Apparently you have not been to Los Angeles lately. Remember the citizens wanted it that way and still do. They want the car and the freedom that goes with it. Why would you want to deny that freedom? It is about time they got there voice out there loud and clear. A very large group seems to think the OWS group is just expressing their freedoms. Would you not say these folks are doing the same thing. Shoes is on the other foot now and you do not seem to like it. I do believe you have expressed your political feelings loud and strong. You are now making political issue out of property righs and folks freedom to choose. You do not have the voice of all the folks on freedom. Would you say the CSC group wants more info. No they only want to give there info only. Not interested in any other ones info. Would you say say this was put on by a group that maybe thinks your way? Being that this has now been turned into a political issue just watch the Progessives you know what I mean the Liberals come back at me . I love it. They show their true feelings. . Freedom only if it is for their cause. Not very American sounding to me.

"Now I’m not quite sure how public transportation is tied up with limiting my personal freedom, but evidently it is."

Kathy, I wondered the same thing. I suppose one could argue, if this is truly the case, that libraries, highways, and trash service, also limit our personal freedoms.

Good article, Kathy. Shouting in a meeting rather than giving input is not a responsible way to practice citizenship.

Lois there is a reason these folks conducted themselves this way. They are tired of being told what to do by the Progessives. This article was a pure politically motivated attack on the Conservatives. It was not at all about shouting. If that was the case Tea Party and Republicans would have not been talked about. This a pure agenda driven article. The writer does not like the platform of the Republican party pure and simple and that is what she stated. They may not like being called out. To bad. I know my comments will not set well with the local CSC group and the rest of the Enviro Greenies. It is about time their agenda is brought out loud and clear. No better time than right now.

It does appear that the Progessives are at the City Council meeting tonight. On the side planning an attack on all the Conservatives and for sure Bob Livesay. This article was pure partisan politics at its very worst. Agenda driven. Did not try to hide their political leanings, which is very far left. Get ready they will come at the Conservatives and me.; I am loving it. Go to it.

Not being sure what mental state you might have been in when attendng, an analysis of the One Bay Area Plan ultimately leads you back to Agenda 21 through the phrasing such as 'social justice', 'environmental justice', etc. These are words drawn and re-packaged for 21st Century use from the basic 10 principles of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. Agenda 21 is a shill for elimination of private property rights, personal rights, eminent domain action against private property - all in the name of creating an Euro-Marxist State here in the United States. The concept of 'regionalized governments' dictating to the uniqueness of individual communities like Benicia, Fairfield, Palo Alto, etc, to establish more than 200 Priority Development Areas where compacted housing is bordered by transit is the creation of urban sprawl, ghetto development, and the gulag's envisioned. And the State of California is complicit by enacting such hideous legislation as AB32 when 'Global Warming' is the hoax that it is and SB375 so as to be able to direct funding as a 'chooser' flies in the face of free enterprise and the Constitution designed by the founders of this nation. Green development and sustainable development should be ideas coming from the minds of US Citizens, not the United Nations and its shill committee, UN-ICLEI/USA.

Outstanding Gary.

Outstanding Gary.

Mr. Smith...you obviously never have heard of Garrett Hardin or Ernest Callenbach, the author of a 1970's fantasy Ecotopia. I can assure you that "green" ideas all started in California, beginning with John Muir..ever heard of John Muir? The UN and its Agenda 21 ideas are simply copied from indigenous, quite original California thought.

Try Sierra Club

He said GULAG! That's just great. I think that's how we'll compete with the Chinese laborers!

You compete with Chinese labor with Natural Gas energy. It is happening as we speak in Texas. Plants being built in the USA because of less expensive cost to engery. Labor is no longer the big issue it was. It is now energy cost. Natural Gas is the answer. Not electric cars.

I for one don't want to see the Bay Area turn into LA North. We have already missed the boat on affordable mass transit. If you can't afford the gas to get to work you have no options as there is no real mass transit in Solano County. I have read several articles lately of these planning meetings getting disrupted. I'm all for freedom of speech, but not allowing the meeting to proceed and allowing ALL the attendees to get in their 2 cents is not free speech. Call it what you will, but those disrupters are selfish.

