By Roz Rogoff
About this blog: In January 2002 I started writing my own online "newspaper" titled "The San Ramon Observer." I reported on City Council meetings and other happenings in San Ramon. I tried to be objective in my coverage of meetings and events, and...
(More)About this blog: In January 2002 I started writing my own online "newspaper" titled "The San Ramon Observer." I reported on City Council meetings and other happenings in San Ramon. I tried to be objective in my coverage of meetings and events, and saved my barbs for my Commentary page. I had some political differences with the City Council at that time and particularly with the majority dubbed "The Gang of Three," by the San Ramon Valley Times. In 2003 new Council members were elected and the Council was more balanced and fiscally conservative, but I continued to write the Observer until 2009. At that point I decided I wanted to concentrate on my commentaries. So I requested a meeting with the editor and publisher of the Danville Weekly about taking over the San Ramon Observer. My timing was very apropos since the parent company, Embarcadero Media, was planning to release an online San Ramon Express that April. I was offered a "blog" under the name "San Ramon Observer" for my commentaries. I like to inform residents about what is happening in San Ramon, especially on city government and local politics. When I don't have anything to write about on those topics, I just write about anything I am doing or thinking about.
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I was thinking about hanging up my hat, er blog, by the end of this month. I finished teaching a workshop on Learning Teams last week and accepted two New Student Orientation Workshops for next week. After my driving debacle I decided to retire from teaching and emailed the scheduler to give those workshops to someone else. I'm ready to retire from teaching and blogging.
Well I was for about a day but changed my mind. Why? It's 2016 and an election year. I can't resist the opportunity to write about the upcoming Presidential election and related elections for Congress and the Senate. One of our Senators is retiring. I'm sure I don't need to say who it is, but it is Barbara Boxer. Boxer is considered a liberal, so it will be interesting to see who replaces her and how that might change California's direction in the Senate.
Our Congressman, Eric Swalwell, is running for his third term. He has been moving up in the Democrat ranks in DC. Now that he is a solid incumbent he will be more difficult to beat. I don't know who his opponent will be, or even if he will have a serious Democrat or Republican contender.
We have a San Ramon City election coming up too. If it seems awhile since the last City election, that's because we switched from odd years to even years in 2013, and this is the first even year election since San Ramon switched to odd years after the city was incorporated
Mayor Bill Clarkson is up for reelection this year. In 2003 the Mayor's office was changed from being rotated among City Council members to an elected office limited to four two year terms. Clarkson has served two terms, and can run again two more times.
Our local elections were changed from odd years to even years in 2013. It seems longer ago than that, but 2016 is the first time in over 30 years the Mayor and City Council members will face an election in an even year.
It's hard to believe we just switched to even years, which is why the Mayor and City Council members served an extra year. This year the Mayor and City Council members will be elected to their regular two or four year terms. So with such an important election in San Ramon this year, I will continue writing my blogs until the end of 2016. Then I'll be ready to retire my blog and hang up my hat.
