Eye On Modesto

Thoughts and observations about Modesto and Stanislaus County

Archive for the tag “Modesto Mayor Garrad Marsh”

01 Jul 2013

The Politics of SPRAWL

By Emerson Drake

“Just like a fisherman understands a fish will rise to the bait and even swallow the hook, our local politico’s know

rattle snake

rattle snake (Photo credit: noah.w)

people will bite on the idea of jobs being dangled in front of them even if the the jobs are just a mirage.”

Modesto’s North Side

When we look to the land North of Modesto on the City’s General Plan we see the area East of McHenry and West of Dale planned for development of both homes and business. Actually they like the phrase “mixed use”,  which means some business but mostly homes, if Modesto’s developers in the Chamber of Commerce  get their way,  which they usually do.  Denny Jackman’s Residential Urban Limit (RUL) proposal would have limited homes from being built North of Kiernan.  But that didn’t suit the Chamber and their  “friends” on the City Council.

Denny was led to believe his  (I believe watered down) RUL would be allowed to be brought by the city council to a vote of the public but he was duped.  He bargained in good faith, but he forgot who he was dealing with, “politicians”.   Overall their whole purpose was to delay the RUL until it it was too late to gather signatures.  Some of those same people were the ones invited to the now well known Wine and Nachos meetings at his home.

Now everyone (city, county, developers), well almost everyone, is either after or willing to negotiate away Kiernan Business Park West and possibly more.  Modesto’s Mayor Marsh, the Chamber of Commerce, and even County representatives are actively pursuing and or discussing  this property and more.  And as usual the lure is jobs.  Or is it more about politics?  Also bear in mind if Mayor Marsh gets his one cent sales tax passed he’ll have up to  $3.25 Million a year to spend on economic development and one time projects.

Mayor Marsh brought Salida up in his inaugural address and his State of the City speech and has much to lose politically if he can’t deliver. One of his problems are his potential opponents in the still several years away mayoral race. Councilwoman Stephanie Burnside has been posturing for several months now. To listen to examples of this I played about 40 minutes of the last Modesto Finance Committee meeting on my radio show.  These unfettered exchanges between Marsh, Burnside, Muratore and Nyhoff are moments the public, with a few exceptions,  seldom hears.  The only place you can hear it is here in the  last 40 minutes (yes you can skip forward) of the show is the committee meeting. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/centralvalleyhornet/2013/06/27/whats-on-americas-mind-with-emerson-drake

Modesto’s West Side

On this same front you have Village I profiteer Bill Zoslocki actively running for Joe Muratore’s seat in the council but we’re already hearing rumblings of his making a run at Marsh for mayor again. And he’s supporting both the expansion of the business parks on Modesto’s North side but a MAJOR proponent for the Chamber’s Pathway to SPRAWL on the West side.

The fear Salida should have is the County making a tax sharing deal to allow Modesto to develop areas inside the Salida Plan for its own benefit.  With any business Modesto develops in the Salida Plan acreage,  Modesto will receive the taxes which would take tax money away from Salida forever. But they will some how try to sell this bill of goods to Salida residents.

Now the Chamber’s placed about 6,000 acres of prime West side farmland in their sights.  You have to appreciate  the lies they use to promote their efforts. The Beckwith Dakota Triangle is 1,040 acres. The area outside the designated triangle over to Hammett Rd extended to Kansas/132 is 4,000 plus.  But behind closed doors the Chamber has been saying the Western border needs to be an actual road not an imaginary line so the far western border will be Gates Rd. which adds approx. another 1,000 acres to their plan. But during the sales pitch they don’t count the triangle or admit to the Gates Rd boundary. Pretty slick hey?

The other lie they tell is they want to protect the prime farmland acreage outside of the Triangle and to do so they need to bring it inside Modesto’s General Plan.  But since the voters passed Measure ‘E’ which says the county can’t allow homes to be built outside of cities farmland it is far safer for prime farmland outside of Modesto’s General Plan than inside it. Everyone needs to keep in mind that once the Chamber gets the west side land they will turn to the North,  Salida already has them salivating. And with the Chamber land use attorney George Petrulakis’ take no prisoner approach Salida better be ready.

