Woodland City Council 06'

From deep within the bowels of the Woodland Library, three men entered into a struggle to represent the people of their city.

Ok , so it was in the Leake room at the Library and the candidate were on their best behavior. The Woodland Republican Club held the candidate forum last night, Kirby Wells and Doug Young put together a very professional and informative evening for the fifty or so people in attendance. After a slight confusion with the starting time, it is Yolo County after all, the forum started with a two minute introduction from the candidates, then several question were asked covering a variety of topics. Most people wanted to hear each candidates positions on a proposed Permanent Urban Limit Line, or PULL on the June ballot as Measure A and flood protection for the city.

The first candidate to speak was Marlin 'Skip' Davies, a former Woodland teacher and administrator for the Los Rios Community College District. Mr. Davies spoke about his service to the community where he has served on many commissions and boards. He is a very polished speaker, while he retains his small town charm. Skip has a good deal of experience and he is not afraid to speak his mind. He supports a PULL as the best way to manage growth. He says that growth, in and of itself does not pay for itself. He proposes that any growth must be economically feasible. While he did not say a much, I am thinking that development fees and assessments must keep pace with the cost of delivering services.
Davies also said that the floodwall is a dead issue and other studies must be done to look into how to bring the city's flood protection up to the 100 year level.

Second up was local dentist Dr. Bill Marble. Dr. Marble has an impressive educational resume and service in the Air Force. He is very involved in community service and his church. Dr. Marble looks like a politician. He is smooth and speaks in generalities unless pressed. He reminds me of Senator Bill Frist. I'm sorry, he does. He also supports the permanent urban limit line and wants to find a 100 year flood protection plan that everyone can agree to.

The most interesting item of the night was a question from the audience about the City's agreement with 'Los Caporales' a Mexican Charo rodeo group who has held the lease on a city arena. The group has had some management shakeups recently and the City has had complaints about the safety of grandstands and other areas. The City is also looking into the group's insurance coverage and the lease agreement's price, which is considered low by some for the size and scope of the property.

Although the question was asked in English, Dr. Marble who is bi-lingual, answered the question in Spanish. There was a small silence after he finished and some one from the audience finally asked him what he said. He said that there must be better communication between the parties and he hoped that the situation could be worked out so they could stay on the property. It seemed a little glib that he would answer the question in Spanish and not translate it to English.

The last candidate to speak was Dan Ryhal, a local business owner and a former City Councilmen. As a matter of full disclosure, I have known Dan for a long time. Our softball team used to eat pizza and drink beer at Ricos after every game. That being said, Dan has what I call a workingman's education, University of Phoenix if memory serves me right. He was asked about the use of eminent domain for private development and said that he believes it to be un- Constitutional. He was also the only candidate that did not support a permanent urban limit line. His thought is once the line is drawn, that's it. The developers will start a bidding war for the land, and developers from all over California will buy up every piece of ground inside the line. Mr. Ryhal thinks that an urban limit line that is reviewed and amended by the city and the voters every ten years or so is the way to go. He is also very opposed to the floodwall idea and want to aggressively look at ways to improve the capacity of Cache Creek.

Notables in attendance included John W Jones, candidate for the first Congressional District. Also present was Roughstock Journal reader John Gould, candidate for the 8th Congressional District. Barbara Deiter spoke on behalf of Jeff Reisig, candidate for Yolo County District Attorney.

A bright spot in the night belonged to Brenda Cedarblade, candidate for 3rd District Yolo County Supervisor. Her two minute statement, ok four minute statement about flood control on Cache Creek from Lake county to the bypass was insightful and was referred to frequently by the candidates. She may be a Democrat, but I think she might be coming over to the darkside. Join us Brenda, and together we can rule the galaxy, or at least a small part of Yolo County.