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| Farinha, Smith easily hold on to Council seats |
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| Written by James Leonard | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Wednesday, 05 November 2008 | |
 Patterson's Wally Emmons (seated left) and other community members take some time to eat and drink with Pattersons newest elected councilmembers Annette Smith (standing) and Dominic Fahrinha (seated rear right) at Patterson's Las Gaviotas restaurant Tuesday night. Photo by Elias Funez Smith and Farinha both earned more than 36 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s election. Realini finished around 15 percent and Slonksnis at close to 9 percent. “It’s always hard to predict, but I’m glad with the way it turned out,” Farinha said. “Being a longtime Patterson resident, I was hoping the support would be there, and it wonderfully demonstrated itself.” Farinha led the way with 2,363 votes (39.19 percent), followed by Smith at 2,184 (36.22 percent). Realini received 937 votes (15.54 percent), and Slonksnis received 525 (8.71 percent). Farinha and Smith both benefited greatly from name recognition, but it was the first time either incumbent was actually elected into office. Both were appointed to the council to fill vacancies. Still, they were well known from their time spent on the council — time that has included, among other hot topics, discussion of the controversial West Park development proposed for the former Crows Landing Naval Airbase. And Farinha and Smith were the only candidates of the four to do any significant fundraising, as evidenced by their campaign signs posted all around town. There was also an air of teamwork at play throughout the campaign. Farinha and Smith supported each other and incumbent Mayor Becky Campo, who defeated challenger Luis Molina on Tuesday. Even after the election, candidates on both sides of the results didn’t hold back from criticizing their opponents. Smith said Wednesday she felt the need to campaign harder for this election than she did in her previous council campaigns, which were unsuccessful. That’s because unlike in this election, she had a great deal of confidence in her previous opponents and felt comfortable with their ability to do the job. “I never felt the need to push hard until this one, simply because of the subjects that we’re dealing with and the lack of experience of the candidates that stood up,” Smith said. “I was very uncomfortable with two candidates that basically never attended a council meeting until their names were on the ballot.” Slonksnis congratulated Farinha on his victory but made no mention of Smith. A vocal supporter of Molina in the mayoral race, Slonksnis said his bid for council — as well as his unsuccessful mayoral campaign two years ago — was his way of making a statement about the current administration. “My whole idea every time I run is to let the politicians that run this city know that we are concerned that they weren’t doing their job,” Slonksnis said. “I’d love to work with the other council members, but mainly my focus is to let them know we’re watching them. And every time I run, I tell them.” Realini, a relative newcomer running for public office for the first time, struggled to raise money and establish his name around town. He left open the possibility of running again in 2010, unless there’s another candidate he’d rather support. “I’m going to see who else is actually running,” Realini said. “One of the primary reasons I ran this time was that I didn’t like who was running and I couldn’t find anyone else who wanted to run.” While Realini and Slonksnis focus on their political futures, Smith and Farinha return to the many issues facing Patterson. Farinha said his focus will be on improving public safety and bringing retail businesses to town. He said the campaign helped him become more in tune with the issues Patterson residents care about most. “If I had to do it again, I’d try to reach out to even more people to see what their opinion is,” he said. “I really enjoy getting the input from the citizens on how I can become better council member.” Smith’s priorities center on West Park and the upcoming revision to Patterson’s general plan, both of which have been ongoing issues facing the council. She said she was relieved the entire council remained intact so it could continue to address these issues. “I approach the council position as a job,” Smith said. “It’s a job that needs to be done and needs to be done with caring in your heart. “I have that. I know Dominic has it. I know Becky has it. We want the best for this city and the people of this city.” Contact James Leonard at 892-6187 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Comments
(18)
 written by fred ross , November 05, 2008
You are very eloquent, although a bit of a sore loser at this point. However, you do not have to worry about #2, 4, and 7 for probably this council's term. There will be absolutely no new material developements in Patterson for at least the next 4 years. This town is in a war zone for foreclosures. There is so much of it here driving down the price of homes. So, even if a builder wanted to build homes, they will not due to the economics. Permits plus construction costs alone exceed the fair market value of homes today. Some of us are looking at five years before a real chance of rebound.
