| >> Martha Bridges |
 |
Editor.W
Wildomar, CA
United States
Joined:
11/01/2006
|
 Thursday, November 15, 2007 |
Post #15 |
|
|
|
|
|
Editor.W
Wildomar, CA
United States
Joined:
11/01/2006
|
 Thursday, December 13, 2007 |
Post #16 |
|
| Wildomar Candidate Opposes Cityhood |
|
By: AARON CLAVERIE - Staff
Writer - The Californian
Martha Bridges contends incorporation could
destroy area's assets
WILDOMAR -- Martha Bridges believes the people
advocating incorporation are intent on turning this bucolic area, the home of
many former Orange County residents, into something it was never intended to
be.
"They're trying to push it into excess development and make it what
they left behind in many cases," said the 64-year-old real estate agent, a
Wildomar resident for nearly 20 years.
Area voters will decide Feb. 5
whether to incorporate and, if so, which of the 14 candidates should serve on
the inaugural five-person council. Voters also will be asked to decide if the
council members should be elected on an at-large or a district basis.
The
other 13 candidates on the ballot are Sheryl Ade, Gary Andre, Steve Beutz, Bob
Cashman, Harv Dykstra, Scott Farnam, Roger Le Clerc, Bridgette Moore, Darrell
Ruff, Marsha Swanson, Michael Tierney, Tim Underdown and Paul
Williams.
Bridges moved to Wildomar in early 1988, attracted to the
area's rural atmosphere, the reasonable cost of housing, the low taxes and its
small town and family-oriented feel, she said.
That's why the former
resident of a rural New England town said she has opposed cityhood, which she
believes would accelerate commercial development.
"We don't need all of
that," she said. "We have a huge regional mall, a Target and a Wal-Mart down the
freeway or up the freeway. We don't need this area spoiled by all
that."
If some development must come, Bridges said residents can work
with the county to make sure it is planned and paced so that the infrastructure
can be solidified at the same time.
Talking about plans to build a
Wal-Mart on the east side of Interstate 15, Bridges said she is particularly
concerned because, according to some studies she has read, a Wal-Mart attracts
crime that taxes local police resources.
"Wal-Mart's idea of security is
having an older, retired person in a golf cart and having him cruise around in
the parking lot," she said.
Proponents of the Wal-Mart development have
said it could contribute $500,000 in annual sales tax revenue to Wildomar and
provide more local shopping choices for area residents.
Asked why someone
who opposes cityhood is running for a seat on the council, Bridges said, "I
believe that if cityhood does get voted in we need someone besides the
pro-cityhood crowd on the council. It will be crucial for the community that
there is someone with a good business background and financially conservative
approach to taxation and development."
Bridges said her business
background includes more than 24 years in information technology, during which
she handled multimillion-dollar budgets and negotiated contracts with service
providers and contractors.
That experience will be invaluable because, if
the city struggles financially, property values will be affected and no one will
want to move to the community, Bridges said.
She is not running on a
slate but has contributed to a Web site that also features content submitted by
Beutz, another cityhood skeptic.
The top issue facing the area, she
contends, is the effect of special interest groups.
These groups, she
said, have a stranglehold on Wildomar and exert influence through a cadre of
about 20 residents, supported in part by developers, who have created a
"quasi-government" monopolizing interaction with county government
leadership.
"It's a closed club. You sign up with them or you don't get
to play," she said.
Those same people are the people supporting
incorporation, she said.
Another issue facing the area is the pace of
development, she said.
"I love having a Stater Bros. and a Starbucks (off
Clinton Keith Road), but sometimes in the morning you sit at the light at Hidden
Springs Road for four or five light changes," she said.
She said she
believes that intersection and others in the county have been poorly planned and
built.
"We need to give the economy time to catch up with the rampant
growth," she said.
Another issue Bridges mentioned is affordable
housing.
She believes there should be a goal to keep homes affordable and
taxes low.
