Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024

By AVA News Service on January 27, 2024

ADDITIONAL LIGHT TO MODERATE RAINFALL will occur throughout the day with localized heavy rain in Del Norte County. Strong gusty winds are expected to continue this morning. Drier weather with mild temperatures are anticipated for tomorrow and Monday. Unsettled weather will resume mid to late next week with heavy rainfall, mountain snow, and strong gusty winds. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): Light rain & 54F on the coast this Saturday morning. Only a trace of rain so far. Showers today, dry & warm for Sunday & Monday then a pile of rain (pile?) returns for Tuesday thru Friday. Next weekend is looking dry so far.

MAGNITUDE 4.2 EARTHQUAKE STRIKES NORTH BAY

by Amy Graff

A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck in Lake County on Friday afternoon, giving the far North Bay a shake, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The quake hit at 1:28 p.m. with a depth of 1.4 miles nearly 4 miles northwest of Cobb, a community just south of Clear Lake. The epicenter was near the Geysers geothermal field, which includes several geothermal power plants.

Earthquakes are common in this area. “The major seismic hazards in the region are from large earthquakes occurring along regional faults that are located miles away from the geothermal field, such as the San Andreas and Healdsburg-Rodgers Creek faults,” the USGS said. “However, activities associated with the withdrawal of steam for producing electric power cause or induce small quakes to occur in the field.”

(sfgate.com)

BOONVILLE WATER PROJECTS REPORTS

(from the January 17 Community Services District Board meeting minutes)

Final reports from RCAC (Rural Communities Assistance Corporation) were shared and will be linked to the Water Committee website. These were the final “deliverables” from RCAC to the State DFA (Dept of Financial Assistance) at the completion of RCAC’s contract to assist us in the public outreach process for both projects. The Clean Water report covered their involvement with the sewer project to date and the Drinking Water report covered their assistance with the public meetings and survey. There are many informative graphs and descriptions of both projects. Here are the links to the drop box for more information on both projects:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/07nroa1vgcjkleqyvzvs4/h?rlkey=u7xsg3ypmoao2zs9kydu974tc&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/8ve82cc40dkrb1k6zjf1z/h?rlkey=6ong8i3fq70fvfwf1pmi7s9wo&dl=0

AVUSD NEWS

Dear Anderson, Valley Community,

I hope this message finds you well. We hope that you all enjoy the basketball tournament on Saturday. I understand that it will be a full day. Any support that you can lend for that event would be greatly appreciated. We desperately need parent volunteers to support our supervision in the gym. I understand in decades past, it was required for parents to supervise one or two games. I know that would mean a world of difference to our coaches if that coverage occurred. Staff members volunteer as much as they can but they also have family commitments as well. Please talk to your coach for your student and see how you can best help.

Coach Toohey says it best: “We are hosting a boys B team tournament this Saturday. There are 12 games being played starting at 8am and running until 8pm. All in, coaches, parents, student athletes, and staff involved have over 30 basketball games left to support in the last couple weeks of the season. It has been a very busy Winter. Thanks to everyone who has come out and given their time!”

The gift of time is the most important gift of all. Any that you can spare would be greatly appreciated.

In other news, you may notice that the hallways in the elementary school are being painted. We hope to have the new flooring down in the hallways by midsummer. We hope to replace the cafeteria floor when the elementary kitchen is remodeled. That is probably going to take about a year, as we get you the permit and bidding process and then find a time in our school calendar where we can do the work without impacting food service to students.

We have a wonderful special event on February 2 called Wild Things. This is a wildlife assembly from the Nature Conservancy, and they bring the live animals and display them with an interactive lecture. Last year, we had a large alligator and numerous other incredible animals to share. This assembly is both for Elementary and the Junior/Senior High.

If you haven’t already done so, please sign up for the Elementary Saturday school date on February 10. This will be a fun day for kids at the high school gym.

Summer school dates are fast approaching and we will have more information related to dates. This year, the high school will be under construction. There will be no summer school for 7th and 8th graders, and limited summer school for credit recovery students grade 9th-12th. Summer school for TK-6th and for high school credit recovery will be at the elementary site. We will bring summer school back for 7th and 8th grade in the 2024/25 school year.

And the most exciting news–we have started the soil sampling and final renderings for the track and field. We hope to go into the Department of State Architect by April for review.

Louise Simson, Superintendent

UKIAH CONSTRUCTION UPDATE for the Week of January 29

On the south side (Mill to Cherry), crews are nearly done replacing sewer laterals between Gobbi and Cherry. When this is complete (by Tuesday, weather permitting), there will be a few days of working on manholes that are along the side of the street and patching concrete and asphalt. Then, work in this section will pause until weather improves for paving. Travel lanes will continue to be open in both directions. Joint trench work will continue between Mill and Gobbi, which will run along the west side of the street and contain underground electric communication lines.

On the north side (Norton to Henry), crews continue concrete work, weather permitting, and the electrical contractor is working to install the new streetlights. In most parts of this section, on-street parking has been restored. The on-street parking is not very intuitive, because the orange delineators (cone-thingies) must remain in place to keep vehicles traveling in a single lane. However, it IS okay, unless there are barricades in place that state otherwise, to park inside (to the right of) those delineators.

Shannon Riley, Deputy City Manager

THE COUNTY IS SITTING ON MILLIONS of dollars which were promised to local fire services.

by Mark Scaramella

County Measure P was passed in November of 2022 by a relatively low margin of 55-45 for a fire services measure, even though the Board promised via resolution that all of the sales tax revenues received would go to local fire services and prevention.

It is now some 15 months later and millions of dollars of sales tax revenue have been collected.

The Title of Measure P was: “Shall Ordinance No. 4510 be adopted to impose as a general tax, an additional transactions (sales) and use tax of one quarter cent (0.25%) within Mendocino County to fund essential services, including fire protection and prevention? Such tax is estimated to raise $4,000,000 annually for ten (10) years, after which it will expire.”

Guess how much of this long-awaited funding has been delivered to local fire districts and the fire prevention council?

That’s right: zero.

Apparently, the County has been conducting some kind of head of a pin analysis they call “the Evergreen contract” to combining all sales tax fire services revenue into one batch to property disburse the funds according to still consolidated formula, even though the basic formula has been in place for decades and is specified in the resolution that the Board passed to accompany Measure P back in July of 2022.

County Resolution 22-159 (July of 2022) promised:

“The Board intends that the 90% used for direct aid to agencies providing direct fire protection services be allocated in the same manner as the Board has allocated Proposition 172 funds. Specifically, 40% of the 90% (36% of the total new revenue) will be distributed evenly among local agencies, with the remaining 60% (54% of total) allocated based on relative population size of those agencies. The Board intends that the 10% for fire prevention, resiliency and readiness shall be used solely to plan, finance and operate ongoing county-wide programs including but not limited to community chipping service, defensible space assistance and home hardening assistance.”

Apparently this math, already in use for Prop 172 and campground transient occupancy funds, is too much for Mendocino County to handle, despite it being proposed by them. Instead, the County is sitting on the millions accumulated in over more than a year and local fire districts are still unable to budget for use of the promised funding, much less spend it for fire protection services.

The week before the passage of Measure P, Dave Latoof, President of the Mendocino County Fire Chiefs Association (MCFCA) wrote that:

“…all local fire departments are in need of additional funding to keep up with rising costs and services. Emergency response calls are increasing - fire related calls have increased 52% over the past 5 years,” and, “All 20 [County] Fire Chiefs support Measure P and the allocation formula outlined by Resolution 22-159, passed by the Board of Supervisors July 12th 2022. Our organization is prepared to ensure each dollar is allocated as intended…”

So far, not one word of formal complaint or effort to “ensure” the allocation has been delivered to the Board/County staff (although we have heard that some internal communiques have gone back and forth to no avail), as they continue to fiddle-fart away, month after month after month. None of the Candidates for Supervisor have raised this no-brainer of an issue. Nobody even knows if there’s a target date for when the money will be disbursed. (Previous guesstimates passed months ago.) One insider speculated that the process is bogged down in the County Counsel’s office where all good ideas go to die. But as long as nobody says anything or puts public pressure on the Board, wherever the hold up is, none of the promised millions will ever be delivered to the agencies the Board promised it to.

Last year, Supervisor Williams went so far as to suggest that because the County is supposedly broke, local fire agencies should propose and sponsor their own replacement measure(s) which would legally require the County to turn over the funding because, as it is, the Board is not legally bound to honor its promises to the local fire services. And their track record. on voter approved measures is, ahem, not good.

THE PALACE HOTEL:

The final days of the iconic downtown landmark may be at hand.

by Mike Geniella

The days are numbered for the historic Palace Hotel, especially if a pending $6.6 million taxpayer funded financing scheme of a local tribe and its planned partners wins state approval.

A grant award is likely to lead to demolition of the Palace, possibly as soon as this summer. Promoters of the new Palace deal have been claiming for weeks a state decision is imminent, but Guidiville tribal administrator Bunny Tarin said this week it is now not expected until the end of February.

“We do not have any comment on purchase plans or any processes until the funds have been secured,” said Tarin.

The Palace’s current owner and a group of unknown local investors whose point man is downtown restauranteur Matt Talbert are refusing to publicly discuss details. But newly disclosed documents submitted to the state in October 2023 outline the plans.

The Guidiville Rancheria’s grant application reveals how Ukiah’s 19th century landmark would be torn down so environmental consulting crews can examine the half-block site for possible underground contamination from old fuel storage tanks. Any site cleanup, if necessary, will be done over a two-year period. The North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board in Santa Rosa would be charged with overseeing the work.

If the state grant becomes a reality, the tribe and the proposed purchase clears escrow with current owner Jitu Ishwar, the Guidiville Rancheria will assume controlling interest in the new partnership, according to the state application. Who besides Talbert would be among the partners is unknown because Ishwar, his attorney Stephen Johnson, Talbert, and the group’s attorney, Atilla Panczel, refuse to identify them.

