Mendocino County Today: Wednesday 11/6/2024

By AVA News Service on November 6, 2024

DONALD TRUMP RETURNS TO POWER, Ushering in New Era of Uncertainty

He played on fears of immigrants and economic worries to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris. His victory signaled the advent of isolationism, sweeping tariffs and score settling.

by Shane Goldmacher and Lisa Lerer

Donald J. Trump rode a promise to smash the American status quo to win the presidency for a second time on Wednesday, surviving a criminal conviction, indictments, an assassin’s bullet, accusations of authoritarianism and an unprecedented switch of his opponent to complete a remarkable return to power.

Mr. Trump’s victory caps the astonishing political comeback of a man who was charged with plotting to overturn the last election but who tapped into frustrations and fears about the economy and illegal immigration to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.

His defiant plans to upend the country’s political system held appeal to tens of millions of voters who feared that the American dream was drifting further from reach and who turned to Mr. Trump as a battering ram against the ruling establishment and the expert class of elites.

In a deeply divided nation, voters embraced Mr. Trump’s pledge to seal the southern border by almost any means, to revive the economy with 19th-century-style tariffs that would restore American manufacturing and to lead a retreat from international entanglements and global conflict.

Now, Mr. Trump will serve as the 47th president four years after reluctantly leaving office as the 45th, the first politician since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s to lose re-election to the White House and later mount a successful run. At the age of 78, Mr. Trump has become the oldest man ever elected president, breaking a record held by President Biden, whose mental competence Mr. Trump has savaged.

His win ushers in an era of uncertainty for the nation.

To roughly half the country, Mr. Trump’s rise portends a dark turn for American democracy, whose future will now depend on a man who has openly talked about undermining the rule of law. Mr. Trump helped inspire an assault on the Capitol in 2021, has threatened to imprison political adversaries and was denounced as a fascist by former aides. But for his supporters, Mr. Trump’s provocations became selling points rather than pitfalls.

As of early Wednesday, the results showed Mr. Trump improving on his 2020 showing in counties all across America with only limited exceptions. Mr. Trump had secured the necessary swing states — including Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — to guarantee him the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.

Republicans also picked up at least two Senate seats, in Ohio and West Virginia, to give the party a majority in the Senate. Control of the House of Representatives was still too close to call.

In a victory speech in West Palm Beach, Fla., Mr. Trump declared that he was the leader of “the greatest political movement of all time.”

“We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible,” he said, adding that he would take office with an “unprecedented and powerful mandate.”

Mr. Trump seemingly had to win two races this year.

First, he overcame Mr. Biden, who quit the race after a halting debate performance raised questions about the president’s fitness to serve four more years. Then, he defeated Ms. Harris in a caustic 107-day crucible of a campaign that was ugly, insult-filled and bitter. Mr. Trump questioned Ms. Harris’s racial identity at one point and frequently denigrated her intelligence. They clashed over wildly divergent views of not just the issues facing the country but also the nature of democracy itself.

Mr. Trump has systematically sought to undercut some of the country’s foundational principles, eroding trust in an independent press and the judicial system and sowing doubts about free and fair elections. He has refused to accept his loss four years ago, falsely claiming to this day that a second term was stolen from him in 2020. Instead of hindering his rise, his denial took hold across a Republican Party he remade.

Now, Mr. Trump has vowed a radical reshaping of American government, animated by his promises of “retribution” and of rooting out domestic opponents he casts as “the enemy within.” He has pledged to oversee the biggest wave of deportations in U.S. history, suggested deploying troops domestically, proposed sweeping tariffs and largely advocated the greatest consolidation of power in the history of the American presidency.

(nytimes.com)

THE BOONVILLE PRECINCT reported record attendance on at the Boonville Fairgrounds on Tuesday.

Poll workers said voters were arriving “in waves,” and they even had moments where there were lines behind the voting booths, a rarity in recent prior elections. No serious disruptions were reported, although apparently one woman (not a Trumper, apparently) got upset when she was told that if she wanted a provisional ballot she’d have to surrender her mailed ballot (which she had already filled out). While there, we saw several dozen people arriving in just a few minutes. Supervising poll worker Kathleen McKenna said she had been instructed to call 9-1-1 if anyone even showed up with partisan “electioneering” regalia such as a Trump or Biden hat or button and wouldn’t remove it, quickly adding that that had never been a problem at the Boonville precinct. McKenna also reported that a Sonoma County resident who was driving through the Valley stopped in and wanted to vote in Boonville, apparently because he wasn’t sure he’d get back to his Sonoma County polling station in time. But after some discussion with the local poll workers who explained that they didn’t have Sonoma County ballots, he ultimately left without voting.

EARLY MENDO RETURNS (15,265 votes counted out of an estimated 53,000-plus turnout) as of Tuesday evening:

President: Harris 10,029; Trump 4782, RFK Jr. 223, Stein 122.

State Assembly: Chris Rogers 9764, Michael Greer 5125.

County Board of Education (one seat): Michelle Hutchins 1,356; Strock 922.

Fort Bragg Unified: Kathy Babcock 1567, Sage Statham 996, Cristal Munoz 859.

Mendo Unified: Michael Schaeffer 719, Jim Gagnon 580.

Fort Bragg City Council (two seats): Lindy Peters 530, Scott Hockett 373, Ryan Bushnell 285, Bethany Brewer 272, Mel Salazar 179.

Ukiah City Council (two seats): Heather Criss 1,009, Doug Crane 969, Josefina Duenas 559, John Strangio 545, Kris Mize 330.

Willits City Council (three seats): Tom Allman 490, Gerry Gonzalez 488, Robin Leler 297, Matthew Alanez 281.

Coast Hospital District (two seats): Lynn Finley 2,556, Paul Katzeff 1,630, Mikael Blaisdell 887, Gabriel Maroney 664.

Selected Local Measures:

Measure S (Albion Little River Fire Parcel Tax; 2/3 required): Yes 314 (57.61%), No 231 (42.39%).

Measure X (Point Arena sales tax increment; 2/3 required): Yes 675 (70.9%), No 277 (29.1%)

https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/government/assessor-county-clerk-recorder-elections/current-election-results

TRUMP HEADQUARTERS, UKIAH

ELECTION 2024: Voter turnout, tight races, and early results in Mendocino County

With all precincts reporting in the 2024 Presidential General Election, voter turnout in Mendocino County reached 28.57%, with 15,611 out of 54,640 registered voters casting ballots. Local contests included races for city council seats across Fort Bragg, Point Arena, Ukiah, and Willits, along with key school board positions and several county measures. These unofficial results, released shortly before midnight, are subject to change as final tallies are certified in the coming days

CITY GOVERNMENT

In the City of Fort Bragg City Council election, two seats were available. Lindy Peters led with 530 votes, or 32.3%, followed by Scott Hockett, who received 373 votes (22.8%). Ryan Bushnell earned 285 votes (17.4%), Bethany Brewer secured 272 votes (16.6%), and Mel Salazar received 179 votes (10.9%).

In Point Arena, voters selected three candidates to fill all three seats on the City Council. Dan Doyle led with 47 votes (39.2%), followed by Jim Koogle with 43 votes (35.8%), and Jeffery Hansen with 30 votes (25.0%).

In the Ukiah City Council race, two seats were open. Heather Criss was the top vote-getter with 1,009 votes (26.3%), closely followed by Douglas F. Crane with 969 votes (25.2%). Josefina Duenas earned 559 votes (14.6%), John Strangio received 545 votes (14.2%), Jacob S. Brown had 429 votes (11.2%), and Kristina Mize garnered 330 votes (8.6%). In an uncontested race for City Treasurer, R. Allen Carter received all 1,774 votes cast, giving him 100% of the total.

For the City Council race in Willits, three seats were open. The top vote recipients were Thomas D. Allman, with 501 votes (28.9%), Gerardo “Gerry” Gonzalez with 498 votes (28.7%), and Robin Leler with 302 votes (17.4%). Following were Matthew Alaniz with 289 votes (16.7%), Saprina Rodriguez with 138 votes (8.0%), and write-in candidate Bradley Thomas with 8 votes (0.5%).

The Covelo Fire Protection District saw five candidates competing for director positions. Lindon A. Duke received 28.4% of the 384 votes, followed by Leanne G. Durham with 23.96%. Edward Wilson secured 18.49%, Cindy Nelson received 15.1%, and Bryant Earl Hale rounded out the count with 14.06%.

In the Mendocino Coast Health Care District election, four candidates ran for one director position. Lynn Finley led with 44.56% of the 5,768 ballots cast, followed by Paul Katzeff with 28.42%. Mikael Blaisdell received 15.41%, and Gabriel Quinn Maroney garnered 11.62%.

EDUCATION GOVERNANCE

Michelle Hutchins won the seat on the Mendocino County Board of Education, capturing 59.2% of the vote with 1,377 ballots, defeating David R. Strock, who received 40.8% with 949 votes.

In the Mendocino-Lake Community College District for Trustee Area 3, Jay Epstein emerged victorious with 78.3% of the vote (1,815 ballots), while Gabriel Baca Meza received 21.7%, totaling 504 votes.

For the Fort Bragg Unified School District Governing Board, two seats were open. Kathy Babcock led with 45.8% of the vote (1,567 votes), followed by Sage Statham with 29.1% (996 votes). Cristal Munoz received 25.1%, totaling 859 votes.

Two seats were also open for the Round Valley Unified School District Governing Board. Zoe George led with 41.5% (140 votes), followed by Steve McCormack with 39.8% (134 votes). Cindy Nelson received 18.7% (63 votes).

In the Ukiah Unified School District, John Bailey narrowly won the Trustee Area 5 seat, receiving 50.6% of the vote (480 ballots) over Jaimie Jacobsen, who earned 49.4% with 468 votes.

For the Willits Unified School District Governing Board, April Lamprich led with 1,099 votes (40.2%) for one of two available seats. David Lilker followed with 873 votes (32.0%), while Dianne M. McNeal received 759 votes (27.8%).

LOCAL MEASURES

Measure S proposed to establish a uniform rate schedule for a special fire and rescue tax in the Albion-Little River Fire Protection District to support enhanced fire services. It passed with 57.6% of the vote (314 votes in favor) compared to 42.4% (231 votes) opposed.

Measure T sought to add a new transactions and use tax in Fort Bragg, managed by the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The tax is intended to raise funds for city services and projects. It passed with 70.9% of the vote, receiving 675 votes in favor and 277 votes against.

Measure X proposed to add a 2% tax on transient occupancies (including hotels and rentals) in Fort Bragg. The measure aims to boost revenue through visitor lodging taxes to fund city initiatives. The measure passed with 79.7% support, totaling 731 votes, while 186 voters opposed it.

Measure V proposed a special parcel tax for the Ukiah Valley Fire District. This tax is designed to provide additional funding for fire services in the region. It was approved with 62.7% of the vote, totaling 2,787 in favor and 1,660 votes against.

Measure W, which proposed increasing Ukiah’s transient occupancy tax from 10% to 13% for guests of hotels, motels, and vacation rentals, failed to pass. It received 45.4% in favor, with 1,110 votes, while 1,335 votes (54.6%) were cast against it.

Measure X in Point Arena proposed a transactions and use tax to fund city initiatives. Consolidated with other elections on the same date, it passed with 74.3% approval, totaling 52 votes in favor and 18 votes (25.7%) against.

