Measure D - Pardee's Livermore Trails

By John P. Marchand

Vote NO on Measure "D"

Weyerhaueser/Pardee hired illegal, out-of-town signature gatherers because they knew they could get away with it. They asked residents to sign a petition for a sports park and trails. But Measure D is not about a sports park and trails. It's about sprawl. It's about a housing tract with two thousand four hundred fifty homes, three times the number in Ruby Hill. It's about thousands more vehicles on our roads every day. It allows a developer to rewrite Livermore's General Plan for their benefit, not ours. They even exempt themselves from paying to improve four impacted intersections. The Initiative requires roadway improvements but adds four intersection to the list of intersections with substandard flow which exempts them from mitigating the traffic impacts on those intersections.

In a mailer entitled "Five Great Reasons" Weyerhaeuser/Pardee actually asked Livermore residents for donations to support their cause . One has to ask , "Why would a $50 B, multi-national corporation need donations from the residents of Livermore? The answer is "Astro-turf"or fake grass roots. They sought to deceive us into thinking that this was a local effort which it is not. Pardee's political machine calls itself Citizens for Livemore Trails but their treasurer is in Burlingame and they have paid millions of dollars to political consultants in San Francisco, Sacramento and Santa Monica; cities that already have gridlocked traffic. Cities that have already given up what Livermore still treasures; open space and agriculture which give Livermore its special quality of life.

Measure D offers short-term solutions to long term problems. According to the City's independent 9212 report, Livermore will face a cumulative fiscal deficit of $13 million dollars at the build out of Livermore Trails. The developer goes to great lengths to say what they are paying, but do not mention that Livemore citizens will have to make up for the short-falls and the deficits. New development should pay its own way and not be subsidized by the current residents.

Pardee is offering Livermore a lot of promises to buy this election. But Livermore voters are not for sale. Vote No on Measure D.

Four times in the past, the voters have had a chance to vote on development in North Livermore. Every time they have voted, "No". No to the increasing sprawl and no to the thousands of cars adding to our grid-locked traffic. In spite of that, three of the council candidates we have heard tonight support North Livermore development; even though the voters have time and again voted against it; even though the initiative clearly places limits on the amounts that the developer will have to pay. I oppose Measure D because Livermore residents will have to make up the difference and still endure the increased traffic with thousands more vehicles on our roads every day. It should be very simple, as elected representatives, we represent the voters and not our own agendas. As your city councilman, it will be my job to listen to you, the voters. I believe that Livermore residents should not have to subsidize new development. As I have for the last 15 years as your elected representative, I will ensure that new development pays its own way. I derive no income from developer or real estate interests. My only special interest has been the best interests of the community that I was elected to serve. I believe new development should be city-centered, near existing infrastructure, to break the cycle of more sprawl and more traffic.

Vote like your quality of life depends on it. It does. Vote "NO on Measure D.