- Trump's Show Trial
- One Thing We Can Agree On
- 21st Century Caligula
- When Tony Craver Was In Fort Bragg
- No Taxpayer Bailout Of The Palace
- The Answer Is No
- First Fatal Black Bear Attack In California
- Sorry, No Refunds
- Forget Cats, Here’s The Real Leading Killer Of Wild Birds
TRUMP'S SHOW TRIAL
Editor:
I am sure you will be deluged by letters about the verdict in Donald Trump’s trial. I hope they are like mine, and I want you to know that I would be just as upset at the outcome if Joe Biden was the one on trial. I woke up May 30 in the U.S.; that night I went to bed in the old Soviet Union, having witnessed Trump being convicted in a show trial that ignored his civil liberties for unspecified charges. The true verdict will be rendered on Nov. 5 by the voters. Wake up, America. If a former president can be the victim of a weaponized legal system, it can happen to anyone reading this letter.
June Keefer
Santa Rosa
ONE THING WE CAN AGREE ON
Editor:
When 70 million Americans lose faith in democracy, nothing’s gained by calling them misinformed, stupid or cult members. Such charges deflect attention from legitimate grievances, which unaddressed worsen into lack of respect for norms and laws.
One thing most people could agree on is money plays too big a role in our politics. It distorts the concerns of every legislator who must calculate whether a vote will threaten the cash required to remain in office. Let’s not pretend it doesn’t. Name a single legislator who ever publicly declared, “This system pits our self-interest against the common good.”
Voters could demand three changes to sever this Gordian knot blocking solutions to most problems in America — gun deaths, drug deaths, climate change, health care costs, overcrowded schools and fairer taxes. They are:
Full federal funding of elections. Taxpayers fund every candidate equally. No private contributions allowed.
Prohibit corporations from contributing to campaigns. They are serving their shareholders, not the public good.
End contributions from lobbyists to legislators. If legislative salaries must increase, we should do it. But legislators must work for We the People, not We the People with cash.
Remember this next time you hear someone say, “There’s nothing we can do.”
Peter Coyote
Sebastopol
21ST CENTURY CALIGULA
Dear Editor,
How would ancient Rome’s brilliant democracy have dealt with Donald Trump?
Rome frequently exercised its democratic responsibility to impeach public officials, even after they left office. Those convicted of bad behavior were exiled from the country.
Rome also had public officials known as censors, one of whose functions was to manage the census rolls of citizens.
When any citizen including the president of Rome (the “Consul”), was convicted of a crime or came under civil action like defamation, bankruptcy, or military dishonor, the censor would enter a mark of “infamy” (Latin: “nota censoria”) into the record by his name.
This was a severe dent in his social reputation that attended him wherever he went. It was a later version of the very ancient Biblical “mark of Cain,” and an earlier version of our own sexual offender registry today.
When found to be “infamous,” public officials would lose the privilege of officeholding and would also lose their “place” as members of the senate or the equestrian order.
Rome acted quickly and decisively when there was misbehavior by those in positions of public trust. That’s why Rome’s democracy lasted 500 years and ours is almost gone after only 250.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
WHEN TONY CRAVER WAS IN FORT BRAGG
Editor,
I wanted to share a couple of photos I have of Tony Craver (and staff) from when I was working as Admin. Assistant at the Fort Bragg substation back in the early 1990s.
Tony was a wonderful boss and a good friend. He will be missed.
Rest in peace Tony.
Julie (Shafsky) Paravicini
Fort Bragg
NO TAXPAYER BAILOUT OF THE PALACE
To the Editor:
Why should we have to pay for the Palace Hotel?
It is true the 133 year old Palace Hotel, which is on the National Register (#79003458), has been allowed to deteriorate due to the neglect of the owners for the last 30 years. That is certainly unfortunate and should be considered some kind of a crime.
