HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 11021993 - 1.68 1.59 through 1.70
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Adopted this Order on November 2, 1993, by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Powers, Smith, Bishop, McPeak and Torlakson
NOES: None:
ABSENT: None
ABSTAIN: None
SUBJECT: Correspondence
Item No.
1. 59 LETTER dated October 15, 1993 , from J. Corgiat, 2001 Oakmont Way
#7, Walnut Creek 94595, commenting on the cutbacks in the Walnut
Creek Library.
***REFERRED TO COUNTY LIBRARIAN AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
1. 60 LETTER dated October 12, 1993 , from Art Agnos, Regional
Administrator-Regional Housing Commissioner, U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development, San Francisco Regional Office,
Region IX, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco 94102-3448,
regarding HOME funds for affordable housing projects.
***REFERRED TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
1. 61 LETTER dated October 7, 1993, from William R. Locke, Chief, Risk
Studies Division, Federal Insurance Administration, Federal
Emergency Management Agency, Washington, D.C. 20472 ,
transmitting a revised Flood Insurance Rate Map and commenting
on minimum floodplain management criteria established in
accordance with provisions of the National Flood Insurance
Program.
***REFERRED TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR AND PUBLIC WORKS
DIRECTOR
1. 62 LETTER dated October 15, 1993, from Paul E. Payne, Supervisor,
Inyo County Board of Supervisors, P.O. Box N, Independence
93526, requesting the Board to oppose the "California Desert
Protection Act" introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein.
***REFERRED TO COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
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1. 63 LETTER October 14 , 1993 , from Director, Katherine McKinney,
Board of Directors, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) ,
375 Eleventh Street, Oakland 94607 , proposing that the EBMUD
Board and the County Board of Supervisors meet to discuss
workable methods for maximizing opportunity to ensure
appropriate coordination between land use and water supply
decisions.
***REFERRED TO DIRECTOR, GROWTH MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, COUNTY COUNSEL, COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR,
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND THE WATER COMMITTEE, TO ESTABLISH A
TIME AND AGENDA FOR THIS MEETING.
1. 64 LETTER dated October 20, 1993, from Richard Porterfield, 2869
Via Dominguez, Walnut Creek 94596, commenting on the need for
EBMUD to develop a more sustained water source before additional
major housing developments are considered for the Dougherty
Valley.
***REFERRED TO DIRECTOR, GROWTH MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
1. 65 LETTER dated October 15, 1993 , from Nancy Michel, Appointments
Consultant, Senate Rules Committee, California Legislature,
State Capitol - Room 500, Sacramento 95814, advising of the
Governor''s appointments to the California Regional Water Quality
Control Board, Santa Ana Region.
***REFERRED TO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
1. 66 LETTER dated October 15, 1993 , from Raymond H. Hawkins, 249 Lake
Drive, Kensington 94708, objecting to the granting of any
Memorandums of Understanding and Transitional Permits to the
Kensington Community Services District/Bay View Refuse Service
garbage and recycling services.
***REFERRED TO COUNTY COUNSEL FOR RESPONSE.
1. 67 LETTER dated October 14, 1993 , from Nancy Gore, Mayor, City of
Concord, 1950 Parkside Drive, Concord 94519, advising that a
majority of the City Council has expressed support for the
passage of Proposition 172 on the November 2 , 1993 ballot, and
requesting that funds received as a result of the passage of
Proposition 172 be allocated for public safety purposes.
***REFERRED TO COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
1. 68,[LETTER dated October 21, 1993, from James E. Gingrich, 1104 Via
Roble, Lafayette 94549, advising of his experience in trying to
dispose of a small amount of household waste at the Health
Department's temporary waste collection site located at the
Lafayette BART parking lot.
***REFERRED TO HEALTH SERVICES DIRECTOR FOR RESPONSE
1. 69 LETTER dated October 4, 1993 , from Jonothan Dumas, Chair,
Advisory Council on Equal Employment Opportunities, C/O
Community Services Department, 2425 Bisso Lane, Concord 94520,
commenting on the need to commit adequate resources for the full
implementation of the County's Affirmative Action Plan.
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***REFERRED TO COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
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V ( , G 1�s /
James E. Gingrich
1104 Via Roble
Lafayette, CA. 94549
October 21, 1993
County Supervisors
Contra Costa County
Martinez, CA.
SUBJECT: The County Hazardous Waste Disposal Program
Dear Supervisor:
Contra Costa County probably has the household hazardous waste disposal
program that it deserves. I would certainly like your comments on my experiences.
