Carl Morehouse Endorses Das Williams

Ventura City Councilman Carl Morehouse Endorses Das Williams for Assembly

( Carl Morehouse image courtesy of vchome.org )

SANTA BARBARA, CA – Santa Barbara City Councilmember Das Williams reports today that Ventura City Councilmember Carl Morehouse has endorsed his campaign for 35th Assembly District in 2010.

"Ventura needs an Assemblymember who understands local government concerns and local issues,” said Ventura City Councilmember Carl Morehouse. “I have known Das for some time and know that he knows what it’s like to be a local elected official from serving on the Santa Barbara City Council.”

Morehouse added that “Das is energetic and passionate about the issues he pursues. As a result of my endorsement I will be holding him accountable to maintain strong working relationships with all of the cities in this district and being responsive to our concerns. With that commitment, I am proud to support Das Williams for the State Assembly and am confident he will be an outstanding champion for Ventura in Sacramento."

Other Ventura leaders endorsing Das Williams’ candidacy include: Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett, former Ventura County Supervisor Susan Lacey, Ventura City Councilmember Brian Brennan, Ventura County School Board Member M.L. Peterson, Ventura Community College District Trustee Arturo Hernandez, Ventura Community College District Trustee Stephen Blum, Vice President of the Ventura Unified School District Debbie Golden, Ventura Unified School District Trustee Barbara J. Fitzgerald, Ventura Planning Commissioner Dan Long, and Richard Francis of Save Open-Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR).

“Councilmember Morehouse has been a community leader in Ventura for years and I am honored by his support of my campaign,” said Das Williams. “Carl shares my principles and passion for promoting sustainable development, smart growth and land use policies, affordable housing, transparency in government, and fair and balanced budgets.”

“Californians are continuing to suffer from Sacramento’s bad decisions and I look forward to joining the State Assembly and continuing my work with Carl and other Ventura County leaders to advocate for what’s right for this district and state,” added Williams.

Labels: 35th-Assembly-District, california-assembly, endorsements, Ventura

Anti-Walmart in Ventura

[ From: "Anti-Wal-Mart groups vow continued scrutiny of retailer's Ventura plans," TradingMarkets.com, November 05, 2009, quoting from the Ventura County Star, November 4. ]

Supporters of a failed ballot measure created to keep Wal-Mart out of Ventura vowed today to continue scrutinizing the retailer's plans to take over the closed Kmart store on Victoria Avenue.

About 55 percent of voters rejected Measure C in Tuesday's election, while 45 percent supported it. The measure would have barred any new store citywide larger than 90,000 square feet that uses more than 3 percent of its sales floor area to sell groceries.

Although the measure did not mention Wal-Mart by name, proponents were among those who spearheaded the Stop Wal-Mart Ventura Coalition after the retail giant proposed replacing the closed Kmart with a 150,000-square-foot store. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has submitted revised plans calling for a 98,000-square-foot store, with a new entrance and facade, a garden center and realigned parking. The stores complies with city rules that restrict stores along the busy Victoria corridor to no more than 100,000 square feet, according to city planners.

"We will continue to work to make sure Wal-Mart has to adhere to the city's codes," said Das Williams, a spokesman for Livable Ventura, a citizens group that is part of the Stop Wal-Mart Ventura Coalition. A store boycott also has been discussed, he said.

Wal-Mart's plans also show an additional loading dock would be constructed behind an adjacent, vacant commercial building. The building, which Wal-Mart controls, likely would be leased out, according to a company spokesman.

The plans still need approval from the city's Design Review Committee. City planners have recommended Wal-Mart and the committee meet again in an informal public hearing to iron out details -- an invitation Wal-Mart is still considering, officials said.

The store would be Wal-Mart's third in Ventura County, joining ones in Simi Valley and Oxnard. Wal-Mart also has a Sam's Club in Oxnard.

Labels: Ventura, Wal-Mart, Walmart

Please Vote Today

Dear Friends,

Election day is here. Today, voters in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Oxnard will elect new city representatives and vote on several important measures. This is a critical election, so please go vote today. Below are my election recommendations and some important polling place information and ballot drop off instructions.

