Letters (April 28, 2022)

• Skyhawk Can’t Support Williams
• Grapes First!
• Unending Terror
• Trump To The Rescue
• Away From The Sags
• Prices!
• Get Involved With Project Sanctuary
• Save Water
• Nobody’s Perfect
• Mendo Story Fan
• Fort Bragg’s Diminishing Core Services
• The Do Nothing Gang
• Hobos
• California’s Housing Shortage
• Mendocino Spring Poetry Submissions
• AT&T

SKYHAWK CAN’T SUPPORT WILLIAMS

Editor:

I wish to weigh in with my thoughts on the upcoming 5th District Supervisor’s race. I will do this in part by reflecting back to my 2018 experience before my stroke took me out of the running. As many of you know Ted Williams and I were in the November run off, after surviving a primary which had 5 candidates, Ted and I had been strong allies in the past, both of us with the Albion Little River Fire Protection District; he as Chief and me as Board President, when we found ourselves as opponents for this seat. Many in our small coastal community were quite conflicted as we had been effective allies, and were both generally viewed positively in our community. I had, at first, assumed that it would be a friendly competition. I was completely mistaken about that.

During the campaign I was deeply, deeply shocked by Ted’s lack of ethics, his lowblow campaign tactics were Machiavellian in every sense of the word. Even though some might call me Chicken Sh%!#! I am not going to list them here as I am eager to not relive 2018, as part of my recovery is moving my life forward not backwards. But the tactics were quite shocking to me, as they revealed a side of the man’s character that I had not seen before.

But also having had first hand experience of what Ted the candidate said during the campaign, I think secures me a unique perspective into commentary.

I find myself deeply disappointed with his performance in the office. Many of the things that Ted campaigned on Ted has never spent the political capital to initiate. For example, during the campaign Williams advocated to Legacy Mom and pop Cannabis growers that he would simplify the permitting process. If my memory serves me, he actually called for a one page application and a $25 fee. I have spoken with several legacy growers while considering my endorsement, and all of them are suffering, and many have just quit. These growers have been the social and economic backbone of many of our communities for decades. None of them feel served by our County, and certainly while Williams seemed friendly towards small growers when he was seeking their vote, has not expended any political capital for them since. I am universally informed.

During the 2018 campaign at a candidate forum in Elk, Ted called for using recycled plastic in the road base to alleviate costs. Leaving aside the issue of putting plastics in a roadbed alongside an ocean that already suffers from a toxic load of micro-plastics, I am not aware of any revolutionary initiative on Ted’s part to improve our suffering county roads.

Housing: During the 2018 campaign Williams called for using 3D printers to make places for the unhoused. It might have gotten him a few votes at the time and helped cultivate and cement his image as the smart, youthful energetic guy who was gonna get things done. But, yet again I am unaware of any significant initiative on his part in this area for four years. During the campaign Ted made an interesting and funny video decrying County incompetence and lethargy. He now appears willing to settle into the Lethargy he once decried — and promised to change.

My experience is Williams is more interested in getting your vote than working on your issue.

If we are to to come together as a community we need people with integrity to be our leaders, and that’s why I am endorsing candidate John Redding for 5th District County Supervisor. John has extensive personal and professional experience that will benefit our county. I very much appreciate his call for the County to actively engage in Economic Development. His call to appoint an Economic Development Coordinator is an exemplary and clearly overdue proposal. And he pledges to work with Community Trusts to help alleviate our housing crisis, which is growing worse with each passing day.

As I I have gotten to know John I find him to be a smart, sensitive, and responsive person, and I believe the people of the 5th will find him the same. There is much to recommend John for the position. Learn more about him at: https://www.jredding4district5.com/

Whatever your position is on this race, I look forward to working with you all as we pull together to make our County a wonderful place to live work, and play. Thank you

Chris Skyhawk

Fort Bragg

GRAPES FIRST!

Editor: 

A friend was awakened at 5 a.m. one recent morning by pumps starting up at a neighboring vineyard to sprinkle water for frost protection. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s drought information system, 96.5% of Sonoma County is in “extreme drought.” As in, year-around fire season and insufficient water for agriculture, wildlife and people. I’ve been watering my garden with the little rainwater I collected and used frost blankets for much of the winter. The wine industry is acting unconscionably. Yes, it’s been cold, but figure out crop protection without draining aquifers.

