Eight votes!  That was the difference in the last HMB City Council election between our current majority that has done such harm to the character and reputation of the city.  The incumbents have already announced their intention to run as a team, no doubt to the delight of the developers and other “property rights” advocates.  The filing deadline is rapidly approaching and I urge Mike Ferreira, David Gorn, Kevin Lansing, Jack McCarthy or other progressive candidates to consider running this fall.  I understand it is a difficult and often thankless job and you will be subject to a great deal of unfair criticism, but you will have a chance to help preserve the Coastside’s unique character and keep the forces of rampant commercialism at bay.

I for one pledge to help any progressive candidate in any way that I am able.

Harvey, you hit the nail on the head when you wrote, “..... our current majority that has done such harm to the character and reputation of the city. The incumbents have already announced their intention to run as a team, no doubt to the delight of the developers and other “property rights” advocates.”

That’s the beauty of cleaning house, it looks so much better when you heave all that burdensome clutter all at the same time. It really is sad that this myopic group cannot see beyond the end of its collective nose and realize that it’s contributing to making the quality of life here on the coast not only a further challenge, but future nightmare, well ...... with the exception of those “forces of rampant commercialism” that you mentioned.

Maybe we’ll all feel better after being smoozed with eight martinis at the Ritz.  There, problem solved! Wasn’t that easy?

I hate to say this, and I may still write a letter to the editor about this, but consider the mistakes of the previous slow-growth progressive majority. 

- the resignations of the “Water Girls” slow-growth majority from CCWD
- the resignation of Marsh from CCWD in order to seek a staff position (even though no one demanded he do so),
- the Planning Commissioner resigning because he lived in Stockton (but didn’t tell anyone), 
- a well-liked local fellow is asked to run for City Council but it turns out that his job and other commitments mean that he isn’t actually in Half Moon Bay to campaign during the critical weeks before the election, 
- the resignations of successive City Council members,
- and finally the disastrous Bargain with Bonnie engineered by (now resigned and long gone) Councilmember Gorn which then wiped out the Planning Commission majority. 

This was all done by our side to ourselves. 

And this is just what we’ve observed in the six years that we’ve lived here.

Isn’t it clear that we need to re-think our strategy and build it upon people with solid convictions and a real commitment to good government?  I’ve had more than a few people ask me to re-start one of the dormant neighborhood activist groups and I can understand why.  The bottom line is that the progressive movement in HMB needs to be rebuilt.

I think that this is an area where progressives need to discuss and debate what will capture the imagination and votes of the residents of the Coastside.  What we don’t want is history repeating itself.

I’ve had 3 private responses to my post.

One congratulated me for having the guts to put the problems of the past on the table to remind us all about what needs to be fixed.  While “the other side” may take some glee in reading my post and pass it around like giggling schoolgirls, the fact remains that they have accomplished little in the 20 months that they’ve held the council majority.  Would someone care to post their campaign promises from last November?  Now that would be something to pass around.

Another complained about a line in the post which was true, but I take it this person thought it was a reference to a current resident - it was not.  The individual referenced no longer lives here and it also wasn’t about the last election.  Barry removed the line in response to the complaint which is OK by me - I don’t want anyone to be upset even if they are taking the message wrong.

The other asked me what I was trying to prove.  I don’t see how stating the facts of the last 6 years does anything for the progressive movement other than help us to do better next time.  As an experienced, corporate-trained executive, I am accustomed to what is called “continuous process improvement” where you are always examining how you do things and figuring out how to do things better.  We’re not doing this as the same or similar mistakes seem to come up over and over again.  A better question isn’t “What am I trying to prove?” but rather “Why are we repeating the same mistakes over and over again?”

Or putting it in technology terms, the progressive movement on the coastside needs a hard reset, a cold boot, or a power cycle to flush the past 6 years out of the system.  And then we need to get back in touch with the ordinary folks of this town and win back their hearts and minds.

