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LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MARIN COUNTY VOLUME XXXIV ISSUE 4
January 2016
UP - TO - DATE NEWS & EVENTS FOR JANUARY League of Women Voters of the Bay Area Bay Area League Day 2016
January 2016 Action Meeting
Reinventing Bay Area Transportation for the 21st Century
Monday, January 4, 2016 11:30 coffee, 12 noon meeting, Conference Room
Saturday, February 6, 2016 9:30 AM-2:30 PM Registration and Refreshments 9:00 – 9:30 AM Maple Hall, 13837 San Pablo Ave. Located at Alvarado Square inside the City Hall Complex 13831 San Pablo Avenue, San Pablo, CA 94806
Keynote Address – Senator Jim Beall, Chair California Senate Transportation Committee Panel 1: - Allowance? Passing the hat for funding Funding: Are self-help taxes helpful or enough? Infrastructure: How do you prioritize upkeep vs expansion? Social equity: Is social equity overlooked in funding proposals? Panel 2: - Innovation & Technology - Back to the Future Last Mile Problem: What are some of the ideas for solving this problem? Social Equity: How do we make tech serve the underserved? Technology: What will the highway of the future look like? Panel 3: - Who Moved My Cheese? How and Where do We Change the Culture? Crystal Ball: Can agencies be agents of change or not? Social Equity: How do we make access affordable for all? Drones vs Semis: how do we change the way we deliver the goods? REGISTRATION: Send check payable to LWVBA by Friday, January 29th, to LWVBA Attn: BALD, 436 14th St., Suite 1213, Oakland, CA 94612 OR online by using PayPal. The cost is $35 prepaid ($20 without lunch) and $40 ($25 without lunch) at the door. The deadline for prepaid registration is Friday, January 29, 2016. For more information call Alec MacDonald (510) 839-1608 or www.lwvbayarea.org.
The League will launch the new year with a special Action Meeting presentation from Dr. David Wain Coon, president of the Marin Community College District, and Board Trustee Wanden Treanor, reporting on the latest facilities planning efforts underway at the college. Dr. Coon, who joined the college in 2010, has led the district in successful completion of the $250 million facilities bond passed by voters in 2004. Trustee Treanor has been a leading force in the success of the bond program since its inception.
NEED A RIDE TO BAY AREA LEAGUE DAY? Ride Shares are now being formed. We have successfully formed carpools in past years. The 2016 event will be held at Maple Hall in San Pablo. Contact Veda Florez (
[email protected]) to add your name to the list. Online event registration now available: http://www.lwvbayarea.org/ calendar.html
Phone: 415-507-0824 Website: marinlwv.org Email:
[email protected] 4340 Redwood Hwy., Suite F -108, San Rafael, CA 94903
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TRANSPORTATION/LAND USE/HOUSING At our November meeting Joe O’Hehir, Chief Executive Officer of Whistlestop, and Andrea Osgood of Eden Housing discussed the status of the redesigned “Whistlestop Mission Plaza” senior housing project on its site in downtown San Rafael. Evoking San Rafael’s mission character, the redesign resulted from community comments that it blend with surrounding streets and the SMART station and incorporate historical accents. We agreed that it was a successful improvement. The next step is the CEQA scoping session scheduled early in 2016. Joe also mentioned 60-year-old Whistlestop’s connection with probably the League’s most illustrious historical figure, Vera Schultz. Concerned about the growing plight of seniors back in the 1940s, she was instrumental in founding Whistlestop and locating it in its present location. At our December meeting we were very pleased to hear that SMART has agreed to work with the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC) in building the bicycle/ pedestrian Multi-Use Path (MUP), including the segment through San Rafael. The League, as one of the strongest SMART supporters since it was created, had sent a letter to the SMART board, the cities of San Rafael and Novato, and the Transportation Authority of Marin urging SMART to fund and build the MUP. We later agreed to include our letter with those from other local groups in a package the MCBC submitted to the SMART board. We heard from Milo Terzich, the Development Manager for the proposed Laurel Ridge Senior Housing Community in Novato. It will contain 104 units, with 21 affordable, for seniors. A former affordable-housing developer, USA Properties Fund is now focusing on market-rate developments for independent seniors that include affordable components. On Nov. 9 we were pleased to be among the 29 Supporters acknowledged in the program and on the giant screen beforehand for the “Time to Lead on Climate” program at Dominican University, sponsored by 12 leading Marin climate organizations. Over 800 attended. (Further program details were in the Winter 2015 Voter.) Judy Binsacca, T/LU/H