Salida should beware of the Modesto  Chamber of Commerce bearing gifts. It brings to mind these lyrics.

“Take me in tender woman, take me in for heavens sake, take me in tender woman, sighed the snake.”

 

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01 May 2013

Council Comments from the Residential Urban Limit Meeting

By Emerson Drake

At Tuesday’s 4/23/13 Modesto City Council meeting regarding Denny Jackman’s Residential Urban Limits or RUL, we

English: Author: Carl Skaggs This image was ta...

English: Author: Carl Skaggs This image was taken by me on January 14, 2010 in Modesto, California I hereby relinquish all rights to this photo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

listened to new talking points being aired by the Chamber of Commerce and Building Industry Association through their close friends/mouthpieces on the council.

Denny’s RUL  recommends boundaries beyond which no residential development under 10 dwelling units per acre could occur without a majority public vote.  A very much similar version of RUL had been presented to the Economic Development Committee last year but was temporarily shelved due to upcoming elections. I believe what Denny expected was a reasoned conversation regarding farmland preservation. Unfortunately Lobbyist Cecil Russell’s response was a personal attack on Mr. Jackman instead of a conversation about RUL.

Council comments were even more interesting.  Several members of the public at the meeting pointed to the five Measure “M” votes  (the five were about sewer extensions after annexation) as the people having spoken about NOT wanting uncontrolled growth or  “Sprawl.”  The public rejected these votes by 60.05, 61.66, 63.66, 64.7, and 69.78 percent.  Councilman Dave Lopez decided to try and undermine five Measure “M” votes with spin.  He made the claim “voter fatigue set in.”   His comment was attempting to invalidate 65,974 votes.  The “spin” he was basing his comments on was the fact the voters turned down what he termed “easy money” for the general fund when they could have at least voted for the Hetch/Hetchy Measure “C” which included the car dealerships on North McHenry Avenue.  He specifically sited their use of Modesto’s water and sewer.

While he suggests this  invalidates the five measures the public voted on,  I believe he’s reaching.  Doesn’t this match up almost exactly with the Council’s decision to allow Beard Industrial Tract a  “deal” to avoid paying Modesto utility user fees for the very same services (water, sewer, electricity) they wanted to charge the car dealerships?  It’s all about the utility tax any business building in the Tract would have been required to pay.  This “special arrangement” he wasn’t willing to give the dealerships will cost Modesto Taxpayers MILLIONS of Dollars every… single… year after the businesses move in.

So if  the five decisions by the voters area are a case of voter fatigue,  was the Beard decision voter fatigue or a payout to special interests by the council ?  Charging the car dealerships is good while charging Beard is bad?  Councilman Lopez, no matter how hard you try you can’t have it both ways because we’ll call you on it.

Councilwoman Burnside has been on a roll herself.  At the March 26th  meeting she gave the council the credit for Modesto being one of the “most dense cities in California.”  She cited a figure of 8.8 people per acre. While our math suggests the figure is closer to 7.9 per acre, in this case it just doesn’t matter.  Her 8.8 puts Modesto somewhere around 108th in density of  California cities.  We would be 8th in a list of cities starting with the letter “M.”  Maybe that’s what she meant.

She also said “it cracks me up when people say” smart growth, your smart and my smart may be completely different” she went on to say, so that’s very subjective. There needs to be responsible growth in the manner in where we are building. As dense as we are I think we can do it through the General Plan, not through Ag Mitigation.”

Ranking at 108 and not being among the most dense, I believe shows many things are subjective and if this is an example of their reasoning we had better utilize Ag Mitigation through the ballot box rather than trust our council to do the right thing.

The good Councilwoman’s other remarks, “I don’t believe in leadership by ballot box.  I believe that’s why we were elected.”  She also said “I despise the individuals that stand up here and say I represent the people like farmers aren’t people “, and “I’d like to know where all of those lobbyist are, I haven’t seen any.”