WINDS INCREASE TODAY, bringing red flag conditions to Lake and interior Mendocino counties. Chilly, frosty mornings are likely in the interior in the coming days. Next chance of rain comes this weekend.

A RED FLAG WARNING has been issued for Lake, eastern Mendocino, and southern Trinity county starting at 3PM today. Gusty northeasterly wind of up to 55 mph on ridgetops with low daytime humidity will bring critical fire weather conditions. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 46F under clear skies this Wednesday morning on the coast. Dry skies until Saturday then things get wet for the weekend & parts of next week.

WE WERE SADDENED TO HEAR of the October 20 death of Fred Sternkopf, aka ‘Dr. Doo,’ of Mendocino and Caspar, whose lively cartoons graced the pages of the print edition of the AVA for decades. A multi-talented artist, Sternkopf produced a wide varity of artwork, mobiles and paintings over his lifetime. “Much of my work is political or spiritual in content,” said Sternkopf in a recent on-line mini-bio. “I strongly believe fine art should speak directly to the soul. With each encounter with a work of art, something new should be seen and realized…over and over. True art shouldn’t just be decorative, but add to the expansion of the inner self…the soul, and bring about personal reflection and insight. Every time one looks at the same piece of real fine art it should be a new experience…a revelation…helping to discover oneself.” Sternkopf was 87.

We hope to have a full obituary soon.

GOOD MORNING AMERICA

Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., the weather is unseasonably warm, but there is no discussion about “global warming”. Everybody is outside talking about how stupid the American people are for having re-elected a wholly unsuitable individual to be the political leader of the nation. Next up is the Cherry Blossom Festival.

Have a nice day. ;-))

Craig Louis Stehr

NOVEMBER FIRE SAFE POINT ARENA MEETING

Wednesday, November 6, 4:45 p.m., Coast Community Library, downtown Point Arena

Fire Safe Point Arena in collaboration with the Arena Native Youth Group, Action Network and the Coast Community Library held an emergency preparedness event at Manchester Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians community playground Saturday, October 19. Attendees received starter Go Bags and filled out evacuation packets. We were served a delicious meal of fry bread tacos, lots of fruit, salad and a variety of desserts. The kids enjoyed a jump house. There were over 50 members and their guests at the event. The event was funded by the Community Foundation of Mendocino and Fire Safe Mendocino County mini-grants.

MENDO POST OFFICE LANDSCAPING NEEDS HELP!

A call for help.

A few years ago a handful of women volunteered to bring the Mendocino Post Office landscaping back from the brink. The real gardeners among us designed a beautiful garden of drought-tolerant succulents, bulbs, and shrubs—a source of real civic pride. At this point those three-year-old plants are doing very well and don’t require a lot of attention.

Unfortunately, we are losing three of our crew to more pressing responsibilities. Do you have a few hours per month to contribute to the post office landscaping? You can work at your own pace on your own schedule, or team up and work together. On a rotating basis, the four of us have maintained a happy, healthy garden, each one taking primary care of the garden for just 3 months apiece.

It has meant a lot and been a ton of fun to contribute to our post office, the heart of our community. If you are interested in pitching in, email Felicia at frice@movingpartspress.com.

BIG GAME FOR UKIAH

 Ukiah (5-3, 2-1) vs. Maria Carrillo (7-1, 3-0), 7 p.m. Friday

Winners of five in a row, the Pumas will look to continue their best season in school history with a huge league test in Mendocino this week. A win would set up a winner-take-all game for the REC-Bay title on the final week of the season against St. Vincent.

The Mustangs ran wild against the Wildcats in a 35-24 win last week and the Pumas will look to do the same with their run-heavy offense. The Pumas have a number of players who can do damage on the ground, highlighted by senior Logan Bruce, who has put up some incredible numbers this season.

The one big knock on Carrillo is its strength of schedule, which is far more friendly than Ukiah’s. The Wildcats will be far and away the best team the Pumas have faced this season.

Carrillo will also be looking to snap a long losing streak to Ukiah. The Pumas have lost their last seven meetings with the Wildcats dating back to 2016.

CalPreps computer projection: Ukiah 35, Maria Carrillo 31

LOCAL EVENTS

MENDO DISCOVERS $13 MILLION WINDFALL

by Mark Scaramella

Acting Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Sara Pierce told the Supervisors on Tuesday that what had been thought to be a major but unquantified budget deficit was incorrect. After recalculating the finances and taking into account about 30 budgeted but unfilled general fund positions, Mendo suddenly has about $13 million more in the General Fund than previously thought as of the end of June 2024. Among other things, this probably means that Mendo will not have to borrow the previously planned $8 million from Measure B to cover the jail overrun.

Pierce and Deputy CEO Tony Rakes attributed the windfall discovery to finally getting the County’s unwieldy property tax/finance system known as “Aumentum” up to where it’s now sort of useful. With that long-delayed accomplishment, when they ran the Aumentum numbers things turned out to be a lot better than they thought.

Supervisor John Haschak cautioned against “getting too excited” about the positive financial news. Supervisor Ted Williams wondered what wasn’t being done due to the cost cutting/position vacancies. CEO Darcy Antle reminded the board that some salary increases for this fiscal year (as of July 2024) including the big raises the Board gave itself will cut into the multi-million dollar windfall.

This latest positive financial news overrides years of doom and gloom reports about budget shortfalls and struck some observers as possibly too good to be true.

But if it holds — experience tells us that when it comes to Mendo’s finances more surprises may be in store — and survives further scrutiny, Mendo will find itself in the surprising position of thinking about what to do with the windfall. For one obvious outcome will be that the majority of County employees who took a minimal cost of living increase last year based on the County’s claims of being broke will probably be lining up their arguments for their next round of contract demands.

Remember, in 2022 when the County’s largest union began contract negotiations, Local Service Employees International Union (SEIU) rep Patrick Hickey told the Board that by his analysis the County was “awash in money.”

“The county is awash in money,” said Hickey. “Your task is to effectively allocate it for the highest possible benefit. The state is making a wide range of funding available. We need staff to apply for it and utilize it if we are to be successful. The administration has done too little to pursue uncollected funds. And blames it on staff shortages. We need to redouble our efforts and offer competitive salaries so that we can help employees identify and find untaxed properties and transient occupancy taxes. The county has failed to fill hundreds of non-general fund positions which would bring in millions of dollars to circulate in our local economy, support our local business, and expand vital services. … What we need is a balanced assessment of our position, not a cherry picked gloom and doom report. We are looking to the board to invest in our communities, not to defund them. These times call for bold and optimistic leadership. No one can deny that the county faces many challenges. But if you support your staff and fill vacant positions and allow county employees to do their jobs, the whole community wins.”

At that time, the Board insisted that they were broke and couldn’t offer more than a bare-minimum raise. But now…

FOURTH DISTRICT SUPERVISOR DAN GJERDE ANNOUNCED Tuesday that he has accepted a position with CalTrans District 1 as a transportation planner. He said he expects confirmation of his position “any day now,” so he plans to resign immediately. Gjerde said he has recommended that Governor Newsom appoint Supervisor-Elect Bernie Norvell so he can start this month, a little ahead of his regularly scheduled January start date to fill out the last few weeks of Gjerde’s term. Presumably, Gjerde will become a double-dipper, receiving a nice County pension for his 12 years as a Supervisor based on his latest pay raise on top of whatever professional salary Caltrans pays.

Supervisor Glenn McGourty couldn’t help griping about Gjerde’s past remarks about water saying he had a “pleasant time working together [with Gjerde], except on water issues.” Gjerde has consistently insisted that inland water users pay their fair share for water, which McGourty, as the Inland Wine Mob/Cheap Water Mafia’s board rep couldn’t help but whine about while offering his back-handed send off to Gjerde.

At the end of the meeting the Board was scheduled to go into closed session to discuss the status of former Auditor-Controller/Treasurer Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison’s wrongful termination case against the County and another ongoing lawsuit entitled “Markley, Gary v. County of Mendocino, BOS for the County of Mendocino, Case No. 24CV00443” which appears to have something to do with the County’s ancillary role in a dispute Mr. Markley has with coastal property owner Roger Burch about a recently vacated coastal road east of Westport in the North County. After the closed session Board Chair Maureen Mulheren reported that no reportable action was taken.

UNPACKING MENDOCINO’S WATER POLITICS: Inside the MCIWPC’s October Meeting

By Monica Huettl

Covering water issues in Mendocino County is like fitting together a jigsaw puzzle. Limiting the geographic area to the Ukiah Valley, Lake Mendocino and the Upper Russian River, there are over a dozen water agencies that are involved in local water use policies. We decided to catch up with the MCIWPC, as we have not been covering these meetings.

Before reporting on the October 10 meeting, here is a summary of some of the parties involved. The MCIWPC is made up of these member agencies: County of Mendocino Water Agency, City of Ukiah, Redwood Valley County Water District, Potter Valley Irrigation District, and Mendocino County Russian River Flood Control and Water Conservation Improvement District. Each of these agencies has an elected representative on the Commission. The Commission meets monthly on the second Thursday of each month at 6:00 pm in the County Ag Building. The MCIWPC is a significant party when it comes to negotiating for Mendocino County’s interests regarding the Russian River.

Janet Pauli is the Chair of the MCIWPC, and she is also on the Board of the Potter Valley Irrigation District. Pauli is also on the Board of the Eel-Russian Project Authority, a JPA formed to negotiate with PG&E about PG&E’s planned abandonment of the Potter Valley Project and plan to decommission the dams on the Eel River. In 2017 Congressman Jared Huffman proposed to solve the problem of how to heal the ecology of the Eel River Basin, while at the same time ensuring water security and habitat protection for people living in the Russian River basin, by organizing a Two Basin Solution Partnership. ERPA has been formed to ultimately own, operate and fund the new diversion facility which is needed to attain the envisioned Two Basin Solution.

The Boards of the local water agencies, NGOs, and state and federal authorities have been wrestling with this problem for years. Earlier this year, the parties representing both the Eel River and the Russian River agreed to create a winter seasonal diversion of Eel River water through the tunnel into the East Branch of the Upper Russian River. PG&E is in the process of negotiating with ERPA about what it will take to create the seasonal diversion. ERPA is administered by the County of Sonoma Water agency, which has rights to water stored in Lake Mendocino. Constructing a new diversion facility, and figuring out how to store winter water for use in the dry summer months is going to cost a fortune.

The Commission spent the first hour of the October 10 meeting in closed session, discussing the Potter Valley project with their attorneys. Pauli reported afterward that no action was taken and there is nothing to report under the Brown Act.

Under the agenda item for Commissioner Reports, Sean White, Ukiah’s Director of Water Resources reported that the consolidation of the small water districts managed by Willow County Water District with the city of Ukiah is going well. The new agency is called the Ukiah Valley Water Authority. A letter with information about the consolidation has been sent to customers. The UVWA is applying for grant funding from the State to upgrade and connect infrastructure. Willow, which manages two of the districts being consolidated, Millview and Redwood Valley, voted to join the UVWA. The JPA agreement for UVWA has been legally amended to allow Willow and Calpella (which has a sanitation district) to join. So far Calpella has not yet asked to join.

