Score another big victory for the little guy. The people of Potrero have beaten back Blackwater and kept them out of their community. After the stunning recall of the local planning board members who supported Blackwater in December, Blackwater was facing clear local opposition to the plan. Regional groups had been working hard to raise opposition in San Diego County. Meanwhile, the Courage Campaign was teaming up with the locals to turn this into a broader fight. There were significant questions about it's environmental impact on the community and area. The company was awaiting the official Environmental Impact Review. Instead of continuing to fight against the town, Blackwater decided to pack its bags and leave tiny Potrero.
The letter from Brian Bonfliglio of Blackwater pulling the project is on the flip.
There is an interesting and troubling pattern emerging. The California media is being greatly outclassed by papers from out of the state and country on the developing story about the residents of Potrero pushing back against Blackwater's attempts to move a massive base into their town. This seems like it could be chalked up to the major cutbacks at California newspapers over the past year, but it is a stark reminder about the impacts of those losses. California stories are no longer being covered by California newspapers.
It was the Guardian UK who had a lengthy, detailed article on the push for a recall of the Planning Group members who had voted to approve Blackwater's plans. They talked to Brian Bonfiglio, Blackwater's Vice-President who is deployed to San Diego County to work on the project. The Guardian also interviewed a number of the town residents, including several people who were on the ballot this week.
This week it was the New York Times who dispatched a reporter to Potrero to preview the recall. The reporter ended up breaking news, even though I don't believe he knew it:
With ten ballots to be counted tomorrow this is a preliminary count, but it is simply huge! Talk about people-powered politics... The recall was an overwhelming success. All five members of the Planning Group who voted to approve Blackwater's plans were recalled by unbelievable margins. The election will be certified within two days and the Save Potero slate will take office, hopefully in time for their Thursday meeting.
Keep in mind that Bush won by 25.8% in 2008. Everybody was recalled by over 60% of the vote. Gordon Hammers, who has been the most vocal Blackwater supporter and served as chair of the group, was recalled by nearly 70% of the vote.
All of the numbers are on the flip. Go check 'em out. Just an incredible victory. They did a phenomenal job on GOTV, getting 160 or so out of the 190 who signed the original petition against Blackwater to turn in their ballots. The people of Potrero had an unbelievable victory tonight, but will need all of our help as the fight moves on to the next level: the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
Can you tell from the superlatives that I am just a wee bit excited? These folks are my heroes.
Join the movement to Block Blackwater at www.blockblackwater.com, powered by the Courage Campaign.
They are still counting folks, but it continues to look good.
The way this works is that the ballot says for each individual candidate: do you want to recall X. Then it asks if you want to replace them with somebody else. It is taking a long time to count all of these individual votes. Turnout is in the 300s and there were just 8 ballots turned in today.
It is probably going to take another hour or an hour and a half to get the final count. Rick is camped out in the hallway writing up a post. Ray Lutz is videotaping the count. The media has already come and gone.
(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)
I know Courage Campaign has been quiet lately about Blackwater trying to open up a huge mercenary training base in tiny Potrero (509 registered voters), just north of the border, it is with good reason. There is a recall election, ending today. A group of local grassroots heroes started an effort to replace the five members of the Potrero Community Planning Group who voted to approve Blackwater's plans to build a base for 360 staff and "students" on 824 acres of enviromentally sensitive land, consisting of 15 firing ranges, a helipad, and a heavy vehicle. We wanted to stay in the background, while the locals worked hard on GOTV for the recall, since outsiders working on Blackwater had already become an issue within this small community.
One of those heroes is Carl Meyer, who is featured in this short documentary Courage Campaign put together. P.S. The sweetheart of a cat is named Twister. There is more on Carl in a fantastic NYT article below the fold. You might recognize the sign and the pumpkin patch in the photo accompanying the article ;).
Rick Jacobs is down in San Diego right now at the Registrar of Voters, waiting for the ballot counting to begin. I will update as soon as we get the numbers. Polls (aka the general store) closed at 8 pm. It is an hours drive from Potrero to San Diego. We should know by 10 pm. Keep your fingers crossed, but the GOTV efforts by the Save Potrero folks has been just great. There were however reports of one of the pro-Blackwater candidates trying to intimidate voters as they turned in their ballots today. The Sheriff was called and there were plenty of witnesses.
Keep in mind that the 2004 numbers for Potrero were:
Last night, I was watching CSI Miami with an episode featuring a rogue mercenary contractor outfit killing people stateside. I didn't get a chance to finish the show, because my phone rang with a reporter wanting to talk about Blackwater. At that point, I realized Blackwater really is the talk of the town, but no where more so than Potrero, California this evening when the voters have a chance to recall the local planning commissioners who voted to allow a mercenary base in California.
Realize, those voting in the VBM special recall election represent a very conservative electorate that Bush won in 2004 by over 25 points. So if the move to recall the Blackwater supporters votes breaks 40%, we'll see that even Bush supporters aren't down with the GOP plan to privatize via crisis.
