Brentwood Press - Index

Brentwood Press - AntiochPress_07.18.08 - Index

18A | THEPRESS.NET JULY 18, 2008
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EDITORIALS, LETTERS & COMMENTARY “
OPINION
I want my money and my
National
votes back.
”
Joe Parker
Spineless enforcement
undermines ordinance
Editor:
I cannot believe what I have just
read. Three spineless City Council
members voted in favor to extend
the RV ordinance because the biggest
excuse was procrastination. I am
sorry, but after months and months of
press and talk of this subject getting
more attention than the crime in South
Antioch, I fi nd it hard to believe that an
RV owner did not know that there was
a deadline and that it was coming soon.
I don’t agree with the whole RV
ordinance in any case, but I live with
it and made the appropriate parking
adjustments. I also took the time to
go down to City Hall, paid my fee and
learned more about the ordinance. The
staff was great and made the whole
process quick and painless.
Now here is the part that really upsets
me. Many will not comply with the
ordinance and the city’s response will
be to do absolutely nothing (they must
have been hired by the three spineless
council members) unless there is a telephone
call. Well, who is going to call if
the entire neighborhood is in violation?
I won’t call on my neighbor or anyone
else, since the city created this mess and
therefore should be actively enforcing it.
It’s bad enough that vehicles that
sit on the street for weeks at a time are
never towed, only to be tagged. The
owner then moves it and the whole
process starts again.
Simply put, if the city doesn’t go
out and notify those that are in violation,
then the ordinance is as spineless
as the three council members.
I want my money and my votes
back.
Joe Parker
Antioch
Flying monkeys
Editor:
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an
article, in frustration, about how the
trash collector gave me a citation for
overloading my recycle cart, then left
the overload trash on the street. After I
sent it, I had regrets that perhaps it was
too strong, so I revised it and asked you
to print the revision instead. You said
you would, but last Friday the original
letter appeared in the paper. No big
deal.
For the record, though, I am not
angry with the trash man. He was only
doing what he was told to do. I was
upset that he didn’t just toss the excess
bag in his truck.
My beef is with businesses and gov-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
ernment agencies in general that seem
to provide less service, charge more
and expect you to do their job, or even
worse, extract savings at your expense
– like pumping your own gas, bagging
your own groceries. Or like restaurants
that save on staff by having you wait for
an empty table, or the car wash where
you sit in your car wasting gas while the
car washers multi-task. The post offi ce
that groups mail boxes in clusters for its
convenience and makes you walk a half
block for your mail.
I won’t even go near all the institutions
that answer their phones with a recording
instead of a human being. “All
of our agents are busy helping other
customers. Please stay on the line. Your
call is important to us.” Like, yeah. I
lost my wallet a week or so ago; and
spent days talking to recordings. They
have improved, but it is still diffi cult for
someone like me, with false teeth, to be
understood by a recording.
All these work improvements, these
labor saving measures, are often accomplished
with a shift of responsibility
and expense – from the agency to the
consumer. Well, I want every agency out
there to know I’m not putting up with
it any more. I have fl ying monkeys and
I’m not afraid to use them.
Ron Beatty
Brentwood
Vacation highlights gas rip-off
Editor:
My wife and I recently returned
from a trip to Colorado Springs to visit
our daughter and son-in-law. Since
fl ying the friendly skies is getting more
diffi cult and troublesome (I have a
mustache; facial hair puts me into the
terrorist category and an automatic cavity
search), so we decided to drive and
visit some locations along the way.
Las Vegas; Williams, Ariz. (an
old Route 66 town); Grand Canyon;
Flagstaff; Santa Fe, N.M.; Taos, N.M.;
Taos Pueblo; and fi nally, Colorado
Springs. Our return trip was due west
through the beautiful Colorado and
Utah mountains (and yes, we could see
them clearly) to St. George, back to
Las Vegas and fi nally home, where we
couldn’t see anything.
Even before this trip, I have always
calculated the miles per gallon we
obtained in our car. Our fi rst gas stop
was outside of Bakersfi eld and we fi lled
up again when we left Las Vegas. Our
gas mileage was consistent with what we
normally achieved.
