of recommending a vote for her:
#1 - The endorsement of the San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee was shrouded in controversy. April Vargas received the endorsement only because a proxy voter, who had been instructed to cast their vote for Horsley, voted for April Vargas instead. If that committee or April had any sense of fair play, they should have done the honorable thing and accepted to recount. You know, like the Democrats pouted about in 2000.
#2 - In her endorsement from the Sierra Club, they state:
"Vargas has been meeting people driving around the county in her truck while her main opponent, former Sheriff Don Horsley, is on television with costly ads"
which brings to mind Scott Brown and Martha Coakley . . . of course it was Republican Scott Brown who was touted as driving around in a truck while Democrat Martha Coakly was on TV with costly ads and lost a Senate seat that had been held by a Kennedy for 50 years.
#3 - April Vargas refuses to take a stand on the Sharp Park Golf Course, and it seems she is deeply entrenched in the Brent Plater/Ian Butler "Restore Sharp Park/Remove the Golf Course" club, while Horsley has been instrumental in trying to preserve the course.
April Vargas is a solid coastside activist, but we've seen the damage that has been done to the economies and infrastructures of the San Mateo coast by the people who support her.
P.S. if you live in Half Moon Bay, the quality of your life took a sharp turn for the worse when "coastside activists" tried to jerk around the owner of the Beachwood property.
I would also be interested to hear what these "interests and needs" of the Coastside are, and how they would not be met by other candidates, and exactly what is being ignored by the current Board of Supervisors.
"a proxy voter, who had been instructed to cast their vote for Horsley, voted for April Vargas instead."
Untrue, as Bruce Balshone pointed out in the SM Daily Journal:
"Mann concedes her alternate, Ray Satorre, was free to vote as he wished although she believes it tipped the scale toward Vargas. Satorre said Mann never gave him any direction but that he voted for Vargas because she is the best candidate."
http://smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=129693&title=Democrat%20asks%20for@20endorsement%20re-do
Ian, the Central Democratic endorsement is a popularity contest anyhow, candidates just load-up the hall with their friends, and pay the fee for that day. Been there, done that.
April has been an activist, but has zero prior political office experience. How about if she gets elected to Half Moon Bay city council first? Voting regionally would make sense on a candidate election cost basis, but "at large with regional representation" is a more global perspective. Either way the region #3 supervisor vote is 1-5 (each region being 1 vote).
And, how would April make a representational difference? With our city council we already have our "environment is our economy" and we all see how that's working out: volunteerism without pay (including you), collapsing city infrastructure. To maintain the low inadequate city structural level, citizens are making-up the difference through taxes and fees, the city has taken on more debt, more services are degraded or cut-- what kind of balanced economic solution is that? From the view of this centrist citizen the existing city council approach to governance is nonsense.
As Jeff mentioned April can't even support Sharp Park Golf course which is an important part of recreation for our citizens (even though not you personally). And, the golf course concessions do pay sales taxes which benefit this city. The golf course pays the 27th highest incoming business tax revenue, which is another example of how weak sales taxes are in this city.
You say the coastside needs are barely recognized by the Board of Supervisors. Isn't that because the coastside has gone way out of its way to be a failed economy? In Pacifica its frogs and snakes paradise on land that is proudly left unproductive. Don't fix our highway, don't build commerce here, don't build our fair share of houses here-- don't improve anything. With the current city council we are the city of NO. The city of Half Moon Bay has struggled with similar issues, but their land is productive by contrast.
There has been some development on unincorporated county land. Princeton Harbor looks pretty good, but there are lots of houses dotting the landscape without what looks like a real plan.
Your view of what's good for this area is probably the very different from mine. From my view this city and coastside should have a thriving economy to pay the overhead for taking care of the environment. This city council (your friends) have probably assured that can never happen. Nevertheless, you're a very likable, pretty neat guy in your own right. Also, the Wavelength forums are thoughtful and interesting. Next one is Monday 5/24, 6:30 PM, Channel 26, www.pct26.com.
Ian,
from the same article:
"Mann, who was unable to attend because of a trip, said her alternate did not vote for Horsley as she wished."
and
"Although the disagreement between Mann and Burruto is a technicality over the understanding of the rules, the dust-up shines light on an endorsement process which Horsley believes was slanted from the beginning and which those queried said concerns democracy.
Horsley feels the endorsement subcommittee which conducted oral interviews and collected written questionnaires was stacked against him because a number of members had already backed Vargas.
“I didn’t think that was a very fair process. I thought whoever interviewed us should be neutral rather than already partisan,” Horsley said.
The subcommittee recommended Vargas to the whole committee which then voted.
---->
While there may have been a miscommunication between Mann and Sartore, it is implied (and I confirmed through my connections) that Mann had asked Sartore to vote for Horsley. The endorsement process was rather unusual, so once again you cast the "untrue" card out of context.
Honestly, if you're the voice of April Vargas, you merely underscore her faults, and not her strengths.
You also have your pal Kathy Jana on Riptide, and other Vargas supporters on Half Moon Bay Review, throwing out the "double dipping" accusation against Horsley, which is patently false.
Really, my hope is that April Vargas can run an honest campaign on her merits and ideas, but that seems a rather bankrupt notion to you, Brent Plater, Scott Boyd, the Sierra Club, the San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee, and the inflexible coastal "preservationists" who continue to contribute to the financial demise of coastal cities.
