We’re Making a Difference in Keeping Martinez Special
Dear friends and supporters,
Mark and I and the rest of our Steering Committee wanted to give you some good news, and to make a special year end request that you support Thousand Friends of Martinez financially—and maybe on a recurring monthly basis. It just takes a few clicks: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/formtz
We’re a small all volunteer group, but our Steering Committee has pledged to match donations totaling up to $5000.
First, some good news:
New Mayor ! - Thousand Friends helped elect Brianne Zorn as mayor, our first new mayor in 20 years. I’ll explain why that matters. Electing a new mayor and better city council were key reasons we created Thousand Friends.
City Council Progress - On a city council where there’s been almost no turnover, in 2023 we’ll have a new mayor and two new council members. That’s also important.
Independent Redistricting - Neither of those things would have happened without District Elections—that’s how Brianne Zorn first got elected-- and an Independent Redistricting Commission, which Thousand Friends pushed for and supported. Whatever you think of district elections, they make it a lot less expensive to run for council. When District elections were legally required, the old City Council members first chose gerrymandered districts to protect themselves, rather than compact districts that made sense. Gerrymandering is where politicians pick the voters they want as opposed to voters picking the politician. After the 2020 census, Thousand Friends pushed for an Independent Redistricting Commission and got the compact new districts we needed. District elections are cheaper—except mayor which is still citywide—and there will be more good candidates competing.
Endorsements, Candidate Events - This is the 4th election in 7 years in which Thousand Friends has endorsed candidates and ballot measures and held events for candidates to answer questions and meet the public. In 4 elections all of the candidates and ballot measures we’ve supported have won, until this year. In the 2022 election Ben Therriault in City Council District 4 barely lost to incumbent Debbie McKillop by 23 votes. Despite big funding from developers and others, for the second time Councilmember McKillop has squeaked by with just a few dozen votes. It should be a wakeup call for all city council members that the public is paying attention.
Public Voter Education – Thousand Friends has provided more voter education, events, E-Blasts, flyers on door steps, etc. in Martinez than any other community group in years, and done lots of grassroots outreach. Our E-Blasts are opened by thousands of residents. This election we also responded when several candidates or their supporters used dirty campaign tricks. Brianne Zorn for example won mayor despite being in 5th place in campaign spending and despite thousands of dollars spent by Mike Menesini’s supporters on negative false mailers against her, Lara Delaney and Mark Ross.
New Alhambra Highlands Open Space - Thousand Friends helped pass Measure F in June to acquire spectacular Alhambra Highlands. We are so proud that 68% of Martinez voters supported Measure F. The city just took ownership of the new open space and is planning how to manage and open the beautiful new park. We’re hoping for a public dedication by this Spring. The property had an approved development on it which won’t happen now and its value had increased enough that the development was likely to move forward. Alhambra Highlands’ protection is a testament to 12-years of volunteer grassroots work by Jamie Fox and others, including Thousand Friends. We’ll celebrate the achievement and Jamie Fox at our January 9 meeting at the Veterans Hall downtown.
New General Plan ! – After almost 50 years, we have an updated General Plan—something Thousand Friends has pushed for since we organized in 2015. A General Plan is the plan for a city’s physical development and includes the zoning map that says what goes where. The out-of-date 1973 plan gave power to developers and cover for the old city council to approve anything they wanted: “if we didn’t vote for the bad development, they city would be sued.” The proposed new General Plan was incredibly threatening—dramatic increases in density and numbers of residential units without any plan to pay for services, provide jobs or deal with increases in traffic or impacts on schools, water and sewer. Things like houses in the marina where we expect more flooding in the future. Thousand Friends has been sounding the alarm about the threatening Plan. With help from Councilmember Zorn we got extra time that put the decision squarely into an election year—when people pay more attention. The adopted General Plan got rid of those dramatic changes—the city wanted to get it done before a new council was elected but 4 out of the 5 councilmembers were up for election along with the chair of the Planning Commission, so they dialed back the dramatic increases. But it failed to include an updated Housing Element which is starting right now and could be equally threatening. We have a better chance now of a good Housing Element than before but will have to be vigilant in protecting the city’s residents and our quality of life. Martinez’s historic downtown buildings and neighborhoods have survived because residents have stopped a lot of short-sighted proposals over the years—that will become even more important in the future.
Progress on the Marina and protection of our parks and open spaces. Measure H funding has improved parks all over Martinez. The marina is finally getting the attention it deserves. Measure I, which we helped draft and pass in 2018 means elected officials can no longer trade away our parks for development, unless they convince the voters.
Thousand Friends has been an all volunteer watch dog
monitoring planning agendas, responding to threats, and seeking better elected officials who are committed to good, transparent government. All on a budget of $5,000-10,000 a year. With more funding we can do a better job defending the city and residents. Please make a donation or a recurring donation today. It just takes a few clicks: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/formtz
Seven years ago, some of us got fed up.
The Pine Meadow development was the trigger. Whatever you thought about the project, the city council ignored the property’s open space zoning and approved a sweetheart deal for DeNova Homes over the objections of neighbors. When Martinez residents objected, DeNova sued some of them, directly violating their free speech rights. The City Council supported DeNova. The Martinez residents won the lawsuit and DeNova had to pay their legal fees and settle the development issues.
