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Wonder where your tax dollars are going? To fight this lawsuit

10/29/2010

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SEE THE UPDATE AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE--CITY LOST THE SUIT
April 22, 2010 From the Pacific Legal Foundation
Can government force you to give up fundamental rights for a building permit?
Author: Paul J. Beard II
We all know that government entities across the country are facing major budget deficits. We also know that governments often prefer to avoid the sort of belt-tightening that so many American families have been forced to do in recent years, and instead prefer to find clever ways of financing their operations . . . even if it means violating individuals' rights.

Case in point: The City of Santa Rosa, California, recently enacted a tax scheme to help solve its budget deficit and finance public services (police, fire, etc.). The City didn't cut costs or services. And it didn't implement a fair strategy for raising money. Instead of finding a way for all of its citizens to share in the burden of addressing the budget problem, the City targeted a small group of property owners, converting them into its cash cows.

Under a recently enacted ordinance, any applicant for a residential building permit--with property in a targeted area of the City--must agree to pay "special taxes" for the "privilege" of obtaining that permit. Recognizing the implications of this extortionate condition, the ordinance also requires the applicant to waive all rights pertaining to the imposition of those taxes--including the right freely to vote on them as required by the California Constitution. Not only does the condition require the permit applicant to forfeit his constitutional voting rights, it also violates his equal-protection rights: Individuals not seeking residential building permits, and individuals outside the targeted area, are not required to trade away their constitutional rights, even though they use and enjoy the same types and level of public services.Home Builders Association of Northern California is a nonprofit organization, some of whose members are affected by the City's tax scheme.  Pacific Legal Foundation represents the Association in a lawsuit against the City that seeks to have the ordinance declared unconstitutional and unenforceable.  Read more about the outrageous facts of this case and our legal strategy to get the law off the City's books.


UPDATE:
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported today (December 18, 2010) that Judge Mark Tansil sided with the Homebuilders Association of Northern California in the lawsuit to overturn the 2008 tax surcharge on most new home construction in Santa Rosa.  The Judge ruled the tax was unconstitutional because it forces property owners to give up their voting rights in exchange for the right to subdivide their property.  

City Attorney Caroline Fowler disagrees with the decision and will recommend that the city appeal Judge Tansil's decision.  

HOW MUCH WILL THAT COST?  HOW MUCH OF OUR MONEY HAS THE CITY SPENT ON THIS UNCONSTITUTIONAL STUNT?  
Tell the Mayor to drop the suit.  eolivares@ci.santa-rosa.ca.us

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JCNA a political vehicle for Gorin/Jacobi/Haenel

10/24/2010

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The following is an excerpt from the JCNA bylaws followed by a mass email sent by JCNA president Jenny Bard using the JCNA email list, a clear violation.  This is particularly galling because Bard refuses to allow anything she doesn't agree with to be posted in the two neighborhood bulletin boards paid for with taxpayers funds.  These are locked bulletin boards at Humboldt/Pacific, and Benton/Orchard.

“SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION BY-LAWS

1.       Purpose:

The purpose of the Santa Rosa Junior College Neighborhood Association (hereinafter referred to as the JCNA) is representation of the Junior College neighborhood, provision of a forum for neighborhood residents, and preservation of the neighborhood environment. The JCNA is not a political or partisan organization and will not be a vehicle for such causes.”

The bylaws haven't stopped JCNA President Jenny Bard from apparently using the email list for political purposes:
From: Jenny Bard [mailto:jenbard@sonic.net]
Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 6:22 PM
To: Jennifer Bard
Subject: Please stand up to the bully police and fire unions


Dear Friends,

I have lived in Santa Rosa for 25 years, and I have never seen anything like this year's city council campaign. The attacks on Mayor Gorin and Roni Jacobi by the big box candidates and police and fire unions have been vicious. Please read Mayor Gorin's message below and get involved if you can.  

It is critical that we support Susan Gorin, Roni Jacobi and Larry Haenel, who are committed to creating a sustainable future for Santa Rosa, have demonstrated true leadership in supporting local businesses, and are not afraid of standing up to the bully police and fire unions in our city.

If you would like to walk a precinct, please let me know.
Thank you for your help.

Jenny

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What are your values, and who will be your voice?

10/16/2010

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Michael Allen is running for 7th District Assembly with the slogan: Our Values, Our Voice.  Really?  What are our values? 