However, when we started to use
“out-of-state” gas for the remainder
of our trip, our gas mileage increased
signifi cantly – as much as 6.5 miles per
gallon! With a 20-gallon tank, that is
130 more miles per tank, or a savings of
$25. Coupled with the fact that gas was
60 cents a gallon less, at 20 gallons per
tank, that is another savings of $12 or a
total of $37 per tank over California gas
(assuming I did my math correctly).
Prior to returning to Brentwood,
we fi lled our tank (we use premium)
at a station just outside Bakersfi eld at
$4.89 a gallon (the highest during our
trip). When we arrived in Brentwood, I
fi lled the tank; it confi rmed that our car
had returned to its “normal” California
mileage by dropping 6 miles per gallon.
I am well aware of the fact that
California uses a “special” blend of
gas to help “reduce smog.” Most of
the other states use another blend of
gas, so they can get their gas from any
refi nery in the U.S., but Californians are
restricted to two or three. Funny thing
is that during our trip, I didn’t see any
smog problems in Nevada, Arizona,
New Mexico, Colorado or Utah, where
they use “more polluting gas.”
The overall price of gas is yet another
story, but Californians are getting
ripped off. If some politician is interested
in fi nding “relief” at the pumps,
let California use the same blend of gas
as the rest of the nation. Even if you
fi lled up only twice a month, that is a
savings of over $800 per year. Money, I
am sure, everyone can use.
Al Del Grande
Brentwood
Let the Island represent the Island
Editor:
Three BIMID director positions
will be open for election on the November
ballot. That is the majority of the
board. If you own property on Bethel
Island, you need to care about who
is elected to the BIMID Board. Elect
people who will protect the levee and
drainage of Bethel Island. Find people
City of Antioch
City Manager and City Council
City Hall
Third and H streets
Antioch, CA 94509
Phone: 925-779-7000
Contra Costa Water District
District Center
1331 Concord Ave.
Concord, CA 94524
Gen. Mgr. Walter Bishop
Phone: 925-688-8000
Fax: 925-688-8122
Delta Diablo Sanitation District
2500 Pittsburg/Antioch Highway
Antioch, CA 94509
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
Gen. Mgr. Gary Darling
Phone: 925-756-1900
Fax: 925-756-1961
County Supervisor
Federal Glover
315 E. Leland Ave.
Pittsburg, CA 94565
Phone: 925-427-8138
State Senator Tom Torlakson
Seventh State Senate District
Antioch City Hall
Third and H streets
Antioch, CA 94509
Phone: 925-754-1461
Fax: 925-754-1874
you trust and encourage them to run
and elect them to represent you, not
their own interests.
Candidates must fi le between July
14 and Aug. 13, since two of the three
incumbents have stated they will not
run for re-election. You must be a registered
voter on Bethel Island to run for
the offi ce of director.
Potential candidates must pick
up and fi le all paperwork at the offi ce
of the Clerk-Recorder, located at 555
Escobar St. in Martinez (925-335-7800),
which is open Monday through Friday
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no cost
to fi le to run for election. You will need
to fi ll out four forms: Form 501 declaring
your intent to run; Form 700 stating
your economic interest; a form indicating
your intent to raise funds and a
Code of Fairness form.
You may also submit a candidate’s
statement of up to 200 words, which
will be included when the sample ballots
are mailed. The cost for that statement
to be printed and translated into Spanish
is estimated to be $540 based on the
number of registered voters on Bethel
Island. A candidate’s statement is not
required.
If less than three persons are elected
to offi ce in November, the BIMID
enabling act states that “All vacancies
occurring in the offi ce of director shall
be fi lled by appointment by the remaining
directors.” It takes an affi rmative
vote of three directors to make an
appointment. If the board does not/or
cannot make an appointment, the
county Board of Supervisors makes
the appointment. We need to keep this
important decision at the local level. We
need qualifi ed people to step up to the
plate and run for offi ce.
Marguerite Lawry
Director, BIMID
Assemblyman
Mark DeSaulnier
11th District
815 Estudillo St.
Martinez, CA 94553
Phone: 925-372-7990
Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Constituent Affairs
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2864
U.S. Representative
Ellen Tauscher
10th Congressional District
420 W. Third St.
Antioch, CA 94509