I agree with Joe that the new City Council majority has accomplished very little in the last two years. I think we can expect more of the same if the incumbents are returned to office in the Fall

Here’s a link to the campaign flyers of McClung and Patridge from the 2005 election.

http://coastsider.com/images/uploads/planning/hmbplanning/McClung_Patridge_Campaign2005.pdf

A sampling of the promises that have not been kept:

McClung
“Expanding recreation facilities” (They were going to sell off the 22-acre park but John Lynch’s petition stopped them)

“Developing a long range planning and implementation process” (zero meetings held on the LCP update since 2005)

Patridge
” Implementing Measure D” [the 1% growth limit]  (Still no response to Coastal Commission’s request for additional info sent to the City in December 2005)

“Updating the LCP…”  (zero meetings held on the LCP update since 2005)

I’m a relative latecomer to all of this, but I’ve noticed (at a more general level) what Joe is writing about.  I appreciate him supplying some real datapoints to frame the discssion.

The right has staying power on the Coastside and the left does not. I keep hearing the names of people who were heavily involved locallly and are now no longer here.

In some ways it’s not surprising. The right is a lot more rooted in the community and includes (for example) a lot of landowners, real estate agents, and HMB High graduates who never left town. These are rooted people in a way that moderate-left commuters are not. And the personal stakes for these folks are simply higher, and it provides them with a strong organizing base.  Their point of view has some resonance for moderate-right folks whose primary asset is their homes and Silicon Valley libertarians who may been permanently damaged by reading Ayn Rand in their teens.

But I also believe they’re on the wrong side of history for a lot of reasons and have succeeded because of their organization and easy access to cash. The obvious analogy is to the Republicans in national politics. Part of the challenge for the folks on the left side of the divide is to find a way to continually refresh and energize their base and to connect in the neighborhoods. Because we’re a community of homeowners and commuters, the Coastside is bourgeois at its core and most folks don’t have a lot of free time. That makes it a challenge or get anyone organized.

ABOUT COASTSIDER
Be civil
Editorial by Barry Parr on May 21, 06 at 7:02 pm in About Coastsider | email |

I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time patrolling the comments last week, and things have gotten out of hand in some places.  Coastsider is a place where people should feel free to participate without being attacked. I can see that the Golden Rule is not sufficient when someone is spoiling for a fight.  Here’s what I ask:
•  Respect your opponents
•  Stick to the facts
•  Avoid labeling your opponent. The label “no-growther” is especially irritating. I’m not sure there’s an exact equivalent for the other side. If there is, avoid it too.
•  Avoid ad hominem attacks (based on the identity of the person making the argument, and not the argument itself)
•  Refer to people by name to clarify whom you’re talking to, not to be condescending (e.g. “Jane, you ignorant…”)

I probably missed something, but this is a good start. It all boils down to respecting your opponents. I shouldn’t have to tell anyone this.

So, Barry….....what about the rule of not “labeling” folks?

I would call “the left” and “the right”, not to mention “progressives” labels.  Right?

I defy you or anyone else on this blog to, for example, look at my voting record, the groups I support, the candidates I work for and tell me if I am or am not “right”, “left” or “progressive”.

So…....let’s drop the labels and talk about issues….....ok?

Mary

I’m happy to talk about issues, but this is clearly a left/right divide, even if it is (mostly) center-left and center-right.  I also say this because virtually all of the folks in the LCP are to my left and virtually all their opponents are to my right.

On one side you have advocates of property rights and second amendment rights, virtually all the politically active Republicans on the Coastside, the Chamber of Commerce.

On the other side, you have advocates of regulation, environmentalism, the Sierra Club, pretty much all of the active Coastside Democrats, the active peace protesters.

Am I missing something?

Mary

You challenged people to take a look at the groups you support and then tell you which political camp you fell into. Ok here goes: You are a real estate agent and a member of SAMCAR so that would seem to place you on the pro-development side of the political spectrum. This view is based on SAMCARs public statements at the MidCoast LCP update hearings for example.

