The incumbents have to go, I just wish we had better candidates to replace them with.

The incumbents have got to go. This is our chance to get the council to listen and realize we are watching all year long. Nothing would speak louder to the current and future council members than some turnover.

This event was well worth getting up early for! All of the candidates did a great job representing their viewpoints. I especially enjoyed Eleanor's props...such a teacher!!

So the moderator of the forum - in response to the article - is a columnist for the very publication that is responsible for the upset? Sounds like 'damage control' to me.

I thought jerome ghigliotti was supposed to be running. Why wasn't he at the meeting? Patch needs to stop giving that blowhard so much free press.

Jerome Ghigliotti represents a majority of what people REALLY think. If each and every legal citizen of our community were told the facts about the true cost's of supporting ILLEGAL'S there would no longer be ILLEGALS here. I'm talking about the cost of Welfare, Housing, Medical/Dental, Education. $690-$900 million every year. Our schools in Calif, have gone from the top to the bottom. And here's why. Half to three-quarters of the students in school come here speaking NO ENGLISH and that grinds the educational process to a halt. Our kid's can't get an education because they are stifled by kid's who don't speak the language. And their parents have no desire whatsoever to speak the language themselves. They simply refuse.

People for the most part give quick (i'm busy and don't have the time nor the inclination to look deeply at all the ramifications and the cost's of having and supporting ILLEGAL'S in OUR community) answers but when pressed with all the FACT'S the majority of people support his point of view. But they have to be hit over the head. And the masses don't want to think, and they don't want to get involved so they just go along with the majority. Just like sheep and lemmings. Mediocrity and Myopic minds abound in our governments, large and small. More people need to challenge the Denial based Co-Dependent insanity of mediocre minds. It's time to clean house and take OUR community back from the people who have been selling OUR birthright away for popular votes.

I do apologize that I missed the forum. I have clearly stated my intentions in the past. I am standing for council member in Novato, because the current council has made it their policy to ignore the will of the people of Novato. The council represents the people of Novato, and not Sacramento politicians. Politicians often talk a good game, and avoid answers. I refuse to do either. My platform is as below. It takes two other council members with the same commitments to succeed, but these are my goals.
PLATFORM
Enact E-Verify ordinance, so that Novatoans can control how their tax dollars are spent.
No more affordable housing, challenge the state law, challenge the quotas
Ordinance defining the succession of the position of mayor
Equal enforcement of the law
Equal enforcement of code violations
No more Redevelopment investments without security
Low income housing ownership that does not properly maintain and control their properties to lose their tax exempt status
New City Manager To restore code enforcement to protect the community
New City Attorney For honest representation of citizen goals
New Police Chief For gang crime and gang violence suppression
I sign everything that I do because I am proud of it.

Great event! Thank you Chamber!
The Shroyer Family is endorsing
LESLIE PETERSON SCHWARZE!

We need a council member who will not cut police services, stop the consultant dependant culture of the city, and use those resources to help CLEAN UP THE CRIME at the Wyndover Apartments.
For over 14 months I have asked the city council to help protect the residents that live in the low-income projects and the surrounding community. Instead we have 55 sworn officers from 67 and NO School Resource officers. We use to have 3.
We need Leslie on the city council for our public safety and to increase public safety!

My wife and I moved here 6 weeks ago and love the community. Novato is a gem. Grinding about politicians and grousing over decisions vetted and made is nothing new to us. I suggest you enjoy the community you have. I got stopped at DUI checkpoint last weekend and enjoyed meeting a truly professional group of officers. I was sober, so that also helped.

Look out your window, no smog, no flying dust and no ever present wind. Fog in the morning and clear sky s after 10:00. We are about an hour from San Francisco with the symphony, museums, Fisherman's Wharf and all sorts of theater.

Egads, you don't realize how good you have it.