You can call them what you want. They have been bullied for far to long. They are now standing up. Was it the right thing to do? Probable not. In my working days I did commute from Marin, Martinez and San Mateo to San Francisco on occassions. Guess what the system was fine. By the way So. Salif. has a very good transit system. The big difference is the folks in So. Calif. tend to move around a lot during the day. They do like the freedom of their car. As far as Solano County goes I am not sure what the need are.. It may be needed then again it may not. Service to Sacramento may be a needed service or improved service. I do not know. But cluster housing and transportation hubs to support cluster housing is insane. All you are doing is suggesting to folks to take public transportation or are trying to make it the only alternative. Folks are very independent and will not go for the so called city type of public transit that works very well. When I lived in SF used it all the time. Solano County is not a city and is not supported by city, county or any other type of transportation to a degree that you can take it from your home to a transportation hub. You would still need to drive a car. So the cluster crowded housing is not the answer. In Benicia if you put cluster housing by the Industrial park who says anyone wants to live that way. I do believe folks have said how they want to live loud and clear. That is why you have the big disruptions.

This "author" showed her bias and therefore has zero credibility She attacked the so-called Tea Party. There is no such political entity. She claims the GOP "platform" was quoted, but offered no evidence. This is an attack on our First Amendment rights, meant to quash dissent from this plan for stack and pack E. German/Chines type little boxes. We are aware of Agenda 21 and the local connections (the locals weren't original, they cut & pasted, making it easy to trace the origins of these oppressive plans, so now we get it).

To Robert Livesay: I attended 3 OBA meetings, and I can guarantee that it was the "Tea Party" and "Agenda 21 Conspiracy Theorists" who were doing the bullying. There was opportunity for all to be heard, but only if there were some ground rules. Call it meeting planning.
Good planning does not have a political affiliation, and we need it to preserve the things we all love, to improve what isn't working, and to accomodate inevitable growth. I don't see how any of this will affect your property rights at all. No one is proposing taking anything away from you, or telling you where you should live. If anything, better planning makes better, more functional communities, and your property values will rise.
This is all about giving people choices, and not being forced to spend $30K to buy a car to get anywhere seems like a good option to promote, and is clearly something that many Bay Area folks want, and that's my idea of freedom. I'd rather spend that $5-10K/yr supporting local businesses or taking vacations.
Next time you or the tea party wants to promote your agenda, don't come eat someone else's sandwiches and disrupt their meeting. That's just rudeness. You shoud go rent a meeting room, buy food, hire a speaker, put together a cogent presentation, and invite the public, and be well-armed with facts, if you can find any that support your position.

To John Galt: Now you want folks to have a separate meeting because they do not support your thinking. Remember John it is yours and others thinking not everyones thinking. The writer calls them a mob. Were the police called to break up this mob and send them on thir way? Not everyone thinks the way you or your group thinks. You say it was the Tea Party. So what. Do you have anything against the Tea Party/ Do you support the OWS group and their tactics? That would be interesting. This has become very political because the writer wanted it that way. The writer and her supporters want no interference what so ever. Very content to call them a mob. I guess I could call her group the CSC a mob. Loud clapping and noise at a council meeting that the mayor let go on. Stop it John let the folks have a say and lets see how it works out. Sorry John every thing has a political agenda and above all planning. The real problem John is you only want to promote your agenda.

John are you part of an agenda driven climate change Enviro Greenie group? It appears that is the direction of your thinking. I may be wrong. If that is not where you fall I am sorry I put you in that group.We must listen to all points no matter how uncomfortable it might be. But remember other folks do have a say and must also be heard. It is not just your way for the good of your group. Maybe that is not what I want. I may lose, so what. The folks must be heard and not shut down. Yes that is what elections are for. Sometimes you win other times you lose. If something is over turned by a new council does that mean it is all bad. I do not think so. .It is very clear to many folks in this town what the climate folks want. At this point they are doing very well. But how much longer will this go on. It is starting to get a little edgy and could get very nasty. No one wants that but when you start blaming others and calling them a mob you are off to a good start. I would calm down and let it play out.

"I would calm down and let it play out." Words to live by.

Robert - there was ample opportunity for all to be heard, but, like all meetings, there needs to be some order. Dissent is healthy, but so is citing your statistics, sources, and owning up to being part of an organized protest. In a public meeting, you protest outside and engage the facilitator or others in the meeting in a respectful way. This clearly was not happening.
Most of the attendees, unlike yourself, did not feel the meeting was "rigged" or "agenda-21 driven." It was a public input meeting and the meeting agenda was sculpted so that you and everyone else could have a say and ask questions and get them answered. You were given probable scenarios for the future and asked how you would handle issues of transportation and land use, given available funding and state laws. You could even write down your own "choices" and vote for them.
The speakers even offered to contact you personally in the future with answers to your questions if they didn't know them off-hand.
I don't get why this is so difficult to comprehend. Why would you want to shut out others' opportunities to address their concerns, or provide the requested community input?