Deb Preston

Sebastopol

UNENDING TERROR

Editor: 

In the early 1950s, our great Uncle Abraham would drive from his San Francisco home to our house on the Peninsula. Abraham Dobrin (nee Dobrizhenski) was a retired rabbi who’d served in, among other places, Jamaica.

Abraham, like several brothers who were also rabbis, had fled his small shtetl in what is now central Poland. At that time the tiny mud-spattered village was under the control of the czar. Without prompting, he once told us what life was like then: little food, miserable weather and grinding poverty. But what he added has stuck with me for life.

At an earlier time, and in similar villages throughout the land, the czar’s elite assassins, hard-riding Cossack horsemen, would storm through unannounced and, with sharpened scimitars in hand, lop off the heads of men, women and children at will. For practice.

Vladimir Putin is czar, and 150 years later the Russian reign of terror rolls on and on and on.

Michael Dobrin

Santa Rosa

TRUMP TO THE RESCUE

Esteemed Editor,

As talk of nuclear armageddon becomes increasingly commonplace, we struggle to find a way out of the mess we are in. Many Ukrainian defense measures only seem to escalate hostilities. Surely someone can be recruited to convince Vlad to end his senseless war making. And there is! His name is Donald Trump, and he will someday go to Russia as the ambassador of our highest hopes. He will chat with Putin, who will agree to permanently cease hostilities. Vlad's reward will be a renewal of soft-on-Russia policies. Donald will be celebrated as a hero, and all charges and suits against him will be dropped. He will direct four more harrowing years of cramming the plutocrat agenda down our throats, and his swarm of co-conspirators will all be pardoned.

Ken Ellis 

New Bedford, MA

AWAY FROM THE SAGS

Editor,

Here I go again! Solitary confinement in Club Mendo. This time for 18 months.

Solitary because I do not play well with others. A county jail which consists of mostly twenty-something year-old white dudes who sag their pants and say “nigga” every other word. No thanks! As an old-school 54-year-old classic rock country music and Jack Daniels type of dude, I have no patience for these idiots. So I elect to be in solitary in the interest of self preservation.

I don't have much in terms of family or friends out there, so I'm hoping you will send me a complimentary subscription. Thank you for your kindness in a world where there does not seem to be much kindness and compassion.

I hope all is well for you and yours.

Alan Crow

Mendocino County Jail, Ukiah

PRICES!

Editor: 

After reading the results of the North Coast Wine Challenge, I am curious as to why the Press Democrat does not include the prices of the winning wines. They are omitting some basic and important information for their readers. Has The Press Democrat decided that wine price information is not newsworthy? Has someone connected with the event requested that prices not be included? Is it because most of the wines are so expensive that most wine drinkers can’t afford them? They include prices for Harvest Fair winners and their wines of the week. Why not for the wine challenge? Please don’t send me to the internet. Put the prices in the paper.

Larry Wagner

Sebastopol

GET INVOLVED WITH PROJECT SANCTUARY

To the Editor:

Project Sanctuary in Ukiah, began in the late 1970’s in response to the need for emergency shelter and support for women who were being abused by their partners. In the fall of 1980, a Rape Crisis Center was added to provide emergency response and counseling to survivors of sexual assault. In 1991, Project Sanctuary established an office in Fort Bragg, serving clients along the Mendocino Coast from Gualala to Westport.

Our services include a 24-Hour Crisis Line, Shelter, Counseling, Support Groups, Legal Advocacy and Education.

Project Sanctuary serves all genders. Over 2000 individuals are served each year by Project Sanctuary, often breaking the cycle of abuse through the support and services offered. Individuals have been able to achieve greater personal growth and independence.

A very important component of our services is the 24-Hour Crisis Line. Help is available around the clock for victims and their families. Project Sanctuary is in desperate need of Volunteers for the Crisis Line. Project Sanctuary welcomes individuals over 18 who are interested in becoming a certified volunteer crisis counselor. Training is provided free of charge, in exchange for a one-year commitment to serve on the crisis line two nights a month. The 80-hour training focuses on sexual assault and domestic violence topics.

