Glover Should Leave the line-up, Again

According to Pittsburg lore, when Federal Glover tried out for his high school football team, he was constantly dropping the ball. Therefore, he wasn't in the line up.

Today, the Contra Costa County Supervisor, representing Pittsburg, is still dropping the ball.

Although Tuesday's election results showed 51.6% of the voters approved measure P in Pittsburg, and 59.3% approved Measure K in Antioch, Glover said he is going to vote against the annexation for Pittsburg of the 1400 acres approved in the passing Measure. Both measures extent the urban limit line around the cities. In Pittsburg, the additional acreage will allow for the development of approximately 1400 homes, in 550 of the approve acres. The rest would be green space. Supporters claim that the new development will bring in millions of dollars in developer fees and property taxes. And the developer, Albert Seeno III has promised to build local bypasses.

Obviously, Glover has a problem paying attention and understanding numbers, or business. The city is in dire need of an increased tax base. The developer fees are also a bonus that the city can make tremendous use of. But Glover doesn't get any of that. He thinks the city is just fine.

Yesterday was a beautifully bright day. (That's just the way it was planned, I didn't mean to bring the word bright into a Glover article.) I decided to spend a major portion of the day it in Pittsburg. I wanted to see what the people thought of the initiative passing, and how they felt about the changes that were occurring. It was a difficult task to accomplish. The beautiful facades of the old buildings were brightly shining in the afternoon sun, but there were no people downtown. Pittsburg is one of the few communities in Contra Costa that makes Martinez look like a thriving metropolis - but that's another story.

One of the major luxuries that the people of Pittsburg have in their favor is the Marina that shines in the afternoon sun. One of the nicest boating facilities in the Northern California recreational water system, its geographical location to downtown will be used to bring people to the core of the city. And, although the downtown district has suffered through the years from blight, and gangs, and those familiar with a lesser prosperity, there is light at the end of the tunnel for the redevelopment of this could-be- quaint, retail, specialty area. But the two things the community needs in order to make downtown Pittsburg, and the city as a whole entity prosperous, is people.

If Glover doesn't know that, he's stupid. If he does know it, and refuses to accept it, he's ignorant. Both liabilities in the life of a politician. That, of course, is giving him more credit than he deserves.

Glover, although constantly playing the part of the humble person, meek and meager, looking out for "the people" is anything but stupid. That's the card he plays to stay on the board. But looking at what he has done for the people of Pittsburg doesn't take much time. He hasn't done a thing for those he claims he represents.

Glover, never one to talk to the press, claims that his number one priority is traffic relief. And, we must hand it to him, he has done a great job and relieving the traffic that once bottlenecked the streets of downtown Pittsburg. There is no trafic today. The downtown is almost a ghoat town.

Why doesn't he get off his traffic bandwagon and start looking into the gang problems that Pittsburg has become so known for? Why doesn't he look into the future, and see that the county has to expand, and that it is in the community's best interest to gain tax dollars so that the Marina will continue to thrive, that downtown will continue to give rebirth to business and that Pittsburg can once again be a major destination for people in East County.

Maybe its because he is nothing more than a pawn for special interests who do not want growth. True environmentalists? No. They wouldn't touch Glover. Maybe someone should look into who he is answering to. It may be interesting.

Glover boasts of his accomplishments with the Antioch Woman's Club and the abandoned baby program. But yet, as early as last November, when Executive Director Tony Colon had a major problem with the County's Head Start Program, specifically at the Antioch location, Glover did little to give Colon the boot or even head up an investigation to look into the problem.

This should be Glover's last term. Unfortunately, for the voters, he has a few years left. I am sure that he doesn't want to see new residents moving into Pittsburg for fear they will find out what a liability he is to the community and rally around a candidate with foresight.

And, if you don't agree with me, let's look at the numbers. Over 51% of the voters claimed they want to extend the urban limit line in Pittsburg and Glover says no, he will vote against annexation. Great representation-but not of the people he represents. It is a better representation of the Pittsburg Unified School Districts math education program. Glover just isn't good with numbers.

Go figure.