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Wednesday, November 08, 2006

To The New LOCSD Board Members: Congratulations! You Have My Deepest Sympathy.

The voters here in Sewerville have spoken, so far. And to me the election of two but not three new CSD Board candidates says that Sewerville wants a change but not a change of direction. Hence, they elected Joe Sparks and Maria Kelley (two Taxpayer Watch-supported candidates) but they also returned to office, incumbent Chuck Cesena.

All three candidates have my deepest sympathy. The newcomers are about to find out that the view from behind the dais is often 180’ different from what they thought it would be on the public side of the table. Once they take the oath of office, they’ll be taken into closed session and there will undoubtedly be given a snootful of privileged information that may give them a different take on things yet again.

They’ll also get to sit and smile politely while people like themselves stand up at Public Comment to rail against their evilness and blockheadedness while hurling carefully honed vitriol down upon their head and shoulders. Their integrity will be questioned, their votes examined, their personal lives subject to scrutiny and rumor. They may even be personally sued for their actions by Taxpayers Watch, and/or be subjectd to a recall. Or, maybe, since Taxpayers Watch didn’t get a Board Majority, they’ll have to defend against another dissolution attempt.

On the other hand, since these candidates were endorsed by and benefited from Taxpayers Watch’s political ads and flyers (while coyly denying they were members or in any way involved with TPW, had no connection with them, that TPW was free to support or not support anyone they chose, heh-heh, and etc.), does their election signal that TPW will finally come in from the cold and join the rest of the community in working on mutual problems from the center, not from the edge throwing stones and lawsuits?

If so, then is Sewerville entering a new era? Are we now moving towards mutually solving a series of problems that were caused when the old Board refused to listen to and actively engage the “center” in a fair and honest process that coulda/shoulda led to a decision on a wastewater project that woulda/coulda been supported by that same “center,” thereby avoiding the train wreck that this ”newish” board is now saddled with cleaning up?

Oh, God, let’s hope so.

Meantime, to the new candidates-elect, I can only say: Gosh, I’m sooooo sorry. But, Good Luck!

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ann,

You sound like a jilted lover, "I never really liked...anyway!".

It will be nice to have the sun shine on the many unreportable closed sessions and the 'unbiased billable advice' of the many LA lawyers.

I'm glad you support CSD transparency! You go girl!

Churadogs said...

Anonymous sez:"It will be nice to have the sun shine on the many unreportable closed sessions and the 'unbiased billable advice' of the many LA lawyers.

I'm glad you support CSD transparency! You go girl!"

I hope you're not suggesting that closed session items be made public,i.e. brought out into the "sunshine"? That would be against the law. And we certainly don't want that, do we?

Ron said...

Here are the official results:

LOS OSOS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT DIRECTOR
Total
Number of Precincts 9
Precincts Reporting 9 100.0 %
Vote For 3
Ballots Cast/Reg. Voters 5764/9803 58.8 %
Total Votes 14431
JOE SPARKS 2500 17.32%
CHUCK CESENA 2360 16.35%
MARIA KELLY 2257 15.64%
STEVE SENET 2240 15.52%
LYNETTE TORNATZKY 1854 12.85%
ROB SHIPE 1045 7.24%
JEFF EDWARDS 736 5.10%
AL BARROW 576 3.99%
ED OCHS 490 3.40%
DAVID B. DUGGAN 317 2.20%
Write-in Votes 56 0.39%

What a beautiful day.

Anonymous said...

Ann says:
"Or, maybe, since Taxpayers Watch didn’t get a Board Majority, they’ll have to defend against another dissolution attempt."

Ann, don't be an idiot. The sewer has gone to the County and the board has already gone bankrupt. There is nothing left for TW to to advance or prevent. There is no need for Taxpayers' Watch to dissolve the board. You are just ragging on them to rag. Guess you think continuing the bitterness will heal the community, or don't you care about doing that?

Ask anyone in TW if Maria or Joe was ever in that organization. I'm sure you will be very disappointed to find out they are not and never have been. The one and only one TW candidate, who really is in TW did not win, but you fail to mention that. But facts are not your strong suit, and I'd hardly expect that you would report them here, where innuendo works so well for your snarky style of writing.

Shark Inlet said...

One interesting thing I spotted in the results was that across the board the number of absentee ballots cast for a candidate was just about equal to the number cast on election day for the candidate ... except for Chuck and Steve who got about 300 more votes on election day than via absentee.

Sounds like some of those folks who decided at the last minute paid attention to the guy at the corner of LOVR and SBB.

I guess that is additional evidence of Ann's "asleep at the switch" conjecture.

FBLeG said...

I hope everyone is aware that there are 1078 absentee ballots that need to be counted that are related to LOCSD. The counting of those starts Thursday.

The election is clearly not over with the various margins of victory being so slim.

