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03/31/2011 - The Independent
03/31/2011 - The Independent
03/31/2011 - The Independent
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Independent</strong>, MARCH <strong>31</strong>, <strong>2011</strong> - PAGE 5
PAGE 4 - <strong>The</strong> <strong>Independent</strong>, MARCH <strong>31</strong>, <strong>2011</strong>EDITORIALPleasanton Measure E — YESPleasanton voters will start voting by mail on the MeasureE parcel tax next week.Pleasanton has seen a a reduction of $19.4 in its budgetover the past two school years resulting in cuts to academicprograms. <strong>The</strong> school district has eliminated 67 teachers,25 school staff and 17 administrators.Measure E will provide stable local funding to protectacademic programs and retain qualified teachers in Pleasantonschools. It will raise $2 million a year for four years.Every single penny will stay right here in our communityand cannot be taken by the state.No funds may be used to increase salaries and benefits.A citizens oversight committee will be formed to monitorthe Measure E money. Property owners over 65 will beexempt from the tax. <strong>The</strong> parcel tax is capped at $98 peryear and cannot be increasedAll the voting will be conducted by mail, no postagerequired, with ballots due back by 8 p.m. May 3. Voterregistration for this election will be taken until April 18.Measure E needs a two/thirds majority to pass.Polls show E has support well over two/thirds. However,the supporters — who span the full, broad spectrum of thecommunity — aren’t taking anything for granted. <strong>The</strong>y’recampaigning as if their lives depend on it.<strong>The</strong> quality of education in the Pleasanton public schoolsdoes depend on it.We urge our Pleasanton readers to pass the parcel tax.Vote YES on Measure E.<strong>The</strong> Livermore City Councilapproved the relocation of a cardroom to a site on North CanyonsParkway.<strong>The</strong> Lucky Buck Card Roomcurrently operates at the GranadaBowl. Owners had originallyplanned to move to a buildingnear the Portola off-ramp andwas granted a conditional usepermit (CUP) to do so. However,with the closure of the off-ramp,a new location was sought. <strong>The</strong>same CUP is in play. A new namewas also chosen, Casino 580.<strong>The</strong> council vote was unanimous,with John Marchand absent.<strong>The</strong> new location will alsoinclude a 29-seat restaurant.Under the city’s card roomordinance, a fee is paid eachWARNING(continued from page one)catastrophic consequences.Despite efforts around theworld, it has never been possibleto predict the time and placeof major earthquakes. Earlywarning systems are a differentmatter. Earthquake danger zonesare generally well known. <strong>The</strong>manner of seismic energy releasemakes it possible to detect majorearthquakes within seconds afterthey occur and send out a signalthat outraces destructive groundmotion to distant populationsites.That’s because a fast-movingcompression wave from theearthquake, called a P (primary)wave, travels fast – at the speedof sound — but does little damage.Most people experience it asa sharp jolt. It’s the subsequentrolling and shaking of the earth,carried more slowly by S (secondary)waves, that tears buildingsapart and collapses freewaybridges.Within a few miles of theearthquake epicenter, the twowaves arrive so nearly simultaneouslythat there is little timefor useful warning. But fartheraway, people can be given manyseconds of advance notice.Farther away still, notes PhilHarben, a Livermore geophysicist,the warning will not beneeded because even strongground motion will have weakenedwith distance.Harben thinks it is importantfor the public to understand thispoint: an early warning systemcan be a lifesaver at a certainrange of distances from the epicenter— not too near and nottoo far, with the exact distancedepending on the power of thequake, the local geology and thekinds of structures and activitiesthat need protection.Harben retired from LawrenceLivermore in 2008 but continuesto work there as a contractor,helping with the treaty verificationeffort. He also works at LawrenceBerekely Lab, developinga network of strong motion sensorsto gather information aboutquakes that will inevitably occuron the nearby Hayward fault. Hiswork has long focused on thepractical aspects of earthquakeresponse, but he is not currently(INLAND VALLEY PUBLISHING CO.)working on early warning systems.