What is known based on the state document is that the proposed partnership envisions constructing post-site cleanup a six-story boutique/hotel/retail/housing/office complex. Backers insist there is no gambling casino element to the plan.

The Guidiville proposal and its unorthodox approach is winning some quiet support from city officials and civic leaders. “We have to follow this path through,” said Deputy City Manager Shannon Riley, who insists the city of Ukiah has few options left after 40 years of community debate about the Palace’s fate.

Local preservation activists, however, are scorning the approach and argue that typical regulatory review processes for significant historical structures are being skirted. They cite among other issues the City Council action at a November special meeting to waive statutory review requirements required under CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, by declaring the Palace has become a dangerous public safety risk.

Critics also rip the city for declaring that the Palace building’s condition is so dire that it could collapse on itself, even though the structure’s overall condition has been debated and assessed for years. The City Council action was taken within days of the Guidiville grant application being filed with the state Department of Toxic Substance Control, a little known powerful state agency.

City Council members took their position based on a fire department presentation ending with an official city declaration that the Palace is a “public safety hazard.” It ordered owner Ishwar to either stabilize the building or seek a demolition permit within 30 days. As a result, scaffolding surrounds the lower portion of street-front facades of the Palace, and pedestrian safety measures are in place. Now almost three months later nothing further has been done.

Deputy City Manager Riley concedes the city is in a “holding pattern” until the outcome of the state grant application is known.

Opponents of tearing down the Palace building fear Riley and City Manager Sage Sangiacomo may be acting in concert with the proposed new buyers in hopes the state will cover the multi-million dollar cost of demolition and cleanup of the Palace site, paving the way for the property to be privately redeveloped, and finally rid the downtown of a blighted structure.

“They have exempted the building from any historic review or City Council oversight by declaring a safety hazard to the public,” said Alan Nicholson, owner of a noted Mendocino County interior design studio.

The state Office of Historic Preservation has made inquiries to city officials about the Palace plan after local complaints were taken to Sacramento. Kevin Murphy, a state spokesman for the office, said the concerns are “under review.”

The state office knows the Palace history, including details of a prior redevelopment proposal made to owner Ishwar and nixed in 2022. Then, state preservation officials began review of a restoration plan presented by local resident Minal Shankar to use historic tax credit financing to shore up and revive the structure.

Shankar hired Page & Turnbull, a noted San Francisco firm specializing in restoration of historic buildings including the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, and the Alto design team to produce plans to rehabilitate the Palace and produce a fresh new look to include a boutique hotel, rooftop event center, and a cluster of ground level retail shops centered around an existing courtyard.

Shankar’s plan, the most serious ever proposed for recycling the Palace into new uses, was rejected by Ishwar, apparently because he wasn’t offered full reimbursement of what he had invested in the decrepit Palace via loans to a court appointed receivership. Guidiville Rancheria and the other new buyers have promised to make Ishwar ‘whole’ even though the Palace’s structural condition has worsened even further under his five years of ownership.

Carolyn Kiernat, a principal in Page & Turnbull, said this past week she is dismayed to learn the Palace may be on the brink of demolition.

“Preservation can take many forms, and we’ve seen buildings in similar or worse condition as the Palace Hotel brought back to life,” said Kiernat.

A specific example relating to the Palace is the Hotel Tioga in Merced where Kiernat in 2020 led a $15 million renovation to return the five-story building to downtown prominence. The Tioga was rehabilitated as a 70-unit apartment building for professionals and UC Merced graduate students, with retail space on the ground level, a fitness center, and room for a brew pub and café.

Kiernat said she believes from her team’s work for Shankar that portions of the Palace structure are stable, could be retained, and reused.

“Less stable areas “could be temporarily shored while the least stable parts of the building may need to be removed to address public safety concerns.”

Kiernat said, however, that “I don’t have any doubt that this building could be brought back to life and creatively reused in a way that is meaningful to the community.”

Ishwar during his ownership has not publicly put forward any rehabilitation plan.

Ishwar and his wife Paru are owners/partners in several motel and hotel properties scattered across Mendocino, Lake, and Sonoma counties. They are listed as co-owners of the Fairfield Inn and the Economy Inn, a highly visible stalled rehab project on State Street in the shadow of Ukiah’s City Hall. Ishwar is a regional director of the nearly 20,000 member Asian American Hotel Owners Association. Ishwar is among American motel owners related to Patel, a surname that indicates they are members of a Gujarati Hindu subcaste which controls one out of two hotels in America.

Ishwar and attorney Steve Johnson did not respond to repeated requests for comment or updates on the new plans for the Palace property.

Attorney Mark Adams of Santa Monica was the city of Ukiah’s court appointed receiver tasked with selling the Palace. Adams, a magna cum laude graduate of Loyola Marymount University and Georgetown University Law Center, said he has served as court-appointed receiver for over 250 properties. Adams’ California Receivership Group has a checkered history according to reports in the Los Angeles Times, but Adams continues to be considered a leading expert on the subject in his field.

In the Palace case, Adams initially said his and Ishwar’s relationship was cordial, eventually leading to the January 2019 sale to Ishwar for $972,085, according to court records. The amount included loans to the receivership from Ishwar and unpaid receivership fees and expenses. Ishwar within two weeks transferred title to Twin Investments, a limited liability company formed by him and his wife.

Adams recalled that Ishwar “was presented to me as a local hotelier with an interest in the community and a possible desire to restore the Palace. So, I definitely thought he was at least potentially a force for good.”

But it wasn’t long, said Adams, before he came to believe Ishwar and attorney Johnson “were involved in a real estate play, not a community project.”

Adams said, “It was truly heartbreaking when he got so greedy with that woman (Minal Shankar) who I really did and do think was dedicated to a community orientation.”

In July 2023, attorney Johnson blamed Shankar for the collapse of the Palace deal with Ishwar. “She didn’t close the deal. It would be unfair to suggest he did anything wrong,” said Johnson.

In an ironic twist, if and when the Palace site is cleared with state grant funds, the tribe and its co-investors are touting building a similar version to Shankar’s earlier concept, based on how the plans are described to the state agency in the grant application. The basic theme is a boutique hotel, restaurant and bar, a cluster of retail shops, and a rooftop event center and garden.

Talbert, operator of the popular Left Coast restaurant downtown, is the point man for the local group of investors partnering up with Guidiville, but he refuses to publicly identify them, or provide any details about their long-range plans.

While public information remains sketchy about the new Palace deal, state documents that have been obtained disclose some key details. For instance, the Guidiville Rancheria, no stranger to taxpayer supported land deals involving tribes, will have the controlling interest in the proposed Palace partnership if the purchase with Ishwar is completed.

The tribe, located on a small rancheria east of Talmage, has been entangled for two decades in a failed billion dollar deal to transform an abandoned Navy depot at Point Molate on San Francisco Bay first into a controversial casino, and later an upscale housing venture. In 2022, Guidiville secured half interest in the site as part of a court settlement of lengthy litigation. It has three years to produce a development plan or sell, according to East Bay news accounts.

Local architect Nicholson, who served years on Ukiah’s Design Review Board, said he fears city administrators are so eager to rid downtown of a four-decade old eyesore that they seem to be supporting any deal to raze the Palace without even cursory reviews by Ukiah's own Demolition Review Board, the Planning Commission, or the City Council.

It’s disturbing because “there are many examples throughout the country of historic buildings in much worse shape than the Palace Hotel being restored to a second life and benefiting the building and the owners,” said Nicholson.

Nicholson added, “The profound lack of knowledge of the current owner and local administrators, using perceived structural deficiencies of the building in the devious pursuit of government funds to demolish the building is irresponsible and runs counter to the State Office of Historic Preservation requirements concerning registered historic buildings.”

Dennis Crean, a Ukiah resident, said he understands public frustration about the deteriorating state of the Palace building.

“I get it. People are weary of seeing the dilapidated Palace Hotel and are ready for this saga to end already,” said Crean.

“But that doesn’t mean Jitu Ishwar, the owner, should get a free pass to tear down Ukiah’s most historic building due to his own failure to take care of the property. There’s a name for that. It’s called demolition by neglect, and a lot of cities have regulations to protect against that sort of bad behavior,” said Crean.

Contention over the Palace’s fate is complicated by the secrecy surrounding the planned purchase, and who besides Talbert are in partnership with the Guidiville Rancheria. It’s the talk of town, but who’s behind the new Palace deal remains a mystery to local residents.

City officials acknowledged they have met with Talbert and others, including Ishwar and Johnson, to discuss the pending state application and the possible ramifications.

Deputy City Manager Riley repeated her past contentions that the city only has a ‘narrow lane’ in its role in the Palace saga, and that now because of the building’s eroding condition there is no choice for the city but to focus on public safety issues.

The City Council blamed water intrusion from winter storms in 2022-23 for making the Palace building “no longer structurally stable, posing imminent risk of damage to persons or property in its vicinity.”

Riley said that finding qualifies the Palace for exception to the prohibition on demolition of historic registered buildings, and “because of the imminent risk, the hypothetical demolition would be exempt from the requirement for review from the Demolition Review Committee and subsequent referral to the Planning Commission.”

“I don’t know a single person who is excited about the possibility that the Palace could be demolished. It’s absolutely devastating to see such an iconic building that was filled with so many memories in such an advanced state of deterioration,” said Riley.

Riley said she understands there are mounting public concerns as the possibility of demolition sinks in.

“But it’s important for people to understand that the city doesn’t own this building. The city can’t force the owner to sell the building to a specific person or manage this transaction in a specific way any more than we can dictate who you sell your house to or how you decorate it. We also can’t require someone to build a project that is economically unfeasible.”

Riley thought critics’ concerns should be eased by a city requirement that 65 percent of building materials from demolition of buildings has to be salvaged or recycled.

Riley insists she or other city leaders have not seen the pending Guidiville application for state funding.

The state agency confirms that the Guidiville Rancheria is one of two California tribes among 48 applicants seeking $90 million this year in funds under a special state program called “Equitable Community Revitalization Grants.” The program is providing more than $250 million in grants to “incentivize cleanup and investment in disadvantaged areas of California.”

