Supervisor McPherson Makes First Appointments

Newly sworn in Supervisor for the 5th District Bruce McPherson today announced his first appointments to County Commissions nominating Felton's Rene Shepherd for another four year term on the Planning Commission and tapping Rick Jones, also of Felton, to be her alternate.

McPherson also announced the appointment of Robin Musitelli of Brookdale and Geni Johnson of Scotts Valley to his District staff.

Here is the full press release from McPherson's office:

Newly-elected Fifth District Supervisor Bruce McPherson announced two staff members and nominated his first commissioners Tuesday.

          McPherson has also selected two staff members, Robin Musitelli and Virginia “Gine” Johnson.

          Musitelli is a 30-plus year resident of the San Lorenzo Valley, currently living in Brookdale.  As a journalist, she reported for the Valley Press, the San Jose Mercury and Santa Cruz Sentinel, covering education, politics and environmental issues.  At the Sentinel she worked as a reporter when McPherson was editor.  “I loved working with Bruce then, and look forward to working with him again,” she said.

          For the past 12 years, Musitelli has been an analyst for Second District Supervisor Ellen Pirie.  Musitelli is on the Board of Directors of the Santa Cruz County Horsemen’s Association.

          Johnson is the former Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Santa Cruz-based nonprofit Ecology Action.  Under her leadership, Ecology Action evolved from a small recycling operation into one of the state's leading voices on reducing global warming, eventually becoming a co-owner of the transformed former Sentinel building in downtown Santa Cruz.

          Johnson has more than 35 years of business experience, including extensive governance experience, having served on six local nonprofit boards.  She currently serves on the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County Advisory Council and the County Commission on the Environment.  Johnson and her husband have lived in Scotts Valley for 28 years.

          “I am honored to support Supervisor McPherson and look forward to providing the best possible service to the Fifth District,” Johnson said.

          Renee Shepherd was nominated for a four-year term as the Fifth District representative on the County Planning Commission.  Shepherd, a Felton resident, has served as Fifth District Planning Commissioner since 1989, first appointed by then Supervisor Fred Keeley, followed by Supervisors Jeff Almquist and Mark Stone.

          Shepherd is widely regarded as a pioneering innovator in introducing international specialty vegetables and herbs for home gardeners and gourmet restaurants.  After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of California in Santa Cruz and teaching in the Environmental Studies Department there, she founded Shepherd's Garden Seeds in 1985.  Renee left Shepherd's Seeds in 1996 and then founded Renee’s Garden, offering seeds through garden centers and nurseries and online.

          In addition to her passions for gardening and cooking, Shepherd has many community, environmental and equestrian interests.

          McPherson nominated Rick Jones as his alternate Planning Commissioner.  Jones, also a resident of Felton, served as a water quality investigation and compliance employee of the County Department of Environmental Health and has experience as a

real estate broker.   A past resident of Capitola, Jones served on the City of Capitola Planning Commission for eight years and was a previous alternate on the County Planning Commission.

Taking the Fifth: Win or Lose, McPherson Will Make History

Since former Republican state legislator and Secretary of State, Bruce McPherson, first announced his candidacy for County Supervisor, we’ve been speculating that the race for the fifth district seat could become the most expensive in Santa Cruz County history. The County Elections office today released campaign financial disclosure statements which leave little doubt that the Santa Cruz native will raise - and we assume spend - more money in this election than has ever been seen in a county wide contest.

McPherson is seeking a seat on the five member County Board as the representative from the predominantly San Lorenzo Valley District. He reported raising $47,882 in the period between November 20th and December 31. That’s about $1,100 a day flowing into his coffers. The primary is June 5 and the general election is in November.

McPherson raised $3,875 from Scotts Valley residents including the maximum $400 each from City Council members Dene Bustichi and Jim Reed who both flirted with running for the Board themselves. Most of his donors are Santa Cruz City or County residents with about 10% of his money coming from outside the area. The report lists only 3 residents from the San Lorenzo Valley however that number is sure to increase as he has lately been seen spending time walking neighborhoods in Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek.