Even some of us who didn’t care much about Pine Meadows were appalled. The city should be defending residents against developers, not the other way around! So we created Thousand Friends of Martinez to help defend Martinez and its residents, our parks and open space, and to support better candidates and transparent, open government. When we sponsored Measure I to require a vote before the city council could develop open space or park properties, the city council sued again and sponsored a weak competing measure. Once again, the residents won and Measure I passed.
The antidote to backroom politics favoring developers instead of residents…
…is ongoing public education and the best disinfectant is sunshine—telling people what’s happening—and open transparent government. Many Martinez residents have been getting our E-Blasts for years. Seven years ago we bought the Martinez public voter list, and started communicating with you about elections, conservation and development issues, and good government. Thousands of Martinez residents regularly open the communications.
Martinez residents love our city.
Time and again an important political issue or election would crop up, individuals will respond and a great deal of energy would be expended, then the efforts would dissipate. They would have to be rebuilt for the next issue or candidate. This lack of consistent effort favors elected officials who represent developers or major landowners rather than all residents.
In the home of John Muir, city government has been very weak…
…especially on environmental issues. Problems such as the marina and a weak downtown linger for years rather than being solved. More than once the council has chosen to approve development on sensitive lands—such as Alhambra Highlands (which we all just saved, including in this case with city council support). The City General Plan hadn’t been updated in nearly 50 years (until now). Many nearby cities have been better managed.
Martinez city government has been bad for years.
Most city council members had been on the council for many years and routinely ignored residents. The Planning Commission and School Board are training grounds for new city council members. A few people have made most of the choices about who’s on the city council, school board and city commissions. Every once in a while an independent voice would get elected but the majority would remain beholden to developers and landowners who pay for their campaigns.
The Mayor has had too much power
One big problem is we have a strong mayor system in which the mayor makes all the choices about who’s on commissions, controls the city manager and sets the agenda at council meetings. We’ve had two mayors in 38 years. There’s been a revolving door of city managers, some good and some bad, because they all depend on the mayor. Each time one leaves, institutional memory and influence are lost. It’s been a toxic situation at city hall.
Martinez is a hidden gem. Developers have noticed.
Martinez is a great place to live. It’s got all kinds of assets, including location, the waterfront, four regional parks, good schools, good transportation options, a good downtown. And many vacant and underutilized parcels. The developers have caught on. If you can take a 5 acre parcel—say a church parking lot--and put 100 units of housing on it, or a golf course or open space parcel and put 200 houses on it—you can make a mint, neighbors be damned. That’s why DeNova spent thousands supporting Mike Menesini for Mayor.
In the past, all development projects were approved rather than choosing the ones that are best for the city or working hard to make them better and then enforcing agreements. Sometimes neighbors would object and be ignored, every once in awhile they’d get organized enough to stop the project. Yes most of us agree that we need more housing. But it can either be well planned, manage impacts and provide public benefits (that’s where Pine Meadow ended up after years of effort by residents) or its impacts can lower our quality of life, crowd roads and schools, and stretch water and sewer. So do we manage growth to make our town better, or get swamped by it? That’s why the City General Plan matters, along with the Housing Element and other land use policies.
Martinez needs better government and a citizen watchdog group. We’re trying to help.
The Mission of Thousand Friends of Martinez
is to provide a stable organization which will work with residents to elect informed, conscientious representatives; promote open government; enhance our quality of life by creating a livable city; defend our parks and open spaces, and; conserve natural areas and historic elements in the greater Martinez region.
Our Objectives are to:
Endorse, support and fund responsible and environmentally supportive leaders
Promote transparent government
Promote better land use planning and the development of policies for the public benefit
Defend parks, creeks, wetlands, open space and historic elements
Support budgeting, ballot measures and funding for these purposes
Educate the public about these objectives and strategies
We’re all volunteer and working to make Martinez a better place. Will you help?
Seth Adams, Mark Thomson,
Co-Chairs and for the Steering Committee
Thousand Friends of Martinez
PO Box 225, Martinez, CA 94553, FPPC# 1381454
P.S. As we said earlier, our Steering Committee has pledged to match donations totaling up to $5000.
P.P.S. We’re a political action committee. Donations are not tax deductible.
New mayor Brianne Zorn sworn in
Brianne Zorn as sworn in as Mayor of Martinez on Wednesday December 7th at City Hall. She assumed her duties shortly thereafter during the following City Council meeting. We look forward to Brianne's leadership of Martinez.
City Councilmembers Jay Howard and Debbie McKillop also started their term of office at this meeting. All indications are that this will be a very productive Council with the Council addressing housing and open space, economic development and a more balanced approach to governance.
Meet Jamie Fox - Citizen of the Year at the
Thousand Friends of Martinez
Public Meeting
Jamie Fox for his work on the Alhambra Hills
Open Space Measure
Speaker Brianne Zorn Mayor of Martinez
HELP THE CAUSE
Help Martinez strive for more transparent government, enlightened land use concepts and to defend parks, creeks, wetlands, open space and historic elements.
