ladling soup to power, on SC pier

None of us need be reminded, the plus and minuses
of good political-power versus political-abuse.

Etched across our crowded landscape, daily reminders:
good planning versus "what were they thinking?"

We live in the future tense, too often hobbled by bad
planning from before. The results of self-interest
trumping the public-good.

On San Clemente Pier this past Sunday (Oct-5-08),
at SC's annual Chowderfest cook-off, the 5-Time
Individual-Best-on-Pier winningest chowder recipe
Won Again!

Ladled out by S.C.A.T. - SC'ians Against Toll-Roads.

S.C.A.T.'s message: a toll road thru SC is bad-soup
for SC - for the environment - and won't help traffic
a lick. Still TCA keeps its foul toll-stew boiling away
no matter toll road rider-ship's a thing of the past:
gas too high - no more Wall St. backstop - no more
local development fees pouring into TCA's tolling
house of mirrors. OC Toll roads are out of gas.
Their last-ditch ponzi hope: pave to San Onofre.
Scam a couple more Billion in construction-bucks.
Bulldoze hemorrhaging Bond-debt down the road
to the year 3000. Do the math. Who reading this
today will be here to protest?

S.C.A.T. says "STOP." Stop Now.
Bad road-recipe. Dump it.
Can't afford toll.
Tastes really yucky.

One visiting Boston lady (on her 3rd helping)
ran up to S.C.A.T's table exclaiming, "No Competition!
You're the Best Chowder Out Here. I Need More!"

So, Congratulations S.C.A.T. Your winning recipe for
San Onofre and San Clemente remains miles ahead
of the competition and will never leave a bad aftertaste
to our kid's future.

S.C.A.T wins #6
Toll Road - 0

(you are what you eat)

jer

Toll Road to Nowhere, we agree

Thanks to the LATimes for the editorial headline
I've been waiting to read for 10-years,

"Toll Road to Nowhere" - Oct 8, 08.

The follow-up headline should ink:
"A Toll Road Agency to nowhere good."

OC's TCA/Transportation Corridor Agency aka
toll road purveyors, have met their larcenous match -
the economy and high fuel costs, causing TCA's
price-managed toll-traffic to vaporize, as panicky
Supervisors cut toll fares on the 91's vacant toll
lanes now that TCA's once lucrative development
fee stream, fed from OC home-building has gone
bone dry. TCA's mythical traffic-relief via toll roads
is hot on the heels of Wall St's dive into the abyss.

OC's Private Investor Highway model only ever
worked on Wall St spread-sheets, causing OC and
Riv-County commuters to stall-out on decades long
politico-mischief & mass transit prejudices - their
only commute choice: private-interest, quick-buck
car-commuting to lands further and further out with
no way home today, except on overtaxed freeways
at $60 to $100 a tank fill-ups.

Result: TCA's 51-mile toll-folly basks empty in So-Cal's
sunniest clime thanks to 30-years of shortsighted
development greed and political-gaming, driving
us nowhere fast, with no train in sight.

So, throw the bums out?

OC's harsh transportation reality leaves little choice,
because "They" - OC's brain trust (gone-bust) believe
everything's just fine. Going according to plan.

Ironically, TCA plans to widen their empty toll roads
to nowhere. So who pays? Who always pays.
Stop TCA before they pave again.
Stop TCA, period.
And let our traffic flow.

OC Reg: Mimi Walters - a wave of misinformation,
Guest Column, Sunday, Sept. 14, 08
----------------------------------------------------------------------

a citizen response:

Used to be, mustachioed men in stripped suits
and tall hats sold Snake Oil. Now women can too.

Mimi Walters is credited with describing San Onfore
State Beach Park (our state's 5th most popular) - our
Yosemite of Surfing, as "nothing but dirt and weeds."

Mimi's open space ignorance is bliss - and convenient,
with her goal to pave a toll road thru San Onofre (if open
today, its toll fare would be $15 one-way). Even OCTA
knows no one's going to drive it. Same as no one's
driving TCA's 'busted' 73 now - or the suddenly
tanking 241.

Where did TCA's toll payers all go?
They're at the gas pump paying $4 a gallon.
A scary enough toll.

Here's what Mimi calls dirt & weeds: The Donna O'Neill
Land Conservancy, the San Mateo Watershed, San Mateo
Creek / the Panhe village site - the Acjachemen People's
sacred ground, dating back 10,000 years.

All totaled, they make up the last, intact, naturally perfect
coastal watershed (open space treasure) along southern
California's coastline - Tijuana to Ventura.
Lose that to a an unaffordable toll road and we lose SoCal's
last consistently healthy coastal waters / San Onofre.
Some leadership.

Mimi admits to loathing "Labor," then flies the Union label
when it suits her toll road pitch.

Truth to Power: With SoCal's sagging highway infrastructure
requiring a decade's worth of make-over, there's no shortage
of highway-work / construction jobs on OC freeways and
arterials going forward.