Try it T Bo

@Pamela-
I think the whole point of this type of planning is to AVOID turning into LA North. From what I gather, we are looking at ways to not build sprawling, open-space-eating housing to accomodate the growing population. LA was once the most productive agricultural county in CA! They paved paradise...

L love LA. Lived in Westlake Village. Very nice.

It would appear that a point was missed: MTC/ABAG is making one plan that fits all, like it or not. SB375 implements into your unique community; a lot of well-meaning elected's think they are 'in charge'. I defy anyone to go back to the 'Plan Bay Area' and find their input included. There was no plan; just dense, low cost housing dumped into your community whether you are unique, historical, or whatever. If you look closely at meeting pictures, the picture is the same; it isn't different from any other State's community vision. The Plan picture impacts Benicia, San Jose, Palo Alto, Suisun, Fairfield, Vallejo, Marin regardless of what you think about it. You might determine why UN-ICLEI/USA is the driver behind all the plans, GHG measuring, planning documentation, and all plans contain critera like 'social justice', environmental justice', 'smart growth', 'sea rise', 'climate catasrophe'. You might review Portland Oregon and determine why their regional planning has driven out significant business into Washington State Counties and they are lock-up in traffic the majority of each day. I wonder why the basis for Climate Change Plans is a purported possible "55" inch sea rise in a century yet Vallejo builds an expensive transit garage or Benicia's PDA's are located at the waterfront. One might also wonder why PDA's target high density/low income yet Napa gets waivers on their Plan requirements for same such. Who benefits from this-and what is the benefit?

When the Enviro Greenies are not in charge or are not dominating a meeting watch out. Mob, Tea Party and Republican platform. I guess it should have been Enviro Greenies, Progessives, Liberals {same as Progressive} mob rule. That would have been fine. Once this group has to take a back seat watch out. The go on the attack.

Guestion for the writer Kathy kerridge. Do you think the City of Benicia Climate Action Plan has any relationship or could be a copy of the iclei Mission? It sure does appear that way and uses all the key words. It appears this is a mission of the local Enviro Greenies. Does any of this sound familar to you Kathy Kerridge or did you and the CSC just decide this is what is best for Benicia? It appears your group led by the mayor is on a mission. Zoning, green business, planning, street lights, solar, wind and anything else that may work to this groups advantage. All along trying to disguise your effort as Sustainability. No more cares, just walk, bike and use public transportation. If it is not there we will build it. Cluster housing and everything else that goes with it. It is now starting to back fire. Be prepared you are in for a rough ride. No longer can you hide under your umbrella of we know what is best for use. Trying to load the council and commissions with like thinking people. You have gone to far.

The answer to my question is yes. Look it up.

I think you all are missing a really important question here .... Who is John Galt? (I've been waiting 30 years to say that.)

John Galt forgot one thing. Where did LA county get its water? Try the Owens Valley, it legally stole it. Go up there and take a look. It appears what is OK for some is not OK for others. LA got theirs and now John is upset that it is paved over as he says. John without the stolen water what have it been? John you connect me to the Tea Party, where are you getting your info. I think you will find that Robert Shelby and Harvey Rifkin have been to meetings of the Tea Party. Are you connecting them and others also. Remember John some go for information and that is it. Trying to connect the Tea Party and Republicans to this is a political ploy that will play well for a very short time. I time this whole Enviro Greenie agenda to the Liberals all backed by ICLIE, Agenda 21 and the state AB and SB bills. This is an agenda driven platform that wants no interference from anyone. That is why you had this so called mob. Good for them. By the way Louise who is John Galt? Maybe Will Gregory our citizen reporter and researcher could fill us in.

John Galt? Try Ayn Rand about 1957. Is this John Galt using this name to hide his own name? I sure hope not. Is this John Galt a resident of the bay area or is he a fictional character hiding under an agenda. John Galt tells us who you are. I Bob Livesay am a resident of Benicia and do not mind using my name to make my comments. No hiding here. Maybe this John Galt is for real, he is the only one that can tell us.

If you want to see comments from the One Bay Area meetings, you can find them posted on-line here: http://www.onebayarea.org/pdf/workshop_comments_1-12.pdf
Robert, you're labeling people "enviro greenies" "liberals" etc. and assuming that people have a relation to Agenda 21 and ICLEI. This meeting cycle is the first I've heard of either of those two things, so you can imagine the reaction of the meeting planners (MIG) when the meetings were disrupted by people espousing some conspiracy they had never heard of.
I use a different name b/c U work for the public sector and it's wiser for me to not post my positions using my name. John Galt seemed ironically correct, given Ayn Rands hare-brained libertarianism.

