AgdaPkt 2002-03-25 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft Letter to Committee Chair March __, 2002 The Honorable Patricia Wiggins, Chair Committee on Local Government The State Assembly State Capitol, Room 4016 Sacramento, CA 95814 Re: Assembly Bill 2058 - SUPPORT Dear Chair Wiggins; On behalf of the City of Redwood City, I'm writing to urge your committee to approve As- sembly Bill 2058, introduced by Assemblyman Louis J. Papan (D-Millbrae) and co-authored by Assemblyman John Dutra (D-Fremont). AB 2058 would enable the local governments that are dependent on the San Francisco regional water system and are responsible for water distribu- tion to their customers, to voluntarily form the Bay Area Water Planning and Conservation Agency. The attached resolution expresses the City Council's serious concern about the possibility of our community being without water from the system for up to 60 days. The health, safety and eco- nomic risks of such a catastrophic outage are unacceptable for our community. This is a re- gional problem affecting 2.4 million people, thousands of businesses, and vital community or- ganizations. The state and the nation depend on a vibrant Bay Area economy. In Redwood City's water service area, over 82,000 residents and major employers including Oracle Corpora- tion, Electronic Arts, Granite Rock Company and Perclose / Abbott Laboratories Co. are 100 percent dependent on water from the regional system. Our customers and residents that depend on the water made available by the regional system have no right to vote in elections in San Francisco and are not represented on the commission that oversees operation of the regional system. There is currently no multi-county governmental agency authorized to assist in the financing of essential repairs and improvements to the re- gional water system (including seismic strengthening), to encourage water conservation and the use of recycled water on a regional basis, or to plan for and acquire supplemental water sup- plies. The Bay Area Water Planning and Conservation Agency, as enabled thru AB 2058, would be able to perform these types of activities. Because this matter concerns the health, safety and well being of our constituents, action must not be delayed. We will be pleased, therefore, to testify in favor of this bill. Sincerely, Richard S. Claire Mayor CC: Members of the Assembly Local Government Committee Assemblyman Louis J. Papan Assemblyman John Durra Bay Area Water Users Association