The Ukiah Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency met earlier in the day. Glenn McGourty, who is on the Board of the UVBGSA, would like to conduct a new water use study, as the existing study was done in 2007. Information on current consumptive use of water is needed to satisfy State reporting requirements. Bills for fees from the UVBGSA will soon be sent to water users, either on the property tax bills or included in domestic water bills. The website link above has a page describing how the fees are calculated.

California Fish and Wildlife awarded a grant of over $1.3 million to the UVBGSA for studies on surface groundwater interfaces that are required by the state.

The Upper Russian River Water Agency will probably be disbanded, as it was formed to consolidate the small districts managed by Willow. These have now been consolidated into the UVWA. McGourty said former First District Supervisor Carre Brown was instrumental in getting the consolidation process, required by the state, off the ground.

The annexation of Redwood Valley County Water District into Russian River Flood Control is going through the LAFCO process.

With the Commissioner's reports out of the way, the next item was the status of the Potter Valley Project. The MCIWPC Commissioners are working with PG&E and other stakeholders on a regular basis, meeting every week. PG&E is scheduled to release the draft Surrender Plan in January 2025, and the final Surrender Plan in July 2025. The final plan is expected to include details on integrating building new diversion facilities, and the plan to decommission Van Arsdale and Scott Dams. Pauli said, “It’s quite an effort to get it all coordinated. PG&E can see we are serious. We have a good working relationship, but there is a lot of work to be done and time is getting short.”

After this past rainy season, PG&E decided to leave the gates open at Scott Dam for seismic reasons. PG&E requested a flow variance because of concern about warm water being released below Scott Dam, which would harm the fish. This past summer, PG&E has been delivering 50 cubic feet per second to the PVID upon request. PG&E also delivered 25 cfs into the East Branch of the Russian River throughout the summer, although they were permitted to lower this to 5 cfs. The water level behind Scott Dam was at 36,000 acre feet on October 1. That level of water changes the requirements of the flow variance, which is now at 35 cfs. This will hopefully add water to Lake Mendocino, which is lower than it was at the same time last year.

There are no ERPA meetings planned at this time. There is not much to do until PG&E releases the final surrender plan, except to negotiate with other Russian River water users and attorneys as to how to fund a new diversion facility and more water storage.

MCIWPC has been talking with the Army Corps of Engineers about a feasibility study to raise Coyote Dam. This will depend on seismic and other studies needed to determine if raising the dam is viable.

The Commission next discussed budget needs for 2025, most of which will involve legal and consultant fees, which are expected to rise. A meeting with all the member agencies of the MCIWPC needs to be scheduled to discuss the budget. Sonoma County is working on modeling studies. A CEQA analysis may be needed. Negotiations with National Marine Fisheries Service and California Fish and Wildlife will be necessary. Funding for Jacobs consultants is coming to an end and may need to be extended. In November a town hall meeting in Potter Valley will be held to inform the public about the results from the Jacobs studies to date. The MCIWPC will need funding for writing grants for continued studies. Fees to the individual water districts will be higher than last year, possibly $75,000, up from $60,000.

The Army Corps of Engineers has asked for an extension until the end of the year to sign the feasibility study to raise Coyote Dam at Lake Mendocino. MCIWPC is working with Congressman Jared Huffman’s staff on these issues, as the Congressman needs to be aware of the costs, and possibly help with finding funding. Mendocino County cannot fund these major projects without federal, and or, state support.

Pauli thanked the City of Ukiah for its offer to help with communication and public outreach.

The next MCIWPC meeting is set for November 14, 2024 at 6:00 pm.

(mendofever.com)

MEMO OF THE DAY

Dear Town of Mendocino Resident or Business Owner:

(Undated) The County of Mendocino provides street-side trash containers in the town of Mendocino for the public’s convenient disposal of incidental refuse. This service provides a way for tourists and residents alike to easily dispose of waste generated during their visits to the restaurants and other businesses in the Village. As you may have noticed, these containers on occasion create a nuisance despite the County's increased frequency of service to the containers due to household or business trash being illegally dumped in the containers or trash being pulled out by animals.

As an alternative to removing the containers altogether, the County is embarking on an Adopt-a-Can pilot program, much like our current Adopt-a-Road program that has proven successful in reducing the litter along our county roads. The Adopt-a-Can program would welcome concerned residents and business owners to adopt a trash container to maintain. The containers will still be emptied 2-3 times per week by the County's contractor; however, willing participants would be asked to check on the container on non-collection days to collect any fugitive litter. Program participants would be provided trash pickers, gloves and trash bags as needed. Additionally, participants would be publicly acknowledged for their service.

If you would like to learn more about the pilot program or wish to participate, please visit the Adopt-a-Can website at https://www.mendocinocounty.gov/departments/transportation/solid- waste/adopt-a-can.

You may also contact the Adopt-a-Can Coordinator, Josie Slovut, at (707) 463-4363 or slovutj@mendocinocounty.gov.

Together we can keep the Village of Mendocino beautiful and litter free!

Sincerely,

Amber Fisette, Deputy Director of Transportation Solid Waste Division

340 Lake Mendocino Drive

Ukiah CA 95482-9432

463-4363

COASTAL COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDER MEETING on November 14, 2024

The Mendocino County Department of Planning and Building Services and Division of Environmental Health invite all stakeholders to a meeting on November 14, 2024 at the Fort Bragg Branch of the Mendocino County Library in the Community Room from 10 AM to Noon.

This is an opportunity to provide constructive feedback regarding operations to each Director, ask general questions, and learn of important updates. Agenda Highlights include:

Discussion of recent updates and proposed changes
Opportunities for community feedback and suggestions
Collaborative brainstorming for a more efficient and accessible process

The County values your input and collaboration, and this meeting will focus on discussing and improving the permitting processes in our departments. Your insights and feedback are crucial in helping us streamline and enhance permitting processes to better serve the needs of our community. We look forward to a productive and engaging discussion that will benefit us all.

Thursday, November 14, 2024 10 Am – Noon

Fort Bragg Branch of the Mendocino County Library

499 East Laurel St.

Fort Bragg, CA 95437

Join Zoom Meeting: https://mendocinocounty.zoom.us/j/89453584983

Meeting ID: 894 5358 4983

One tap mobile

+16699009128,,89453584983# US (San Jose)

+16694449171,,89453584983# US

The public may also send comments to pbs@mendocinocounty.gov in lieu of personal attendance. You can also contact the Mendocino County Department of Planning and Building Services via telephone at 707-234-6650 for more information.

DEATH AND TAXES SWING BAND - Unavoidably Swinging!

The Death and Taxes Swing Band will be presenting a Swing Dance at the Gualala Arts Center on Nov 16 at 7 pm.

Only in the Bay Area could a group like the Death and Taxes Swing Band form. Created out of a love of live swing music, the group features seasoned professionals, overly enthusiastic young guns and a whole lot of energy. At the Gualala Arts Center they will perform a wide ranging selection of dance music from 40’s standards to 90’s swing revival hits. This exciting concert will also feature two exhibition dancers.

The group is led by Rebecca Roudman, leader of the band Dirty Cello. Fronted by her sultry vocals and swinging string playing, she is backed up by a rhythm section that focuses on a danceable groove.

At the Gualala Arts Center, the Death and Taxes Swing Band will blast their way through songs that invite East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop and Jive dancing. The will be a short, beginner dance lesson immediately preceding the dance. Tickets are available at https://bit.ly/Swingband_gualala

Promo Images: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yVNajUhwVCvobR3y_bhGU6R1uSn2-Ip6

NOYO FOOD FOREST to Host Annual Benefit Gathering: Dinner in the Grove

Fort Bragg, CA — Noyo Food Forest invites you to join us for our Annual Benefit Gathering, Dinner in the Grove, on Saturday, December 7, 2024, from 5 to 9 pm at Mendocino Grove. This magical evening will be filled with wreath-making, a farm-to-table dinner, music, and a live auction, all while supporting the important work of Noyo Food Forest.

Your $95 ticket includes an all-inclusive experience, starting with a cocktail hour featuring delicious appetizers. Golden Coast Florals will guide guests through a fun wreath-making activity, perfect for the holiday season. Enjoy live music by the Gabriel YaÃ±ez Trio while sipping local wines and beer. Sit down to a three-course dinner crafted by local Chef Marc Dym. The evening will conclude with an exciting live auction hosted by Tom Allman, where guests can bid on amazing travel, garden, and adventure packages, all benefiting Noyo Food Forest.

Don’t miss out on an optional opportunity to stay the night at beautiful Mendocino Grove. They are offering discounted glamping tents, with 100% of the proceeds going to Noyo Food Forest.

To learn more about the event and purchase tickets, visit noyofoodforest.org

About Noyo Food Forest

Since 2007, Noyo Food Forest has been dedicated to empowering local youth and fostering sustainable agriculture. We are an educational 501(c)3 nonprofit. Through our celebrated farm-to-cafeteria program, educational programs in conjunction with Fort Bragg Unified School District, and community partnerships, we strive to cultivate a healthy and sustainable food system for Fort Bragg and the surrounding areas. Together, we grow community!

Please consider promoting our event, and thank you for your support!

For press inquiries or more information, contact Beth Horkman, Director of Operations: admin@noyofoodforest.org

ED NOTES

IN THE CITY I got around by bike, bus and foot. In the urban setting all methods of transport can be, well, transporting. But Muni is seldom transporting in the inspirational sense while bicycling can be, although one must be constantly alert to traffic, much of which careens through city streets at unsafe speeds, haughty faces peering from vehicles the size of Sherman tanks.

ONE afternoon, pedaling up to the Ferry Building, having checked on several homeless persons about whom I was preparing a sort of photo-essay although they’d stopped talking to me out of understandable resentment at my prying, and as I approached a female pedestrian walking towards me, I could see her eyes narrow, her lips tighten in disapproval, a reception I’m used to in Mendocino County but seldom encountered in San Francisco where I’m usually anonymous.

SHE looked vaguely familiar. “Uh, oh. she knows me. She's going to tell me I’m inappropriate, maybe even very inappropriate.” But as a veteran of hostile encounters, and not at first recognizing the frowning as hostile, I didn't stop to apologize for causing her distress. I whooshed on past the frowning matron before realizing she was none other than Connie Best, Queen of Conservation Easements, lately of Boonville and maybe still is.

I KNEW her majesty had never forgiven me for pointing out that conservation easements simply give property owners tax breaks unavailable to the rest of us for agreeing not to cut down trees they wouldn’t cut down anyway, a simple statement of the obvious but not one likely to please a person who makes her living taking her cut of high-end enviro action, and it must be a handsome living if she can afford office rent in the area of the Ferry Building.

I STOPPED in at the Peets Coffee outlet in the Ferry Building for a cup of coffee, then pedalled up Market to 17th and Castro, dismounted to walk my bike up and over the hill, beating back sad thoughts of Ishi, California’s “last wild Indian,” who lived at the university on nearby Parnassus as an anthropological specimen showcased by Professor Kroeber.

ISHI was said to enjoy the eucalyptus groves of Mount Sutro, but then Ishi was much said about by people who probably read all sorts of mistaken benignity into him and his annihilated people.

BUT it was a Mount Diablo day, clear, windy and very cold, and Mount Diablo looked like it was three feet east of the Ferry Building, and gloomy speculations were vanquished by the sunny splendor of the vivid day.

UNTIL the corner of Haight and Stanyan where six kids, ranging in age from maybe three to about eight, suddenly ran up to a toothless, bedraggled, street-looking white man waiting with me for the light to change. The littlest guy was barefoot and dressed only in sweat pants and a t-shirt, and it was very cold.