Your spouse is a director of CCWD—an agency that has been hostile to the Coastal Commission and other environmental regulations in the past. The CCWD board is made up mostly of politicians who also are on the pro-development side of the political spectrum.

Mary, we were… until your post about labels…  so has anything been accomplished by the City Council in the last 20 months?  Or are we conveniently changing the subject? 

Barry - there is a point here - which is 75% of San Mateo County is Democratic - but there is a divide between old-school pro-labor (and therefore pro-development) democrats and new-school pro-environmental democrats with as you say enough libertarians sprinkled in to make life interesting.  So its more of a left to center-left divide.  On the other hand, finding a republican here is like finding an endangered species - my republican friends Roy and John do feel pretty lonely.

Personally, I’m the son of a manufacturing union man (which is different from the trade unions involved in construction) so I like to see a bit more balance in the equation.

BTW, with respect to labels - I used to hang out with a gang that probably would best be described as high-class government welfare (national labs managers, big defense contractors, government department heads, and the like).  They drove big cars, lived in big houses, and traveled to exotic destinations - all on our dime. 

We held a poll at one of our conferences and I was the only person who picked Dukakis for President (it was a long time ago).  If anyone remembers, this was the first election where the term Liberal was made into a dirty word by the republican machine. 

So my line was simple: since liberal had become a dirty word, I had gone back to calling myself a Socialist.

Kevin,
Who benefits from a housing scarcity brought about by growth restrictions?

The homeowner….witness Joe Falcone’s prior post about the exodus of all the former LCP folks who relocated to less expensive areas taking their huge real estate profits with them.  And he didn’t mention other LCP folk who were not elected or appointed but quite influential.  We know who they were so I won’t bring up their names here.

In all fairness, the real estate agents who represented those sellers and buyers also benefited during that time period.

However, when you lump “developers” into the mix that’s quite another story.  Surely real estate agents don’t benefit from huge development projects—developers don’t use agents—they hire their own in-house staff to sell their products and resale homes take a beating during the sale period.

SAMCAR does not represent “developers”, by the way,they represent those of us who make a living selling resale homes, mobile homes, condos and land—the land usually being infill parcels.

So you now want me to defend “my spouse”!  Oh, that’s typical.

I will, instead, defend CCWD, which has one of the best reputations for a special district in the county of San Mateo.  They are professional, polite and courteous to the public and fair to their ratepayers.  Go to a CCWD meeting or watch one on cable and then go to a MWSD meeting or watch one on cable.  You be the judge.

You show me one instance where they have been “hostile to the Coastal Commission and other environmental regulations”. 

Don’t get me started on infrastructure—did you watch the news last night about the Minneapolis bridge—40 years old with no piers in the water?  How many bodies have they recovered?  And these aging bridges and freeway overpasses dot this whole country from coast to coast.

CCWD had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in time and delays before they were allowed to improve their infrastructure here on the Coast.  All because a few folks tried to link improved infrastructure to “rampant over-development” issues.

We could have had the highway widening accomplished years ago if it hadn’t been linked to “rampant over-development” issues.

Doesn’t quality of life for those who live and want to visit here mean anything?  And by the way, the Coastal Act protects the Coast for visitor serving, not so the locals can keep their “quaint little town” the way it was 100 years ago.

As for my politics:  I am a life-long Democrat, who ran, as a Democrat in Orange County against an entrenched Republican who is still in the California legislature, 23 years later.

I was a long-term member of the Sierra Club, until I moved here and saw how entangled they had become in local issues and how susceptible they were to the few special interest groups who seem to be able to get their ear.

I organized precincts for the McGovern campaign, again in Orange County.  Am I “left”, “right”, “progressive”?

You be the judge.

