Letters & Shout-outs

Letter: Lexington Hotel will be unnecessary drain on SV water
Editor,
What in the world is the Scotts Valley City Council thinking when they okay a 128-room hotel on Scotts Valley Drive as reported by the Press Banner on Sept. 22?
How many gallons of water will be drained from our already overstressed aquifers to build an unneeded hotel on our main thoroughfare?
The Santa Cruz Sentinel on Sept. 22 said; “…forecasters say severe drought or worse will continue into next year across much of the West, including parts of western Utah, most of Nevada and practically all of California.”
Apparently, the early predictions of an El Nino year were terribly off base. Can the commuters gaze at Lexington Reservoir and not realize this is critical?
Can’t the dry shores of Loch Lomond or the brown hills of the Glenwood pasture get a message across?
Where will the blame be when you turn on a faucet and there is no water?
We don’t want a city; we want a town — hopefully with enough water for all.
The Scotts Valley City Council needs to understand this.
Julie Suhr,
Scotts Valley
Letter: Don’t let Safeway determine who can do business in Scotts Valley
Editor,
Safeway must not be allowed to keep its old location empty to prevent competition.
This will be an eyesore and cripple the businesses around it.
A wonderful business to fill that building would be New Leaf. They are great for the economy and would look good in Scotts Valley’s chamber of commerce, as they are a leader in green and renewable energy (Safeway is not).
Please do not let Safeway ruin lives and businesses around its old location when it moves. Thank you.
Paul Kele,
Scotts Valley
Letter: Lompico residents need to read details of water merger before voting
Editor,
Lompico citizens will have the opportunity to vote “yes” or “no” on the Lompico/San Lorenzo Valley water district merger when the county holds the election in early 2015. 
Under California state law, any new property taxes — such as the proposed Lompico water bond must be approved by two-thirds of the affected voters.
The merger agreement stipulates that the merger is contingent on the passage of the bond measure.
If the bond does not pass, there will be no merger. 
I urge all Lompicans to read the cost comparisons and details of the proposed merger on either SLVWD (www.slvwd.com), LAFCO (santacruzlafco.org) or the Lompico citizens advisory committee’s website at TinyUrl.com/Lompico rather than be misinformed by anonymous blogs and web sites.
Anyone who feels they were misled into signing a protest of the merger, may withdraw their protest before the Oct. 6 LAFCO hearing. 
Pete Norton,
Lompico
Letter: Schneider, Schaller right choices to move merger forward
Editor,
In the course of their participation in the Citizens Advisory Committee, (www.TinyURL.com/Lompico), their attendance at board meetings, their thorough compilation of data, facts, and the testimony and answers of experts, John Schneider and Merrie Schaller have come to realize that finalizing a merger of Lompico County Water District and San Lorenzo Valley Water District is the most affordable, secure, sustainable, and environmentally friendly option available to LCWD customers.
Moreover, John and Merrie are reasonable, responsible, and professional.
With your vote, they can continue the process of merging. YessforLompico.com.
I look forward to a consolidated water district which can provide clean, affordable and sufficient water — now and into the future.
Natalie Steinberg,
Felton
Letter: SLVWD ‘reform candidates’ are the real deal not the ‘slate’
Editor,
Heard about the “Slate”, Incumbent Larry Prather, Eric Hammer, and Gene Ratcliffe? Ms. Ratcliffe is newly moved here from Southern California, as a former appointed planning commissioner has no direct water district operations experience that I could find.
Recently, she stated that she’s “learning” about SLVWD operations and issues. Will she make critical decisions while “learning” her job, now beholden to incumbent Larry Prather as a member of Larry’s “slate”?
Another “slate” candidate is Eric Hammer — noticeably absent from SLVWD Board meetings for 5 years.
Mr. Hammer declined supporting “Stop Rate Hike/Stop the $9,300,000 Campus” rebellion last year, where 38 percent of ratepayers voted against outrageous hikes, (“slate” co­candidate incumbent Mr. Prather led the assault against ratepayers).
Mr. Hammer has no experience in SLVWD water operations, long-term rate fee impacts on ratepayers, but a “slate” member will follow continued mismanagement directives of incumbent Larry Prather as well.
Mr. Hammer last year ran for District County Supervisor and now what? He wants to play at being a SLVWD Board of Director? What is his real agenda? Is it to use his water seat as a stepping stone to higher office, while learning on the job at ratepayers’ expense?
Larry Prather’s continuously mismanaged the District, was recently charged with all SLVWD board members officially by a Santa Cruz County Grand Jury investigation. Quoting Mr. Prather: “We shall continue to raise water rates, no matter what the public wishes, we need to raise rates”.
Mr. Prather dug his heels in for his 16,000 s.f. new SLVWD campus for 24 employees, called “Prather’s Palace,” burdening 7,400 SLVWD ratepayers with the potential of holding $9.3 million in long-term debt.
He’s engaged in foggy budgets, and squandering ratepayer funds on unnecessary projects, including agreeing to buy overpriced real estate investments, while focusing on his pet projects without focusing on repairing our antiquated SLVWD water infrastructure’s leaking tanks and pipes.
After 16 years on the SLVWD board, Mr. Prather needs to retire.
Please vote wisely and really consider voting for “reform candidates” — Bob Fultz, Karen Brown and Chuck Baughman.
They’ll show positive results for SLVWD, will provide affordable water, efficiently stored and delivered, through well-maintained waterlines pumps and storage tanks while protecting our valuable watersheds.
The “reform candidates” are competent, caring, local leaders, who will keep in touch with our community by being open and transparent, ushering in a new era of a properly managed SLVWD, while being sensitive to the needs of SLVWD ratepayers, while promoting practices and policies that preserve SLVWD’s unique watersheds long-term for everyone’s healthy living.
Check out websites of the reform candidates and see for yourself — www.bobfultz.com
www.Votekarenbrownslvwater.com www.chuck4slvwd.com.
Mark D. Lee,
Ben Lomond
Letter: Lompico customers better served by keeping water in local control
Editor,
In the Sept.12 editorial section, my fellow director felt the need to point out why I was censured by three board directors during my tenure in office.
I will simply respond as one of two directors who support a local water district run by the Lompico community.
My position is always in conflict with the three board directors who have been pushing strongly for merger without regards to what would happen if we remained in local control.
Since 2010, when the idea of merger was first proposed by SLVWD, a number of untruths have circulated amongst the community. The foremost, which is “Lompico does not have enough water” is simply untrue.
For example, in August — a drought month — LCWD produced 1,558,450 gallons of water, with two wells being offline for a total of 14 days with no water used from the Lompico creek.
During this same period, LCWD water demand was about 1,140,720 gallons of water — or an average of 78.5 gallons per household.
Also, it should be noted that a 6″ interconnection is already in operation with SLVWD, a lack of water is no longer the problem it once was, thanks to both SLVWD and the State of California.
Another untruth is the cost of the merger. If the community decides to merge, the total cost is calculated to be $7,786,800 for the bond on 2.75 million dollars, $378,000 for the SLVWD surcharge, and $106,120 for the remaining balance for the CALPERS loan we borrowed from SLVWD.
The total cost is $8,270,920.
If we decided to stay local, I have estimated costs to be $1,172,839 — a difference of $7,098,081!
I have sent a copy of my estimate for keeping the water district within the Lompico community to the local newspapers to investigate the figures and have also posted all documents and quote costs for both the public and the Lompico community to examine for themselves at www.real-water.info.
Democracy requires an educated voter to decide for themselves. I encourage everyone to examine the facts and ignore the hype.
Sherwin Gott,
Lompico