“If anyone is going to get a slice of available funds, it will be the tribes,” predicted an individual knowledgeable about how state money is divvied up in Sacramento.

In its state application, the Guidiville tribe argues that the Palace needs to be torn down so an on-site study can be done to determine once and for all if long-rumored underground fuel storage contamination and possible cleanup of the site needs to be done.

The possible presence of old underground storage tanks and possible contamination has long been debated locally, but remains in dispute, however.

The Guidiville application cites 2023 preliminary underground radar studies that purportedly show possibly six underground tanks once holding heating fuel and gasoline for a hotel garage are located beneath the Palace.

“The site was primarily used as a hotel however we believe the suspected causes of contamination were due to the historic hotel operations including automobile fueling and servicing operations. Soils under the Palace Hotel are potentially contaminated with substances including but not limited to volatile solvents, lead, and PCB's, due to historical underground storage tanks used to supply the heating plant of the old hotel that were installed under building foundation. Kerosene and leaded gasoline were sold onsite and stored underground in tanks. The Palace garage was a fueling station and service shop back in the 20's. It is suspected that these tanks are damaged and leaking into the soil and groundwater.”

Guidiville acknowledges past environmental studies that were conducted for a court-appointed receiver overseeing the Palace property found no suspected tanks or contaminated areas.

“We don't believe the studies were done with enough accuracy,” the Guidiville application declares, however.

“In August of this year (2023) we conducted our own Geophysical Survey using ground penetrating radar, metal detectors and soil testing that revealed multiple sites, six confirmed, of suspected underground storage tanks and contaminated areas.”

Research, however, for a 2017 study by a Merced County environmental consulting firm found that in fact at one time a 30,000 gallon storage tank was in place under the ground floor of only one section of the hotel. But using similar ground penetrating radar technology the Guidiville Rancheria cites, Nelson Eviro LLC of Atwater then concluded in its report that it found no evidence of possible ground contamination, or even underground tanks.

“Results of the survey found that no underground storage tanks were detected at this site. The areas were scanned thoroughly, and no anomalies consistent with the presence of underground storage tanks could be found. Also, no suspicious ground penetrating radar data was found/seen at time of scanning to signify any current items remains,” according to the report prepared by Mike Nelson, owner of the consulting firm that does environmental site assessments in Northern and Central California. Nelson is a registered environmental property assessor.

Former court receiver Adams said he has no reservations about conclusions of the 2017 Nelson underground tank report that he commissioned for disclosure to potential buyers.

Adams said he is incredulous that claims of underground contamination at the Palace are being recycled again. Why would anyone, including the state, spend “$6 million to reconfirm that finding?”

“Wow,” said Adams.

Kiernat, the Page & Turnbull preservation expert, said the city should require an independent abatement company to study the exact location of the alleged tanks, complete soil testing, and devise a way to extract them and clean the site without demolishing the Palace building.

“It can be done. I’m sure of it,” said Kiernat.

Besides the contamination and structural-related issues, there are questions whether the project Guidiville and investors envision can secure necessary city permits because the new structure would be twice the height of the current structure and sit atop an underground garage.

Asked if it is possible such a large project could make it through the city of Ukiah’s review and permitting process, Deputy City Manager Riley replied, “Maybe.”

Riley said, however, that any new development on the Palace site will be subject to a site development permit, which must be reviewed by the Design Review Board and the city Planning Commission. It also will be subject to the Downtown Zoning Code, aimed at helping create a ‘vibrant downtown.’

There are a lot of “maybes” surrounding the Palace besides securing state funding to cover demolition costs and site cleanup.

Guidiville holds a 44-acre remnant of its rancheria east of Talmage that was terminated in 1958 by the federal government. The tribe regained recognition when termination of native lands were legally challenged across California. There are now about 115 members, according to the Bureau of Indian affairs.

Guidiville may be small in numbers and acreage, but it is no stranger to public agencies, and development proposals.

For two decades Guidiville was engaged in a high profile dispute with the city of Richmond over plans to first develop a $1.2 billion gambling casino at Point Molate on San Francisco Bay, and then a high-end bayside housing development. Eventually the tribe and its partner wound up buying half the former Naval depot site for a bargain basement $400 in 2022 and have until 2025 to produce their own development plans.

Mike Derry, the same tribal advisor in the Richmond project, is also listed on the state grant application for the Palace cleanup project.

Tribal Administrator Tarin, however, said in a response to a December request for comment, “Please be advised Mr. Derry is not authorized to comment on Tribal economic development initiatives. Only our Tribal Council has the authority to speak to anyone on these matters.”

Talbert over several meetings also declined to publicly discuss specifics of his or his group’s partnership with Guidiville, although he has privately outlined tentative plans with civic leaders, city officials, and a host of other interested parties.

“We don’t want to raise expectations,” said Talbert about the group’s public silence.

The Palace has been at the crossroads of Mendocino County’s past and future, boom or bust cycles for 133 years.

The hotel was once the place for generations of travelers to the Redwood Region to stop, and eat, drink and be merry in the celebrated Black Bart Room.

In a collaborative piece, writer Karen Rifkin and Allysa Ballard, archivist at the Historical Society of Mendocino County, put together a recently published history of the Palace which detail its storied past.

The Palace survived the 1906 earthquake “with only a few broken windows and a slight loss of plaster in the upper stories,” they wrote.

The Sandelin family owned the Palace through three generations until 1966. In its heyday the hotel was the center of social and civic activities.

In 1949, a new unit offering expanded dining and drinking areas opened. The Black Bart Room became the local watering hole, with a 7 by 27 foot mural covering the wall behind the bar. The painting, done by famed muralist Dan Clever from San Francisco, had a background of a 4-horse stagecoach coming around the bend on Orr Springs Road near Ackerman Creek. In the foreground was shown a larger than life Black Bart, reclining against a tree with a rifle across his knees and an axe and canteen by his side and a paper in hand.

In 1977, the Palace got a $3.5 million facelift, according to Rifkin and Ballard. Pat Kuleto, who later became a legendary and successful San Francisco restaurateur, oversaw the Palace revival but it was short-lived. By 1981, the Palace operation was in bankruptcy. A few years later the Palace was shut down.

Savings Bank, the Palace’s neighbor, in 1990 intended to buy the Palace building and real estate at a tax lien sale but its representative was out of the room when the gavel went down. Instead, a Marin County group snapped up the property for $115,000. That ownership, led by Eladia Gaines, faltered over the years, and led to decades of deterioration. The Palace finally ended up in the hands of a court-appointed receivership.

As it is, if the state grant comes through, the historic Palace’s last chapter may be written.

Even local residents with deep ties and fond memories of the Palace are suggesting the decrepit hotel’s time may be up.

Wendy Mae Thomas recently authored a moving story about her past Palace experiences. She concluded: “I love the Palace, and the thought of it being torn down tears at my heart. Since I have been reminiscing these past couple of weeks, however, I’ve come full circle and realize she can’t be restored.”

Photographer Tom Liden, co-chair of the inactive ‘Friends of the Palace Committee,’ said he is resigned to the notion the Palace could be torn down.

“I’m anticipating a necessary resolution to too many years of neglect,” said Liden.

Pinky Kushner is a Ukiah resident who opposes demolition. For several years, she assisted former owner Eladia Laines of Marin County in securing the building from vagrants and vandals. Kushner said despite the current condition, Laines did make headway in clearing the building of debris over the years. “She had a plan. She just didn’t have the resources to do it,” said Kushner.

Kushner is among those questioning the wisdom of the fast-track approach being embraced by the current owner, the prospective buyers, and city administrators.

Kushner acknowledged the Palace has been in a “serious slow slide into disrepair.” Yet Kushner said, “I am like many in the public who are pained to see the Palace move towards demolition, especially when we know nothing about what will replace it.”

Crean, who has been outspoken about city oversight of other historic properties, asks, “So, why does it matter when so many locals and even city leaders are ready to throw in the towel?”

“Because we shouldn't ‘pull the plug’ on the ailing Palace without at least hearing from real experts. And we shouldn't buy into this ‘toxic waste site, taxpayer bailout of a private investor, but-it’s-a-dire-emergency’ storyline,” argued Crean.

Crean said, “Instead, let's give a legitimate team of architects, designers, and investors their chance to get to work. The Palace Hotel deserves at least that much.”

(Mike Geniella is a veteran North Coast journalist and regular contributor to local news organizations.)

Cattle Barn, Little Lake Valley (Jeff Goll)

ED NOTES

MIKE GENIELLA'S comprehensive story on the future of Ukiah's abandoned Palace Hotel, the fate of the stately old structure under discussion for 40 years now, could be titled, “Eternal Gridlock, Next Twelve Exits.” Given the number of agencies and players involved in the ongoing Palace saga, it's obvious that what to do about the ghostly old structure will be discussed for another forty years. The shame of it all is that Ukiah missed the opportunity to boost the sagging fortunes of its battered downtown represented by Minal Shanker. She invested a small fortune in high end architects and engineers who devised a doable rehab of the Palace that would have been the jewel of not just Ukiah but the entire Northcoast. But what happened? Dubious characters happened, and Ms. Shanker withdrew.

WHENEVER I READ the rosters of large-circulation papers, I wonder what their small army of editors do all day. The entire A-section of the Press Democrat, for instance, is usually wire service stuff, which means someone, an editor presumably, takes a few minutes to select whatever random piece of irrelevant info strikes his or her fancy, picks it up and hurls it at the paste-up screen in no particular order of newsworthiness. The PD goes for distant catastrophes, spectacular crimes also conveniently distant from the Rose City, feebleminded stories about dogs and cats accompanied by large pictures of the animals, and industry press releases disguised as stories from, say, the timber industry that “prove” there is now more forest in America than there was when Columbus missed landing here by a whole continent, or that Big Wine is really really good for everyone.

ANOTHER PD MYSTERY, a paper I read on-line every morning because the print paper hasn't been delivered locally in a decade, is the paper's even larger number of full-time reporters. What do they do all day? The average production rate of the PD’s stable of journalists seems to be about a story a week, and some reporters’ names don’t appear for weeks at a time.

