4/12/2006
Hi Angel,
I am writing because I've recently learned that the houses in the new subdivision between Coastview and Palisades along the recently opened road at the bottom of Ahikawa Street have been connected to the new water system. I've been told by the water department that this is because it is their policy to interconnect for the purpose of backup.
While this practice makes sense, the homeowners of Coastview, Wonderview and Highlands are paying for all the material and labor to make that connection, not the water department or the county. Ever since discussions of this project began, we were under the understanding that anyone that connected up to this system beyond the boundaries of the assessed subdivisions would have to pay in, the same as us, thus spreading the cost equitably. We brought this up at every meeting prior to the beginning of the project.
What happens if another subdivision is built below Coastview, connecting to our system? Do we just donate our expense to that developer too? Unless you change the law, evidently we do! Even if there is no "interconnection". That's unfair.
I bought my lot in Coastview in 76 and built the house in 78. If I owned two lots, one could argue that I'm rich and should shut up about this cost or that. If we had any extra money or ANY outside income, maybe this wouldn't matter to me, personally, although I would still be concerned for my neighbors. But while the value of our home has gone up absurdly, we are no better off because we cannot sell it for a profit and still have anywhere to live. We are struggling (less than many, to be sure) under first and second mortgages with a daughter trying to finish college and an invalid mother-in-law cared for full time by my sister-in-law. I've had 3 pay cuts amounting to 22%, had my health insurance reduced and had my pension which I was supposed to be eligible for in 6 years thrown in the trash. We have no idea how we are going to make it after I'm forced to retire, and with the prices of everything going up, the last thing we need are additional and unfair expenses or being forced to subsidize the water hookups of land developers.
I am writing on behalf of myself and the other working people in these subdivisions to demand that the council pass legislation requiring anyone connecting to this water system be charged the same as us AND that those funds be used to pay down the bond that we had to pay for, NOT go into the coffers of the county or the water department. Either that, or that the cost be recalculated for each lot, based on the higher number of lots and then our individual cost
reduced. One way or another, we should be unburdened in a
proportional manner when new connections are made.
At meeting after meeting I have listened to public officials justify unfair or irrational policies basically based on "that's the way we've always done it" or "that's the law the council passed", and what have you. We heard this again a few times on Tuesday night, along with a new one, "that's the law the council is going to change but they haven't done it yet"!
One person stood up and suggested that we are "lucky" the rules are being bent and we don't have to bury our pipes on our own property. Why should we feel "lucky" that the powers that be decided to honor their word, since ever since this project began we were told that what we did on our own property was our own business. It's hard to feel "lucky" when it's still going to cost each of us thousands of dollars and many of us will have to borrow the money when we are already having enough trouble making the bills as it is.
There are any number of things that the council could do, but one of the most obvious is to pass legislation / rule making--whatever you call it, to spread the cost of this system fairly among the users. It is unfair that we should have to subsidize connections for others hooking up to our system and especially so when it's to increase the profits of developers and speculators.
Thank you for giving this your attention and please let me know your thoughts on this and what you and your colleagues on the council plan to do about it.
Sincerely,
Aaron Jacobs
Coastview
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