Lets look at her first two comments. Her district encompasses about 34,000 people and has about forty farmers. The farmers she’s really discussing are about the 6 who would like to sell their farms to home builders because that’s the only people RUL would affect.  What she’s actually saying is she wants to provide taxpayer assistance so a few farmers and her developer friends in the Chamber of Commerce can make lots of money while leaving us taxpayers to pay the bills.  Taxpayer assistance?  Yes, conservatively speaking for every acre of homes that are built the taxpayer is on the hook for between $3,000 to $5,000 yearly for services. That’s right year after year, after year, $3-5,000 dollars just so her friends can be wealthy.  Taxpayer’s  paying  developers welfare money.

Councilman Cogdill’s comments covered a wide rages of topics.  He suggested in the last twenty years councils had planned effectively.  He said “Village I was planned responsibly.” I’m not a big proponent of urban limits or ballot box planning.” And “You don’t have to scratch a farmer very deep to find a developer.”

As Mayor Marsh later commented, Village I as originally designed was a marvel but by the time the council back then was on their eight change amendment it was no longer recognizable. It’s also understandable for these politicians to be resentful of ballot box measures.  It’s obvious the people of Modesto no longer trust their elected politicians to follow the will of their constituents  and because of past and current history who can blame them.

I encourage everyone to go online and listen to the council debates and see for themselves what is going on in the Modesto City Council. Here is the link to the city agenda and meeting archive. Click on the video of the week you want to see and while it’s loading you can choose the agenda item you want to watch discussed by clicking on it. The video will advance to approximate  location. http://ci.modesto.ca.us/ccl/agendas/

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29 Apr 2013
1 Comment

Mayor Marsh to Host Town Hall Meeting at Gregori High

Saturday May 4 at 1:00 PM – Mayor’s Town Hall Meeting 

Money

Money (Photo credit: 401(K) 2013)


Gregori High School, 3701 Pirrone Road

 

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06 Apr 2013

One Public Meeting On and Another Off and What it Means to You

Chamber pot

Chamber pot (Photo credit: Pete Reed)

By Emerson Drake

The General Plan Amendment Public Workshop is still scheduled for Monday April 15, 2010 at 6:00 PM at Davis High School “Little Theater” (1200  West Rumble) park near the tennis courts on the East side of the school.

We can question if whether these meetings will make a difference or not but if no one goes and speaks out they’ll do what they want without  an argument and we will have nothing to refute their discussion points with at City Council.  The Modesto Chamber of Commerce Lobbyist Cecil Russell has been recruiting real estate salesmen and developers like Craig Lewis, Dennis Wilson, Bill Zoslocki,  and others to speak out in favor of planting driveways on Prime Farmland.  This cabal (the Chamber and their fellow conspiracists)  is also VERY interested in Modesto’s attempt to annexation of Salida.  Modesto’s City Manager Gregg Nyhoff (of the bungled nitrate in the well water issue) recently decided to spend $25,000 on a phone poll because they didn’t get enough public input on a prior set of public workshops.

Please understand if you live in Modesto and Stanislaus county this General Plan will affect us for the next 20 years.  Don’t let just a few greedy people decide our future for us.

As an aside, you just have to appreciate the conniving being done when they say they want public involvement  then they schedule the public meetings on Monday nights and one of them is the final day for taxes being due.

Secondly: The monthly city and county Liaison meeting has been cancelled.  For those curious, Salida was NOT on the agenda.

For those wondering about the picture, it’s what we won’t have if Modesto developers get their way.:)   It also might be my new symbol for an article involving the Modesto Chamber of Commerce and or their developer buddies.

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04 Apr 2013
1 Comment

Take the Special Interest Money out of Politics Lower Campaign Donation Limits

English: Author: Carl Skaggs This image was ta...

By Emerson Drake

A change in Modesto’s TIN CUP  Ordinance (Time Is Now To Clean Up Politics) is coming up before the Modesto City Council and we need YOUR help.  In 2005 the Modesto Chamber of Commerce asked the council to eliminate the donation limits candidates can receive before they are forced to recuse themselves or step back from discussion and voting on a subject a contributor brought before the council.  It other words the Chamber wanted to make it so they could give many thousands of dollars to council members and they could vote for whatever the donor wanted.