Votes: +0
I actually think Diablo Grande will be better off than Patterson with a new developer owner now in charge. The new owner looks to want to make the project very upscale and actually has a plan. But I do like your style. report abuse
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Thanks for compliment, I'm unsure as to whether that was your intent.
Votes: -7
Getting back to the list: 2. So your telling me that the only way this city can build a new park is by taking on tracks of homes? 4. Take a look at the GPAC's recommendation, these nuts want to "frontload" growth. You see, your a*suming that these guys and gals are rational. I can't think of a more irrational concept then trying to frontload growth under the current state of affairs. 7. The candidates speak of preservation of farmland, but please tell me, which incumbent has set forth ANY policy or recommendation addressing this important issue. The biggest problem I have with these incumbents is that they offer nothing new, innovative or practical in solving our communities issues. report abuse
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I wanted to congratulate Ms. Campo, Mr. Farina and Ms. Smith on their election. I am bit disappointed though in Ms. Smith's comment's that the reason she put the effort in the race is that she felt that Mr. Slonksnis and I were not competent enough to fill the seats because of the number of council meetings we had attended or not.
Votes: -6
I hope that she is able to live up to her promises from this election, and to convince the senior’s to share their Senior Center with the teens as she indicated in the T.I.P. roundtable. There is still a lot of work to be done in town, and I would like to be able to do more. Hopefully a positive direction can be given by the council besides stopping West Park and the blue-sky future brought by GPAC and retail survey. report abuse
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Fred Ross,
Votes: -5
The front loading of the general plan is a farce, everyone knows it. I will make a prediction. If the city does realize the planned growth over the first twenty years, they will amend the general plan when the first twenty years is up and add enough land for another 80,000 homes. There is no way they are going to allow all of the growth then shut it down for the 20 years that follow. Jeff Realini, Anyone who appoints a developer and a landowner to a general plan revision committee is in no position to judge the competence of others. What is amazing is her suprise on the committee's 6-4 vote. You appoint these people and expect a different outome, duh! report abuse
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Stop,
Votes: -6
You took the words right of my mouth. I couldn't believe that the Kudos CEO was making a*sessments as to whether folks are competent. A competent council woman wouldn't appoint her "friend" to the GPAC; A competent council woman wouldn't ride mama's coattails; A competent council woman wouldn't run her business into the ground; A competent council woman wouldn't sell the people short for a cheap meal. Don't "Stop the Madness" replace the madness, keep it coming! report abuse
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I want to say that Jeff Realini's and Victor Slonksnis were good for the election though their participation was nominal. I congradualate them on getting so many votes, personally I thought they'll get only a handfull of votes from friends and neigbhors but heck...they exceed my expectations which means this town needs change.
Votes: -5
As recent resident (3 yrs) I feel there is a huge divide between OLD and NEW Patterson, we all know that from reading the paper and attending the meetings. It appears OLDies try to hold as much as they can...and I must say I find Annett Smith's personality as very polarizing, I don't think she is the right person for the job. I've expressed my opinion before about lack of college education in some of the candidates. Smith is one of them, has no college degree...this is not to say people w/out degree less capable ... in fact most entreprenuers don't have college degrees....but I think Smith's ignorance and blunt/stupid attitude that makes her look like trash candidate. I'll run for the next city council opening...I mean it. It's BS that all committees dominated by oldies....nothing new will occur over next 2 years. See you in 2 years! report abuse
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Hope to see you in 2 years. I don't want to be the only challenger.
