Mendocino County Today: Friday, July 1, 2016

• Final Election Results
• FB Public Hearing
• LakeCo Liars
• KZYX Ukiah
• Dead Trees
• Police Reports
• Water Bill
• AV Grants
• Mendocino Theatre
• Yesterday's Catch
• Ali's Life
• Energy Independence
• Presidential Debates
• SF MOMA Visit

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER...

ALMOST A MONTH after the June 7 election, the final results were posted at 4pm by the Mendocino County Clerk. The first, informal returns the Clerk did release within hours of the ballots being cast have held, although in Judge Keith Faulder's case just barely.

FAULDER, running for Superior Court judge against a newcomer to the County, Patrick Pekin, just edged out Pekin, 12408 to Pekin’s 12254, squeezing past the much less experienced but dogged campaigner by 154 votes.

MEASURE U in Fort Bragg was defeated — 55% to 45%, a margin of 211 votes made to seem larger when it's rendered in percentages. People who think a homeless operation in a landmark old hotel in the center of town is somehow a good idea squeezed out a victory here but the war has just begun. Lots of Fort Bragg thought it was such a bad idea that they are almost certain to follow-up with candidates for the Fort Bragg City Council whose majority foisted the deal off on an unsuspecting town.

MEASURE V (“hack & squirted” trees are a public nuisance) won by about 62% to 38%. More people (26,170) voted on V than anything else on the ballot. Will the Mendocino Redwood Company get the message? Probably not, as Mendocino County's Willits-based Naomi Raiders commence "direct action" demonstrations to reinforce the popular vote opposed to the chemical eradication of non-commercial tree species.

AND THE COUNTY CHARTER MEASURE (W) lost 53.6% to 43.4%

SUPERVISOR CARRE BROWN, 1st District, crushed challenger Montana Podva by a 3-1 margin.

AND IN MENDO, SANDERS BEAT CLINTON by better than 2-1 as Congressman Huffman, a superdelegate, came out for Clinton two months ago, quickly announcing at the ensuing uproar from the Sanders forces that he was remaining "neutral" until the convention. Lots of libs are already pasting Clinton bumperstickers over their Berns and, as per ancient custom around here, dutifully support Hillary, pretending or not caring that she represents everything they claim to be opposed to.

Detailed results can be seen here: https://www.theava.com/archives/57799

NOW WHAT?

Community Development Block Grant Notice Of Funding Availability - City Of Fort Bragg - July 11, 2016

The Fort Bragg City Council will conduct a public hearing at 6:00 p.m., on MONDAY, JULY 11, 2016, at Town Hall (363 North Main Street), Fort Bragg, California 95437, to discuss the submittal of an application in response to the 2016 State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) and to solicit citizen input.

* * *

"MR. WENDAL" CLARIFIES...

re: NOW WHAT? – The details are in the public hearing notice on the city’s website. This, from the June 13 city council mtg., is what’s included in the proposed application:

Council directed staff to prioritize activities for inclusion in the 2016 CDBG Super-NOFA application as follows:

1. Water Tank Installation;

2. Combo Microenterprise and Business Loan Program;

3. (a) Mill Site Specific Plan and (b) Economic Development Strategy Implementation

Supplemental activities:

1. CDC/Glass Beach Apartments Housing Project

2. Slip Line Project (if sufficient funds)

IT SHOULD HAPPEN HERE, but probably won't. Lake County’s district attorney announced Thursday he will investigate and prosecute perjury. Lying on the stand is so far outtahand in Mendocino County (probably everywhere) that you can walk into a courtroom cold and find yourself saying to yourself almost immediately, "That person is lying." The most painful lies we've personally witnessed are estranged spouses, male and female, claiming the other is a perv presenting a hazard to the children.

KZYX TO OPERATE NEWS BUREAU IN UKIAH

by Justine Fredericksen

When Lorraine Dechter started working for KZYX, the station’s “Ukiah news bureau” was often her car or hotel room.

After becoming general manager of the station in January, Dechter and her husband began renting an office on West Perkins Street so the news team would have somewhere to work in Ukiah.

“When you’re covering a city council meeting, or interviewing election candidates, it’s so much easier to be able to file your stories here than drive all the way over to Philo,” said Dechter, referring to the main station on Highway 128 north of Boonville in Philo.

