With a crowd of nearly 60 people, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel,
answered pointed questions ranging from same-sex marriages to the
war in Iraq during an old-fashioned town hall meeting Tuesday.
”
It’s a fundamental part of our democracy that political leaders
have to be accountable to the people who elected them and how can
they do that without coming and talking to them,
”
Farr told the group at the county Supervisors Chambers.
Voters didn’t waste time asking Farr about his stance on the war
in Iraq.
With a crowd of nearly 60 people, U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, answered pointed questions ranging from same-sex marriages to the war in Iraq during an old-fashioned town hall meeting Tuesday.
“It’s a fundamental part of our democracy that political leaders have to be accountable to the people who elected them and how can they do that without coming and talking to them,” Farr told the group at the county Supervisors Chambers.
Voters didn’t waste time asking Farr about his stance on the war in Iraq.
Farr said after talking with intelligence experts who repeatedly told him that Iraq did not pose an immediate threat, he did not support going to war, especially with no definable exit strategy.
“With us losing a soldier a day, it’s pretty obvious that we’re in a combat situation. It’s just a different sort of combat,” Farr said.
The gallery, made up mostly of older residents, reflected their concerns with questions about retirement benefits and affordable health care.
“Obviously you are very worried about your pension when you are on a fixed income, and you are worried about what that pension can afford to buy when the most expensive cost in your life right now is going to be health care,” Farr said.
Farr’s honesty and directness won over a number of audience members, including some local politicians.
“People came to ask questions of their congressman and he answered every one of them, very clearly, and that tells me he was listening to what they were saying. So, I’m very pleased with him,” Supervisor Ruth Kesler said.
The town hall meeting was the culmination of a day filled with activities in San Benito County for Farr, which included about an hour dinner meeting with Marland Holte to discuss plans for helping the homeless.
Two hours earlier, Farr visited Community Pantry, a non-profit organization that provides food for poor and low-income families.
He spent the time talking to pantry volunteers as they put together food packets for the hungry.
Farr’s first stop Tuesday was at the Mission San Juan Bautista at 1:30 p.m. where he met with members of the California Missions Foundation to discuss a $10 million bill to fund the restoration of the state’s historic missions.
“We’re very pleased and hopeful that this bill will pass when Congress reconvenes in September. It will go a long way toward helping all the missions, which we estimate is about $50 million,” said Richard Ameil, president of the Missions Foundation. “That includes conserving all the artwork, artifacts and documents.”
Farr, co-sponsored the bill with U.S. Rep. David Dreier, R-San Dimas, and 47 other members of the California Congressional Delegation to help fund the preservation effort. The bill has been stuck in committee for several months and has not made it to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote. The bill has also received the support of Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.
The bill would help the California Missions Foundation, a public-private, non-profit organization dedicated to restoring the state’s 21 missions to their original stature.
“The federal government has never memorialized the California Missions system,” Farr said. “The state has put some of its resources into the foundation. The private sector is putting resources into it, and we think the federal government should do its share by putting in federal resources as well,” Farr said.
Archeologist Ruben Mendoza, a professor at California University State, Monterey Bay, gave Farr a quick tour of the Mission San Juan Bautista and the damage that 206 years of wear and tear can have on even a well-built adobe structure.
“The convent rooms need retrofitting,” Mendoza said. “We have water damage in the building. The roof needs to be reexamined because we have leaks. There is recent damage from where a tree fell up against the church. The floors are getting to a point were they are going to be unsafe. There’s water seeping into the museum area, and we may have to close a section of the museum.”
With more than 5.5 million visitors a year, the California missions are the No. 1 tourist attraction in the state, and that tourism generates funds for cities and businesses in and around the missions.
“They are part of the structure for our tourism. These missions are surely the anchor clients of California and we should respect them as we would any other economic plan, to make sure that we don’t lose the integrity of our anchor client,” Farr said. “Silicon Valley would not want to lose its Fortune 500 companies. These missions are such an asset.”
Although the missions were founded by the Catholic church in the mid to late 1700s, they are not just centers of religious expressions but an important foundation of the state’s history.
“We have to treat this as not just as a religious property but also as an instructional property for all the children of California who have to study the missions,” Farr said. “And for the tourists who come here and enjoy viewing beautiful sites.”
