Senator Joe Simitian is not OHV or Moto friendly - vote against him for Supervisor

budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
I recently met with Senator Simitian on the OHV $$ grab.

Info here: Budman's meeting with Senator Joe Simitian on OHV funding

Joe is a long time "career" politician and his committee chair on this issue that will put the OHV Park system at risk within a couple of years and his moving forward with it even though it has not been deemed legal is enough for me to oppose his run for Supervisor, let alone his disinformation to his constituents.

Joe has already served on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and has spent almost 30 years as a politician. Lets give someone else a chance to serve, someone that can be honest and forthright.*

From my sources I understand that in meetings with Senator Simitian he and his staff have told representatives of the OHV community that he does not care about OHV and he will get the money he wants.*
*
See this link for how he treated *California Off-Road Vehicle Association (CORVA) Managing Director, Amy Granat at a recent hearing:*
Assembly Meeting (look at around the 2hour and 20 minute mark)

Senator Simitian has met with the California State Parks Foundation and PEER Director, Karen Schambach. He indicated this was their plan and so he is moving forward to try and win over voters in Santa Clara County for his upcoming election.

Joe also has received an endorsement from the Sierra Club for his run and he is using this issue to make himself look more "green".
Make no mistake, no matter what he says this will lead to the closure of many OHV areas over the next 2-3 years.*

Kris Wang running against him,she is OHV friendly. Time to vote out those that oppose the shared use of lands by all groups and use these types of issues to hype their own publicity.

Kris Wang

IF YOU LIVE IN THE FOLLOWING CITIES PLEASE VOTE FOR YOUR RIGHTS ON JUNE 5TH:

Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hill, portions of Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Cupertino, Saratoga and northwestern portions of unincorporated Santa Clara County. Even if you don’t live in this area please help out by writing an email or letter.

Check here to see if you are in District 5 of Santa Clara County:
http://eservices.sccgov.org/district/home.do

Vote for Kris Wang - She has responded to our community and stated in writing that she supports OHV and has family that rides both dirt and street:flag
 

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budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
Fractured only because my heart is. This guy is setting up the OHV system to fail so he looks good.
 
W

wolfrider

New member
Help Save Riding Areas!

WE HAVE 12 HOURS OR LESS! CONTACT ASSEMBLY MEMBER RICH GORDON ASAP!! We do not have exact details on the hearing time but it will be tomorrow (this late into the budget season they do not have concrete times)

The proposal made by Senator Joe Simitian, which slashes OHV grant funding by 50%, is being considered by the State Assembly this Thursday, May 31st. If this proposal is adopted, more than half of the funding for the US Forest Service, BLM, and many County Parks will be redirected away from the state’s OHV Program. This is NOT A LOAN, BUT A TAKING of money which will never be repaid. You must act IMMEDIATELY in order to make a difference. Call your local state representatives, or members of the Assembly Budget Committee (include names?), as well as your local news outlets to let them know that this misuse of OHV funding is not acceptable and not appropriate. Most importantly, this action, if unchallenged, will lead to massive closures of USFS, BLM, and County OHV Park lands. AS we have seen many times in the past, once an OHV area closes, it never re-opens!

The funding being taken is from taxes paid on gasoline used by OHV recreationists, and should be used to maintain OHV recreational opportunities. The OHV community has always paid its own way, and has never depended on General Tax Funds or Park Bond Acts. How is it right to redirect funds collected from OHV recreation, and use them for ANY PURPOSE OTHER THAN SUPPORT OF OHV RECREATION!?

Finally, the proposal made by Senator Simitian is supposedly only to be in effect for three years. Really! Do they expect us to believe that after getting a taste of $21 million a year for three years, the state will be able to wean itself off of the taking and return the funding to OHV? Just like OHV opportunity areas, once funding is lost, it never comes back. If anyone doubts this, check out the state’s record on repaying loans from the OHV program…it just never happens. The OHMVR Commission’s 2011 report (available for viewing at ohv.parks.ca.gov) on page 9 shows that over $160,000,000 borrowed from the OHV Trust Fund, has never been paid back!

Senator Simitian is telling people he met with Bud and the OHV Community and everything is good now because he gave concessions. All he did was moved the "shells" around!!! The amount they are taking did not change and he is trying to sell it around the capitol as though he worked hard with OHV to gain a compromise!!! When will we learn? Where will this all end?

