Change in Fortuna 2

I attended last night's informational meeting "to describe the anticipated design and construction process for the Stewart Street Replacement project" (formerly the Tank in the Park). The paper didn't mention it was a neighborhood meeting, but no one seemed to mind that a few non-neighborhood folks showed up. I want to note that the fact that it was publicly noticed is a positive change for a neighborhood meeting in Fortuna. Last spring the Friends of Rohner Park "crashed" a meeting on Stewart Street when they heard about it through the grapevine. Three months or so ago a Council member remarked "now that the cat is out of the bag" he'd like to hear how the meeting with the Vancil neighbors went. I'd say things are getting better, thanks city staff.

At the beginning of the meeting the neighbors were told staff was trying to understand the issue as if they were neighbors and at times it was acknowledged, "I truly hadn't seen it that way before." This seemed to come when some of the prepared response seemed to miss the mark, but some credit goes to the neighbors as they did a good job of repeating and rephrasing until their concerns were acknowledged. Hopefully after the clarified concerns have been "considered" the dialog will continue or at least they will receive a more definite response. But compared to the cold shoulder the Friends of Rohner Park got this was refreshing.

I have to say I felt a bit uncomfortable at times when the staff spoke for the "ratepayers" to remind the neighbors that the cost of their requests needed to be considered. The neighbors' concern that the switch from the park meant the construction impact cost shifted from the many to a few seemed legitimate to me (the speaker noted no ill-will toward those concerned with the park). But of course I'm biased, this ratepayer requested they make changes to the project which would have reduced both the project costs and the impact on the neighbors substantially so I have little sympathy for staff speaking on behalf of ratepayers interested in costs. But, I'll give staff the benefit of the doubt that I'll soon see the error of my logic when I review the preliminary records.

Anyway, back to changes. The Friends of Rohner Park struggled through seven months of meetings tentatively set and then canceled and requests to know results of investigations, or to have an explanation of process, ignored or denied. What a true joy to see a written "Anticipated Chronological Project Task List" handed out. Had I had such a list perhaps I could have met the city's illogical demand that I ask for specific records in my requests for information on using Vancil reservoir. This list is a positive change.

And lastly, there have been meetings, on the General Plan and last August on the tank issue, where no public comments were allowed. I have heard that city staff and some council members attended a Brown Act training last fall. I would bet last August was the last meeting to allow no comment. That's positive change. And those records? Any day now.

Rate Chart Provided by the City of Fortuna.

Came across this website, thought I'd share it. Here is how the owner described it in an email:

Although your blog and my website represent the way the current city counsel governs without consent, the blog and website have very different purposes. My website serves as a protest to the rising water rates and also serves as a warning to those considering moving into the area. If anyone googles Fortuna Water Rate, an estimate of the cost of a the monthly water bill they will have to pay can be seen. This is useful information for people planning a budget.

My website also shows how the city budget was in the black, which the current city counsel branded as the, "pay as you go" system. Now, for the first time, Fortuna is in the red by tens of millions of dollars of debt, and a portion of our water rate money that we pay, and our local tax dollars go to pay interest on the debt that our current city council put us in. This is why our water rates keep rising, and are scheduled to keep rising. We could have funded water projects slowly over time, without getting our city into debt. We get nothing for the interest we now pay out to municipal bond holders.

And my two cents: I remember there were those who felt we didn't need to borrow money (issue bonds) to repair the water and sewer infrastructure. Perhaps we should have heeded the warnings back when the bonds were issued.
Now we need to make sure the the money is used wisely. Unlike the Tank in the Park, which is simple to understand, talking about the water system is harder for people to get excited about. But building a new 2 million gallon reservoir is at least $4million project and we need to look at it closely. My investigations point to using the existing Vancil reservoir and spending more on piping/pumping improvements. But there are other ideas floating around...

New 2 million gallon water tank?

Gathering signatures on the No to Tank in Park petition I noticed three types of people: 1- those with questions/comments who then signed the petition, 2- those who said, "put it in the park, we need the water" and 3- those who signed without a word and then in response to my "thanks, they can find another place for it" said, "we don't need it."

After looking into this a bit more, I'm pretty convinced that a 2 million gallon tank is not needed at Stewart Street and that there are more pressing needs. Some of what I've found is now at FortunaCitizen.

Anyone interested in using money wisely? How about investing in solar and fixing the weak links in the water system?