I don’t believe Supervisor Mary Piepho is supportive of local input that may tend to thwart her personal agenda, and the recent dismantling of the East County Regional Planning Commission demonstrates this.
First, Supervisor Piepho fired the sitting rep. Then she installed a long-time political ally without interviewing all of the candidates who had applied for the position. Then the ally recommended disbanding the commission, thus eliminating the local input to the county.
I believe this is simply an orchestrated attempt to remove local decision makers so that she can pursue her own agenda of growth without the necessary infrastructure support, and I don’t like it.
Don Flint, Discovery Bay Updated August 24, 2009:(Click here for Superviser Piepho’s response)
"....so that she can pursue her own agenda of growth without the necessary infrastructure support"
No facts brought forward to support this claim, just Flint going off. An argument could be made that's a healthy dose of "intellectual garbage" and heaven knows the community sees entirely too much of that already.
Rick, at some point you have to ask yourself how the fire started and then reconcile with the book of matches in your hand.
No doubt refereeing this mess is a thankless job where you'll never be the hero. But you signed up for it and your job now is to gracefully walk that line down the middle.
"spouting drivel, juvenile commentary and intellectual garbage"
Isn't that all Don flint's letter was?
How was that not a valid question considering Mr. Flint felt the need to share this in the first place?
How was that comment "tasteless"?
The First Amendment guarantees people the right to express their opinions. That includes spouting drivel, juvenile commentary and intellectual garbage, if that's what someone wants to express. The First Amendment doesn't guarantee anyone the right to use this vehicle for their lamentations, however, and tasteless behavior has forced us to step in rather than leave access wide open.
People are going to just have to live with that, chill out, or post elsewhere.
Rick Lemyre
I don't want to hear any nonsense about the sacred 1st ever again.
http://www.thepress.net/pages/full_story/push?article-Commissions’ sunsets – the facts &id=3249978-Commissions’ sunsets – the facts&instance=letters_main_news
http://64.166.146.155/docs/2009/BOS/20090811_76/2232_ECRPC FINAL.pdf
Read that very carefully, especially the part where it says, “We believe that the members of the public and the business community would be better served by having land use items considered by the County Planning Commission that meets on a more frequent basis.”
Ooooh, some of our locals aren’t going to like that. A commission that won’t buy into their bias and beat back business(developers) at all cost.
Where's this ally's name in that letter? I assume you mean Bob Doran? While he may have been quoted on FedEx costs in a newspaper piece, do you see anything in the letter from the Commission chair making an issue of that?
But we should believe that the newest member of the commission came in and influenced the other 4, since the vote was unanimous?
Where did you get the idea the local voice is lost? You mean you can't drive to Martinez? A local resident can't be appointed to that commission when a vacancy comes up?
Finally, another post a few down claims the infrastructure can't support what we have. You mean the infrastructure(or claimed lack thereof) that was approved or allowed to be ignored while the ECRPC was in place? Doesn't exactly support the argument.
Here's the deal; for the dishonest people in this debate, it isn't about getting infrastructure before growth, because as I noted(and it is fact) new infrastructure comes with the approval of new building. What these people want is NO GROWTH and this is the indirect means to that goal.
Having an honest debate about this issue, fine. But dealing with people who are dishonest in their intent? I say marginalize these folks just as quickly as possible and let's get on with the business of the community.
The only constant in life is change. You can be an active player and help form that change or you can be steamrolled by it. The status quo these people fanaticize about is not an option. I choose to be an active player.
Some of the comments here avoid or deny those facts.
Some do not value the local commission's voice. I wonder why Bob Doran applied for this unnecessary position a few short months ago.
Observer claims a local voice is necessary on the committee. OK, the argument could be raised. But then you read the rest of the post and it’s clear this person means only a local voice carrying their water. Observer has apparently made the determination that the infrastructure can’t support what’s already here. Oh really? When was that determination made and by whom? When was it discussed and in what forum? Why wasn’t I polled?
How many times has this dead horse been beat?Infrastructure in California comes on the backs of developers. It doesn’t come because you throw a tantrum in a local meeting or an online newspaper forum. Enjoy your anonymity Mr/Ms Observer, because when this debate begins in earnest when an actual project is on the table, you will have to come out from behind the curtain. And when you do, we’ll be taking names. Because when the developers experience the pushback from the NIMBYs, we want to be sure to give them the names of the primaries so they know exactly who to sue for violating their right to developing their properties. The town as a whole should not suffer for your selfish agendas.
Most of the folks in Discovery Bay are fine people and I was say 99% of them really don’t have a strong opinion on most issues. But there is a rabid little bunch of misfits who seem to constantly look for something to complain about. Case in point: a lovely little elderly woman was sitting in the front of the CSD meeting the other evening. She had a concern about meeting minutes. It appears it’s not the first time she’s raised the concern.
