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I know both candidates for Mayor of Livermore and I admire them both. I supported Mony Nop in the last election.
I have also written that I think the Eden Project is unfortunate and unattractive. However, the opponents of this project, who have shed as many skins as a lizard, have proposed no credible alternative to it.
They offer no realistic plan to terminate the present contract or to deal with the large legal costs, damages, and delays associated with that action. It is hard to imagine credible contractors rushing to do business with the city in the aftermath of that mess.
When I was the Director of a Defense Agency, I was regularly visited by enthusiastic technical proponents of allegedly vital projects, usually with initial costs of $25M. I would gently send them away, saying that what they had was a “notion” not a project.
My staff loved these interactions. To date, the proponents of cancellation of the Eden contract and construction of a mythical park have only offered a notion.
There is no exit plan from the Eden contract, no plan for legal proceedings and costs, much less damages, and no meaningful plans for land acquisition, building designs, and construction of alternates.
So far, the multiple shifting short-lived organizations have been playing only with their own money, mostly from the same few large contributors. Should they succeed in electing a compliant majority of the City Council, they will through their agents start playing with your money.
Your choice on the ballot is vital to the future good governance and finances of Livermore. If I lived in the city rather than in the county, I would vote for John Marchand, Evan Branning, and Mel Chiong.
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