A STATEMENT I OFTEN HEAR. “You only write about this or that to sell newspapers.” O yeah. Mendo personalities are big sellers. If anything, they are sales negative because very few people beyond themselves are interested, unfortunately, because the lack of general interest in lots of stuff means bad people are getting over and John and Jane Q Public are getting ripped off.

IF THE AVA were calculated to sell newspapers and advertising it would have gone to horoscopes, teen pages, tributes to the wine industry, and great big photos of toddlers and dogs running through summer time sprinklers a long time ago. But the critics still say it: “You’re just doing this to sell newspapers.”

I'VE KEPT this one from Tim Redmond, one of Frisco's great journalists, because it says it all on several levels:

“THERE’S A STORY environmentalists tell up in Oregon, and although I’ve never actually found someone who could confirm it firsthand, I’ve always thought it rang true.

The way the story goes, shortly after Mount St. Helens blew its top in 1980, thousands of journalists from all over the world converged on the Pacific Northwest to cover the story of the powerful volcano exploding in a populated part of the United States.

A few reporters from Europe decided to rent a plane and fly over the scene, but the closest rental they could get was in southern Oregon. They didn’t realize quite how far they were from the volcano, so they started looking out the window fairly shortly after takeoff — and to a person, they were boggled at the forest devastation they were seeing below. Everywhere they looked, big chunks of mountainside appeared to have been torn apart by some horrible force that ripped trees out of the ground and left nothing behind but raw, muddy scars and slash piles. “That’s awful, just awful,” one of the reporters said.

The pilot informed them that they were still at least 200 miles from the volcano. What they were looking at was mostly National Forest land. It had been clearcut by logging companies.

CARRIE SHATTUCK:

Recently, due to continually expressing frustration at not having consistent updates from elected/department heads, the Board has added an ongoing agenda item to the regular calendar for “Discussion and Possible Action Including Acceptance of Informational Report(s) from the Assessor/Clerk-Recorder/Register of Voters, Acting Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector, District Attorney, Sheriff and Various County Department Heads or Designee(s)”.

Supervisor Haschak related that I am the reason that this agenda item has been added.

Perfect example of sqeaky wheel gets the grease. I’m one of very few people who continually speak up at all of the Board meetings because I am very concerned, as are many others, about the current crisises our County faces. I feel that if we the people aren’t holding them accountable consistently, then our voices fall to the wayside. I am running for the Board because I am not one to complain and do nothing about it, as my history of being a thorn in their side shows. As I campaign, not one person has had anything positive to say about this Board.

ANDERSON VALLEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ROSE ROOM

Another way to support our local museum; Rent our Rose Room

The Rose Room is our spacious, attractive and well-lit gathering room, perfect for organization meetings, events and parties. The room accommodates 50 people, with an adjoining service space that includes a refrigerator, sink and microwave. Folding tables and chairs are included in your rental, as well. The room boasts great acoustics for musical entertainment and a speaker system with wireless mics for use by speakers. Rental also includes wifi.

The room is available for rental by the day for only $50 for meetings and $100 for events and parties. For further information or to rent the Rose Room contact andersonvalley.history@gmail.com or 7072727248.

(Sheri Hansen)

SYMPHONY SATURDAY at 7:30 and Sunday at 2:00. Cotton Auditorium

This is going to be amazing. The first half will be Poulenc, a true musical maverick, will be the first half, and the second half will be the Beethoven "Emperor" Piano Concerto with piano soloist, Amy Zanrosso. Pre-concert lectures one hour before each performance. People under 18 plus the adult who brings them are free!

Joanie Packard, Executive Director

Symphony of the Redwoods

JANUARY 30, 2024, from 6-8 p.m., MendoFever, KZYX, and KMUD are partnering to help the voters of California's 2nd Assembly District meet the candidates running to represent our region in Sacramento.

THE BOONVILLE DISTILLERY, 14081 Hwy 128, Boonville

The Boonville Distillery is excited to be participating in Seafood and Sips at our women-owned distillery in downtown Boonville. Come see us at 14081 Highway 128, Boonville, below Lauren’s at the Buckhorn, for one of two specials—a shrimp cocktail paired with a Cucumber BD Vodka Tonic or a Filthy BD Vodka Martini with a bump of California Caviar.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Friday, January 26, 2024

JANE BARISONE, Laytonville. Vehicular manslaughter in commission of an unlawful act without gross neglgence, failure to appear.

STEVEN BECKWITH-ROBINSON, Ukiah. Failure to appear.

LILEARD CILES, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

HOWARD COATS, Ukiah. Disobeying court order, failure to appear.

SAMUEL CORIA, Gualala. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

ERIC GREMILLION, Covelo. Fugitive from justice, controlled substance.

CASANDRA GUERRA, Potter Valley. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, child endangerment.

CHRISTOPHER LOPEZ, Ukiah. Camping on private property, failure to appear, unspecified offense.

LEONARDO LOPEZ-CRUZ, Fort Bragg. DUI causing bodily injury.

BRANDY MATHESON, Covelo. Domestic battery.

CHARLES MAXFIELD JR., Willits. Metal knuckles, controlled substance.

RICARDO MEDINA, Ukiah. Suspended license for DUI, failure to appear, probation revocation.

GEORGE MESZAROS, Clearlake/Ukiah. Controlled substance for sale.

RICHARD OLSTAD, Fort Bragg. Parole violation.

RANDY PIKE JR., Manchester. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, county parole violation.

BRENDA POINDEXTER, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol. (Frequent flyer.)

GLORIA RAMIREZ, Manchester. Suspended license for DUI, paraphernalia, probation revocation.

GUSTAVO ZAZUETA, Redwood Valley. DUI-alcohol&drugs, suspended license for DUI, controlled substance, probation violation.

CHRISTIE OLSON DAY:

May I indulge in a tiny rant? It's about people who are trying to reach me by phone on business, and won't leave a voicemail because they're “trying to catch” me. Hear me out: if it's not important enough for them to leave a message and take a callback, why would I think it was important enough to drop what I'm doing and answer? Spoiler: I wouldn't.

Ignoring the outgoing message that says, “the best way to reach me is by email.”

P.S. Yeah, I hate having my workflow interrupted, but I stopped to type this rant. I know.

EDITOR! EDITOR! "Eyes sweeping the audience, Hall flashed an unassuming smile." (Friday's NYT)

LIBS: MLK, YES, BUT…

Editor.

I’m just reading your take on MLK and yes certain things have always bothered me too ALL the libs love him as long as he preaches racial harmony but when he questions capitalism and the military that defends and expands its agenda, the rats start jumping ship; to this day plenty of libs will tear up on MLK Day, yet still vote for war mongers like Hilary Clinton and Genocide Joe.

It troubles me.

Chris Skyhawk

Fort Bragg

FREE SPEECH?

Editor,

This week, Marco's show will feature as Special Guest, his good friend and Neo-Nazi buddy, the pathological liar and County record-holder most Restraining Orders, the wonderful Michael Stanley Zuchowicz (aka Mike Sears). This witty local celebrity will elaborate on his famous MCN listserv-destroying posts, including popular hits like: blowing the heads off sea lions with a high powered rifle, advocating for the machine-gunning of immigrants at the border, promoting the poisoning death of meth freaks with strychnine-laced drug bags, gloating about modifying and selling automatic weapons, bragging about personally shooting a Philadelphia drug-dealer in the back, accounts of monitoring Fort Bragg “Border Baby Peon Parades," threats to "slam a bullet in the back of your head the middle of Market Street when the revolution comes," repeated threats of already filed lawsuits, ridicule of the late Antonia Lamb and “Mama Tree” forest activists, distributing racist homophobic hate-crime posters in San Francisco to target a gay man - and don't forget Marco’s favorite – bloviating on how nuclear power will save us all from climate change! What glee!

Brilliant science-based, truth-telling "satire" is Nazi Mike's forte, all interlaced with vicious personal attacks, libelous smears, fabricated straw-man accusations, and, as a special bonus, veiled and overt personal threats, along with taunting challenges for mutual combat in a Noyo River parking-lot!

Wow! Who wouldn't want to step up and oppose these felonious public declarations on local social media, and thus expect to be targeted for repetitive, obsessive and relentless libel, threats and cyberbullying on MCN’s listservs for over four (4) years?

The solution? According to Mendocino's androgynous Comfortable Computer Karens: "Just Block 'em."

In other words: just ignore widely published and distributed hate speech, libel and threats - pretend nobody else can see it, and stick your head in deep, deep in the sand, or in this case way, way, way up your arse.

And, according to the guiding lights at Mendocino Unified School District's Board of Trustees - "We'll just wash our hands of this whole mess and slough it off to somebody else. After all, we're in the business of teaching kids, not community involvement. What better way to teach our kids than by example? Aren't we smart, wise and wonderful? I'm sure the kids think so!"

Meanwhile, a secretive MUSD Superintendent has also decided - for no apparent reason - to keep a tight lid on his lawyer's opinion about what constitutes legal moderation for their listservs, claiming attorney/client privilege. The only question is: Why? Why is he keeping this vital community information secret, even after two FOIA requests?

Anyway, don’t miss this unique and engaging opportunity to hear a baffled and clueless Marco McClean once again allow his Neo-Nazi chum Mike Sears to expound in detail - live and on-the-air, for twenty minutes straight – the finer points in the wonderful world of.… Fracking?

"Free Speech" Public Radio at its finest!

David Gurney

Fort Bragg

* * *

Marco McClean Responds

My response, just off the top of my head:

Oh. Well, none of what he says is true. David has a cycle, where he's okay for awhile, then very not-okay for awhile. Over this last Christmas he barraged my email inbox with vile insults and unpleasant lunacy, to the point where I informed him I'm not available to be bullied anymore and said goodbye, whereupon he declared, "Poor little baby!" and more unhinged insults --I could show you the list of them, but I think you understand. No, wait, here's one: I wrote, "David, it's 11 o'clock Christmas Eve, a time of peace and joy," and he replied, "Go take it up the ass from Santa Claus, you jive motherfucker!", so I set my email program to sequester email from him in a folder that I made the mistake of looking inside a week later, but not since then. Earlier he'd sent me some stories that Mike Sears wrote, I read one of them on the air and mentioned that David had sent it, and David hit the roof because I /used his name/.

