Portola Valley: Opponents to launch online newspaper Portola Valley: Opponents to launch online newspaper (December 21, 2005)

A group of Portola Valley residents who oppose construction of a new civic complex at Town Center without first giving voters a chance to weigh in on the $20 million project appear to be following through on plans to add new dimensions to their fight.

At the December 14 Town Council meeting, resident Bill Henderson said the group would launch an online newspaper named PVTrojanHorse.com on a Web site of the same name. The first issue had not yet made an appearance by the Almanac's press time.

"We have plans to be an alternate source of information with well-constructed views and solutions," said Mr. Henderson in a November 10 Almanac interview.

Mr. Henderson helped lead a campaign on the same Web site and through the mail that nearly defeated the town's utility tax-renewal measure in the November election. In past years, voters had renewed the tax by wide margins.

The term "Trojan horse" in the new newspaper's name refers to the project opponents' argument that the tax renewal was a stand-in for the Town Council's real objective: ensuring a revenue source to help pay for the new complex.

The tax -- renewed in 1993, 1997 and 2001 -- is one of the town general fund's 10 revenue sources. Utility tax revenues have, over time, contributed to a $3 million reserve earmarked for the Town Center reconstruction project, but the council recently pledged not to use future revenues for that purpose.

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