Editorial: Time for change on the Novato City Council

Anyone who votes for any candidate that any paper or chamber endorses is in their back pocket.You will see on the november 3 election that this statement is true. My vote is going to Eleanor Sluis and Coleman. Eklund must be gone this election as she has done nothing to help novato. Denise Athas who is president of the downtown assn has done nothing but hurt downtown.Eric Lucan is a young man who is a born again christian and yes he will get some votes becuase Lucan and Coleman are the only men running and if they are not elected we will have a five woman council. I really don't care who wins this election but if you are a smart voter get rid of Eklund. This lady put the millsworks building on the map in novato

One of the challengers, local business leader Denise Athas, boasts endorsements from current Councilwomen Jeanne MacLeamy, Madeline Kellner and Carole Dillon-Knutson. Now i ask you what change does this bring to NOVATO ? MORE OF THE SAME CORRECT !! THE THREE WHO HAVE BEEN WITH EKLUND IN DOING NOTHING !!!!

I guess Lucan gets my vote. Well see it might be I write in a candidate so I don't waste my vote.

From personal experience, I know how hard Pat Eklund has worked for the City of Novato. Unlike so many on this current Council including Carol Dillon-Knutson, as will as past Council members, Pat Eklund goes the extra mile to investigate thoroughly all aspects of cases presented to the Council. She is an intelligent decision maker and is not in the pockets of developers and power seekers, which makes me proud to be a long-time supporter!

good manners from Novato wrote:

From personal experience, I know how hard Pat Eklund has worked for the City of Novato. Unlike so many on this current Council including Carol Dillon-Knutson, as will as past Council members, Pat Eklund goes the extra mile to investigate thoroughly all aspects of cases presented to the Council. She is an intelligent decision maker and is not in the pockets of developers and power seekers, which makes me proud to be a long-time supporter!

How can you make your statement???? She is an intelligent decision maker and is not in the pockets of developers and power seekers. She just voted for 12 homes on McClay road when we have a fifty foot setback in the general plan and five of those houses are only 35 feet from the creek. Where is their water going to come from ?

John Coleman, another candidate, declined our invitation to join the other candidates in a roundtable discussion of the issues.

Attaboy John. No need to discuss the issues with the IJ. Your posts on this board reach about 1% of the voters...that should be enough.

No on Pat wrote:

<quoted text>
How can you make your statement???? She is an intelligent decision maker and is not in the pockets of developers and power seekers. She just voted for 12 homes on McClay road when we have a fifty foot setback in the general plan and five of those houses are only 35 feet from the creek. Where is their water going to come from ?

If the creek is 35 feet away they could carry the water in buckets.

Marin Native wrote:

John Coleman, another candidate, declined our invitation to join the other candidates in a roundtable discussion of the issues.
Attaboy John. No need to discuss the issues with the IJ. Your posts on this board reach about 1% of the voters...that should be enough.

I can tell you John Coleman does not take any endorsements in this town and he is a smart man. He was on the street passing out his flyers and not wasting his time trying to get an endorsement he does not want. He has been to over 11,000 homes and when he came to my house at the same time as their meeting he made that statement to me. Have you ever read his flyer? He has facts in there. Real facts and I say he will win this election.

I think the paper got it right. Should be an interesting election, but we need new blood on the Council and Athas and Lucan seem like great choices. Full of good ideas, smarts and a collaborative spirit. Maybe we can finally stop the infighting that has impeded this council from really doing anything productive, and perhaps we can hold onto our city manager for a full year or more for a change.

<<<One of the challengers, local business leader Denise Athas, boasts endorsements from current Councilwomen Jeanne MacLeamy, Madeline Kellner and Carole Dillon-Knutson.

<<<<

If her $1 per $1000 value tax per house wasn't scary enough, this definitely is off putting. We have the architect who didn't realize the footprint of the Millworks would be so big and we have the woman who runs around wearing her "Novato Council Member" ID badge on her everywhere she goes and who makes the stupidest comments (the we're going to put a traffic light in where Melanie was killed comment as if that would have stopped a drunk driver) supporting her.

She probably thinks that monstrosity on the Fireman's Fund campus will be a good thing too

I can just imagine the damage that one will do to the city.

