- Education, Accountability And Opportunity
- Who Is Responsible?
- Is Fort Bragg’s City Council Illegally Making Land Use Decision In Closed Session?
- Marching With Pride
- Abandon Ship, Liblabs!
- Discovered Enrichment
- Anti-Semitism?
- Pending PG&E Treachery
EDUCATION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND OPPORTUNITY
Editor,
“Even though Newsom remains marginally popular with California voters and is likely to be a top tier candidate for the White House in 2028.”
Newsom has refused to meet with law enforcement leaders and continually pushed against what our public wants to see. His battle against Prop 36 was a clear indication how his mind works. His plan to drain state prison populations and give the funds to NGOs was simply buying votes. Ultimately what did it do for our state?
His refusal to hear anything from law enforcement leaders including District Attorneys was, and still is, a recipe for disaster. What on earth does he know about enforcing the law? It’s like a stock broker trying to fly a jumbo jet and refusing to listen to the pilots — nothing good is coming from that. The real question is, have we gotten better in California? I don’t think we have.
If we want to drain the incarcerated populations it starts with creating an environment of education, accountability and opportunity. Killing jobs through legislation causes poverty and a reliance on the government that isn’t healthy for anyone, not those paying into the system of government assistance, and not good for the folks living on government.
I see our legislators creating laws which turn the law abiding into criminals while other laws come forward to release serious criminals on to the streets. Perhaps the real mental health issues need to be dealt with in Sacramento, then we can move out from there. Just my 2 cents.
Sheriff Matt Kendall
Ukiah
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Dear Editor,
On April 27 you published a news story (“Construction Begins On $144 Million Courthouse; The largest civic project ever in Mendocino County promises to reshape downtown, Perkins Street corridor”) by Mike Geniella in which he states that the City of Ukiah “favors demolition and relocating the Alex R. Thomas Plaza.”
I have investigated this never-reported and completely unattributed claim and found no evidence to support it.
I wrote to all five Ukiah City Council members, who uniformly affirm that the council has never discussed much less given any direction to city staff regarding the possibility of selling, demolishing and relocating Alex Thomas Plaza.
City Manager Sage Sangiacomo stated, “At this time, no such direction has been given by the Council or any subgroup thereof, such as an ad hoc committee. Furthermore, City staff have not sought any such direction.”
So naturally I am wondering who is responsible for making this claim. I posed that question directly to Mr. Geniella, and he did not respond to it.
Since Mr. Geniella is not a spokesperson for the City of Ukiah, I’m hoping you will look into this unattributed claim to determine who is making it and whether it has any basis in fact. If it cannot be verified, I hope you will issue an immediate correction/retraction.
Sincerely,
Andrew Lutsky
Ukiah
IS FORT BRAGG’S CITY COUNCIL ILLEGALLY MAKING LAND USE DECISION IN CLOSED SESSION?
Editor,
The full justification for the Fort Bragg City Council putting off resolution of its lawsuit with Mendocino Railway in the courts, in order to negotiate a master development agreement for the Fort Bragg headlands with the railway, was never transparently vetted with the public. And while its legal for city councils to make decisions about litigation in closed session, it is not legal or morally acceptable to make land use planning decisions in closed session.
Because the Council decided to hide its decision making regarding land use on the headlands behind its closed session considerations regarding litigation, it has exposed the City on multiple fronts to added risk of legal & financial liability.
Equally troubling, hiding the deliberations regarding land use planning from the public, undermines the public's faith in the integrity of City Officials and the Council. The argument that the City needs to do its headlands land use planning in secret because of litigation issues with the railway is nonsense. Land use decision making must be done in public with full transparency, and determinations of law should be made by the courts. More than six months into these secret discussions and the public has no way of knowing what is being discussed or what the impacts may be on the community.
Peter McNamee
Fort Bragg
COUNCILMAN LINDY PETERS REPLIES:
As you know, agenda items regarding litigation cannot be held in open session. Publicly , I have been saying all along that we need to use this stay to figure out the core issue in our lawsuit. Namely, is the Skunk Train a true common carrier railroad or is it an excursion train? Working on a development agreement before this basic disagreement is hammered-out is cause for public concern. There has only been one public meeting where the community has had a chance to weigh-in on what Mendocino Railway is proposing to develop on the north side of the old Mill Site. One. The next one will be June 26th at a Special Meeting. That’s two. That is clearly not enough. I am but one council member but my consistent message has been to have much more public engagement and community participation before we move forward. We still need to rezone the entire site through an LCP amendment to our Coastal General Plan in my opinion. Then we’ll have a clearer understanding of how planned development will occur.
