Posted on 06/28/2003 9:30:11 AM PDT by Sir Francis Dashwood
AS A State Assembly committee prepares for a hearing Wednesday on a bill to overhaul the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District, local Democratic Assemblyman John Laird said he'll oppose the bill but is not yet sure how he'll go about the fight.
Laird said he may not testify when the Assembly Local Government Committee meets July 2 in Sacramento. He lost a chance to stop the bill, SB 149, in his own committee on natural resources when the rules committee assigned the legislation elsewhere.
"This bill doesn't address water or natural resources policy anywhere," Laird said. "It only addresses local government and elections."
Introduced in February by Senator Bruce McPherson and approved by the Senate in May, SB 149 would replace the directly elected officials on the water board with mayors or city council members from each of the six Peninsula cities and one county supervisor. Laird said those changes will do little more than distract Peninsula residents from the task of solving the area's water shortage.
"I think it's a side debate about governance, and we need to be looking for things that bring people together around a water solution, not divide them," Laird told The Pine Cone Thursday.
He also said the bill would deprive voters of their ability to elect the water board and to approve or reject projects they would pay for.
Monterey Mayor Dan Albert, one of the backers of last fall's Measure B in which two-thirds of Peninsula voters said the water district should be dissolved, objected to Laird's argument that a water board consisting of mayors and a county supervisor would be less democratic than the current setup.
Monterey resident Marc Beique, who plans to run against water district director Molly Erickson in November, supports SB 149 -- even though its passage would mean he wouldn't be in office long.
"It's apparent to all in the community that we have a water supply problem, and I believe SB 149 will go a long way toward removing the political obstacles to the correction of the problem," Beique said.
Removing the provision for voter approval of future water projects -- a requirement which doesn't exist in any other water district in the state -- is a worthwhile sacrifice if it means solving the area's water supply problems, according to Beique.
"The freedoms of a well-functioning society which needs water to survive are in jeopardy because of the voter-rights issue," he said.
But it was the voters who brought the water district into existence a quarter century ago, Laird responded, and they are the ones who should decide whether to give up that right.
That's what they did last fall when they approved Measure B, but SB 149 opponents "treat Measure B very lightly, like it never happened," Albert said.
Laird believes the public can be counted on to support a no-growth water project at the ballot box, even if it means paying millions of dollars just to replace the water they already get from the Carmel River.
"It's important to develop a replacement supply, get the state order [against Cal-Am's illegal pumping from Carmel River] removed and then have a discussion about what is needed for the future," Laird said.
Carmel Mayor Sue McCloud said she was disappointed Laird declared his opposition to SB 149 without sitting down with Peninsula mayors and airing his concerns.
Although he did not request a meeting, Laird said he called Albert, McCloud, Pacific Grove Mayor Morrie Fisher, Seaside Mayor Jerry Smith and county supervisor Dave Potter to let them know he would be opposing the bill.
Albert and McCloud received voice mail messages Friday and left Laird messages in reply, but did not have the opportunity to speak with him before his opposition was published last weekend in the Monterey County Herald. "I was disappointed," Albert said of Laird's position, "but not surprised."
Laird said everyone should focus on getting a new water supply project for the Peninsula instead of arguing over the makeup of the board.
"We share a very similar goal, which is to make sure there's additional water developed for the Monterey Peninsula," Laird said of the mayors. "We just disagree on the fastest way to get there."
But the current water district seems intent on stopping growth, McCloud observed.
"I think it is broken and needs to be fixed," she said. "I think there's too much of a tendency of a secondary agency to control land use with water, and that's not the mission of the water management district."
The Pacific Grove City Council last week showed exactly why this community is so upset with the water board.
Responding to a mandate from the state legislature, the P.G. council simplified -- yes simplified -- rules for creating secondary housing units.
The units have to be small (600 square feet or less), inexpensive to rent (no more than 30 percent of a tenant's income) and occupied by no more than two people.
Except for the Asilomar Dunes (where the coastal commission calls the shots) any homeowner in the city's single-family neighborhoods can build such a unit -- or convert part of their existing house -- after paying for a $600 permit.
Think what that will mean for young married couples, kids just out of college, single mothers, and senior citizens on Social Security! Instead of fleeing to King City or Hollister, soon they'll have the option of moving to (or staying in) the quiet, homey confines of American's Last Hometown . . . .
Except, of course, there's no water.
Some homes will be able to create second units without adding a bathroom or kitchen sink, but many others will be thwarted by the unavailability of the most basic substance necessary for human life.
The water district board of directors put out another one of their shiny, self-congratulatory newsletters this week. On the front page is an optimistic story about how hard they're working on a desal plant for Sand City. But this proposal -- just like every other new water project now being discussed -- doesn't include even one drop for "Granny" units in P.G. or for any other new project in the Monterey Peninsula, no matter how worthy.
There's not a single mention in the newsletter about any additional water supplies, except to eliminate the pumping from the Carmel River the state declared illegal in 1995. After that has been taken care of, we're told, our conscientious water officials will start worrying about a bit of extra water for Grandma or the unmarried young woman with a full-time job and a baby to take care of. But don't hold your breath.
The complete abdication of responsibility to supply the people of this community with water for their essential needs is the reason voters backed Measure B by such a large margin last fall. They don't want new shopping malls or subdivisions, but neither do they want to ignore the needs of their communities. And they're tired of a few NIMBY officials hiding their selfishness behind a cloak of environmentalism.
John Laird has apparently decided to block the passage of SB 149, which is a terrible shame, because we expected more than just the same old elitism from him. But if he won't help the people of the Monterey Peninsula out of their officially-imposed drought, they'll just have to do it for themselves. They tried last November, when they voted overwhelmingly to put the water board out of business. This fall, they'll apparently have to do it again. The three most obstructionist water board members -- Zan Henson, Kris Lindstrom and Molly Erickson -- are coming to the end of their terms. If they run again, the electorate will have a chance to teach them a valuable lesson in democracy, not to mention water policy, by voting them right out of office.
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