The race for Santa Barbara County’s 2nd Supervisorial District heated up last night at an extremely well attended forum in Goleta sponsored by the Coalition for Sensible Planning and Homeowners’ Defense Fund. Joe Guzzardi, Dan Secord, Das Williams and Janet Wolf squared off on a number of issues, but the most contentious and controversial involved land use and housing. Although technically a nonpartisan race, Guzzardi, Williams and Wolf are Democrats while Secord is the lone Republican running for the seat. Guzzardi argued that all development in Goleta should cease. According to the Santa Barbara News Press Guzzardi said, “My vision for this community is to keep it exactly as it is now.” Secord acknowledged that growth in the Goleta area is inevitable but called for an updated plan to address that growth. Wolf called for the county to resist state housing mandates while Williams called for smart growth strategies.

No issues have split Central Coast voters like land use and housing. Due to increasing housing costs it is nearly impossible for lower and middle class workers to own their own home. In fact, in… Read More

Welcome back to real life for yours truly….freak boy…while I’m still gonna helpEmmersonI’m now doingother things…and by now we’ve all had quite enough of the “congrats on the McCarthy gig”….more like condolences I suspect…but I digress. Seriously, he’s pretty smart…it’s just that his ADD rivals mine…so it may be ugly.

Being that I’m semi back to normal (You’ll never be normal Joe) with regard to my work flow…I’m now ready to do the blog thing again. Like an aging rock star on a comeback tour…you pull out the standard hits…and as many of you junkies know I’ve not been shy about the Abramoff things…I definitely did my time in the revolution…and it bums me out that we have to deal with it.

And so does one of… Read More

What a difference two months make. The FlashReport has been around for almost five years now (only recently as a website) — I’ve been publishing consistently since Arnold Schwarzenegger splashed onto the political scene. First with his ballot measure, Proposition 49, where he promoted after school programs, and right on through to his campaign for Governor, his pledge to review and reform the way state government works, his drive to pass reforms in a special election after they were rejected by the legislature, and into this year. If you are a regular reader of the FlashReport, you would have to notice the distinct change in rhetoric lately. Especially since I would routinely get e-mails until two months ago asking why this site was a ‘propaganda machine’ for the Governor. The change in my commentaries about the Governor’s proposals… Read More

What a difference two months make. The FlashReport has been around for almost five years now (only recently as a website) — I’ve been publishing consistently since Arnold Schwarzenegger splashed onto the political scene. First with his ballot measure, Proposition 49, where he promoted after school programs, and right on through to his campaign for Governor, his pledge to review and reform the way state government works, his drive to pass reforms in a special election after they were rejected by the legislature, and into this year. If you are a regular reader of the FlashReport, you would have to notice the distinct change in rhetoric lately. Especially since I would routinely get e-mails until two months ago asking why this site was a ‘propaganda machine’ for the Governor. The change in my commentaries about the Governor’s proposals… Read More

Oakland will elect a new mayor this year as our current mayor, Jerry Brown, seeks to follow Bill Lockyer into the Attorney General’s office.

Brown gave a fairly boring State of the City speech yesterday which focused mostly on the new development in the city.

"There has been in the past six years a tremendous business investment in Oakland," Brown told the City Council. "There has been a tremendous vote of private capital in the future of Oakland."

Its true-there has been more business investment in the city while Brown was governor. In the past,… Read More

The Martin Garrick, Marie Waldron and — perhaps Jerome Stocks —thingy (all close friends of "erstwhile" Chief of Staff Duane Dichiara, according to his post) is getting more interesting by the day. This just in from team Waldron:

Marie Waldron Endorsed by Assemblymembers George Plescia & Mimi Walters Major San Diego County Endorsements Add to List of Key Supporters for Frontrunner (San Diego County, CA) – San Diego County Assemblymembers George Plescia and Mimi Walters have officially endorsed Marie Waldron for State Assembly, in what is a clear signal that the leading candidate to replace Mark Wyland is gaining significant momentum. Read the entire release here.… Read More

You’re reading it here first on the FR Blog:

Enviro elements inside Governor Schwarzenegger’s administration and family — such as State Parks Director Ruth Coleman and State Park and Recreation Commission Bobby Shriver — have been lobbying hard to stop the tollroad.

I’ve learned the Schwarzenegger Administration has now requested that the F/ETCA Board delay tomorrow’s vote by 30 days.

Business, Transportation and Housing Secretary Sunne McPeak and Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman sent a letter to today to F/ETCA Chairman Ken Ryan… Read More

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I visited the San Clemente office of the Transportation Corridor Agencies for an informational briefing and tour of the proposed completion of the 241 tollway in South Orange County.

You can find out more about the Green Alternative — which the EIR identified as the preferred route among the six alternatives — here.

The environmentalists have numerous objections to the Green Alternative, among them:

1) They claim it threatens the arroyo toads, the pocket mouse, and several other plant and animal species.

2) That it touches San Onofre State Beach — a park the state leases from Camp Pendleton.

3) That it wrecks the tranquility of the San Onofre State Park campgrounds.

4) That it will damage San Mateo Creek, which "flows" through the state park.

5) That it even exists.

From the level of rhetoric emanating from the environmentalist camp, you think TCA was paving over Yellowstone Park. So I… Read More