POLITICAL PLAY of the WEEK: Hotchkiss Keeps On Giving; Williams Keeps on Biting
The Play this week is our local equivalent of Senator Larry Craig, the national political gift that keeps on giving to more Democrats winning next year in Congress. This Play seems to be the second chapter in the Hotchkiss Chutzpah series for the Santa Barbara City Council election.
Frank Frank is continuing his theme that global warming is good and that the more dependent we are upon oil imports, the better.
“Oil is the lifeblood of modern society,” Hotchkiss said to Santa Barbara Daily Sound. “What's next? Fossil-free fire engines and police cars?” Perhaps not the engines, but for the fire stations themselves, the answer this week is yes in this news video.
By being against well-designed downtown parks and for oil consumption, last Wednesday in the Santa Barbara daily newspaper and in the News-Press, Hotchkiss spun his way to getting front-page stories and photos about him and his dubious friends. One photo even revealed that he has patriotic lawn signs, so he must have read this Citizen Stringer Play from last week.
However, Hotchkiss got spanked hard in comments in both newspapers (the real one and the pretend one) by his election rival Council incumbent Helene Schneider, who reminded all that the Redevelopment Agency funds paying for the park could not legally be redirected to pay for police personnel, as Hotchkiss ranted about at length during his event.
This smackdown revealed that Hotchkiss was not aware of RDA involvement in the Granada Garage and perhaps was not even aware of what the world of downtown Redevelopment financing may be. Or, he just did not think anyone would notice.
Still, frank Frank generated a controversy and got his attention through two front page news articles and photos last Wednesday, and perhaps by now has expended 10 of his 15 total minutes of fame. Neither the Independent nor any TV news, though, covered his indignant spat about the downtown park design.
The Political Play of the Week by Frank Hotchkiss is a ball thrown from a distance towards the goal, but whether Schneider slapped it away hard enough will be seen on the reverse angle, not-so-instant replay.
DAS the BITING
As a bonus Play in this political sport, Council incumbent Das Williams keeps biting on the bait dangled by his Republican challenger Dale Francisco. During the City Council meeting deliberation last Tuesday, Williams half-jokingly said to the other Council members that Francisco, in his love for cars everywhere, may want to convert State Street into a multi-lane freeway (look up the video archive, Gentle Readers).
In addition, reports to the Stringer's stringer reveal that Dastardly Das banged away on Francisco during an unrelated allotment of time during the candidates forum sponsored by Samarkand Neighborhood Association last Thursday. As soon as he had the mic, Dale shot back and challenged any incumbent to a “debate” anytime, anywhere.
A true debate would be nice, though, instead of the redundant forumses with repetitive questions about building density and traffic management.
Unless interrogated by an actual news journalist, why would Das even acknowledge Dale on anything? Up through last week, Das has raised nearly four-times the campaign cash than Dale has, and two-thirds of the Dale dollars were his own loan to his own campaign.
Maybe the $8,000 Das Williams spent on a poll has revealed something about the challenger candidates that the Conventional Wisdom is not telling?
And THOSE --a bunch of fumbles bobbling in the air-- are the Political Plays of the Week!!!
posted by Citizen Stringer | 10/05/2007 05:59:00 PM
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14 Comments:
Dkd anyone notice how much the solar system on the roof of the fire station costs and how long it is going to take to make up the cost in energy savings? By the time the damn thing is paid for it is going to be obsolete. Enough with the symbolism.
You are right that is too small a system. Look at the payback and sensitivity analysis of the new solar project at the Corporation Yard. Its like 20 times larger and far more efficient. I'd say that's a better example of what we are trying to do to reduce Greenhous Gas emissions.
As for Dale, you can take the kid off the street, but its a little hard to take the streetfighter out of the kid, eh? I'll try to be nicer.
me thinks citizen stringer is a poor mans nick welch...
Well, on that same note, 7:17am, how many of the things you buy actually pay for themselves?
How long does a car have to be in your possession, for what purpose do you have to use a car, in order for it to 'pay for itself'? A car may get you from one place to another , like to work, but does it actually save you money such that after a time it 'pays for itself'?
Sometimes, in order to save money down the road, or to position ourselves for the future, capital expenditures are required, and the up-front costs can be significant.
If we have the money now, but may not have it in the future, it may be worth it to spend the money now, take it as a one time charge (instead of spreading out the cost over many years), and then the books look better next year and every year after because we are spending less on, say, our electric bill.