Mary

Mary asked “show me one instance where CCWD has been hostile to the Coastal Commission or environmental regulations.” This is common knowledge, but instead of me having to go dig up all of the (sanitized) minutes of past CCWD meetings where Larimer, Mickelsen, & Coverdell have made hostile comments along these lines, I will simply refer you to the letter below and the associated comments which I think supports my general point. There are plenty of other examples that all cannot be put down in print. 

http://coastsider.com/index.php/site/news/1509/

No Kevin,

That won’t do.  Don’t quote someone else’s opinion about CCWD.  I’ve been to many Coastal Commission hearings (both from Malibu where I lived for 12 years) and from here.  Have you been to a CCC hearing where you saw or heard CCWD being hostile?  They may have become very frustrated at times, just trying to do their job for this community, but they have always followed the law. 

The frustration that many locals have with all levels of government, including the CCC is that sometimes “the law” is subject to interpretation and sometimes these interpretations are not given the credence or respect they deserve.

Why don’t you re-read Joe Falcone’s first post…...which he bravely shared with all of us and take it to heart—practice active listening.

And then re-read Joe’s second posting…..where he accurately describes the ever-changing politics of today.

Then,  stop labeling, start listening and let’s try to work together for this community.

Or would you just rather continue the fight?

Mary

It guess it was only a matter of time before somebody tried to use the Minneapolis bridge collapse to push a political argument as Mary does above. The board members of CCWD are fond of playing on people’s emotions in this way. telling people that if we don’t have bigger (and more expensive) water pipes, the whole Coastside will burn to the ground in the next fire. Throughout California history, grand development schemes have always been about gaining access to more water. Nothing has changed.

It might be worthwhile for some to go back to Harvey Rarback’s message that started this thread and Joe Falcone’s third message in the thread. Then, if those are not the matters or philosophies one wishes to discuss, start another thread instead of killing this one through sidetracking.

And, Barry, the citizens/voters that always get left out of political discussions are the realists, those who wish to continue into the future based on the best current information. I’d be interested to see if the so-called “progressives” can come up with any candidates or platforms that actually aim to make the now-degraded coastside a better place for everyone residing here rather than a “less worse” locale. There isn’t much time left for filing for November, is there?

Carl May

Kevin,

I was living in Malibu, on Point Dume, and watched from my patio as over 260 houses burned to the ground in late 1993.  Why?

Narrow, corroded pipes in the La Costa area where the fire did the most damage and which were the first things re-sized and re-built before reconstruction of the homes started the following year.  Why didn’t the masses of fire trucks that were staged down on PCH go up to put out the fires?  The narrow, winding streets were seen as a life-threatening hazard to all the fire trucks which had come from all over California to Malibu to assist, but which were unfamiliar with the dead-ends and cliff-hanging curves on the narrow streets.

Don’t believe me?  Ask Sara Wan, current member of the CCC.  She lives on the next bluff over from the La Costa Hills.  She lived through it and can tell you about the aftermath.

I remember her husband Larry telling me how the flames got so close to their home that he had to come home and turn the hose on for their prized koi which were getting dangerously hot in their pond adjacent to the house.

Three people died in that fire and hundreds of homes were lost.

The El Granada hills, with their one road up and one road down, would be in the same situation if we had an arson set fire such as that horrible one.

Kevin…...the grown-ups on the CCWD are looking out for their constituency.

You should be grateful.

I agree, Carl. Next Friday, Aug 10, is the deadline for filing.  I would think nearly everyone has made up their minds whether they’re running or not.

I also agree that I would like to see more ideas for community improvement coming from the left. I’m not saying there haven’t been any, but I would like to see more than we’ve seen so far, and more than we’re seeing from the right. I think part of their problem is that they’ve been defining themselves in terms of what they are not (i.e. not the Old Guard) and not in terms of what they are.

Carl, point taken.

Barry, all this defining “what they are versus what they are not” sounds like some kind of marketing campaign for a new consumer product. Of course that is what politics has become at the national level. But you would think that people who choose to live here would be aware that the place is worth fighting for and don’t need to be wooed with some slick advertising campaign. Of course, even the best outcome politically will still result in a slow destruction of the place. The bottom line, unfortunately, is that most people don’t seem to care. They just want their Starbucks Coffee and Popeye’s chicken.

