MICHAEL ALLEN, THE SONOMA COUNTY WATER AGENCY, AND YOU
List of interrelated people, agencies, non-profits, corporations, legislation.
Sonoma County Water Agency
Sonoma County Climate Protection Authority (SCTA)
Pat Wiggins State Senate
Noreen Evans State Assembly
Michael Allen, Wiggins staff member
Santa Rosa Planning Commissioner
Accountable Development Coalition, Chair
Consultant : SC Water Agency
North Bay Labor Council, former President
Solar Sonoma County, founder
Nick Caston, Santa Rosa Planning Commissioner
Former aide to Noreen Evans
Accountable Development Coalition, Vice Chair
Dennis Hunter's Global Legacy
Green Energy Loans
Climate Protection Campaign
Sonoma Climate Exchange
Solar Sonoma County
Accountable Development Coalition
North Bay Corporation
Santa Rosa City Council
Question: Why would the Sonoma County Water Agency hire Michael Allen for work he apparently was not qualified to do? Is it possible that he was really hired to do other work? Was he hired in order to provide him with money to run his political campaigns? Why would SCWA want to buy a policy-maker?
Allen is currently a staff member for State Senator Pat Wiggins, but is on a leave of absence, while he runs for State Assembly. Wiggins' competency is at issue. She is suspected of having dementia and is 'working from home' for the remainder of her term. The Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition has called for Wiggins to submit to competency testing or resign.
Allen was on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission for a little over a year until he abruptly quit in February 2010.
The only thing holding back the 'new green economy' is a lack of requirement that property owners do energy saving retrofits to their buildings.
Background: In December 2007, the City of Santa Rosa published the recommendations of their Green Building Advisory Committee. Two of its elements were that inspections and retrofitting work must be undertaken by property owners whenever a property is sold or whenever any significant improvements will be made. This came before the City Council in 2008 but hasn't been approved; it has been pending a council vote for about two years. If approved, the new ordinance would be the first in the nation to impose this mandatory requirement. The Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition distributed about 7,000 flyers in Santa Rosa regarding the pending mandates. Citizen reaction was extremely negative to the city's plan. Santa Rosa has not taken further action since the flyers went out.
In 2008, Michael Allen and Nick Caston, both on the SR Planning Commission, attempted to have language inserted into the 2035 General Plan that said the City MUST ADOPT A PROGRAM that mandated inspections and retrofits on Santa Rosa's buildings. This was at the same time that the Green Building Advisory Committee's recommendations were being considered by the council, but no public hearings had taken place. Vigorous objections made by Kay Tokerud, a steering committee member of the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition, called out this inappropriate language and it was withdrawn. That General Plan provision, if it had been inserted, would have made the public hearings irrelevant.
On the State level, a bill was crafted and submitted to committee from Senator Pat Wiggins (who, you will recall, is suffering from dementia), Senate Bill 730. This bill contained a provision that 200,000 solar hot water systems be installed in Sonoma County, administered by the Sonoma County Water Agency. The mechanism to make nearly all building owners participate was to add a surtax to their gas bill that was high enough to motivate them to do so. The extra money would then be used for rebates given to those who participate. Michael Allen is the district director for Pat Wiggins (did he write the bill?). On March 7, 2010 he was reported to the FPPC by a member of the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition. On March 9, 2010, the provisions were stripped from the bill by an Assembly amendment. Allen was aware that his actions were being scrutinized because requests for documents pertaining to his contracts with SCWA had initially been made in December 2009. He is under investigation by the FPPC for contracting with the SCWA to have a property they own re-designated in the Santa Rosa General Plan, a change he lobbied the City of Santa Rosa in favor of while he was sitting on it's planning commission and voting on the issue.
Sonoma County has taken the lead in the green retrofit planning and launched Sonoma County Energy Independence Program (SCIEP) offering property owners loans at 7% interest (through Green Energy Loans, a Dennis Hunter company) for solar and other energy products. The repayment of the loans will be made through property tax bills. Partnerships have been entered into between the County and private and non-profit corporations, see list above. The plan is one-stop shopping, from the inspections, to the loans, to the retrofitting work and follow up. Contractors, inspectors, and the unions are lining up to get on the approved list for the program. Michael Allen was employed by the SEIU until recently, and was President of the North Bay Labor Council. Mandates would benefit many union workers.