Votes: -7
BTW - did anyone notice everybody had a beer in their hand in the photo? report abuse
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written by fred ross , November 10, 2008
Hey Jeff,
Votes: -5
The Ptterson Irritator's first blog entry emphasized your above mentioned point. Check out the site, www.pattersonirritator.com Regards, Fred Ross re report abuse
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Ross, Walker Rancher and Realini,
Votes: +5
The three of you do not represent the attitude of the people of Patterson! We proudly went to the polls and made our decision. Stop bashing our Council. I am particularly disgusted with the comments made by Walker Rancher! What is your problem? Annette Smith is one of the smartest people I know. She cares about this community more than 99.9% of our community. She has given of her time in so many different ways. We are luckly to have her in Patterson. The people in Patterson overwhelmingly gave Annette their support. The only ignorance and stupidity is YOUR comments. We don't need this kind of bashing in our community from someone that obviously has an axe to grind. All of you move on and work to make Patterson better instead of just be negative! We have a great council that cares about Patterson. Realini, last I heard was that all of the folks in the picture are 21 years old at a restaurant celebrating their victory over dinner. You are trying to make something out of nothing. Don't be a sore loser! report abuse
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Thanks for the insight annette.........oh I mean "burt".
Votes: -4
We had an old saying in college, "meet your girl in a bar, you lose her to the bar", not sure that applied here, I just thought another drinking joke would lighten things up. To the KUDOS CFO, 99.9% of the community don't have a seat in city hall. She got teary eyed when Demartini dropped a few hundreds on her, she's just not leadership material, bottom line. We'll stop the bashing when she starts to do something, otherwise, consider this the beginning, please see more at the link below. Fred Ross www.pattersonirrittor.com report abuse
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You can think this is Annette all you want. Guess what it is not. You hide behind Fred Ross. All you are is a faceless coward. You do nothing to help our community. You just want to beat down people that do want to help. That's the problem with blogs. It gives faceless cowards a avenue to say whatever they want whether it is the truth or not! Why don't you try helping to make Patterson better by getting involved. You must be more comfortable being the faceless coward that you are. You see Annette Smith stands up for Patterson and is out in public. She works hard to make sure our community is a better place for all of us. She puts her face and name out on the line. She bravely stands up for our community! You on the other hand only critize from a far. You are too much of a coward to come forward and help make Patterson a better place. Fred Ross you have absolutely ZERO creditability in Patterson. You can blog all you want but it will not change the way our community feels about our leadership. That was very evident in the recent election. Thanks goodness we have people like Annette, and the rest of our council who serve our community and try to make a difference in a good way!
Votes: +6
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Before we go any further, all this trash talking doesn't solve any of our problems, so here are a few questions for you "Burt":
Votes: -4
1. Your comment emphasizes faceless cowards, what does that make you? 2. What has the KUDOS CEO achieved during her time on the council? (can't be something that mama propounded) 3. Do you think the current council is the best Patterson had to offer? 4. Why are you so angry? The identity of the person writing these messages is sort of irrelevant, if the issues raised are true concerns. So please tell me which of these issues will the KUDOS CEO take on. 1. M Street (we been told for years that this is the State's problem, yet we know that local governments can take action where the state is insufficient, see Measure S) 2. Gangs - Can she help here? 3. Growth - She wants our housing density to be on average 4 units per acre (I think the blueprint is recommending 32, oh I forgot, another woe is I topic) 4. Downtown - You would think a former small business owner would see the value in a true downtown core. Will she redefine the downtown core to reflect the true downtown, and not the save mart shopping center? Raise you hand if you think the save mart shopping center is downtown. 5. Westpark - she talks a good fight here, but so is everyone else, why can't she leave that up to mama and pursue some other meaningful issues? 6. Economic Development - Hmmmm......not exactly an expert here. 7. Public Safety - Mama and her think our children are the problem, I would strongly disagree. You see "burt", for far too long, our elected official have gone unchecked, the average resident has no idea what these folks are doing, I would argue this is due to the fact that they aren't doing much. While we focus on WP and bloggers, our city deteriorates. I'm just asking her or mama to address ONE of these issues, is that too much????? report abuse
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To see a new post on the Kudos CEO's election video, see the link below.
Votes: -4
http://pattersonirritator.com/ report abuse
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Ross I am not trash talking. I just call it like I seE it. YOU choose to be negative and beat down people who actually help our community yet you yourself do not get involved! I stick by my comment that you are a faceless coward.