Barry.

I thought that the “Friends of Pilarcitos Park”  performed a real community service by being active in gathering signatures to save the 21 acre community park from being sold.

John Lynch

I agree that the park is a great example. It’s a piece of community improvement and long-term thinking that is utterly consistent with the values of the left. A new library would be another good example of civic improvement that is consistent with the values of the LCP.  Renovating Cunha was another, although was an easy one for the right to spin.

And, yes, the left needs to meet the needs of the center, or they’re going to seek satisfaction elsewhere.

This isn’t about marketing. This is an existential question. If you define yourself by what you oppose, you give the power of definition to your opponents. It’s why the “no-growth” slander works. But it’s deeper than that. The Coastside is a community of 30,000 people. We need a coherent vision of where we’re headed to avoid the incrementalism that is not only destroying our local environment, but turning this into a lousy place to live: just another shabby coastal town.

I’m sorry if I’m sounding naive, this is a genuine question!

Could someone direct me to some resources on the web to learn what a “Progressive Candidate” is? I don’t mean to have this question take over the discussion, I just thought that there might be otheres out there who are not real clear on what the term means. It would help to know.

I went to google and from that I am guessing it’s someone on the Democratic side. I will be the first to admit that when I registered as a Democrat I did not do my homework. I would appreciate just a few pointers.

Thanks, Jess

OK, here’s a definition.

A Progressive defines progress in terms of improving the condition of society as a whole rather than making more money either individually or as a group at the expense of other people or resources (the old Calvinist definition of “the good life” - earthly riches being a sign of God’s grace).  Barry’s reference to the existential question was philosophical bait.

As Mary pointed out, by staying here, we’ve all made a statement about what is important to us as most of us could have left and made nice profits selling property.  But in staying here, what are our priorities?  Making more money or preserving the grandeur of this place?

In terms of growth restrictions causing housing shortages in the county, of course there are progressive alternatives being pursued right now.  The higher-density housing and commercial redevelopment along the CalTrain and El Camino Real corridors on the peninsula make an awful lot more sense than large-scale development here where we have basically zero transit options.  And the folks behind the redevelopment are making a lot of money in the process while creating affordable housing in the middle of jobs, shopping and transit.

The moral: don’t pick a fight with a former Planning Commissioner.

Oh, and thanks for the reference to fires.  As we know, our own Fire Department lacks in many areas so we will inevitably rely on out-of-area support for major fires.  How will they get here?  Even in the best of days, it will take over 30 minutes for an out-of-area fire department to respond to an alarm.  Your house is toast.  Don’t matter how big the pipe is. 

And San Mateo County killed the Sheriff’s Honor Farm which meant the end of the Honor Farm Fire Prevention Crews who happened to spend most of their time in the hills surrounding HMB (land owned by SF Water) and some very expensive homes on the Peninsula.  We no longer have these crews maintaining fire breaks, removing dry, dead undergrowth, and providing a trained fire-fighting crew for wildland fires.  We have no buffer between us and a wildland fire in the hills.  And, you know what, the CCC had no part in this. 

So in the face of the extreme fire risk the Coastside faces, building more homes (especially near the wildland/urban boundary) provides more fuel for fires.

There are basically 4 demographic groups in HMB.

1. Natives: Long time residents or born and raised here. Many went to HMB High and never left. Well-connected to local businesses. Many operate their own business that depends in some way on local development.

2. Affluent and disconnected: Have “made it,” many from technology companies over the hill. Are concerend mainly with themselves, not with the greater good of the town. Might tell themselves that they care about the “environmment” but don’t do much of anything to help locally, either with their time or money.

3. Recent immigrants: Soon to be a majority if not already. Too busy trying to pay bills to be concerned about local politics. A potentially powerful political force in about 20 years.

