Felton votes to buy its water system

In a strong show of support for public ownership of water, the town of Felton (near Santa Cruz) overwhelmingly passed Measure W, authorizing a bond of up to $11M to buy the local water system.

German-owned California American Water insists that the system is not for sale.  They said the same thing about the Montara water system purchased by the Montara/Moss Beach community in 2003.

Santa Cruz County supervisors have the power to acquire the system through eminent domain.  The supervisors voted 5-0 in May to place Measure W on the ballot.

Jim Graham, a spokesman for Felton FLOW, a grass-roots community group organized to work for locally-owned water, said,  "Despite Cal-Am’s attempts to rewrite state law, attack us with frivolous lawsuits and otherwise influence the outcome, the people of Felton have spoken: water is a basic human right, not a commodity, and we’re ready to fight for it."

Click "read more" for vote counts and background links.

SANTA CRUZ
Special District Election
July 26, 2005
Election Results as of 07/26/2005 at 08:07:24 PM

Registration and Turnout
County of Santa Cruz
Completed Precincts: 4 of 4

Reg/Turnout
Percentage
Total Registered Voters 2,526
Precinct Registration 2,526
Precinct Ballots Cast 0 0.0%
Absentee Ballots Cast 1,608 63.7%
Total Ballots Cast 1,608 63.7%

W - CFD No. 1
Felton Water (2/3)
Completed Precincts: 4 of 4
Yes 1,200 74.8%
No 405 25.2%

Background reading:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/central_coast/12224252.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_central_coast

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/issues/Issue.07-14-2005/news/Article.news_feature_2

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/July/22/local/stories/11local.htm

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/July/03/local/stories/11local.htm

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/July/16/local/stories/06local.htm