If we had to take an economic account of everything, and consider the payoff short and mid range, we might see development as a good thing: a new hotel can bring in tax revenue and higher employment, a new downtown building can create commercial space for more businesses leading to more tax revenue, and so on and so forth. Fortunately, there are more things to consider than the accounting and the economics.
But even in the case of the solar panels, the financial perspective make sense. If the City has more rough times in the next 10-15 years, there could be significant savings from installing more solar panels while we have the money. The point can be to lower the operating costs, and infuse some flexibility into the budget.
Being responsible with money: could be a hint of fiscal conservatism, eh? Either that, or I could be completely wrong. ;)
Das Williams a streetfighter? Don't make me laugh.
Not only is Fossil Fuel Frank in favor of making Santa Barbara more auto friendly, but he is also anti-bicycle if my experience is any indication. I stood next to him just before the Tour of California bike race came through town. Old Fossil Fuel was angry because he could not cross the race course to get to his Porsche, which was apparently parked across the street. He cursed the bike race roundly and repeatedly. Finally, his patience exhausted, Frank crossed the street against the express orders of the course monitors and police. I fear for the future of bike lanes generally and the Tour of California in particular if this man is elected.
NO problem with solar panels here. Just keep them off historic roof tiles and as out of sight as possible. I do not want solar panels on my house.
When Das says: "As for Dale, you can take the kid off the street, but it's a little hard to take the streetfighter out of the kid, eh? I'll try to be nicer." why does that ring so shall we say: "super cocky" to me? 'Pride cometh before the fall,' young man!Didn't you just lose an election? And if money isn't everything why do you keep trying to raise so damn much money for your political hi-jinks? Somebody who gets rained on with pots of money makes me suspicious? What have you promised? Or is it, you just want the girls to like you on the playground. Love your attire and hair cuts though.
I am for NO solar panels on the Casa de la Guerra.
It already has an high quality environmental adobe cooling system.
Sara: Please tell citizen stringer, I am color blind and abhor the massive use of different typography. I love to find an emphasis all by myself. I am a big boy.
Oh please, Das---- still with the "streetfighter" imagery.....some of us were hoping you'd outgrown that tired old excuse for your bad behavior...
Das is done. He gets four more years and has no - absolutely no chance to win any other office.
Das will peek at 30.
On the others Helene was such a promise and now - she is a Das clone.
Me I am waiting for the 2009 Mayor's race and ready to rally women for Iya.
Hey Das,
I was gonna ask the other bloggers here for details, but since you are blogging here I can ask you directly.
What is your current stand on densities? I am a second district voter. There was alot of controversy about where you stood on densities and population caps back in the supervisor race. Would you clarify?
Can you let us know where you stand with this issue as it pertains to the city? There has been alot of building up and tighter in SB with your current city council. Do you see that as a mistake or as progress?
How would you propose to treat Noleta in the future if it were annexed by the city? Would you recognize it's current visioning?
Are you in favor of having a cap on population for Santa Barbara and its neighboring areas?
Please give details and examples. Many can't attend the hosted event-style forums. Blogabarbara is one way to have dialogue with the voters. You can't be misquoted here! Please take time to answer. Please give details. Thank you.
(and thank you Sara for the online forum)
Note for Dale Francisco and supporters, maybe he should pay more attention to his mailing lists instead of reaching out for as much cash as he can. He has solicited a contribution from at least one developer! ha ha ha
Frank Frank is continuing his theme that global warming is good and that the more dependent we are upon oil imports, the better.
“Oil is the lifeblood of modern society,” Hotchkiss said to Santa Barbara Daily Sound. “What's next? Fossil-free fire engines and police cars?”
Sara, did Frank actually say that global warming is good and the more dependent we are on oil imports the better? Or are those your words? This sounds like a bit of a twist. I think maybe Frank is trying to see the world as it is. These are facts. It is absolutely true that until something changes, Oil is in fact the lifeblood of our society. Are you twisting this to make it appear that Frank thinks oil is the best solution? I think he is simply being a realist. In a few years maybe he will be saying bio-fuel is the life blood of our society, if it is true. (as if deforestation and replacement of food crops were somehow better for the world). What is the problem with stating the truth these days? At least he sees the world as it is instead of some fantasy about how it should be. I think we could use a realist on the council.
I dunno -- CS wrote this post....and CS is good about checking the facts.
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