“DADDY, DADDY!” they cried, delighted to see their presumed father. For a panicked instant I thought they were yelling at me. But they grouped around the other man, tugging at him, happy to see him. Maybe the grizzled old boy really was their father. Children have been known to be mistaken. Maybe dad was on his way through the park to take the kids out for dim sum on Clement, warm them up on the family special.

BUT just as the light changed, a very large black woman seemed to come out of nowhere and jumped the patriarch, jostling me out of the way to get at him. The kids scattered as the woman swung wild punches at Dad, who pivoted to get off a couple of counter-punches, one of which hit me in the shoulder. The shoeless child scampered out into the traffic where an approaching black man scooped him up like a fumbled football and trundled him back towards the fight where Dad smacked the black woman full fist as she put her head down and windmill punched him back.

SHE YELLED, “I left that three hundred dollars under the bed but all that there is now is your crack pipe, you no good, low down no good, you. That’s all the money we have and you stole it to buy crack!”

I STOOD there with my bicycle between me and the combatants, advising in my best social worker voice, “Please, There's a better way to settle this.” Fortunately, they didn't pause to ask me what the better way was because I had no idea. When relationships hit the mutual combat stage there's usually nothing that can be done.

I'D NOTED Mom's perfect diction and profanity-free distress. As we all know in these deteriorating times, when people go off in public they usually turn the air verbally blue.

IT OCCURRED to me I'd made a racist assumption, me a liberal all my days! Why shouldn’t Mom's diction be perfect? Why couldn’t she be a fallen child of the educated middle-class?

I DEFINITELY didn't want to get in between them, but just as I'd reconciled myself to an intervention, Dad sprinted across the street, on through the gauntlet of dope sellers who were always arrayed between the street and the tunnel to Hippie Hill, the kids, except for the tiny shoeless one, in hot pursuit. The shoeless one was held fast by the guy who'd scooped him up out of the traffic.

MOM continued yelling. She had a natural bullhorn going, so loud and carrying that the ghost of Ishi could have heard her clear up on Mount Sutro. “My husband took all my money. Stop him. I’m calling the police.”

HUSBAND? That guy? How could he be anybody’s husband? Mom then produced a cell phone, perhaps on speed dial for the cops because she was immediately shouting into it, “My husband robbed me so he could buy crack. He just went into Golden Gate Park.” The samaritan black guy, who was still holding the shoeless kid under his arm like the fumbled football he'd retrieved in the middle of the intersection, tried to calm her down.

HE knew her. “Ellen, you’ll find him. Take it easy. Calm down. He’ll be back.” Ellen was not mollified. “I don’t want him back even if he has my money. I want my three hundred.”

A STORY OF GREAT STORMS AND BRIDGE BUILDING

by Jack Saunders

The Navarro River has been bridged no fewer than six times since the 1860s, the most compelling evidence being that photos of six different bridges exist, and nothing in any newspaper (that I have ever found) points to the existence of any other. The first four of these bridges sat west of the original mill and would be within rock throwing distance of one another if they all sat there today. In fact, three of them sat within spitting distance of one another, and at least two occupied the same spot. It is incredible to me that I had a great grandmother who during her lifetime crossed the Navarro River by ferry as well as over each of the first five bridges described below, while I have traveled over only the last of them.

Bridge 1 (ca. 1868): The 16 Apr 1868 Sacramento Daily Union reported that a bill passed giving H.B. Tichenor and R.G. Byxbee (owners of the Navarro Mill) permission to construct a railroad track, railroad wharf, and public toll bridge at the mouth of the Navarro River. Some details were provided in the notice, which apparently replaced another from two years prior that had not been acted upon. This first bridge was likely built by these gentlemen later in 1868 or shortly thereafter, and at least two photos of it exist. The first was taken by Martin Hazeltine, who registered to vote while living in Ukiah in 1867 but by 1870 was living in Mendocino. Hazeltine took quite a number of photos in the next several years, and a number of those owned by J. B. Ford are held by the Bancroft Library, the one included here among them. His photo (ca. 1870) was taken from the north bank looking southeast and captured only the southern portion of the bridge. The other photo was taken in the same timeframe from the old north county road grade looking down west toward the ocean, and it captured the entire bridge. It appears that the railroad had yet to be installed on the north side of the river. In 1876 the county took over the bridge, thus ending the era of a private toll bridge at this site.

Bridge 2 (May 1879): In Mar 1879 at least a good portion of the first bridge, if not the entire bridge, washed away in a heavy storm with high water, and a ferry was used for a short time. However, Tichenor and Byxbee quickly got to work in erecting a new (partially repaired) bridge, for which they were paid by the county, and this second bridge opened just two months later in May at the same spot as the first. This bridge had two large sections with a central pier in the center. An account of a traveler in 1882 described this as a "substantial bridge."

Bridge 3 (Dec 1890): Over time the second bridge fell into disrepair, and by 1888 it was determined that it should be replaced by an iron bridge. Much debate ensued, all of it over the location, and little progress was made until 1890. The supervisors apparently felt that the new bridge should be located closer to the ocean, while the public pushed for it to be to the upstream side and vented their frustrations. In Jul 1889 the preacher of the planned Navarro Ridge Methodist Episcopal Church wrote a letter complaining about the dangers of the old bridge, including the fact that the north approach crossed the railroad tracks at grade just at the bottom of the north county road grade. Ironically, just a month after writing the letter he lost his wife in a wagon accident while traveling up the south road grade at Elk Creek. Just as the final details of this bridge were getting ironed out (pun intended) the mill burned, but shortly thereafter construction was begun, and the bridge was opened in Dec 1890. This bridge was east of the first two, and on the north bank began just to the east of the engine and tool house. It was referred to as a suspension bridge, as the road was suspended at an angle to cross above the railroad tracks on the north side. The combination of its location and the road angle eliminated several hundred feet of the north county road grade.

Bridge 4 (Feb 1908): The iron bridge was damaged in the earthquake of Apr 1906, but it was repaired fairly quickly. Unfortunately, in Mar 1907 a great storm visited the coast, the river rose to levels far above any previously witnessed, and the great iron bridge was destroyed. It had lasted barely 16 years. In the ensuing months a ferry service was in place, and the inconvenience and "high fares" were the cause of much complaining. This pushed the supervisors to fast-track construction of a new bridge, and it was opened for use in Feb 1908. This bridge was comprised of a series of A-frames, cables, and supports, and was similar in style to many of the original bridges on the California Western Railroad. It appears to have been located slightly to the west of the first two bridges, beginning on the north bank west of the engine and tool house, and once again the road crossed the railroad right-of-way at grade. As a consequence several hundred feet of the county road grade were restored. This was the last bridge near the mouth of the river.

Bridge 5 (Nov 1914): Around New Years Day 1914 another great storm hit the coast, and the bridge opened in 1908 was destroyed. By this time the north county road grade had been relocated around the bluff, thus eliminating the steep, narrow, and treacherous route that had been used for many years, and the railroad on the north bank was also long gone, so the decision was taken to build the next bridge across the island in the river. The necessity of building this bridge was declared an emergency, and it was opened in Nov 1914. [Correction: the road around the bluff was still in the process of being built and was actually opened in Jan 1917.]

Bridge 6 (Jun 1949): In 1933 the old coast road was taken over by the state, and many improvements were made in the ensuing years. The 1914 bridge was likely not on the priority list to be replaced at that time, but by the late 1940s its useful life had ended. In 1949 it was partly salvaged and the rest soaked in oil and burned shortly after being replaced by a steel and reinforced concrete bridge further upstream that opened in Jun 1949. This sixth bridge remains to this day, albeit with some seismic and other work over the years.

CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, November 5, 2024

TEODORO ACOSTA-CAMARA, 52, Fort Bragg. Suspended license, failure to appear, probation revocation.

MANUEL GONZALEZ, 45, Willits. Assault with deadly weapon not a gun, DUI, resisting.

JOHN HOAGLEN, 39, Covelo. Failure to appear, parole violation.

JIMMY LOPEZ-MALDONADO, 22, Fort Bragg. Lewd-lascivious acts upon child under 14, intimate touching against will of victim.

JEROME MCMURPHY, 53, Ukiah. Under influence, failure to obey lawful order of peace officer, county parole violation.

CHERRI ROBERTS, 48, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol&drugs, resisting. (Frequent flyer.)

KYLEE WOOD, 25, Willits. Controlled substance, paraphernalia.

TRAIN TALK

On-line comment 1:

Is there any possibility of this railroad being repaired so a real train can go from Fort Bragg to Willits? What is the status of the tunnel repair? Ive seen the track in a few places and it looks to be in very bad shape with most ties rotten. Likely bridges are in bad shape and need replacing as well. I`m guessing several hundred million dollars for this project.

If the railroad were repaired, to what does it connect? Is the old NWP line to Willits ever going to be repaired/rebuilt so it can be used?

Is this whole thing simply a scam to get public money as well as steal through condemnation valuable property along the right of way?

By the way, Im a big fan of trains & railroads.

On-line comment 2:

I suspect the reality is people were tired of the heavy exhaust from the old engines. The “tier” designation refers to that. Since the state can’t just shut them down, they probably figured money to reduce emissions was the next best thing. The skunk folks just spun this the way businesses do.

And, no, nobody’s throwing the kind of money at this that would be required to make the rail safe or efficient, and there’s no reason to ship lumber between Ft. Bragg & Willits.

I watched a solo engine tip over, while going about 2mph, in Willits a few years ago. That’s how rotten the ties & ballast are.

Chris Hart (of Mendocino Railways, aka Skunk Train):

Mendocino Railway uses 39 of 40 miles of its line. Like most old railroads, the line could use improvement but it isn’t as bad as you make it out.

The former NWP line between Cloverdale to Willits has been out of service for 2 decades and needs significantly more work to get it back in service. Mendocino is trying to see this happen but they face trail advocates that want to bury the line, and have rebuffed the railroads request to have a trail & rail approach.

FUTURE SCENARIOS by Robert Crumb

WHAT WAS TRADED TO GET SMART TO HEALDSBURG

Two Sonoma County road projects were pulled from the Bay Area plan to balance the cost.

by Jeff Quackenbush

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit passed a significant milestone late last month in securing the remaining commitment of funds to extend service and the adjoining bike and pedestrian path 8.8 miles from Windsor to Healdsburg.

But that required a trade-off in how local transportation officials balance projects and funding. And it disappointed some advocates for completion of SMART’s two-decade plan to carry passengers all the way to Cloverdale, completing the agency’s plan for 70 miles of track and path connecting northern Sonoma County with the San Francisco Bay ferry system.

James Cameron, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, confirmed that SMART’s Windsor-to-Healdsburg extension has been amended into the latest iteration of the Bay Area’s transportation and land-use blueprint.

"The SCTA board has been consistently supportive and is very happy to see SMART to Healdsburg in the plan,” siad James Cameron, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, one of the eight such county agencies participating in the plan. ”They continue to advocate to have SMART to Cloverdale included as well.”

The Healdsburg extension was unanimously approved Oct. 23 for an amendment to Plan Bay Area 2050+ that also removed two other Sonoma County projects to clear the fiscal track for the SMART project.

"There's a lot of advantages to being in the plan," Cameron said. "It makes it so that you can be much more competitive on (federal funding for) your projects if you're part of Plan Bay Area."