Sonoma County Water Agency contracted with Michael Allen for consulting work from 2005 until 2009 (a 2010 contract was put on hold by the County Supervisors.) These contracts total nearly $200,000. Over that time period he was running for SR City Council, but lost, and later for State Assembly. Michael Allen is district director for State Senator Pat Wiggins, but is now on a leave of absence, while he runs for Assembly. Was he really hired by SCWA to work on a zoning change? Or was he hired by SCWA to insure that SCWA would be a lead agency in administering green mandate programs?
Accountable Development Coalition:
Executive Chairman: Michael Allen
Vice-chair: Nick Caston
This coalition offers community support for projects seeking approvals, at a price. One contract has been entered into with Codding Enterprises for $6,000 up front and $5,000 a year during the process. The promise is that they will be able to dominate all public input at hearings and get the approval or denial being sought by their clients. This of course circumvents the normal legally required public hearing process. The ADC proved themselves when they were able to kill the Lowe's project over the protests of the community members who wanted the Lowe's. Michael Allen voted against the Lowe's project while on the Planning Commission. Some members of the public, including the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition, expressed outrage that he didn't recuse himself from the vote. The Sonoma County Grand Jury said both he and Caston should have recused themselves, and there are serious ethics problems on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. The ADC also came out in strong support for Santa Rosa's mandatory energy retrofit program in 2008 when Michael Allen was on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. He was lobbied by his own group at commission meetings.
Solar Sonoma County was founded by Michael Allen. This group actively lobbies for regulations favoring the solar industry.
If mandates go forward, companies specializing in solar energy products will greatly benefit as will the electrical unions Allen represented.
Santa Rosa and Sonoma County both are interested in creating their own electricity districts called Community Choice Aggregation whereby they could require a larger percentage of their power to come from solar than is currently required by PG&E. This will undoubtedly raise the cost to consumers because it costs more to produce power with solar panels than by conventional methods. These districts will also be able to manipulate gas and electric rates as a method to "encourage" energy consumers to install solar panels on their buildings. Proposition 16's loss means that the ratepayers won't have a voice in these decisions.
Who wrote SB 730? Does anyone think Wiggins' in her present diminished mental state is capable of writing legislation? Was it really district director Michael Allen? Noreen Evans will surely move up into Wiggins' Senate Seat after November's election and Michael Allen is poised to take Evans' Assembly Seat. Cozy, isn't it?
Next: Carbon Offset Trading, Dennis Hunter's Global Legacy, Green Energy Loans, SCWA, Climate Protection Campaign, Sonoma Climate Exchange and you.
Sonoma County Water Agency
Sonoma County Climate Protection Authority (SCTA)
Pat Wiggins State Senate
Noreen Evans State Assembly
Michael Allen, Wiggins staff member
Santa Rosa Planning Commissioner
Accountable Development Coalition, Chair
Consultant : SC Water Agency
North Bay Labor Council, former President
Solar Sonoma County, founder
Nick Caston, Santa Rosa Planning Commissioner
Former aide to Noreen Evans
Accountable Development Coalition, Vice Chair
Dennis Hunter's Global Legacy
Green Energy Loans
Climate Protection Campaign
Sonoma Climate Exchange
Solar Sonoma County
Accountable Development Coalition
North Bay Corporation
Santa Rosa City Council
Question: Why would the Sonoma County Water Agency hire Michael Allen for work he apparently was not qualified to do? Is it possible that he was really hired to do other work? Was he hired in order to provide him with money to run his political campaigns? Why would SCWA want to buy a policy-maker?
Allen is currently a staff member for State Senator Pat Wiggins, but is on a leave of absence, while he runs for State Assembly. Wiggins' competency is at issue. She is suspected of having dementia and is 'working from home' for the remainder of her term. The Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition has called for Wiggins to submit to competency testing or resign.
Allen was on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission for a little over a year until he abruptly quit in February 2010.
The only thing holding back the 'new green economy' is a lack of requirement that property owners do energy saving retrofits to their buildings.
Background: In December 2007, the City of Santa Rosa published the recommendations of their Green Building Advisory Committee. Two of its elements were that inspections and retrofitting work must be undertaken by property owners whenever a property is sold or whenever any significant improvements will be made. This came before the City Council in 2008 but hasn't been approved; it has been pending a council vote for about two years. If approved, the new ordinance would be the first in the nation to impose this mandatory requirement. The Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition distributed about 7,000 flyers in Santa Rosa regarding the pending mandates. Citizen reaction was extremely negative to the city's plan. Santa Rosa has not taken further action since the flyers went out.