Boulder Creek Recreation and Park District board member, Eric Hammer, who lives in Brookdale, reported raising $17,437 in the same period. Hammer’s numbers would be more impressive absent McPherson. Current Board President John Leopold who is running from the 1st District and has enjoyed strong backing from establishment progressives raised $14,349 in his re-election bid thus far. In the other race, to fill the seat being vacated by Ellen Pirie, County School Board member Vic Marani reported raising $8,615. Marani has since dropped out of the race and none of the other candidates reported raising any money prior to the 12/31 reporting deadline.

Over 90% of Hammer’s cash is coming from residents of Boulder Creek, Ben Lomond and Felton. He had three out of county donors.

Candidates are required by law to report contributions twice a year, on 12/31 and 6/30 so money raised between now and the June 5th election will not be known until July 1.

The other candidates for the 5th District seat, John Abel, Bill Smallman, Susan Weber and George Wylie all indicated they received no campaign contributions prior to the end of the year.

Taking The Fifth: Hammer Announcement Draws Large Crowd

Candidate Hammer with wife Susan and children, Charlie, Ruby and Kai

Saying that the Fifth District seat on the County Board of Supervisors “must be held by someone who is from this community, who lives and breathes this community and who is the future of this community.” Brookdale’s Eric Hammer kicked off his campaign Thursday night in Boulder Creek.

An overflow crowd that included three generations of his family and a broad cross section of local community residents gathered at Scopazzi’s restaurant as Hammer officially embarked on what may be a year long race. (So far five candidates have expressed their intention to be on the ballot in June, however if no one receives 50% plus 1, a runoff of the top two finishers would occur in November 2012.)

Hammer was introduced by long time Valley resident and environmentalist, Nancy Macy, who told the assembled that “Eric Hammer is fully cognizant of the hard work involved and wants to take it on, just as he has taken on challenging tasks since he was a kid.”

Macy said Hammer is a “great family man (with) a warm personality and generosity of spirit, (who) works well with all kinds of people. He is a problem solver. And, he is dedicated to doing a superior job, not just a good job.”

For his part, Hammer, spoke of how he learned to honor and value civic involvement as a young child from his parents, Mary and Joe, in their Boulder Creek home. His mother, Mary Hammer, founded what was then known as the Valley Resource Center in response to the devastating natural disaster that occurred in the Valley in 1982. (Now named the Mountain Resource Center, the organization has become the primary NGO in the Fifth District serving children, families and seniors as well as serving as the community wide disaster preparedness center.)

Describing himself as a parent, contractor, activist and life long resident, Hammer said he “is not afraid to roll up my sleeves and get the work done.”

“There are a multitude of issues facing Santa Cruz County.” Hammer said and then highlighted a few of those he felt were vital to the Fifth District:

The Environment: “We need to keep our natural habitat and watersheds preserved now and for generations to come. I learned from Al Haynes, Fred McPherson and John Stanley (founders of Save San Lorenzo River) how pristine, yet fragile our watershed is.”

Roads and transportation: “Times are tough, but maintaining our roads is a critical need for the Fifth District. It’s not only a transportation issue it’s a public safety issue as well. Whether you’re talking about bicycles, busses, cars or trucks, or perhaps most important, emergency vehicles; our roadways are a vital service and they are in great need of repair and maintenance.”

Planning: “It should be an easy process for a homeowner to go and get their own permit. We also should focus on green building and renewable practices and planning.”

Promoting Community: “I understand how important local parks, recreation activites, and local libraries are to a healthy, vibrant community. Programs that support children, families, and our seniors are also critical. I support community programs that help people to help themselves and that foster economic development through counseling, training or access to available resources.”

After thanking all those present Hammer introduced Barbara Sprenger, Chairperson for the campaign, who talked about how volunteers could get involved.

Sprenger mentioned what she said were the “unique and diverse interests of the community -- from protecting the watershed to understanding the needs of kids whose parents commute 1, 2 or 3 hours a day, We need a supervisor who lives and breathes these issues, like Eric does, who has demonstrated how effective he can be for us locally. This community has always known how to pull together in the face of powerful interests. We can do it now and have true, local, accessible representation."