Oct. 23 also was the day a state transportation agency awarded SMART an $81 million grant for the Healdsburg project, combining with another $188 million in state and federal commitments to lift funding to cover the $269 million estimated cost.

Now construction is set to begin on the segment early next year and be complete sometime in 2028. And the first half of 2025 is also the timing for the expected opening of the extension from the line’s current northern terminus near Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport to Windsor. The regional-plan amendment also lowered the Windsor extension cost estimate from $142 million to $70 million.

As the region continues to grapple with transportation funding challenges, the SCTA will likely continue to advocate for the inclusion of the Healdsburg-to-Cloverdale extension in future iterations of the regional plan, Cameron said.

The latest plan for the Windsor-to-Healdsburg segment is to build track and path 3.3 miles north of the Healdsburg Depot station, leaving 13.2 miles to construct to reach Cloverdale.

The last cost estimate for the northernmost section was in 2019, at $308 million, according to a SMART spokesperson. That estimate will be updated with the latest construction pricing and cost-control efforts.

A key focus for helping to fund the Cloverdale segment is Transit 2050+, a subset of the Plan Bay Area 2050+ update set for consideration next year. The Cloverdale leg was in the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s regional transportation plan, a predecessor planning document, before 2012 and has been submitted for inclusion in each cycle since then, according to a SMART spokesperson.

But some public comments to the MTC on the Healdsburg segment noted that residents at the north end of Sonoma County have been paying for a train that still hasn’t arrived.

“We have been paying a SMARTrain tax for nearly two decades, and our city has already completed its train depot. We have been long awaiting the train’s arrival in Cloverdale, yet your 2050 plan, does NOT include the final SMARTrain leg - from Healdsburg to Cloverdale…why not?” wrote self-described Cloverdale resident Victor Aiuto during the MTC’s comment period on the amendment in August and September.

The city of Cloverdale built the station in 1998. Voters in Marin and Sonoma counties in 2008 approved Measure Q, a quarter-cent sales and use tax that is projected to provide 41% of SMART’s $121 million fiscal 2025 budget. Trains first started rolling in August 2017.

The tax is set to expire in 2029, and SMART’s attempt in 2020 to lock in a 30-year renewal in order to get favorable financing failed to get the needed two-thirds of votes. The lack of service to Windsor, Healdsburg and Cloverdale as well as a fully connected pathway have been among the key objections to the tax in recent years.

SMART is working with the city of Cloverdale and Sonoma County on federal grants to complete planning for the remaining segment, according to a SMART spokesperson.

“The partnership application is planned for resubmittal in early 2025,” wrote Julia Gonzalez, communications and marketing manager, in an email. “If funded, SMART could advance environmental clearance, engineering and permits so the project could be shovel ready and eligible to receive federal funds. Federal funds prioritize rural investments disadvantaged communities and north of the Healdsburg city limit is designated rural and Cloverdale and Mendocino County have federal disadvantaged designation.”

Plan Bay Area 2050+ is a limited update to the approved 2021 regional transportation and land-use plan for nine counties developed by the MTC and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG). Under federal rules, such plans must be “financially constrained,” meaning they must balance committed or available transportation funding with the list of prioritized projects.

To clear a fiscal path for the SMART to Healdsburg extension, two other Sonoma County projects have been removed from SCTA’s list for the plan: the Railroad Avenue interchange on Highway 101 and Farmers Lane Extension in southeast Santa Rosa.

The existing Railroad Avenue interchange currently has just a northbound off ramp. Proposed are northbound and southbound on ramps and a southbound off ramp. Also proposed is an upgrade to 3 miles of Railroad Avenue between Stony Point and Petaluma Hill roads, two key north-south alternatives to highway traffic jams. The estimated cost is $40 million, but no funding sources have been identified so far.

Given the high price tag and the presence of a southbound on ramp less than 2 miles south at Pepper Road, the county has not prioritized this project for now, Cameron said.

The city of Santa Rosa’s Farmers Lane Extension project seeks to construct about 2 miles of new roadway from Bennett Valley Road to Petaluma Hill Road at Yolanda Avenue, creating a bypass for traffic headed toward Sonoma Valley and the east side of the city. The estimated cost is $47.5 million, and funding so far includes about $437,000 from the Measure M countywide quarter-cent sales tax and another $11.4 million from the city.

Cameron noted that the city is also considering a multi-use path along the Farmers Lane Extension, which would not need to be part of Plan Bay Area 2050+, as it falls under what’s called an active transportation program.

Projects not in the regional plan can still advance through the environmental review process and potentially seek funding outside of the Plan Bay Area framework, Cameron said.

 (The North Bay Business Journal)

THIRD STRAIGHT YEAR WITH NO SALMON FISHING

by Alastair Bland

Farmers can estimate the size of a harvest months in advance by counting the blossoms on their trees. Similarly, salmon fishers can cast an eye into the future by counting spawning fish in a river. Fishery managers are doing that now in the Sacramento River and its tributaries, and what they’re seeing could be a bad sign for next year.

The low count of returning adult salmon, made by the federally operated Coleman National Fish Hatchery, is preliminary, with several weeks left in the natural spawning period for the Sacramento Valley’s fall-run Chinook, backbone of the state’s salmon fishing economy.

There is even some possible good news in the numbers — a large percentage of immature Chinook, called “jacks.” This demographic slice of the salmon population can be a predictive indicator of ocean abundance for the coming season, and it could be a sign there are more fish in the ocean than many expected — though officials say it’s too early to tell.

Overall, the unwelcome numbers, mirroring similar figures from last year, are alarming to people who fish, for they portend the possible continuation of the two-year-and-counting statewide ban on salmon fishing, imposed in 2023 following a weak spawning season.

Already, the loss of revenue from the fishery shutdown has devastated the coastal fishing fleet, which is still waiting for $20 million in federal funds allocated for disaster relief early this year.

R.J. Waldron, who took recreational anglers salmon fishing on his Emeryville charter boat Sundance for more than a decade, recently sold his vessel. The reduced income was too skimpy to pay the overhead costs of owning a boat and renting a slip. He said relief funds, had they been portioned out, would have kept him afloat.

“That would have helped me maintain my boat and basically ride the storm out until we get salmon fishing back — if we get salmon fishing back,” he said.

Sarah Bates, owner of the San Francisco-based commercial vessel The Bounty, said she drew about 90% of her income from Chinook salmon sales prior to the closure and has helped make ends meet by fishing for other species, like black cod, shrimp and rockfish. Others, she said, have been targeting halibut.

Bates said the uncertain outlook has been disorienting for the men and women who shape their lives around a calendar year of fishing seasons and regulations.

“A lot of us feel a little untethered,” she said.

At least six more months may pass before financial relief arrives. Barry Thom, executive director of the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission — which has helped facilitate the grant application process — said in an email that the federal funds could be distributed sometime in May and June of 2025.

The odds of whether fishers will be returning to work by then still looks like a tossup. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Brett Galyean, project leader at the Coleman hatchery, described “really low” numbers of 3- and 4-year-old adult Chinook. As of Oct. 29, his staff had collected 4 million eggs from female fish — less than one-third the hatchery’s target of 14 to 15 million eggs.

The spawning run is drawing toward the end, too, with new arrivals at the hatchery now “slowing down,” according to Galyean.

At several other Central Valley hatcheries operated by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, facility managers have only just started counting salmon, an official said. This means overall numbers could still mount to promising levels.

The low returns to Coleman, the state’s largest fish hatchery, reflect a long-term decline in Chinook salmon numbers regionwide. As many as 2 million adult Chinook historically spawned in the Central Valley’s rivers, and the fish were a keystone feature of marine and inland ecosystems.

The industrialization of the landscape to produce gold, water, cities, and crops has sent salmon runs tumbling. While the Central Valley’s fish hatcheries — built last century to augment the wild stocks — release millions of baby Chinook each year, populations have dropped below fishable levels.

In 2022 officials counted just 69,000 adult fall-run Chinook in the entire Sacramento Valley, with a moderate improvement last year. In the mainstem of the Sacramento River alone, a key spawning destination, annual returns have dropped below 4,000 adults — down from an average of almost 60,000 each year from 1990 to 2009.

What ails California’s salmon is perennially debated. Water users lean on explanations such as invasive species, reduced floodplain habitat, and climate change. Fishery advocates often stress the importance of water, especially quantity and temperature.

Bates said the Central Valley needs more aggressive floodplain restoration to provide feeding and refuge habitat for small fish, but that sufficient water is the key.

“It’s the water — there’s no way around it,” Bates said. “The water conditions in the Sacramento River and the Delta no longer support juvenile salmon migrating downstream.”

Sometimes, the outflow from Lake Shasta and into the Sacramento River during the spawning season is just a few degrees too warm — conditions that can abort millions of eggs and newly born fish and has become a recurring problem in recent years. Hot weather has played a role, though environmentalists say negligent management of the reservoir — especially failure to keep its water sufficiently deep into the late summer — is just as problematic.

As the young salmon migrate downstream, they face such perils as low flows, high temperatures, water pumps and predators. Thiamine deficiency, a relatively new and emerging ecological hiccup connected to the marine food web, has also impacted Chinook salmon. Climate change is a long-term threat.

Barry Nelson, policy representative for the Golden State Salmon Association, believes the main reason for the Sacramento’s salmon collapse has been inadequate river conditions downstream of Shasta, and low smolt survival.

“We sterilized the Sacramento River,” he said. “We killed almost all the fish, and rule number one in fisheries management is, if you kill all the baby salmon, three years later you don’t have adult salmon.”

CANVASSING LAS VEGAS

by Pooja Bhatia

Our first stop in east Las Vegas was drenched in ersatz gore: fake zombie limbs, scattered femurs, a plastic skull. “GET OUT,” screamed drippy red letters painted on a bedsheet. A second bloody bedsheet said “HELP.” Mixed messages. I imagine the residents kept up their leftover Halloween decorations to dissuade the likes of us: coastal canvassers begging them to vote for Kamala Harris.

Pity the swingstaters. In recent weeks, Californians had descended by the busload into Nevada and Arizona. Nevada has gone narrowly to the Democrats in the past four presidential elections and the race is so close that its six electoral votes have outsize importance.

Panicking at the prospect of a second Trump presidency, many Democrats in blue strongholds have resorted to do-something-ism. We phone bank, even though no one answers their phones any more; we write postcards to voters we will never meet; we knock on doors in places we would not otherwise visit. There is skepticism as to whether these efforts will make any difference. Many of us, I think, act from a self-serving desire to pre-empt guilt. We don’t want to wake up on November 6, or whenever the votes are finally tallied, and feel we hadn’t done all we could to prevent the horrors Trump is promising: mass deportations, political retribution, bans on reproductive healthcare, dictatorship.

But is this weekend canvassing effective? My husband and I kept wondering aloud over our two days in Las Vegas. It had to be, I’d say: Elon Musk was shelling out tens of millions to send 2500 door knockers throughout swing states. My husband would shrug: “I guess so, then.” We hear that volunteers are more effective than paid canvassers, but I’m not sure that applies to casual volunteers like us. A friend who’s spent the past three weeks canvassing for Harris among Latinos in Pennsylvania said he has only felt effective in the last few days. It’s a question of knowing the community and honing your message, he sid.

