   
| |
Douglas Deitch's Responses to Rio Del Mar Improvement Association's Questionnaire:
1. When I ran for this office four years ago, I was the only candidate
that supported (on record) the succession effort then, based on the importance of a local, efficient, and responsive administration, more local
control, and neighborhood and local schools. I also then (on record) supported a new high school in Watsonville. Today, I not only
support approval of the new high school in Watsonville, but also can't
overemphasize how important its approval is to maintain hope for all
possibilities. We must, as a community and region, invest our natural, economic, and human resources wisely in providing for our youth the
very best in educational, cultural, and recreational facilities. It is too
expensive in the long run to do otherwise.
2. I believe the reason that incorporation of Aptos is of interest to some is due to dissatisfaction and lack of confidence of many with our
county's performance in maintaining and protecting our quality of life here. This includes our local roads and drainage, planning and
controlling growth and nuisances, traffic, housing, and a number of other matters.
Basically, it comes down to better and more energetic and insightful, forward looking resource management and planning.
The regional, creative perspective and experience I bring to this office is unique among the candidates and incumbents. I am the only
candidate from the private business sector. As a 30 year property owner and
manager here (as well as the current ED for Monterey Bay Conservancy, an
environmental nonprofit), I have extensive, successful, and long term
involvement in the very land, resource, planning, and management issues causing our district's (and region's)
most serious concerns. A further balkanization and further replication of administrators through Aptos
incorporation is not the answer. A good strong dose of smarter, more experienced and savvy, and
forward looking and fiduciary management to help the county perform its functions better is.
3. Widen it. Work on trying to come up with an economically feasible
transportation solution(s) people will use, using either the median of HiWay 1 (I've recently seen some very interesting ideas) and/or
Southern Pacific Right of Way. A tough, complex, and necessarily expensive issue!
4. The most critical water issue we face is agricultural overuse and abuse of our groundwater resource to its permanent ruination through
salt water intrusion, nitrate/chemical contaminations, and basin draw down. We
exclusively depend on our groundwater for our supply. Ag is using 80% and we're 100% overdraft countywide and 200% overdraft in PVWMA, our biggest
user at 70%.
Our district's two suppliers are PVWMA and SCWD, which share a
groundwater aquifer. This aquifer is 1/3 of SCWD's supply and is being over drafted
to its ruination. We don't import any water. 8,000 of the 30,000 ag acres in our region have been changed from orchards to water
intensive use (eg. berries). This is the essentially the problem's cause. I have recommended to our Supervisors on numerous occasions before them over
the last 2 years that zoning controls, a moratorium on further orchard
conversions, and a countywide groundwater emergency process must be commenced. As a result of
nonaction on their part, I have filed a Grand Jury Complaint against the Board, which is currently being considered.
There are only 4 possible fixes according to the experts. You choose:
1) Do nothing and continue as we are. Result: permanent loss of 1/3 to 1/2 of our 30,000 ag acres to permanent soil salt contamination.
2) Import Water. Result: dependence on unreliable and speculative expensive
project and supply. Project has been blocked for the next ten years (in addition to having water fees in PVWMA permanently cut in half) by NOPE
(Measure D) passed by PVWMA voters in 1998. 3) Adjudication by state to address crisis. Result: 60% reduction by all
water users across the board. 4) "Retirement" (like Coast Dairies Ranch) of 6,500 acres (of the 30,000
acres total in PVWMA) of coast side ag. Please see www.pogonip.org, Monterey Bay Conservancy's website, for more
detailed information on this very complex regional crisis.
5. We have to slow down growth and stop requiring that our systems (eg. roads, schools, housing, sewers/water, etc.) operate beyond their
reasonable carrying capacities and abilities, as we do. Our water emergency and deficit will soon be requiring moratoriums and restrictions that will
do much of this for us, but this will only be unfortunate reactive crisis
management. We can further do this by lowering the yearly growth rate under
Measure J.
We need a proactive, regional, creative and experienced view that I
can provide. Commercial development such as a Home Depot off 41st or strip
development at Seacliff are non local and predatory and will only further worsen our traffic situation and should be discouraged. They will cost more
than they produce. Community planning efforts like in Seacliff, Pajaro, and
Corralitos, and Aptos which factor in neighborhood input, quality of life needs, and desires are essential. Neighborhood groups are valuable, and I
pledge that I or my office will regularly attend the regular meetings of and work closely with these
groups.
6. As stated above, I am very supportive of facilities for our youth,
particularly the Aptos Skatepark. Dare I say it? Both my 21 year old daughter,
Alisha, and 18 son, Jake, skate and board, and my daughter's boyfriend, Clay, is a past skate mag centerfold! I'll work with Barry
Samuels at Parks& Rec to get this, as well as a BMX facility, online here.
7. I favor and will pursue and initiate proactive, creative, and
energetic efforts at acquiring, for fair market value from willing sellers,
strategic recreational and environmentally significant properties as a
means to bring our community into balance and provide and protect quality of life activities, opportunities, and resources. The golf course property
is one of these. The Koch-Carmichael property behind Cabrillo is another.
Acquiring water intensive ag land to address water woes is another. The March ballot has $2.1 park bond act-Prop 12- which I endorse. The nonprofit
which I direct, Monterey Bay Conservancy, is, to my knowledge, the only
nonprofit licensed as a real estate broker specifically for the purpose of
acting to help forward these types of acquisitions and transactions, in addition to its other activities. This type of activity is my occupation
and passion.
8. I am the work out specialist/crisis manager our community critically
needs now. This entire county, over and above the substantial and
undeniably critical concerns of our local Second District, is now at a
crisis management stage. Whether our Board of Supervisors is willing to
acknowledge it or not, we are in a county wide groundwater emergency
situation.
Our roads, schools, housing, courts/jails, natural and human systems are overburdened, in decline, gridlock, and are failing. I hope
that you have noticed this. Over my 30 years here, I certainly do! Leadership on the current board is solely reactive crisis management
without any realistic, long term, strategic, and sustainable social,
environmental, and economic model.
Denial is not a river in Eqypt. Its alive and well, and residing in our Board of
Supervisor's Chambers. Our county government is a $260 million a year business which manages and
regulates our natural, human, and economic resources. The county, a self insurer with a self insurance reserve fund of only $1.7 million, faces 34%
financial responsibility for a potential $50 judgment for Pajaro River Flooding negligence. The yearly $8.7 million utility tax revenue is under
legal challenge and might be possibly lost from the $65 million discretionary county funds.
County financial participation in the Corp of Engineers levee project will present formidable challenges. I can most
creatively and entreprenurally work us out of this and our other current
pickles. First, I recognize they exist. Second, I'm the type of creative
business thinker we're going to need to work the best deal. My legal education, background, and 30 year presence in this community
coupled with my successful experience in the private business sector and my long term concern for and activity in regionally wide land and resource use
issues uniquely qualifies me among the candidates to deal with these matters most competently.
I have pulled permits, constructed buildings, roads, septic systems, wells, designed the busiest street intersection in
the county, saved historic buildings, proposed low income housing tax credit financing initiatives to UCSC, propose innovative local solutions to
our regional water crisis. I can and will, alone among my otherwise very capable and accomplished candidates, be the tireless steward and fiduciary
that these times and circumstances demand we have if we are, as a community and region,
to prevail, rather than further decline and fail. I'm the best man for this job.
|