State certification as a sexual assault/domestic violence crisis counselor is provided upon successful completion of the 80-hour training and clearance with the Department of Justice fingerprinting.

The next training will hopefully begin June 1, 2022, once a week, in the evening, via Zoom and online courses with completion in October. If you are interested in becoming a Volunteer or know someone, please contact the Ukiah office at 462-9196.

Mary Tindall, Project Sanctuary

Ukiah

SAVE WATER

To the Editor:

Answer to Scott Greacen’s Sunday April 3, 2022 Letter to the Editor on the Potter Valley Project. Mr. Greacen and his so-called friends of the Eel River, are they actually friends of the Eel River or environmental extremists. Do they care anything about human habitat? There are at least five water districts in Mendocino County that get their water from Lake Mendocino. Without water from the Potter Valley Project, Lake Mendocino will never fill enough to meet the needs for human habitat needed in Mendocino County, not including Sonoma or Marin Counties needs for human habitat. Look at this year how low Lake Mendocino is. All because the environmental extremists would not allow PG&E to transfer water during November and December of 2021 when we were getting plenty of rain to transfer water to Lake Mendocino.

Next, what about this Two Basin Solution disaster that will fail. Ten years after the Cape Horn Dam was built it already had silted in. That’s why Scott Dam at Lake Pillsbury was built. Lake Pillsbury has a bigger basin adequate for the water of every need including fire protection. Cape Horn Dam at Van Arsdale does not have a big enough basin for the needs of both the Eel River (fish) and the Russian River (human habitat) without the water from Lake Pillsbury. There are plenty of solutions to get fish past Lake Pillsbury without removing Scott Dam and destroying an asset like Lake Pillsbury. People need to watch the documentary “A Rivers Last Chance”.

In that documentary Lake Pillsbury only effects eight percent of the Eel River. The illegal dope grows effect one hundred percent of the Eel River. You will not hear any of that from these environmental extremists. If these environmental extremists truly cared about the Eel River they would go after these illegal dope grows that draft way too much water and release toxic polutants back in the Eel River to the point the fish cannot even navigate back to their spawning grounds. Lake Pillsbury has water to send downstream during droughts in the summer months to help fish habitat. Without Lake Pillsbury there is no guarantee there would be enough water for fish during these droughts that we are now going through. People of Mendocino, Sonoma and Marin Counties, do not let these environmental extremists from Humboldt County destroy our human habitat.

Why don’t these environmental extremists have Ruth Lake’s Dam removed in Humboldt County (water supply for Eureka), because the people in Eureka would run these environmental extremists out on a rail. Oh, by the way Mr. Scott Greacen, I AM NOT a farmer. I am a native of Mendocino County from a family who has been here over one hundred years and does not want my county destroyed by people who do not even live here.

John Almida

Ukiah

NOBODY’S PERFECT

Dear Editor,

A sad but predictable verdict of guilty was reached by a Ukiah jury recently in the trial of David Giusti of Fort Bragg. Giusti, 67 years old, was convicted of attempted murder and assault with great bodily injury for the senseless and brutal beating of William Barry, a fellow free range drunk who roamed the same streets is Giusti here in Ukiah.

On that fateful night Barry was beaten, he stumbled into Giusti in a homeless camp in Ukiah where Giusti beat Barry half to death with a wooden ax handle striking him, according to Dr. Colfax at the Ukiah medical center, more than 40 times. Barry was airlifted to Santa Rosa and shortly thereafter placed in a care facility where he remains to this day lingering in a vegetative state.

It took the Jury only one hour to find Giusti guilty of all charges. In the two years it took to get Giusti to trial he fired two attorneys which prolonged the trial for that long. Finally, he realized he could no longer hide from the trial he no doubt would eventually have to face.

Giusti, who has a long violent history in Mendocino County for various crimes, which include beating his own father to death in Fort Bragg in the early 1980s. He now faces 30 years to life on May 19 when District Attorney David Eyster finally flushes the toilet sending another Mendo turd into the sad but predictable footnotes of Ukiah’s sordid history.