The station’s location is more than just inconvenient, however. The forest around it is growing every day, making it harder and harder for the station’s signal to reach its transmitter on Laughlin Peak in Willits.

So this week, the station’s board of directors approved a plan to rent office space on North State Street, which for a long time has been identified as the perfect (and perhaps only) spot for a satellite station in Ukiah.

“The roof affords a direct line of sight to Laughlin Peak,” said Dechter, adding that the second-story building will also allow the necessary tall equipment to be placed there since it is just outside of the more restrictive downtown zoning area.

The rent is reasonable, she said, especially given that the electricity is included, and “some board members have promised financial support for at least three months.” Dechter said she also plans to hold art auctions and “rent parties,” where attendees donate a little toward rent, as a way to raise funds.

Within five months, she said, the station will decide if it wants to move its operations out of Philo altogether and relocate to either Ukiah or Willits, where KZYZ is broadcast from. The advantage with the Willits site is it is free, but it is very small and “really limited.” There are also distinct advantages to having your broadcast operations based in the county seat, where the majority of the population either resides or travels through.

That decision has yet to be made, however. For now, Dechter is focused on getting the space on North State Street leased, hopefully within the next several days, and getting it ready for reporters to work in.

“The listeners have been consistently asking us to go back to having a half-hour news segment in the evening,” she said, adding that with new staff members and new partnerships, she hopes to be able to begin offering that once a week, then ramp up from there.

The station is also currently trying to raise about $75,000 through a pledge drive, which as of Wednesday had raised just shy of $50,000.

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

66 MILLION DEAD TREES IN CALIFORNIA COULD FUEL 'CATASTROPHIC' WILDFIRES, OFFICIALS SAY

http://gu.com/p/4mg7d/sbl

NEW MEXICO REACHES OUT

On 6-29-2016 MCSO received information from the Santa Fe County Department of Corrections (located in Santa Fe New Mexico) that a fugitive from their jurisdiction was possibly located in Leggett. Upon further investigation it was determined that the Santa Fe Department of Corrections held a no bail warrant for suspect Grady Knox, 54, of Leggett due to his failure to comply with conditions of release as set forth by the electronic monitoring program. MCSO Deputies responded to a residence in Leggett located at 58974 North Highway 101 Leggett at which time Knox was arrested on the outstanding warrant without incident. Knox was transported to the Mendocino County jail were he is currently being held without bail. Following extradition procedures Knox will be transported back to Santa Fe County New Mexico to face open charges in that jurisdiction.

* * *

CHECK INTO A ROOM AT BROOKTRAILS LODGE, ROB THE PLACE, PUT THE STUFF IN YOUR ROOM. THE PERFECT CRIME!

On 6/27/16 at approximately 12:15pm, deputies from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to investigate a burglary that occurred at an unknown time on 6/26/16 at the Brooktrails Lodge (24675 Birch St. in Willits). Deputies contacted the owner of the Brooktrails Lodge and learned that the suspect(s) made forced entry into the business and multiple electronic items, consumables, and valuables were stolen. From speaking with witnesses at the Brooktrails Lodge and following investigative leads, deputies identified Ryan Ivey, 37, of Fort Bragg, and Nicole Champion, 38, of Willits, as the burglary suspects. During the investigation, deputies learned that Ivey and Champion were staying at the Brooktrails Lodge prior to the burglary and a search warrant was authored for their rented room. Deputies served the search warrant on 6/28/16 and located multiple items of stolen property from the burglary inside the room being rented by Ivey and Champion. During this continuing investigation, deputies developed probable cause for the arrest of Ivey and Champion for the charges of Burglary and Possession of Stolen Property. Deputies issued an order for the arrest of Ivey and Champion for those charges associated with the burglary at the Brooktrails Lodge. Deputies obtained investigative leads about the location of Ivey and Champion in the area of Fort Bragg. On 6/30/16 at approximately 11:10pm, deputies responded to a residence in the 15000 block of Mitchell Creek Drive in Fort Bragg where they located and arrested Ivey and Champion without incident for the burglary and possession charges. Ivey and Champion were subsequently booked into the Mendocino County Jail where they were both to be held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

HUFFMAN UPDATES BILL THAT MAY IMPROVE LAKE MENDOCINO STORAGE

by Justine Frederiksen

An update of a bill that may increase Ukiah Valley’s water supply by improving how Lake Mendocino is managed was introduced this week by Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael).