So a couple of the Directors, staff of the CSD and the town’s legal counsel all chimed in to explain the process of how minutes are compiled. How they don’t go before the Directors before the next meeting agendas are compiled and distributed to interested parties. After what was a fairly detailed explanation, the lovely little thing stood up and said words to the effect, “I heard you, but I still don’t believe you".......and then the crickets started chirping.
W.T.F.!!?
This is the poster child of the mentality of these people. Complete and total denial. You can’t reason with or even debate that kind of mindset. It doesn’t matter how many times or how many people try to explain it. It being the
process of how government works around there. These people don’t get it because they don’t want to get it! They just want to cry about how they want it done their way.
Flint is cut from that same cloth. It doesn’t matter how many times you explain the facts and the procedures to this guy. He doesn’t get it. Ditto for the angry little bald guy he runs with. He decided long ago that he has it right and all the people working in government have it wrong. Talk about living in a bubble.
You don’t negotiate with people like this. You tolerate them, hopefully to the point where they finally lose interest like in a shiny new toy and they move on. Lots of communities have people like this. They have nothing better to do with their time than make other peoples’ lives miserable. It just seems that Discovery Bay got a double helping of these nuts.
Furthermore, the press again has published an “edited” opinion that must, if anything, show The Press’ editor has an axe to grind with the Piephos. Now Mr. Rick will spin and dodge and plead that this isn’t editing, it’s simply giving a second chance to a previously rejected letter (that was resubmitted and published after the section he didn’t like was taken out)… No way, not editing!
For months now, The Press has held documents that show this is an organized, off-season campaign, bent on bringing to fruition an ugly and morally repugnant vendetta. The Press (and its editor) fully understands that the main agenda of these people is to “tarnish” the image of the Piephos, thus making them unelectable. It doesn’t take a wise man to understand that when one of the few really local publications continues to perpetuate said vendetta, it either believes in the agenda of the group or really needs to sell more advertising, both being achieved at the cost of a community’s well-being.
The fact that the town of Discovery Bay must deal with nit-picking and bird-dogging instead of building advancements to Regatta Park or Cornell Park falls squarely on the laps of Rick Leymre, editor for the campaign violating DBRRG and editor of The Press, as well as the Don Flints and other anti-Piepho ringleaders of Discovery Bay.
Why do something for your community, when instead you can perpetuate hate and attempt the ruination of the lives of your elected leaders? Our kids don’t need better parks or things to do - The Press has advertising to sell!
We have more development that our infrastructure (roads, schools, police and fire protection) will support. The County doesn’t care as long as they get the money from the developers and then the property tax from the residents.
We are a cash cow, donor community for the County. We need and deserve more, not less local voice in land use planning decisions.
Oh no! The fed ex bills are so big! Oh no! We need to shut down the committee! Give me a break!
Don, have you ever been to an ECRPC meeting? I have. 4, in fact. The first 3 were a total circus. Directors who clearly hadn't read packets in advance and didn't understand the issue before them. After being tasked by the commission to go back and get information for a continuance, in the subsequent meeting they didn't even look at the information they asked us to bring. But for insult to injury, we had to sit through 10 minutes of frivolous banter about bocci ball courts and jokes about seniors marrying young wives. I believe they tape their meetings, so you are welcome to review if you don't believe it happened. Bottom line: not sorry to see it go.
The ECRPC recommended to the full Board of Supervisors to let their commission sunset. Saying it was disbanded is disingenuous. There are 5 members on the commission and the letter that went to the Supervisors wasn’t authored by this “ally” you claim masterminded this thing. It was authored by the Chair. Read the letter. It’s available online via the Board of Supervisors website under agenda packets(something you should be familiar with). For those that won’t read it, it basically says they recognize the need to save money and their workload of late and forward looking doesn’t warrant them being retained.
What I find interesting is that you talk as if you knew MacVittie’s stance on growth and now you’re pissed that he can’t do your bidding. The commission is to operate in a non-biased manner. Select members are appointed by the Supervisor and operate at his or her pleasure. The problem with that appointment is that communications had broken down. That was stated in the newspaper. You also seem to forget that Piepho had approved reappointment of MacVittie previously which isn't exactly consistent with your conspiracy.
You may not like it because you’re not controlling it, but it’s been that way for decades. If you want to more directly influence it, run for a Supervisor seat.
This doesn’t mean that projects proposed won’t go before the planning commission. They will just go before the main commission in Martinez, which in my view means proposals will get a more objective look.
It was reasonably quiet in Discovery Bay since the election. Probably because the whiners thought they had installed puppets to do their bidding. I think what they are finding out is they instead got some independent thinkers with the two new Directors and they don’t like it. This is the first public sign of discontent, but I suspect not the last.
Hail Rick!
Rick, did you help edit this one to?
The press and these people are the problem and it's time the residents of Discovery Bay show these people and the paper where they reside... in the trash can!