For my husband and me, short-term activists, it was strange to proselytize in a place we’d chosen because it was relatively easy to get to and has a high density of likely Harris voters (80% of Nevada’s registered Democrats live in Clark County); and throughout the weekend I grew steadily more embarrassed at our arrogance. We were missionaries in a foreign land.

Like most outsiders, all we knew of Las Vegas was the Strip, and we were determined to avoid that particular hell. Unfortunately (if unsurprisingly) the hotel we had chosen for its rugged sounding name, Red Rock, is also dominated by its casino.

On Saturday morning, I woke up with nastiness in my throat and sinuses, which I blamed on the industrial strength solvents used to counter decades of cigarette smoke and general sin. Even our rented car smelled like toxic cleaner, and I longed for the California air. On our drive to the “staging location” for out-of-state canvassers, we passed a billboard that urged people to vote against Proposition 3: “Don’t make Nevada like California.” Proposition 3 would allow ranked-choice voting and open primaries. (California has the latter but not the former.)

Our training was minimal: a 35-minute Zoom session before arriving in Nevada, and then a seven-minute talk by an organizer in a small, windowless room at the staging locations, a storefront in a strip mall between a taco restaurant and a tire shop. There was an app to download. We were told to ignore “no soliciting” signs, because the First Amendment protects the right to canvas, and never to put campaign literature in mailboxes because we’re not federal employees. We were also instructed not to spend too long at any one address because the goal was to knock on a hundred doors in two three-hour shifts, which meant three minutes and 36 seconds per house, not including travel time or breaks. The numbers made a bit more sense after the organizer said that, on average, we could expect to have one conversation for every fifteen doors we knocked on.

It didn’t seem strange that our training included nothing about our assigned turf, or the city, county or state. We waited in line to get our turf lists. By the time we had downloaded our list onto the app, the storefront was teeming with out-of-staters, and the queue to get in extended past the laundromat. Everyone was moving. There was no time for questions. We were being absorbed into the vaunted Democrat ground machine, cast as little cogs.

At the GET OUT house I rang the bell. Dogs barked and scrabbled at the door. We waited. The dogs stopped yapping. I put a flyer near the bloody sheets. In the app, we marked the stop as “not home.” We walked down the driveway and on to the next house on our list. “You are currently being recorded,” a robot voice said as we passed.

When you log an interaction on the app, there are seven options: canvassed, not home, deceased, inaccessible, moved, refused to answer questions, threatened. There is no option for wouldn’t come to the door, though I suspect that was the case for most of the people whose doors we knocked on in Las Vegas. “Would you guys please stop coming here – we already voted!” hollered someone through the front door of a house where three young registered Democrats lived. She sounded like our teenage daughter when nagged to do her homework. On the doorstep of another house, a 40-gallon garbage bin was nearly full with campaign literature. Our voter list included a lot of women who were at work in the casinos.

After about 40 doors we took a break. “Does anyone actually live here?: my husband asked. There were lots of houses and lots of cars in the driveways, but few signs of life besides the barking dogs behind unanswered doors. No one was on the sidewalks. We pulled into a strip mall. A completely naked woman, her skin dappled by the late sunlight, was walking through the parking lot, one arm shielding her breasts. We drove to the next strip mall.

By the time the sun set, we had made it through 66 doors out of 90 assigned to us and spoken to four voters. At a house where a female independent voter was said to live, a man answered the door and said courteously that they’d both already voted for Trump. He gave us the “hang ten” hand signal. We spoke to two women in their 80s who hadn’t turned in their ballots but said they intended to vote for Harris. We scrolled on the app to find the polling center for one of them, and tried to explain how to get there. She wanted to know if it was the same school as the one she passed when she went to church. The three of us studied the map on my phone and came to no conclusions.

In the car, my husband and I decided that what we’d really like to do is drive old ladies to the polls. Next time, we promised, if there is a next time.

Our fourth voter conversation on Saturday was with a retired nurse who had already voted for Harris. She was just leaving a house on our list. Its residents were away; she was feeding the cat. “Finally, someone’s come to talk to me,” she said. We explained that she wasn’t on the canvassing lists because she’d already voted. But she wanted to talk to us as much as we wanted to talk to someone.

Years before, she said, she had suffered a miscarriage that didn’t pass on its own. She’d had to have a surgical procedure, a D&C, that is also used in abortions. If she hadn’t been able to access the procedure, she might have died. Now, she worried about the ability of her children and their children to access reproductive healthcare. And she worried for herself and her husband, who rely on social security to get by. Tears came to her eyes. She said the prospect of another Trump presidency made her “heartbroken.”

“But we had a Halloween party last weekend and almost everyone in this court is voting for Kamala,” she said. She nodded at a house across the street and whispered: “Not them. They’re Republicans.”

The next day we started at another staging location. The storefront was in a fancier strip mall, with a Whole Foods and martial arts school, but also drive-thru payday loans. Overhead a digital billboard trolled us with Trump ads: “Economy. Safety. Peace. Trump.”

Inside was cheery. Volunteers were said to have knocked on 100,000 doors in Nevada on Saturday, and a surprise poll from the Des Moines Register put Harris three points ahead in Iowa, a state Trump has won twice. My husband asked someone who worked on the Harris campaign about the efficacy of canvassing. She said that for every fifty doors knocked on, a canvasser will move one voter ten percentage points closer to voting for their candidate. The results are better for people who intend to vote for a certain candidate but may have trouble figuring out how to vote. In that case, door-knocking efforts make a vote seven times more likely.

Lone Mountain is a richer, weirder and more desolate neighborhood in northwest Las Vegas. The only person we saw walking was barefoot and wrapped in a blue blanket, or maybe a bathrobe. Many of the houses were surrounded by walls at least eight feet tall – “someone had a sale on concrete cinder blocks,” my husband said – and we crept along roads with names like Conquistador Street or Tee Pee Lane as we searched for a way in. We felt like thieves casing the neighborhood, idling before the heavy gates of McMansion subdivisions, waiting to trail someone in. The houses in Lone Mountain seemed designed to thwart foot traffic – a selling point, I suspect, in an election year.

We managed to get face-to-face with only a handful of voters. A couple said they’d voted for Harris; others said it was none of our business. We only once encountered hostility, and it was mild. “I’m not voting,” said a woman marked as a registered Democrat before slamming the door. “And if I were, it wouldn’t be for her.” For the most part, we weren’t treated in any way at all. Of the 39 houses on our list, we had to mark 15 as “inaccessible.”

A friend who lives in New York was much more effective when she canvassed in rural Pennsylvania this weekend. She took along her five-year-old, which made everything more intense, but may have helped to open more doors. In all, my friend said, she had eight or ten deep conversations with undecided voters. I congratulated her. She wasn’t so sure. Her parting thought, she said, was: “Oh fuck, I don’t know what’s going to happen here.”

ELECTION UPDATE: HINTS OF PANIC AND RAGE

by Matt Taibbi

Weird scene on MSNBC. Rachel Maddow, Stephanie Ruhle, Joy Reid, and Chris Hayes were trying to keep things light and merry after a remote hit in Philly with Jacob Soboroff and rap icons De La Soul. Soboroff previously scored an interview with Ant-Man star Paul Rudd, and as the panel gushed over its good celebrity fortune, Rachel interrupted with an update. Wait… we are hearing from the Harris campaign… Paul Rudd is at Lehigh University! Yuks all around. Meanwhile NBC called a slew of states including Florida for Trump, putting their count at 90-27 (it’s now 105-30). While everyone else on set was working hard, Lawrence O’Donnell stared ahead, mute, like a man on a thorazine drip, or maybe contemplating seppuku. The anchor looks start to get heavy at this stage of the evening, even though the news objectively speaking is nowhere near determinative, unless they know more than they’re saying. Nicolle Wallace nonetheless spoke over all like the voice of doom. “We’re getting to the beginning of the beginning,” she sighed. “It requires so much restraint…” She let her voice trail off, the implication being that it requires restraint to avoid drawing conclusions. “But,” she finally repeated, “this hour will be the beginning of the beginning.” Election night can be harrowing for a reason, however. Harris has won Maryland and Massachusetts, is headed seemingly toward a win in Virginia (though it’s still a tossup), and is hanging tough in North Carolina, outperforming Joe Biden’s performance in some counties. Early returns in Pennsylvania heavily favor Harris, which one could write off as Philadelphia votes, but Trump’s numbers in Bucks county don’t look great. John King was asked to Magic Wall for a long time, seemingly by himself, noting that “Trump is in an unusual position… winning the popular vote, up by 2.5 million… but just 17% of the vote at this stage, heh heh…” King is a good egg, he tries hard. Tapper came back looking down about a touchdown mentally, but determined to come away with points. No sooner did he start a monologue about a coming slate of 15 state poll closings than news flashed that Trump took the lead in North Carolina; he sagged like a buck taking a bullet. Still crazy early. Going to rifle through my cabinet to see if I have any downers left, then risk a few minutes of NPR. Back to you all soon.

First Anomaly?

Kamala Harris appears still on course in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and both Decision Desk and The Hill called the state of Virginia for her a little while back: Then numbers kept rolling in and Trump not only took the lead, but maybe also enough of a cushion to survive late Harris returns from Fairfax County. So there is much online freakage. The video you see at the top of the screen is Pakistan’s Dawn TV, my go-to source for prayer times, which is listed as having called Virginia for Trump, though I think it’s West Virginia in fact. But they’re at least pleasing to listen to. It would be a shock if the Virginia numbers held, but it’s something to keep an eye on, if only because early wig-outs are an important feature of elections. Note Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Chase Oliver currently combine for about 1.3% of the vote, so they will be blamed if the empire falls. Also Trump has picked up about 17,000 votes in the state since I started writing this entry. If you’re seeing calls of North Carolina for Trump, note that’s also an early Decision Desk call, though it looks like that state’s about to go red

Self-Injury Watch

I tried watching the “Kornacki cam” for a while and found myself unable to stay with him. The poor guy talks like he’s being whipped by an invisible jockey. I also don’t think he’s fed well. If not for the fifty pounds of devices stuffed in his back pockets, he’d be glute-less. Right now he’s sermonizing about the “blue blob” in the Atlanta-metro area, where Democrats want to “keep driving up numbers” because they’re “suffering losses elsewhere.” I try not to read too much into these things, but the mood seems a little heavy on CNN and MSNBC. Chris Wallace bummed everyone out a few hours ago after he reacted to an exit poll by saying, “It would be a miracle if Kamala could win with these numbers.” At present it’s 23-3 for Trump with Kentucky, Indiana, West Virginia, and Vermont called, but things are about to get intense. If you’re a Democrat and looking for good news, Virginia is 56-43% for Harris with 3% of the vote in, while Florida is 54-45% for Trump with 71% in. The first battleground state, Georgia, is 60-39% for Trump with 9% in and there’s a significant amount of freaking out going on on my phone. By the way, if readers see memorable election night tweets, please post in comments. Seeing some apprehension out there:

Up All Night

America This Week looks more likely to be a post-mortem than an all-nighter, so I’ve decided to go old-school and live-blog the whole night, or until I pass out.

The first polls close in a minute. The operative clichÃ©s in this pre-return period so far seem to be variations on the one the New York Times is using, an election “both parties [are] calling a critical moment for American democracy.” I’m watching CNN now and everyone but Anderson Cooper seems high on uppers. Welcome input in comments as news comes in.

