SELF-SERVING - Suisun City Council recently voted themselves a 118% pay raise and a 42% travel expense increase, despite a supposed fiscal crisis in Suisun. Suisun City Council was already making more than Fairfield City Council and Vacaville City Council before the recent pay raise, although Fairfield is a city four times larger than Suisun City and Vacaville is three times larger.
MISSING MONEY - 1. Suisun City invested $192,000 worth of improvements into the Walters Road (now the Wal-Mart) property. Despite two information requests using the California Public Records Act, the city has failed to show proof of repayment of the developer’s share of these extensive improvements. Developer E.O. De Silva made a 900% profit on the improved Walters Road property when he sold it to Wal-Mart in 2006.
Jane Day, Mike Segala and Jim Spering were all on the City Council when the city poured money into the Walters Rd property and failed to collect the reimbursement from developer E.O. De Silva
INCOMPETENCE - 77,000 new cars and trucks/week
on Route 12 from supercenter traffic. Millions in road
improvements necessary to handle the new traffic -
but funding not in place -
PUBLIC SAFETY IGNORED - Suisun City Council has shown a willful disregard for the safety of Suisun’s eastern neighborhoods by voting to approve the Wal-Mart Super Center at Walters Rd.
• Traffic - The Wal-Mart project will add 11,000 new car and truck trips per day to State Route 12 and surrounding streets.
• Millions in road improvements are required, and the funding is not in place. According to the city’s own General Plan, the money for these road improvements may be taken from the General Fund.
• Rise in demands on police and fire services - 24 hour store operations will have a major impact on police and fire services, yet the city claims these services will not be impacted.
• Declining property values will be a problem – Homeowners within a 1 mile radius of the super center could see a 15 – 20% devaluation in the assessed property values of their homes due to traffic, flooding, and crime impacts from the super center project. Many Suisun homes have already fallen in value by $100,000 to $200,000 due to the current plummeting real estate market and recession.
• Flooding problems - The Walters Rd Super Center will seriously contribute to the problem of flooding in Lawler Ranch. Wal-Mart’s own study raised serious concerns about the ability of Lawler Ranch’s aging drainage system to handle the added storm water runoff from 21 acres of new pavement and the soon-to-be filled stream channel that runs through the property. California’s State Water Board has objected to the super center design, and is refusing to approve the permit for the super center at this time.
• Threat to the future of Travis Air Force Base – The Solano County Airport Land Use Commission voted against the Wal-Mart Super Center, stating it violates the safety standards that protect Travis Air Force Base and public safety. Suisun City Council overrode their decision, jeopardizing Travis’s high standing as a base with a low level of urban encroachment on its borders. Encroachment (from unsafe development) is the main reason for military base closure across America.
Suisun City Council has chosen to disregard the safety and fiscal problems that the Walters Rd Super Center will create, in an ill conceived grab for illusory sales tax revenue.
WASTED TAX DOLLARS - Suisun City Council recently voted to forgo competitive bidding on the engineering contract for the dredging of Suisun harbor. Competitive bidding could have saved the city thousands of dollars in dredging expenses. The city of Fairfield recently saved $100,000 using the competitive bidding process for the renovation of Dover Park. Suisun City Council voted to guarantee a loan of over $1 million for a new restaurant in Harbor Square. Restaurants have a 90% failure rate in the first year. The city does not belong in the risky business of banking! Suisun City Council has zoned nearly all of Suisun as “redevelopment area”. This means that millions of dollars in property tax are directed into the Redevelopment Fund rather than the city’s General Fund where the money would pay for police, public safety and road maintenance. It also means that the Suisun Waterfront receives a majority of the city’s revenues, while surrounding neighborhoods are deprived of needed maintenance and improvement projects. The city has deliberately misrepresented the sales tax revenue that the Walters Rd Super Center will generate. Examination of sales tax revenue in Dixon and American Canyon show their Wal-Mart stores generating about $200,000 to $300,000 a year in sales tax revenue. This is far below the $1 million in sales tax revenue that Mayor Sanchez and Councilman Hudson have claimed the Suisun Wal-Mart will generate.
WHO IS BEING RECALLED?
Pete Sanchez, Jane Day and Michael Hudson -
because they’re not up for re-election this year!
Save Our Suisun!
Recall Pete Sanchez, Jane Day and Michael Hudson
Paid for by Save Our Suisun:
Recall Pete Sanchez, Jane Day and Michael Hudson