City voters take to voting by mail –

As of Friday, February 3, 2012, approximately 2,100 Vote By Mail Ballots (VBMB) had been received from Piedmont voters by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

This represents a continuation of the trend since November, 2004, when 3,120 VBMB accounted for 45.45% of the vote, through February 2010 when 2,401 VBMB accounted for 73.90% of the votes cast.

The increase of voting by mail in recent years is a reversal of the earlier trend toward in-person voting at City polls.  From February 1998, when absentee ballots numbered only 497 or 30.42% of the vote, through March 2002, when 740 absentee ballots accounted for only 19.69%, the percentage decreased.

Now, with the encouragement of the Registrar as a cost-saving device and the change of name from “absentee ballots,”  voting by mail seems to be a popular trend.

All ballots must be cast by 8 pm February 7.

Retirement benefits cut for new hires, but City-paid costs will continue to increase for current employees –

With less than a week left before voting is completed on Tuesday, February 7, announcements submitted by candidates or their committees can be  found here:

Tim Rood, City Council Candidate:

Sunday -Monday, February 5-6 The final Get-Out-The-Vote Drive for Tim Rood. Email contact@TimRood2012.com or call 510-239-7663  if you have time to help make phone calls.

Tuesday, February 7 Election Day. Some Piedmont polling places have changed! Call Alameda County Registrar of Voters at 510-267-8683 if you have any questions about where to vote.

Andrea Swenson, School Board Candidate:

~Thursday, February 3, 5:00 pm immediately following the PUSD Budget Advisory Board, meet at Mulberry’s for school financing updates

~Friday, February 3, 7:00 pm meet Swenson at Ellen Driscoll Playhouse PAAC Lunar New Year Event

~Saturday-Sunday, February 4-5 Swenson wraps up her 5 week campaign with final Get-Out-The-Vote. Call: 510 658-9148 if you are interested in helping

~Tuesday, February 7 Election Day Call “Swenson for School Board” for voting information 510 658-9148

Writing in the February 1, 2012 edition of the East Bay Express, Nate Seltenrich calls Piedmont’s February 7 election “a referendum on Blair Park.”

How many Piedmonters see the election this way?  Seltenrich claims, “…the city has been fractured by the permitting of a controversial new soccer field along busy Moraga Avenue.”  And goes on to paint the history: > Click to read more…

Sewer Fund money is allocated to City Maintenance workers –

The full time equivalent of more than 5 maintenance employees is paid by using the Sewer Fund. (See chart below; see City sewer transfer charge detail.)   City documentation for 2010-11  indicates that the time of 4 of these employees is charged exclusively to the City sewer system.  Although not shown here, there is an additional charge made to the Sewer Fund for the compensation of administrative staff. > Click to read more…

Throughout the history of the Sewer Fund, there has been tension between spending for sewer maintenance versus spending for sewer mains replacement (rehabilitation).  (See sewer history article.)

In 2000 the sewer tax was tripled.  The increase was to comply with a Cease and Desist Order requiring the replacement of 54% of the Piedmont sewer main in 3 phases and, eventually, replace 100% in 4 additional phases if needed.  The EPA required phases I, II, and III were completed as of 2006, representing 54% of the sewer system.  Rehabilitation work then paused for a number of years. (See chart below.)   Phase IV was not completed until 2010. > Click to read more…