Two slates contend
in sanitary district

Control of East Palo Alto
district is at stake

by Don Kazak

East Palo Alto voters will have a chance to decide Nov. 2 between two slates of candidates vying for control of the city's small sanitary district.

One side has attempted to give a $50 rebate to property owners, saying the district has more than enough money to do so and that its rates, at $290 per home per year, are too high.

The other side includes a candidate who has filed a lawsuit to block payment of the rebates; that slate contends the money is needed for pipe repairs.

The slate favoring the rebate includes district board president Samuel Rasheed, Peggy Argus and Belinda Rosales

A. Peter Evans and Niambi Lincoln, who voted against the rebates, are seeking re-election on the other slate, joined by Jacqueline Wallace Green, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that has blocked the rebates.

The dispute over the rebates is a defining difference between the two slates.

The board's meetings are often disrupted by outbursts from the public upset with the board majority or by arguments between the board members.

"There's got to be a solution" to the disruptions at meetings, Argus said.

But the disruptions happen because of public-speaking limitations the board majority has imposed, Lincoln said. "That frustrates the very people we're supposed to serve," Lincoln said.

Rasheed had to call the police at one meeting last year because of disorder at a meeting, and Evans was censured, on a 3-2 vote, after he threw a cup of coffee at an audience member last year.

But Lincoln says Rasheed and the board majority "disrespected me and members of the public" by restricting audience comments to the beginning of each meeting.

Rosales said she decided to seek a seat on the board partly because she was "disgusted by how a couple of board members (Evans and Lincoln) conducted themselves."

Green said she decided to file the lawsuit seeking to overturn the 3-2 vote to issue the $50 rebates because a three-fourths vote was needed. Evans said, "It is illegal under California law to give a rebate."

Evans is also critical of the board majority for dismissing longtime district general manger Leroy Hawkins in June and longtime counsel William Esselstein last year. If his side was in control of the board, Evans said, "We wouldn't fire people in public for no reason, we would allow people to speak at meetings, we wouldn't have any disrespecting the public."

"It is Peter Evans and Niambi Lincoln who are creating the discord and turmoil," Rasheed said. "It's an ongoing tactic to filibuster and prevent us from doing our work."

The two sides couldn't be farther apart than on the rebate issue.

"The money is all there to do the repairs," Argus said.

"No one has ever shown there is enough money," Evans said.

The candidates' positions on the $50 rebate and the political strife on the district board are summarized in the biographical sketches that follow.

East Palo Alto Sanitary District candidates

PEGGY ARGUS
Age: 46
Residence: Cooley Avenue
Occupation: Personal business coach
Background: Member of Just Us, a community antidrug group.
The $50 rebate: "I don't have any question about the rebates. The accounting has been thorough, and the board majority investigated it thoroughly."
Board political strife: "I think it will continue until one side or the other is gone. People ask me what's so hot about the sanitary district. I have no clue. Maybe they think there's power in sewage."

A. PETER EVANS
Age: 60
Residence: Beech Street
Occupation: Business owner
Background: Member of the Ujima Security Council, an East Palo Alto community group active in environmental issues.
The $50 rebate: "It is illegal under California law to give a rebate. No one has ever shown that there is enough money."
Board political strife: "This is a petty job. We're at the bottom of the totem pole, but people don't know how to handle power."

JACQUELINE WALLACE GREEN
Age: 34
Residence: Schrembri Lane
Occupation: Executive assistant to vice provost for student affairs at Stanford.
Background: Formerly worked for Syntex and Raychem
The $50 rebate: "You either have enough to give back for a rebate or don't have enough to repair the pipes. Is there or isn't there money?"
Board political strife: "The common denominator is that Dennis Scherzer has been on the board for 16 years, (and) while others come and go (the differences continue). I would like the board to attend a conflict resolution workshop. It is definitely needed."

NIAMBI LINCOLN
Age: 37
Residence: Dumbarton Avenue
Occupation: Case manager, Kaiser Medical Center
Background: Shop steward, Local 250, Service Employees International Union.
The $50 rebate: "The rebate was illegal because it needed a three-fourths vote. (The rebate) was a campaign ploy by a director who wanted to get re-elected. Does the district have the money? No."
Board political strife: "I would like to see some conflict resolution workshops. I can respect the opinions of others if they respect my opinion. (Samuel) Rasheed has been disrespectful of me and the public."

SAMUEL RASHEED
Age: 51
Residence: Weeks Street
Occupation: Transportation analyst, Port of Oakland
Background: Member of United Homeowners of East Palo Alto, Just Us antidrug group.
The $50 rebate: "We have more than enough money. We have to meet our obligations to satisfy bond requirements."
Board political strife: "It is Pete Evans and Niambi Lincoln who are creating this discord and turmoil. It's an ongoing tactic to filibuster and prevent us from doing our work."

BELINDA ROSALES
Age: 47
Residence: Glenn Way
Occupation: Office manager, Stanford University School of Medicine
Background: Member of the city's Public Works and Transportation Committee, member of the city's General Plan Advisory Committee, chairwoman of the East Palo Alto Community Alliance and Neighborhood Development Organization (EPA CAN DO).
The $50 rebate: "I looked at the budget. (District counsel) Gary Orton very clearly showed the money coming in and where it was going and what the surplus was."
Board political strife: "You need different people on there, people who have a knowledge of why they're there. People who won't cause havoc for personal reasons."