Rabbit Hole

I had coffee with some folks the other day, and it raised some explicit questions that had been bouncing in the back of my mind for a while.

How real are these "Alamo Neighborhoods" and the people purportedly engaged in their secret existence?

All the information I have on them comes from email, and is unverifiable. There's no web presence that has any traceability, and no one has been willing to meet me.

I've asked before for direct contact by anyone involved, and not gotten any actionable response. Let me repeat, I'd like someone involved in the "Alamo Neighborhoods" to contact me personally -- particularly someone in my Livorna "Greater Miranda" neighborhood.

I promise confidentiality until a subpoena arrives, at which point you're on your own.

In specifics, I'd like

(1) to be shown on a map what the proposed boundaries were for the proposal that the "Neighborhoods" were supposedly working on in confidence;

(2) specific examples of California "contracted service municipalities" they propose Alamo use as a model;

(3) an explanation of why a "contracted service municipality" isn't an outcome that could arise from the current effort if that is what the eventually elected council puts before the voters.

Maybe I'd like the other boundaries better than the ones AIM came up with. Maybe I'll understand something about this C-S-M business that has so far eluded me.

There's a chance, though, that this "Neighborhood" thing is something of an elaborate jest.

I remain looking for credible opposition that has something specific it is willing to discuss in public.

Disconnect

For reasons that are as yet opaque, Hal Bailey has severed connections with the "neighborhoods". He'd been passing on comments from the e-chains to the Danville Weekly forums, but that has stopped, and he sent interested parties some email announcing the separation. There's almost certainly a story that has not been told there.

(It seems to have happened after the "Don't believe everything you read" thing happened at DW.)

Lately, "Lisa Wright" (identities being slippery at DW, apparently) has posted at DW that we should fix the county, somehow. There's an "e-campaign" being started to Do Something. A hint: e-anything doesn't do much good by itself, especially when conducted behind a curtain.

Given a fraction of the votes that put Mary N. Piepho in office, I'm not sure I see any way ofor Alamo residents to do anything about the County. Maybe if someone wants to pour a boatload of money into the politics some way, but not by votes alone.

The Application

Over the weekend, we came upon complaints that the application as filed hadn't been seen.

Thinking this was easy to resolve, this morning I asked for and received a FAXed copy from LAFCO, but haven't had time to scan and post it myself.


This afternoon, I got email saying the application is now on the AIM website, along with a step-by-step of the process. That saves me the trouble of the scan and post, so, "Thanks!"

Haven't had time to read it yet. It will probably answer some questions, and raise others.

Media notice of "Silence" complaint

The Danville Weekly ran a story about the "silence" complaints made against AIM, with quotes from Kenber/AIM, and "no comments" from some of the vocal complainers.

The comments to the story say Kenber was self-serving, and that AIM is a "sick failure".

Well, of course he was self serving. He's a partisan, and it's to be expected. Duh.

At least, I think I understand what he is advocating, with many details not-painted because it's not possible to do that until later.

I don't understand at all what the "neighborhoods" are advocating, though they seem convinced AIM is wrong.