[Update: not added to their speak out page yet. I'll be surprised if/when it does show up.]
It is sad if these are the best arguments that can be made in opposition.
The main page here is discussed at:
alamounincorporated.blogspot.com
Unfortunately the comments here don't allow links. It must be dangerous to allow uncontrolled access to outside information.
To summarize:
Reasons to incorporate include (a) local control of planning decisions; (b) disconnection from county finances.
Who is writing the check for the reconsideration? Why is the identity being hidden? If the conspiracy theories are valid for the proponents, can't they be true for opponents as well? Maybe anti-incorporation sentiment is being whipped up by developers who want free hands they are less likely to have with an incorporated city.
LAFCO properly heard all of the concerns that were raised here in bullet points before the vote was taken. They are in the LAFCO record of the meeting. The sinking state of the economy was known and raised; the claims about the petition were known; the fact of donation funding of the CFA was known. This is disinformation and smoke.
Planning estimates are estimates. If we think the economy is problematic, it is going to be problematic for the county as well as a city of Alamo. Should the county go bankrupt, is Alamo better off incorporated, or part of the county?
How is Alamo's $3.4M after ten years going to bail the county out of anything? It is a trivial amount.
I have heard very few, if any, arguments against incorporation that aren't fear-mongering.
Face it, folks, when the owners of Hay and Gray and the Shoe Repair fold shop, something else is going to go there. Do we want Martinez to decide what it is going to be, or us? At the last opportunity for such a change, we got an ugly strip mall.
Bring it to a vote, bring the real arguments, and decide.
-dB
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