Jitu & Paru Ishwar purchased the hotel and property in 2019 and, like their predecessors, have done little to protect or improve the structure. Ishwar’s apparent partners, Guidiville Rancheria and a local restaurant owner, Matt Talbert, seem to all believe the Palace Hotel needs to be demolished and rebuilt.
It is an absolute shame the hotel was allowed to deteriorate so badly, and there is plenty of blame to go around. But, now, in it’s present condition they may be right, and the building must come down and a new structure erected in its place.
Some of your readers may be saying it is too bad what has happened to this treasure, but Jitu Ishwar should be allowed to demolish the building and rebuild after local approval of structural & architectural plans. And you would be correct, so long as he plans to use his own funds to do so. However, my understanding is he wants us to pay for his neglect. I for one believe that is poor use of our tax dollars, and perhaps you do too. One of Ishwar’s partners has applied for a public grant in excess of $6 million to be used for this purpose, and that should be denied.
In summary, Jitu Ishwar should be held accountable and be made to demolish the building at his own expense.
John Moon
Ukiah
THE ANSWER IS NO
To the Editor:
The recent Letter to the Editor by board members of the Willits Environmental Center suggests that our Board of Supervisors’ staff minions and County Counsel are attempting to subvert the will of the people of this county. The previous effort to expand the amount of land that cannabis can be grown on was overwhelmingly rejected. Now “creative” re-interpretation of the existing ordinance has magically created yet another cannabis ordinance do over. This smells like big cannabis is again trying to influence or bypass our elected officials. We have been down this road before and the answer is still NO to any size increase in allowable cannabis cultivation areas. Re-interpret that.
Mark Spindler
Ukiah
FIRST FATAL BLACK BEAR ATTACK IN CALIFORNIA
Editor,
https://www.newsweek.com/black-bear-killed-human-woman-california-first-confirmed-1908883
The above link is to a Newsweek story dated June 6th. The first confirmed fatal attack on a human by a black bear happened in Nov. 2023 in Sierra County. The story reports the newly announced results of an investigation into that attack.
Meanwhile in east Little River about a week ago, a young black bear ripped through the redwood back door to my garage to try to get at food stored in my garage fridge. When I went out to investigate all the noise, the bear came running out of the garage and climbed a nearby tree. I shouted and growled at the bear, which came down and moved to the back of the yard. But the bear wouldn't leave despite my banging on the house with a broomstick.
The bear showed no fear, and in fact took a few steps in my direction. I grabbed an electric leaf blower and turned it on, and the whine of that machine persuaded the bear to leave. I could imagine a thought balloon over its head saying “WTF?.” It has not come back since then, but this was not the first time a bear has come and knocked over my garbage cans. I think this bear was a juvenile, but I am no expert on bears.
Meanwhile, I have tried to make the damaged wooden door more bear resistant by putting up chains across it until i can rebuild it. I'm going to put more chain across the garage fridge to keep the bear from knocking it over or prying the door open.
It was most likely the aroma of ripe strawberries in the fridge that attracted the bear. There were many more items in there that bears like, like ham, bacon, butter, eggs, milk and cheese, but all of those were well sealed in packaging. My place is surrounded by woods and shares a boundary with Van Damme State Park.
Black bears are protected under California law; it is a misdemeanor to shoot at one.
Nick Wilson
Albion
SORRY, NO REFUNDS
Editor,
The Ghost of the AVA.
Really miss the print version, but hoping your health is diong better. Been waiting to see what your plan is going to be, but my curiousy is getting the better of me and I have to ask: Does “suspended” mean something may be coming down the line? If not, will there be a refund of unmailed issues?
Truly,
Casey Pryor
Willits
ED NOTE: I hope you'll join AVA Nation on-line, but no refunds unless you happen to run into The Major in Ukiah. He's authorized to dispense cash owed.
THE MAJOR ADDS: We are also giving double credit for the website subscription for the time left on your print sub. Send us your email and we’ll get you started on theava.com.
