Editorial: Water board needs new faces. Elect Cantrell, Eisenberg
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The Santa Clara Valley Water District problems just keep mounting.
Projects overbudget. The district’s largest reservoir drained because of earthquake risk. About $100 million of flood damage because of failed preparations for heavy rains. Delayed water-conservation measures in the middle of a drought.
Meanwhile, district directors sign on to a misguided Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta tunnels project. They successfully deceive voters with a dishonest ballot measure extending term limits. And one director now up for reelection faces allegations of sexual harassment and bullying staff members.
Enough. It’s time for leadership change.
Four of the seven board seats are up this year. Unfortunately, incumbent John Verela is running unopposed in District 1. Former state Sen. Jim Beall has no opposition in District 4, where he will replace retiring Director Linda LeZotte.
In the two contested races on the Nov. 8 ballot, voters should oust Tony Estremera in District 6 and Gary Kremen, the director who faces sexual harassment and bullying allegations, in District 7. We recommend newcomers Chuck Cantrell in the former race and Rebecca Eisenberg in the latter.
A troubled record
Founded in 1929, Valley Water has a $917 million budget to provide safe, clean water for 2 million people. It is also responsible for flood protection and stewardship of the county’s streams.
In 2017, the district, aware of debris and sediment blocking Coyote Creek, took little action to prevent or reduce flooding risks. Heavy rains contributed to Coyote Creek flooding South San Jose, forcing 14,000 people to evacuate and causing about $100 million in damage.
In 2019, the board voted to support the $19 billion Delta tunnels project. This despite knowing it wouldn’t add a drop to California’s water supply and has never penciled out.
In 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates dams, ordered Valley Water to completely drain Santa Clara County’s largest reservoir behind Anderson Dam due to earthquake risk. The board’s failure to act earlier puts the Valley’s water supply at risk during one of California’s worst droughts. The reservoir won’t be available to store water until at least 2030. And the project’s cost has doubled to $1.2 billion.
Meanwhile, overbudget and behind-schedule projects have contributed to the need for the district to purchase water from Sacramento Valley farmers at high prices. And the board is badly divided, including the selection as CEO of Rick Callender.
The final straw was the self-serving ballot measure, backed by Estremera, Kremen, Verela and Richard Santos, to extend their terms in office by an additional four years. The wording of Measure A, which cost $3.2 million to put on the ballot, implied it was more restrictive than what was already in place. The opposite was true.
District 6
Estremera was a key beneficiary of the term-limit extension. He has served two stints on the board, totaling 26 years. His most recent string of three terms made him the prime beneficiary of Measure A. Voters shouldn’t be fooled again. They should oust Estremera.
Especially when they have such a good replacement option. Cantrell is development director for the San Jose Conservation Corps, a San Jose planning commissioner and a former board member of Green Foothills, the nonprofit working to protect open spaces of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
His background as an economist and understanding of financial issues would be a welcome addition to the board. He opposes Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Delta tunnel project and the Pacheco Dam project, which has doubled in price to $2.5 billion in the past year. He is a major advocate for greater board transparency.
The third candidate, Diego Barragan, a Santa Clara County Airport Land Use Commissioner, wants to keep water rates manageable and reduce the illegal dumping in county streams. But he lacks Cantrell’s knowledge of the district’s finances.
District 7
Eisenberg is a Palo Alto tech sector attorney with a Harvard Law degree and strong commitment to environmental issues. She opposes the Delta tunnel and Pacheco Dam projects and advocates dramatically ramping up the district’s water-recycling effort.
We didn’t support Eisenberg when she ran for Palo Alto City Council in 2020 against a field of strong candidates. But she is well-suited for the Valley Water board and would be a refreshing replacement for Kremen.
Kremen, finishing his second term, supported the deceitful Measure A term limit extension and would benefit from it if were to win this year. But his problems go much deeper than that.
The sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied, caused him in February to withdraw his candidacy for county assessor. He then voluntarily stepped down from presidency of the water district board for six months and asked the water district board to investigate whether he had sexually harassed anyone there. The board widened the probe, which is pending, to also include accusations that he bullied staff members.
In March, the Sierra Club complained in a letter to the board of Kremen’s “disrespectful treatment” of environmental advocates.” The letter accused him of “repeatedly making negative comments in response to our participation” at meetings and “making personal attacks” that made advocates reluctant to comment at meetings.
It’s another example of why Valley Water needs new leadership as it faces some of its biggest challenges since its founding nearly a century ago. Voters should elect Cantrell and Eisenberg.