Opinion and Commentary By Donna Westfall – April 17, 2026 It was a beautiful but blustery day. People came to sign the petition to protest the doubling of water/sewer rates and to sign up to volunteer to get the required 2,000 + 1 signatures to stop the rate increase. Soon signs will be put up in neighborhoods allowing you to pick up petitions there, sign petitions or drop off signed petitions. Take blank copies for your friends and neighbors to sign. As we get organized, we are starting a list to cover the following: someone to be in front of the water department in the morning and someone in the afternoon Trading off hours in front on Walmart/Safeway/Post office/across the street from schools The Director of the local library said their court by the fountain would be available People to walk their neighborhoods and knock on doors. Make phone calls Local resident and spokeswoman Jody Mangum had this to say before the cameras: "The reason we're gathered here today is not because we don't want beautiful oceans and freshwater for our beloved coastal town….. It's because what we're seeing in the explosion of growth – apartment buildings and the city changing the ordinances limiting the height of buildings to accommodate multi-level housing units is NOT the burden of current water and sewer rate payers." She continues: "The City will say that this rate increase isn't about expansion, just like they said in 2007 when they doubled our rates the first time. Now they claim Phase 1 of the wastewater treatment plant has unlimited capacity to connect more and more and more housing units." "Phase 2 is in the works and has been estimated to cost between $50-87 million. Phase 3 is moving the plant off the beach. Who with a rational mind would put over $100 million into a plant that should have been moved in 2007? The City Claims that this second go of doubling of our rates is NOT because of development – and I say they need to prove it! It isn't rocket science to think that the waterline coming into our city needs to be doubled because of the amount of housing that's coming in. I'm here today because I truly love living here and I want the best for my community. I have no interest in turning Crescent City into some utopian suburbia – We are and want to remain rural. This is not about the State of California finding a way to look like they actually did something with the $24 billion with a "B" to help the homeless in LA and San Francisco move here. This IS about keeping our coastal town free from the chaos of urban development. Stand up against these rate increases if you don't want thousands of people moving into our town without consideration of all the OTHER infrastructure beyond water and sewer that will be needed and is not available – doctors, hospitals, schools, veterinarians, mental health, police and fire… Your opposition vote shows our city you understand the laws that protect us from having to pay for developers to PROFIT off of us. We have 45 days to collect protests against the rate increases that will take our sewer bill to $130.15 and water bill up to $46.18 in 2026 and continuing up through 2030 based on usage. The most important part of my message today is in helping people make sure their vote is counted…..Please provide your protest vote through Donna Westfall – because the people that are counting the votes are the people that want to raise your rates! We need citizen oversight to confirm the legitimacy of our Prop 218 rights as rate payers….. Thank you and blessings and love to all."