Obama Instructs

The first Papal Bull of the evening came at 3:59 p.m., when Barack Obama reminded us all not to lose our shit over the whole slow-democracy thing. Let me be clear: these goddamned things can take years… Obama is fast becoming one of the more irritating figures in America. He’s going to end up doing Potty Putter infomercials within three years at this rate.

The Puckering

Democrats "pretty nervous," as the blue wall is fast becoming an Alamo

Start with the hard news. California is called for Harris. Adam Schiff, on the short list of America’s worst humans, will serve as a U.S. Senator. Donald Trump’s most recent win is in Idaho, but he’s ahead in the popular vote and no matter what you might be hearing about Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the squeeze is on. The New York Times may go down as the first mainstream outlet to say it out loud, with analyst Nate Cohn at about 10:45 p.m. writing:

For the first time tonight, we consider Trump likely to win the presidency. He has an advantage in each of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. To win, Harris would need to sweep all three. There is still a lot of vote left, but in the voting so far, Trump is narrowly but discernibly ahead.

Brian Williams on Amazon is trying to smash the all-time record for Dad jokes. He’s free-associating, having a grand old time piloting a big show again, talking football with everyone, especially the female guests. “The state of Kansas. Remember how I said, we’re all Dorothy tonight. Well, Dorothy’s spoken. Dorothy just gave a red check to, uh, Donald Trump… I’ll say this about Detroit, a city I love, I’m going to a Lions game in December, Steve, and see Dan Campbell’s work up close…” Later, more somber: “The Democratic Party may have taken some things for granted. You’ve gotta remember how to speak American…”

MSNBC is a morgue. It’s still early, but if these results come close to holding, a lot of careers are going to end. News directors and party officials alike are going to wonder exactly what it wins them to have on-air spokespeople calling all of Florida an “extreme right-wing fascist state,” as Joy Reid just did. An election is underway, but there’s also a referendum on the intellectual mainstream, and that could be more decisive than the vote.

But again, it’s still early. Not hard to remember what this time of night seemed to portend in 2020. But the AP just called North Carolina for Trump, Trump is reportedly showing a massive improvement with black men in Pennsylvania, and Williams just cut the jokes long enough to ask, “It’s time to ask… what path remains for Kamala Harris?” He added: “The blue wall is buckling right now.” For what it’s worth, Jen O’Malley Dillon also just gave a statement to MSNBC saying the campaign “feels good” about where it is, and that it’s waiting for sizable numbers of votes to come in the blue wall states.

I suspect the next update will be determinative, one way or the other.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Once heard a man speak. His mother was raped. He was conceived. He asked if he deserved to live. Did his life however begin not matter. He did nothing to deserve death.

There went my neat package of being staunchly (I thought) pro-life & against abortion except for cases of “rape, incest, life of the mother.”

Isn’t it interesting it’s said “life of the MOTHER.”

So a pregnant woman is already a mother before giving birth, but we treat that baby as a thing. A tumor basically.

ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE after I posted those words. Most “friends” in left-wing media didn’t bother reaching out privately to discuss their disagreement with my personal preference. Instead, many self-described socialists took it upon themselves to profit from conflict by publicly attacking me with monetized videos.

A smaller leftist YouTube show put out five separate videos skewering me about the tweet, while conveniently erasing the advocacy I had done on behalf of the transgender community throughout my career. They even went as far as drawing a link between my tweet and trans suicides, which sadly wasn’t the most unhinged outcome of the debacle.

TYT’s volunteer YouTube chat moderators quit over the tweet, and someone reported me to Human Resources. An on-air transgender contributor even resigned from the company after being urged by online mobs and leftist shows to do so. Curious that not one of those shows hired her after she took their advice.

I never apologized for the tweet and I never will.

That whole experience forced me to come to terms with the intolerance on the left and it allowed me to publicly reject the ideological shackles that kept my world small and less informed.

— Matt Taibbi

Black Marines in Dress Uniforms on Harlem Street c1940s

WEDNESDAY'S LEAD STORIES, NYT

Election Live Updates: Trump Fights His Way Back Into Power

Republicans Clinch Control of the Senate

Abortion on the Ballot

Israel’s Netanyahu Fires Defense Minister, Citing ‘Gaps’ in Approach to War

North Korea Enters Ukraine Fight for First Time, Officials Say

DR. GASSAN ABU SITTA: “Gone is a genocidal president too hypocritical to admit it. And in comes a genocidal president who wears it as a badge of honor.”

KAMALA'S BIGGEST MISTAKE was to assume women would vote for her just because of her gender. How utterly entitled and arrogant

by Sarah Vine

As Democrats all over the world weep into their kombucha, I’m afraid I have only one thing to say: you brought this on yourselves. I’m sure Kamala Harris is a perfectly nice woman but at no point during this campaign did she demonstrate the strength of character, vision and sheer star power required to win the White House.

Many Americans – certainly most Americans I know – have deep reservations about Donald Trump. They find him distasteful, divisive, deeply dodgy. And indeed, he can be all of those things. But even the staunchest of liberals felt deeply disappointed and let down by this Biden administration and, in particular, its stubborn refusal to acknowledge the current President’s evident shortcomings.

Harris was a poor choice of candidate – but perhaps more significantly she was also an establishment choice on the part of an elite desperate to stay in power, a human box-ticking exercise who, whatever her own personal merits, was always going to stick in the craw of the ordinary American.

She was tense, didactic, finger-wagging and, above all, reductive and politically one-dimensional. She aligned herself with a narrow segment of the electorate, again its own kind of elite, comprised of people obsessed with identity politics and other liberal hobby horses, not realising – or perhaps not wanting to realise – that to win over the whole country you need to sell yourself as a broad church.

One of Harris’s biggest mistakes, I think, was to assume that just because she was a woman of colour, that meant all women, of colour or otherwise, would naturally side with her, especially given Trump’s ongoing problems with the likes of Stormy Daniels et al. This is a lazy assumption that those on the left in Britain also make (see Labour’s Dawn Butler MP sharing a social media post that described the newly-crowned Tory leader Kemi Badenoch as ‘white supremacy in blackface’).

They assume that they somehow ‘own’ certain demographics, which again speaks of entitlement and arrogance. Women - whether of colour or otherwise - are far more complex and nuanced than that. In particular, Harris showed spectacularly poor judgment on the issue of abortion.

This was felt to be her so-called trump card, the idea that women would come out to vote for her in their droves to protect reproductive rights. But that seems to have backfired. Abortion rights are indeed an important issue for many women – but the idea that it’s the ONLY thing they care about is, once again, reductive and patronising.

There are just as many who think that the safety of women is equally at risk from gender politics and the dangers and injustices posed by male-bodied individuals invading their sporting fields and safe spaces in the name of inclusivity. And let’s face it, Harris’s track record on protecting THOSE sorts of women’s rights was not great.

It is also insultingly patronising to assume that women are not concerned about big issues such as the economy, immigration and law and order.

The job of a good politician above all else is to listen, even if they don’t like what’s being said.

Even her choice of female voices to endorse her was hardly ‘everywoman’.

Wheeling out the likes of J-Lo and Cardi B to lecture voters on why it was their duty to do as they were told was beyond cringeworthy and guaranteed to produce the opposite effect, as was her sycophantic appearance on Saturday Night Live, surrounded by fawning comedians and celebrities.

Former President Obama’s (late and somewhat reluctant) endorsement only served to remind people what a successful Democratic candidate looks like.

Insulated in her echo chamber, Harris utterly failed to reach beyond the dinner parties of the Upper West Side and Hollywood. But in the end, it was not she who struck the killer blow to her own campaign: it was Biden himself.

In response to an admittedly very off-colour joke about Puerto Ricans, the President described Trump voters as ‘garbage’. It was a turning point, a bald, visceral statement, an unguarded moment that became a clarion call to all those who, if not exactly Trump supporters, were damned if they were going to be told they were trash for not buying into the Kamala Kool-Aid.

It was a slip as bad as Hillary Clinton’s ‘basket of deplorables’ – and ultimately showed that nothing had changed: this Democratic elite was suffering from a seemingly incurable superiority complex. Harris should have immediately distanced herself, but she didn’t – leaving an open goal into which Trump danced with characteristic flourish.

The moment he put on that hi-viz jacket and climbed, somewhat unsteadily, into a garbage truck was a piece of political genius. It was funny, clever and above all self-depreciating, a quality rare in politicians but one that always connects with the public.

Afterwards, at a rally, he poked fun at his own vanity and told the story of why he decided to keep his garbage uniform on: ‘I said, “NO WAY!” but they said, “If you did, it actually makes you look thinner.” I said, “Oh...” and they got me, when they said I look thinner.’ I remember thinking then: he’s just won the election.

Meanwhile, Trump’s killer line about needing to actually like America and Americans in order to be President really hit home: it was clear all along that plenty of Harris’s fellow countrymen and women made her and her party’s toes curl. Once again, the lessons of the Brexit referendum play out.

So Trump wins, and deservedly so. But is he the right man for the job? That remains to be seen. Winning is the easy part; delivering a successful political agenda so much harder.

He has cast himself as the champion of the reviled and the disenfranchised, an advocate for ambition and aspiration and an antidote to the wave of wokery in which America seems to be drowning.

Whether he can indeed ‘Make America Great Again’ remains to be seen: the obstacles are many and varied, from crippling national debt to illegal immigration to the situation in the Middle East and, of course, the war in Ukraine.

As he himself has put it, it will be ‘nasty a little bit at times, and maybe at the beginning in particular’. My sense is that he will focus on domestic issues to begin with, as that’s where he will feel he’s on the most solid ground. But you never know.

This Trump seems rather different to the Trump who won in 2016. Older, of course, if not exactly wiser - but certainly a more practised politician, and a man who seems ready to take a second term in office deadly seriously.

(dailymail.co.uk)

JILL STEIN from the Daily Mail

“If you look at the data in 2016, the exit polls showed that people who voted for our campaign would not have otherwise come out,” she explained. “So this charge that we stole votes is really a very self-serving piece of propaganda, essentially.”

She said that her supporters found it “ludicrous and offensive” that they would have backed Clinton.

“And ludicrous that they were ever supporting Joe Biden and then when Kamala Harris failed to distinguish herself from Joe Biden, she never had these voters either,” Stein said.

Harris - who took over the Democratic nomination from Biden in July - has found herself in an impossibly tricky situation politically when it comes to the war in Gaza.

Her rhetoric has been more sympathetic to the Palestinian civilians being killed - and she talked tough after her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just days after Biden's withdrawal - but Harris has not backed an arms embargo, as many on the left want.

It wouldn't matter if Harris had, said Stein.

“Would I have bowed out? No,” Stein said. “Because power concedes nothing without a demand, right? If we bowed out, that's the end of the Green Party, not just in this election, but period.

“Because you have to maintain your ballot status in order to jumpstart your next race,” she continued. “You want to get the best result you possibly can because of the way ballot access rules are written. You have to come out of there with the highest percentage of the vote possible in order to roll over your ballot access.”

When RFK Jr. suspended his campaign in August he initially told his supporters in swing states to back Trump.

He told those in safe red or blue states to vote for him.

Would Stein have ever instructed her supporters to do the same for Harris had the Democrat been more supportive of an arms embargo and the Palestinian cause?

“Well I would say that, you know, what are the odds that Harris would have done that?” Stein asked.