Sprenger also emphasized the plan to run a positive campaign focused on addressing solutions but warned that efforts by some in the County to remake the Board to a more conservative body would likely bring an influx of out of area dollars into the campaign to defeat Hammer. She urged people to get involved in discussions with their neighbors and pointed out that donations and ideas were welcome at the Hammer for Supervisor website and Facebook pages.

Taking The Fifth

This map has been slightly redrawn as boundaries changed as a result of 2010 Census.   

A Special SLVNews Series on the Race for Fifth District County Supervisor  

SLVNews was created to provide our community with an online platform to share useful local news that affects the San Lorenzo Valley and surrounding Santa Cruz Mountain communities. With the help of other active citizens, SLVNews has been posting and sharing information about school plays, club meetings, road closures and more to a growing audience who follow us on our blog, Facebook, Twitter, Google+  and at SLVNews.Net.  Currently our various posts are being read and shared by thousands of local residents every day.

Among the more popular items we’ve posted have been local birthdays, traffic alerts, and the notable achievements of our students, athletes and artists.  The only political news that has so far attracted a large following was the months long drama that played out over the City Council of Santa Cruz and the Library Joint Powers Board regarding cuts to library service in Felton and Boulder Creek.

I suspect that’s about to change.  

The announcement by Mark Stone that he was giving up his seat on the Board of Supervisors to run for State Assembly means that our district will have a new representative for the first time in 9 years.  

Formal filing for the June primary does not begin until February but we already have five declared candidates, and who knows how many others sitting on the fence.

With such a large field vying for our support and nearly eight months before voting begins, we the people have an opportunity and a responsibility to engage the candidates in a thoughtful and thorough conversation on what our collective hopes and desires for the future are and what each candidate proposes to do to advance those goals.

I will reach out to every candidate and invite them to join this community conversation by providing them all equal access to the entire SLVNews platform so they can an answer our concerns and share their positions and visions unedited and unfiltered.  

The goal of Taking The Fifth will be to foster a respectful dialogue, create as much transparency in the electoral process as possible and to ultimately identify the person who will be the most effective champion for the majority of those of us who live in the fifth district.

Eric Hammer Schedules Campaign Kickoff Event

Brookdale's Eric Hammer will officially announce his intention to seek the office of County Supervisor representing the Fifth District at an event in Boulder Creek on Thursday, Nov 17th.

Here is a copy of the news release issued by his campaign:

ERIC HAMMER ANNOUNCES RUN FOR SANTA CRUZ COUNTY BOARD OF  SUPERVISORS, DISTRICT 5

Campaign Kickoff To Be Held Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 5:30PM

Scopazzi’s Restaurant, 13300 Big Basin Way, Boulder Creek

Brookdale’s Eric Hammer will officially announce his candidacy for County Supervisor at a special event in Boulder Creek on Thursday November 17. The community is invited to join Eric, his wife Susan and dozens of local dignitaries and community leaders at Scopazzi’s Restaurant.

Hammer chose to kickoff his campaign in Boulder Creek in part to show his appreciation for the tremendous support he has received from his north county neighbors who have twice elected him to the Parks and Recreation District Board.

“I was born and raised in the San Lorenzo Valley, I went to school here, I built a business here and this is where I chose to raise my family.” Hammer said, “I’m passionate about ensuring that my kids have the same experience, the same beautiful environment and the same opportunities that this community has given me.”

Hammer, 43, is the son of Mary and Joe Hammer of Boulder Creek. He and his wife Susan have three children: Kai, Charlie and Ruby.

He is a member of the Boulder Creek Recreation and Parks District Board, President of the Boulder Creek Business Association, a member of the Board of Directors of Community Bridges of Santa Cruz County and is on the Citizens Advisory Committee of Mountain Community Resources.

Details:

Eric Hammer for Supervisor Campaign Kickoff

Date: November 17

Time: 5:30-7PM

Place: Scopazzi's Restaurant, 13300 Big Basin Way, Boulder Creek