Imagine where we would be if that had passed.

Instead the council decided to raise the limits from $1,000 to $3,000 before the cutoff limit was reached.  Since then we have divided the city up into six districts lowering the cost of running for office. Unfortunately this has brought forth excessive amounts of special interest money into the campaigns of some.

There is another argument being made by Councilman Lopez in which he suggests to be a good council member you must have the intestinal fortitude to ask for $3,000 or you won’t be worth your salt on the council.  But that isn’t how he plays the game.  For insistence, he asked the Modesto Fire Fighters Union for $2,962 just under the limit before he would have to recuse himself. He also asked the Modesto Police Officers Union, the MPOA, for $2,750  again just under the donation limit.

The argument is being made you need $6,000 to mail a flyer but in checking Lopez’s campaign reports ( called 460,s) the costs of running a mailer are around $3,000.

After checking the 460’s of the most recent council races I discovered very few donations were made OVER $1,000 in fact, with only a couple of small exceptions (over by a couple of hundred dollars) all of the candidate’s contributions were below the $1,000 threshold EXCEPT for those of special interests.   The special interest money came from unions, developers, and Lobbyists.

When comparing the money spent on council races a few other things became apparent.  When developer money (especially Salida area developers “surprise surprise”) piled in on a candidate like Dave Cogdill Jr., he spent it like it was on fire.  Councilman Cogdill spent $37,747 to get elected, took in at least 15 donations of $1,000 and his opponent spent about $2,000. Talk about a case of ego and overkill.

As a comparison Councilwoman Stephanie Burnside’s spent $23,000 and took six donations of $1,000 or more (two from Burnside Auto Body) and the rest were basically $500 and under.  Her opponent Jenny Kenoyer collected one contribution of $500 and the rest were smaller.  She raised and spent $13,000 on her campaign showing it can be done.

What the Bee didn’t mention in their recent article is the Modesto Fire Fighter’s Union made two independent campaign expenditures to Councilman Lopez’s campaign.  They spent $2,000 in telephone calls in July and they spent  another $6,000 in the final weeks of the race for mailers supporting Lopez. Todd Aaronson, Lopez’s major opponent, took in only six donations of $1,000 or more.

In other words Councilman Lopez out spent Aaronson by over 2-1 NOT counting the eight thousand dollars spent by the Fire Fighters Union.  If special interests are going to weigh in so heavily we need to know about it.  That will be my  next attempt to update the TIN CUP Ordinance.

So if you can take a moment, please email this to your friends to make them aware of  OUR opportunity to take Modesto out of the hands of the special interest groups be they Union, Lobbyist, OR Developer. Here is the list of Council emails I welcome you to write to:

mayor@modestogov.com               jgunderson@modestogov.com                 dgeer@modestogov.com

dlopez@modestogov.com               jmuratore@modestogov.com                    sburnside@modestogov.com

dcogdill@modestogov.com

You can call them at (209)571-5169

Be an Engaged Citizen…!

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

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28 Mar 2013
2 Comments

Thursday’s Salida Ad Hoc Committee Meeting

By Emerson Drake

We had a room full of City of Modesto Staff and of course Mayor Marsh and Councilman Codgill. The County was out in

A montage I (Valente Q.C.) made with pictures ...

A montage I (Valente Q.C.) made with pictures that I took for the Infobox in the Modesto, California Article. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

force With Supervisors Terry Withrow and Board Chairman Supervisor Vito Chiesa along with CEO Monica Nino and staff.  The Ad Hoc Committee is led by Thomas Reeves but the meeting was dominated by Katherine Borges.  Because of the research she has done she challenged the Goodwin Report’s numbers and quite honestly the report was found lacking in accuracy.  Despite being paid $60,000 by the city and county the Goodwin representative was forced to admit the “costing figures”  were estimates not grounded in fact but estimates created by using fuzzy numbers.  Ms. Borges rightly pointed on the vast difference between the amounts charges to contract cities and those “allotted” to Salida for the Sheriff’s Department.