“The odds that Harris would have ever done that, you know, are pretty much non-existent,” she continued. “From the intensity of the support by Harris and Biden for Netanyahu. Effectively Netanyahu is our commander-in-chief right now.”

THE EVIL WARMONGERING ZIONIST WON (No Not That One, The Other One)

by Caitlin Johnstone

The Democratic Party has lost control of both the White House and the Senate. As of this writing it is still unclear which party will secure control of the House of Representatives. Turns out campaigning on the promise of continuing a genocide while courting endorsements from war criminals like Dick Cheney is not a great way to get progressives to vote for you.

One interesting point is that Donald Trump appears to have taken the battleground state of Michigan, where Kamala Harris was soundly rejected by the large Arab American population of Dearborn despite voting overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. Back in August, Harris famously shushed Muslim anti-genocide protesters at a campaign rally in Michigan by admonishing them with the words “I’m speaking”.

Well, who’s speaking now?

To be clear, this is not a good result. A good result was not possible this election. The warmongering Zionist genocide monster lost, which means the other warmongering Zionist genocide monster won.

Donald Trump is still bought and owned by Adelson cash, which means we can expect him to be just as much of a groveling simp for Israel as he was during his first term. The president elect has publicly admitted that when he was president the Zionist plutocrats Sheldon and Miriam Adelson were at the White House “probably almost more than anybody” asking him to do favors for Israel like moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and acknowledging Israel’s illegitimate claim to the Golan Heights, which he eagerly did.

Trump closed out his campaign tour alongside his former CIA director and secretary of state Mike Pompeo, which should be enough to dash the hopes of even the most naive Trump supporters that US foreign policy is headed in a positive direction in January. As CIA director, Pompeo led a plot to assassinate Julian Assange and cheerfully admitted that “we lied, we cheated, we stole” at the agency. This odious swamp creature has remained in Trump’s good graces for the last eight years, and is reportedly expected to have a position in Trump’s cabinet once again.

Speaking at a campaign event in Pittsburgh on Monday, Pompeo boasted that he has been called “the most loyal cabinet member to Donald J Trump” and said that when Trump is re-elected “we will take down the ring of fire; we will support our friends in Israel.” The “ring of fire” is think tank speak for Iran and the militias in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Palestine who oppose Israel.

So things are probably going to get uglier and uglier. But they were getting uglier and uglier under Biden, and they would have gotten uglier and uglier under Harris as well. That’s just what it looks like when you’ve got a dying empire fighting to retain planetary control like a cornered animal. You don’t get to be the US president unless you are willing and eager to do ugly things.

Democrats exaggerate how destructive Trump is relative to their own bloodthirsty psychopath candidates. While we can expect Trump to inflict tyranny and abuse upon Americans, it will be nothing compared to the tyranny and abuse he’s going to inflict on people in other countries, and it will be nothing compared to the tyranny and abuse his predecessor has been inflicting on people in other countries. All the histrionic shrieking we see from US liberals about Trump only works inside a western supremacist worldview that does not see the victims of US warmongering as fully human, and therefore sees scorched earth genocidal atrocities as less significant than comparatively minor abuses concerning US domestic policy.

Abandon hope that any positive changes will come from this election result.

Abandon hope that Trump will do good things.

Abandon hope that Democrats will learn any lessons from this loss.

Abandon hope that liberals will suddenly remember that genocide is bad and start protesting against the US-backed slaughter in Gaza.

Abandon hope in US election results, period.

US elections do not yield positive results. They are not designed to benefit ordinary human beings.

Nothing changes for those of us who are dedicated to fighting against the abuses of the US empire. It will be the same fight after January 20 as it was on January 19. We fight on.

(caitlinjohnstone.com.au)

36 Comments

Chuck Dunbar November 6, 2024

Grim fucking news this morning–not much else to say.
Robert Frost gives it a try, though.

Reply
- Chuck Dunbar November 6, 2024
  
  The hemlock tree in Frost’s poem–a subtle nod toward the dark I’d never noted before–fitting for sure…
  
  Reply
- Call It As I See It November 6, 2024
  
  Great news this morning! Where’s the JOY? Hey Chuck, just go out to your front yard, fall to your knees and scream, then come in and hold your favorite stuffed animal with a hot cup of cocoa.
  You’ll feel better in no time.
  
  Reply
  - Chuck Dunbar November 6, 2024
    
    Excellent, will try it and see- don’t want to turn to whiskey or hard drugs or that danged Hemlock
    
    Reply
- Cotdbigun November 6, 2024
  
  Electoral College, Popular Vote, The Senate and The House. The people have spoken, we can’t all be fascists and nazis and,and whatever. Just normal everyday meltingpot Americans.
  
  I know, it must shocking to see what’s really going on! But it is healthy to step outside the echochamber.
  
  Reply
Cotdbigun November 6, 2024

I’m starting to feel unburdened by what has been.

Reply
Steve Heilig November 6, 2024

(From my latest AVA piece, Oct. 31:

The End Game: Here’s my semi-paranoid semi-conspiracy semi-coup scenario: The puppeteers of Heritage/Project 2025, The America First Policy Institute, big tech, and know Trump is devolving quickly. They just want to get him back into the White House. Soon after, though, he’s out, whether by health crisis and ungentle push, a la Biden, or failing that, 25th Amendment removal, or failing that, something more dramatic, violent or not (poison? Easy to do now, w/o a trace). Thus: President Vance, Mr. project 2025, eager to chop the taxes and regulation while still tossing the red meat issues they don’t truly care about to the masses of gullible MAGAs. Would the Trumpian cult go along, with their leader gone? Maybe not at first, but minor resistance, even violent a la Jan 6 again, would fade. A slow but sure coup. From then onward, downward, into dystopia. I’ve been speculating about this possibility for months but now it seems many others are too, as its an idea appeared in the political comics. My smartest political science mentor says “If Trump is still really aware of things, he should be very worried about winning – these are not nice people.”

(Expect some serious “buyer’s remorse” from conned Trump voters. As always, it will be the disadvantaged who suffer most).

Reply
- Lazarus November 6, 2024
  
  “Expect some serious “buyer’s remorse” from conned Trump voters.”
  SH
  I managed quite well through the first Trump term. I expect to do even better this time around…
  Have a nice day…
  Laz
  
  Reply
- Call It As I See It November 6, 2024
  
  Word salad and lies, is this Kamala writing under an assumed name?
  
  Reply
- Paul Modic November 6, 2024
  
  They probably won’t have to shunt him aside, Vance can just “take over” as the shadow prez, like with Cheney and Bush…
  
  Reply
Joseph Turri November 6, 2024

Common sense has prevailed! The majority has spoken. Accept it and move on.

Reply
peter boudoures November 6, 2024

Only shocking if you’ve been under a rock

Reply
James Tippett November 6, 2024

For those who seeking a context for the current disaster, or success of common sense, depending on your perspective, I suggest reading “The Fourth Turning” by Neil Howe.

The Cliff Notes summary: Every 80 to 100 years, the cultural and political reality of the United States…and the world…goes through a cataclysmic realignment: the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War II… Howe suggests we are in the middle of another period of all-encompassing disruption.

How the current realignment turns out depends as much as anything on what values emerge as unifying and clarifying for the future.

Reply
- sam kircher November 6, 2024
  
  Just recalled that read last night.
  Worm turns painfully slowly…
  
  Reply
Elaine Kalantarian November 6, 2024

Re: What’s wrong with this picture? door hinges on the wrong side

Reply
- Chuck Wilcher November 6, 2024
  
  I’d say the door knob is on the wrong side.
  
  Reply
  - Marco McClean November 6, 2024
    
    Sandals with socks. Teacher’s creased body armor. (Like a bicycle or motorbike helmet, it only protects once. Never buy used.) Weirdly levitating books. Giant hinges, short door. Desk too close to the wall to sit behind it. Doorknob wrong. Missing chalk gutter.
    
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Coastal Resident November 6, 2024

Re your Election 2024 summary: Am I wrong? I thought that proposed new taxes required a 2/3 voter approval to pass, which would mean that Measure S and Measure V did not pass, they failed. Also Mendocino Coast Health Care District had two director seats up for election, not just one.

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- Bruce Anderson November 6, 2024
  
  Correct on Health District, pretty sure that certain local taxes only require a simple majority.
  
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  - mendonesian November 6, 2024
    
    “Be It Further Resolved, that this ordinance shall take effect
    immediately upon its confirmation by the voters in the District. Special
    tax increase must be approved by two-thirds vote of the voters of the
    Albion-Little River Fire Protection District at the special election held
    November 5, 2024.”
    
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  - Jacob November 6, 2024
    
    Agreed, local general tax measures only require simple majorities, special taxes dedicated to specific uses require the higher threshold.
    
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    - Jim Shields November 6, 2024
      
      The exception to the dedicated tax rule two-thirds requirement are citizen initiatives that qualify for the ballot. Only a simple majority is required for such tax measures.
      
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Harvey Reading November 6, 2024

’57 Chevy Photo

The new cars all look the same, but are much better looking and handle much better than the gruesome monsters of the 50s and 60s, that not only were ugly, but handled like dump trucks (remember how the rear ends of Mustangs would hop around corners?).

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Harvey Reading November 6, 2024

THE EVIL WARMONGERING ZIONIST WON (No Not That One, The Other One)

Good for you, Caitln. Nice to hear a little realism.

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- Kirk Vodopals November 6, 2024
  
  Yep. She nailed it: “You only get to be President if you’re willing and eager to do ugly things.”
  
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Kirk Vodopals November 6, 2024

That’s not a hemlock leaf

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Kirk Vodopals November 6, 2024

If you listen real hard you can hear the sound of Jeff Bezos puckering his lips in the vicinity of Trumps butt

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Kirk Vodopals November 6, 2024

Must be fun driving around a Tesla these days knowing that the “T” really stands for Trump

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- Eli Maddock November 6, 2024
  
  🤣🤣
  
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Kirk Vodopals November 6, 2024

It was obvious the campaign ship was doomed to sink when Kamala embraced the endorsement of Dr WMD himself, the shoot yer buddy in the face guy.

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Kirk Vodopals November 6, 2024

It gets worse… now we have Adam Schiff as a Senator. I really hope he starts screaming “Russiagate!” again. David Corn already has.
The uniparty always wins in ‘Merica.
#embarrassedtobeanAmericanAGAIN

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Fog November 6, 2024

As far as immigration is concerned, not everyone IN here arrived carrying a PASS PORT.

Easier to ‘throw them out’, or ‘institutionalize them’, rather than reform, or solve the problem created by a broken system. Lazy.

JDV says “we’re gonna wash the govt. right out of your hair…” For shure, he’s too young to remember how his Boss set up the Supreme Court to look like their decisions are in OUR best interest. One size fits all

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Jim Armstrong November 6, 2024

Well, we had four years of hopeful but doubtful remission.
Now the cancer is back and may be terminal this time.

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- Bruce Anderson November 7, 2024
  
  I’m in the same fight, old friend. We’ll both beat it and enjoy a picnic together at the Diversion.
  
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  - Jim Armstrong November 7, 2024
    
    I was referring to U.S, not us.
    
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    - Bruce Anderson November 7, 2024
      
      Well, heck. I was looking forward to a picnic on top of the diversion tunnel you and the Chinese hand dug to get free Eel water to all those essential grape growers downstream.
      
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