I've known him for forty years. Once every two or three years I'll bump into him at an event. He didn't use to be like this -- though about eight years ago at a Women's Choir event I was recording he came to confront me at intermission, angry that I was doing it all wrong, pointing the camera at the wrong things, and that puzzled me. I think that lately his problem with me is, I refused to take his side in his personal dispute with Mike Sears, so I'm the devil too. One time a couple of months ago Mike came to my show unbidden but welcome, as is everyone; I put him on a microphone and he talked about his life and career for ten or fifteen minutes, he left, and I went back to reading stories. David translated this in his mind to be that Mike Sears and I are buddies in conspiratorial cahoots against him because I have no balls ("Ball-less Marco McClean) for not confronting Mike on David's behalf, when David's existence occurred to neither of us in the entire conversation.

Last week, Mike came by (the second time ever) while I was setting up to do the show. He saw that I was too busy give him any attention, so he left. Franklin Street is thronged at night now because of a new big music-venue beer bar. I can only conclude from David's insistence that Mike Sears would be on that show, that David was hanging around, saw him and was triggered.

Over the last several years, when I've read something David wrote, he complained that I insulted him by reading it in my whiny annoying voice that indicated I hate him. When I skipped reading something he wrote, I'm a hypocrite and coward infringing his freedom of speech. Any effort to write and make nice is met with cries of "Bullshit!" and "Boring!" and so on. He doesn't react to the world around him, he reacts to /his reaction/ to it and projects his internal demons on whoever's unlucky enough to be his object of attention at the moment, and apparently I guess that would be me. But he knows writing to me is wasting his time now, so he's writing to you.

There's the MCN Announce listserv kerfuffle, too. I'm the only one in the running to take over as admin. who's declared I would not ban him for his behavior and real hate speech, homophobic and worse, but that makes me the enemy because it means I maliciously don't get that /he's the actual victim here/. I tried pointing out to him that if the sort of moderation he's been badgering MCN to instate were in place, he'd be the first one out on his ear, but you can imagine how that went over. I think the problem, in short, is: 1. David feels bad, 2. so someone must be actively focussing on him, doing it to him 24-hours-a-day, 3. so he lashes out in all directions. The nuts part of his cycle seems to be most of the time now. It's not fun, but I have work to do, both on my creative projects and at my day job, so I gave up about that. Getting ready for tonight's show right now. I'm at Juanita's, I'll be doing the show from a typing table next to the bed, while Juanita sleeps with soothing music in earbuds and her night hat down over her eyes.

MEMO OF THE AIR: Good Night Radio show all night tonight!

Soft deadline to email your writing for tonight's (Friday night's) MOTA show is 6:30 or 7pm. If you can't make that, no problem, send it whenever it's done and I'll read it on the radio next week.

Memo of the Air: Good Night Radio is every Friday, 9pm to 5am PST on 107.7fm KNYO-LP Fort Bragg and KNYO.org. The first hour of the show is simulcast on KAKX 89.3fm Mendocino.

You can always go to https://MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com and hear last week's MOTA show. By Saturday night I'll put up the recording of tonight's show. Also there you'll find plenty of other things to read and enjoy and learn about until showtime, or any time, such as:

The trap of the high-value woman. There's comic tension the whole time in wondering whether he's kidding. He's not kidding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY8bkEfvGlM

"It looked like any summer camp in America. It looked normal." "The Klan's basic message was a combination of white Christian nationalism combined with traditional family values." https://misscellania.blogspot.com/2024/01/nazi-town-usa.html

And crumbled and overgrown ancient cities in the vast Amazon region found by aerial LIDAR. Doubtless, harboring alien tech better left alone. https://kottke.org/24/01/massive-ancient-network-of-cities-found-in-the-amazon

Marco McClean, memo@mcn.org, www.MemoOfTheAir.wordpress.com

WHY THE 49ERS FANS IN THIS NORTH BAY TOWN HAVE A SOFT SPOT FOR JARED GOFF

The Bay Area town that's backing the 49ers, but rooting for Jared Goff, the Detroit Lions QB

by Andrew Pridgen

Novato is a lot of things. It’s a freeway-adjacent town of 52,000 on the northern edge of Marin County that culturally and geographically identifies more with the rural sensibilities of Sonoma County than the exclusive bayside towns of Tiburon, Ross and Belvedere.

Unlike those neighboring enclaves to the south, home to the arty, wealthy and crunchy, Novato — often self-aware and reproachful of Marin stereotypes — defines itself more by its working class residents, led by generational infusions of San Francisco police officers and firefighters, who have unapologetically fashioned the community into a suburban safe haven far from those they are paid to serve in the city.

Novato — most of all, and perhaps because of these qualities — is a football town.

“Everyone’s a 49ers faithful,” Tony Anello, a Novato-based youth and high school coach, told SFGATE. “It’s been a drought and it’s been close at times, but we haven’t gotten back to that championship era.

“This is as close as it gets.”

A 49ers appearance on NFC championship weekend would usually feature the town dusting off their satin Chalk Line jackets and squeezing DeBartolo-era replica Super Bowl rings onto their fingers. But this week, things are decidedly different.

This week, Novato has a bit of a football problem. His name is Jared Goff, and he’s the starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions, the 49ers’ NFC championship opponent.

Goff was raised in Novato. His parents live in Novato. And in the offseason, he can be spotted around town, grabbing coffee on the northwest side of town after a workout or enjoying a burger and a pint downtown.

Even as he barks plays from behind enemy lines, Goff is one of them. “Jared chose number 16 because of [Joe] Montana,” Anello, who coached Goff from age 7 through high school, continued. “He was [raised] a 49er fan. We are too. But at the same time, we all have love for Jared Goff.

“It’s a tough situation for all of us. You’re torn between your blood and [the team] you’ve been rooting for all your life. I tell people I’m a 49er faithful, but I’m a Jared Goff fan.”

To national media especially, Goff’s Lions are the most compelling story of the NFL playoffs. They are the unlikeliest of unlikely teams to find themselves — for the first time since you chose them on Tecmo Bowl just for Barry Sanders — in the NFC championship.

This is the same franchise that historically went 0-16 in 2008 and over the last half decade limped along to a pair of three-win seasons and one five-win season. And yet, Detroit is now one of the most formidable, and perhaps most well-rounded teams in the conference.

They’re also, under Goff’s leadership, one win away from the Super Bowl.

“Jared always had a situation where he was a bit of an underdog,” said Anello, who attended seminal events in Goff’s professional career, including joining the family’s inner circle at the NFL Draft in 2016 and the Super Bowl in Atlanta. “He always walked into a system, while if it wasn’t failing — it was definitely in need of a rebuild.”

You don’t usually slap the “underdog” tag on a guy with wavy blonde hair and the same sideways smile and soulful gaze as Ryan Gosling. And you definitely don’t often come across that word when describing someone who’s broad-shouldered, 6-foot-4 and attended private school in the third-richest county in California ...who also happens to be engaged to a supermodel. But if one of those types of underdogs does exist, it’s probably Goff.

Born into an athletic family, his father, Jerry Goff, is a San Rafael-raised catcher who played in the major leagues for six seasons and even got his first big league hit off his favorite team, the San Francisco Giants, in 1990. The elder Goff played his last game in the majors in 1996 and became a San Francisco firefighter. With wife Nancy, he settled in Novato to raise two kids, Lauren and Jared.

Those who coached Jared early on said they knew of Jerry’s accomplishments on the baseball diamond. But beyond the Goff family’s reputation as a hard-working, close-knit presence in the community, any outsized expectations for Jared were soon quelled by the youngster’s understated presence.

“His demeanor was always quiet, he wasn’t hyperactive or running around aggressively like some other kids,” Anello said. “There’s kind of a self-centered thing you see in most kids who are good athletes when they’re young.

“Jared doesn’t have that. He never did.”

Even while quiet and sometimes overlooked, there was still a noticeable spark in young Jared: “He was 7 years old, and I remember him playing catch with a couple kids on the sidelines before our first mighty mites practice,” Anello recalled. “I pointed and said, ‘You’re going to be our quarterback.’ It’s pretty easy to tell at that age. So, he had something.”

Though the universe seemed to embrace and bestow its gifts upon Goff with both arms, that doesn’t mean he took an easy path. As a junior in high school, Goff earned the starting job under center and helped revive Marin Catholic’s storied football program. He led the team to the Division III state championship game as a senior where Marin Catholic sprinted out to an early lead but eventually fell to San Diego school Madison High.

Goff graduated from high school that same month and eschewed opportunities to attend a football powerhouse, opting instead to stay near home and enroll early at Cal, the team he grew up rooting for.

The next fall, he’d become the Golden Bears’ first true freshman to start a season opener in school history. After three seasons, Goff ended his career at Berkeley in possession of 26 team records including the high benchmarks for passing yards, touchdown passes and total offense. In 2015, he was named to the first team All-Pac-12, the first Golden Bear quarterback to do so since Aaron Rodgers.

The following spring, Goff was selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams who were looking for a fresh start and a fresh face after moving from St. Louis. The Rams were 7-9 the year before Goff was drafted and 4-12 his rookie season. But soon, things took off in Los Angeles. Goff led the Rams to a wild-card berth in his second season and a Super Bowl loss at the end of the 2018 season.

The Rams continued to contend, but after the 2020 season, head coach Sean McVay initiated a blockbuster deal that brought veteran Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles in exchange for “a 2021 third-round pick, and first-round picks in 2022 and 2023”… and Goff.

And that was the end of Jared Goff, NFL quarterback. But Novato never stopped watching.

