Wednesday, September 17, 2014

City Council candidate positions on some city issues, 2014


I'm not coming to Pacifica next, for real
Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop/Staff, 9/16/14.  "Election 2014, City Council candidates voice their opinions. Seven candidates vie for three seats on November ballot."

Vote for fixing Main Street, forget no street
Candidates:  John Keener, Victor Spano, Eric Ruchames, Sue Digre, Matt Dougherty, Therese Dyer, Mike O'Neill.

Questions include:  City budget cuts, new city General Plan, City's role in Highway 1 widening, describe yourself.

Knock your self out.  The Q&A article is long, with no filtered comparisons or analysis.   Read article.

Related Smart voter, list of candidates with some information.

Note: photographs:  "Toronto Mayor Rob Ford withdraws re-election bid", article from ABC 7, 9/12/14.  Happy election candidate supporters from Orange Juice Blog. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rob Ford needs to winter in Pacifica and bring his own unique brand of crazy to council meetings. Stand back, way back, council heads could explode.

Anonymous said...

I dunno, but Robbo doesn't look like an our environment is our economy kind of guy. Might have trouble fitting in although the thought of him as a "guest Mayor" makes me smile.

The Great Kreskin said...

You got to love Keener. Now he's saying the highway widening will most likely be completed? Wasn't his whole platform geared to stop it?

Ruchames still not giving up much.

Spano is in favor of public hearings on widening.

Digre? I don't know what she's talking about.

Anonymous said...

Rob Ford already lives in Pacifica, think about it!

Mark Twain said...

LOL 227 that's funny. But we don't know that he does crack.

Anonymous said...

227 Accept no substitutes. That's a Faux Rob Ford, a weigh-a-like imposter.

Anonymous said...

Kreskin, Keener didn't say the widening will likely be completed. Read it again.

Hutch said...

Keener said " All the council can do now is adopt the plan as is and request $55 million funding from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, which they will certainly accept"

Pretty strong statement.

Then he goes on with an unlikely weak statement almost an afterthought:

"or alternatively, reject the plan all together"

He goes on to say "I'm against widening because I don't think it'll work"

Well john you must be correct. I mean with the Phd and all, jeez what are all these traffic engineers, highway planners, light synchronization experts, school boards, businesses, firemen, police, council members, commuters, judges thinking? This guy has a Phd!

John I think you should do a petition.

Even John Keener knows which is more likely to happen.

Anonymous said...

Victor Spano said: I support opponents of highway widening legal rights to gain redress and relief in the courts. I disagree with the current council in not granting even one public hearing process that the Highway One alternatives folks advocated for. I believe we can have an improvement project that everyone can live with and not etch anything in stone that anyone can't live with. What we have now on the table from Caltrans troubles many, and that troubles me. I support improvement, and that contains a bag of things that includes widening, but widening is not my favorite choice to address the situation. How can commuters and emergency responders get through better at all times of day? Widening may or may not be the only answer.

Eric Ruchames said: I believe rather than focusing on hyperbole and political spin, the City Council needs to correctly frame the question: Is this about traffic tie-ups and fire/police access issues during commute hours or is it about a fear of fostering development in the Quarry, one of the last remaining developable parcels in Pacifica?
Much like the Devil's Slide tunnels project success, let's stop the endless lawsuits, false statements, and posturing. It’s time to focus on facts and come to a logical decision that we can all be proud of as a community.

Matt Dougherty said: I think there are a variety of alternatives that the city has not looked into yet and I believe the alternatives will be of much greater value to our city and its people. I would like to test inexpensive alternatives first and see how effective they are in solving our traffic troubles. If we find the best solution is to widen the freeway, I want to make sure that we are only increasing the width enough for two lanes and not simply pushing the bottleneck further north. I also want to alter the plan to reflect Pacifica's long term goals. Pacifica has the opportunity to ask questions, discuss possible solutions, implement real changes, and see what our community thinks of the plan. Something needs to be done to fix the traffic problem, but I know we can do a better job of listening to our residents and the local Rockaway and Vallemar businesses that are along the highway in that area. There may be other solutions that are less costly and would be more successful for our city to implement.

Now who ya gonna vote for?

todd bray said...

Not Spano, too bureaucratic. Not Ruchames, too cop-py. Dougherty... I'd have to meet him first. But I will be voting for Sue and John, absolutely.

Anonymous said...

Big surprise Todd. Your support is just what Keener needs. Don't you have some businesses to harass?

Anonymous said...

1002 Look ma! Victor's wearing a weather vane on his head. This article is hilarious. How many Spanos are running? The one in the article sure doesn't sound like the one given the big build-up on here as pro-widening. Hilarious. Oh, he's a keeper. Read for content and you find Keener's still against widening and disapproves of the way council has handled this. Ruchames sure can keep a secret. Maybe he should just keep his views a secret, permanently. Dougherty wants to do a class project. Who's left? Oh, Big Mike, Sue and Therese. I suspect Big Mike is still big, Sue still says no and Therese is, well, she's Therese. Great days ahead in Pacifica, you betcha!