Votes: +3
1. Smith'S record speaks for itself. To name a few: FundED our new seniors community center, funded new skate park, funded joint use gym being built on the east side of town, increase our police protection, added fire fighters, approved new retail land for retail growth, funded improvements to old water lines that need replacing, fund street overlays, and these are just a few of the things she has worked towards. They ALL help make our community a better place. Her community work is to long to list. 2. I absolutely think the best candidates were elected to serve. 3. I am not angry. I think your time would be better spent helping make Patterson better by serving the community vs. bashing good people. You only have a negative approach! 4. Because you are a faceless coward your only approach is to tear people down. You feel so strongly about issues yet you don't go to council meetings and speak out. I know b/c I go to council meetings. So you spend your time blogging to tear good people down b/c you are a coward. 5. M STreet. If you would go to council meetings you would know that this council has been pushing to get this project done. Hwy 33 is a State road which means Caltrans must approved any changes. Caltrans has said M-ST. doesn't warrant a signal light and yet this council is still pressing on to get it b/c they feel that strongly about it. Again if you went to the council meetings maybe you would know whats going on. 5. Gangs: I think crime is on the decrease in Patterson. Our Chief is working hard to improve this situation and is doing a good job. We are not there yet but we have to keep improving on this issue. The council has funded more police officers to provide better saftey in Patterson. 6. Growth: I agree with all of GPAC on density. If you look at the old parts of our town the housing denisty is less than 4 units/ac. that's the best area in town. I agree 4.0 is good to plan by. Why do we want to live on top of each other? People don't move to Patterson to live in High density. They don't want to be Oakland. Higher density equals more crime and more population and traffic in a small area. 7. Westpark: ALL of our council should keep up the good fight against West Park. It could be a huge negative on Patterson! 8. Economic Development: Approved McShane Corp., authorized Buxton report to help market our City, approved additional land for retail development. I think we are going in the right direction. This isn't just one council person's issue. Our Econ. Deve. committee needs to do more. Our Chamber of Commerce need to do much more. We all need to do more. Oh except you Mr Ross b/c you don't get involved. 9. Public Safety: This council has increase our police force and added several new fire fighters. Ross you think our elected officials go unchecked which is a slap in the face to the residents of Patterson. The people of Patterson do know what happens and they currently LIKE the direction of our City. Why do you think they overwhelmingly elected Campo, Smith and Farinha? OUR CITY IS NOT DETERIORATING. IN FACT IT IS JUST THE OPPOSITE. YOU SEE WHEN SOMEONE LIKE YOU HAS A AXE TO GRIND YOU TELL LIES AND DISTORT THE FACTS. THE FACT ARE THAT WE ELECTED CAMPO, SMITH AND FARINHA BECAUSE WE ARE HAPPY WITH THEIR LEADERSHIP AND DIRECTION AND WANT THEM TO CONTINUE IT! STOP BEING A SORE LOSER. TRY BEING POSITIVE INSTEAD OF NEGATIVE! AND STOP BEING A COWARD AND COME OUT AND SERVE THE COMMUNITY!!! report abuse
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You must have been her campaign manager or something, don't know why she would actually hire you since your reasoning and analysis is both disingenuous and laughable.