In 2008, Michael Allen and Nick Caston, both on the SR Planning Commission, attempted to have language inserted into the 2035 General Plan that said the City MUST ADOPT A PROGRAM that mandated inspections and retrofits on Santa Rosa's buildings. This was at the same time that the Green Building Advisory Committee's recommendations were being considered by the council, but no public hearings had taken place. Vigorous objections made by Kay Tokerud, a steering committee member of the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition, called out this inappropriate language and it was withdrawn. That General Plan provision, if it had been inserted, would have made the public hearings irrelevant.
On the State level, a bill was crafted and submitted to committee from Senator Pat Wiggins (who, you will recall, is suffering from dementia), Senate Bill 730. This bill contained a provision that 200,000 solar hot water systems be installed in Sonoma County, administered by the Sonoma County Water Agency. The mechanism to make nearly all building owners participate was to add a surtax to their gas bill that was high enough to motivate them to do so. The extra money would then be used for rebates given to those who participate. Michael Allen is the district director for Pat Wiggins (did he write the bill?). On March 7, 2010 he was reported to the FPPC by a member of the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition. On March 9, 2010, the provisions were stripped from the bill by an Assembly amendment. Allen was aware that his actions were being scrutinized because requests for documents pertaining to his contracts with SCWA had initially been made in December 2009. He is under investigation by the FPPC for contracting with the SCWA to have a property they own re-designated in the Santa Rosa General Plan, a change he lobbied the City of Santa Rosa in favor of while he was sitting on it's planning commission and voting on the issue.
Sonoma County has taken the lead in the green retrofit planning and launched Sonoma County Energy Independence Program (SCIEP) offering property owners loans at 7% interest (through Green Energy Loans, a Dennis Hunter company) for solar and other energy products. The repayment of the loans will be made through property tax bills. Partnerships have been entered into between the County and private and non-profit corporations, see list above. The plan is one-stop shopping, from the inspections, to the loans, to the retrofitting work and follow up. Contractors, inspectors, and the unions are lining up to get on the approved list for the program. Michael Allen was employed by the SEIU until recently, and was President of the North Bay Labor Council. Mandates would benefit many union workers.
Sonoma County Water Agency contracted with Michael Allen for consulting work from 2005 until 2009 (a 2010 contract was put on hold by the County Supervisors.) These contracts total nearly $200,000. Over that time period he was running for SR City Council, but lost, and later for State Assembly. Michael Allen is district director for State Senator Pat Wiggins, but is now on a leave of absence, while he runs for Assembly. Was he really hired by SCWA to work on a zoning change? Or was he hired by SCWA to insure that SCWA would be a lead agency in administering green mandate programs?
Accountable Development Coalition:
Executive Chairman: Michael Allen
Vice-chair: Nick Caston
This coalition offers community support for projects seeking approvals, at a price. One contract has been entered into with Codding Enterprises for $6,000 up front and $5,000 a year during the process. The promise is that they will be able to dominate all public input at hearings and get the approval or denial being sought by their clients. This of course circumvents the normal legally required public hearing process. The ADC proved themselves when they were able to kill the Lowe's project over the protests of the community members who wanted the Lowe's. Michael Allen voted against the Lowe's project while on the Planning Commission. Some members of the public, including the Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition, expressed outrage that he didn't recuse himself from the vote. The Sonoma County Grand Jury said both he and Caston should have recused themselves, and there are serious ethics problems on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. The ADC also came out in strong support for Santa Rosa's mandatory energy retrofit program in 2008 when Michael Allen was on the Santa Rosa Planning Commission. He was lobbied by his own group at commission meetings.
Solar Sonoma County was founded by Michael Allen. This group actively lobbies for regulations favoring the solar industry.
If mandates go forward, companies specializing in solar energy products will greatly benefit as will the electrical unions Allen represented.
Santa Rosa and Sonoma County both are interested in creating their own electricity districts called Community Choice Aggregation whereby they could require a larger percentage of their power to come from solar than is currently required by PG&E. This will undoubtedly raise the cost to consumers because it costs more to produce power with solar panels than by conventional methods. These districts will also be able to manipulate gas and electric rates as a method to "encourage" energy consumers to install solar panels on their buildings. Proposition 16's loss means that the ratepayers won't have a voice in these decisions.
Who wrote SB 730? Does anyone think Wiggins' in her present diminished mental state is capable of writing legislation? Was it really district director Michael Allen? Noreen Evans will surely move up into Wiggins' Senate Seat after November's election and Michael Allen is poised to take Evans' Assembly Seat. Cozy, isn't it?
Next: Carbon Offset Trading, Dennis Hunter's Global Legacy, Green Energy Loans, SCWA, Climate Protection Campaign, Sonoma Climate Exchange and you.