FORGET CATS, HERE’S THE REAL LEADING KILLER OF WILD BIRDS
Editor,
Regarding a recent Chronicle letter titled: “Cute kittens grow up. What these killer cats do to the environment”: The argument that cats are an “invasive” species is just silly. The world is ever-changing and invasiveness is based almost entirely on what date something had to be here to be considered native.
But more importantly, if wild bird populations are the concern, what about the leading killer of these animals: tall buildings with lots of windows?
Up to 3.5 billion birds are killed by flying into windows in the U.S. alone each year, new research shows. Fixing these buildings to lessen this carnage is relatively easy. Why not do that?
While one can ignore the real killer of birds, focusing instead on cats, one must consider that cats are an important part of our urban and semi-urban ecosystem.
Absent cats, then what? Poisons that pretty much decimate the entire animal ecosystem, including raptors (which are birds)
The myopic views of domestic cats expressed in the letter are harmful to our entire ecosystem. Cats and humans have co-evolved over thousands of years, and there is an important symbiosis that is beneficial to the ecosystem. Cats are to be prized, not hated.
Dan Grassetti
Berkeley
The Great Redwood Trail Authority (GRTA), for some reason, wants to destroy the railroad between Cloverdale and Willits, precluding future freight and passenger rail service. This is odd because of the need to reduce emissions, and the fact that trails alongside the rails have already been completed in Willits and Ukiah.
Here are the Train Riders Association of California (TRAC) comments to the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) on so-called “adverse abandonment”of the Mendocino Railway (Skunk Train) by GRTA, to remove federal freight rights from the Mendocino Railway, needed if the GRTA is to abandon tracks between Cloverdale and Willits in order to build their trail (which will cost much more than restoring the existing railroad, and has far fewer visitor and related economic impacts for Mendocino County).
Train Riders Association of California (TRAC)
1017 L St Suite 765
Sacramento, CA. 95814
https://calrailnews.org
President@calrailnews.org
Re: Great Redwood Trail Agency – Adverse Abandonment – Mendocino Railway in Mendocino County, California, AB-1305 (Sub-No. 1)
The Train Riders Association of California (TRAC) has advocated for improving passenger rail in California for four decades. Our organization is currently involved in several efforts around the state to restore rail lines to service. We are eager to see a public-private partnership return the out-of-service rails of the GRTA Line back into productive freight and passenger service. The first step for us in that process is to oppose the Great Redwood Trail Agency’s (“GRTA”) application for adverse abandonment of Mendocino Railway (“MR”).
As the new President of TRAC, I rely on my Masters in Urban Planning and 40 years of experience as a transit planner to offer the following comments:
Faulty Rail Freight Analysis Commissioned by GRTA
In its application for adverse abandonment of Mendocino Railway’s federal freight rights, GRTA commissioned a dubious railroad freight study for the Willits-Ukiah-Cloverdale route.
T
he firm that completed the analysis for GRTA stated on the MarieJonesConsulting.com website that Ms. Jones has 30 years of experience in planning, economic development, coastal development, market analysis and grant writing. While Ms. Jones appears to have impeccable credentials and experience regarding various urban planning, zoning, housing, economic development/feasibility, mixed use, and related planning projects, the only transportation project listed was the Fort Bragg Coastal Trail.
TRAC sees no evidence that the firm is qualified to perform freight rail market analysis and similar logistics analysis. The study’s conclusions should not be relied on, especially as they were limited to only Willits to Cloverdale, when that section would never be restored without connecting it to the national network. The too-local scope of analysis guaranteed that MR would be seen to have no future hauling freight. This “study” was a hit piece.
The methodology used for calculating potential freight demands is unlike freight demand studies done in the railroad consulting industry. It is invalid to rely on total area population factored by per-capita factors such as total demand for short-haul freight rail trips.
