Monday, March 23, 2009
Marvin Kitman’s bestselling book George Washington’s Expense Account proclaims Washington as the father of expense-account reporting. One of the informal “rules” he extracts from Washington’s practices is, “Be explicit on the smaller expenditures and vague on the larger ones. Describe in some depth the purchase of a ball of twine, but casually throw in the line, ‘Dinner for one army.’”
I was reflecting on this when noticing how sometimes we all have a tendency to form strong opinions on small political items here, small projects there, but then lose focus when large, sometimes earthshaking events are occurring right before us. So this column is to remind us of three rather large tremors that have or are just about to occur, that will shape the Goleta Valley for years to come.
Pappas Fails to Disenfranchise Voters: The first major tremor is the recent lawsuit to invalidate votes, brought by Steve Pappas, loser in the November 2008, 3rd District Supervisor election. The 3rd District covers much of Goleta Valley, from Fairview to the Gaviota Pass, plus areas in the Santa Ynez Valley. Pappas sued to overturn the election of Doreen Farr by claiming that there was massive fraud, not by Farr, but by people helping voters register. Mr. Pappas initially subpoenaed over 9,600 people and called several to testify. He accused others of fraud and improper handing of registrations. He also alleged that the County Elections office had not followed registration procedures.
In throwing Pappas’s case out, Judge William McLafferty said, "I agree with Mr. Woocher," indicating Farr's attorney, Fred Woocher, "that every person who is eligible to vote, who is qualified to vote, should be allowed to vote. You would take that right away because a third person kept registration cards too long. I find it reprehensible that would happen to that voter. I'd feel deprived. Why should they suffer because of a third party? HAVA [Help America Vote Act] was not meant to do that. HAVA was meant to help people vote, to make it easier. I think that's being done,” he said. “I heard nothing in the way of evidence of fraud,” Judge McLafferty continued. "You have to keep in mind, people want the right to vote. They don't want to be hamstrung or prevented from voting. We have to do everything we can to make sure they can vote. We may not like how they vote, but it's an absolute right."
Unfortunately, the winner, Farr, is still stuck with more than $100,000 in legal bills for which she is personally responsible and unable to recover from Pappas, even though she won, and even though Pappas said publicly all along that she had done nothing wrong.
There are two ways of looking at the long-term effect of this case on Goleta. One is to say that the result preserved the rights of voters and that people will be encouraged to participate in the political process. The judge’s strong decision may deter other losers from filing such frivolous suits.
A more ominous possibility is that Pappas’s suit, financed by a few wealthy individuals, will have a chilling effect on our democracy. Candidates may think twice about running because even if they win by a hefty margin, they will always be under threat of a lawsuit by sore losers and their rich backers trying to accomplish in court what they could not at the ballot box.
Also, in the future, some people helping register voters and voters may themselves decide that they’d rather stay home, rather than risk the threat of subpoenas and being called as witnesses. The effect of Pappas’s lawsuit on candidates, on those helping others register to vote, and on voting itself remains to be seen.
UCSB in the Year 2025: The next huge tremor is UCSB’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) for the next 15 years—through 2025—for which the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) has been recirculated. The plan calls for a total increase of more than 10,000 new students, faculty, and staff; plus housing for them; plus academic and commercial facilities that would be equal in square feet to six Camino Real Marketplaces! This plan’s impacts on the nearby City of Goleta, City of Santa Barbara Airport property, and unincorporated Goleta would be enormous, especially the impacts on traffic, water availability, the Metropolitan Transit District, housing, and environmental concerns such as air and water quality.
By the way, on top of all that there also will be significant impacts from the massive Isla Vista Master Plan.
UCSB will seek approval from Board of Regents this summer and the California Coastal Commission thereafter.
Comments on the EIR are due by March 30, 2009, and can be sent to info@ucsbvision2025.com or UCSB Office of Campus Planning & Design, c/o Vision2025, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-1030.
George Relles
Anne Wells, advance planning manager for the City of Goleta.
What’s Developing at Bacara, Haskell’s, Shelby, and Bishop Ranch? To round out the three big tremors, the City of Goleta is considering proposed “Track 3 Amendments” to its General Plan that could have significant consequences for allowing multi-unit, residential development at Bacara, Haskell’s Landing, the Shelby property, and eventually Bishop Ranch. One proposed amendment would allow another large regional shopping center. Another would allow setback buffers from creeks and environmentally sensitive areas to shrink from 100 feet to only 50 feet. And there are several others.
Comments on this EIR are due by April 6, 2009, and can be submitted in writing to Goleta City Hall — Attention Dan Nemechek, 130 Cremona Drive, Suite B, Goleta, CA 93117, by fax at (805) 685-2635, or by email at dnemechek@cityofgoleta.org.
It is expected that these proposed amendments will go to Goleta’s Planning Commission at the end of June 2009, and then to the Goleta City Council for its final decision at the end of August or early September 2009.
There is some wisdom in the saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” It follows that we should pay more attention to the very big happenings around us that will shape the future of Goleta. And there is some reason to believe that the greater the participation by Goleta Valley residents, the greater the likelihood that we will like the shape of things to come.