<strong>The</strong> Japanese system can beginmaking forecasts of impendingground motion as early as 5seconds after a quake is detected,according to UC’s Allen.In Tokyo, some 230 milesfrom the epicenter of the Tohokuearthquake, people receivedwarnings via cell phones and TVa full 30 seconds before the powerfulshaking arrived. <strong>The</strong> warningthat appeared on Japanese TVcan be seen on YouTube.It was the most serious test ofthe Japanese system to date. <strong>The</strong>agency that runs it – the JapanMeteorological Agency — willfollow up with a survey to learnhow helpful it was to people andinstitutions at different distancesand under varying circumstances.In the meantime, the Agency,which is also responsible forweather forecasting and tsunamiwarnings, declines to speculateon how many lives might havebeen saved.To distinguish minor quakesfrom major ones, warnings systemsanalyze various componentsof the shaking recordedby ground motion sensors. Oneis the frequency of P waves.Minor quakes involving tensof feet of movement along aseismic fault typically generatehigher frequency shaking, whilemajor quakes involving milesof movement generate lowerfrequencies.Of course, no one knowswhere and when an earthquakewill occur, or whether the earliestP waves represent a smallslippage that will stop or thebeginning of a series of slipsthat will go on and on to becomemajor. In addition, the responsefrom a single P wave detectormay be misleading because ofthe quirks of local geology. Sothe Japanese have placed groundmotion detectors at 15 mile intervals.Forecasts are upgraded asmore information comes in fromadditional seismic stations.Japan needs a comprehensivesensor grid system in part because“faults are everywhere.”An earthquake might initiatealmost anywhere, Livermore’sPublisher: Joan Kinney SeppalaAssociate Publisher: David T. LowellEditor: Janet Armantrout<strong>The</strong> <strong>Independent</strong> is published every Thursday by Inland Valley Publishing Company, 2250 First St., Livermore,CA 94550; (925) 447-8700. Mailed at Periodical Postage Prices at the Livermore Post Office andadditional entry office: Pleasanton, CA 94566-9998. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Independent</strong> is mailed upon request. Go to www.independentnews.com to sign up and for more information. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to <strong>The</strong><strong>Independent</strong>, 2250 First St., Livermore, CA 94550.Advertising rates and subscription rates may be obtained by calling (925) 447-8700during regular business hours or by fax: (925) 447-0212.Editorial information may be submitted by editmail@compuserve.com.MEASURE E(continued from page one)funding as possible.<strong>The</strong> proponents also notethat the district has eliminated67 teaching positions, 25 schoolstaff and 17 administrators. “Withmillions in state cuts looming,we cannot allow our high-performanceschools to decline,” saythe proponents.<strong>The</strong> district budget over thepast several years has been cutback by approximately $19 millionover two years, says theargument.<strong>The</strong> argument states that MeasureE protects taxpayers byensuring all funds will stay inthe district. No funds will notbe spent on salary or benefitincreases for any staff, includingadministrators.<strong>The</strong> cost is capped at $98 peryear, and cannot be extendedwithout voter approval. Seniorsare eligible for an exemption tothe tax.Each year a Measure E spendingplan must be presented at apublic forum. An independentoversight committee must reviewthe use of funds and report itsfindings.FREEZE STEP ANDCOLUMN,SAY MEASURE E FOESArguments against the measurefocus on finances. <strong>The</strong> majorpoint dwells on the step and columnpay increases that teachersLivermore Council OKs Card Room Movemonth for each table operated.It is an escalating fee over a fiveyear period, starting at $300 pertable per month and increasingto $1500 per table per month.In future years, the fee would be$1500 plus the CPI. Casino 580will operate ten tables.<strong>The</strong> owner requested an adjustmentin how the fee escalates.<strong>The</strong> request was made, becauseunder the approved CUP, the firstyear would have already gone by.Mayor Marshall Kamena madethat part of the motion. As approvedover the next two years,the fee would be $500 per tableper month, increasing to $750 inthe third year, $1000 in the fourthyear and $1500 thereafter.Several issues were raised,one related to the ability of policeto patrol the area. Currently oneofficer operates there.Police Chief Steve Sweeneytold the council that more frequentpatrols would be needed.