JUSTICE COMMITTEE THURS, JANUARY 7, 10:00 – 11:30 Gun Control?!? San Bernardino. Colorado Springs. Roseburg, Oregon. Chattanooga, Tennessee. Moms Demand Action. Stop Handgun Violence. Everytown for Gun Safety. Executive Order from the White House. Congressional opposition. Second Amendment rights. National Rifle Association. Yikes. At the cusp of our 2016 presidential election year, in the light of mental illnesses, police violence and global terrorism, the national debate on gun control is quickly rising to the forefront in political contests across the country. Television, print media, and social media alike are inundating citizens – consumers, voters, parents – with often conflicting messages, pro and con, on the subject of guns and gun control. The League of Women Voters is not silent on this subject. Here’s our national position, adopted in 1990 and amended in 1994 and 1998: The League of Women Voters of the United States believes that the proliferation of handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons in the United States is a major health and safety threat to its citizens. The League supports strong federal measures to limit the accessibility and regulate the ownership of these weapons by private citizens. The League supports regulating firearms for consumer safety. The League supports licensing procedures for gun ownership by private citizens to include a waiting period for background checks, personal identity verification, gun safety education and annual license renewal. The license fee should be adequate to bear the cost of education and verification. The League supports a ban on “Saturday night specials,” enforcement of strict penalties for the improper possession of and crimes committed with handguns and assault weapons, and allocation of resources to better regulate and monitor gun dealers. Seemingly clear: but what does it mean in light of today’s debate? We’ll discuss the possibility of examining gun control issues more closely in 2016, particularly as those issues impact life in Marin County. V-Anne Chernock, Justice
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MORE INFORMATION TO HELP YOU PREPARE FOR CONSENSUS MEETING IN MARCH
DEFUNDING HIGHER EDUCATION The California Budget Project states: ...cuts in state General Fund support have led to significantly increased tuition and fees in recent decades at California’s public four-year higher education institutions, threatening the promise—enshrined in the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education—of affordable, quality higher education that is accessible to all eligible Californians. While the state once paid most of the costs for the three segments of public higher education, continuing reduction of state support has forced students and their families to assume a greater share of higher education costs, particularly in the UC and CSU. The result of this shift has been to curtail the Master Plan’s commitment of universal access to higher education and force students to take on debt to finance their college costs or not attend college at all. The longer term effect of reduction of state support has been to compromise the state’s ability to produce enough college graduates to meet the demands of California’s future economy. State funding for higher education and tuition paid by students State support for CSU and UC is at the lowest point in more than 30 years, adjusted for inflation. … While tuition and fees have more than tripled since 1990 at CSU and more than quadrupled at UC. As California’s population grew by more than 17 million from 1977 to 2014, public higher education’s share of state general fund appropriations declined from 18 percent to 12.4 percent. From the perspective of the pre-and post- great recession, appropriations for higher education have steadily declined from 2007-08 to 2014-15 in constant 2007-08 dollars. The following graphs (Figures 7 and 8) illustrate the decline in state appropriations as a percent of total core instructional expenditures (defined as costs of instruction, research, academic support, student services, teaching hospitals and operations and maintenance) to UC and CSU on a per student basis. Figure 7. Share of UC Core Expenditures 1998 to 2014
Figure 8. Share of CSU Core Expenditures 1998 to 2014
As state funding declined, students began to bear an increased share of the cost of their education. In 1989-90, the state general fund made up 76 percent of UC and 80 percent of CSU funding. In 2014-15, the proposed general fund budget covered only 48 percent of UC and 54 percent of CSU funding. This substantial reduction in taxpayer support forced the UC and CSU to make up the difference by increasing tuition or enrollment fees.
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GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE
HEALTHCARE COMMITTEE
Employee Compensation
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, AT 9:30 AM
The Governance Committee is in the initial stages of creating educational materials designed to inform the public on the issues related to deferred compensation for public employees.
We will be looking at problems of Alzheimers Disease
A substantial percentage of cities, towns and the county budget goes to the compensation of personnel. That portion of employee compensation that is deferred - that is to be paid in the future (pensions and health care costs) - must be properly disclosed and administered. Failure to do so can result in accumulation of debt to be paid in the future for past obligations. There are number of instances nationally and in California where runaway debt has adversely impacted the ability of governments to provide services.