I attended this event and was very glad I did. I now have questions about my choices for the election. Jerome, I wish you had been there, I would have liked to hear you speak directly to some of these questions. Only by informing ourselves on the candidates and their platforms can we make good choices. I want to hear from the "horses mouth" not only what I read or hear second hand.

Jerome might not be liked on all of his issues, but his fight to enact E-Verify, a federal law requiring verification of legal status has been a requirement for many years on the federal level. This would ensure that contractors who do business with the government pay the prevailing wage rate for the workers on the job.This means no underpaid cash illegals would be taking jobs away from legal workers, and contractors could not profit from their lower bids.

I was on the Federal Records Center moving job in the 70s when we moved the federal records center from Spear Street in San Francisco to Sneath Lane in San Bruno, and the Watson Act, a federal law covered this. In 1981 my own company moved the last army special forces group at Hamilton and took it to Moffit. Humvies, forklifts, desks, and all other equipment went, and I and had to verify the status and pay scale of every worker on the job. When I do work for the State of California, I must also submit to these regulations.
Why can't Novato?

What's the connection here? Jerome got the required signature to put this on the ballot, but the city council won't do it, so he's suing them to do it. He just want's Novato Citizens to have the right to vote on this issue.We need some other voices on this council.

P.S.- I've never even met Jerome. I just want to vote.

1991- sorry

Fellow Novatoans -- please do your homework before voting in November for the next City Council. Please make sure the candidates you vote for represent your views, hopes and aspirations for our town. The incumbents need to be replaced as they do not represent the majority of Novatoans.

Tina-
We could bring back the Bracero Program to help in seasonal jobs, but it would not solve all of the problems we face with this issue here. I did not say Jerome would be a good council pick- we need more than a one trick pony here, and I'm in awe of the balls the council juggles under pressure now. BTW- I'm also in awe of the amount of work and research you do. That, coupled with common sense is what a council member should be. What about You?

Craig

Thank you. I really enjoy doing the research. Between work and family responsibilities I know I cannot handle the commitment it takes to serve on the council. Most of my posting is late at night or on weekends. That is why I admire even the existing council's efforts on our behalf. I like the previous city manager's approach much better. Perhaps it is just the times but I don't agree with Mr. Frank's insistence on building new offices as well as the group that was hired in 2010 to designate affordable housing sites and the Boston based signage company. I don't think Mr. Frank really "gets" Novato. I have been reading the information about why they decided to build and it still doesn't make sense to me why they wouldn't purchase the IJ building, for example, at approximately 6 million. It has a lot of potential. The only reason given so far has been location but it is right off the freeway and on a bus route. I keep wondering if this is some attempt to keep the redevelopment district open and avoid the measure that was passed in 2004 that limits the council's ability to build anything new over a million dollars without a vote. See if you can make sense of this link. I have been trying to find the original measure.

http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/RV/main/Measures/2004/Nov/MeasureF.pdf

Being held accountable is not equivalent to be demonized. There is now significant gang activity in Novato that didn't exist on a significant level five years ago. This activity paralleled the substantial increase in Novato’s Latino residence. The Nortenos and Surenos are the two major gangs. To ignore the pervasiveness and influence of these two groups is naive. The Marin City gangs now reach into Wyndover apartments. Novato is not as “nice” as it once was and dog walking is definitely down around Wyndover.

Many people voted for SMART to provide a significant transportation option only to have ABAG use SMART to drive funding for unwanted high density affordable housing. Many feel their trust in State and Regional Agencies has been betrayed and their good intentions used against them. It is not against the law to object – yet.

Yes, digital beats paper. It's a great improvement. No more slanty eyed editor/censors.

Nonetheless, all of the current candidates except Fernandez were very aware of the extensive discussion on City Hall locations. All were actively involved in the Novato political gestalt monitoring what was being weighed. To have them all of a sudden find their voice defies credibility and this weakness should be kept in mind when deciding who to vote for in the next election. .