Ahh the bloodsport of coastal politics, where you can win elections by lying about sewer spills and phantom cash reserves, on false platitudes like "our environment is our economy", or by telling the Sierra Club one thing and SAMCAR something else . . . I truly miss it.
Of course, as usual, Ian nitpicks the semantics of a minor point of contention and refuses to answer my more important question:
I would also be interested to hear what these "interests and needs" of the Coastside are, and how they would not be met by other candidates, and exactly what is being ignored by the current Board of Supervisors.
False promises and bullshit is how you win a campaign!
What about the Dejarnatt Doggy park has that opened yet?
"Interests and needs"? Don't we know what those are? Isn't that what we're getting a lot of now, or is there some other way to gain more grant improvements monies. The Mori Point GGNRA obtained $2 million "stimulus money" to build a ground level wooden bridge over a seldom used road on their private property for snakes to travel under. One snake was sunning himself on that bridge last time a friend was there. Another great use of tax payer money.
Talk to yourself much?
Try words and thoughts other Anonymous. As Truth Police says "where's the doggy park?", what are the interests and needs?
What sucks is it is going to be the greem mexican vs. the entrenched buerocrat meaning a vote for the other more worthy candidates is wasted.
Let me explain why I, The Wandering Blunderer, believe that a vote for April Vargas is a vote NOT wasted:
1. April comes before May and after March in my Hallmark Datebook.
2. April claims she has visited Ian's secret waterfall -- if you know what I mean...
3. Pretty sure that if cannibalized by Curtis or Bray, she would induce severe food allergies.
4. Worked for 5 years as Zombie Rockaway Sue's spelling consultant.
5. Likes to talk trash to Lionel Emde.
6. Wants to make Sharp Park Golf Course the "missing link"
7. 4 words: OUR ENVIRONMENT IS OUR ECONOMY!Oops, that's five!?! What? Nevermind...
8. Believes Cecelia Quick is the greatest legal mind since Doug Llewelyn.
9. Supports my dream of utilizing abandoned electric golf carts from the closed SPGC as a county wide eco- transit solution (note, the newly christened "Burritomobiles" will be priced to sell at the Maybury-Vargas Motors franchise to be located in the People's Quarry).
10. Two words: Don Whoresly. 'nuff said...
Nothing but adolescent personal attacks again. Pathetic. Fix Pacifica is meaningless and irrelevant.
And you're Anonymous as you should be. Thanks for the fun, Wandering!
well it has been 4 days now and no cogent response from Ian Butler, who apparently has learned well from the Brent Plater school of how to make vague and unsubstantial accusations with no basis in fact, allow the emotion of the accusation to linger in the minds of the general public, then completely back off when challenged to clarify or explain his position further.
I like April Vargas and her commitment to supporting local issues is admirable, but she needs better mouth pieces than the Sierra Club and Ian Butler to have a shred of credibility if elected.
April Vargas represents more "open space" which brings in more non-existence economy for Pacifica. And Sharp Park Golf Course "open space" which does make money for this city she couldn't support. Duh.
Don Horsley is a man of common sense, and has an extensive County "can do" track record, and he's a great guy too.
As the Dalai Lama once said, or was it Rocket J. Squirrel, "Never get in a pissing match with a bipolar schizophrenic narcissist with too much free time and a full bladder!"
So you admit you can't answer those 3 simple questions on behalf of April Vargas, even though they are the reasons you state people should vote for her.
"...bipolar schizophrenic narcissist with too much free time and a full bladder!"
Ian, is that why your "secret waterfall" is yellow?
"Never get in a pissing match with a bipolar schizophrenic narcissist with too much free time and a full bladder!"
Is this from the same Ian Butler who is always so quick to accuse people of name-calling and calls for us all to just get along? Oh my.
Hypocrisy is the act of persistently professing beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that are inconsistent with one's actions. Hypocrisy is thus a kind of lie. Hypocrisy, thy name is Ian.
My email to April Vargas asking her stance on keeping Sharp Park Golf course open:
Hello Ms. Vargas, what is your stance on keeping Sharp Park Golf Course open? As you may know, this course is a great asset to Pacifica and San Mateo County. It is currently under siege from some environmental groups for closure. Although being owned and operated by San Francisco, many rounds each year are played by Pacifica & San Mateo Couty residents. Seniors, men, women, high school and youth golf teams and people of all races enjoy this great course.
Recently, several improvments have been made by the gardening crew at Sharp Park. There are now no mow areas sorounding Laguna Salada. Also, Preservation Area signs have been installed on the shores of Laguna Salada asking golfers to stay out. This will help keep the sensitive habitat areas of the Red Legged Frog and SF Garter Snake in tact.
Lastly, a fence has been installed along the levee to help keep people and their dogs from entring these sensitive areas.
With these improvements, and the new groudskeeper working hard to restore Sharp Park Golf Course to a better and more beautiful golf course, many more generations of golfers can enjoy this masterpeice of Alistar Makenzie.
I look forward to your reply,
Butch Larroche
Lifelong Pacifica resident & Sharp Park Golf Club Tournament Director.
Her response thus far after 24 hours:
Butch,
Maybe she is consulting with Ian for a weak and pithy response completely lacking substance?
"Never get in a pissing match with a bipolar schizophrenic narcissist with too much free time and a full bladder!"
Its funny cuz its true!
Butch:
She'll get back to you as soon as she makes the turn. Heard she was tearing it up on the front. Almost reached the par 5 in two except her approach deflected off some type of endangered rodent or another. Too bad! She completely covered the pin on that frozen rope of a 5 wood. Who's the real victim here?
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