GPU Fight Escalates—Again

It’s time for the next go-round in the General Plan Update process and this time the gloves are off. County Supervisors held an all-day workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 23, to hear two competing proposals, one written by the Refinement Group and one written by the Community General Plan group.

Back at its inception, the Refinement Group was a collection of diverse interests—from environmentalists to low-income housing providers and growers. But after the Supes axed the group, which couldn’t reach a consensus, its remaining members include developers’ attorneys, real estate consultants, vintners, farmers, and one low-income housing developer.

Some former members of the Refinement Group—including LandWatch, the Sierra Club, and the Coalition to Protect Housing, Farmlands, Air and Water—hosted a series of workshops and drafted their own plan, a more conservation-minded element called the Community GPU.

Before the Feb. 23 workshop even started, the Monterey County Farm Bureau had already sent out an email blasting the Community General Plan, or the “LandWatch Plan,” and praising the Refinement Group’s plan, a “positive solution.”

The Farm Bureau’s Bob Perkins directs readers to “read more about LandWatch’s plan for your ag land” at the Farm Bureau’s Web site. Should one want to read about “a plan that meets our county’s needs,” Perkins directs readers to read about the Refinement Group plan at its own Web site. [JL]

Dems Fight for Social Security

Rep. Sam Farr will be in Seaside and Salinas this week speaking about what he calls the potential crisis of Pres. George W. Bush’s plans for “reforming” Social Security.

“Social Security faces long-term challenges, but there is no crisis,” Farr says, pointing out that without any changes, Social Security benefits are secure for the next 50 years. Those 50 years, Farr says, will provide sufficient time to come up with a “bipartisan solution that will strengthen the Social Security system for generations to come.”

Joining Farr will be an expert from the National Committee to Preserve and Protect Social Security and Medicare.

Rep. Farr will be speaking on Thursday, Feb. 24 at the Oldemeyer Center, 986 Hilby Ave. in Seaside, from 10-11am and at The LUPE Firehouse Building in Salinas from 6-7pm. [AJ]