"We need to put a stop to the grandiose plans some of these
council candidates have and stop them from adding another layer of government
that will only expand in the future," she said.
A financial analysis of
incorporation concluding that Wildomar could support itself as a city is a
"deception," Bridges said.
She contends it predicts all of the houses in
Wildomar will appreciate in value by 10 percent to 15 percent for the next
decade. While she said that would be great, she doesn't think it's realistic
given the recent downturn.
And without that expected property tax
revenue, a new city council would not have the money to take care of the older
neighborhoods, specifically the roads that will no longer be under the county's
jurisdiction, she said.
-- Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at (951)
676-4315, Ext. 2624, or e-mail aclaverie@californian.com.
Editor's note:
This is the third in a series of profiles on the 14 candidates seeking a council
seat should Wildomar residents decide on Feb. 5 that the community should become
a city.
Source:
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/12/13/news/californian/wildomar/20_23_0312_12_07.txt
|
|
|
|
Editor.W
Wildomar, CA
United States
Joined:
11/01/2006
|
| Tuesday, December 04, 2007 |
Post #17 |
|
| Meetings A Sham - Again? |
|
Candidate Bridges as quoted
in The Californian:
Nonpartisan forum needed before election
These
debates ("Wildomar: Debate set for candidates," Nov. 24) will be nothing but
shams -- meant to deceive the public.
They're sponsored by the Wildomar
Community Council, which is simply the Wildomar Incorporation Now folks using
another name for the purposes of their ongoing cityhood drive. That's right:
the same special interests trying to convince voters to swallow their cityhood
line by using the ruse of providing the public with questionable
"information."
The WCC is clearly a partisan group supporting the push
for incorporation, and indirectly promoting its hand-picked WIN council
candidates. These three events will be thinly disguised rallies for
cityhood.
The only reason all the candidates have been invited is to
protect the WCC's 501(c)3 tax status. Other candidates, such as myself, cannot
possibly expect to receive fair or equal treatment at this type of
forum.
I am not going to participate in this political charade. We have
already requested the League of Women Voters to either sponsor or help us find a
sponsor for a truly nonpartisan candidate forum -- one that will be fair, honest
and genuinely informative. We need a forum that bans the hype and nonsense,
where the public is allowed to ask their own questions.
The voters of
Wildomar shouldn't settle for anything less.
Martha L.
Bridges
Wildomar
Source: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/12/05/opinion/letters/12_3_0720_05_27.txt
|
|
|
|
Editor.W
Wildomar, CA
United States
Joined:
11/01/2006
|
| Thursday, November 29, 2007 |
Post #18 |
|
| Informational Meetings A Sham |
|
Candidate Bridges as quoted
in The Californian:
"It is my opinion that the meetings are a sham.
Specifically, I expect them to be a repeat of the meetings which (Wildomar
Incorporate Now) has sponsored for months, and tightly controlled by (the
council) in an effort to push cityhood and discredit the opposition candidates
or limit their ability to present their points of view."
Candidate
Bridges is efforting to organize a debate hosted by the local League of Women
Voters chapter. She says that forum would force the candidates to answer tough
questions.
Source: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/11/28/news/californian/wildomar/11_41_9811_28_07.txt
|
|
|
|
Editor.W
Wildomar, CA
United States
Joined:
11/01/2006
|
| Wednesday, November 28, 2007 |
Post #19 |
|
| Web Comments Online |
|
Martha wrote on Nov 26, 2007
3:14 AM:
" These WCC meetings are a sham! Some candidates were
invited only at the last minute. I have still not received an invitation. Now
they are changing the format at the eleventh hour. This is the kind of
underhanded trickery you can expect from WCC and WIN. Wake up to the fact that
they are running a shameful campaign. We are in the process of arranging an
alternate candidate forum which will be open, fair and honest. Skip the hype and
wait for the real thing. Wildomar residents should settle for nothing less.
"
Source: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/11/24/news/californian/wildomar/20_47_3611_23_07.txt
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
| >> Wildomar Special Interests |
|
