Letter to the Editor: Social Issues Not Key Issues in District 2 Race

Dear Editor,

There are primary and important issues to be considered in the Contra Costa County District 2 Supervisor Election. Current commentary in various blogs and forums about social issues are not part of voters’ critical concerns. Through various news services resources and district 2 neighborhoods e-exchanges, please allow me to summarize the critical concerns so your readers can consider and comment:

#1 – PUBLIC SAFETY and PREPAREDNESS: Neighborhoods in District 2 have become more and more concerned about their own safety and the abilities to receive emergency services in the event of an earthquake, fire, or other natural disasters. Public safety is fully dependent of appropriate funding and operations of police and sheriff, fire services, and prosecution services as deterrents to individuals that find our neighborhoods convenient “shopping” for their criminal activities. As our county, as a result of CCC supervisors’ decisions, reduce funding of public safety in favor of social services, our neighborhoods become more threatened by criminal actions and the failure to remove such criminals from our communities.

#2 – GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATION/ACCESS: Neighborhoods have long known that county policies for communications have been created to restrict access to government and to quiet public voices that would challenge the immediate decisions of boards, commissions, committees, councils and individual officials. Certainly a county meeting structure of “fill out a card, wait to be called, do your three minutes and shut up and go away” does not work. Voters want to carry on the access and interaction that Gayle Uilkema provides neighborhood, business district, and community groups and not return to the barrier of gatekeeper councils and committees that were the past in Saranap to Dougherty Valley.

#3 – ENVIRONMENT and INFRASTRUCTURE: The character of our environment and how it is planned and developed is critical to the will and interests of district 2 voters. Protection of open space and natural environments creates the open space, skyline and ridgelines district 2 voters enjoy. The ability to add suitable infrastructure to provide street lighting safety, covered drainage, walking paths, underground utilities, and access roads and lanes serves the immediate will and interests of district 2 residents.

#4 – TRAFFIC and TRANSPORTATION: Eliminating use of community and neighborhood roads and lanes as commute corridors and focusing pass-through commuting on our major highways is critical. Our 24/680 south corridor is often choked with commute traffic on community streets and roads and efforts to enlarge such roads to allow further access is self-defeating to local quality of life. More focus on transportation and a grid of rapid bus transit would serve commuters that too-often are clogging our roads and streets.

#5 – ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT and JOBS CREATION: Moving Contra Costa County beyond their primary industry of creating excess housing inventory is a critical venture for protecting the character of our communities and balancing jobs to residents that wish to live in our communities. Bringing technology and professional commercialization to our business centers, industrial parks, and integrating such operations in our downtown districts reverses the predominant flow of employees and business owners to operations outside of our district 2

Thus, Editor, neighborhoods, as the majority of voters, have provided these categories as primary to their will and interests and welcome your readers to consider such issues in their commentary. What are clear are social issues, although important in our national consideration, do not focus in the election of our supervisor. Constitutional rights of individuals in women’s rights, gay marriage and family values are campaign misdirection to keep the above important issues from challenging candidates.

Please invite your readers to add their important considerations to these issues and focus district 2 candidates on answering voters’ questions and concerns.

-Harald Paul Arthur Balle (Hal Bailey), Alamo

If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, email Danville Patch editor Terry Parris Jr. at terry.parris@patch.com.