This version of Salzman's Alliance for Ethical Business is once again positioning to affect local politics, with no accountability for their agenda. Once again they assume the respectability mantle and pretend to be just a member of the flock.
Virginia Graziani is one of Salzman's Orks - a vocal particiapnt in AEB, this bears further scrutiny. No word on whether the phony "Pacific Crest Research" is involved on this one.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 17, 2007
CONTACT: Virginia Graziani (923-1205)
Jim Lamport (923-4372)
Bill Thorington (496-4703)
or Dennis Huber (923-3292 / 498-4613)
SECOND DISTRICT GROUP POLLS NEIGHBORS
FORTUNA - An ad-hoc group of citizens from across the Second
Supervisorial District announced the results of a poll they conducted
over the last several months. The group formed out of concern that
issues of importance are not being adequately represented in County
government. "We question whether Supervisor Rodoni has really been
addressing the issues of the Second District in a way that reflects
majority opinion," said Virginia Graziani, a resident of Redway and one
of the group's spokespeople. "So we conducted a scientific survey to
learn what issues our neighbors think are important and what they think
our elected representatives should be doing."
The questions covered a wide range of topics of interest to the Second
District that included the General Plan, railroad issues, timber and
water questions as well as Fortuna's growth and development. "We were
surprised to see how much agreement there was amongst all the folks we
talked to," said Jim Lamport of Blocksburg. "That wasn't something we
expected."
Regarding the Humboldt County General Plan Update, the group found that
49% of Second District residents support Plan A, which provides for "the
least amount of commercial development in new areas." 35% of respondents
favored Plan B (the "middle-of the-road" approach). Plan C (the most
developer-friendly proposal) received only 12% support. In addition, a
whopping 71% of respondents feel that it is important that Fortuna
maintain its "small town feel."
"People frequently talk about how divided Humboldt County is and use the
Second District to illustrate the case. We found that folks in Fortuna
have a lot in common and share the same values as folks from Redway or
Garberville," said Bill Thorington of Fortuna. "Most of the people
consider themselves politically moderate - 39%. These truly are just
regular folks who represent the average voter in the Second District."
The group also found that 67% of voters think the Supervisors should
play an active role to stop the Eel River diversion to the Russian
River. Only 4% think the diversion should continue with no change.
70% of Second District voters believe that the Board of Supervisors
should "play a leadership role in developing sustainable energy policies
and practices," and 50% would support "Humboldt County Supervisors
spending public money to prepare for the possible impacts of global
climate change."
The question of rebuilding the railroad has made news recently, so the
group included questions about that as well. The results on this topic
showed no strong agreement, with 46% in support of rebuilding the
railroad to the Bay Area, 48% opposed and 5% with no opinion. However,
when asked if they would still support the railroad if it did not carry
passengers (freight only), 57% of respondents said they would not be
supportive.
The poll also asked about confidence in the timber industry's ability to
provide jobs, both now and in the past. Only 7% of the respondents feel
confident in the timber industry's ability to provide jobs today,
compared to 64% that felt confident just 20 years ago.
Voters are also concerned that large corporations have too much
influence in politics in Humboldt County. 44% of the respondents are
"very concerned," 25% are "somewhat concerned" and only 21% are "not
concerned at all."
The group worked with Local Solutions, a county-wide grassroots
political action committee. Local Solutions assisted the group by
facilitating the process and helping to write and administer the poll to
achieve a statically accurate sample. "We were pleased to lend a hand to
this effort," said Dennis Huber, a spokesperson for Local Solutions and
a Second District resident himself. "The group conducted this poll by
talking to a random sample of the registered voters in the Second
District. We used rigorous social research methodology and we have great
confidence in the results. I was especially impressed with the group's
energy and commitment. It isn't often that you see ordinary citizens
dedicate so much of their time to an all-volunteer effort to see what
their neighbors think."
"We're haven't decided what happens next," said Graziani. "We started
this process to get a discussion going amongst our neighbors. We want to
publicize the results to further the conversation. We hope our
representatives listen up. As far as we know, we're the only folks in
the Second District who are really asking how folks feel about the
issues. Our elected leaders owe us and our fellow voters the courtesy to
respond to our findings and show some leadership," she said.
To see the poll responses, along with the wording of questions the group
asked and the methodology for the process, go to
www.2ndDistrictPoll.blogspot.com.
###
No comments:
Post a Comment