Mayor Marsh admitted he might have jumped the gun by talking about the possible annexation of Salida last year by not quietly consulting with Salida first and Ms. Borges underlined his comment and placed an exclamation point after it. She repeatedly said Salida does NOT want to be annexed by Modesto.  She set off the short fused Modesto Councilman Dave Cogdill.  How a man with such a short temper ever made it into politics is a wonder.  Of course it might have something to do with riding his daddy’s coattails and the silver spoon of entitlement he was born with.

He basically said “why should Modesto be at these meetings since you aren’t going to believe a word we say.”   Here is where I believe an opportunity was lost.  If someone would have taken him up on his offer to walk away I really think he would have left just as he started to  at a Salida MAC meeting.  Supervisor Chiesa talked him down from the ledge that night but since the Supervisor was under the weather today maybe he would have let Cogdill walk.  Believe me it would have been no loss because of his my way or the highway attitude.

They Mayor offered to help  by using Modesto staff and his experience to assist Salida in exploring incorporation.  My real thoughts are,  if Salida has difficulty early on in the conversation in securing the financial wherewithal to stand alone the County will  try to push the Salida MAC into a shotgun wedding with Modesto.

As usual the topic came around to jobs and shovel ready land.  It appeared both the County and Modesto’s  leaders thought the EIR or environmental impact reports had been done on the 1,000 of business park in the Salida plan. But Matt Machado threw ice water on their warm and fuzzy moment.  NO EIR has been completed according to Mr. Machado.  So what no one said until AFTER the meeting, because the public wasn’t allowed to speak was the question, “Who controls the county’s largest business Park?”  The County does…its name is WestPark.

So now we know the Salida business park ISN’T shovel ready.  Will Modesto still thirst for the annexation?

You better believe it. There are too many on the Council who see that land as being good for THEIR own pocketbooks. And for my two cents that starts with Councilmen  Dave Cogdill and Joe Muratore.

The Ad Hoc meetings will continue in the future but sadly no one on the Ad Hoc Committee suggested the public be allowed to contribute in the future.  If we go the taxpaying public be forced to sit quietly and watch.

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20 Mar 2013

Public Workshop on the General Plan Amendment..Why Weren’t You There?

By Emerson Drake

The only way to prevent  “Government from just happening to us”  is to be a participant every step of the way.  It

English: Author: Carl Skaggs This image was ta...

isn’t easy for most of us, heck it isn’t even possible for some.  Life has many demands from work, family, and all that is entailed in keeping our heads above water.  We’re limited to trying to pay as much attention as we can to our communities and hope others will keep us informed.  In Stanislaus County and Modesto in particular,  politics has always been an insiders game. One thing to keep in mind considering the current topic is, the Planning Commission was chosen by the City Council not voted on by the people  and will be making the recommendations to the Council regarding the General Plan. Like I said, it’s an insiders game.

Politicians make the rules, not so much to benefit the people, but  more often to give them something to point to when the citizens suddenly become aware and wake-up and say, “hey, what’s going on”  and of course by then it’s too late.  They’ll say, “we did everything as required by law” but the damage is done and can’t be undone.  And of course they wrote the laws.

We were at the meeting Monday night at the Peterson Event Center.  Out of 203,000 who live in Modesto and another 20-30,000 who live around the city about 85 people showed up to hear what Modesto City Council wants to plan for our futures. Make no mistake and think the eventual outcome doesn’t matter,  because it does.  What ever the final form of this document is, it will be referred to for 20-50 years as guiding force for what comes next.  The areas which end up being marked for expansion will be planted with driveways.  Previously preserved farmland acres  which are covered by the Williamson Act will be undone.

Phrases like, “Modesto adopted a  a statement of overriding consideration for loss of prime farmland as being significant and unavoidable.”  This came out of the following LAFCO document which walks us through just one of the areas Modesto annexed in recent years, This particular one just goes back to May 15,1997 but the documentation as you will see goes back to Jan. 14, 1995 for the Contract-Land Conservation Act which in turn references the Land Conservation Act of 1965.