“I think everyone who knows Jared has followed him closely — even when he went to Detroit,” said Henry Hautau, who owns Finnegan’s Marin, a pub that serves as downtown Novato’s primary social hub. It’s where kids accompany their parents and coaches after games, mourners gather after memorial services and couples steal away for a date night. It’s also the spot where loyal patrons belly up to their designated seats at the bar and watch the 49ers, Giants, Warriors ... and, more recently, the Lions.

“People follow Jared, absolutely,” Hautau told SFGATE, noting Goff’s performance and generosity toward the community goes well beyond what happens on Sundays. “I think we’ve had some recent successes with [youth] football in Novato. I think Jared and his impact is a huge part of that.”

Hautau was quick to point out that Novato had several players in the NFL in the late 1980s and early ’90s, including standouts Brad Muster, a star fullback at Stanford who played for the Chicago Bears, and defensive end Matt LaBounty, whose professional career spanned a decade for the 49ers, Packers and Seahawks.

Between those halcyon times and Goff’s emergence, there was a big-time football drought in northern Marin County. Now the football powerhouse high schools are back in full swing, and Novato seems to be turning out notables with frequency once more.

“Other quarterbacks are coming out of San Marin and Marin Catholic that are getting recognized and that is directly because of what Jared has accomplished,” Hautau noted.

Novato’s downtown really got going as a leisure stop on the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad that extended from San Francisco up to Ukiah from the mid-1860s to the early 1900s. It’s no surprise that the most revered and longest-lasting businesses here are bars.

The building that houses Finnegan’s began its life as a local watering hole called Karl’s Klub in 1940, according to the owners’ claim in a 1950 newspaper ad. Karl’s changed hands in 1978 and became the Bit-A-Honey, a drinker’s bar that was lit only by year-round Christmas lights. Its cigarette-smoke infused red carpet and perma-dark energy made it a perfect spot to get blacked-out in for its most famous drinker, Metallica frontman James Hetfield, then a Novato local who staged daylong sessions toward the end of his “Alcoholica” days.

“The Bit” as it was known, closed its doors for good in 2005, and Hautau, a local real estate agent who co-owned a small restaurant across the street called Kitchen, went all in. In 2006, he tore out the old carpet, built a new kitchen and installed a dining area featuring comfy booths and long communal tables. But the focus of the place, the bar, which was a holdover from the business’s origins, stayed.

Hautau’s idea was to replicate the pub his maternal grandfather, for whom Finnegan’s is named, owned in New Jersey: a spot well-suited for families during the day but also a comfortable haunt for regulars when the sun sets and the house lights dim. After 18 years, the space has an air of permanence and is filled with images of the town’s notables, headlined by its famous football players, along with many also-rans.

But there are also reminders of tragedies connected with the sport that have come along the way.

In a discreet nook near the bar’s entry, there is a framed Aug. 27, 1990, Sports Illustrated cover featuring Mike Wise, a Novato-raised defensive end who played for the Raiders and Browns from 1986-1991. Wise died by suicide in 1992 and his sudden, uncharacteristic death became one of the first instances where football head injuries were flagged as causes for concern.

Through all of the town’s successes and shortcomings, football endures in Novato. It boasts winners of two of the last three North Coast Championships in San Marin High School. Its robust youth programs, from which Goff matriculated, continue to sprinkle top prep players throughout the region.

While other Marin County schools have seen football participation decline, resulting in programs being dropped, Novato continues to double down on the sport. After years of back-and-forth with neighbors, San Marin High School installed stadium lights and played its first night game in 2021.

This coming fall, San Marin will join Marin Catholic in a new football-only realignment to their league which will match them up with bigger programs from neighboring Sonoma County.

But right now, Novato’s football faithful are focusing solely on Sunday’s game, eagerly anticipating Goff’s return home to square off against the team he grew up loving, in his most meaningful game as a Detroit Lion.

“What I’m hearing is a lot of people are saying, ‘Listen, we’re all rooting for Jared; at the same time, we want the Niners,’” Hautau said. “The undertone is people are going to be happy either way. If Detroit wins and Jared has a good game — I don’t think people will be crying into their beer.”

Arnello said he is looking forward to watching the game but hasn’t quite figured out where he’ll be doing that just yet. He’s uncertain whether he’ll be at Levi’s Stadium, at Finnegan’s enjoying a Goff Burger (an 8-ounce beef patty with avocado, bacon, pepper jack, chipotle mayo and jalapeno poppers), or just “hunkered down” watching the game at home.

Whatever he chooses, he says he’ll have butterflies before kickoff.

“I’m still a little nervous every time Jared takes the field,” he said. “It’s always different when it’s one of your own.”

(SFgate.com)

THE ANTI-DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT TARGETED RALPH NADER FIRST.

We should have paid more attention…

by Matt Taibbi

In the summer of 2004 Theresa Amato, campaign manager of presidential candidate Ralph Nader, took out a notebook in preparation for an important phone conference.

Her candidate, Nader, had already been subject to an extraordinary — and extraordinarily underreported — campaign of litigious harassment at the hands of the Democratic Party. John Kerry told Nader he had 2,000 lawyers at his disposal and would do “everything within the law” to win. In Arizona, Nader opponents filed a 650-page challenge to his attempt to get on the ballot, forgetting social justice concerns long enough to complain that one of Nader’s petition-circulators was a felon. They demanded ten samples of Nader’s own signature, hired a forensic examiner to call others into question, and challenged residents of a homeless shelter. The Democratic state chairman, Jim Pederson, said outright, “Our first objective is to keep [Nader] off the ballot,” because “we think it distorts the entire election.”

Now, Amato’s candidate was set to talk with Democratic National Committee chairman (and future Virginia governor) Terry McAuliffe. A high-energy, Clintonesque schmoozer in public, McAuliffe in private was curt and to the point: he didn’t mind Nader running in noncompetitive places, but had an “issue” with 19 states where “a vote for you is a vote for [George] Bush.” He shifted with impressive nonchalance to offer a bribe.

“If you stay out of my 19 states,” he said, “I will help with resources in 31 states.” McAuliffe then made a show of pretending to ask an assistant about other ballot challenges against Nader, saying he “supported them” but wasn’t funding them, a statement ultimately contradicted in court testimony by Maine’s State Democratic Party chair. This was just one of countless instances in which Democrats hurled billable hours at anyone deemed a “threat” to votes they considered theirs.

In 2004, a third party needed to collect 634,727 valid signatures in about six and a half months to get on the ballot. If you’ve ever wondered why so few third-party candidates run, it’s because this is an extraordinarily difficult logistical task, and expensive, requiring services of companies that even then charged between $1.00 and $1.50 per signature. (Ross Perot reportedly spent $18 million to get on the ballot in 1992.) The process gets more cumbersome when you’re forced to account for “spoilage,” i.e. how many signatures you’ll lose in the face of challenges from a determined opponent, in Nader’s case from Democrats and affiliated groups.

Nader lost signatures that were allegedly signed in the wrong county (an irony given recent events, as we’ll see), due to “unwritten rules” that a collector’s signature must be legible even if his or her name is printed underneath it, because signatories no longer lived at the addresses where they were registered, because signatures were printed instead of signed, because additional information like the date was included next to signatures, and so on, and so on, and so on.

“We had more than two dozen lawsuits complaints filed against us in a massive effort to disenfranchise the people who wanted to see him on the ballot,” Amato says now.

Amato later wrote a book, Grand Illusion, documenting the Democrats’ plan to keep Nader’s meager resources “tied up mentally, emotionally, and financially in courtroom after courtroom,” violating rules themselves while using the press to smear Nader as the cheat. “I wrote a whole book precisely because I didn’t want the history to be lost, of what the Nader campaigns went through,” she says now.

A subtext of Grand Illusion is how Democrats showed great creativity when seeking ways to keep Nader off the ballot, but almost none when it came to examining possible reasons it might be underperforming. Kerry in 2004 was fatally flawed because he had no position on this central issue of the campaign, the Iraq war. He tried simultaneously to be against it (“Invading Iraq has created a crisis of historic proportions”) and for it (pledging to “hunt down and kill the terrorists”), while running all year from the fact that he voted for Bush’s war resolution.

This complex non-position not only created a clear rationale for a third-party run in a year when support for the war dropped as low as 45%, it was a major factor in Hillary Clinton’s 2016 general election loss, when Donald Trump won 57% of military households vs Clinton’s 39%. Had the party shown a fraction of the backbone on the Iraq issue during the crucial October 2002 vote that it showed in bollocking Nader all through the 2004 cycle, it’s possible Trump never would have been president.

Twenty years and multiple political upheavals later, the Democrats are taking the sabotage game it played in 2004 up a notch or ten. It’s taken the position that all of Joe Biden’s potential challengers within the party and without are, in effect, new Naders, whose presences are “distorting” the real election. The major difference between 2004 and now is that thanks to major changes in both the Democratic and Republican parties, current Democrats have the money and institutional capacity to attempt a legal campaign to “Naderize” even the likely GOP nominee, Trump, essentially seeking to ballot-block their way to victory.

Democrats first disenfranchised internal party challengers like Marianne Williamson, Dean Phillips, and (initially) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. through tactics like declaring the New Hampshire primary “non-compliant” and “meaningless” and canceling the Florida primary. Then, when Dr. Cornel West, Kennedy, and a new party called “No Labels” decided to seek third-party ballot access, money from LinkedIn billionaire Reid Hoffman, former “Right-wing hit man” turned Clintonian organizational assassin David Brock, and a group fronted by former presidential candidate Dick Gephardt was quickly deployed, leading to a meeting of Biden advocacy groups in which one of the participants warned potential third party entrants, “If you have one fingernail clipping of a skeleton in your closet, we will find it… We are going to come at you with every gun we can possibly find.”

Lieberman on January 16th sent a separate letter to his former Senate colleague Biden, saying, “I respectfully ask you to help put an end to this shameful attempt to silence voters and prevent choice and competition in the upcoming election.” Obviously, this fell on deaf ears. Two days later word came out that American Bridge hired former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Marc Elias to help “thwart” third-party bids.

