I am voting for Sharon Barovsky and Andy Stern in this election. I know them well and have supported them and the other three council members in the past. My support is for reasons beyond friendship. Sharon and Andy meet my qualifications for proven integrity, vision and ability to produce, as do the other council members. I hear a lot of chatter about new blood. As long as this present group continues to perform so brilliantly, why change?
I also look for honesty in candidates. There has been a tendency on the part of some to suggest that this council wanted a shopping center on the Chili Cook-Off. This Council and its members have always been for a city-owned Chili Cook-Off. The first attempt to procure the parkland was Measure M, and it lost.
Instead of giving up, this council and staff fought hard to get another buying agreement, limited in time and precise in cost from the owner. Thus began for Sharon and one other council member, a never-ending journey between here and Sacramento to make requests of government and other agencies for grants. And here at home, a local campaign for citizen support was begun. The agencies didn’t refuse us at the last minute. They instead thought they should have control over how the park was run. We didn’t. And the big surprise was that the council and staff had created a Plan B of local support and loans to meet just such a contingency.
Legacy Park is a people’s park. It is a gift to the creek and Surfrider Beach in clean water as well as a gift to our future citizens. That was evidence of planning and a never give up attitude that won the day. According to Arnold York in a recent editorial, this council has been an outstanding council, perhaps the best we have ever had. I agree. That is why I will cast my vote for Sharon Barovsky and Andy Stern
Georgianna McBurney