Comment by Mayor Casey Tanaka on July 8, 2010 at 7:56pm

Thank you Nancy for your service as a Planning Commissioner and for recognizing the hard work and talent of those who have served on the Tunnel Commission.

Comment by Ann Sonne on July 8, 2010 at 9:18pm

Ms. Santos,

That is your opinion. As for me, I plan to hold on tightly to my wallet whenever I see the people you've mentioned in your thank you note. I don't know how they spend their own personal funds, but I do know that they have not been good stewards of our public tax and bridge toll monies.

In January, 1999, the City Manager, Mr. Bludau, reported that $4,000 had already been spent in "obtaining the tunnel concept and cost estimate." He recommended that the City obtain the services of a firm "with major tunnel experience to do a relatively quick (60 day) study to provide more details of the project... that could cost from $50,000 to $75,000." Bludau also recommended that a Tunnel Commission be created ("...the time commitment will be substantial and will probably last 2-3 years").

Eleven years later, this Tunnel Commission has finally been disbanded, and collectively, we are $14 million dollars poorer.

Yep, I'm holding on to my wallet.

Comment by Nancy D. Santos on July 8, 2010 at 10:15pm

Hello, Mrs. Sonne - May I call you Anne? We've finally met at one of the forums and I would like it if you would call me Nancy.

Honestly, Mrs. Sonne, we truly understand your concerns. We may not agree with you, but we sincerely understand - therefore, we have no ill feelings nor hostility when we hear you express your fears. I know it is not because you do not care about the same things my family and I would like to see for this City. The difference between us and possibly other folks is that I see the $14M as an investment towards a real solution that we will reach someday; in other words, we see the glass half full. Our concerns have already been addressed sometime ago so we feel at peace and no longer feel any frustration at this point as we did everything we could to make the facts known to the citizens of Coronado. The only regret we have is that we are just now hearing from friends who have come slowly forward and informing us that they may have been misinformed. But that is neither here nor there at this point. We now have a different set of issues to address as a City and it will be a long haul. Have a great evening, Mrs. Sonne, and I hope to see you around so we can continue to have productive dialogue. Like I said earlier, we all want the same thing. Take care.

Comment by Ann Sonne on July 8, 2010 at 11:36pm

Nancy,

With all due respect, while we both may care about solving traffic problems in Coronado, we do not share the same vision of how to accomplish this goal. Besides our obvious difference regarding the wisdom and cost-effectiveness of tearing up the streets of Coronado for years in order to build something that would not ultimately solve traffic congestion and would be a maintenance and security nightmare, we do not agree on what the appropriate role of government should be.

You see, I believe that an elected body needs to be fiscally conservative when it comes to spending public funds. I believe that elected officials should be transparent in their dealings; once elected, personal agendas need to be put aside and the voters need to be consulted with often. Elected officials need to keep meticulous track of money spent and regularly inform the public of these expenditures. It is unseemly and certainly not in the public's interest for council members to gang up on one of their own and publically skew her for trying to get facts and figures published and available to voters. Finally, I do not believe that elected officials know what is best for us. They are elected to represent the voters, not to tell us what we need to do and employ whatever means needed to implement a desired outcome.

That said, I was pleased with the mayor's comments at the meeting today which reflected his intention to follow the will of his constituents -- as expressed in the overwhelming vote against continuing tunnel studies.

Comment by Nancy D. Santos on July 9, 2010 at 8:16am

Good morning, Anne. Thanks so much for continuing to post on my blog. It is a busy day for me so please forgive me if I am not 100% in giving it all on this message.

Okay, I think we can agree that we do want the same end result, right? Solving the traffic problem; this is what I meant when I state that we all want the same thing. I agree we do disagree on the process of getting there; and this is partially because we are not working from the same set of information.

I do believe that our council and mayor are all fiscally conservative; the Mayor came up from a long line of fiscally conservative co-horts who he had much respect for. And, I do know about the rest of them and where they are coming from: the rest of them are in organizations that I serve and know how credible they are. All are wonderful and extremely talented and do an excellent job at completely understanding issues and are very careful at interpreting legislature to our citizens so as not to misinform or mislead. And this is why they are extremely diligent and careful when it comes to disseminating facts to the public. This is why they sometimes appear to, as you put it, "publicly skewing" one of their own. I am not running for anything, I have nothing to lose except for my own integrity and the love of my family and friends and finally the quality of life in this lovely City of ours. All are very important and make up who I am. So, when I hear a public official misstate information and mislead people who I care deeply for, it is alarming! Thus, I can see why our public leaders appear they are "publicly skewing" their own when they are astounded by the information that is coming out of their own. When this happens (I have witnessed it myself and I hear it happens a lot) they all feel they have the responsibility to make it right for the public! Also, I believe they are all very much for representing the voters and this was made very clear yesterday and any other day when they are handling City issues. And, this is why I am so pleased and honored to have the most hardworking, honest and dedicated public leaders in office, and why I am so compelled to publicly thank them for doing the right thing even if it means being left vulnerable in the eyes of Caltrans, the State and Federal Government. But, the public voted and we are all in it now - together!!! Regardless of whether I agreed with it or not....it is going to be a long haul, Ann. I do need to get to my grand baby girl's birthday party planning this weekend and need to run. But, I do appreciate you opening up and sharing your concerns. Thank you for that, See you soon, I hope!

