Russ Steele
I received this Press Release from Save Our Future, an emerging organization opposed to the no-growth Initiative in Grass Valley.
Please join us tomorrow night at 6:45 PM to show our opposition to the
proposed GV Initiative requiring all General Plan amendments to go to a vote of the people. This initiative looks to circumvent the planning process,rendering our elected officials incapable of making the kinds of decisions citizens put them in office to make. Proponents will argue that this initiative is simply a way for "the people" to have a say-so in planning, not recognizing that they already do. There are five elected city council seats and each one is determined by a vote of the people.
Unless we want Grass Valley to continue to be led by special interest groups comprised of folks with no real "stake" in its economic vitality, or future, it's time to stand up and be counted. Most of us know someone who is looking for work today. Most of us know someone who runs a business, or works for a business struggling to make ends meet, amid higher gas prices and continued talk to recession, runaway inflation, etc.
At a time when we all should be concerned about how Grass Valley will sustain its ability to provide even the basic services (police, fireprotection, etc.) that we all have come to expect, there is a small, special-interest group preparing to circulate a petition to get an initiative on the November ballot that could literally paralyze Grass Valley, rendering it incapable of addressing our basic social and economic needs. This group calls itself "Friends Of Grass Valley," and its members have been using scare tactics and a campaign of misinformation that would have us all believe only they hold the key to our future and that if we don't listen to them, we must all be enemies of Grass Valley.
It's time to let our Grass Valley elected officials know that the voices they are hearing from every day (these people have lots of time on their hands) do not speak for us, or, we suspect, the majority of Grass Valley residents who want to continue to live and work in this slice of paradise we call home.
If you care about our economic future and are tired of the "usual suspects" continuing to influence our ability to quickly adapt to an ever challenging economy, we ask that you join us on Tuesday, April 8 at 6:45 p.m. in the Grass Valley City Hall Council Chambers, where we will stand up (literally) and be counted.