This approach captures only the demand side of logistics, while ignoring production. For an area with substantial timber processing and finished lumber production like Mendocino, the operative factor would be total production, then applying the likely share of products that ship by rail. Traditionally, finished lumber has had a large percentage shipped by rail due to its bulk and weight.
A national average per capita demand for freight factored by population is not a substitute for a detailed evaluation of the market for specific shippers in the area, not only for finished lumber but also for other commodities such as wood chips, aggregates, etc.
In a further unprofessional effort to cast aspersions, the consultant concluded that Mendocino Railway was deceptive about the potential for short-haul freight rail in obsolete documents, rather than the relevant one:
“…MR consistently overestimated interest in short haul rail shipments in their DOT Build Applications (see Appendix A), such that the over-estimates can fairly be characterized as deceptions.” (page 8).
Here, the consultant is referring to the 2020 grant applications that were incorrectly made to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) rather than the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Because Mendocino Railway has now obtained an RRIF loan, a legitimate analysis would have reviewed that loan application, not a denied grant.
Choice of Potential Shippers to Interview
A small local beer distillery, a small chemical company, and a small finished lumber producer are not representative of much larger potential shippers, such as the remaining sawmills, and potential reload traffic from Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. This alone makes the study’s conclusions invalid.
While the study is correct that hauling of raw logs to the mill by rail went out of common use when logging railroads were replaced by trucks, the study completely ignores the shipping of finished lumber. For Mendocino County, with its long history of logging, this is not merely preposterous–it must be considered an intent to mislead the Board.
MR Evidence of Established If Modest, Freight Volumes
That is, about 400 carloads of raw logs for one of its logging customers for many decades; a second customer has expressed interest in moving 400-500 carloads of aggregate (gravel). The consultant failed to consider Mendocino Railway’s plans for a transloading facility (not a campground as alleged by some) to carry traffic such as timber and aggregate. A restoration of the GRTA Line would enable a transload facility to capture a portion of lumber and other bulk commodity traffic originating in Del Norte and Humboldt Counties.
For the record, the four North Coast counties (Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, and Sonoma focused on Cloverdale) produced almost 400 million board feet of lumber in 2020, according to https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/CDTFA::ca-timber-production-statistics/explore.
This is an annual volume of 5,000+/- equivalent lumber carloads assuming 80,000 board feet per car; presumably a large share of these shipments could be captured, including Del Norte/Humboldt loads via a potential reload facility in Willits, particularly for shipments to Southern California (at the 500-mile threshold) and out-of-state. There is also potential for other commodities, such as aggregate for the Bay Area construction and roadway market. The method of national averages applied to Mendocino County ignores MR’s potential for longer distance intra-California (e.g., to the Los Angeles and San Diego regions) and interstate freight traffic.
TRAC chose to not closely investigate the numbers in the feasibility analysis, as the conclusion was so preposterous that the analysis had to be severely flawed: “Even with the award of a $31 million low interest federal loan, rail freight is still not competitive at a price of $57,450/railcar or $900/ton, which is 2,346% more expensive than trucking.” (page 21.)
Feasibility Analysis–Breakeven Analysis
While only a side note in the STB proceedings, it is important for the Board to notice that Mendocino Railway is successfully rebuilding its tourist excursion business after Covid. For example, the Skunk Train served 70,000 passengers in 2022 and 100,000 in 2023 (e.g., about 70,000 in 2023 from Willits, which is not the most “touristy” part of Mendocino County). There is a potential for 5%–7% of annual Mendocino County visitors to arrive by train. This could be 90,000-135,000 tourist arrivals by train, respectively.
Keeping in mind the very high prices that the Napa Valley Wine Train and Skunk Train are able to obtain from visitors ($250-$800 for a 32-mile round trip, and $50 for 7-mile and $65 for 14-mile round trips, respectively) it appears that tourist trains to/from the Bay Area (with a SMART connection) might be more important than carload freight traffic in the long run. There is no reason why a breakeven analysis should be restricted to only the freight side of the operation.