Mike Green said...

fbleg, Realy?
Wow, That could change things big time!
Interesting! Especialy in that the Trivial is so sure about the outcome.

Mike Green said...

I just went to the clerks site and here is what I found
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Assets/CR/Elections/November+7$!2c+2006+general+election/Remaining+ballots+to+be+counted.pdf
GOOD CATCH!!! fbleg!
Kudos!

Anonymous said...

This is major news! There are small enough margins here for the LOCSD election to change. God, when will it be over? Doesn't seem like a real possibility that Steve could oust Maria?

Mike Green said...

OK eveyone that didn't work, I'll try again.
Go to San Luis Obispo clerk (google)
click on the clerk recorders page
click on election results
click on ballots remaining to be counted
F@#$kingb@@ls leGross SCORE!

Anonymous said...

Shark,

The problem for Maria Kelly is there are still 1078 cast at the last minute absentee ballots that still have to be counted. I'm predicting Steve wins but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. And, I agree with Ann. In this case, is winning, winning? Or, is winning, losing?

Anonymous said...

Shark,

The problem for Maria Kelly is there are still 1078 cast at the last minute absentee ballots that still have to be counted. I'm predicting Steve wins but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. And, I agree with Ann. In this case, is winning, winning? Or, is winning, losing?

Shark Inlet said...

I guess the question is one of whether the as of yet uncounted absentee ballots are closer to the ballots cast at the polls or the already counted absentee ballots.

We'll see soon.

Anonymous said...

Shark,

If you recall the recall from last year, when the final votes were counted after election day, the margin of victory actually widened for yes on recall.......this is why I'm predicting a Senet victory. If that's what you want to call it......lol

Churadogs said...

Inlet sez:"Sounds like some of those folks who decided at the last minute paid attention to the guy at the corner of LOVR and SBB.

I guess that is additional evidence of Ann's "asleep at the switch" conjecture."

Actually, the "asleep at the switch" folks are some of those "last minute, Huh? you mean there's an election going on?" type of people, but also the huge number who didn't bother to show up and vote in the first place. I don't have the final tally in frot of me, but nation wide a whole lot of people stayed hom this election. That amazes me.

anonymous sez:"Ann, don't be an idiot. The sewer has gone to the County and the board has already gone bankrupt. There is nothing left for TW to to advance or prevent. There is no need for Taxpayers' Watch to dissolve the board. You are just ragging on them to rag. Guess you think continuing the bitterness will heal the community, or don't you care about doing that?"

Oh, Plueeezzzee, TW, from day one, was anti-democratic, my way or the highway. I found it amazing and as I have noted before, they didn't care to work within the system and very framework many of them helped create, i.e. the CSD itself. Nope,Lost the recall and kaboom! out of the box, the FIRST thing up to mat: Lawsuits followed by Dissolve the CSD!

And now, do we have to worry about all the ballots still to be counted since the margin between Maria and Steve is so slim? Suppose Steve wins? Will we hear a shreik from TPW and the start of, what? What's left to try? More lawsuits?

Anonymous, my gleefully sticking pins into TPW isn't "bitterness." It's gleefully sticking pins in a group of people and their supporters who have caused a lot of damage to this community for reasons that passeth understanding. I'm still baffled and saddened by the now infamous demand from one of our fellow citizens to "Fine the CSD out of existence!" while forgetting that the CSD is you and me and all of us. What's with THAT kind of ugly thinking? Then we've got the hypocrisy of an organization railing furiously against the fiscal irresponsibility of the CSD while asking the county taxpayers to pick up their tab for attempting to dissolve the CSD. A dissolution attempt that also cost the CSD a pretty penny to defend against, which means it cost the citizens a pretty penny. So, what's with THAT thinking as well. Then, they still haven't paid their LAFCO bill, but have nice oney to spend on political campaigns stressing candidates with fiscal responsibility? What's THAT all about?

No, that's not "bitterness." That's gleeful "snarky," which, it's already been pointed out, is what I do -- hopefully well,Thank you.

Shark Inlet said...

Ann,

We definitely agree about those who don't vote.

However, the fact that those voted absentee favored Kelly over Senet by a significant margin but those who voted at the polls favored Senet over Kelly by about the same margin would make you wonder why. Without a news item in the last few days that might cause many to change their minds it would seem that the most plausible theory is that the bulk of us put considerable thought into our choices but that a few decided who to vote for on the way home when driving by the sign guy.

That sounds exactly like your "asleep at the switch" theory to me ... that there are many who don't pay attention until it is too late.

Anonymous said...

....of course you could have made a serious, in depth, thoughtful vote as SHARK did, by disclosing that one candidate/elected person, was a "better speaker"!
Qualifications be damned, he talks nice and besides, I like his shirt. Now there is a REAL concerned voter.

Ron said...

