Tom McInerney: Importance of Ross Valley vote

Staff Report
Marin Independent Journal
Article Launched:08/06/2007 11:01:14 PM PDT
Tom McInerney

AT 4 A.M. ON Dec. 31, 2005, I carried my 8-year-old daughter in my arms across the raging river that had been our street. More than two feet of water surged through our home, wrecking it while destroying all of our furniture and much of our belongings.

In the days following, I experienced a rush of emotions. I was angry at our elected officials for ignoring the flooding problems that had, with increasing frequency, threatened our neighborhood. I was mad at myself for buying a home in the Ross Valley, endangering my family. I was heartbroken as we comforted our two children, both of whom lost their clothes, toys, books and furniture. We vowed to move so we would never again face such devastation.

Then, uninvited, friends and neighbors showed up to help us clean and pack. People we barely knew purchased clothes and books for our children. Families at their school fed us, did our laundry and babysat our kids so we could focus on rebuilding our lives. At considerable personal expense, we rebuilt our home and lifted it above the flood line. Our community literally picked us up.

In light of this remarkable spirit of community we witnessed firsthand, I am disappointed by the rhetoric from the vocal "anti-tax" minority surrounding the vote to pass a small annual fee to address the chronic flooding. Under the guise of challenging the "integrity" of the ballot, a group of citizens reflexively opposed to any fees or taxes is threatening lawsuits which, if successful, could block all efforts to solve the flooding.

The anti-taxers raise a number of fallacies.

First, they conspiratorially argue the ballot was devised to trick opponents into not signing it. Nonsense. We had several weeks to fill out the ballot and read the accompanying material, which explicitly advised voters to sign their ballots. The vote was conducted in strict compliance with Proposition 218. It is troublesome that 20 percent of the ballots were not signed and thus, by law, could not be counted. This is something Marin should examine to ensure that in future elections more, if not all, ballots submitted are properly marked. These questions should be addressed going forward and not block vital, life-saving efforts to stop further floods.

Second, opponents argue that the vote was "anti-democratic" because it only was voted upon by property owners and not subject to Proposition 13's two-thirds vote requirement. However, this fee was voted upon according to Proposition 218, offered in 1996 by the Jarvis-Gann folks to close loopholes in Proposition 13 that had allowed towns to unilaterally impose such fees. This fee, which will average only $125 per year, will be paid only by property owners who contribute to runoff to the storm drainage system. By its terms, Proposition 218 defines a "fee" as applicable to this situation. It is more "democratic" to have a majority vote by those who will pay the fee than to require a "supermajority" two-thirds vote that includes those who won't.

While opponents raise conspiracies and roadblocks, missing from their rhetoric is any recognition of the importance of flood control. For decades, our leaders have ignored that flooding in the Ross Valley is a watershed-wide problem requiring a watershed-wide solution. Runoff from the hills, including in Greenbrae and Kent Woodlands, flows into creeks and culverts, which affects each of our towns.

Supervisor Hal Brown and others have brought together experts in hydrology and engineering to study and address these problems. The fee will be used to pay for critical flood mitigation projects (see www.rossvalleywatershed.org) and can be leveraged to obtain millions more in funding from state and federal sources.

What is also missing is the spirit of community we experienced in 2006.

My family raised our home and, hopefully, we won't flood again. The same cannot be said of neighbors and merchants who, every winter, may face the same devastation we did.

Yes, the "integrity" of the vote is important and should be addressed. But let's not, as the saying goes, "throw the baby out with the bathwater" by losing focus of what is critically important for the health and safety of our valley.

Tom McInerney is a San Anselmo resident. He is an attorney and chairman of the San Anselmo Park and Recreation Commission.