Recently I tried to dispose of a very small amount of household waste at the Health
Department's temporary waste collection site located at the Lafayette BART
parking lot. I was very curtly told that they would not accept my waste because I
did not have an appointment!
The following day I spoke with the supervisor of the County's household
hazardous waste disposal program and I was surprisingly told that not only did I
have to have an appointment with them to dispose of any household waste, but also
that they did not like to use convenient collection sites (like the BART parking lot)
since these sites were too easily seen by the public passing by and that they
preferred less conspicuous locations since they did not want to have too many
people to come uninvited without appointments.
With these barriers in place it appears that the Health Department wants to
discourage the general public from participating in this program. They must want to
use their bureaucrats to sit at their phones all day taking appointments instead of
developing a rapid, easy-to-use program for hazardous waste disposal. Is it
possible that these people could actually collect household hazardous waste daily at
a convenient central site instead of sitting at their desks?
In reality the existing program may very well be the best program for the county
since many knowledgeable scientists believe that the dangers of many so-called
hazardous household wastes is greatly exaggerated by those whose fortunes are
tied to making the general public believe that the wastes are more dangerous than
they really are.
Sincerely,
�ames E. Gingrich
03 03
ns:1 ON
Bog Z 1�0
03AI303,
Can organically grown tomatoes give you cancer?
They are about as likely to as are the pesticides
that the EPA so righteously bans'
1plmts
they pollute.
By Leslie Spencer
"I THINK the FrA kills people," de- makers with a fury reserved for alleged from being eaten. When injected in
clares Bruce .A,n%#:s from his over- turncoats. But Ames is not so much a rats in high doses, these chemicals
crowded laboq'-03ry at the University turncoat as an unflinchingly honest cause cancer as frequently as do the
of Calo*,Tpia,Berkeley,where lie has man. In the 1970s Ames invented a synthetic ones.
served as professor of biochemistry - way for companies and research labs Ames explains: Our bodies don't
and molecular biology since 1968. to weed out potentially cancer-cans- care whether a chemical is svnthetic or`
Ames' opinion may sound strange ing new chemicals cheaply and easily. natural. At low doses we have these
coming from the environmentalists' The "Ames Test"is now used world- i elaborate defense systems that work
crst\vhile favorite scientist. But there wide. ("I never made a penny on it," the same way for both. "It just
it is.He says simple scientific evidence he says ntefully—naive idealism pre- doesn't make any sense that the pesti-
has caused him to change his views vented him from filing a patent.) tide residue on a tomato is doing us
about the much touted risk from Now, however, he is not alone any more harm than the natural pesti-
man-made chemicals. among scientists in his views on tide in the tomato."
"You can understand how it hap- chemicals.More and more ofhis peers He has a favorite illustration:There
pened," he says about current envi- quietly agree with him. In an essay are more"known carcinogens"in his
ronmental policy."But we really have coauthored with colleague Lois Gold morning cup of coffee than in the
jumped oil•a cliff. People have coin- in a new collection, Phantom Risk: pesticide residue on food one could
pletely forgotten about the natural Scientific Inference and the Lail,(mrr comfortably eat in a year.And only 26
world." Press, 1993), Ames has boiled his ofover 1,000 chemicals in coffee have
Anes has come to the conclusion analysis down to eight "misconcep- even been tested.
that environmentalists have gone tions." Its highlights: In a 1992 study he found that
astray because of their insistence that ®Cancer death rates are not increas- broccoli,brussels sprouts and basil all
man is evil and nature benign. This ing. In fact, adjusted for age and contain rodent carcinogens by FrA
theology has led them to promote smoking, they have been steady or risk standards,as do mangoes, nnish-
theories about the relationship be- decreasing since 1950,except among rooms and mustard, potatoes, pars-
tween pollution and cancer that arc the very old. nips and pears.
wildly misleading. ® Injecting rats with massive doses of He is pressing the National Toxi-
In the process, politics has so cor- a chemical,the standard test for deter- cology Program to randomly test
rupted science that the direct costs of mining cancer risk of pesticides and more natural pesticides, to double-
pesticide and pollution-control regu- pollutants, cannot measure risks to check their rate of carcinogenicity
lations (estimated at between 2%and humans exposed to only low doses. compared with that of man-madc
6%of GNC,) are largely spent"chasing Tumors found in these hapless rats are chemicals. So far,they have declined.
after trivia." often caused simply by the; high Close "1 guess I'm sort of' rubbing their
Now, when he isn't teaching, re- itself,which damages cells and causes nose:in it, but I want to point out the
searching or receiving awards (an av- their division. This result cannot be double standard."
crage of one every 17 months since extrapolated to low-dose risk for Needless to say,Washington, D.C.
