Letter: Vice mayor’s talking points about water usage are smoke and mirrors

EDITOR:
I don’t know Dene Bustichi, but I was more than a bit put off by the nasty tone of his response (“Scotts Valley developments aiding water conservation efforts,” March 7, page 6) to San Lorenzo Valley Water District Director Randall Brown’s letter in the February 28 Press-Banner.
In his letter Brown, the author of a history of efforts to secure safe, reliable supplies of water for the San Lorenzo Valley, expressed concern that “as we anticipate a drought of record proportion, it is impossible not to feel concerned over new demands on our already stressed water supply,” alluding to several large ongoing and projected residential and commercial developments in Scotts Valley. Noting that “faced with similar shortages in the 1970s following an unrestrained housing boom in the ’60s, our district provided a measure of relief to existing consumers by imposing a moratorium on new hook-ups” he then suggested that “perhaps it would be wise for the Scotts Valley Water District to consider enacting a similar measure.”
Bustichi responded to Brown’s suggestion by impugning his character and then continues with a list of carefully selected talking points (“facts”) designed to cast himself and his associates in the most flattering possible light before concluding with a final, rather defensive sideswipe at “Bad Neighbor With a Bad Attitude” Brown: “The Scotts Valley Water District is focused on water and its customers, not new building, double digit rate increases or pointing fingers at others for their problems.”
I’m fairly new to the area, having moved here from the East Bay just four and a half years ago. But I’ve been on the planet plenty long enough to have no trouble distinguishing between someone who knows the difference between real facts and talking points and is trying his best to give it to you straight and a dime store politician who’s doing a remarkably good job of re-enacting the scene in “The Wizard of Oz” where Toto, God bless ’em, pulls aside that curtain to reveal a small man desperately trying to convince everyone that he’s something he’s not.
Seth Knoepler, Felton