Your Future Is In Your Hands: Critical Local Elections – 2022

You may have heard this is the most consequential election of our lives, but you may not realize that LOCALLY it is also. Sure the future of democracy is at stake, but so is the future of our County and two local cities – Pacifica and Half Moon Bay.  I’ve been asked repeatedly where I stand, so here are my findings and recommendations on four important local elections…

Pacifica City Council:

The good news is that Pacifica knows it’s going to be losing money for the next 9 years. The bad news is that they’re doing exactly the wrong things to solve the problem. It’s hard to know where the incompetence ends and the corruption starts, but the City has provided a general plan which omits major landslide and wildfire risks, and a plan to ‘hold back the tides’ that proposed borrowing $86 million toward a $125M seawall project (meaning a taxpayer cost of $238M including interest at current rates) to help less than 100 homes with sea level rise (SLR), and having the other 99%+ of the taxpayers fund that expense. There are other major issues, like the Coastal Commission disagreeing with this approach, the City’s failure to analyze the property tax impact of the SLR hazard (!), roads the city can’t fund repairs on, a 2 million gallon sewer overflow in Linda Mar, and rebuilding a City Hall to fix mold in the bathrooms [a $12 million project and rising because of unsurprising dry rot issues on buildings that have been poorly maintained], while at the same time endorsing more real estate profiteering in hazard zones. But this is all no surprise given the real estate ties of three of the council members. Oh, and Pacifica has $150M in reserve deficits between the City sewer and the water agency (NCCWD). (There have been at least 3 requests for Grand Jury investigations into Pacifica’s handling of the sewers, but Grand Jury proceedings are confidential, so I can’t predict their findings.) Pacifica is in the worst financial position of any city I’ve analyzed so far. Your incumbent city council has contributed to this growing mess.

Thus, the future of the City teeters in the balance, and some real expertise and unbiased analytical, financial management skill is needed on the Council. And for that we come to the candidacy of Christine Boles (District 2) and Paul Chervatin (District 5) – both of whom have those qualifications, as well as the motivation to DIS-continue corruption-err-incompetence-err-business as usual. Pacifica needs to remove as many current council members as it can, and any candidates endorsed by current council members must be viewed as likely to continue the mismanagement. Ms. Boles is an MIT-trained architect who has repeatedly pointed out to the City the deficiencies in its plans and the safety hazards they are ignoring. She is both correct and unpopular with that Council. Vote for her. Mr. Chervatin only went to UC Berkeley, but he studied political science and clearly understands the ‘undue influence’ the real estate lobby has exercised in Pacifica against the best interests of current residents. Vote for him. Then hope that Councilor Mary Bier is the honest broker she appears to be, and you’ll have a Council able to understand and cope with the environmental and financial realities it faces. And then, next election, clear out any remaining council members who do not operate in your interests.

Half Moon Bay City Council:

HMB is not projecting 9 years of losses like Pacifica, in part because it doesn’t HAVE a 10 year financial projection. The City faces $85M in reserve deficits for sewer and water (CCWD), and doesn’t appear to analyze the long term impacts of financial decisions it makes. Debbie Ruddock is running for office again, with decades of involvement in HMB governance, and I view that as part of the problem. She’s a sharp, well-connected lady with plenty of initiative. But she has also been behind the lie that is HMB’s lawsuit against its partners in the sewer authority (SAM), wasting over $1 million in attorney fees and damaging hopes for a collaborative solution to our mutual infrastructure needs. For example, that lawsuit was filed in 2017 just 2 weeks after SAM had completed a $575K recycled water study and was ready to solicit bids. A study collaboratively funded by all 3 agencies! But the bigger issue to HMB voters has to be that the city is in financial trouble and has not yet realized or acted upon it, and Mayor Ruddock has had decades to understand that and remedy it. In fact her candidate statement says: “City finances are strong.” And that is a fundamental misunderstanding HMB voters must fix in this election.

Her two opponents clearly do understand the massive financial problems facing HMB. Bill Balson is a Stanford PhD who has pro-actively analyzed and questioned the City’s financial management. He has a long career in economic, risk and financial management consulting, and is a recognized expert in his field. He is also the President of the Ocean Colony Association and “a real delight” according to people who have met him (I have not). David Eblovi has also recognized HMB’s financial mismanagement, and has acted to prevent stupidity for some years, including lawsuits and ballot initiatives. He has a grand vision of a unified coastside, and a bias for social justice, atop his pragmatic financial understanding. Eblovi’s website claims he saved HMB $26.5 million from his interventions, and has a candidate comparison chart which I found illuminating.

There are of course other issues HMB voters might prioritize, such as the Sheriff’s office, or home electrification. From my Midcoast perspective, we need everyone awake and realizing FIRST the dire financial condition we are all in, and working together to sustain our infrastructure, thus I recommend Balson or Eblovi.

County Supervisor: (a fully paid, salary & benefits position)

I would have been fine with any of the District 3 supervisor candidates – I can work with any of them. However, Ray Mueller stands out among the remaining two for his knowledge of and involvement in the Midcoast. He’s even proposed opening an office out here to increase local representation – a move Laura Parmer-Lohan has deemed a bad use of funds. I actually agree with her, and will suggest other ways that money can be used to support the MCC and HMB, but Ray took the initiative and recognized the need for a greater connection with the Midcoast, which is noteworthy for us locals. Mueller has long enjoyed our beaches and trails, and actually walks the talk out here, as several other elected officials have noted. Parmer-Lohan is a smart lady, and recent mayor of San Carlos, where we lived for 10 years. However, until recently, when you took the Holly St. exit of 101 into San Carlos, that street was lined with Ray Mueller signs. Our several friends in San Carlos, when we visited and asked them about this election, knew Mueller’s name immediately from his attendance at local events, but didn’t know who Laura was. She hasn’t been involved in governance for as long as Mueller, which helps explain that. There are also allegations of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign by Lohan, which would be disqualifying if proven. Another tipping point is the endorsement of Mueller by Virginia Chang Kiraly – a competing candidate in the election prior to this run-off. Kiraly lives in the Menlo Park area with Mueller, understands the Midcoast from her time on the Harbor District, and strongly endorses Ray. So I could work with whomever wins, but the evidence on the ground shows that Mueller has more experience and understanding of our needs, and I recommend Ray Mueller for District 3 Supervisor.

Harbor District:
This election doesn’t rise to the level of public concern as those mentioned above, but the District has about a $75 million deficit in its reserves. It’s not the fault of the current management, now ably run by Jim Pruett. Rather it’s the same decades-long failure of prior commissioners to assess asset replenishment needs as documented in links above, and inadequate financial management for some time. Recent Commissions have done better, but much more is needed. One nice difference is that current management UNDERSTANDS that they have a problem, because I presented my analysis to them back in May, and they had reached a similar conclusion on their own. What is needed is leadership to back them up, and help them dig out of the mess, and I believe Kathryn Slater-Carter is the person to help provide that. She has served ably for decades on Midcoast councils and boards at the MCC, MWSD, and SAM (among others), and understands infrastructure and the County extremely well. She has my support and recommendation for the position.