From: John King <penngrove@...>
Subject: Fw: John King running for 2nd District Supervisor
To: "King John" <penngrove@...>
Date: Monday, June 22, 2009, 11:20 PM

Dear Friends & Family,

 

There are some advantages to having lived here in the Penngrove/Petaluma area for the past 52 years, coming from a family that has been here for 6 generations or more adds even more contrast to understanding the days of old and the times we now live in.  Whether your family came through Ellis Island or SFO, it isn't a requirement to be able to see the changes and how our quality of life has declined here in Sonoma County.  The changes can be measured in terms of months, or, by votes cast by County Supervisors and City Councils in neighboring communities where rural property owners have no say.

 

What has happened here?  How is it possible so many elected and appointed officials can turn their backs on us time and time again? 

 

I recently looked in Webster's dictionary to see how the word politician is defined.  One of the definitions reads; "A person primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow usually short-sighted reasons".  In my opinion most public officials in Sonoma County fit this description over and over again.  Politicians are people who rarely risk their careers by putting the people who elected them first - seeking re-election is job one. 

 

Examples? 

 

In 2000 the City of Rohnert Park unveiled an EIR for their 20 year General Plan.  It clearly stated groundwater levels had dropped 150 feet or more over the past 30 years.  It failed to evaluate the impacts on continued and increased groundwater pumping on areas OUTSIDE its City Limits.  I filed a lawsuit challenging the City over this issue which they chose to ignore, about 150 local families from Healdsburg to Petaluma funded the expense.  We won, the developers lost, everybody who funded the attorney's contract without exception got a 100% refund.  Rohnert Park was forced to make significant reductions in groundwater pumping for 20 years.  Only 20 years - 11 years remain of that landmark agreement.  A responsible City Council would have voted differently on moving forward with its General Plan under these circumstances.

 

In 2006 a small group of rural residents funded the cost of hiring an attorney, this time the challenge was to prevent the 4-city partnership of Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Rohnert Park, and Cotati from developing earthened ponds East of the Petaluma Hill Road corridor just North of Sonoma State University.  The risk was likely contamination of clean groundwater supplies.  The ponds were to be part of a series of storage sites for wastewater coming out of the sewage plant on Llano Road.  The partnership had developed what was known as the Incremental Recycled Water Program, its purpose was to dispose of 6.7 billion gallons of wastewater a year.  In this particular case the earthened holding ponds were to be located on top of State identified groundwater recharge areas.  HHMMMMM - lets see, earthened non-sealed ponds over groundwater recharge areas?  The 4-City partnership backed off on this particular site and no ponds are currently planned for this area.  Another no-mention-of-this-in-the-PD victory for the citizens.  Again, a responsible panel of appointed officials would never have promoted this option as a solution to disposing of wastewater.  We need Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment here in Sonoma County to properly address this issue.

 

To add to the problem the scientific community is now telling us the valley floor beneath Rohnert Park and Southern Santa Rosa is dropping relative to sea level.  It happens when too much water is removed from the basin by pumping.  I've heard it's dropping at a rate of about a 1/2" a year.  In other words, the storage tank is shrinking.

 

In 2007 some Dry Creek property owners took a stand against the use of tertiary treated waste water proposed for the Dry Creek Valley, it was to be a trade for safe, clean, potable water.  My understanding of the status of this is the property owners have prevailed, the SCWA has backed-off, yet another uphill battle for rural County property owners who are forced to fend off the cities who look to rural Sonoma County as a dumping ground.  Our 5 County Supervisors have police authority over water issues here in the County, where are they?

 

Also in 2007, I made a public records act request of the Marin Municipal Water District.  MMWD buys groundwater from the Sonoma County Water Agency.  Yes, our groundwater goes all the way to Sausalito.  Novato and Ignacio also buy water from the Sonoma County Water Agency, 80% of their daily water consumption comes from Sonoma County's groundwater supplies.  The PRA request showed that MMWD was exercising its option to buy another 5,000 acre feet of water for $6.3 million.  The SCWA offered MMWD $1.2 million if they agreed not to exercise their option.  The irony of the story is the SCWA took the money, despite warnings of the inability to deliver it, all the while knowing that MMWD already has 5,000 acre feet of surface water its not using in the Soulajule reservoir out near Marshall.  Yes, its not highly publicized that the water is there and the piping is in place to transfer it to Nicascio Reservoir.  If you still don't understand, we are running out of water here in Sonoma County.  When the drought hit in 1975, 1976, and 1977 Marin Municipal Water District made an agreement with East Bay MUD, a pipeline was built across the deck of the Richmond San Rafael bridge to import sierra snow-melt water into Marin County.  When the drought ended, the pipe was dismantled.  The only chance Sonoma County has of importing delta water is through the very pipeline that now exports Sonoma County groundwater supplies to Marin.

 

Other water highlights include saltwater intrusion in the Sonoma Valley, it's the result of too much groundwater pumping by development which allows saltwater to move up the Sonoma Valley from San Pablo Bay.  The Bodega area is experiencing the same problem, additional development and demand for water will only make the problem worse.

 

Every property owner in Sonoma County is paying for the cost of Warm Springs Dam - Marin isn't.  Many of the cities in Marin County will get water from Lake Sonoma if they get their way, so will the water contractors (cities) of Sonoma County.  Rural Sonoma County, with rare exception, is not in the head count for a drop of that water despite the fact our wells are going dry.  Where is our elected representation?  Where is all that money from water sales?

 

Farmland is being lost to development, the County General Plan puts a strangle-hold on land use with unnecessary setbacks reducing the amount of tillable soil.  It's a great concept where necessary but noncontributing land is being unnecessarily affected and taken out of production.  I heard during the General Plan about 90,000 acres here in Sonoma County would be impacted.  This land use policy is exempt in the cities of Sonoma County - the County General Plan only applies to rural lands.

 

I expect that future building will be vertical, sprawl will no longer be allowed when the public and elected officials, not developers, realize the real "Gold" in California is found in protecting its farmland, groundwater recharge areas, and open spaces.  When will we change our priorities and demand that we have proven and funded solutions to these problems before we continue to build?  The change will come when voters are presented with candidates who are genuinely interested in the facts and the law, not "A person primarily interested in political office for selfish or other narrow usually short-sighted reasons". 

 

In short, we can't afford having another "politician" in Sonoma County taking office.  Legitimately addressing the issues which include but are not limited to cuts in spending for education, lost employment opportunities, affordable housing, traffic and transportation will be no small task.  They are the same issues that have haunted many administrations here in Sonoma County and beyond. 

 

Please know that having worked hard on issues of County interest for the past decade as a private citizen and ranch owner, I have made my decision to run for 2nd District Supervisor to replace Mike Kerns.  The long list of problems that face Sonoma County and its future is not about a battle between rural and incorporated jurisdictions as we all share the same resources and infrastructure.  To every extent possible, the people of this County must stand united and make an informed commitment for a better future.  My candidacy is about serving the people of the 2nd District and beyond.

 

I look forward to meeting you and as many groups as possible in an effort to hear your concerns and viewpoints over the next 11 months, the election will be held in June of 2010.

 

Respectfully,

John E. King

763-7023

For those of you interested in making campaign donations please make checks payable to: "John King Supervisor 2010"

P.O. Box 127

Penngrove, CA 94951

penngrove@...