(Welcome Miriam, an award winning journalist to Calitics. More info from on the ground there, following up on my post earlier today. Note: I moved some stuff below the fold. - promoted by Julia Rosen)
Potrero, California, the town that has gained national attention for standing up against Blackwater Worldwide's plan to build a private military-style training camp in their pristine backcountry community east of San Diego, now faces an even more formidable force. The Harris wildfire which began outside Potrero early Sunday morning has ravaged the small rural community, where many residents remain trapped without supplies four days after the fire began.
"It's like the Kalahari Desert as you drive down Potrero Valley Road. There are sand dunes everywhere-dirt and ash," Jan Hedlun reported via cell phone on Tuesday. "We can't get in or out, and we are running out of supplies." This morning, however, Hedlun said food will be provided to beleaguered residents at the old Volunteer Fire Department Building. The County recently began initiating its fire consolidation plan, closing some rural volunteer firefighting departments. But here in Potrero, some residents complained that they never saw a single fire engine until long after their homes burned down.
Stretches where homes once stood along Highway 94 have been reduced to wasteland. Many homes have burned, although the town's store, library, and Post Office are still standing. "There is looting going on up here," said Hedlun. Another source described Potrero as a "moonscape with houses here and there."
Many Potrero residents never received reverse 911 calls warning them to evacuate. Some rely on cell phones, which were not included in the evacuation system.
"It's like Armageddon," said Jill Michaels, who had just four minutes to pack belongings before fleeing flames that singed her husband. She and her family tried to evacuate but found all roads blocked. She returned to witness her Potrero home burn to the ground.
Others suffered worse losses. Tom Varshock died trying to save his home on the Potrero/Tecate boundary. His son remains hospitalized with burns over 50% of his body.
Despite the uproar over their murder of 17 civilians in Iraq, Blackwater is still moving forward with their plans for a massive base in San Diego County. Dubbed Blackwater West, the facility would stretch 824 acres in an environmentally sensitive area, populated by 360 staff and "students." The training facility would consist of 15 firing ranges, a helipad, and a heavy vehicle operator's course covering the equivalent of 10 football fields. SignOnSanDiego.com:
Despite rumblings that Blackwater might cancel expansion plans, Vice President Brian Bonfiglio said his bosses at the North Carolina-based company are still eager to open a law enforcement and military training center in Potrero, about 45 miles east of San Diego.
"Their charter is to make this thing work even more now," Bonfiglio said.
These guys sure are stubborn. Good thing the locals down there are adamant about keeping Blackwater out. Courage Campaign has been working to build up support for the local efforts. Thousands of people have signed the letter to Boxer and Feinstein asking them to stand with the California Democratic Party and go on record opposing this base.
Below the fold is more information on the official process that Blackwater needs to follow through on to get this base built.
If you've been following the story up to now, you know that Blackwater USA, the war profiteering private mercenary firm currently under investigation by Congress, has plans to open a mercenary training camp outside of the tiny, peaceful rural town of Potrero in San Diego County. Luckily, many community members and activist groups around the state have other plans entirely.
Since we launched our petition calling on our governor and senators to do whatever is in their power to block this project, I've been amazed at the diverse coalition that has united in opposition to Blackwater West. Everyone from anti-war groups such as Code Pink, to environmental groups such as The Sierra Club to progressive faith groups such as United For Peace and Justice have been fighting Blackwater's invasion of California. But truly the most moving appeals I've heard in opposition of this training camp have been from people who actually live there, who would actually have to live with a mercenary training camp in their backyard.
As I wrote HERE, Blackwater USA, the private "security" firm under investigation by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for fraud and corruption for its war profiteering in Iraq, has grand plans for an 824-acre mercenary training camp just outside the tiny rural town of Potrero, CA, 45 miles east of San Diego. The facility would be a haven for war profiteers all the while ruining the peace and quiet of a tiny rural town, destroying the habitats of who knows how much local wildlife and threatening fire damage to a fire-prone area. Luckily, we have some intrepid local opponents of the project working overtime to defeat Blackwater's best laid plans. More than 300 of Potrero's 450 registered voters have signed a petition opposing the sight; Rep. Bob Filner has vowed to do whatever he can to beat back Blackwater's advances; and Raymond Lutz, the intrepid president of East County Democratic Club, has launched a website, StopBlackwater.net, to aggregate and disseminate information about the threat of Blackwater West.
Which brings me to how you can help.
Courage Campaign has joined forces with the folks in East County to spread the word about Blackwater West and organize people on a statewide level against the project. To that end, we've launched a petition drive targeting Governor Schwarzenegger, Senator Boxer and Senator Feinstein to pressure them to do whatever is in their power to stop this dangerous project. More...
If it is approved by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, the "Blackwater West" training facility would mark the third point in a so-called Blackwater Triangle that already includes their main base in Moyock, NC and their just recently opened facility, Blackwater North, in Mount Carroll, Illinois.
Creeped out yet? More on the project and the efforts underway to stop it over the flip.
Despite the uproar over their murder of 17 civilians in Iraq, Blackwater is still moving forward with their plans for a massive base in San Diego County. Dubbed Blackwater West, the facility would stretch 824 acres in an environmentally sensitive area, populated by 360 staff and "students." The training facility would consist of 15 firing ranges, a helipad, and a heavy vehicle operator's course covering the equivalent of 10 football fields.