Exaggerated Benefits Claimed for Trail
GRTA’s claims of trail usage in the range of six to nine million annually (Draft Great Redwood Trail Plan, Appendix A, pages 6-7: https://greatredwoodtrailplan.org/) are observably exaggerated, compared to actual usage on existing recreation trails in California. For example, the 28 miles of rail-trail segments completed so far along the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) route collectively serve about 800,000–900,000 annual users (with roughly 650,000 residents living in the SMART corridor, e.g. excluding the Sonoma Valley, Russian River area, and West Marin County. Trail usage is reported monthly to the SMART Board – https://sonomamarintrain.org/bod).
In the Sacramento urban area with about 2 million residents, the American River Parkway hosts about 5 million annual users. Relative usage in established tourist areas is significantly higher. The Napa Valley Vine Trail attracts about 1.5 million annual users, an estimated 20%-30% being visitors (300,000–400,000 visitor users, 8%-10% of 3.8 million annually).
On the Monterey Peninsula, the Monterey Bay Recreation Trail in the Cities of Monterey and Pacific Grove attracts about 1.5 million users, of which approximately two-thirds are visitors. Based on this, about 20% of visitors use the trail, located in the prime tourism areas of downtown Monterey, Cannery Row, and adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (in contrast, the Napa Valley Vine Trail is not yet completed to the prime tourism area extending north from Yountville to Oakville, St. Helena, Calistoga, and rural destinations in-between including wineries.
Economic Benefits of Auto-Free Visitor and Other Transportation
With its purported emphasis on creating economic activity, GRTA has surprisingly failed to consider the potential impact of adverse abandonment on MR’s freight and passenger services, which are an auto-free economic engine for Mendocino County. Significantly, MR’s existing line between Willits and Fort Bragg, commonly known as the “Skunk Train,” is the top commercial tourist attraction in Mendocino County. If GRTA agreed to have MR restore the tracks between Willits and Cloverdale, perhaps in exchange for freight rights and the construction of a pathway, the economic impact would greatly exceed that of a trail alone.
A recent study, the Vallejo Passenger Rail Study, found that connecting the Napa Valley to Vallejo Ferry Service operating from San Francisco could attract more than 1,000 visitor trips daily in summer (https://sta.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Vallejo-PRS-Final-Report-FINAL-2024-05-10-PDF.pdf, p.63). In an earlier public presentation, the study consultants estimated there could be 1,000–1,500 visitor trips daily, as an annual average. That is, 365,000–548,000 annual visitor trips via the ferry to the Napa Valley. Assuming one-way trips results in a potential of 182,500–274,000 annual rail trips by visitors. This is 5%–7% of all Napa Valley visitors.
Applied to the 1.8 million estimated annual Mendocino County visitors, this figure suggests 90,000-135,000 trips to Mendocino County might be attracted. This is in the same ballpark as the 100,000 annual riders currently attracted by the Skunk Train. These figures are also consistent with a weekend rail service that operated between Healdsburg and Willits prior to FRA’s closure of the line circa 2000.The latter service reportedly attracted 500-600 passengers per trip.
Conclusion
In my professional opinion, the Marie Jones Report is worthless as a freight rail study, and deserves being given zero weight as evidence.
TRAC strenuously opposes GRTA’s Application. We urge the Surface Transportation Board to encourage freight hauling by rail in Mendocino County via the historic Mendocino Railway by denying adverse abandonment.
Verification
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1746, I declare and verify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief. Further, I certify that I am qualified and authorized to file this Verification.
Very truly yours,
Michael D. Setty
President, Train Riders Association of California (TRAC)
They watch Fox, Republican News, Outlaw News, or other similar media outlets that twist everything to encourage their fearfulness.
June Keefer, you said: “The true verdict will be rendered on Nov. 5 by the voters.” That is correct, and the victor will be Joe Biden.