<strong>The</strong> concern is that the locationin the far northwest corner ofthe city would result in a slowerresponse time if there were aproblem. Two or three officerswould respond, pulling themfrom other parts of the city.Another issue was the location,at the junction of NorthCanyons and Doolan CanyonRd. within the Livermore citylimits.Mildred Parsons, lives onDoolan Canyon Rd. about a(Opinions voiced in letterspublished in Mailbox are thoseof the author and do not necessarilyreflect the opinion of <strong>The</strong><strong>Independent</strong>. Letter Policy: <strong>The</strong><strong>Independent</strong> will not publishanonymous letters, nor will itpublish letters without names.Abusive letters may be rejectedor edited. Frequent letter writersmay have publication of theirletters delayed. Letters should besubmitted by e-mail to editmail@compuserve.com.)BARTRobert S. AllenFormer BART DirectorACE runs three morning trainswest and three evening trains easteach weekday - all on the singletrack UP freight line. Why thentwo tracks to and through theAltamont just for the ACE/HSR(high speed rail)? That's what theACE/HSR brochures portray.If ACE/HSR add enoughtrains for twin Altamont bores,that's three tracks through town.receive, even when there is nocost-of-living adjustment fromyear to year.Step and column increases aretraditional in education. Teachersmove over to the next column afterthey achieve a certain numberof post-baccalaureate credits. <strong>The</strong>idea is to reward teachers for becomingbetter at what they do.For every year teachers arein a district, they move up onestep. <strong>The</strong> traditional argument isthat the longer a teacher has beenteaching, the more experience heor she has, and it pays off in betterinstruction.Measure E proponents havesaid that the guaranteed stepand column increases are a factorin retaining highly qualifiedteachers. <strong>The</strong> anti-Measure Eargument counters that in part bysaying that the district has beenlaying off many bright, youngenthusiastic teachers.More importantly, there wouldnot have to be any layoffs, if theboard would freeze step and column.<strong>The</strong> district would not needthe parcel tax.(Step and column increasesare part of the negotiated contracts.<strong>The</strong> contracts would haveto be renegotiated for step andcolumn to go away legally.)<strong>The</strong> district could have saved$18 million in the recent pastby not allowing the automatichalf mile from the casino. Sheexpressed concern about peopleparking along the road and trashthey would leave behind. Shesuggested a better location wouldbe the old Nob Hill building inLivermore.Gordon Galvin, the application,tried to reassure her. “Wehave security and cameras. InLivermore, we will be running ahigh class operation.” He invitedanyone interested to visit othercasinos he operates to see howthey are operated. Galvin added,“<strong>The</strong> casino will create jobs andrevenue, there will be an increasein tourism. We are dedicated tocreating a safe gaming experience.”Harben says. <strong>The</strong> Los AngelesBasin has a comparable challenge,with many faults that arenot completely understood, suggestinga warning system witha widespread sensor networkto detect ground motion earlywherever it starts. By contrast,the Bay Area has relatively welldefined faults running generallynorth-south, so it may require a“smaller number of sensors thatfollow the faults,” he says.An early version of the Japanesewarning system was establishedin Japan in the 1960s toprotect the bullet train network,the Shinkansen. This was a seriesof seismometers built into therailroad tracks to warn conductorsto slow down when strongshaking was detected.Institutions including theShinkansen were the first beneficiariesof the newer, more sophisticatedsystem, starting in August2006, according to an email fromthe Japan Meteorological Association.<strong>The</strong> full warning systembecame available to the generalpublic a year later. Since then, ithas issued 17 warnings, with onefalse alarm.Similar if more limited systemsare going into place in severalcountries, including Turkey,Romania and Taiwan. Mexicohas an earthquake warning systemsince 1993, principally toprotect Mexico City, a megalopolisof 20 million people, whichlies on a lakebed whose softsoil magnifies ground motion. Itfunctioned as expected in 1995,following a magnitude 8 earthquakeunder the Pacific Ocean,alerting schools to evacuate, themetro to stop and people to findpositions of safety before strongshaking hit the city.Harben notes the inevitabletrade-offs between quick earlywarnings and slower more reliableones, the former givingpeople and institutions the mosttime to prepare but risking falsealarms, and the latter possibly delayingalerts until it is too late forsome to take safety measures.In a litigious society, it isunclear how the legal systemwould deal with the cost of falsealarms that shut down factoriesand power