In essence, Democrats first prevented politicians or interest groups from attempting to influence their platform by running in primaries, then used scorched-earth tactics to head off potential third-party runs, leaving only the Republicans an alternative —except of course they’re using Death Star tactics to try to disqualify that party’s candidate, too.

Amato’s Grand Illusion described the evolving hypocrisy, cynicism, and ruthlessness of the Democratic Party a dozen years before Trump. It’s a story to which we should have paid more attention, because the Sun Tzu tactics unveiled against Ralph Nader are now clearly the strategic model for the whole party. Had the Republicans not suffered a major intramural collapse in 2016, Grand Illusion today might read like a cautionary tale about the anti-democratic tendencies baked into the two-party system. The Republicans, after all, have their own history of ballot-pruning tactics, for example working behind the scenes to suppress the candidacy of Libertarian Gary Johnson in 2012.

But since Trump steamrolled the GOP clown car in 2016, establishment politics has increasingly consolidated under the umbrella of the one party that (just barely) succeeded in fighting off its populist challenger, the Democrats. The return to the Democratic tent of once-hated neocons like Bill Kristol (who was reportedly in attendance at the anti-No Labels meeting described by Semafor) has helped revamp the blue-party institutional space into something like a permanent Washington-against-the-world war council, fueled by an aristocratic contempt whose intensity is almost beyond comprehension.

These people reordered the geography of the world, blithely moved whole manufacturing sectors from one continent to another, started moronic wars that pointlessly killed millions and created millions more refugees, bailed out corrupt banks while whole regions went into foreclosure, and failed to accomplish much but a growing sense of foreboding and decline despite decades of promises to the contrary. Still, they feel sincere rage at the idea that they should have to earn votes.

The special anger Nader inspired came from his refusal to just “send a message,” saying things like “Isn’t that what candidates try to do to one another—take votes?” when Democrats suggested he stop “taking” votes from Al Gore or John Kerry, and run in “safe” states only. Again, never mind that they could have altered their own fortunes easily by prioritizing voters over donors just a little more. In their minds, this was not Nader’s call to make. In the minds of early 2000s Democrats, voters never elected Republicans. Ralph Nader did.

Headlines like “Ralph Nader Was Indispensable To The Republican Party” (HuffingtonPost) and “Ralph Nader Still Refuses to Admit He Elected Bush” (the indispensable Jon Chait of New York, who recently insisted Joe Biden’s 2020 election inspired the “greatest outpouring of joy since V-J day”) still trickle out, as reminders that such grudges are never forgotten. The hyper-combative, winning-is-everything mindset of the new “lawfare” era was probably born in that 2000 loss, a “direct outcome of the 2000 Nader campaign,” as Amato puts it. This is true even though, as Amato notes, there were eight minor candidates on the 2000 Florida ballot, and all eight got more than the infamous “margin of difference” of 537 votes.

In the age of Nader, the rage was directed at anyone who suggested the Democrats should have to face competition from more than one direction. The updated idea in the Trump era is that they should not have to face competition at all.

Back in 2016, when I disliked Trump enough to write Insane Clown President, I was still naive enough to puzzled by the stream of headlines describing his win as a “failure of democracy.” It was anything but. The presidency had long been stage-managed to absurdity, with candidates needing the backing of one of the two parties, the press, and corporate donors to gain the White House. The whole idea of this oligarchical ADT system was to guarantee the president arrived in the Oval Office a political debtor, while keeping anyone with aspirations to independence out. This was the clear lesson of the Nader episode.

Trump broke through all these barriers as an unapproved “fringe” candidate, making his win an extraordinary blow for democracy, or so I thought, even though I couldn’t stand him. If he could win, anyone could, and this was good news for those of us who thought the system’s corrupt features might never be fixed.

Looking back, it’s clear Trump’s unsanctioned run and win were the violations of “norms” Washington insiders were most furious about. Now, when politicians talk about protecting “democracy,” what they really mean is restoring those old barriers of entry. The problem is, voters are wise to the game now, forcing insiders to resort to ever-cruder mechanisms of control, like the ten million criminal indictments and the recent ballot disqualification attempts.

If those efforts fail, even more extreme action is surely coming, and “protecting democracy” is the pitch they’ll use to sell it. All of this is will be justifed based on the idea that the Trump threat is so grave that taking so much as one vote from Democrats is criminal irresponsibility, not really morally different from marching for Hitler.

Everything is permitted in the fight against Hitler, which is why the aforementioned Hoffman is the quintessential modern Democratic backer: loaded, thin-skinned, and eager to color outside lines. Vox in 2020 profiled him:

Myopically focused on collecting the 270 electoral votes needed to defeat Trump… to win those votes, critics feel, Hoffman is willing to play dirty. Hoffman’s defenders see this agitation as worth it — and if Democrats win, it could validate a more provocative form of political combat.

Of course no one goes into politics to lose, but if you don’t believe in letting voters decide, and winning becomes about something other than making the best argument or boasting the best record, you got lost somewhere along the line. We cheat when we think we deserve to win, no matter what, and our leaders have spent decades now talking themselves into this frame of mind. The entitlement disease was there all along. We should have seen the chaos of this year coming.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #1

Trump’s biggest weakness is, He is it, he is the counter movement. He has no Mob like the Deep State is, he really has no one he can trust, as his first term proves. Who can he turn to for help when problems ensue?

Could it be that the Christian nature of Trump’s base think he is messianic, that one person can slow or stop the descent into evil? Hmmm?

IMHO, Trump’s election will just slow the globalization process going on now. The most important decision right now is who will be Vice president, the future carrier of the torch.

Last time it was Pence. A huge mistake as that creep guaranteed the vulnerability of Trump in 2020.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY #2

Neither political party wants to acknowledge the real reasons why middle America opposes unrestricted immigration, because they both serve the interests of the economic class who benefit from our current system - which constantly imports fresh waves of low wage labor to replace the ones whose phony refugee status have finally been officially denied, resulting in their deportation. An endless stream of cheap, maximally exploitable labor to serve as the modern day serfs for out modern day lords.

MICHELLE, MA BELLE

by James Kunstler

“What a train wreck it is for the democrats! What an unholy mess! It is an unmitigated disaster, the sinking of the Titanic multiplied by that plane crash where the soccer players ate each other.” — Jeff Childers on the Fani Willis case.

As Donald Trump consolidates his election mojo — defying the forces arrayed to destroy him — and more of the country turns against the creepy apparition in the White House purportedly running against him, you hear evermore chatter that a panicked Democratic Party will insert Michelle Obama in a last-minute convention switcheroo next August.

The explications I hear in the chat media all sound lame one way or another. For starters, how pathetically weak is the party that such a walking fiasco as “Joe Biden” is allowed to even pretend that he can run this race? His campaign is an obvious sham, a place-holder in hopes that one or another of the half-assed lawfare court cases against Mr. Trump might knock him off the game-board — and that’s not looking so great now since Fulton County DA Fani Willis screwed the pooch in her giant RICO action and Special Counsel Jack Smith is getting smacked around week after week on esoteric points of procedure.

Well, all right, considering the party has really got no one else. Gavin Newsom is a California train wreck, despite the fabulous teeth and hair, Oprah can’t seem to make up her mind, and Taylor Swift will not be old enough to qualify for the office until December. The leading plan for the Dems goes like this: “JB” is offered a deal…step aside for Michelle to run in August… “JB” can make whatever face-saving excuses necessary, health, low energy, whatever… but he can serve out his term to the bitter end, and then sometime before noon January 20, 2025, he can pardon himself, son Hunter, brothers Jim and Frank, and a few other family members implicated in money-laundering all the bribes they scared-up over the years.

That is, assuming “Joe Biden” does not get impeached before August, in which case he might not be convicted in a Dem majority Senate trial, BUT, the mainstream media could not ignore the proceeding, and the public — including the wokest Woke partisans — would finally see the voluminous bank records authenticating the Biden Family bribery operations — the “proof” they have been forever and snidely calling for. Bad “optics” for the party.

A late August kickoff for Michelle Obama would minimize her public exposure until, really, the last two months of the race. (She reportedly hates being on display.) In theory, the vast electorate of suburban Democratic women across the land would bury the MAGA vote and enjoy months of orgasm awaiting the installation of a black, (first) female president, their final blow against the odious patriarchy of white supremacist rapists. And best of all, under President Michelle, the blob could continue all its clandestine blobulations without fear of payback, assuring that our democracy will be defended by any means necessary, including the suppression and persecution of anyone who complains about it. Now that’s a plan!

Except for one thing: none of the people chattering about this (James Rickards, Dan Bongino. . .) have mentioned that the Michelle plan actually represents a fourth term for Barack Obama. I mean. . . really . . . do you suppose that Barack will spend the next four years upstairs in the White House “residence” with an apron on, baking red velvet cakes and sweet potato pies while Michelle presides in the Situation Room, directing drone strikes against various people of the Koran? In the immortal words of Homey D. Clown: “I don’t think so!”

And what if the opposition — say, Mr. Trump, or Vivek, or Tulsi, or Tom Massie, or Rand Paul, or a dozen others in that camp — make the case that the “Joe Biden” regime was actually Mr. Obama’s third term, and look what mess he managed to make of the USA while running the puppet-show from his Kalorama redoubt: nine million illegal aliens ushered into the country with lavish benefits, phones, loaded debit cards, free four-star hotel rooms. . . the years-long assault of the drag queens and oral sex instruction for third-graders. . . the preposterous war in Ukraine engineered by neocon catspaws for the benefit of Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and the rest of the arms-makers. . . big cities full of homeless encampments and their noxious excretions. . . fentanyl killing 1,500 Americans a week. . . an extravaganza of flash-mob looting, shop-lifting, and car-jacking. . . the trillion-plus dollars in annual interest payments on the national debt. . . not a pretty picture. So, it comes down to: do you want another four years of that? And how did America end up under the thumb of an Obama dynasty, anyway?

