Why I'm Voting No On Measure TT - The Hostile Takeover
I know many of you have already been hovering over your sample ballot and voter pamphlets, contemplating how you will vote on the many critical issues facing Costa Mesa voters this year. Well, let me help you with one that's particularly onerous - MEASURE TT.
This issue was placed on the ballot as an advisory measure by the Board of Directors of the Mesa Water District... in theory no biggie... just taking the pulse of the community on the issue of possible consolidation of Mesa Water and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District (CMSD). Well, apparently Mesa Water thinks it IS a biggie because, according to reports, they've spent over $300,000 on this issue! They've plastered our local newspapers and mailboxes with ads for this measure, all of which are VERY misleading - the kindest way I can put it.
I attended the Town Hall CMSD President Mike Scheafer held last week and wrote about it HERE. I provided you the link to the recording of that event HERE. Today the CMSD provided an abbreviated version of that video - just over 6 minutes long - which may be very helpful to you as you consider this very important issue. You can view it HERE.
In my view, Measure TT is simply a power grab by the Mesa Water District Board - a hostile takeover attempt. There is no compelling reason that these two special districts should be combined. Quite the contrary, there are many excellent reasons why they should NOT be combined. This issue is just a quick-pitch by the Mesa Water Board to stampede the voters into making a decision that will then be used to convince the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) that the community wants the combination.
Take a few minutes and watch the short video. I think you'll then choose to watch the full version to give you more information. I know how I'm voting on this issue... a resounding NO! I suspect you may feel the same way once you familiarize yourself with the truth of the issue.
Labels: Costa Mesa Sanitary District, Measure TT, Mesa Water District, Mike Scheafer
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 10/26/2016 01:38:00 AM
4 Comments:
I believe I read this morning that Mesa Water is being investigated for that $300,000 expenditure of rate payer money on campaigning.
Here is a link to the above referenced article:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mesa-728848-water-district.html
Good reason to vote against TT. These guys need to be voted out of office. They are squandering rate payer money on expensive lunches, dinners, flyers, etc. Get em' out.
If we read the Arcadis report closely, we find that ALL the "savings" comes out of cash reserves -- a little over a million from reducing Water's reserve from 616 days' worth to only 600 days' worth, and somewhat more than thirteen million from reducing San district's reserves from 1,652 days' worth on sewer to 600, and from 399 days on trash to 200. A trifle lopsided, in my opinion. The San district's reserves are real, and in cash; Water's reserves are vaporware, because they are in debt deeply. See page 27. Thus the phony "one-time savings" is not a savings at all, but a thieving raid on the liquid assets of an organization which, through prudence and careful management, has set aside allocated reserves for repair in addition to "rainy-day" money. The six-hundred fifty bucks rebate, per customer, is something we'll never see: Temianka and Fisler have of course earmarked it for something they're not publicizing, so it's all blue smoke and mirrors. You could call it robbing the rich to line the pockets of the unethical, but I prefer to see it as the profligate practicing piracy on the prudent.
As to the "annual savings" -- see page 29; it all comes from Sewer. But wait a minute -- Sewer fees come out of our property taxes! WE don't pay them as a separate bill. And I don't know about YOU, but I'VE never seen ANYBODY get a rebate on his property-tax bill. It won't happen. Not ever. No matter how smoothly Temianka addresses the council chambers (not the council!). This is just theft, pure and simple.
On top of all this, Fisler is a voting member of LAFCO. Where in HELL could we come up with a situation involving a more stacked deck, a higher rate of vigorish, than this?
I say NO on TT, NO on Fisler, and YES on Alex Reich.
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