The point of this article, and this discussion: "Plan Bay Area Meeting Was Filled People who Weren't There to Listen"
Which was all too evident. The dissenters, be they Tea Party, Anti A-21, whatever, were not there to discuss the plan, they had their own agenda: to halt the civilized discussion of the One Bay Area Plan, and to not give the majority of attendees their right to participate in the meeting that they took an evening out of their lives to attend. But they willingly partook of the food that MTC was kind enough to provide!
Like I said, if you have a better plan, or want to promote your own agenda, rent a hall, set up chairs, prepare a power point that demonstrates your vision for the Bay Area over the next 25 years, and addresses increasing population, traffic, transit needs, housing shortages, and popen space preservation.
I would surely attend to see if your plan is feasible, and I would expect to have my questions answered with some expertise.

Sorry there is an agenda to this. John if you can not see it, sorry I will not be able to help you. Follow the local CSC group and their Climate Action Plan for the city of Benicia. Follow Costance Beutel articles. If that does not tell you why the uproar, what can I say? John I am not assuming anything. I call it as it is. . This is all about climate change.. It is a very selfish driven plan for folks that want to take cars off the hiway. If that is what you want up the price per gallon to $10.00 and up car prices to a minimum of $60,000 per auto. I have not heard the Enviro Greenies say anything about Natural Gas, oil or coal investments to make it burn cleaner. No just wind, sun and electric cars. They may think they are doing the world a favor but guess what they are not. They are very anti drilling and trying to out law our resources that are plentiful. It is a very motivated group to keep cars off the hiway. Do you not think the mob as they have been called were there for a reason? You say not to listen. Somewhere along the line they did listen and were tired of all of this. So guess what they stood up and wanted to be heard and heard very clearly. The Enviro Greenies did not like that. The agenda of this Enviro Greenie group is we know what is best for you. Guess what they are now finding out folks do not think that way and will not take it. They are trying to shift the blame to this so called mob. Not working John.

What a great skill you have. You have the ability to label a whole bunch of people with a condescending name, and even better, you know what they all think!
I didn't know that all these people feel the same way about cars and oil and drilling, but I do know that the US currently exports oil. I also know that oil is the most subsidized product in the US. The more you drive, the bigger welfare recipient you are. Don't even get me started on oil wars and big military spending while our schools are going down the toilet.
And if you thought that the whole One Bay Area plan is driven by "greenies", you're wrong. The region (and the whole state) legally needs to come up with strategies to meet the greenhouse gas reduction targets mandated by SB-375, while still accommodating projected population growth. The meetings presented different growth scenarios and asked attendees what sort of development and transportation systems they preferred, and what they would spend transportation funding on. The OBA website explains it all. Disruptions are not going to change anything except tthat most people at the meeting thought you were bullies and fools.
Agenda 21 is a non-binding advisory document that was meant to aid developing countries by pointing at development scenarios that cost less, use fewer resources and allow very poor people to spend their sparse funds on things like education and food. Read it.

John you stated the agenda very well. Thank you. It start with Agenda 21 then try ICLIE and move on down to the city of Benicia. The Climate Action Plan follows the ICLIE steps. Now John you tell me that is not an agenda with no compromise at all? It is and the folks are tired of it. John wrong again. Grants from taxes are the biggest subsidized efforts to push your Enviro Greenie agenda. Just where does all this money come from? Gas taxes and many other taxes that become grants to support your agenda. What does B/C U work for the public sector mean? John you have done a good job of telling us how you feel and what your political agenda is. We need no further comments about it. You did a good job John.

How's that early morning drinking working out for you?

Old Dog be specific on what you are saying. Better yet use your name. Just who are you talking about and what are you trying to say?

The Enviro Greenies and their way or no way. This group is being subsidized by tax payers that do not have a choice where their money goes. Grant after grant. If EU is so good maybe some of the folks should move there and quit trying to change America to meet their narrow Socialist standards. Very un American and pro-EU. Hard to understand that type of thinking.

I do believe what we have here is a failure to understand a subsidy, tax break which all industries and individuals get and a tax on product. California has a tax of 66 cents a gallon for fed, state and local taxes per gallon. Do not confuse subsidy which Enviro Greenies get from hard working Americans. Tax payers are paying your way of thinking at a very stiff price. Without gasoline and for that matter all other taxes where would you be? Try bridge tolls for just a start. You need to take a look at how you are thinking.

