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The mission of the Santa Clara Valley Water District should be a simple one: Provide a reliable water supply to about 2 million people at affordable prices through environmentally responsible sources.
Yet, the agency’s leaders have embarked on costly and foolish projects while the board has been plagued by members willing to deceive voters to hang on to their political power.
Thus, it’s a shame that this year, when there was an opportunity to bring a new generation of leaders to the seven-member board, no one stepped forward to challenge two long-term board members.
The only competitive race on the Nov. 5 ballot is for the seat of retiring board member Barbara Keegan, who had the integrity to step down after three terms as she had advocated all board members should. Keegan, who is younger than all but one of her fellow board members, turns 70 this month.
To replace her in District 2, which includes parts of San Jose and Santa Clara, voters should elect Shiloh Ballard, a non-profit executive with a long resume of public service and environmental advocacy.
The only contested race
The District 2 race provides an opportunity to discuss and debate some of the key issues confronting the district, including:
• A questionable plan to build a massive dam and reservoir near Pacheco Pass, east of Gilroy. The price tag has tripled since 2018 and the district “has been unable to find any other major Bay Area water agencies to share the costs.”
• The rebuilding of Anderson Dam, which holds back Santa Clara County’s largest reservoir, between San Jose and Morgan Hill, to bring it up to modern earthquake standards. The project, which tripled in cost in just two years to $2.3 billion, is scheduled for completion in 2032.
• The district’s financial participation in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s now-$20 billion Delta tunnel project, which wouldn’t add a drop to California’s water supply and has never penciled out.
In securing new water supplies and encouraging conservation, the district must be smart about the fiscal and environmental impacts.
Ballard is running against Bill Roth, a digital marketing consultant with a computer science background. Roth and Ballard both serve on the water district’s advisory Environmental and Water Resources Committee, so they both have familiarity with district policy issues.
But Ballard is clearly the superior choice, in part because she brings a stronger environmental perspective, which shows up in her tougher questioning of the merits of the Pacheco Dam project and her insistence that the district leverage its participation in the Delta tunnel project to ensure maximum ecological protections.
Moreover, Ballard brings a standout resume of community work, including six years on the San Jose Planning Commission, 22 years on the board of the Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters, 13 years on the Association of Bay Area Government’s Regional Planning Committee, 14 years as senior vice president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and eight years as executive director of …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Politics