Giusti, who spent his brief visits to Mendocino County from prison, would spend his days pushing a shopping cart full of empty cans and bottles and dirty clothes around Ukiah. He is only person in the history of Mendocino County to insist on wearing his soiled jail jumpsuit to a jury trial and refusing to wash his long stringy, greasy hair. When he walked into court, the only thing missing was a shopping cart.

As you all know, Giusti subjects all of us here in jail to several wacky-ass letters accusing D.A. Eyster, Ukiah Police Department and the jail of working in unison to frame him of a crime he was supposedly is innocent of. 

Of course, this was ridiculous and absurd considering Giusti was found at the scene covered in Barry’s blood. The jury, of course, took about as long deliberate as it takes to drink a cup of coffee.

Now having been found guilty, Mr. Giusti will no doubt subject us all to an onslaught of letters to the AVA accusing his attorney of framing him and doing a poor job of representing him.

I urge Mr. Giusti to once in his life take responsibility for his actions and stop assuming the role of wacky-ass victim who has been framed by society.

And to you, Mr. Eyster, “Keep flushing the toilet."

Hanover

Thomas Hanover Sr.

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah

PS. Having just read the April 13 edition of the AVA, my prediction is accurate. Giusti writes a letter in which he accuses the District Attorney of having zero evidence -- Giusti was completely covered in Barry's blood -- and of conspiracy where Eyster and the judge and his public defender “framed him.” All three of them have college degrees and jobs. Why would a judge and a District Attorney and a public defender risk losing their careers and incomes over a street bum shopping cart hobo like Giusti? There’s no market for such an absurd claim. Mr. Giusti, you are embarrassing yourself. It's over. At least go out with a semblance of pride and self-respect. You have been flushed down the toilet and there is no amount of Drano that can save you! Buh-bye!

MENDO STORY FAN

Editor,

Greetings to the fanners of the flames.

If I could just fire up this old truck I would drive over and discuss my inquiry on finally getting a subscription to the Advertiser. But things are a bit frozen around here. I'm usually in the area at this time of year, “helping a friend.” But things have changed and I'm hunkered down here in Fairbanks, Alaska, watching the snow slowly melt away. (Sigh) So I am not able to read fresh copies of the paper. My friend will occasionally send me copies that were not used to start a fire in the snow. I pulled out an old paper to get an address and on page 4 it stated that the cost is $50 per year and $100 per year of state. Why the $50 additional cost when the cost of postage is the same to send an issue in-state and out-of-state? The extra $50 makes me cringe. 

I really enjoy your paper especially the stories of the history of Anderson Valley. I read the February 9 Vinegar Ridge Part 2 story. That's the last issue that has come my way. Besides the stories behind the history, the coverage of unique individuals and then the quirky ones from "off the record" are so entertaining. One of my favorites is the story of Bob Deines — November 18, 2020. I am trying to rally and scrape up the additional $50. On page 12 of the February 9 issue of the ad with subscriber rates shows a cost to be $50. What's up? Maybe I can get a family discount because one of your writers is Malcolm Macdonald. Please pass this story on to Malcolm.

Back in 1989 I was hitchhiking in New Zealand one-day because of some bad luck. I finally got a ride and it was the best ride I ever got. An old timer pulled over and asked me, "Do you know why I picked you up?" I froze for a second and then he quickly replied, "Because I could see that you are a "Scot." His name was Islay McClean and he came over from Scotland as a young man to work on a sheep farm. He came to love New Zealand, especially the Maoris. Islay was fluent in their language and immersed in their culture. I got into his car and was asked my full name. When I said Macdonald, Islay commented that he heard me strongly pronounce "Mac" and he wondered to me if the spelling of my last name was with an upper or lower case letter d. I informed him it was lower case and he exclaimed, "I am in the presence of royalty." Islay was so full of joy and the love of life. It was getting late and I was invited to stay the night. islay cooked dinner and told tales late into the night. Next morning was more stories over breakfast and then a ride to a good place on the road. His last words were, "Farewell, your highness."

So, Malcolm, we are both from the royal clan of Macdonald, and you too have probably dealt with a life of misspellings and misplacements of your name and filings.