Maybe you Enviro Greenies can help me out. On one hand you say we are lucky to only pay right at $4.00 a gallon. At the same time saying other countries pay $6.00 and much more. So are you mad that we in America only pay the price we pay and want us to pay more? I assume it is to the Enviro Greenies agenda for Americans to pay more at the pump. Now if that is the case , that is very selfish thinking. Also stating big oil is subsidized when actually they like all industry and all other tax payers just get tax breaks or adjustments. A couple making $100,000 get without puting any thought into it gets $21,000 right up front. So to start they are now at @79,000 taxable income. So as you can see everyone gets tax breaks not subsidies like electric cars and solar. Need I go further. That is tax payers money that they are using for failed or near failed projects. You need to think about your agenda.

AF32 and SB375 dictate a certain acceptance level by the public. This is only acceptable to the State legislators if this information has buy in. The only way to get buy in is if Concensus is the outcome. The technique used to get Concensus not majority public vote. Is called the "Delphi Technique" Facillitators (not city council) are hired to get Cocensus with or without a vote. The Questions asked by facillitators were ambigious and didn't get to the facts. This creates a lot of frustration. Causing that Steam Roller effect of. I have no say but I'm paying the way. My particular item is "Exclutionary Zoning" a question I asked at the meeting and didn't get an answer. Neither did the San Mateo County Ag comissner get her answer about farm land being zoned out for housing and transportation lines. Now I know your thinking this zoning is for downtown low incone housing issues. Well guess what its for Hillside REzoning of residential area to make it to expensive to live in the hills. So I believe it forces them to move into the Stack and Packs , give up there cars and wa-la Happy MTC and the "enviro-greenies" who don't own housing or real estate or pay taxes for that matter, so they don't know or bother to know what eminent domain is. So is the threat real ? San Jose Mayor says yes in the "OneBayAreaPlan" website intro Viedo.

Excellent comment Buck Shaw. Thank you for using my Enviro Greenie in your comment. I do believe there will be more comments coming. It is just getting the attention of the public. Again, thanks Buck.

JB have you read the Benicia Climate Action Plan? It tells the whole story. The CSC group and their followers are following ICLIE five steps to the point. This is not choice. This is a group driven by a climate change agenda. It does not have to happen in Benicia and may not. It is about getting cars off the hiway and promoting public transportation. That all sounds good until you see the possible effects. Which are cluster housing, ride or walk to work and possible zoning changes. This is a well thought out plan by the Enviro Greenies. Many foloks are now starting to get the point. Maybe we should have caught sooner.

JB it is very simple. The title of the meeting was Plan Bay Area Meeting. Now JB are you telling me that does not effect Benicia? I sure hope that is not the direction you are going.; This is what this whole issue is all about. AB 32 SB 375 and ICLIE. All that has happened is it is starting to hit home. That is why the folks are not to happy. It does appear bad behavior is backed by some folks and not at all tolerated by folks that do not agree with their view. I guess it depends on what side you are on. Take the OWS group. Many feel their bad behavior was OK.. This issue is without a doubt a political issue. The Climate Change group has their agenda and the other side takes another view. Is there going to be an exchange of words. I sure hope so. To call this group a mob and Tea Party and Republican driven is just there way to bring politics into the fray. In California, Solano County and for sure Benicia that type of attack does get some positive reporting. Now should not the other side be heard. They feel they are being shut down. They are right.

Dear Mr.J.B. Davis. The majority of people have no idea what is going on! They are sheeple and the purpetrators of AB32/SB375 want it that way. Fortunately, there are some who would wake the sleeping sheeples and, when awoke, I have discovered they don't like AB32/SB375. Had you attended a number of meetings, you would have heard them and they were not Tea Party persons as we had pre-meeting so we knew who we were. There were many at every meeting that objected strenously to the fraud being perpetrated. In fact, the frauds at MTC & ABAG contacted our leadership in a move to co-opt them. Now that's really the Republic in action - NOT!

Dear Mr. J.B. Davis. I had another thought. I hope you don't believe that the Revolution that made this nation for your benefit was polite and well mannered. When wrong is faced off squarely, as it should be, it isn't always a polite process and one definitely has to get the attention of both the aggrieved and the aggriever. I for one do not wish to stay cucooned in PC-land; it serves no purpose. There is no violence here nor would any be intended as in the OWS-Oakland folks; but free speech is noisy.

The purpose of the meetings was to get public input but MTC and ABAG were unwilling to listen!!!!