ROCK THE VOTE--VOTE OR DIE--AND OTHER BRAINDEAD SLOGANS

Today I voted, because my voice matters. (Can you sense the sarcasm?) I really did vote, despite the fact that I have not voted in over 12 years.

I voted for one reason: I do not want Measure L to pass. Measure L is a San Mateo County measure that specifically involves Pacifica. Basically it's this. While Pacifica is a coastal community (there are some very nice beaches here), there are also woods and mountains. Measure L targets the last significantly large open expanse of land in Pacifica. It includes a wetlands area that is environmentally sensitive and rolling hills. The measure allows for this millionaire businessman from Miami to build 355 low-income housing units and a strip mall on this piece of land. The measure is supposed to generate 3,700 new jobs, revenue for the city, which will go for improving the schools, fire dept., police deprt, and repairing Highway 1. one of the most pushed sales-pitches of measure L is that, Proponents claim, that the project will help to decrease the traffic problem here in Pacifica. This is the most absrud part of this measure. If you've seen Highway 1 in Pacifica, there's not much room to widen the road to accomadate the amount of traffic; hell, much of Highway 1 around here keeps falling into the ocean. Even if they could widen the road in Pacifica, that will do nothing to alleviate traffic jams because, with 3,700 more workers and 355 new homes, the amount of vehicles on the road will increase dramatically. There will be so much congestion it will make coming into or leaving Pacifica a bumber-to-bumper affair. Moreover, they can't widen all of Highway 1, so there will be traffic bottlenecks on either side. But such things are practical concerns, which are important, but I have an ethical/aesthetic concern. I'm inclined to think that an environmentally sensitive area has intrinsic value and hence should be preserved for that reason alone. But alos, do we really need another strip-mall? Do we have to look at yet another string of Rite-Aids, Burger Kings, hair salons, and so on? We don't consider how living in an uglified place affects are well-being.

3,700 new jobs doesn't impress me because most of those who will get hired will not be Pacificans but people from San Francisco, Daly City, and San Bruno. The revenue generated does not have any garenteed constraints that insure the money wil be spent on schools, fire dept, and so on. And, of course, it will make the traffic even worse.

Every night there are deer that roam around in front of my place and all thru our little touwnhome community where I live. They do this because they are running out of space to live because we keep building crap all over the place. There are mountain lions that eat those deer. Mountain lions go where the deer are. Now mountain lions have been spotted in the neighborhood. They too have no more space to live because we keep destroying their habitat. It's all bullshit. It's just about money, which is an expediant, extrinsic value, rather than conservation and beauty, which are intrinsic values.

The legislation for Measure L is very "slick-willy" since it provides no gaurentee for the things it claims. Voting "yes" on L effectively gives its executors a blank check. That's just bad legislation.