Ok, folks. thanks for your efforts in putting out some great writings and reporting. I don't use a computer so be patient and understanding and write to me as soon as possible.

Kevin Macdonald

Fairbanks, Alaska

ED NOTE: We don't pay first class postage to mail the AVA because the AVA is not a letter it's a newspaper. According to our second class/periodicals postal permit (025-340) we, like all periodicals, pay basically by zip code of the subscriber, out of county and out of state rates are pretty high. Each week we have to tote up the subscribers by “zone” and fill out a detailed six page form which groups the mailing by zip code and weight. The cost of mailing to Mendocino County addresses is reasonably economical at around 20¢ a copy. But out of county and out of state mailing costs more proportionately by distance and runs up to 80¢ each for out out of state deliveries like Alaska or Hawaii (not counting pre-sort bag rates which also increase by distance). The rates have been going up twice a year lately. With the rising cost of fuel we expect they'll go up again soon. PS. For fun, take an average AVA and put it in an envelope and try mailing it from Alaska to California at the lower-cost “media” rate, and see what they charge. You might be surprised. If anyone is really interested in periodicals mailing rates they can, download the Postal Service’s “Postage Statement-Periodicals” form (PS3541) from the USPS website, usps.gov.

FORT BRAGG’S DIMINISHING CORE SERVICES

Editor,

Over the past 30+ years...since I moved to Fort Bragg in 1986. I've loved this town and all that it represented (past tense).

However, as of late, what seems like almost overnight, Fort Bragg has become a town in crisis!

All the institutions that we came to depend on and respect are for all intents and purposes GONE! I raised my son here in great schools, acquired my AA at the local JC, received caring and supportive medical/emergency services for my rescues, was on the receiving end of dedicated and devoted medical health professionals and more.

But, these and too many other institutions that I've come to depend on are no longer available to the residents of this community. 

The Junior College is a ghost town, the hospital struggles to entice doctors to the Coast. Emergency and even regular veterinary care services are all but non-existent! We are forced to seek services elsewhere, off the Coast, and for those with limited resources, they do without.

Fort Bragg City Council members, I ask you: What is it, exactly, that you are doing to address the absence of essential, core services of this community, services you were elected to provide?

What exactly have or are you currently doing/planning to address the absence of the most basic needs of this community? 

What are you doing or plan to do to put an end to the ever-diminishing services that once were available to this community?

It's a long time since 1986, but I would ask you, Council members, are we, here on the Coast, here in Fort Bragg, better off now, than we were 10 years ago? 20 years ago? 

That answer is abundantly clear: NO! Not even close!

And now, you talk about dissolving the Mendocino Coast Health Care District? Why? Because you've already accomplished so much in providing for the needs of this community? My guess? Pure arrogance? Another agenda? Your inbox is overflowing. Start doing what you were elected to do!

Name Withheld 

Fort Bragg

THE DO NOTHING GANG

Editor,

Inaction on gun violence…

Mass shootings and deaths are becoming commonplace news. Sometimes it’s not just one but two or three. When are our so-called politicians who have vowed to protect their constituents going to do something, anything, about this?

I have lost faith in these people who sit in Washington and Sacramento, earn an amazing salary, get free medical, etc. and, in my opinion, do nothing. Citizens continue to be shot, and the National Rifle Association rules. Not the elected officials.

Many of them have been in office for an eternity. Perhaps new blood, but it doesn’t seem to take newbies long to slip into the do-nothing attitude. So I guess we will continue to read about death by gun forever and pray it doesn’t happen near us or to us.

Linda Elliott

Cloverdale

HOBOS

Editor,

I was reading a while back about several citizens concerned about a serial killer in the Ukiah area. I have suspected this for over 20 years. There possibly were two or three of them and fortunately they are all basically out of commission at least in Ukiah. One died at the beginning of covid. His pal (tag team serials) has hopefully fled Mendocino County. The third one was only part time in California. I last saw him in Nevada in a wheelchair with only one leg. It's possible that he ran into one pissed off hobo with an ax or chainsaw!