plants unnecessarily.Conversely, nearby populationcenters might suffer injurieswhile an alert is delayed an extra5 seconds for further data collectionand analysis.Harben supports creation ofan alert system but believes itmust be added to existing seismicnetworks. <strong>The</strong> cost of operatingand maintaining a stand-alonenetwork could be difficult to supportif years pass with no majorearthquakes, as may happen.Doug Given agrees. <strong>The</strong>USGS would very much like toadd early warning capability toTwo more tracks for BART eastfrom Junction Avenue wouldmean five tracks. Are the plannerscrazy?BART belongs in a widenedfreeway median to GreenvilleRoad, per Livermore's GeneralPlan. Future extension shouldfollow the former SP railroadover the Altamont. Its rulinggrade, under 1.3%, is far less thanthe 2.99% west of Dublin.Stations belong at Isabel andlater near the truck scales, underthe high UP/ACE bridge east ifGreenville and at I-580/GrantLine Road. BART there wouldreally unclog I-580 in the Valleyand over the Altamont.Sign the petition./ Demand avote. BART on 580, not downtown.RedevelopmentTom O'NeillLivermoreRedevelopment money isa good thing. Like every goodthing, it can be abused; but thestep and column increases. Thatwould erase most of the $19million that the district says ithas lost, say the Measure E opponents.Further, the four-year parceltax will bring in a total of $8million during its life. However,the cumulative impact of raisingstep and column by its current$1.5 million per year increasewill total $15 million over thefour year life of the parcel tax.That expense will be almosttwice as much as the parcel taxcould cover.PENSION PAYMENTSRAISED AS ISSUEDollar amounts of the pensionsnow collected by 15 retiredPleasanton administrators also ismentioned in the anti-MeasureE argument. Most of them wereschool principals and/or workedat district headquarters. <strong>The</strong>yalso gained retirement money forservice in other districts as part oftheir long careers.<strong>The</strong> retired Pleasanton administratorsare collecting between$100,000 and $178,000 per year,says the Measure E argument.“School administrators wouldlike you to believe they are notwell paid,” says the ballot statement.<strong>The</strong> <strong>Independent</strong> looked intohow school pensions work, inorder to clarify this issue forvoters.Teachers, administrators andclassified employees do notreceive Social Security. Someschool administrators are certificatedpersonnel. <strong>The</strong>y pay8 percent of their wages intothe State Teachers RetirementSystem (STRS). <strong>The</strong> districtcontributes 8.25 percent, basedon the employee’s salary.<strong>The</strong> district does not set thepercentages; the state does. However,the more money that thedistrict pays to an employee,the more it will have to payinto STRS for each individual.<strong>The</strong> district does not make anypost-retirement payments to anindividual’s pension.Some retired administratorsare governed by the STRS fund.Others, who are classified employees,pay into the CalPERSsystem. <strong>The</strong> classified employeescontribute 7 percent to their pensions.<strong>The</strong> district contributes 13percent. As with STRS, the statesets the percentages.a current California network ofsome 400 seismic stations, whichis clustered particularly aroundpopulation centers in SouthernCalifornia and the Bay Area.This system, called the CaliforniaIntegrated Seismic Network, allowsfor analysis of earthquakeswhen they occur, but is well shortof the kind of system requiredto issue real time warnings thatpeople can act on.In the current budget climate,CISN will do well to avoidfunding cuts, let alone add capability.CISN is part of a nationwidenetwork called the AdvancedNational Seismic System. Inresponse to the Japanese disaster,the Nuclear Regulatory Commissionis said to be requesting fullfunding for ANSS and another$10 million per year for upgrading.Whether this money will beforthcoming is also uncertain.Beyond technical capabilities,an early warning communicationsystem would have to link tothe places and institutions thatneed the information – factories,schools, trains, power plants,construction sites – and an outreachprogram would have to letthem know what to do with thecommunications they receive.A logical next location fora warning system is the PacificNorthwest, the region known asintent behind it is sound.1. It is generated by tax increment,and returns tax incrementto the local community. As suchit can come as a reward for intelligentplanning. Further, byrewarding a local community fordoing things that encourage qualityof life and local prosperity, itbecomes a great enabler for