Ann wrote:

"... my gleefully sticking pins into TPW isn't "bitterness." It's gleefully sticking pins in a group of people and their supporters who have caused a lot of damage to this community".

Ripping the community fabric of Los Osos into iddy-biddy pieces since 1998. Sad thing to "watch," actually.

"Then, they still haven't paid their LAFCO bill..."

"No, they've not paid anything since their initial deposit in February 2006."
-- Paul Hood, Executive Officer, SLO LAFCO

Outstanding balance: $27,747.50

Anonymous said...

"Outstanding balance $27,747.50'

bAKE SALE, ANYONE?

Anonymous said...

Balance owed to Burke, Williams, Sorenson $423,000 from CSD, now in bankruptcy court.

Money already paid to BWS, $400,000.

(Of that amount BWS spent on two TW lawsuits: $29,866 - Public Waste and Measure B.)

Money paid to bankruptcy lawyer to date: $150,000.

Money paid to new bond counsel as the bond money we paid in our taxes was not spent to pay the bond but was spent on lawyers (necessitating this lawyer): unknown.

Hey, the CSD spent money it didn't have on lawyers, and spent money it didn't have on Ripley - instead of coming to us in the community asking for money to allow them to continue with their wastewater idea - they decided to go bankrupt instead (necessitating THAT lawyer). They paid lawsuits off that they didn't need to pay and hired the opposition's lawyers - Burke, Williams, Sorenson! We are PAYING for all of that.

ALL of these are much larger issues than the dissolution monies - All of this has caused FAR MORE DAMAGE to the community - But is any of this mentioned by the seated board's supporters? HECK NO! Better to point elsewhere and raise a big stink about little blame instead of the onerous financial and moral rot in their own lap.

Anonymous said...

I haven't heard that property owners will have to pay off TW's debt but we will have to pay all these f@@ng lawyers. Nice job CSD!

Shark Inlet said...

Update ... after counting just under half of the remaining absentee ballots, Maria Kelly has pulled ahead by ... drumroll ... 18 votes.

Seriously, the chance that Senet can catch up to Kelly has now shrunk. With just 679 absentee ballots to be counted and possibly some provisional ballots as well, there would seem to be less than a 10% chance that Senet will be able to pull ahead. (In all seriousness, that is the number that is most favorable to Senet, most the the ways I work the odds it seems like Senet has less than a 0.1% chance.)

Let's wish Joe, Chuck and Maria the best of luck with their terms and let's see if we can help them pull a miracle out of a shabby baseball cap. It will seriously be quite a challenge to dig us out of the financial hole we are currently in.

Mike Green said...

I'll help. Good advice Shark!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 12:35 PM is probably right on the money when it comes to what is owed, etc. Let's hope this new board gets some real accounting from the CSD, who knows what the hell is going on.

Anonymous said...

Shark Inlet said:

"Seriously, the chance that Senet can catch up to Kelly has now shrunk. With just 679 absentee ballots to be counted and possibly some provisional ballots as well, there would seem to be less than a 10% chance that Senet will be able to pull ahead. (In all seriousness, that is the number that is most favorable to Senet, most the the ways I work the odds it seems like Senet has less than a 0.1% chance.)
Let's wish Joe, Chuck and Maria the best of luck with their terms and let's see if we can help them pull a miracle out of a shabby baseball cap. It will seriously be quite a challenge to dig us out of the financial hole we are currently in."

shark,

either you are a fucking idiot or your "calculator" is seriously malfunctioning. remember last year in the days following the election that the yes on recall numbers increased? did you plug this number into your calculator you fucking dumbshit? there has been speculation that you are indeed Joe Sparks. if you are indeed Joe Sparks, I hope we aren't relying on your fucked up calculator and brain to get us all out of the financial hole that we are in. At least we still have four people on the CSD that really know whats going on......and one fool to entertain us all.

Anonymous said...

Four people who know what is going on?? - They know that the lawyers are fleecing this community for every last cent and they are OK with that?

If they know that is happening, and it is, they are criminals. If they don't know, they are merely stupid.

You, anon 9:04pm, clearly have NO IDEA as to what is going on.

Shark Inlet said...

Well .... rather than ask about the assumptions that give rise to my calculations it would probably be best to criticize me and to use foul language to do it.

Oh ... just because you seem confused and haven't read this site carefully, I am not Joe. Joe is far wiser than I am. Perhaps you are thinking "do kidding" but I would also offer up the idea that some of the questions I've been raising here for over a year should have been addressed by Julie, Lisa and the three men before they made some of their rather ... um ... hasty decisions.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:04...
You are everything that is wrong with some of Los Osos. Crass. Uneducated. Foul-mouthed and ignorant. You think you're a sewer expert, and you'll believe anything that is told to you as long as you think you'll never have to pay for a sewer. Pathetic.