Living mostly on the streets now for nearly 35 years, half my life, a person runs into some unsavory people. When the Nevada serial killer was still able to walk he used trained tracking dogs to sniff out sleeping hobos and I was one of them. This dude's parents are evidently very rich and bought him the dogs. The first one liked me, a thoroughbred boxer named Louie. So she wouldn't track me. The last one was a pit bull. I caught them tracking me in Nevada in the middle of the night. Of course in Nevada you can duck into a casino all night and the dog gets confused.

On April 7 I was convicted of all charges against me. I had nearly no chance. Judge Keith Faulder and District Attorney David Eyster finally got what they've been obsessed with for at least 25 years: to get me facing a life sentence. And I was denied several constitutional rights along the way these last two years. Now with much legal work ahead of me for my appeal I doubt if I will ever be submitting many letters in the near future. But I will still subscribe to the AVA and appreciate all your readers and writers in Mendocino County.

Sincerely,

David Giusti -- Detective Youngcault, Crow prison scout

Mendocino County Jail

Ukiah

CALIFORNIA’S HOUSING SHORTAGE

Dear Governor Newsom,

I know you're aware of the shortage of affordable housing in Calif- but all I hear as a solution is "build more affordable housing!" I never hear anything about the questionable way our real estate agents and landowners behave- they are following that horrible mandate of US Corporations to "make as much money as you possibly can, regardless of who it hurts, whether the environment or people."

Something HAS to be done about housing prices in Calif.! Investors, many foreign, rarely local, are bidding up houses and apartments so high that it is impossible for "normal" people to buy or even rent! Tripling rents is common now. I lived in Oakland for 34 years, been in Mendocino Co. now 18 years, and have family in L.A. and Redlands- so I know: it's happening up and down the state! The daughter of friends was out-bid on 70 houses in the East-Bay- she and her husband, in their early 30's are both doctors with good jobs. They've been looking for a year and a half, and can find nothing! The house I lived in for 30 years just sold for almost 3 million dollars- more than a million over asking price- and it's a medium sized house on a teeny lot in the flats of north Oakland- it's absolutely obscene!

Bidding wars should be made ILLEGAL! The first person who qualifies for the asking price should be the one to get it- and part of qualifying needs to be that the buyer is going to live in the house, or rent it out for a fair price, to someone who will be living in it! Not Air B'n'B-ing it!

L.A. is so expensive, a lot of people are moving to Redlands, a very lovely town less than an hour away, that until recently was fairly affordable. My daughter has a friend there whose apartment building was recently bought by a foreign investor, and they are tripling the rents! My sister, who has lived there for more than 30 years, says there is no way her two kids will ever be able to live there, buying or renting. My daughter, in her 20's, lives in a house owned by a Taiwanese corporation that has never seen the house, they just bought up houses in the LA area. She pays $1,000./ month for one small room, her 2 roommates pay more for their rooms as they are a trifle bigger. And corporations are buying up trailer parks all over and jacking up the rents so even that previously inexpensive way to live is becoming difficult to afford! (my niece and her boyfriend live in a trailer, all they can afford in the "Inland Empire" area. They grew up in Redlands, have to live half an hour away by freeway in Mentone, and the cost to rent a space for the trailer keeps going up!!) Landlords and sellers in Anderson Valley are no better. They must think people who live here are wealthy!

Really, the only solution is not just to build more "low income housing”! How "low" will it be? Building materials are at an all time high! We need to manage the housing we already have better! Pass legislation not allowing investors to raise rents past a certain point/sit on houses/turn them into air B n B's... I'm sure you know about all the empty houses in Oakland. If we have to, we should nationalize all the housing! Or the state could take over empty houses...there HAS to be something you can do!

Don’t be in a panic to solve this problem and let developers destroy neighborhoods! There is no reason to throw out aesthetic or historical guidelines- With you signing into law SB9 and SB10, an investor can tear out the existing house on a property and put in a 4 unit (or even more!) building, filling up the entire lot so there is no room for any sort of garden.

