Editor:
My name is Ryan Riahi, and I am a Boy Scout in Troop 233. I am writing this as part of the Communications merit badge.
On Monday October 3rd, I attended the Orinda city council meeting along with other boy scouts from my troop. In that meeting one of the issues that was discussed was the leaf blower problem in Orinda. They were saying that the leaf blowers let out little particles that are very dangerous to the environment and pollute the air. I completely agree with this and I think it would be great if you could publish this and help Orinda to ban leaf blowers in the town. I think it takes a little effort to fix this. Everybody can start using electrically powered blowers, instead of gas powered. I would be very happy if this subject can get more attention in your newspaper.
Sincerely,
Ryan Riahi
Orinda

Lafayette Measure G

Editor:
On November 8 we can come together as a community to provide the funding necessary to complete the repair of all of Lafayette's failed public roads. Please join a broad-based coalition of individuals and organizations - including more than 1,500 residents who signed a petition to put Measure G on the ballot, the Lafayette School District Governing Board, the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, the Lafayette Homeowners Council, the Lafayette Taxpayers Association and the League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley - in supporting Measure G and providing all our residents with good roads.
Measure G will provide the stable source of funding needed to solve our roads problem, and it will do so in a simple, effective manner:
- $89 per equivalent residential unit per year.
- 10 years maximum -- terminates in less than ten
years if the roads are repaired sooner.
- All funds are applied directly to roads on a
pay-as-you-go basis. There are no bonds, no debt,
no interest payments.
- An independent citizens committee will ensure
all funds are spent on our roads.
We need Measure G because the City simply does not have - and will not have -- the resources to repair all failed roads. Because of reductions in property tax revenues, the City Council this year cut over $500,000 in annual expenses from the General Fund budget in order to get it to balance. While the City has successfully applied for federal, state and regional funds to upgrade our arterial and collector roads (for example, work is now under way on Pleasant Hill Road near Olympic), those funds cannot be used for our residential roads - and there are no funds available from outside sources for residential roads. We have to find a way to do it ourselves.
The community came together in 1995 to pass a road and drain bond measure. Every one of us who lives in Lafayette today should be grateful to those who supported that measure. While it was not sufficient to solve the entire problem, the measure raised $13 million, financed 41 specific projects (including repair of our storm drains) and put us within reach of solving the problem today.
Now it is our turn. We can solve this problem once and for all. The funds from Measure G will enable us to repair all failed public residential roads within ten years. Once all our roads are in good condition, we will have enough money from the General Fund and other sources to maintain them.
Why should we do this? We have an obligation to provide good roads for our entire community. We cannot do it relying on our current revenue sources, and we cannot cut expenses further without damaging the fabric of our community. Residents on failed roads have been paying taxes all along to repair other people's roads. Fixing their roads is the fair thing to do.
And it is in all of our interests to do so. All of us drive on the failed roads. All of our property values go up when we have well-maintained community infrastructure.
Please vote Yes on Measure G.
Mayor Carl Anduri
Lafayette

Editor:
You will soon be receiving Lafayette City Council's newest tax increase scheme in Measure G in order to increase spending for road and drain maintenance. The real result of this measure would be to increase the City's revenue base allowing them to continue spending on 'special interests' like downtown street beautification, paying off old debts caused by past Tax Measures, and new uncollected debts caused by 'easy (state) money' for Lafayette's Redevelopment Agency (RDA)' loans. Lafayette residents never voted for RDA, and yet the City lent it General Fund money that may never be recovered. This 'easy money' also obligated Lafayette to 'high density housing' which no one in Lafayette wants.
The most basic responsibility the City has is 'public safety, and road and drains'. Every city knows this, but somehow the Lafayette City Council has so politicized its 'priority list' that they now want you to pay extra so they can continue spending on their other interests. Lafayette's tax base is more than big enough to adequately cover all basic services.
Of course we want good roads in Lafayette, but we should not have to pay real responsibilities, and a line should be drawn near the bottom to eliminate those extra 'special interests' that want free money from taxes already paid by residents. Check your Property Tax Bill and decide if you really want to expand your legal obligation to the City by another $89 for ten more years.
Gordon Mattonen
Lafayette