doingmore of the same.2. As indicated, its use - withinstate guidelines - is determined atthe local level. This increases thelikelihood it will provide genuinebenefits to the community thatgenerates it. (For an instructivecontrast, consider what can happento one's federal taxes, wheremoney sent to Washington, D.C.,can be diverted to getting rid ofnonexistent weapons of massdestruction, or to trying to recreatea tribal people living in adistant mountainous country intoa nation we find altogether comforting.Local control of moneyacts as a strong restraint againstsuch folly.)3. As a result of local control,redevelopment money enhancesEmployees may also increasetheir pension payouts by buyingup to five extra years in thesystem from their own personalsavings.PROPERTY OWNERSSTILL PAYING ON BONDS<strong>The</strong> Measure E opponentspoint out that Pleasanton residentsare still paying off bondsfor Measure B, which financedschool building expansion andrenovation. <strong>The</strong> ballot argumentestimates that at an “average” of$866 per year, with a commitmentuntil the year 2024.(For more information aboutMeasure B bond refunding,please see the story in this issueabout the March 22 school boardmeeting, where Measure E opponentsraised the issue.)<strong>The</strong> opponents also werecritical of the district spending$70,000 on research for the electionand up to $250,000 to haveit on the ballot. It is “money thatcould have been used to fundthe programs the measure addresses.”<strong>The</strong> opponents also point outthat while seniors can be exemptfrom paying the tax, they mustremember to apply each year forthe exemption.<strong>The</strong> anti-Measure E argumentalso says that the measure isvague about how the district willspend the money.Proponents of Measure E whosigned the ballot arguments areschool board president ValerieArkin, Jana Halle, Jan Batcheller,John Dove, Donna Garrison, andSabrina Dickinson.Also signing were BarbaraHempill, William Evans, SallyStock, Brian Damiani, and PaulDeJarnatt.A web page that supportsMeasure E is at http://www.savepleasantonschools.org.Signers on the anti-MeasureE side were former school boardmember and former city councilmemberSteve Brozosky, formercouncil member Kay Ayala,former Human Services commissionerDorene Paradiso-Carroll,and former planning commissionerAnne Fox.Also signing the argumentsand rebuttals against MeasureE were Raquel Vargas, DavidMiller, Deborah Beardsley, CynthiaGehl, Douglas Miller, andConnie Cox.A web page with opponents’discussion is at http://pleasantonparceltax.blogspot.com.Cascadia that runs roughly fromVancouver south to Mendocino.In this area, the coastal populationfaces seismic hazards verymuch like Japan’s. <strong>The</strong> edge ofone crustal plate is diving underthe mass of the continent, andthe pressure that builds whenthe plates are stuck can generatetremendous recoil and groundmotion when they finally breakfree.In a recent online message thatwarns of the dangers, seismologistRichard Allen of Berkeleynoted that West Coast cities werebuilt essentially on top of majorearthquake faults. We have hadmodest reminders in recent years,he says, with the magnitude 7Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989and the 6.7 Northridge quake in1994. “<strong>The</strong> strongest shakingwas in unpopulated mountainousareas,” he wrote.“We have not seen the truepower of west-coast earthquakessince 1906 when a magnitude8 earthquake destroyed SanFrancisco. Los Angeles, the SanFrancisco Bay Area, or Seattlecould be next.”Allen has a current articleon earthquake early warningsystems in Scientific American,available online at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=tsunami-seconds-beforethe-big-onethe morale of a community. Itdraws people together into a livelypursuit of the common good.A tax that emerges as redevelopmentmoney hardly feels like atax at all. Redevelopment moneyis a creature that Republicans noless than Democrats can approve- for it observes the Jeffersonianrule of making government aslocal as possible. To kill redevelopmentmoney for the sake of ashort-term budgetary expedientis like eating seed-corn. Withoutseed-corn, how can we expect aharvest?Let Governor Brown and bothparties in our legislature hearhow you feel about this.BART on 580Alan BurnhamLivermoreAssistant City Engineer BobVinn was quoted in the March 17issue as saying that a vote againstdowntown BART is essentially avote against BART to Livermore.In my view, that is a good reason(More MAILBOX, page 10)
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Independent</strong>, MARCH <strong>31</strong>, <strong>2011</strong> - PAGE 5
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