Mato-
I agree that all parties need to be made a part of the decision-making process. But as we diversify our process, we need to accommodate without becoming dominated by a faction.
Deep pocketed developers want to plant more lawns in suburbia. And monoculture control of agribusiness is driving the planting of more almonds and grapes, threatening bee populations.
They want water, we own the spigot. Seems like a bargaining chip there that could help open dialogue around sustainability issues if there were an appropriate forum. What is more sustainable than assuring a stable water supply and efficient use?
At the time Moran was calling for some type of common watershed authority, I was thinking that sounded alright, and maybe a good way to organize at the grassroots.
But agribusiness and developers are the big gorilla in most of the watershed's area, and their big money and media access capabilities would need to be countered. This could only be done by sheer numbers of activists going to regional watershed meetings, setting up accountable and democratic processes and running as commissioners.
I had wanted to give this more organizing priority as a model for bioregional organizing. But in 1999, I took over as Co-Coordinator of the Green Party of California Energy (soon to become Green Issues) Working Group, and I never followed through and the SFPUC and SF government acted relatively quickly to fund HH upgrades and keep SF the sole proprietor.
Then 911 happened....
Don
--- On Sun, 6/14/09, Martin Zehr <m_zehr(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
> From: Martin Zehr <m_zehr(a)hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [SustainActive] [SFGP-A] SFPUC Appointee Anson Moran On Water/Environment
> To: "Eric Brooks" <brookse32(a)aim.com>, "SF Active Greens" <active(a)sfgreens.org>, sustainactive(a)sfgreens.org
> Date: Sunday, June 14, 2009, 3:23 PM
>
> Eric,
>
>
>
> help me out here. How is the City of San Francisco making
> the decisions on Hetch-Hetchy water NOT a corrupt set-up?
> Why is failing to represent agricultural users in the region
> NOT a corrupt set-up? How does bio-regionalism exclude
> diverse users, including agricultural users and those
> with water rights from engaging in the decision-making
> process?
>
>
>
> Mato SKa
>