This is not at all ecologically sound- our landfill is already a huge problem!- much better to use the existing house- make it 2 stories if it's only one, one unit upstairs, one down; and build a new little 2-unit granny flat in back, and have it be sensitively done, and of true quality so that the neighborhood is still a lovely place to live. Planting trees must be mandated, and saving large trees a priority. Do we have to lose all sense of grace and beauty, and destroy the history of a neighborhood, just because we need more low income housing? I lived in Oakland in the late '60's/early '70's when investors were buying up beautiful old super well made houses, selling them to the City for a huge profit, who tore them down, then built poor quality "low income housing", filling the entire lot with a hideous structure, paving over the front yard for parking. Within a matter of months those places looked like crap because they were so poorly designed and constructed with cheap materials. 

I know because I lived in one of those beautiful old houses, and was evicted so they could tear it down and build their wretched units. I had 2 friends the same thing happened to. All of those original houses were high quality craftsmen homes, and could easily have been turned into 2 or 3 gracious units. Then RCPC [Rockridge Community Planning Council] got going and stopped it. 

That's how I got my house in Rockridge. The landlord/investor had bought up all these houses in the N. Oakland area, now he could no longer tear them out and put in the high rise he planned, so he basically dumped this little house in my lap. (He knew me from my having lived in 2 of his other tear-downs.) RCPC studied neighborhoods all over the country and put together guidelines for what makes a neighborhood a nice place to live. It's no accident that Rockridge is such a coveted neighborhood. Other neighborhoods by BART stations don't command the [ridiculously high] prices that RR does. When I moved in, College Ave was a dump, as was the flat-lands around it. When Hwy 24 was built, everyone who could afford to, left Oakland. Even by the time I moved there, after the fwy was built, College Ave. had many vacant lots. (I remember 2 of them had boats being built on them!) 

The storefronts that were left were grubby and trashy, with broken venetian blinds in them, paint peeling, very run-down, just like most all neighborhoods in Oakland then. (I was a student at Calif College of Arts & Crafts at that time, and lived in neighborhoods all around the school.) The houses above College Ave. were still pretty nice, and RCPC was born to ameliorate the decay. In the flats, we fixed up our gardens- cheap to do- and started making the neighborhood look nice again. I was one of the first to do it. Later, when I had some money, I added a 2nd story to the house, and made it really nice. I lived there 30 years. [The people who bought our house nearly 20 years ago recently turned a portion of the downstairs into an ADU, and the next-door neighbors added a 2nd unit as a 2nd floor. Both of them look beautiful, keeping the lovely integrity of the neighborhood in tact. A couple of additional units could even still be worked into them, and not detract from the quality of living in them. Adding units does NOT have to done in a way that destroys the beauty of a home or neighborhood! Good design is essential!

Building more houses is something the building industry wants. The reality is, DO WE HAVE THE WATER? Many places are already on water restriction, yet they are building new houses near by! Is this sensible, let alone fair?? The census says we have less people; we lost at least one seat in the House! But we have more homeless than ever! All the "affordable" housing in Oakland and Berkeley is a joke!! What rich legislators think is affordable, is NOT affordable to the people who are couch surfing or having to live in shelters, let alone those relegated to the streets!! It used to be that 1/4 of your income was considered fair. (Even Donald Trump, in the '80's said "the only criteria for renters is that the rent not exceed 1/4 of their income.") Anything higher was considered usury!! Now it is 1/3 to 1/2 of one's income! Try living on even $15.00 an hour, which is tossed around as if it's so much money! How can a single person live on that, let alone a family?

This whole housing situation certainly contributes to the high rate of depression we have in this country, and is absolutely unconscionable!

Sincerely, 

Nancy MacLeod 

Philo

MENDOCINO SPRING POETRY SUBMISSIONS

47th Anniversary * 17th consecutive Revival Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration 2022

Friends of the lively word,

For the third extraordinary year of cautions, the Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration will airwave on public radio rather than at the Hill House. Last year, 2021, sixty-three poets sent smartphone recordings, and everyone was heard at least once, in five broadcasts from June to August.

Again this year, for 2022, the submission window will be May 1 to May 20, for broadcast beginning June 5, on Dan Roberts’ RhythmRunningRiver, KZYX, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting.

Record your clip of up to four minutes, titles and poems, and email the file to OutFarPress@Saber.Net during the submission period of May 1st - 20th.