Ironically the state park Mimi would plow asunder is not even
in her Assembly District - or her County. Maybe it's Mimi's road
map that's clogged with dirt & weeds?, because blindly paving
away priceless State Park land and watershed for a toll road
no one would drive, rather than solving OC's real world
transportation issues: how to get OC commuters to work
'affordably' today, tomorrow, and when gas hits $9-bucks
a gallon, smacks of 100-Proof Mimi pitching TCA snake-oil.

Don't drink it OC.
It's bad medicine.

Smart Pizza

Saturday, August 23, 2008

If the toll road don't fit - go to Sonny's.

To: sunpostnews/ local SC-daily

In response to Sue Waltman's criticism:

Sonny's Pizza 'not being smart' opposing

the toll road. That widening I-5 would be

the result, stems from a lack of information

(or misinformation) on Ms Waltman's part.

Fact: toll road or no toll road, widening I-5

thru SC is a done deal. Currently I-5's

widening-plan calls for 3 1/2 new lanes.

Fact: there's plenty of room. No homes

need be taken. OCTA and Caltrans

implement 'Context Sensitive Engineering

Rules' in cases such as SC, where homes

and business sit close to freeways.

Note: all Caltrans Freeway projects,

(planned 25-30 years in advance) right of

way (roadway foot-print) exceeds amount

of actual paving - meaning: a close look

at I-5 here (available space) - additional

lane-width-requirements meet Caltrans

12ft-max standard so there's room to widen

I-5 without destroying SC. Rumors to the

contrary are TCA myth, designed to snare

SC'ers into TCA's superfluous toll road net.

Apparently Ms. Waltman swallowed TCA's

bait - hook, line and sinker (she's not alone).

OCTA's 07-MIS (Major Investment Study)

reveals a 241-south extension to I-5, by

2030, would be the least traveled pavement

in South County. At upwards of $15 a one

way toll, no wonder. That's why, OCTA -

OC's Transportation "Authority" says -

"toll road, or no toll road, know I-5 thru SC

must be widened to accommodate SoCal's

future North-South 'Free'way traffic."

Reality: A Trestles toll road would do

nothing to alleviate I-5's traffic.

What Ms Waltman's question should be,

"Well then, why pave the toll road?"

10's of 1000's of smart, pizza eating,

commuting SoCal citizens ask the same

question.

Sad Fact: governmental bodies can, do

and will make dumb policy (they're only

human). It's up to us - informed, voting

citizens to bring high flying politicians

down to earth where we live, breathe,

eat smart pizza, and commute.

Fact: 8 of the 9 SC City Council Hopefuls

running for council election today, oppose

the toll road in its current nonsensical,

destructive path to Trestles.

May I suggest: Sonny's is not only the

best pizza in town - it's the Smartest.

Remember - we are what we eat.

Jerry Collamer, SC resident, is an active

participant in OCTA's South County Major

Investment Study Stakeholders Working

Group representing Wild Heritage Planners.

SONGS gone for Good

She Leaks, She Creaks, She sucks & blows billions of gallons of sea-water in & out 24-7.
How much sea-life goes with?
How much radio-activity (not KROK bubby) gets pumped
out too? How big 'are' 18ft-diameter suck & flush pipes (hmm) doing SONGS' binge & blow? Hugely Big.
SONGS' More Bad News: Patterns of internal problems.
SONGS is "doddering dysfunctional!" Swell.
Enough so Edison's hired new top-level lion-tamers to
keep her from going totally ballistic all over us.

Scary on a scale of 1 to 5: 1 being Best, SONGS is a high 3?, which is way closer to 5 than 1, and rhymes with RUN!!!

But the issue closest to San Clemente's sleepy village is:
We Take All The Risk, while Riverside splashes happy in backyard pools safely 50-miles away gulping 100 Proof
SONGS juice.

Depending who you read, SONGS' powers between 1.5 million to 2-million Riverside homes, keeping things cool
in Riv-city's sunny summer shine (92º today), while San Clemente sucks Riv's-risk.



Want to de-fang SC's dangerous suck & flush machine?

Here's how:

San Clemente's / SONGS No-Risk Riverside Option:
Begin decommissioning SONGS No. 2 Reactor now.
At the same time, begin covering Riverside's rooftops
(all of them) with solar panels.

Soon as Reactor No. 2 is taken down (just like we did
with SONGS old #1 reactor) begin decommissioning
No. 3 while keeping on with Riverside's solar and wind power-conversion until Riv-city is 100% self-sufficient.
And SONGS is sung.
And SC's safe (like it used to be).

No doubt, we're stuck with SONGS' bones: the stored
nuc-waste and polluted beach plant site. But we'll have
a sunny solution (happy ending) to Riverside's power
needs and San Clemente's next generation will be so
much better for it.