Oxnard

Yes on Measure E

Measure E will help protect Oxnard schools from budget cuts that have threatened vital education programs by maintaining key math and science programs, keeping school libraries open, maintaining preschool programs and keeping qualified teachers on the job.

Santa Barbara

Mayor and City Council

I'm supporting Helene Schneider for Mayor and Grant House, Dianne Channing and Bendy White for City Council. These individuals are also the choice of the Democratic Party and the City Firefighters.

No on Measure B

The Democratic Party and I are also recommending a "No" vote on Measure B, the Building Heights Initiative. Measure B could hurt our ability to provide middle-income housing in downtown and undermine efforts at planning for long term sustainability.

Santa Barbara Voting Information

Santa Barbara is conducting it's first all vote-by-mail election. If you still have your ballot you must drop it off at one of the locations below. If you lost your ballot you can also get a new one at these locations. The drop-off locations are open from 7AM to 8PM. If you have any questions call the City Clerk at 805-564-5309.

Braille Institute
Auditorium, 2031 De La Vina Street

Cleveland School
Multi Purpose Room, 123 Alameda Padre Serra

Grace Lutheran Church
Fellowship Hall, 3869 State Street

Holy Cross Church
Parish Hall, 1740 Cliff Drive

Pilgrim Terrace
Activity Center, 649 Pilgrim Terrace Drive

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Fleischmann Auditorium, 2559 Puesta Del Sol

City Clerk's Office
City Hall, 735 Anacapa Street

Ventura

Ventura City Council

I am supporting Brian Brennan and Ed Summers for Ventura City Council. Both are great choices for Ventura and will work hard to revitalize the economy while protecting the environment.

Yes on Measure A

Measure A is a half cent local sales tax that will help protect city services like the Wright Library, roads, parks and emergency services from cutbacks threatened by state raids on the Ventura city budget.

Yes on Measure C

Measure C will prevent big box stores -- like Wal-Mart -- from expanding, including preventing the already-giant Wal-Mart on Victoria Avenue from turning into a behemoth Wal-Mart. The measure protects good paying local jobs, Ventura's small businesses, and the character of the area.

Labels: elections, Santa Barbara, Ventura

Ventura's Measure C

Future of supercenters in Ventura contingent on Measure C

By Paul Sisolak 10/22/2009

The old, empty Kmart on Victoria Avenue is shuttered and desolate, with hardly any signs of life on its side of the large shopping plaza; yet the space formerly inhabited by the retailer is getting plenty of attention from both sides of the political spectrum.

The fight over Measure C, the contentious ballot initiative some say could forever define Ventura’s business climate, will end on Election Day, when voters decide if “big box” superstores should be allowed in the city.

A yes vote for Measure C means supporting adoption of an ordinance that would prohibit any retail business larger than 90,000 square feet that devotes more than three percent of its sales floor to groceries and non-taxable items. Wholesale clubs are exempt.

The measure’s supporters don’t want supercenters anywhere in Ventura because they feel such stores breed crime, traffic, and do more to stifle the local economy by domineering small businesses and competing grocers.

But where Measure C’s ballot language doesn’t directly address Wal-Mart as its culprit, proponents use the corporation as valid reasoning behind their determined “Stop Wal-Mart” campaign, started when Wal-Mart leased out the vacant Kmart and announced plans to make its new home there.

“We didn’t just do this as an emotional response. We researched what Wal-Mart does to communities. It’s not good for our(s),” says Das Williams, a legislative analyst for CAUSE, and a key member of Livable Ventura.

The latter group is chaired by Nan Waltman, who decries Wal-Mart mostly for its perceived poor business model and reputation for treating employees badly.

“It’s not a level playing field with Wal-Mart,” she said.

On the Measure C playing field, the fight boils down to tangible numbers: the square footage that constitutes a big box supercenter.

Wal-Mart’s most recent application to the city’s design review committee, for a re-use of the former Kmart, requests a storefront maxed out at 98,000 square feet. That measurement still falls within the guidelines of the city’s Victoria Corridor Plan, which currently prohibits any retailer from exceeding 100,000 square feet in space.