4. Deluded Souls: Spend whatever little free time they have working against the relentless forces of development, trying to preserve the rural character of the place that attracted them here originally. but only to lose time and again, and then be villified as “obstructionists” or worse in the local newspaper.

Local elections are about Group #1 versus Group #4, with the former being much more organized and well-financed.

“Kevin J. Lansing” date=“1186391015”: There are basically 4 demographic groups in HMB.

Kevin,
I don’t think it is that simple. There are many issues that concern HMB voters that can cut across all four of your categories, e.g., parks, recreation, education, libraries, kids, seniors, poverty, homelessness, security, safety, roads, other infrastructure, business environment, and, certainly, the environment. Indeed, some of these issues may define additional demographic groups, and there are voters in all of them.

Progressives (or any other category of candidate) who focus, or seem to focus, on just one or two of these issues risk being marginalized. The trick, it seems to me, is to find the mix of issues of greatest interest to people across the entire spectrum of our community and offer plausible and possible solutions in a positive, together-let’s-get-it-done manner.

I agree, Suzanne.  Its not that simple.  A lot of people seem to be thrown into category 2 for the convenience of the folks in category 4 who want to keep making the same mistakes over and over again (the point of my original post).  And there is an assumption that the folks in category 1 just won’t come around so don’t bother trying to get their support.  That is simply wrong - it is possible to bring all these people together - I did it in my own neighborhood.

When I started mobilizing my neighborhood on various local issues, I was faced with getting all 4 of these groups to work together and present a united front to a largely uninterested city government (all of it - elected, appointed and civil service).  My neighbor Alex (life long resident) and I were able to do this by presenting the goals in terms of the positive results - a neighborhood that was nicer, safer, quieter, and more valuable to potential home buyers.  Time after time people of all categories, but particularly the old-timers said, “we’ve tried before but no one at city hall will listen.”  We pledged that it would be different this time, got the people to sign petitions, got them to come to community meetings, and got city hall to pay attention and address our needs.

Where is that work being done now?  We’ve got a City Council saying no to new parks.  We’ve got a City Council saying no to small businesses like the Chai Guy.  We’ve got a City Council saying [expletive] to the Coastal Commission.  And to what end - who benefits from this behavior?

The previous City Council got the Oak Street Park and creek bridge built, supported small business renovation like Tres Amigos, and worked with the Coastal Commission to get projects like the Highway 92 widening underway and funded when it went over budget.

According to our fair and balanced paper of record
Kevin Lansing and George Muteff are planning to run for the City Council.  I am thrilled that we progressives have not entirely capitulated and will be represented by somebody I consider a local hero for defending the Coastside against those who would ruin it for their own venal interests.

I have followed this thread about who is and isn’t a Progressive, but like pornography you know it when you see it.  Kevin is somebody worth fighting for and I hope we all support him in the upcoming election.

Thank you, Kevin.

In reading some of the above, I feel like the park ranger seeing an endangered species snacking on an endangered plant. There are some good observations and questions above and some that should be ‘clarified’.

[Jess:]
True, Progressives, like Democrats, often form a firing squad by forming a circle, face the middle and fire.
OTOH, Regressives form a firing squad by forming a circle, face outward and fire.

But it is not quite as simple as being equal to Democrats and Republicans.
As an example, CUSD Board member Jolanda Scherus, who was endorsed by the Democratic Party five years ago [but not last year], held up the approval of remodeling Cunha school so that progressive candidates could not ‘count the agreement’ as a success and swayed the election as mentioned by Harvey Rarback in starting this thread. It was reciprocated by an attack on Pam Fisher by some regressive sports supporters when Jolanda Scherus ran for re-election last year.
But more on ‘connecting the dots’ on another thread later.