What shaky San Andreas Fault?
What lame TCA toll road evacuation excuse?
What leaky, creaky, rusty internal plant problems?
What scary plume / cloud.
What radiated ocean and nuke-tainted ground well-water?
What suck & flushing billions of gallons of sea-water (and marine-life) daily?
What Nuke-plant in the middle of California's 5th most popular State Beach Park?
What Nuke-plant on SoCal's Yosemite of Surfing beach?
What worry our kid's health issues?

Rather, SONGS becomes a glowing history lesson
if we dare imagine San Onofre without SONGS.
A sunny solution to SONGS' old timey power source.

Imagine SONGS' gone.
It's legal to imagine it.
We have the technology.
This is "Sunny" Southern California.
Let's just do it - now.

Because don't you really wish, SONGS wasn't here.

Why Sonny's is SC's best loved

The lines outside Sonny's Pizza on El Camino
attests to its quality hometown product: excellent
food, service, and that good ol'SC vibe.
Ongoing successes such as Sonny's offer proof
to the good judgment of what SC'ers like.
On Sunday at Fiesta Day, the Save Trestles Tent
hosted over 700 State Park and San Onofre-Loving
'Save Trestler's,' putting face, name and words
to where their hearts are too: Saving Trestles
and San Onofre. Sonny's loves Trestles too.
700 polaroided Save Trestler's stapled their pic's
to handwritten postcards addressed to the Sec of
Commerce in DC, asking, "Help Us, The People,
Save Trestles and Sano" from TCA's hapless,
needless, pointless, dumb toll road idea, no matter
TCA's next weak excuse for paving thru SoCal's
last perfectly natural public space - for a nonsensical
private road no one will ever afford???, want?, or need?
So Sonny's gets it right again. That's why it's SC's #1
choice for great chow and that good'ol SC-vibe.
Same with Trestles and Sano - 3 perfectly natural
SC originals broadcasting SC's village spirit and
all-natural vibrancy out to the world: as in World-Class.
Call'em SC's Unique (3) Quality of Life Providers.
Sonny's, Trestles and Sano is why we all live here
(and not in those other places).
It's why the World lines up to come to San Clemente
on any given Sunday. "Hello City Council, GET IT?"
Pray SC's naturally good Spirit never changes.
It won't, long as we all work to make sure it doesn't.
So, it's "Yes" to Sonny's, Trestles and Sano.
And "NO" to TCA's nutty toll road idea - wrong time,
wrong place, wrong town, wrong idea.
We don't need TCA's funny (bad) business paving
its dubious way here. We're doing fine. Sunday's
25,000-plus Fiesta fun-in-SC's-sun revelers found
their way here, no problem. So TCA, stop serving
us your blah, rehashed menu. It's enough to make
a good town sick. Let's all go to Sonny's instead.

What Price Trestles

Reported July 31-08: TCA (OC Toll Roads) paid a
Scripps institute scientist $6,000 to tell them (TCA)
what they want to hear - "Go ahead, ruin San Onofre."
No Surprise, TCA's been paying pollsters for 10-years
to tell'em what they want to hear - "Go ahead, pave
thru San Onofre."
TCA has an old ex-surfer on speed-dial, at the ready
(soon as TCA's check clears) to tell'em what they
want to hear, "Go ahead, ruin Trestles."
TCA tried bribing the Governor with $100million to
allow their toll route thru San Onofre State Beach Park.
Guv said, "You betcha."
State Parks said, "Not for Sale."
TCA offered a willing Native American (so-called
spokesguy) $350,000 to let'em plow-thru San Mateo
Creek's 10,000 year old ancestral site.
Tribal leaders said no way, "Hands off San Mateo."
TCA even has a Congressman invested to the tune
of $20,000 of his own dough. Same fellow who
ear-marked $8million from Congress straight into
TCA's one-way cash register (is that how TCA affords
to buy anyone buyable?).
TCA's generous Congressman happens to be
a local land developer. Good governance? Not.
Just easy money.
TCA couldn't buy CA's Coastal Commission,
or the 4.500 citizens who showed up in Del Mar on
Feb. 6th to politely request TCA not ruin San Onofre
State Beach Park with a toll road no one would ever
drive on at $15…one-way? Ouch.
Who Will TCA Buy Next?
Some wonder if TCA's Trestles toll road, unnecessary
to I-5 traffic relief - destructive to both land and sea
(as OC's toll road traffic numbers tank faster'n you can
shout "Icebergs Ahead!!!"). That just maybe, Federal
officials better start looking at TCA's "buying power"
in a time of deep recession? Especially with their toll
roads running on empty.
Scary Remembrance: OC - only county in America to
ever bankrupt (1994 and still carrying the debt load).
So, is TCA's failed toll-model OC-history repeating itself?
Is TCA, OC's next uber-Titanic, taking on water while
OC's leadership is up in the ballroom dancing?

Question: How, and with who's dough does TCA keep
buying influence, when they have no 'real' earnings?