There is right and wrong in the world.  I have come to realize in my later years of life that to tolerate everything and everybody is truly wrong and an early death sentence.  Even "Diversity" has its limits and is not all what it's crapped up to be. I was born, raised, and educated on the LEFT Coast by many of the most liberal and progressive professors my money could buy me.  I understand politics from the far left and the far right.  I cherish and would defend the right to free speech with my life.  However, on the issue of free speech, those like council member Geoff Fox suggests that even the American Nazi’s, the radical socialists, MS13, and the Hell’s Angels have a right to be heard at City Hall.  But the problem is that Fox, who is finally leaving office before things get any worse in town, lacks the political courage to comment one way or another on the venom in which these groups speak because politically, he's a coward.  After any hate group or "subversives" speaks their nonsense before our City Hall, any real city leader must stand up in no uncertain terms and condemn the hatred these groups wish to unleash on our town. But not Fox, Orchard or Gilardi.   They just smile and tolerate as if this is a virtue of some kind.  I disagree.  That's not leadership.

Leaders have to stop talking out of both sides of their mouths about free speech, by withholding their comments and judgments against those who are intent on doing our town harm like Geoff Fox suggests.  City leaders take an oath of office to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  It's pretty clear to me what that means. But Fox believes silence is golden and insures one leaves the parking lot in one piece and hopes the problem just goes away if you ignore it long enough.   But Leadership with a capital L is ALL about making decisions and passing judgment, pure and simple. There is no getting around it.  Leadership has little or nothing to do with making friends with everybody, turning a cheek, and EVERYTHING about standing up and making enemies if that is what it takes to protect a town, a fellow citizen, or a quality of life. This is why many people avoid politics at all costs because to engage in local politics, you run the risk of losing friends, losing customers, and sometimes even losing your family.

Cotati cannot be everything to everybody, as some people would like to us to believe.  I call this kind of rhetoric the C-Myth.  The C-Myth is the humorous notion that somehow Cotati can be all things to all people, without limits.   How can people believe such a thing, you say?  That's what I have been saying all along while exposing this madness for what it is, pure madness.

No city can be all things to all people.   For example, our Mayor Gilardi complains that there is no place in Cotati to buy her family a pair of shoes, as if this is some kind of a city shortcoming or travesty...    "So what?", most citizens say.  Cotati cannot begin to provide all the goods and services every citizen wishes to obtain within Cotati city limits.   Such a notion is ridiculous and cause for concern.  But Mayor Gilardi just doesn't get it.  She's a seasoned pro at double talk, short-sided in her thinking, and has expressed her complete displeasure that Cotati does not have a decent shoe store.  What if all of us felt so passionately about a business we want to see come to town?  The result would be a slow build up of our town to resemble San Jose, CA.   Once that sort of thing happens, it's too late for a town to turn back the hands of time.   That's what Mayor Gilardi and her comrades have in mind for our town; a town that should back away from it's identity and commitment to protecting its small town charm, and letting it slowly grow into something that is too big for its own "cage"; a real nightmare in the making.  Small town charm is not something we lose overnight.  It's something that happens over a long period of time by those who really don't care about our town and allow themselves to get caught up in the moment of every developer, every business owner, and every clown who wants to use Cotati for his/her own selfish ends.

We can no more expect Cotati to deliver all things to all people anymore than we can load an elephant into a Volkswagen.  But this is the kind of leadership and lack of common sense we have in City Hall that must be challenged, and challenge I will.  I have the foresight, the fortitude, and the courage to protect our town from unmitigated sprawl and the destruction of our historical heritage.

Cotati prides itself on being funky, charming, unorthodox, and different.  There are powers at City Hall that want to change that notion for good.   The Cotati Vision Plan is just one city document that calls for massive changes to our town costing millions upon millions of dollars from where, no one knows.  

Many of us came to live in Cotati because it was not like Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, or Petaluma with all their big box stores, high traffic, crime, and over-crowding.  I want to protect our small town charm and protect what it is we came here for in the first place.  Every new business hoping to come to town should be subject to a CIR ( a Community Impact Report) to see how it will affect the livability, the historical character, and economics of our town if approved.  An EIR is simply an insufficient instrument for the 21st century.

The truth is, even cities that hope to hold onto some kind of identity must have limits and must make some sacrifices. Unfortunately, many city leaders and candidates for office don't want to talk about the real problems facing our town, and simply want to massage our minds into mush with their charisma and their double talk. Don't buy into their smooth talk and false promises.

That’s what this election is all about, those who will make the sacrifices, have a proven track record, and those who refuse to admit their failings and are intent on doing as little as humanly possible once elected to office.  There has been a lot of promises from city leaders, but little action.  Essentially a lot of lazy people running City Hall who simple want to avoid the real problems and avoid controversy at all costs. This has only made matters worse.  They must think that real leadership is simply above their pay grade and I have heard them comment along those lines.

It’s time for a change, and I, George Barich, represent real change.

I have never thrown in the towel nor accepted defeat by giving up on our shortsided and simple-minded leaders within Cotati City Hall who are destroying the character and economic health of our town by never meeting a land developer they didn’t like.  A land developer always seems like a potential campaign donor, so they are often met with open arms by elected officials and stripped of their money in fees before the Planning Department is done with them.

I have shown and flown my true colors at City Hall on more occasions that I can remember. I know that for ten long years, my outspokenness and courage to speak out for the good of our town has scared some of the power brokers in this in town who are threatened by the truth and anyone like me who is looking out for the town's best interest.  My motto has always been not get mad with irresponsible government, but to lead by offering a better way, or expose irresponsible city leaders with impunity.  I have been told I have done an excellent job, and that I need to step up to the plate to do more.

Running for city council this year are a few frauds. It’s your job to figure out who these imposters are and vote accordingly.  Ask yourself, who is the most qualified to lead and take back our town from the over-spending and the other serious problems facing our town, like traffic, like growth, and environmental irresponsibility? Who among the candidates has walked the walk? Who has been the most active in civic affairs? Who has set the example of what good citizenship is supposed to look like? Who are the game players in this town who are only running for office because they have “political ambitions” and have admitted as much?

There is a serious and looming question Cotati city leaders need to address, and that is the question of population growth in Cotati.  How many is too many?  How many people should and can this city actually support? Is their a limit to growth inside and outside the city limits? What are those limits?  When will these issues be addressed?  If my opponents have their way, not in our lifetime.

Can anybody who wants to live in Cotati have a right to live here? The far-left socialists say, YES, indeed, open the floodgates to anyone and everyone who shows up with, our without, citizenship. They say we shall find a place for all the homeless and find someone else to pay for it.  We will find federal grants, pass a sales tax increase, etc., whatever it will take.  We will build bigger and higher until the trees are dwarfed. We will build smaller homes of higher density until no square foot of town is wasted, with narrower and small streets to accommodate more and more people so that we can someday look like Rohnert Park.  If we have to ban cars and take away more parking spaces to do it, we will....   

Let's stop this madness.  With your vote, we can stop it together and get our town back on track and out of a serious mess.

I asked no less than six people to run for city council in recent years: Mark Firestone, John Rock, Shelly Berman, Linel Hardy, John Guardino, and Patty Minnis.  With the exception of Guardino and Minnis, each expressed their reservation that City Hall is simply beyond help, too corrupt to be associated with, or broken beyond repair at the present time.

The safe and easy route is to sit back and let other people do the hard work.  That's never been my style to problem solving.  I accept the challenge to roll up my sleeves and get to work for our town.

GB