Bay Area Cities to Hold Special Meetings to Get Citizen Input on Plan Bay Area

Orinda

Friends,

After numerous requests, the City Council has finally agreed to put Plan Bay Area on the agenda. Unfortunately they notified us so late the only way Orindans will find out about the Monday night meeting will be if each person forwards this e-mail to everyone they know.

We have lived in Orinda for almost 1/2 century and have seen lots of issues. However, I believe that loss of property rights and loss of local control is the most serious problem to date. Even if you do not send your comments to the city or wish to speak, please attend Monday night meeting to let them know you have concerns.

Thanks for your participation in keeping Orinda the town we moved to.

Janet

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From: "Orinda Watch" <orindawatch@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 11, 2013 11:59:17 AM
Subject: Orinda Watch letter to Council - PLEASE read!

Dear Orinda Watch Members and friends,

Yesterday, the Orinda City Council posted the agenda, staff report, and citizen comments for Monday night’s special meeting on Plan Bay Area here.

We can’t tell you how much we respect and appreciate each one of you for making your concerns about Plan Bay Area known to the Council. It is your doing so that has led to the Council scheduling this special meeting.

One of the most troubling aspects of this sad and unfortunate event known as Plan Bay Area, is that local governments have not asked for the views of their residents on this Plan. ABAG and MTC have had the field to themselves to engage in their exercise of seeking manufactured consent, while the voices of the citizens have been ignored, marginalized, and minimized.

Until now--and thanks to you.

This is our time to have our voices heard. Please do whatever you can to show up on Monday night, May 13, 7:00pm at the Orinda Library Auditorium, and do everything you can to encourage your friends and neighbors to attend as well.

And, please take time to read the letter that Orinda Watch delivered to the city today, along with the supporting materials. If nothing else, please read the file entitled “Orinda Watch comment on Plan Bay Area.” It’s that important. This will not be a waste of your time.

In this letter we lay out the evidence about this profoundly dishonest Plan and show how that evidence “paint[s] a devastating picture of two unaccountable agencies and a process that has gone terribly awry.”

Please be sure to share this letter with your neighbors and friends as well.

Thank you,

Orinda Watch Leadership

p.s., we cannot recommend highly enough that you also review the attachments to our letter to the City Council, if you have the time. We’ve also attached here the list of appendices to our letter—you can find the attachments on the City’s website allong with the letter at the link above, or we can send you individual appendices or all of them at your request.

Orinda Watch comment on Plan Bay Area - 5/10/13

Appendices to Orinda Watch Comment

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May 13th, 7pm: Lafayette City Council Meeting on Plan Bay Area @ Lafayette Library Meeting Room (Please tell all of your Lafayette Friends & Neighbors to attend!) Read more...

May 21st, 7pm: Orinda City Council Regular Meeting @ Orinda Library Auditorium (no further details at this time)

May 21st, 7pm: Pleasant Hill Citizens for Responsible Growth - Plan Bay Area Informational Meeting (Please tell all of your Pleasant Hill friends & neighbors to attend!) Read More...

May 30th, 6:30pm: "The Great Planning Debate: One Bay Area...is it Good for the Bay Area, is it good for Marin" @ Marin Civic Center, San Rafael (you won't want to miss this!) [2 MTC/ABAG executives vs 2 Nationally-Recognized Land-use & Transportation Experts as Opponents] Read more...