Comment by Ben Hallowell on July 10, 2010 at 7:45am

A Big NO THANK YOU to CTC Chair Clark for his post-election theatrics

Although I realize your thank you and appreciation for the CTC is well-intended Nancy, I just can not sit back and let the actions and statements to the press by Chairman Sut Clark following the election go unnoticed and unchallenged. As far as I'm concerned, Chairman Clark thumbed his nose at the overwhelming majority of us who voted in the last election. It was one of the most self-centered, selfish acts by anyone purportedly serving the public good I have ever witnessed on a local level. He immediately lost all credibility with me and many of my peers. Thank goodness CTC Commission member Margaret Meadows Pimpo had the good sense and wisdom to publicly acknowledge our vote as did the Mayor and Council. Let's end all the hidden associated Tunnel study expenses such as lobbyists which when combined over the years ended up costing us $Millions$ .... time to move forward. May Sut Clark never again be empowered by the City of Coronado in a manner where he can attempt to reject the will of the voters. May this become a lesson and learning experience for our local government when it comes to appointments on boards and commissions. Sut Clark needs to retract his public statement to the news media while admitting his obligation was to the voters of Coronado no matter what other mitigating factors may have been involved. If we can't clean this kind of thing up on the local level, imagine what will happen with all the "tunnel commissions and their chairmen" on a national level."

Comment by Nancy D. Santos on July 10, 2010 at 12:25pm

Hello, Ben. Thank you so much for expressing your sentiments; I understand and feel honored that you shared it on my blog. I also thank you for realizing and appreciating my need to thank those who work so hard for the City and also had the best intentions. This was a very emotional and controversial issue and there were things said that may have been unsuitable from both sides because we are all only human; passion and emotions get to the best of us. Both Dr. Pimpo and Mr. Clark and the rest of the Commissioners have dedicated countless hours of their time so I can only imagine how very difficult it might be not to take some of the hurtful criticisms personally. Thanks again for sharing.

Comment by Ben Hallowell on July 10, 2010 at 6:46pm

Thank you Nancy for your understanding... I only responded because you provided a forum and you praised the CTC for their efforts... Allow me to clarify, my criticism of Sut Clark was intended to be both personal and as hurtful as possible ... He showed himself to be arrogant and "above the vote of the people" in his post election remarks to the press ... May he always be held accountable for his reckless actions ... I reaffirm my praise for Dr Pimpo, the Mayor, the Council ... they heard us, they responded to our vote... Thank you for providing a blog where both sides may freely express themselves on the controversial subject you chose to address

Comment by jef on July 13, 2010 at 8:52am

Let me weigh in. I offer a big NO THANK YOU to the 4 members that voted to advise the City to continue with the tunnel study. In pre-election blogs, I read lots of information about the 13 year tunnel study. The misinformation was provided by the City and the pro-tunnel studiers. I saw one of our City council members skewered by her fellow councilmembers just because she wanted more information released to the public. Is this the kind of "coooperation and togetherness" that Ms. Santos is admiring? The knife may be out of her back but the memory of the scar remains. I will not forget and will make my feelings known at the next election. We need people in city office who run the City like I run my own budget. MY THANKS GO OUT TO THE PEOPLE WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THE TUNNEL PROJECT FOR THESE MANY YEARS. I will be monitoring the future of City representatives who pushed for a tunnel. It will be interesting to see where their political and professional paths lead.

Comment by Ed Chew on July 13, 2010 at 11:11am

Interesting to those of us who lived in Coronado when it was a nice quiet town, just hard enough to get to that it didn't flood with traffic all the time. When the bridge was recommended to help the Federal employees on North Island, not the people of Coronado who voted against it and were ignored by Governor Pat Brown, the city's problems became much larger. Now in a minute or two people could be in Coronado. The one way streets were supposed to fix the issue which was sold as just NI traffic....but, obviously, it wasn't just that. Anyway, throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at the problem that won't solve the problem is just fine for the politicians and contractors, but not for the people of Coronado. Turn out the advocates of the tunnel in the next elections.

Comment (keep it clean & on topic)

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