Modesto.Kiernan

Monday night showed a glimpse of the devious developer schemes to come.  We heard from Craig Lewis a developer and Prudential Real Estate Broker and he is also connected to six different companies.  Mr. Lewis was also at the Valley Vision workshop between the City Council and the City Planning Commission where he bemoaned the desire of the majority of the public to preserve prime farmland.  For those who haven’t gone through  the “developer experience”  you get to hear their mantra of “jobs, jobs, jobs.”  Don’t get me wrong we need jobs but the only one s taking home the big greenbacks will be developers and their friends. He read to us out of his guiding light book, a financial magazine.  He and his kind will (metaphorically speaking) attempt to wrap themselves in a flag in an attempt to make it seem to be your patriotic duty to forget farming and plant driveways. We heard him and his colleagues talk about developing the Dakota/Beckwith area, also know locally as the Emerald Triangle because of the ultra prime soil (rated 95 out of 100) which exists there.  They talked about how Dakota was being expanded to four lanes and made it sound like it was going to be tomorrow.  After talking with County staff, Matt Machido last night I can tell you NO money has been appropriated for Dakota Road expansion, none has even been applied for.

Likewise we noticed on City maps being used for the workshop Hammitt Rd. interchange with a completed tie in to Ladd Rd was shown. When I questioned Brent Sinclair about this he said he would ask Matt Machado at the County.  Not being one to wait for Modesto’s rendition I went straight to the horses mouth so to speak and asked Matt about it Tuesday night.  Again Matt said NO money has been requested or set aside for the interchange completion let alone the tie in.

While many people spoke that night among the notable were Reed Smith, Karla Von Hungen, and Donna Minighini.  Reed ask questions about the availability of water to service the ever enlarging expansion Modesto has in mind.  He pointed out the water supply is already inadequate and steadily diminishing.    Brent Sinclair had earlier promised replies to questions but remained silent preferring to ignore the question completely.  Several bordering on many in the audience requested a response but Brent just remained silent.  Ms. Von Hungen and Ms. Minighini commented on California’s  insistence on forcing counties and cities to designate a portion of their land for large numbers of future middle and low income housing as a requirement to receive state funds. They noted the county had designated large numbers of homes for the Salida footprint and pointed out how the county had violated home owner rights by designating condos to be built in Del Rio over the objections of the majority of the residents.

Here are two pdfs with maps showing the version adopted in 9/9/09 and the second the map proposed by staff on 2/14/13.

GPA-10-001 EXH GPLU Diagram Adopted 9-9-09

GPA-10-001 EXH GPLU Diagram Proposed 2-14-13

The following is a link to the city of Modesto website where these diagrams can be found.  I’ve requested the city to put a link on the front page but so far Mr. Sinclair and his staff are “too busy” to help keep the public informed. After all they held one of the three meetings  they are required by law to hold.

http://ci.modesto.ca.us/ced/projects/gp-amendment.asp

Here is what Modesto’s outside accountant (Moss Adams) said about Modesto Staff.  Take a bow Mr. Nyhoff. All of the credit is yours.

COM-Org-Study

It wasn’t pretty was it. This is what happens when you hire a City manager who refuses to put anything in writing for fear it will be discovered by a public information request as as such will be held accountable, and is more concerned about what the Chamber of Commerce thinks, than about what the Citizens of Modesto need.

There will be two more public workshops, Monday, April 15,2013 at 6:00 PM at the Davis High School “Little Theater” 1200 Rumble Rd. Park near the tennis courts at Davis Park.  The final workshop or opportunity for the public to speak their minds will be Monday, June 3, 2013 at 6:00 PM at the King-Kennedy Memorial Center 601 South Martin Luther King Drive-Mellis Park.

Here is a line straight out of their flyer:  Broad public participation will help ensure that the amended plan reflects the community’s preferences and values to “the maximum extent possible”.