Fort Bragg Councilman Lindy Peters
MARCHING WITH PRIDE
Editor:
In 1974 I became a cop because I wanted to help people. While patrolling one shift I decided to count the number of times I was called names or given one-finger salutes. Three hours later, after reaching 200 times, I stopped. Many people could not see past the badge to the human beneath. I vowed to make a difference.
Fast forward to the early 2000s when as chief I was approached by a number of employees in the Santa Rosa Police Department who wanted to support gay pride by walking and wearing uniforms in the local parade. The answer was easy. For our community and our department.
Law enforcement in California has made great strides in community inclusiveness, but with much more work to do. With thousands of agencies across this nation, the brush they are painted with is broad. As we experience cruelty emanating from our White House, it is important that we not inadvertently add to it.
Santa Rosa has recently struggled with having cops in our schools. Now, it is struggling with having cops in one of our parades (“Divide over parade rules,” May 24). I want to thank the Sonoma County Pride board for standing up for inclusiveness.
Mike Dunbaugh
Chico
ABANDON SHIP, LIBLABS!
Editor:
Lies, lies, lies. Joe Biden’s term in office was due to the Democratic Party full well knowing that this man was incapable of carrying out the term of his presidency. Even his family knew it. It’s absolutely shameful what they did. This was done to slide in Kamala Harris to take his place. They need to investigate who was running the country. God knows.
Democrats can change this country back in the right direction. Drop your party and quit funding them. Become an independent. Your country needs you. The behavior of the Democrats is outrageous. The burning down of Elon Musk’s cars and dealerships, the protesting with violence, the consistent threats against officials, the foul language from House members and senators.
Last and worst, disinviting your own family from family events because of who they voted for. Look in the mirror. You did this to yourself. God bless America.
John Dubkoff
Santa Rosa
DISCOVERED ENRICHMENT
Editor,
Hello AVA,
Along with many others, I’m sure, I thank you for enriching my life since 1995 with your newspaper. When picking up around our cabin’s kindling box, I still find an old AVA once in a while. It’s a bit like finding old letters or to-do lists.
One of the pieces in the AVA which has stuck with me longest is Michael Nolan’s “When China was Communist.” More memorable than most full length books I’ve read, and just one example of unexpected AVA moonshots.
That’s the kind of thing I mean by “enriching.”
Anyway, thank you, and hopes for your continued fire fanning.
Charles Pugh
Oakland
ED NOTE: Michael Nolan’s story:
Part 1: https://theava.com/archives/228068
Part 2: https://theava.com/archives/229528
ANTI-SEMITISM?
Editor
I don’t get it. AI defines antisemitism as “negativity” toward Jews. I always thought it meant “negativity” toward Semitic people. Somehow the Israeli government has defined anti-Israeli positions against the genocide of the people of Gaza as antisemitic. I thought the people of Gaza were Semites, like the Jews.
Peter Lit (whose mother was a Ukrainian Jew)
Caspar
PENDING PG&E TREACHERY
Editor:
Now is a critical time for those who care about climate justice to contact their state representatives. Assembly member Lisa Calderon, a longtime utility company employee, is advancing a bill to break the contracts of homeowners and nonprofit developers who were pioneers in advancing rooftop solar energy.
As currently amended, AB 942 retroactively breaks the terms of the contract for anyone who installed rooftop solar before April 2023 and wants to sell their home. It would gut the value of their investment by not allowing the new owners to benefit from the terms of that contract for the years it was promised to remain
Who opposes this bill? A coalition that includes nonprofit affordable housing developers, the California Realtors Association, public housing finance agencies, the California Building Industry Association and the Center for Sustainable Energy. With such a diversity of interests against the bill, who could possibly be in favor of it? That would be PG&E and the other investor-owned utilities, along with their unions. You can find more information on how to take action at solarrights.org.
Cate Steane
Santa Rosa
Caspar,
Most Jews are NOT Semitic; most Palestinians are.
Like the land, the identity was stolen.