Little noticed in the December 1st 2008 City Council meeting, was the final passage of a new ordinance that was initially sold to the City as covering RV’s. People expect that RVs are those oversized houses on wheels. The real issues with the real RVs are some are a blight and were being used as temporary housing for immigrants to the city, and to a much lesser extent the ‘esthetics’ battles between those in our city who do not like their neighbors choices. The City Council did not keep the ordinance focused on those things.

In the course of making their new ordinance the City redefined the RV and storage to include campers, pick up trucks with camper shells, motorcycles, snow mobiles, PARTS of the aforementioned whether visible or not and even my personal favorite display of government lack of common sense they specifically named in their RV ordinance: airplanes. In addition to going into what you own and have in your back yard (including what cannot be seen from the sidewalk), they have gone way over board detailing not only what you can park in your own driveway, but even what side of the driveway you can park on. And just in case you were worried that they were taking away a lot of your property rights, they have graciously allowed you to register to have one of the items; BUT you have to pay them 80 dollars for the ‘recording’ of the rights you had but are now restricted /removed retroactively.

There are many conflicts in the ordinance as stated that can be detailed in the simple structure of this column (*see letter to the City Council) however some of the odder things are:

1. If you have a set of 4 tires for your pick up truck in your back yard that is ok, except as soon as you put a camper shell on your pick up now the tires are RV parts and are illegal,

2. If you have say a 87 Toyota pickup with a camper shell then you cannot park it in your driveway, however if you have a full forward cab F150 or Escalade with a higher profile then that is OK,

3. An RV in your driveway is a safety and health hazard, but one parked on the street in front of your house is not.

4. Even if you have a few things stored in your backyard that no one can see, it is still illegal.

What I especially like is that under the ordinance the real Trojan Horse would be classified as an RV and legal when parked outside your ‘castle’ however when the Trojans pulled it in on wheels into their back yard behind their fence/walls, it would be OK as long as there was only one and there were no other camper equipment around.

The City needs to restructure and rework the ordinance to focus on the problems as perceived to concentrate on:

1. Oversized vehicles say 20′x8′x8′
2. Blighted conditions including occupancy
3. What is visible
4. Time limits on the street parking leaving everything else alone for now.

The question then remains what do we do about this silliness that has been put into our City’s ordinance? Here are some ideas:

1. File an action in State Court to challenge the over reaching of the City into our backyards and driveways, retroactive fees to keep rights that we should not have had taken away, etc/, or

2. As all three Council members who voted for this are coming up for re election in 2010 should this be a major issue in a new team to replace them and over turn the ordinance, or

3. What about the possibility of a protest by a Civil Obedience movement? We know what a Civil Disobedience is, however with 3000 real RVs and an additional 20=40,000 pieces of equipment that can be considered as camper, motorcycles/RV equipment we could flood the city staff with ‘compliance complaints’ to underscore the impossibility of enforcement and the over reaching aspect of it all.

If you have any ideas on how to confront this in an Easy Does It manner let us know.

Edi Birsan
Trying to remember that Easy Does It in Concord can work.

Currently all of you who have shorter (older) drive ways will not be able to comply with the 5′ set back from the sidewalk and thus would not even be able to get ‘grandfathered’ in.

However you can technically comply with the regulations while at the same time displaying your displeasure with the code until such time as we can get a new City regulations or City Council, by taking an Easy Does It approach to your driveway. As many of the older folks with campers also tend to not use their garages for car parking you could take the approach of parking parallel to the garage instead of facing in. This will give the shorter driveways the 5 foot clearance.

Remember that the new regulations also apply to pick up trucks with campers/shells.
Above see an example of a sized vehicle that does not fit straight in but does by going parallel.

In a recent mailer to Pinole voters, Alegria focused on several “problems” facing the city - all of which have been debunked by the City Council, City Manager Charles Long, and by the Contra Costa Times. For example, her mailer claims cuts to the police budget have eliminated two school safety officers at Pinole Valley High School, when in fact there are not one, but two, School Safety Officers working at the school.

Now, Alegria is walking neighborhoods placing stickers on her mailers touting her selection as a Barack Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention this Summer. Of course, she’s not telling voters how she and her buddy, Richmond Councilman Harpreet Sandhu, railroaded the delegate-selection process by bringing in busloads of Sikh voters from Sandhu’s El Sobrante temple- some of whom were not even registered voters or registered in Maria’s congressional district - to vote for her and Sandhu as delegates.

The Obama people - many of whom had spent an entire year canvassing the district while Alegria spent most of her time working for Hillary Clinton - were livid, but there was nothing that could be done once the delegate votes were cast.

But this is what you get from Auntie Maria. So please Vote No on Auntie Maria

In just the first 18 days of October her campaign has exceeded the spending totals of all of the other candidates and PACs combined; $14,479.90 to $13,883.85. Plus, in less than 3 weeks, Alegria exceeded the voluntary spending limit everyone but her signed. Worse, Alegria may be in violation of the Pinole’s new campaign finance ordinance for contributions. Documents show Alegria gave herself a contribution that exceeded the $500 maximum per person that’s mandated in the new ordinance. Alegria has funded her campaign to the tune of $5,600. And, her campaign committee gave her more than the limit of $1,000 per committee. Dial tone buzz, number calling…Hello? FPPC?

This is Contra Costa politics at its finest; for while citizens of Pinole, successfully removed Maria Alegria, and other incompetent (per West County Times) council members in June (one ran off to join the army after recall papers were
filed), this election will see labor and other special interests redouble their efforts to take back the city from voters. Mark your calendar!

“The Mayor wants over 100 feet tall office buildings that are 8 stories in height. He and the City Council want to increase the traffic congestion in the intersections of Bolliger Canyon Rd. and Alcosta Blvd., Bollinger Canyon Road and Camino Ramon, and the on ramps and off ramps to Highway 680.”

The Trib also contends that, “Wilson and the City Council want to give away approximately 15 to 20 acres of city property in exchange for a small 3.5 acre parcel that is too small to house the City Hall, Police Department, Library, and Transit Center. The Mayor wants to increase the traffic hazards for people crossing Bollinger Canyon Rd. at the Iron Horse Trail. The City Council thinks this is the best thing since apple pie. Their taste buds are salivating so much that they refuse to even consider what the ultimate cost of a Downtown Center is going to cost the citizens of San Ramon.”