Editor:
As a thirty-seven year resident of Lafayette I appreciate the many educational and cultural opportunities available in our community: excellent schools, a world-class library, a vibrant downtown. Lafayette has many amenities of a large city yet maintains the semi-rural atmosphere that we all appreciate and love. Our local roads, however, are in deplorable condition and detract from the quality and property values of our homes and neighborhoods. Lafayette can commit $20 million over the next ten years for road repair but additional revenue is needed to complete the $30 million amount required. Measure G on the November ballot will work to ameliorate this problem. The money raised will be used to fix all the failed public roads in ten years or less. On-going sources of revenue can keep them maintained.
Passing Measure G will enhance property values, fix our failed roads and drains, and reduce vehicle costs. All Lafayette residents deserve good roads.
Please join me in voting YES on MEASURE G.
Mary McCosker
Lafayette

Editor:
Vote No on Lafayette Prop. G
I say Vote No on Prop. G in November as the City has neither the staff or the expertise to do the work properly or efficiently. By passing this Proposition you will be handing the City a blank check to do something they have repeatedly demonstrated that cannot do.
There are endless examples of this. For one, the St. Francis road area has been paved three times in the last five years. Roads that needed no help in the first place and roads that are dead end serving TWO houses! Many of our roads are in disrepair because of
trenching by utility and other companies and the City exercises no supervision or control How long has BART been working at EI Nido Ranch Road and Happy Valley roads?
Months and months for work that should take weeks. Why so long? Because they go days and weeks without doing ANYTHING and the City does nothing. I for one 'will not vote to give the City money and get maybe 30% of value. I can recite instance after instance where the City and it's engineering department simply did not know what to do. The idea that with this Prop. G the City is going to fix all of our roads just fine is nonsense. What to do then? Form a special services district, run by a private agency with people that know what they are doing and then get the job done efficiently. Proposition does not do that. VOTE NO ON G.
Robert Zimmerman
Lafayette

Editor:
Lafayette's roads are in good condition. The politician's out of control spending, is what needs fixing. This years interest expenses are $3,194,761. Most of it for their Party Palace they call a learning center.
Now the streets are polluted with signs asking for more money. Full page adds name the commissioners the politicians party with at taxpayer expense... This propaganda is being funded by people who inherited large companies & give thousands to political campaigns.Their names are on obscenely expensive public buildings. $89 a year won't hurt them. They don't give a rat's tail about the old, poor, feeble and blind who will be forced to go without food and medicine because of $89 in higher annual taxes.
Long ago, I asked a pro tax heiress if she would give me $10 to attend a City social event. She gave me a big ugly" NO " The first time I saw this woman, she had a big phony smile on her face, asking for my vote. What would I expect from someone who wants to tax the blind?
The pro tax Chamber of Commerce receives $30,000 in taxpayer cash annually. The pro tax League of Women Voters, has received subsidized rent from The City for decades. I don't know how much money the pro tax Lafayette Taxpayers Association receives. They are to the taxpayers of Lafayette, what Benedict Arnold was to the American Revolution. Many people are paid to lie to the public. In The American Revolution Patriots opposed taxes.
There is so much transportation money available, the plan to make a $6,000,000 bike/wheelchair path on the EBMUD right of way is still being considered. Take a walk on it pushing a wheelchair and see what a ridiculous idea it is.
Measure G promises another committee. Expect it to be like the committee that ordered an expensive environmental impact report for frogs, near a proposed expensive Bike Jump Park. This committee drained all of the parkland frog ponds in the 1990s.
I told the Parks Director to send the kids to a Bike Jump Park near my home. Within a week, it was destroyed with a pickax. I wonder how sad that made those kids, who made their own Bike Jump Park.
Put a smile on your face, be patriotic and vote NO on Measure G.
Bruce R. Peterson
Lafayette

Editor:
On November 8, Lafayette residents will vote on Measure G, a parcel tax to fund road and drain reconstruction and maintenance. It is supported by organizations that don't frequently agree on issues -- Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Lafayette Homeowners Council, and Lafayette Taxpayers Association - along with residents and City Council. This community-wide support should give voters comfort in the soundness and fairness of the measure.
For a maximum of ten years, single family homeowners will pay $89 per year. Properties with higher impact on the roads will contribute their proportionate share. These are difficult times financially, but delaying street repairs will ultimately cost us more. The city is committing $20 million; Measure G would raise the $10 million needed to complete the repairs.
Measure G was drafted with input from a broad range of residents and organizations. It is fair, with parcels taxed according to an equitable formula of $89 per equivalent residential unit. It is transparent, with funds deposited into a designated account so there is no comingling. It provides accountability, with an Oversight Committee reviewing expenditures. It is efficient, with revenue applied directly to roads -- no bonds or interest.
Measure G has my support.
Linda Murphy
Lafayette