It’s as easy as taking a photo and emailing it, really! And smartphone mics are good. Here’s kindly competent tech advice: OutFarPress.Com/Poetry. Or ensorcel a friend with a phone.

Dan Roberts has been arranging segues of poetry among the rhythms of world music for decades and is likely to be unmatched in this format and experience. Following is a sample hour of Dan’s broadcast of the 2021 Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration - Stream: 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d277bypxr2pdks8/RRR071821B.mp3?dl=0

The poems below are bolded in italics among the music cuts. Sample the sequences, record your own good lines, and email your file to Dan Roberts (after May 1). The 2022 broadcasts of the Mendocino Spring Poetry Celebration will begin on Sunday June 5 at 3pm, on KZYX radio waves and kzyx.org..

RhythmRunningRiver July 18, 2021 2nd hour

1. Jabez Churchill (Ukiah)_No Less, 01:24

2. Dalinda (Hungary)_Uj eztendo, 02:43

3. Jupiter & Okwess (DRC)_Jim Kata, 04:06

4. Kate Dougherty (Fort Bragg) Fire Threatens Olema Retreat, 00:48

5. Rising Appalachia (US)_Tempest0, 5:29

6. Dobet Gnahore (Ivory Coast)_Zaliguehi, 02:40

7. Gordon Black (Albion)_Glass Jewel, 00:42

8. Namgar Yaboo (Mongolia)-Aidoo, 05:30

9. Lynn The Poetician (Ukiah)_Accumulation Stress, 03:59

10. Nour Fretiekh- Jaffa (Palestine)_Everything has changed, 03:08

11. Rich Alcott (Vermont)_Truth About the Ubermensch, 03:55

12. Fools on a hill (Cobb Mountain)_Ball and Chain, 05:26

13. Mary Norbert Korte (Willits)_Death and Resurrection, 02:27

14. Dobet Gnahore (Ivory Coast)_Redemption, 03:20

15. Dan Roberts (Willits)_Holy Card for Greta #3, 05:42

Total 52:51

Further info? Email me: gblack@mcn.org. And pursue your Muse!

Gordon Black

Mendocino

AT&T

Editor,

Once again I had had it with robo and scam calls from disconnected and etc. phone numbers. 

As you have no doubt noticed, being on a DNC list is not effective, so I filed another complaint with the CPUC, officially. 

I indicated that these calls were negative to my health, having to get up and answer the phone and indicated my belief that they were destroying democracy by breaking connections between people since so many no longer answered their phones, isolating us, which coupled with the pandemic was very destructive to our mental and physical health. I also pointed out that commercial services are available to protect us from calls from disconnected numbers and that, no matter how little, they make money on EVERY call that comes through their monopoly protected land lines..

A few days later I got a call from the "CEO's" office acknowledging my complaint, telling me that they "felt my pain", but there was nothing they could do. I said if you can tell me when I use the return call feature that the line is disconnected; you can tell me that the call is coming from a "non-working" displayed phone number. She said, they always hire women to do the dirty work, oh, no we can't. It went back and forth and when I got tired of it; she was being paid, I wasn't, I said we are both repeating ourselves and the call was ended.

Teed off, I went on line and quickly learned that AT&T pays out over 8 BILLION dollars a year to its stockholders, less than 1/2 of what it earns, and over 100 million (hard to use caps after billions) to its NEOs.

In theory, AT&T is a regulated monopoly and the CPUC is supposed to protect us against their abuses. Here in nowheresville, we have no AT&T mobile service and old f**ts like me are dependent upon our land lines. If we don't have computers and satellite service, we are totally isolated when s**t hits the fan.

I believe if everyone affected by phone calls from scammers of any type, whether simple interruptions or fear creation, were to write to the CPUC that eventually they would take action. I firmly believe, regardless of what the CEO's hack might say, that AT&T could and would find a way to stop these calls. They do have over a BILLION a month in profit to throw at the problem. They certainly are not using it to maintain, upgrade or repair our land lines.

Peter Lit

Elk

PS. This would require a "time out" from facebook, twitter, etc etc etc and our (including mine) self-centered activity