You spin me right round

Before the votes have even begun to be tallied, opponents to anything ever happening in Alameda have begun spinning what will be the cause of voter’s rejection of Measure B.   While you know and I know that it has been nothing but Development Agreement, Development Agreement, Development Agreement that has been the cause of people’s apprehension about Measure B, not so today 24 hours before people are going to start voting.  No, today it is because people don’t like the PLAN for Alameda Point.

Let us revisit the arguments against Measure B that are contained in the voters guide, shall we?  Here are the bullet points that the signers asked us to consider when rejecting Measure B:

Loses $51 million in fees for our City that would ordinarily be collected from the Developer for basic infrastructure.
Diverts nearly $12 million in yearly lease revenue from our City to the Developer.
Locks in a short fall for public improvements and benefits by $175 million.
Guarantees SunCal can sell Alameda Point to any developer – immediately with no say from voters or the City.
Leaves the door open for neglect and blight with no actual development required.
Freezes the Developer’s already insufficient funding at today’s dollar value for the next twenty-five years.
Approves this development without crucial information on environmental mitigation, design or costs until after this election.
Risks raising other taxes and fee when Alameda Point’s costs exceed the 2% cap.
Exposes the City of Alameda to potential costly lawsuits.

Did you catch anything about the Plan in any one of those bulleted objections?   Me neither.   How about the bulleted points for the Rebuttal to the Arguments in favor of Measure B:

There’s no guarantee that any additional agreements will be legally enforceable, or protect our city should this Initiative pass.
This is a one-sided Initiative that gives the developer 100% control of the project development with NO requirement to fulfill their financial commitments.
The Initiative doesn’t guarantee funding for or construction of a single public school at Alameda Point.
Developer’s shortfall of nearly $500 million in funding for public benefits will result in a failure to deliver promised benefits.

Did you catch anything about hating the Plan in those points?  Yeah, me either.

Let’s not forget that practically every single group or individual that has come out against Measure B has caveated that statement by saying, “yeah, but I support the plan.”

Like, you know, the Chamber of Commerce.  And Marie Gilmore.  And Frank Matarrese. And Mayor Johnson.

But despite all the historic and campaign materials almost exclusively talking about issues raised in the Development Agreement, we are now supposed to buy the spin that people HATE the Revitalization Plan and that is why Measure B is going to go down in flames.

Honestly, the one person I think that deserves almost all the credit for taking Measure B down, singlehandedly, is Mayor Johnson.    She undoubtedly has the most name recognition of anyone on the City Council.   And of any of the names paraded against Measure B, she is probably the one that gives folks the most pause to reconsider their position.

So let’s be realistic about what happens tomorrow and frame it in context of how the actual campaign against Measure B was run.   After all, Measure B was a “Bad Deal for Alameda” not, a “Bad Plan for Alameda” and anyone who is trying to spin it differently is conveniently and deliberately neglecting what people’s concerns with Measure B were.

Oops, forgot the soundtrack for today.  🙂