Anonymous said...

Kreskin, give yer turban a twist. It's too tight.

Anonymous said...

Keener is the same old same old as the last green candidate the gang of no ran up for city council. He was beat like a drum.

Anonymous said...

1058 You mean Campbell who came in 35 votes behind Spano? Both of whom came in 1300 votes behind O'Neill. Spano, Campbell and Mondfrans all got beat like a drum, but why speak truth when you've got your fertilizer to spread?

Kathy Meeh said...

1002, its unlikely municipalities would hold related public meetings during a lawsuit. I'm 99% sure of that. After 10 years, the public meetings, research studies, and funding sources are in place. The "alternatives" are more NIMBY delay mythology with no funding. If "alternatives" were such a great idea, why were they not addressed in the prior 20 years? Time to move forward.

And improving traffic flow through the Rockaway, Vallemar bottleneck can only help, not hinder, traffic flow on highway 1 north and south.

Todd 10:23 thanks! Your city council candidate endorsements should produce great results for both Victor Spano (expertise in city economic development), and Eric Ruchames (who may support some progress in this city).

Sue Digre represents the insufficient past. She's against both highway widening (current comments and actions), and against quarry development (example Measure L, 2006). John Keener, ditto ideology. He's against-highway widening, and has zero comment on needed city economic development. More failed NIMBY ideology that has financially sunk this city. This city doesn't need more self-inflicted neglect and damage. And why some of you continue on this destructive path which affects all the people of this city is beyond reasonable comprehension.

Anonymous said...

This is what we've been reduced to? These are the best choices? How sad is that? We're pinning our severely lowered expectations on a guy who was actually a small, routine cog in Daly City's bureaucracy and a former Pacifica cop with deep appreciation for, and ties to, unions, pensions and city workers. Spano appears to have trouble even picking a message to stay on and Ruchames either can't or won't say what he thinks. Yeah! I'm in.

Anonymous said...

What are you talking about?! Ruchames wants to leverage all viewpoints, bring all stakeholders to the table, and... and... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Anonymous said...

@1208 He's gonna build us some consensus. Him and old Mary Ann sharin' a brain.

Anonymous said...

Anyone who votes for Ruchames ought to have their head examined. What are you voting for? It certainly isn't for his positions because he has none. Zilch. Nada.

The man's campaign has been to... incredibly... not take a position on a single issue. And people will vote for him!!!

So what is it... the slick website? The star-spangled signs? His awesome 'stache? Someone..
ANYONE... tell me why you're voting for this empty suit.

Anonymous said...

Spano is the Mitt Romney of Pacifica, flip-flopping with such ease he makes a gymnast jealous. "What are you for? Yeah, I'm for that too!"

Ruchames is spineless and you might as well vote for a pet rock for all he stands for (nothing).

O'Neill is playing the "don't blame me, I've only been here for two years" card which is some really, really weak ass leadership. C ya Mike. Maybe go back to that school board you name drop every chance you get.

Anonymous said...

consensus LOL

Ruchames is for a chemical weapons factory being built at the quarry for all we know.

"i will win this campaign by never giving the voters a reason to vote for me or against me"

great path to victory, champ.

Kathy Meeh said...

112, 121, 129, and the city council candidates you support are????

Who are these "perfect" candidates??? Its okay, you can tell us.

Anonymous said...

Kathy, c'mon, it's not a nimby conspiracy when posters comment on the poor field of candidates. Personable, organized? Are you kidding? Some of us just will not rally round a mediocre candidate for the sake of saying "I'm not a nimby". Purely for the sake of argument, there isn't one among the lot who won't turn 21st Century style nimby once elected--other than Therese Dyer and I'd pay to see anyone attempt that conversion. Yeah, I know, if these candidates aren't good enough, we should run ourselves. Sad state of things in Pacifica.

Anonymous said...

He may lead our town down the crapper, but he'll do it with personality and a cool website!

This is what voting has come to in P-town. We're doomed.

Little old button pusher said...

Fee Fye Fo Fum, I smell a disgruntled Financing City Services Task Force member. Could one of the more accomplished pedigreed members be "in the house"? Why disgruntled? Because Measure V was an Utter Failure! Why havent any of the Financing City Services Task Force members stepped up to run for council? There was a real brain trust there. Remember "kids": Measure V was an utter failure.

Hutch said...

The sad state 206 is that here you are complaining about no good candidates running, and you probably haven't ever lifted a finger to affect any change. Hell you don't even have the b@lls to put your name on your idiotic statement.


Anonymous said...

What you all fail to realize, I had nothing against Vreeland the person.

His politics and vision for the city I strongly disagreed with.

Ian, when it works in your favor you love the blogs, when it works against you, you have a temper tantrum.

Can't have it both ways.