Endorsement: Elect Norman La Force for Park Board

Subject: [SFB-GEN*] Endorsement: Elect Norman La Force for Park
board.Editorial.28Oct08.Pinole CA West County Times and other
affiliated papers + bad letter on WW
http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_10829035
Elect Norman La Force for Park board MediaNews editorial
Article Launched: 10/28/2008 12:01:00 AM PDT


IT'S NOT OFTEN that a candidate is as well-qualified for an elected
post
as Norman La Force is for a seat on the East Bay Regional Park
District
board.


Park district officials know him well. For 25 years, the El Cerrito
attorney
and law professor has been a tireless Sierra Club advocate for public
land
acquisition and preservation. At times, he has been a thorn in the
side of
park district officials. Some critics have seen him as strident. But
even
they acknowledge that his tenacity has paid off over the years.


With current Director Nancy Skinner running for state Assembly,
there's a
vacancy on the park district board for a district stretching from San
Pablo
to North Oakland and Emeryville, and there are two good candidates, La
Force
and longtime park activist Whitney Dotson of Richmond.


The choice between them is not an easy one. Dotson has worked hard as
a
member of the park district's Policy Advisory Committee. We must
acknowledge
that he would probably get along better with other board members than
La
Force.


But La Force's skill set is too great to pass up. As he rightly
boasts, he
has been at the center of efforts to preserve the East Bay shoreline,
double
the size of Point Isabel dog park, preserve much of Gateway Valley and
create a fire management program for the district. He also has local
government experience, having served eight years on the El Cerrito
City
Council.


If elected, he will need to adjust to his new post as a member of the
park
board team, as opposed to his familiar role as a advocate sometimes in
opposition to the district. We expect there might be some tensions,
but we
hope that all sides will benefit from the added knowledge La Force
will
bring to the board.


************************************************** ****************************


http://www.contracostatimes.com/opinion/ci_10846470
No on park bond Letter to the Editor


Article Launched: 10/22/2008 12:00:00 AM PDT


Measure WW is a half billion (yes, that's a b) dollar bond proposed by
the
East Bay Regional Park District. It wants to create huge debt for the
residents and taxpayers, one where not one dollar goes to essential
services
like fire, schools and police.


All of these critical services are short on money, yet the park
district
wants to spend $500 million on unnecessary land purchases. The
district
already controls 98,000 acres (153 square miles) of land, the vast
majority
not open to the public.


Now it wants more and wants us to pay more taxes when we are
struggling to
keep our heads above water in these hard economic times. Even
environmentalists are opposed to this since the district does not use
good
environmental practices on the property it already has.


New land purchases by the district takes land out of private
ownership.
Private owners pay taxes on it, the park district doesn't. This makes
the
tax revenue shortage even worse.


Please vote no on a bond proposal that's not needed. For more
information,
go to www.Noonww.info http://www.noonww.info/ and
www.NoonWW.orghttp://www.noonww.org/.



Richard Soderholm


Concord
--
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are fond of!

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande

If he's good enough for Mike Vandeman.....

Vandeman's endorsement was the kiss of death for me. I voted for
Whitney Dotson.

On Oct 30, 7:04*am, Mike Vandeman wrote:

* IT'S NOT OFTEN that a candidate is as well-qualified for an elected
post
as Norman La Force is for a seat on the East Bay Regional Park
District
board.

http://www.co.alameda.ca.us/rov/curr...ction/1569.htm
http://results.enr.clarityelections.....html?cid=0159

So at this moment, it looks like this:

East Bay Reg Park Director, Ward 1:

Norman La Force: 31,218
Whitney Dotson: 38,820

Please vote no on a bond proposal that's not needed. For more
information,
go towww.Noonww.infohttp://www.noonww.info/ andwww.NoonWW.orghttp://www.noonww.org/.

http://www.co.alameda.ca.us/rov/curr...tion/77125.htm
http://results.enr.clarityelections.....html?cid=0183

W W-East Bay Reg Park Bond Measure (requires 2/3 majority to pass):

Yes: 506,729
No: 202,513

Like I said, Mikey's endorsement must be the kiss of death.

y_p_w wrote:
Norman La Force: 31,218
Whitney Dotson: 38,820

Not so fast--final tally has La Force winning by 647 votes.

-Beej

On Nov 5, 9:59*am, Beej Jorgensen wrote:
y_p_w wrote:
Norman La Force: 31,218
Whitney Dotson: 38,820

Not so fast--final tally has La Force winning by 647 votes.

Only if you count Alameda County. EB Regional Parks Ward 1 straddles
Alameda and Contra Costa County.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_10911515

--quote--
Richmond environmental activist Whitney Dotson defeated Sierra Club
activist Norman LaForce in the sole competitive seat on the East Bay
Regional Park District board of directors.

"I'm definitely looking forward to being a part of the district's
efforts to protect these open spaces and will make sure there is total
access ... for all user groups," Dotson said. "I want to make sure
that everyone is making use of the parks."

Dotson received 56 percent of the vote compared with LaForce's 43
percent.
The pair were competing for the Ward 1 seat being vacated by Nancy
Skinner, who was elected Tuesday to the state Assembly.

Ward 1 overlaps the Contra Costa/Alameda county line and includes
Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Kensington,
Richmond, San Pablo and parts of Oakland and Pinole.
--unquote--

Here's the breakdown by county:

http://www.co.alameda.ca.us/rov/curr...ction/1569.htm

Norman La Force: 21,699 (La Force by 647 in Alameda County)
Whitney Dotson: 21,052

http://results.enr.clarityelections.....html?cid=0159

Norman La Force: 15,271
Whitney Dotson: 27,101 (Dotson by 11,830 in Contra Costa County)

So the new updated results (possibly absentee ballots) as of Nov 6:

Norman La Force: 36,970
Whitney Dotson: 48,513

The results aren't official yet, but right now Dotson has an 11,183
vote lead. There might be some changes by the time the results are
certified, but I think it's safe to say Dotson will win this election.