$35 was the charge to witness the candidate discussion before the Novato Chamber of Commerce. Pretty indicative of who feels like they run this town. Perhaps the public employee's unions will open the doors. The Novato City Council spends so much time behind closed doors in closed sessions they have no tan lines.

When will the Novato City Council Candidates' Forum be aired next on Novato Public Access TV for those of us who couldn't go?

Jerome

In my opinion, your experience does not justify wasting the council's time, the city attorney's time and the court's time with a $2.3 million dollar law suit. I supported EVerify until I realized the hypocrisy involved in a system that is used selectively. Until we include a guest worker program there is no way to pick crops and have farms use EVerify. That is why it is being debated on a state level in California. All you have to do is Google search the issue and you can see the dilemma posed by the current situation.

I don't live in a vacuum, I just don't happen to agree with you on the way in which you approach resolving these problems. That is part of what is wonderful about living in a democracy. You and I can have different opinions and still be neighbors. We have been down this road before on other posts. We may be looking at some of the same issues but the road to our solutions is very different. You have said repeatedly that your only focus is illegal immigration. I want a council member who is capable of working with many issues and working well with his colleagues.

Tina, I think we DO need a council member who will focus on illegal immigration and Gangs. Novato was not like this 5 yrs ago. You can believe that it's been going on for 20 years but that's a bunch of BS. 5-6 years ago I never heard of drive by shootings and attempted murders in Novato or noticed the grafitti like I do today or the wierdos walking around just hanging on the side of the Frank Howard Allen Building on Diablo or cruising Novato with their pants falling down or the very young girls pushing multiple babys in strollers and mutiple toddlers walking along in the middle of busy streets/intersections while talking on cell phones. We have a chance of changing the course ....Please don't down play the danger our town is in. We are on our way towards becoming the next Vallejo.

Steven

I am not downplaying the issue of illegal immigration but a "one trick pony" does not a council member make. An Activist, yes. If Jerome wants to just focus on this issue he has other ways of making a difference.

We have had problems with gang graffiti and crime, in my neighborhood since my boys were in PV more than ten years ago. Some of the young people with their pants down are kids copying gangster rap, reality TV shows and other media related garbage. I don't like it either but it is not always connected to illegal immigration or gangs.

If you are worried about Novato becoming another Vallejo then think fiscal conservative. Novato's plan to build a $16 million dollar city office is a waste.

Not all young immigrant families are illegal immigrant families. The last kid that was prosecuted in a drive by was a San Marin girl who got angry at her boyfriend and got 11 years in jail for chasing him in a car with another person shooting a gun out the sunroof. Not all crime is illegal immigrant crime.

i grew up in novato in the 70s and 80s and there were always some weirdos. but you are right, south san francisco (where i live now) and novato are becoming very similar---gangs are running the joint!

Bravo Tina McMillan! - The Pacific Sun says:

"Perhaps in the towns lived in by the author of this hit piece there are only conceptual affordable housing developments but in Novato we have 30% of the real affordable housing developments in Marin along with the first Habitat for Humanity home. Prejudice is at its worst when reading Pac Sun on Novato. Surely someone at this paper has actually read the numbers to see how much Novato does, without ABAG telling it what to do, to create affordable and fiscally sustainable housing." " It is tiresome to hear critics both outside of Novato and from within label the community as unfriendly and unhelpful. "

"Housing developers, like Katie Crecelius would have you believe that the only cost of affordable housing is in its being built. They do not consider the impact of property without taxes on a fragile economy and boast that sales tax alone will cover the cost."

"Novato has and will continue to meet ABAG guidelines. Unlike our southern Marin neighbors, Ross for example, who use unrealistic zoning to meet their housing element, i.e., the botanical gardens are zoned affordable; we in Novato walk our talk. The Pacific Sun needs to get off its high horse and recognize that Marin's northernmost neighbors both practical and compassionate when it comes to affordable housing mandates."

"One of the city council candidates that support balanced housing is LESLIE PETERSON SCHWARZE. "