1964),Ames is trying to"kick out the humans. pretends not to hear Ames and his
foundations" that support most of 0 Most carcinogens and other known scientific colleagues. Last month the
the science guiding current environ- toxins are not man-madc. In fact Clinton Administration proposed a
mental and health policy. 99.99°/) of the "pesticides" we con- sweeping c-,pansion of fix_,d safety
Ames' arguments have been resist- surae occur naturally in plants, na- laws.The;am is to ban outright those
ed by environmentalists and policy- tare's attempt at protecting them pesticides that don't meet the govern-
104 Forbes ® Octobcr 25, 1993
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�•Tir.;eta''{" •
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Aines
reports." Tokyo sushi eaters created a small but thriving boom in
Why? Because of em t "tremendous California's fishin industry. Then California's misguided
pressure" on them to conform to g y• g
institutionally established govern- bureaucrats helped cede the markets to others.
nient risk standards.
The most recent one, issued in the
summer, claimed that children are .AAIS
especially at risk from pesticides. It Chaoppy W, aftr
was widely reported in the media and
is a driving farce behind the new
proposed restrictions.
Ames says that: the "tine print" is
modest in its Claims, but notes that
reports written by Committees are By Nina Munk
wide open to interpretation.The end
result was misleading. LAST MONTH a California state Court colored sex organ of a sea urchin.
Environmental health regulation, jury iii Malibu sat through five days of Almost overnight, the gold rush
Acnes says, is a series of tradeoffs. evidence and f0wnd 50-year-old Vin- hit.As tales of divers earning$1,000 a
Risks compete with risks, and if you Cent PLIlCo guilty of' picking under- day spread,hundreds of young hope-
exaggerate one, you divert resources sized sea urchins. Pinto argued that fuls slipped into scuba gear and start-
from another. He says that the FTA is by the time he'd brought them to ed picking. From 1982 to 1992 sales
far past the point where it is Counter- shore the urchins had shrunk, but it Of urchins at California's docks shot
productive. was 110 use. Found guilty, he faces a from$3.5 million to$29 million.The
But isn't he going a little far when maximum six-month jail sentence and prickly creatures now represent al-'
lie says that the EPA kills people? Not a$1,000 fine. most a quarter of the$131 million of,,''
at all, lie explains: A dozen years back PlllC•O Could fish caught in California.
Widespread scientific evidence, have picked all the urchins lie liked, Then,the predictable: High prices
sonic of it from his lab, confirms the but he wasn't very interested. Until attracted more fishermen and by the
homespun wisdom about fruits and the late 1970s urchins were consid- late 1980s the seas began to be fished
vegetables: Eating plenty of them cred pests—they atc the kelp that thin. Hoping to remedy the situation,
(and Only 9% Of the U.S. population valuable abalone fed off and their the bureaucrats got into the act. Cali-
does) reduces incidences of most spines pierced the feet of swiniincrs. fornia's Department of Fish & Game
types of cancer by up to 50%. Pesti- Then California discovered the sushi restricted the number of days divers
tides have provided a measurable bars of Tokyo,where nothing is more are allowed out;introduced size limits
health advance by bringing down the prized than uni, the fleshy orange- oil urchins;and cut back,fi•om a peak
cost offresh produce.SO ifyou restrict
pesticide use, the Cost Of fruits and -?•� f ;—,� �- r �,�,.'t r �;.^ t� ! r _ o
vegetables is likely to go up. And the
j.
most price sensitive shoppers, tilt
Poor,arc already the most vulnerable r
to cancer.
Which is why, Ames says, the
EPA kills.
Now 64, Ames credits his Italian
wife, also a professor of biochcniistr-y S,at Berkeley,with his own dcmonstra- ¢. ,
bly good health."She's a great cook.I
cat Mediterranean," lie says. And he
lights up when the subject turns to his _
Current research on aging: "As we k'
understand the mechanism,there arc
hundreds of ways to intervene." He
adds with a wry smile,"I am Hying to
solve it before all Illy neurons go ;j,•,:
rancid."
When it comes to Ills Own life span, i �a
one thing lie's not worried about:
chemical pesticides. "Unless you California urchin divers bring
wade around in the stuff, pesticides in the day's catch
don't cause cancer.That's the bottom Competition from Maine has hit hard.
line."
108 Forbcs e October 2 , 1993