About Orinda Watch
“First they ignore you. They laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”
Orinda Watch is a coalition of citizens whose purpose is keeping the people of Orinda, California informed on local affairs while fighting for local control of planning & governance. We are a group of volunteers without any formal organizational structure. Currently we have about 1,400 people on our email distribution list and we imagine a group of 1,400 leaders. We operate in a consensus arrangement with rotating personnel depending on the subject matter.
Our most pressing mission is pushing back against the Plan Bay Area agenda currently being pushed by the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). This plan forces and/or coerces cities of the 9 counties of the Bay Area to build high-density, heavily-subsidized housing and attempts to usurp control of the 101 cities with regards to city planning and development. These organizations make it very challenging for (cash-strapped) cities to receive Federal, State & Local funding unless the cities realign themselves to conform to the plan. ABAG assumes almost double-growth rates for the Bay Area and uses faulty and unorthodox models that provide forecasts which are grossly different from California's Department of Finance calculations.
We have open monthly meetings on the 4th Monday of the month at the Orinda Community Center, Room 8, the building adjacent to the Orinda Library auditorium.
We urge you to join us in our mission to educate the citizenry and to fight back against non-local control. Please attend our monthly meeting, join our mailing list, donate to fund our efforts, or contact us to find out how you can help.