Marin is an aging community. What is the impact of Alzheimers in Marin County? Most of us now know someone affected. What should Marin County be doing? Who should plan and implement the countywide response to this growing problem?
The discussion around this issue involves the use of highly technical terminology. Our objective is to develop material to translate for the layperson’s consumption the terminology, using examples and/or in a glossary format.
Is it time for the United States to develop a greatly expanded nationwide research response as we did for HIV/AIDS? Do older people with this illness have fewer advocates and less public appeal? Have these patients become somewhat invisible?
Additionally, the committee has been looking into what the appropriate role of the public is in providing input to the public employee labor wage negotiation process.
Can people with Alzheimer's live alone? For how long? When must they move? How long can people live with the disease?
Both deferred compensation and role of public input in the labor wage negotiation process are expected to be the subject of initiatives reach the ballot for the November 2016 ballot. The Committee has heard from representatives of the Citizens For Sustainable Pension Plans, Marin County Employee Retirement Association and the Marin Association of Public Employees.
What is the impact on families who become in-home caregivers? to families who become financially responsible for long-term paid care?
If you are a member and interested in this topic, we invite you to join the committee. We meet in the LWVMC office on the first Friday every month for an hour. Contact Scott McKown if you have an interest. LEAGUE PRESENTATION ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING AT THE COLLEGE OF MARIN TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016 10:00 - Noon in the Deedy Lounge (back of Student Center) on the Kentfield campus. The League has been honored with an invitation from the Moral-Ethical & Legal Issues Roundtable of the College of Marin’s Emeritus Students (ESCOM) to speak at its January meeting on a topic of interest to all. League Board member and Justice Committee co-chair V-Anne Chernock will lead a (probably!) lively discussion on the topic of Human Trafficking and its related moral, ethical and legal issues, which have had some League focus this past year. This roundtable is one of 22 ESCOM clubs at the college open to COM students (past or present) who are at least 50 years old. While the cost of joining the club is $15 a year, first-time visitors are always welcome (for free). League members, in particular, are invited to show support for the topic and solidarity with our friends at COM!
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Should more working people invest in long-term-care insurance? Why should longterm-care insurance be so expensive? How do families balance the burden of providing full-time care either at home or In a nursing home. What costs does Medicare cover? What costs does Medicaid cover? Do patients (or their families) have to spend down all their savings? How can families evaluate the care provided in various settings? What happens to children in families caring for a patient at home? Is there an ombudsman service now for Alzheimer's families? What steps should Marin be taking NOW? Come join the conversation. Margaret Jones, Health
League of women Voters of Marin County 4340 Redwood Hwy. Suite F-108 San Rafael, CA 94903
Officers: Suki Sennett, 1st Vice President Linda Deer, 2nd Vice President Sondra Wuthnow, Secretary Regina Bianucci Rus, Treasurer Directors: Elaine Biagini Judy Binsacca V-Anne Chernock John Eells Stephen Gach Marcia Hagen Linda Jackson Anne Layzer Scott McKown Julie Monson Laurie Nardone
Through study and action, we work every day to educate our citizens on the important issues that impact all of us. The goal of the LWV is to empower citizens to shape better communities. We invite you to join us. Visit us at marinlwv.org.
JANUARY CALENDAR Monday 11:30
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Action See p.1 Conference Room F-138
Friday 9:30
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Governance - See p. 3
Tuesday 9:30
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Transportation/ LandUse/ Housing - See p. 2
Wed. 9:30
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Board Meeting
Thurs. 10:00
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Justice - See p.2
Tuesday 9:30
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Healthcare - See p. 3
Tuesday 11:30
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Communications
Thursday 9:30
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Education- Higher Ed. Study Group - See insert
Monday 12 Noon
25
International Relation Conference Room F-138
Help Save IR For years the International Relations group has hosted both League members and guest speakers offering a wide array of informative, thoughtful, and timely presentations. Topics covered a variety of interests and expertise, including economic developments, national security priorities, environmental concerns, and political transitions, both here in the U.S. and throughout the world. We are now at a crossroads – looking for new ideas, fresh perspectives, and outside-the-box thinking in order to preserve these valued forums. We will meet on Monday, January 25 at noon in conference room F-138 to identify and explore potential alternatives for future meetings. Please join us. All meetings are in the League office, 4340 Redwood Hwy. Suite F-108, San Rafael, unless otherwise noted. Conference room is F-138.
