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- Written by: Victoria Brandon
On Tuesday, May 12, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors heard a presentation from “State of Jefferson” proponents that managed to be even more fanciful than the similar sales pitch made in Lake County last winter.
It included the usual litany of complaints – Northern California is somehow “unrepresented” in Sacramento, environmental regulations are destroying the economy, the state is wallowing in a morass of debt and taxes and crime, individuals and businesses are leaving in droves, etc.
Several speakers also made a passionate though equally delusional appeal for an unspecified form of “liberty” that seems to boil down to the elimination of any restrictions on their capacity to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible by any means possible, and as usual abundant patriotic rhetorical flourishes were accompanied by verbal assaults on both the state and the federal governments and by rampant confusion regarding our nation’s history.
But there were a few novelties this time, such as testimony by a self-styled “constitutional expert” from Santa Barbara (an “expert” with no academic or professional credentials) who spent more time arguing that what the state really needs is more state legislators than in opposing the one person/one vote principle of equal representation that has become the chief target of SOJ proponents.
The fantasy that elections are controlled by government employees who make up “50 percent or more of the electorate” also struck an inventive note.
Likely to be of particular interest to Lake County was the assertion by chief spokesman Mark Baird that “eight county governments” agree with the proposal to split the state – an outright falsehood uttered just seconds before his promise to “tell the absolute truth.”
Actually only six counties have endorsed secession: Glenn, Modoc, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama and Yuba. The total of eight is arrived at by including Lake and Lassen, whose Boards of Supervisors voted instead to put the issue on the 2016 ballot for the people to indicate their preference.
The effrontery of the SOJ proponents in listing these counties among their supporters demonstrates almost as much arrogance as it does deceptiveness.
For more information about the complex issues surrounding this proposal and a link to the video of the meeting visit www.KeepItCalifornia.org .
Victoria Brandon lives in Lower Lake, Calif.
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- Written by: Jenny Johnson
DJ’s Pizza parlor in Lower Lake hosted the April 29 pizza party fundraiser for the Adult Day Center in Clearlake.
On behalf of the ADC team and clients of the ADC Clearlake program, we wish to thank Kyle Fehr and his staff for another fantastic fund raiser.
The food and service were the best. All of the people who attended had a great time.
We raised enough money to provide scholarships for 52 two days of program time for our clients and provide the same number of days of respite for caregivers.
Thank you again.
Jenny Johnson is program director for the Adult Day Center in Clearlake, Calif.
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- Written by: Anthony Palma
The landscape of Lake County is breathtaking. Something else that took my breath away was learning we are the most impoverished of all the counties in California as of last year.
The reasons for this level of poverty among its population are complex and there are no quick or easy remedies for this.
There is however movement within our State Legislature to bring about some positive change.
AB 10 California Minimum Wage bill was signed into law in September of 2013 by Gov. Jerry Brown.
The bill raised the hourly minimum wage in California to $9 per hour beginning on July 1, 2014, then will increase it to $10.00 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2016.
This will help shrink the gap between low wage and higher paid workers, lessening the effects of income inequality.
Raising the minimum wage is also thought to create more opportunity for job growth. This occurs when minimum wage employees begin spending more of their earned income. Thus sales increase and businesses need to hire additional workers to keep up with increased demand within the service industry.
However there will be an increase demand for goods across the board. That money will go right back into the economy and will most likely draw the attention of business to expand in Lake County as well as raise revenue to allow our impoverished county to raise up infrastructure that will develop county resources and schools.
AB10 restores some of the ground lost by low-paid workers in recent years, but it maintains the inflation adjusted minimum wage at about the same level as in 1988.
This is one of the reasons why we got to this level of poverty to begin with – the minimum wage doesn’t adjust to the cost of living.
The aim then should be to enact legislation that will adjust the minimum wage rate to the cost of living automatically – not simply giving those who work minimum wage jobs a raise but building in a safeguard that will keep those workers in a middle-class income.
Anthony Palma lives in Clearlake Oaks, Calif.
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- Written by: Eric Soderstrom
Time to start paying attention, Mr. Wink ( Wink: Time to start asking questions, Wednesday, April 22: http://goo.gl/DDTHWw ).
Yes, Hidden Valley Lake Association did hire a new general manager. She was hired by the previous board which was dominated by those who supported a massive Hartmann Event Center.
The people you say who are “quite upset and starting to speak up” are the very same people who hired her and supported her.
Now that she is making tough decisions related to the perennial losses of Golf and Food and Beverages, these same people want her fired.
The losses she is addressing were unsustainable and the entire community suffered because of them.
Those two public businesses (there is some question as to whether they are legally amenities) consumed more than half of the entire amenities budget. As a result, everything but the golf course has fallen in to disrepair.
If any of our member-only amenities (the lake, tennis courts, parks, trails, “teen center,” beaches and others) were kept as nice as even the worst hole on the golf course, none of this would have happened.
Members got sick of paying for people who do not pay assessments to use HVLA facilities and for roughly half of every round of golf played on the course.
There was no “coup d'état,” but the old “pro-Hartmann Event Center” board majority was reduced to a minority over the course of two and a half years, through two member elections and, most recently, a board-voted appointment.
Clearly the democratic process, slow as it may be, worked in this case and the residents have voted in directors who they feel will better represent their interests.
As for the personnel changes, some people quit and others were let go. Those are the facts. That’s all any of us knows for sure.
I have heard stories and rumors ranging from “people were unjustly and illegally fired without cause,” to, “employees were verbally abusive, insubordinate and used their positions in the administration for personal gain.”
But those are just rumors. There are two sides (at least) to every story, and the truth is somewhere in the middle, in my experience.
And since they are personnel issues, there is no censorship going on there – it’s human resources’ policy and laws being followed.
As for the reserves, that’s what they are there for – they are reserves. They sit there until they are needed for the repair and replacement of assets. If you had been attending board meetings and paying attention, you would know that HVLA is currently in the middle of an external reserve study.
In the past we had an internal reserve study that was inadequate at best, and intentionally misleading at worst. The external reserve study is supposed to be concluded in early May.
At that time, the board will have an accurate picture of our projected repair and replacement liabilities and make a determination as to how our reserves will be spent.
You are right, we are still in the U.S.A. – and at least we no longer have armed guards at meetings like we had with the old board.
That was when I started questioning where I live, and I am glad that ugly chapter is behind us.
I have lived in HVL for almost 11 years, and in my opinion, things are finally starting to get better for everyone rather than a select few.
Eric Soderstrom lives in Hidden Valley Lake, Calif.