Rossmoor Protesters Are Making Waves, Plans

The Rossmoor dissidents are expressing themselves:

• One resident made a formal complaint of censorship in the Rossmoor News' policy on candidate letters to a regional authority.
• Mary Birss put up a protest sign on her unit Friday, and in 45 minutes a security guard came and asked her to take it down.
• There's a planned demonstration outside the gates of the gated community for 11 a.m. Sunday.

At issue are Rossmoor plans to build an events center that dissidents think is too costly, environmentally misguided and a traffic safety hazard. Secondarily at issue are upcoming elections for the Golden Rain Foundation Board of Directors, during which the events center controversy will be an issue, but not mentioned as fully in the Rossmoor News newspaper as some dissidents would prefer.

Wayne Lanier sent a letter of protest about "censorship" policies of the Rossmoor News — "the only public forum" for the senior community — to the Mount Diablo chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The Residents Forum in the newspaper prohibits letters with the word "candidate" in them.

"It pretty much muzzles the opposition, which has pushed them to plan various demonstrations," said Lanier. "It's a captive newspaper and it really is a stunning abridgement of the First Amendment."

The newspaper's editor sees it differently. "It's not a censorship issue," said Maureen O'Rourke. "It's a fairness issue."

Rossmoor has had the policy for years to try to limit undue influence of the elections to the board of directors, said O'Rourke, senior manager of communication services for Rossmoor. The newspaper prints the candidate statements with a photo. The News keeps "candidate" letters out of the forum so "everyone is on an even playing field," O'Rourke said — otherwise they'd be inundated with letters, "probably for one candidate." Candidates are able to politic the old-fashioned way: knocking on doors, O'Rourke said. Other than the candidate letters, O'Rourke said, "I publish every single letter I receive."

It's election season in Rossmoor. Candidates submit petitions by March 9. Ballots for three election districts go out April 13 and are mailed back by April 24, O'Rourke said.

Events center

It's also a key time for the events center debate, which has had a few seasons to it. The center project has gone out to bid. On March 29, the board is due to get bid packages and vote on whether to go forward, O'Rourke said.

In October, a petition with about 3,000 signatures opposed to the events center was given to the Golden Rain Foundation Board of Directors. The gated retirement community has about 8,200 residents.

At 10:30 a.m. Friday, Mary Birss said, she put up the protest sign on her unit pictured with this story. By 11:15, a security guard had come to ask her to take it down.

The dissidents are drawing up a few protest signs to have outside the security gates to Rossmoor at 11 a.m. Sunday. One idea there is to raise a few eyebrows of real estate agents bringing prospective buyers in to look at Rossmoor open houses.

Phil Wesler said that Save Our Stanley has scheduled a protest rally for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 14, in the Fireside Room at Rossmoor. The rally anticipates the announcing of bids on the events center March 29. Save Our Stanley refers to the Stanley Dollar building whose grounds and parking will be pinched by the events center plans, the advocates say.