Votes: -2
An idiot can vote up or down, how many of these so called accomplishments did she take the lead on? I never seem to get any answers. I'll promise to add some positive comments if you will admit that 4 units per acre is an absurd density. Let's see at that pace, you would need 12,500 acres to reach your goal of 80,000 residents....per the PI election video. If that's were Kudos stands on density,she is headed down a scary path. Thats three WPs! Just in case the light bulb just went off, M Street is obviously a safety issue, but maybe you don't care about those folks on the other side of the tracks. Strong, competent leaders would go to Sacramento and hold firm. All this would have been properly taken care of if you would have made it a condition for approval for Ramos's 3000 homes. I DO KNOW THIS, if a developer wanted to pay for the improvements, the state would not object, and who said we needed a light, a lit crosswalk would be far better than what is out there now. So please tell what you done, not what you have voted on, but truly, give me something you have taken the lead on and herded along to approval. I'm waiting, song one was for you, enjoy. fred ross www.pattersonirritator.com report abuse
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First, I can't figure out how by running for City Council, getting over 1100 votes (over 15%) I could be a faceless coward that does nothing for the city. I guess since I even have my last name on these posts, I must really be a coward. Fred's comments, while they may be negative, do speak for a good deal of the population. There are a lot of very unhappy residents. The fact that Ms. Smith has refereed to those of us who recently moved here and live on the west side by non-inclusive names such as "those people", and blame the problems in town on commuter is one of the reasons I ran, and why her quoted comments in this article were taken personally.
Votes: -3
What "Walker Ranch" and "Fred Ross" are doing is called democracy or free speech. They don't like what they see, and are saying it. For all you know both of these people may be bed ridden and unable to do more. They are participating by simply speaking out. You berate those who are negative, but have YOU done anything positive for the community? The comment on the drinks is a matter of protocol - "Never have your picture taken with a drink in your hand". A few things that you do have factually wrong - 1. The senior center is being funded by Mello Roos (paid by those of us on the west side, thank you) not general fund money. Ms. Smith has also stated at the TIP round table that this is not going to be strictly a senior center, but mixed use. I wonder what the senior's will think of this? As for most of the other projects you state were put forth by Ms. Smith, most of these are being funded by Mello Roos also. A study is not an accomplishment. When these projects are finished and in use, then they will be accomplishments. Until then they are simply sunk costs. 2. Council funded the sheriff contract that has 1.5 officers per 1000 residents stipulated. This also included paying a larger portion of Chief Spencer's pay. 3. The only reason gangs are on the decrease (visibly) is that the Runner's disbanded. The other gangs are in it as a business, and being visible is not good business. 4. High Density does not equal high crime (see Livermore). Blight and unemployment equals high crime, and this is what Oakland has and we have now. Four houses per acre does not equal high density. 5. You must be angry, because your spelling and grammar gets worse as your statement goes on. You are correct that the M St. crossing is governed by Cal-Trans. Cal-Trans is working with council to fund a light. Bert, since you say you always go to council meetings, this would mean that either you are on the council, are a director for the city, or are a landowner or owner's rep, because these are the only people I always see at the meeting. Introduce yourself next time. report abuse
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 written by Walker Rancher , November 12, 2008
I like the way Victor put it, so true...somebody has to keep an eye. The fact that this mayoral election got so contested and almost went to Molina speaks volumes. It speaks volumes because only 400 people believed Becky was better leader than Molina. I think Molina can pull this off in 2 years {unless I run :-) }...if it weren't for good ol' boys network coming in the eleveth hour and bousting funding to Becky she would've lost. I think Molina's past incident effected only few people (oh maybe just 400 people)...
Votes: -6
Let's keep an eye on these people. Especially Annette Smith!!! report abuse
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Congratulations to the incumbents, may you continue to lead us down a path whereupon our political officials are beholden to landowners, not residents. Where all the problems that exist today, will remain until the next election cycle. Where:
1. The M street intersection will still death trap to our children
2. Our parks will continue to look like creators on the moon, only good for collecting water, utterly useless if you want to have a soccer, baseball, or football game.
3. We will continued to be lied to about our severe water problem.
4. Landowners will continue to set the agenda for city business.
5. We fail to incorporate or address Green House Gases (GHGs) into our general plan update, CAN YOU SAY "LAWSUIT". (see sierra club v. city of stockton)
6. We fail to address the all too obvious issues regarding race and diversity amongst our youth.
7. We continue to pave over farmland just to chase the mighty dollar.
8. Lastly, where we as city reward dirty, back door politics.
Our nation took a huge step forward yesterday, the city of Patterson has taken a few huge steps back.
See you in 2 years!
Fred Ross
Founder, CSO