An interesting  way to phrase it isn’t it.  After expanding into previously carefully guarded areas, ignoring some questions and refusing to answer others, I wonder just what “the maximum extent possible” really means.

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03 Mar 2013

Modesto’s Tin Cup Ordinance Goes to Committee Monday at 5:00

By Emerson Drake

Last adjusted in 2005, Modesto’s  Time Is Now To Clean Up Politics or TIN CUP ordinance is being voted on for the second

English: Author: Carl Skaggs This image was ta...

English: Author: Carl Skaggs This image was taken by me on January 14, 2010 in Modesto, California I hereby relinquish all rights to this photo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

time by Modesto’s Safety and Community Committee.  The last time the ordinance was changed the Modesto Chamber of Commerce was the petitioner.  They actually wanted to get rid of campaign limits altogether (no surprise) but a compromise was reached at the insistence of the Councilman Garrad Marsh(Marsh wanted to keep the limit at $1,000.  A donation can be made with a limit of $3,000 before a member of the city council including the Mayor, had to recuse themselves from voting on the contributor’s bill

We’ve been trying to get the TIN CUP total rolled back for several years and the requested

levels are a $1,000 contribution for council races and $2,000 for mayor with a 48 month window.  Since 2005 we instituted council districts, there by lowering campaign costs.  A council candidate has only one sixth of the city to “get the message out”  to.

In fact there is no limit,  and will be no  limit on how much anyone can donate. It just helps keep the old quid pro quo in check.  At least that’s the goal according to some, and levels the playing fields say others. It should come out of committee unscathed since it’s the wording agreed upon by the committee during their January  meeting.  The vote then was Councilmen Geer and Gunderson voting for and Councilman Lopez against.

Councilman Lopez like to say he believes someone running for Council should have the guts to ask for $3,000 yet he doesn’t. He asks for $2,999 so he can still vote for a donors project.

For the public there is NO downside to the change.  It helps to level the playing field between average citizens and deep pocketed special interest groups.

Here are the top ten contributors for the 2012 city elections.  Some of the totals would astound you, like the over $20,000 to Brad Hawn by Stephen Endsley over one year before the elections.

1  –  Dr. Steve Endsley
2  –  David Wright
3  –  George Petrulakis
4  –  Modesto Police Officers Association PAC**
5  –  City Signs
6  –  Modesto City Firefighters COPE (PAC)
7  –  Dr. Aruna Chopra including Chopra Development
8  –  Modesto Chamber of Commerce PAC (MOPAC)
9  –  Russ Newman including Newman Romano LLC
10 – Chris Tyler

After all what do a couple of City Unions, a developer under indictment, a developer not under indictment,  several lobbyists, a SCAP Director loving insurance salesman, a land use attorney,  and a Gallo In-Law have in common?

Could it be to make friends and influence people and their votes?    I heard a politician say, “Money doesn’t buy access to me or my vote.”  

My response is fine, then the limits won’t stop you from voting YES on lower TIN CUP limits.

Here is the pdf of the entire ordinance: 28221703032013111122796

Please don’t hesitate to call or email your Council representative and let them know how you feel.   Lets take the special interest money out of politics.

Tell them to Vote Yes for lower TIN CUP limits.

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03 Mar 2013

Modesto’s Animal Abuse Ordinance to Council on Tuesday 3/5/12

cat-yoga

cat-yoga (Photo credit: ilexxx)

By Emerson Drake

Modesto’s Cat Killers now have reason to fear as the Modesto City Council will be voting on an update to the municipal Code.  Section 5-4-405 will be added to Article 4 of Chapter 4 of Title 5 outlawing abandonment of animals including cats.  Seems like a mouthful but it should give cat killers like Phillip Sumner and Jeff Reed second thoughts keeping from enticing pets into their yards, trapping , and then abandoning them to die a probable death of starvation.