Stand up now. Let your voice be heard. The OHV Grants Program is vital to continued availability of OHV opportunities in California. Contact Assembly Member Rich Gordon who is the Chair of the Assembly Sub-Committee that will be hearing this TOMORROW!!! Fortunately for us, Assembly Member Gordon represents parts of Santa Cruz, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Contact him at 916-319-2021 or 650-691-2121. Also email him or his Chief of Staff (Harry Ermoian) at harry.ermoian@asm.ca.gov or assemblymember.gordon@assembly.ca.gov send a copy of the email to kealii.bright@asm.ca.gov

When you contact the Assembly Members office today please be polite and respectful, he has been fair and supportive to motorcyclists in the past (on many occasions). Here are the points to emphasize:

• Ask him to please stick with Assembly Member Jared Huffman’s (member from SF Bay Area) plan as outlined in AB 1589, it saves parks and does not move money around in a “shell” game. (Huffman is on this committee). No money is taken from OHV! Here is the link to the committee for tomorrow: http://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/sub3resourcesandtransportation
• The current proposal from the Simitian will effectively shut down Metcalf Motorcycle Park within a year or two. A very popular park in Santa Clara County. This can be prevented by saying no to Simitian’s politically motivated proposal.
• Senator Simitian did not support OHV Motorcyclists with the changes he made to his proposal; he only moved the numbers around. He did not hear nor did not even try to meet us halfway.
• If money must be taken then please just take a loan from the OHV Trust Fund. Simitian’s proposal to divert revenue from the Gas Tax is a shell game that will lead to new problems with another deficit in State Parks OHV Division within 2-3 years (Simitian will no longer be in office).
• Moving money from one side of the State Parks Department to the other without the support of State Parks makes no sense and is a waste of taxpayer’s time/money.
 
X

Xkiban

Thumper
budman said:
Joe is a long time "career" politician and happens to live in a gated community in Santa Cruz that does not allow motorcyclist in.*
Click to expand...

This is a small thing in your very long post, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't live in Santa Cruz. He couldn't run for office in Santa Clara County if he did.
 
X

Xkiban

Thumper
Yeah but didn't you say he's running for Santa Clara county board now? So if he lives in Santa Cruz and running for office in Santa Clara he's breaking the law.
 
budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
Xkiban.. I have edited out the Santa Cruz reference for now as I have not received the confirmation from my source to 100% validate.

I sure don't want the wrong information here.

The fact is Joe is getting his way..

Here is an update from the hearing:

Well, all the efforts expended over the last few days achieved little today. The Assembly Subcommittee voted in favor of taking the OHV Trust Fund money, even the two Democrats on the committee we thought were vulnerable went along with the proposal without saying anything. Seeing government in action is at times frustrating, and confusing.

These actions make the need for a lawsuit more critical, and necessary. That's the only halfway justification that could be derived from any of this.

People are putting together next steps, which will probably target the Governor. We've done it before when Daphne's appointment was terminated, and we can work together again.

I'm going to ask all of you who signed on the letter we wrote to the Governor to sign again on a letter that will be developed.

We need anyone with a connection to a Board of Supervisors, a motorcycle dealership, anything that benefits from the grants program, put together those numbers. It's obvious that we don't have the political pushback to stop these takings. For right now, we only have the power of the people. And that power can be immense, we just have to wield it. That takes everyone doing smart things that can make a difference.

BTW, Brian Jones spoke very well, and eloquently about saving the OHV Trust Fund. If you are in his district, or know someone in his district, please say thanks for all of us.
Crediting Bruce Whitcher, he said a long time ago these battles for OHV were going to be won by the power of the people. He's right, maybe we should protest, maybe put together a petition, contact newspapers, make your voices heard.
 
bluenoser

bluenoser

Well-known member
As for a deflection, what other programs could also be targeted to be raided? Are there any other programs we can say "they voted to bankrupt the OHV fund within 5 years, which sets a precedent. Vote "No" so they won't go after your fund next". Road tax is a glaring obvious one; raid the fund to effectively halt paving/repaving/widening roads, giving CA third-world roads, and no longer pay out for CalTrans vehicle repairs due to deteriorating road conditions. Perhaps have an article written to highlight the potential to allow this to go through.
 
89fj

89fj

late braking
anybody that can vote in that area really needs to get out and vote against this guy
 
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