Smart man wrote:

<quoted text>
I can tell you John Coleman does not take any endorsements in this town and he is a smart man. He was on the street passing out his flyers and not wasting his time trying to get an endorsement he does not want. He has been to over 11,000 homes and when he came to my house at the same time as their meeting he made that statement to me. Have you ever read his flyer? He has facts in there. Real facts and I say he will win this election.

Pat Eklund came by my house. I have never seen Coleman. Has he ever run for office before?

Marin Native wrote:

John Coleman, another candidate, declined our invitation to join the other candidates in a roundtable discussion of the issues.
Attaboy John. No need to discuss the issues with the IJ. Your posts on this board reach about 1% of the voters...that should be enough.

I agree with you except for the 1% part. That would be over 500 voters. Coleman is only reaching 25 voters on the IJ board at best.

Smart man wrote:

<quoted text>
I can tell you John Coleman does not take any endorsements in this town and he is a smart man. He was on the street passing out his flyers and not wasting his time trying to get an endorsement he does not want. He has been to over 11,000 homes and when he came to my house at the same time as their meeting he made that statement to me. Have you ever read his flyer? He has facts in there. Real facts and I say he will win this election.

Cmon, Coleman, why don't you use your real name? And why weren't you at that meeting?

Voter wrote:

<quoted text>
Pat Eklund came by my house. I have never seen Coleman. Has he ever run for office before?

It's not about endorsements. I want to hear what a canidate is going to say when questioned by the local media. The fact that he skirted the interview, makes me suspect his judgement. Sure he should be going door to door, but why not take off two hours to speak to the IJ? Silly.

Smart man wrote:

<quoted text>
I can tell you John Coleman does not take any endorsements in this town and he is a smart man. He was on the street passing out his flyers and not wasting his time trying to get an endorsement he does not want. He has been to over 11,000 homes and when he came to my house at the same time as their meeting he made that statement to me. Have you ever read his flyer? He has facts in there. Real facts and I say he will win this election.

It's not about endorsements. I want to hear what a canidate is going to say when questioned by the local media. The fact that he skirted the interview, makes me suspect his judgement. Sure he should be going door to door, but why not take off two hours to speak to the IJ? Silly.

What's the matter for you people. All five candidates were on the television last week during a debate. The marin independent journal talked to all five and wrote a story on them. I have not read anything in the novato advance yet.I think you people need to get off the computer and get out of the house . Did you even watch the niners. My vote goes to sluis.. Good luck to all though.

good manners from Novato wrote:

From personal experience, I know how hard Pat Eklund has worked for the City of Novato. Unlike so many on this current Council including Carol Dillon-Knutson, as will as past Council members, Pat Eklund goes the extra mile to investigate thoroughly all aspects of cases presented to the Council. She is an intelligent decision maker and is not in the pockets of developers and power seekers, which makes me proud to be a long-time supporter!

Well, Good Manners, good manners were not what Eklund had when she ran for county supervisor and spread the word about her challenger Judy Arnold's shoplifting incident during the 11th hour of the campaign! Novato didn't support Eklund in her run for county supervisor, so we will see if they find fit to re-elect her for another term...

The incumbents have proven themselves to be ineffective and Eklund's union support seals the deal for me.

It is time for some new people with new ideas, preferably some who are not beholden to the developers and the public employee unions.

The current city council seems to have adopted an approach of increasing the tax base without any concern for the costs involved to provide services to all of these new taxpayers.

Schoenbaum wrote:

The incumbents have proven themselves to be ineffective and Eklund's union support seals the deal for me.
It is time for some new people with new ideas, preferably some who are not beholden to the developers and the public employee unions.
The current city council seems to have adopted an approach of increasing the tax base without any concern for the costs involved to provide services to all of these new taxpayers.

Yes, in this economy, people are not buying...look at the fiasco in downtown Novato over the Whole Foods. Novato had a very high rate of foreclosures and property values are going down so there isn't the windfall of property taxes coming in. It is time to take all of these facts into consideration and move forward in a new direction.

Time To Move It wrote:

<quoted text>Yes, in this economy, people are not buying...look at the fiasco in downtown Novato over the Whole Foods. Novato had a very high rate of foreclosures and property values are going down so there isn't the windfall of property taxes coming in. It is time to take all of these facts into consideration and move forward in a new direction.

The house down the street from me just sold for 2.3 mill. Not bad.