It’s precisely why Alison Carlson, one vocal opponent to Measure C, calls the initiative “irrelevant” because supercenters are already barred by city law from setting up shop on Victoria Avenue to begin with.

“In no case would that Wal-Mart be applicable to Measure C,” she says.

Regardless, Waltman’s support of Measure C is precautionary. Without a ban on supercenters, she says, city codes like the Victoria Corridor Plan could be left open to change simply from a Ventura City Council quorum, allowing for stores to grow to supercenter size and beyond.

“This is a decision of the voters that the council cannot tamper with,” Waltman said.

Measure C, she notes, would also protect other grocery chains like Vons, Ralphs or Trader Joe’s — each of which are located on Victoria within a mile of the proposed Wal-Mart — from losing both business and employees.

Along with Carlson, opponents, who include three city council members, maintain that a standard-sized Wal-Mart can and will move to Victoria Avenue, regardless of Measure C, on terms of its lease. Those council members — Mayor Christy Weir, Neal Andrews and Carl Morehouse — also believe in giving consumers the right to shop where they choose.

But both Waltman and Williams say that they are worried about Wal-Mart moving in and slowly building out, piece by piece, until it can fulfill what the opponents allege to be Wal-Mart’s supercenter size.

“If C passes, they’re truly stuck at 90,000 square feet if they want groceries, and we’ve never seen a Wal-Mart do that,” Waltman said.

According to Mayor Weir, since Measure C is a citywide initiative, other large Ventura retailers, such as both Target stores, would be obligated to follow its rules. This could hurt business at the 142,868-square-foot Main Street Target, and the Pacific View Mall’s Target, which carries groceries and measures at nearly 205,000 square feet.

“They’re fine as long as they don’t change a thing,” Weir said.

To see the effects on business competition, traffic and crime Wal-Mart plays in the community, one need look no further than Oxnard, where a Wal-Mart has operated on Rose Avenue since 1992.

The Wal-Mart, according to Curtis Cannon, Oxnard’s community development director, now totals 174,227 square feet, having just completed a 27,000-square-foot renovation. Neighboring a VONS and a wholesale Sam’s Club in the same plaza, none of the stores, said Cannon, has ever entered into a “non-competition” business agreement with the other.

The Oxnard Police Department receives about one call a day from the Oxnard Wal-Mart, says David Keith, the department’s public information officer. The most common calls, he said, are for shoplifting, followed by parking lot fender benders or other incidents occurring in the vicinity of the plaza.

Whether Measure C welcomes a supercenter, a scaled-down Wal-Mart, or drives away the retailer altogether is yet to be seen until after Election Day. Williams, of CAUSE, is firm in believing that Ventura could do better in seeking out a better retailer.

“Ventura’s problem in land use is they don’t realize its value,” he said. “We should not be too desperate and take the first suitor to come along, so to speak.”

paul@vcreporter.com

Labels: Ventura, Wal-Mart

Appreciations

Dear Friends,

I would like to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to everyone who helped make our event in Ventura last Saturday a success. It was great to see some old friends and supporters as well as meet so many new folks from Ventura. I believe that one of the most important things I can do in this campaign is reach out to folks face-to-face. Listening and learning more about people's concerns and priorities and sharing my vision for winning real solutions to our greatest challenges is what will help make this campaign a success.

I know that positive change and real progress will only be achieved by working together. That is why I am truly honored and inspired by everyone who has helped to build this campaign with their ideas, hard work, encouragement and support. I would like to give a special thanks to George Roberts and Jan Standing-Roberts for opening up their home for this event; Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, Debbie Golden, Vice President of the Ventura Unified School District Board of Education; Former Ventura County Supervisor Susan Lacey; Ed Lacey; Nan Waltman, and the Sheet Metal Workers.

If you missed the event there will be many more opportunities in the months to come. I encourage you to stay in touch with me on Facebook, my blog or by email at das.williams2010@gmail.com as the campaign progresses. Thanks again and I look foward to working together to get California back on track.

-- Das

Labels: 35th Assembly District, Ventura

Current News

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Carl Morehouse Endorses Das Williams

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Anti-Walmart in Ventura

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Please Vote Today

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Ventura's Measure C

Future of supercenters in Ventura contingent on Measure C

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Appreciations