Doug Supports:

Important Questions for Candidate Deitch:

Q. Doug, what is the most pressing issue in the county today?

A: Although I would normally and emphatically answer "WATER!" to this question, my answer must instead be Coastal Commission approval early next year of the new high school in Watsonville. No other need is more compelling countywide. Already almost ten years in the planning, the new school cannot be growth inducing as the need is so overdue that the new high school will be filled the moment it is opened. The concept of juvenile justice extends beyond juvenile hall and the courts and requires that we, as a community, provide the very best in educational, cultural, and recreational opportunity and facilities for youth countywide. If nothing else, it is too expensive in the long run to do otherwise. As co-chair of a curriculum development committee for the new high school, I am dedicated to the proposition that the new school approved on this environmentally sensitive site at Lee and Harkins Slough Roads will, through an integrated, prototypical, and replicable curriculum, in fact provide exemplary stewardship of this wetlands system and sensitive environment on the site. I solicit any and all support for this project. Please call me in this regard. I consider this a perfect example of how I will seek to achieve a balance between our valuable environmental resources and the compelling needs of our community.  
Historic Meeting    Home Page

Q. OK, Water?

A: Agricultural overuse of our groundwater resource, which accounts for over 80% of demand, is too costly. On a countywide basis we are using around twice as much water as is sustainable (almost three times as much in Pajaro, by far the largest user). The conversion of around 8,000 of the 30,000 ag acres from orchards to water intensive production uses around four times the water and labor and is essentially the cause of the problem. In addition to permanent and massive salt water intrusion and nitrate contamination problems, this overuse has other costs. Additional costs include around 6,000 more migrant laborers here (and their housing, social services, schools for their children-eg. 6,000 of 20,000 PVUSD children are migrant) to service these ag lands. The costs are too great. We are exceeding the natural carrying capacity of our groundwaters and lands through this, now, overproduction. We must establish a model which sustains itself within our ample means, waterwise, and MUST NEVER BE DEPENDENT ON IMPORTED WATER. We don't have to.  Home Page

Q How about Hiway 1 widening.

A: I believe Hiway 1 must now be widened on at least some limited basis. Although I would prefer some type of transportation system (and hope to help establish one here sometime in our future-I've recently seen some very interesting alternatives), the need, unfortunately, is here now. Additionally, I do not adhere to the argument that another lane will be "traffic growth inducing". Where will the additionally "growth induced traffic" be going? Measure J prevents urban sprawl between Aptos and Watsonville, and we are approaching buildout elsewhere. (Check back here soon. Submit your questions by email.)  Home Page