Let's put it together here.  What has Michael Allen been investigated for, and why is he under investigation now?

We have documented proof, his own contracts and invoices, showing that he was paid to influence the City of Santa Rosa while he sat on the City Planning Commission.  This is a violation of the law of ethics and a serious conflict of interest as written in the State of California's codes.   Take a look: Generally, a public official must not contact staff of his or her agency for the purpose of influencing a decision in which he or she has a financial interest, including contacts on behalf of a business entity, client or customer.  (Regulation 18702.3(a); Rumansoff Advice Letter, No. I-94-045; Holbert Advice Letter, No. I-90-080.)

Unfortunately it takes the FPPC about two years to complete their investigations. By the time they have completed their investigation Michael Allen may be your assembly person.  Will you elect Michael Allen to represent you in a position of trust? 

But there is more.

While he was working for the SCWA and paid to influence the city of Santa Rosa, he was also employed by the State of California as Sen. Pat Wiggins' District Director, a job that pays about $60,000 a year.  His own invoices for the time he was under contract to SCWA show that he was working for SCWA during the week, during working hours, and presumably, during the same time that he was charging time to you and me, the taxpayers, while he was employed by Pat Wiggins.  Your values?

But there is more. 

The Sonoma County Grand Jury has investigated Michael Allen (and Nick Caston's) behavior on the city of Santa Rosa Planning Commission.  At the time that the Lowe's project came to the Planning Commission for approvals Allen and Caston were chair and vice-chair of the Accountable Development Coalition, a group Allen started to use as a pressure group for developers who wanted to get their projects approved or block other projects from being approved.  Allen and Caston said that they had no bias against the Lowe's project but they were lobbied by their own group at the Planning Commission meeting and voted against Lowe's, as their group had demanded. 

(Note: The Santa Rosa Neighborhood Coalition has no interest whatsoever in the Lowe's project.)

What did the Grand Jury say?  That there were serious ethical problems on the Planning Commission, and Allen and Caston should have recused themselves from voting on the Lowe's proposal. 


YOUR VALUES?  YOUR VOICE?  Someone commented recently that we seem to be abnormally interested in Michael Allen.  That we appear to have a vendetta out against him.  We don't.  We don't know him, and have never met him.  If he didn't want the attention he shouldn't have done the deed.  What is more important than being able to trust your politicians?  If you KNOW that they are corrupt why would you vote for them?

We've also heard from people who were actually angry with us for not letting them know about Michael Allen sooner.  We have done everything we can to let the public know about this investigation by the FPPC, and the Grand Jury investigation information was sent out as an insert in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.  The reports were in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the Napa Valley Register and other papers.  Michael Allen has been very quiet about it.  Will you be? 

YOUR VALUES?  YOUR VOICE? This November 2 some of us will be voting for a Republican for the first time since we registered to vote (Democrat) at  age 18.  Doris Gentry for Assembly. 



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Four wheels bad two wheels good...

10/12/2010

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This past Sunday, 10-10-10, was declared Car-Free Sunday in the South A Street Arts District by some Junior College students seeking extra credit for themselves.  They decided to ask the City of Santa Rosa to close South A Street to all car traffic so they could 'teach us how to have community'.   The event was jointly sponsored by Councilwoman Veronica Jacobi.

Problem?  They didn't ask the community they were coming in to 'instruct.'  Sunday, October 10 was one of the Art Trails Open Studios days for the many hard working artists with studios on South A.  They had planned to show and sell art on Sunday, but the street was closed to all vehicles.  The Cookhouse Restaurant closed for business all day since no one could get to it without detours and confusion.

The students drove their own cars to Juilliard Park, unloaded all of their gear, and then blockaded the street.  They used a generator to run the power for their music stage. 

The event was very poorly attended, with just a few people aside from the T-shirt and yellow vest attired bicyclists, who had posters up showing us all how to conserve energy, as if we had no idea without their instructions.

The City of Santa Rosa closed off South A Street from Sonoma Avenue to Bosley, and provided a police officer.  Signs on the street informed residents that they would be towed if they left their cars on the street.  These residential buildings were constructed in the 1920's and 1930's without parking...guess you could say they are 'green'...and so residents had to scramble to move their cars.

When we objected to this closure of the street, and the arrogance of people who live in Rohnert Park coming to Santa Rosa, to an established Arts Community, to run their generators for an empty park and 'inform the community how to have community', we were called negative.  We suppose they got their 'extra credits'.

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