I’ll tell you how: because the Democratic Party has become a criminal operation now solely dedicated to keeping its dignitaries, office-holders, and their factotums in the executive agencies out of prison for a range of crimes so vast that all the Lawfare specialists ever spawned in the hatcheries of Yale and Harvard would not run out of billable hours defending them in court before the sun turned into a red dwarf. The mighty effort consumes all the party’s energies these days, when they are not attending to the destruction of Western Civilization. The Michelle gambit would only be the party’s final hoax. After that, the deluge.

(kunstler.com)

THE PROBLEM with American politics isn’t that it’s polarized (we need more polarization over inequality, over war, over climate), but that it’s polarized around two of the most inept and ridiculous figures in American history. The only two people Americans can apparently think of to run their dying Empire have both lost their frigging marbles, if they ever had any, which is a sure sign that your Empire is in fact dying.

Biden is hounded everywhere he goes now, even at a gathering of the UAW. Trump hounds people wherever he goes, even if he’s not quite sure who those people are, as when he confused Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. And confusing Haley with Pelosi may have been the least strange thing he said: “You know, when she comes here she gets like nine people, and the press never reports the crowds…“You know, by the way, they never report the crowd on January 6. You know, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley. By the way, you know they, you do know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, deleted and destroyed all of it., because of lots of things, like Nikki Haley. Nikki Haley was in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guards, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that.” What the hell was that all about?

It doesn’t matter. Backers of both geriatrics don’t seem to care much that their candidates don’t seem to have a fix on where they are or what they’re talking about. About anything, frankly. When anti-war protestors at Biden rallies (if that’s what you want to call them, seems a stretch to me), chant: “Stop killing babies” or “End the genocide”, his claque, like automatons of the doomed, shout reflexively: “Four more years!” Four more years of slaughter?

— Jeffrey St. Clair

21 Comments

Lew Chichester January 27, 2024

The photo in today’s AVA of the CAFE neon sign and the two horses, one with a riding saddle the other with a pack saddle rig, is looking south on Commercial Street in downtown Covelo. Horses in town were not all that uncommon just a few years ago, and people still are out and about on horseback. But the pack saddle is much more of a rarity. The cafe in the picture, The Trophy, was run by Bob Conners, Sr. and he was quite the cowboy and outfitted people with horses, pack rigs and supplies to go out into the wilderness areas for hunting, fishing and western adventures. 1950s, 1960s or so. The Trophy Cafe in the picture, and the post office just beyond, burned down a couple of years ago.

Reply
David Gurney January 27, 2024

Marco McClean’s windy respose, off the top of his head, is “Oh. Well, none of what he says is true. David has a cycle…”

What a profound argument. Unfortunately, everything I said is absolutely true. And about 75% of what he quacks about is utter bullshit. It’s sad but understandable that the MUSD and MCN, in seeking to unload the Frankenstein monster of the listservs they created, can only find the likes of him to slough it off to.

And it’s ironic that the local Karens of ‘free speech’ – of whom Marco the self-coronated androgynous cheerleader – are the first to self-censor themselves by “blocking” people they find offensive. He self-censored himself from the MCN Discussion listserv a long time ago, and so has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.

His crazy allegation that I angrily approached him at a Women’ Choir event about eight years ago is a good example of this Dork’s twisting of reality. First, it was dance concert, not a “choir.” Second, in a friendly manner after the end of the show, not at intermissionn, I mentioned to him he’d missed some incredible dance moves while he had the video camera steadily focused on the band, for fifteen minutes straight. I didn’t mean to offend him. The lesson here being – never criticize, even slightly, a raging Narcissist.

Marco has used, for years, the MCN Announce list to provide content for his long, boring radio show. It’s mostly like reading aloud the want-ads, but occasionally he’ll read, without the author’s permission, something somewhat interesting. Not often. I quit listening to his show a long time ago, even for the five minutes I could tolerate his irritating voice.

Marco claims to have known me for forty years. He doesn’t. I’ve avoided him as much as you can a self-propped egotistical community prima donna, with a bear-trap memory for any and all incidents that anyone has ever done to offend him. And who’ll write it all up as a litany to read on his “radio show.” In between that is, hosting a reviled local Neo-Nazi psychopath to explain on the air, to a cowardly and silent Marco, the intricacies of Fracking.

Reply
George Hollister January 27, 2024

The proposed Palace Hotel “six-story boutique/hotel/retail/housing/office complex” seems a little over the top. Of course it is routine to propose much more than is really intended. It is always easier to scale down a proposal than it is to expand it. Where is the 100 + car parking facility supposed to be? That said, even with a scaled down version, who are the customers this business is supposed to cater to? Tourists?

Ukiah is not a monied tourist town. Ukiah isn’t by the ocean like Mendocino, or Fort Bragg are. No Redwood forests, either. The Great Redwood Trail will bring in a flood of tourists? Tourists will pour in to visit Ukiah Valley wineries? Not likely. There are lots of homeless, though, and many politically connected owners of “non-profits” making money from them. Homelessness, and tourism don’t go well together as Fort Bragg has discovered. What I see is a lot of government grant funding (outside money), a future bankruptcy, and who knows, maybe a homeless shelter. No parking needed.

Reply
Me January 27, 2024

Measure P outcome, no surprise there!

Reply
Harvey Reading January 27, 2024

THERE’S A STORY

A good one, and probably true. Plenty of destruction like that in CA, too, though the ones responsible–and their worshipers–will deny it…

Reply
Harvey Reading January 27, 2024

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/26/chris-hedges-even-genocide-wont-be-stopped/

Whadda world. The US is as culpable as the Zionist savages for the death and destruction in Palestine. Hope the leaders of both POS countries pay…perhaps by scheduling more tests of nitrogen gas for their executions…

The leaders of any country that commits genocide deserve whatever bad things happen to them. And a leader who stands idly by as a prisoner is tortured to death deserves worse.

Reply
Me January 27, 2024

The Palace Hotel story, replaced by a 6 story building. SIX?

Reply
Carrie Shattuck January 27, 2024

Sitting on millions:
I heard months ago that one of our local fire departments was not adding Measure P money to their budget as they felt it was not a sure thing. I was not aware that the County still has not distributed any funds. Have the fire departments reached out to the Board? Haven’t heard anything in public comment at any Board meetings. How come they are silent? This definitely needs to be addressed. Supervisor Williams, out of any of them, should know how strapped our fire departments are for funds. Once again the Board making promises they don’t keep. Despicable.

Reply
Eric Sunswheat January 27, 2024

Stable of journalists… reach seven out of 10 adults in Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties.
RE: ANOTHER PD MYSTERY, a paper I read on-line every morning because the print paper hasn’t been delivered locally in a decade, is the paper’s even larger number of full-time reporters. What do they do all day?
The average production rate of the PD’s stable of journalists seems to be about a story a week, and some reporters’ names don’t appear for weeks at a time.
— ED NOTES

—> Sonoma Media Investments LLC, was formed in 2012 by Darius Anderson and several local investors to return the Pulitzer Prize winning Press Democrat, Petaluma Argus Courier and the North Bay Business Journal to local ownership.
Today it also includes The Sonoma Index-Tribune, Sonoma Magazine, Spirited Magazine, La Prensa Sonoma and now the Sonoma County Gazette.
Readership of these print and digital products reach seven out of 10 adults in Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino counties.

About Kenwood Investments, LLC:
Kenwood Investments LLC has managed a variety of real estate and business acquisitions and entrepreneurial ventures totaling in excess of more than $1 billion over the past 20 years, including extraordinary investments in real estate development, tourism, media and high-tech industries.
Led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Darius Anderson, Kenwood Investments is skilled in land entitlements, pre-venture capital funding and public policy, executing projects with strong investment returns that enhance local communities.
Kenwood Investments was responsible for forming Sonoma Media Investments in 2012 for the purposes of saving the local newspapers including the Press Democrat.
https://mediamergers.com/sonoma-media-investments-in-partnership-with-kenwood-investments-acquires-the-sonoma-county-gazette/#close

Reply
Lee Edmundson January 27, 2024

Chris Skyhawk should check his meds.

Reply
Lee Edmundson January 27, 2024

Maybe Chris Skyhawk should take his meds.

Reply
- Coneponetone January 27, 2024
  
  Lee- Chris might have a point here, despite your vain attempt(s) to insult him
  
  Reply
- Coneponetone January 27, 2024
  
  One might wonder if the DNC and it’s Mendocino operatives pay mr Edmundsun to shill on the internet. Or, perhaps, he does it for free
  
  Reply
Rye N Flint January 27, 2024

RE: Boonville Distillery

I can’t wait to try some spirits from this new distillery!

Reply
Craig Stehr January 27, 2024

Having digested the MCT news, am out the door to the Ukiah Public Library for the Haiku Walk which begins at 2PM Saturday January 27th. See you there.

Reply
- Craig Stehr January 27, 2024
  
  Stark leafless trees
  Beneath winter’s grey sky
  Gold fleck of sun
  
  Craig Louis Stehr
  27.I.’24
  
  Reply
  - chuck dunbar January 27, 2024
    
    Nice one, Craig.
    
    Reply
  - Rick Swanson January 27, 2024
    
    Haiku 5 7 5 not 4 6 4. Maybe you were walking backwards . Or sideways
    
    Reply
    - Craig Stehr January 27, 2024
      
      Rules of haiku poetry apply to Japanese language. ;-))
      
      Reply
Ted Williams January 27, 2024

“Last year, Supervisor Williams went so far as to suggest that because the County is supposedly broke, local fire agencies should propose and sponsor their own replacement measure(s) which would legally require the County to turn over the funding because, as it is, the Board is not legally bound to honor its promises to the local fire services. ”

Not quite.

If the county ever enters bankruptcy, it’s expected the COURT would allocate existing general taxes to cover county expenses. The concern stated was not in regard to the current or future boards maintaining commitment to public advice to gift the money to fire districts.

Reply
Kirk Vodopals January 27, 2024

Spending the day in Mill Valley and Sausalito with Mrs Vodopals… romantic getaway… lots of good food and opulence, but I’ve never seen so many grown men wearing unitards on their pretty bicycles

Reply

Mendocino County Today: Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024

21 Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply