5-25-16
John’s Soapbox:
ECA Voting Recommendations:
Ballots have been mailed out. The ECA Government Affairs Committee recommends the following candidates receive your vote:
Sonoma County District 1: ECA recommends you vote for Gina Cuclis. It is the opinion of the Government Affairs Committee that the incumbent, Susan Gorin, is too closely aligned with Government Employees that are unionized. Given the Supervisors approved a raise for the SEIU members that will cost the Sonoma County taxpayers over $120 million over the next 5 years, while not committing to substantial budgeted increases for road repair, we feel Ms. Gorin is ineffective in representing the majority of her constituents. We also believe that Ms. Gorin has been ineffective in funding infrastructure spending in District 1 for Sonoma County. For those main two reasons, we urge you District 1 voters to cast your vote for Gina Cuclis for Sonoma County District 1 Supervisor.
Sonoma County District 3: ECA has no recommendation as Shirlee Zane is running unopposed.
Sonoma County District 5: ECA recommends you vote for Lynda Hopkins. Although the ECA likes Tom Lynch, we do not feel he would make as good a supervisor as Lynda Hopkins. The other main candidate is Noreen Evans and the ECA leans heavily on the comments of existing and past supervisors and mayors who have stated that Noreen Evans did not assist them locally while she held State elected offices. The ECA feels Noreen Evans only works hard enough to get party support and the support of some special interest groups and the energy and intelligence of Lynda Hopkins is compelling. The ECA also is moved by Lynda Hopkins personal morality of not pledging her future votes to a special interest group like Conservation Action, or SEIU. For those reasons and others, the ECA recommends you cast your vote for Lynda Hopkins.
The ECA takes no other official position for endorsement of candidates for June 7, 2016 Primary.
That’s All Folks!
John
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Update on the Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA) “Climate Action 2020 and Beyond”
Now for one of the “SCARIEST” and most INVASIVE new sets of regulations you business owners can imagine-let’s talk about how your lives are about to change in the next 20 years.
Many of you may not have heard about the Climate Action 2020 and Beyond” plan and/or how it might relate to transportation. The Sonoma County Transportation Authority is currently drafting a “Comprehensive Transportation Plan” (CTP) as well as working closely with RCPA on drafting the “Climate Action 2020 and Beyond” (CA2020) plan. Both are linked inasmuch as the CA2020 has identified the following greenhouse gas reduction targets:
*Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 25% below 1990 levels by 2020
*Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030
*Reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050
How does this affect you? Transportation is a major emitter source of greenhouse gases (52% of local emissions come from transportation). Those emissions are a factor of total travel of vehicles, speed of travel, and the characteristics of the vehicle fleet. Plans are being discussed to reduce the amount of travel, lower travel speeds, and improve the efficiency of the fleet. Some possible impacts to your business and personal life include: 1. Mandated average speeds of 18 mph, and 2. Mandatory requirements of 55 miles per gallon for carbon engine driven vehicles by 2040, and 3. Taxes or fees placed on employers who have employees travel more than the mandated mileage allotted to and from their place of work.
In other words: these plans that are being developed right now will have a major impact on social engineering all under the guise of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Some examples of what is being developed:
- Trip-Reduction ordinance
- Car-sharing programs
- Traffic calming
- Supporting parking policy measures
- Supporting transit measures
- Sonoma-Marin Rail Transit
- Land Use and Housing measures that support reduced vehicle traffic.
Now-I am not going to be the one to stand up and scream “THIS IS NONSENSE”. That would be “political suicide”. However, as these measures are being discussed, I am going to point them out to you in the hopes that you will find the time to offer some public input in addition to mine. To read directly from their website, click here—
