Valley Water Watchdog

By Hilbert Morales
El Observador

After reading the report entitled "Jury Chastises Water Leader" (San Jose Mercury News, Local News Section, page 1, June 21, 2010) I decided to check out this report. A phone call to Ms. Gloria Chacon, Manager of the Civil Grand Jury, resulted in her providing the web site address: www.sccsuperiorcourt.org/jury/GJ.html. Frankly, I was very surprised to learn that the information posted at this web site was not the document of the 2009 Civil Grand Jury Report which I wanted to read. My objective was to read the original grand jury report. What I had accessed was a summary interpretation thereof by a group named "Valley Water Watchdog". The three individuals named in this report are S.Kingman, Webmaster; R.Cerruti, Research; and T. Mahurin, Archives.
I recommend that all go to this website to see for themselves the skewed information report that was on the Civil Grand Jury's Website. My concern is that the report I read online directly presented questions and answers which are skewed towards making the current Board of Directors, Santa Clara Valley Water District look like they are a group of self-serving incompetents. No reference is made to the effective operation of a system of water reservoirs and aquifers that have provided potable water to the residents of the County of Santa Clara during the recent three-year drought.
Richard Santos, current Chair, BOD, SCVWD, is alleged to have influenced the SCVWD board to engage in two projects that increase the commercial value of his family's property holdings in the Alviso Community. Recall that the same type of allegation had been made with respect to former Mayor Tom McHenry's property holdings in San Jose. In this case the SJ Redevelopment Agency agreed to spend millions for improvements in the San Pedro Square area that inevitably impacted the value of all properties. It takes no genius to discern that the recent two improvements in Alviso would possibly increase property values in Alviso. After all, that Education Center and that boat launching facility are needed improvements, which have already attracted traffic to the Alviso Slough. 
It is essential that many of EO's readers go to these websites to directly experience the information purportedly coming from the Civil Grand Jury of the County of Santa Clara. As a former member of the 1990-91 Civil Grand Jury, what I saw and read could not be a 'Civil Grand Jury Report', rather it is a very slanted opinion piece which reflects the objectives of ValleyWaterWatchdogs'.
This experience underscores the unreliable nature of email and the Internet when communicating information that is supposedly from a reliable official source. The material posted by ValleyWaterWatchdog.org had the purpose of a political hit piece targeting not only Richard Santos, but also the entire SCVWD Board. The report in the San Jose Mercury news also is quite slanted. Santos was required to recuse himself (i.e., not vote) when he had a conflict of interest. It neglects the reality that the remaining six elected SCVWD board members voted on all the matters that resulted in the building of an education center, a boat launching facility and dredging the Alviso Slough, where the Guadalupe River and the Coyote Creek drain into the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay. Alviso, years ago, was the harbor for San Jose when it was the capital of California. Alviso properties have subsided as a result of overuse of the aquifers to the extent that its properties are now 13 feet below sea level. In this very complex issue, Santos is the beneficiary of a check & balance system. It was the SCVWD board that passed all the motions authorizing those two projects. In the scheme of things, the total expenditure of about $5 million to underwrite those two projects is a pittance when compared to the billions spent by county and local city governments.
The Civil Grand Jury uses the continued relationship of Santos with local community civic organizations to create the ‘excessive influence’ allegation. Santos, like all other elected officials, is obligated to stay in touch with their constituents. This is done most effectively by staying involved and connected to the local civic groups that represent his constituents. Alviso’s residents are not the only beneficiaries, it is all those who own kayaks, boats, and enjoy the trails on the Alviso Slough wetlands. That increased human traffic will benefit all the restaurants in Alviso. Many Alviso blue collar residents still have to have several jobs to make ends meet in this recession economy.∆