The new ordinance will require the cats to be turned into animal services for potential recovery by their owners. Exceptions are made in the ordinance for recognized groups who capture then spay and neuter the animals.  We brought this into the glare of the public eye after hearing the heartfelt pleas of owners of missing pets taken by these animal abusers. The original story can be found at:

Modesto’s Cat Killer…Phillip Sumner

Many thanks go out to Former Interim Police Chief Gene Ballentine and Captain Mike Harris.  The on the Council to support an ordinace and to speak up in support was Councilman Joe Muratore followed by Mayor Garrad Marsh, Councilmen Dave Geer and John Gunderson and Dave Lopez.  City Attorney Susanna Acala Wood was very supportive and helpful from the beginning.

While this ordinance can’t reverse past issues it will help going forward and I hope those grieving pet owners who first brought this to the publics attention back on October 23,2012 will be able to attend the meeting Tuesday night at 5:30.

The ordinance is under hearing in the Council Agenda Hearing Item #5 for Tuesday.  The Ordinance reads as follows :

ORDINANCE NO. _______-C.S.

AN ORDINANCE ADDING SECTION 5-4.405 TO ARTICLE 4

OF CHAPTER 4 OF TITLE 5 OF THE MODESTO MUNICIPAL

CODE RELATING TO DISPOSITION OF STRAY ANIMALS

The Council of the City of Modesto does ordain as follows:

SECTION 1. AMENDMENT OF CODE. Section 5-4.405 is hereby added to

Article 4 of Chapter 4 of Title 5 of the Modesto Municipal Code to read as follows:

5-4.405. DISPOSITION OF STRAY ANIMALS.

(a) It shall be unlawful and a misdemeanor offense for any person who

contains any stray animal (including cats) found at large or on their

property to abandon the animal.

For the purposes of this section only the following definitions shall apply:

(1) “Contains” shall mean traps, corners, confines or in some manner

restricts the animal’s freedom from continuing to roam.

(2) “Stray animal” means an animal that is running loose and at large

with no owner present, and/or an animal that is trespassing on

another’s property.

(3) “Abandons” means once the animal is contained, the person

transports the animal to a location other than where it was

originally contained and releases the animal to freely roam.

(b) Within twenty-four (24) hours after containing any such animal, the person

doing so shall do one of the following:

(1) Release the animal where it was originally contained or return the

animal to the owner, if the owner is known;

(2) Report to City of Modesto Animal Control officials the fact that

such animal is contained and include the location where the animal

is contained, a description of the animal and license number of

such animal, if any; or

-1-

(3) Transport the animal to the Stanislaus Animal Services Agency

facility and provide the date, time and location of when and where

the animal was located when surrendering the animal to facility

staff.

(c) Animal Control Officers shall pick up and dispose of such animal in the

same manner as though such animal had been found at large and

impounded.

(d) This section shall not be interpreted to apply to a person or organization

registered with the Stanislaus Animal Services Agency as a caretaker for

feral cats when that person is caring for feral cats.

SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. This ordinance shall go into effect and be in

full force and operation from and after thirty (30) days after its final passage and adoption.

SECTION 3. PUBLICATION. At least two (2) days prior to its final adoption,

copies of this ordinance shall be posted in at least three (3) prominent and distinct locations in

the City; and a notice shall be published once in

The Modesto Bee, the official newspaper of the

City of Modesto, setting forth the title of this ordinance, the date of its introduction and the

places where this ordinance is posted.

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27 Feb 2013

“What’s on America’s Mind” Wed. at 6:30 PM

Radio RED 104.9 FM

Radio RED 104.9 FM (Photo credit: Mahdi Ayat.)

Topics include Modesto’s Cover-up of the Contaminated well in Salida, last night’s Salida MAC meeting, a discussion regarding  “All Politics are Local,” MID Games,  the animal cruelty ordinance, LAFCO vs Salida vs Beard Industrial Park, this and more so tune in at ourNEW starting time Broadcast LIVE on 140.9 at 6:30 PM Wednesday and find out the things you really  need to know.

Our call in number is 1-347-215-9414

104.9 FM Modesto our Flag Ship station

Our blogtalk radio address: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/centralvalleyhornet/2013/02/28/whats-on-americas-mind-with-emerson-drake

To watch last night’s MAC Meeting http://vimeo.com/60657680

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