The Review [identifies two who have filed and two who have taken out papers] . John Muller and Kevin Lansing would make an excellent combination with Jim Grady on the City Council:

[Video: HMB City Council fast-tracks Cunha permit, and more - Jan 19, 2007]
“Several speakers said that the hearing was poorly publicized over the holidays and that it was inappropriate for the city’s planning director to grant a CDP for what will be the largest downtown project in the city’s history without a hearing before the Planning Commission.  Planning Commissioner Kevin Lansing filed a protest with the council that raised several questions about the process [PDF]. Council members Grady and Muller voted to refer the matter to the Planning Commission, but were overruled by Patridge, McClung, and Fraser who accepted the CDP as granted. The permit is likely to be appealed to the Planning Commission.”

IMHO, there is nothing more important for this election than seeing Marina Fraser retired from the City Council.

Ken Johnson

Thanks for the discussion. I am still not real clear on what is Progressive. I did do a little research on google. I guess I learn best by examples. Here are some links I found.

These are magazines that yahoo lists as Progressive—

http://dir.yahoo.com/Government/U_S__Government/Politics/Political_Opinion/Progressive/Magazines/

And this is part of an atricle at wikipedia that tells who is considered to be Progressive—

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism#List_of_progressive_advocates

The good think about the list of names is that they are links to more articles about the people. Some of them I recognize and others I can learn about.

I don’t know if any of this applies to local politics. I guess there isn’t really a Progressive Party like there once was (according to wikipedia).

Oh, wait, I just found a wikipedia article about Progressives in the US:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism_in_the_United_States

I guess I could just keep clicking and reading all day!

Thanks  

Jess

Look, folks, stop worrying about the definition of a “Progressive” with a capital “P” and start worrying about local candidates who are progressive in the sense of plans for making changes for the better, i.e. progress.

In our real local world, this has nothing to do with the long-failed two-sides-of-one-party Democrats/Republicans. And “progressive” falls on its face before the start if it is only a euphemism for “liberal” in what we have come to associate with the pundit- and media-misdefined “liberal-conservative” divide.

Carl May

Careful, Carl, the “regressives” may define “progress” quite differently than you have in mind.  I’m sure they would consider a 6 lane 92 freeway to be “progress”.

Hey, Ken, thanks for the best laugh I’ve had in a long time—the Progressive/Democrat firing squad.  (And of course the description of the other firing squad is pretty accurate also.)

Harvey,

Thanks for the vote of confidence above, but I decided not to file the City Council election papers after all. The main reason was the impact the election ordeal would have had on our family, with three kids in elementary school in the Fall. The second reason was the daunting task of trying to raise around $15,000 to run a campaign against extremely well-funded incumbents. Rather than trying to become a poltician, I’ll spent my time in the next two years helping the City in other ways.

Kevin Lansing

I am disappointed that “It appears there will be no contested election for City Council” . Our incumbents get to do an undeserved ‘victory lap’ without having ever run the race to show they deserved it!

I would remind anyone who might consider a run in the future, that a decade or so ago, in the Measure A vs. Measure B election, we won. Actually, we ‘cleaned their clock’ - although the development community outspent us 10 to 1.

The key is to start early enough and in that vein a ‘nomination’ for next year:
Cheri Parr For School Board !

She would clean Charlie Gardner’s clock!

Regards,
Ken Johnson

Kevin J. Lansing - 11 August 2007 06:13 AM

Harvey,

Thanks for the vote of confidence above, but I decided not to file the City Council election papers after all. The main reason was the impact the election ordeal would have had on our family, with three kids in elementary school in the Fall. The second reason was the daunting task of trying to raise around $15,000 to run a campaign against extremely well-funded incumbents. Rather than trying to become a poltician, I’ll spent my time in the next two years helping the City in other ways.

Kevin Lansing

Kevin, I understand completely.  You’re still a hero for fighting for the Coastside on the Planning Commission and your letters and comments in the Review.

And I do agree with Ken that we need to start planning for the 2008 election.  Maybe the anti-Bush sentiment will rouse some complacent voters out of their lethargy and they will help vote out the current regime and vote in some statesmen who care about preserving the Coastside.