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Council Watch


This section records significant votes for and against the interest of Niles of any elected official and in those in positions such as the planning commision that often are steps toward elected office.


Significant Votes
Steve Cho votes to develop the hillside
Councilmember Cho the only one who wanted to allow the Sandhu house to be built in its proposed configuration.  This huge hillside home would be visible from Niles and would require a massive road and retaining walls that would cut into the hillside at grade of about 35%. This road and grading is in violation of both Measure A (the original hillside ordinance) and Measure T (the hillside ordinance the Fremont voters passed in 2002).
 
vote out the incumbents
This was originally intended as a letter to the editor of the Argus, but I never submitted it and I doubt they would publish it. My impression is that the current mayor and city council are totally ignoring citizen testimony and pushing for any development regardless of how damaging it is. I would recommend voting for Morrison and Bacon since they are the most likely to oppose the A's stadium which will be a disaster for the city. I also would vote against Wieckowski due to his absurd statement that the sabercat development would reduce green house gas emissions. When a model gives absurd results one needs to look at the assumptions that go into it. You can bet that the environmental impact statement for the A's will also claim it's going to reduce greenhouse gases, though obviously the gridlock on 880 will do the opposite. I believe it is time to replace most of the elected officials in Fremont. Two examples of the need for this are the recent public spectacles with respect to the T-Mobile cell phone tower in Niles and the Sabercat development. In both cases the city took an adversarial position against the citizens of the community, which is not at all consistent with the statement on the city website that the primary role of city government is to protect the welfare of the citizens. With respect to the T-Mobile issue I have still received no satisfactory answer as to why the city refused to let me present accurate data on the risks of RF radiation. In early September I met with Mayor Wasserman to discuss several issues. I find it  difficult to believe some of his arguments. Among other things I was  told that the city could not view me as an expert witness because I am biased and I am supposed to believe that the "hired gun" for the cell phone industry is not biased and therefore is qualified. Actually I don't believe I am biased because I did an extensive literature search and did not present my own views but rather only quoted published papers. I believe their objection to me is that I presented objective data that is not consistent with the official government position. In addition I was told that the members of the planning commission are fully technically qualified and therefore don't need any input on technical matters. I asked how this squared with the question by one of the commissioners to T-Mobile's hired gun if "he could explain to her how a cell phone works". The mayor had no satisfactory answer for that. I actually don't know if that is in the transcript of the testimony, since quite a bit seems to have been deleted, which also raises issues about the cities compliance with open meeting regulations. After the two unpopular decisions mentioned above many people said they would not vote again for the current elected officials. Now is the time to act on that. Stephen Walch Sereno Common



Local Election Comments

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Official Voter Sample Ballot: http://www.acgov.org/rov/current_election/ballot/146.pdf


Election 2008
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SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE
 
Superior Court Judge Recommendation
 
I highly recommend Dennis Hayashi as the candidate for Superior Court Judge. He has spent much of his life as a public interest attorney and is endorsed by the Sierra Club, among others. For more information go to http://www.dennishayashi.com.
Posted - 11/02/08 4:44pm by lorna jaynes
 
OHLONE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
 
Judy Zatlink likes Greg Bonaccorsi
 

Judy was door knocking for Greg Bonnaccoorsi. She said that the board was nearly disfuctional and that he should help.
-- Lynn, on Posada Way
Posted - 11/01/08 9:44am by Lynn Slater
 
FREMONT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
 
We don’t have 3 good choices for our school board See reply
 

As an involved Fremont schools parent, unfortunately we don’t have 3 good choices for our school board.  All the candidate bios and statements are in this week’s Tri City Voice.  Please read them in paper or online.

Word on the street is to vote for Ann Crosbie & Bryan Gebhardt……. 3rd choice is probably Mei…….. definitely not for incumbent Wu.

Jill

Posted - 11/01/08 9:40am by Lynn Slater, updated or replied 11/01/08 3:10pm
 
FREMONT MAYOR
 
Steve Cho for Mission San Jose Mayor See reply
 

The day after Steve Cho was first elected to the council the Argus quoted him saying how proud he was to be elected to represent the Mission district.  WRONG!   We do not have district based council elections and our council members are supposed to represent all of us. That is not how Steve operates.   I would hate to have him as mayor and have him say or act like he was elected to represent Mission and not us.
-- Lynn Slater, on Posada Way
Posted - 11/01/08 9:59am by Lynn Slater, updated or replied 11/02/08 4:52pm
 
FREMONT CITY COUNCIL
 
I like Vennie Bacon See all 3 replies
 
I met him at the art & wine festival and have read over his positions. I like his controlled growth and skeptism toward the A's.
-- Lynn, on Posada Way
Posted - 11/01/08 9:46am by Lynn Slater, updated or replied 11/02/08 4:49pm
 
AC TRANSIT DISTRICT
 
No Topics were found.
ALAMEDA COUNTY WATER DISTRICT
 
No Topics were found.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP HEALTHCARE
 
No Topics were found.
MEASURE MM: HOTEL TAX
 
No Topics were found.
MEASURE WW: PARKS
 
No Topics were found.

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