“Unfortunately, even during periods of extreme drought, many reservoirs are still being operated from antiquated, 60-year-old manuals,” Huffman is quoted as saying in a release from his office. “If local water agencies want to work with the (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) to bring their reservoir operations into the twenty-first century, they should be able to do so.”

The Army Corps oversees Coyote Valley Dam, the mechanism by which water is released from Lake Mendocino, and its water manual often determines how much water is released, particularly in the rainy season.

“Modernizing the management of these federal reservoirs will ensure that water isn’t spilled for no reason,” Huffman said. “This is a no-brainer: keeping scarce water in storage until it’s needed will help our cities, farmers, and the environment.”

The bill Huffman recently introduced is an updated version of the Reservoir Operations Improvement Act, first introduced in early 2014, which allows local entities to request that the Corps review a reservoir’s water operations manual.

A typical review process may proceed like this: a local sponsor requests that the Army Corps conduct a study of a given reservoir and its water manual; the Corps works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency to analyze the latest and best science for understanding forecasting for flood and runoff in the reservoir’s watershed, then the Corps can determine if there are better ways to operate the reservoir and possibly implement the new updated water manual through its usual review process.

The changes in the updated bill, introduced this week, include: establishing a limited pilot project for the updated reservoir operations; clarifying the process for working with the non-Federal reservoir project sponsor to limit the scope of changes in order to avoid unforeseen complications; and allowing for the Corps to incorporate existing studies in the process to reduce redundancy.

Data relevant to the operations of Lake Mendocino was collected in Ukiah in March for a scientific study called Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations, or FIRO, which came largely out of a partnership between the Scripps Research Institute and the Sonoma County Water Agency, which owns the Ukiah Valley reservoir.

The group hopes that the forecasting model they are creating can eventually be used by the Army Corps, and graduate students were recently sent here to collect data by releasing balloons into the clouds over the Ukiah Municipal Airport.

Lake Mendocino was also chosen as the pilot project for the forecasting model they are perfecting at an Atmospheric River Observatory in Bodega Bay.

“We are focused on hydrometeorology, which combines hydrology, the study of water on the ground, with meteorology, the study of water in the air,” said Jay Jasperse, chief engineer and director of groundwater management for the Sonoma County Water Agency.

He also helps direct the FIRO research effort with Marty Ralph of the Scripps Research Institute. “If we know where, when and how much water is coming, we can better manage our water supply.”

Which is why the group is focusing on atmospheric rivers, because they are the events that fill reservoirs. If you get them, Jasperse said, you’re likely to get flooding. If you don’t, you’re likely to have a drought.

In fact, it was an atmospheric river storm in December 2012 that led the Corps to release a significant amount of water from Lake Mendocino just before 2013, now “the driest year on record,” because it still relies on a Water Control Manual created in 1959 to dictate flood-control releases.

The FIRO group argues that if much more modern forecasting models were relied upon instead, more of the water could have been retained, lessening the effects of the drought on the area.

Jasperse said he expected this phase of the research to take most of this year, and next the group will focus on translating the data into updated operating procedures for reservoirs like Lake Mendocino.

Read more about the FIRO project at http://cw3e.ucsd.edu/

(Courtesy, the Ukiah Daily Journal)

ANDERSON VALLEY GRANTS EXPLAINED

by Susanne Norgard, Community Foundation of Mendocino County

After over 15 years of making grants in regions throughout Mendocino County, the Community Foundation is well known by many non-profit leaders, but not understood by many other people in the community. To help explain how the Community Foundation works, Foundation director Susanne Norgard spoke with three community volunteers who serve as regional advisors in Anderson Valley.

“The Community Foundation has made over $780,000 in grants in Anderson Valley covering a range of community services in healthcare, housing, youth and education, elder care and conservation, yet many people in the Valley don’t even know what a Community Foundation is,” says Valley resident Maureen Bowman. “We are a well-kept secret, but we shouldn’t be.”

According to Susanne, “a community foundation is about place. For our foundation, the place is Mendocino County. But since our county is so spread out, and since each region is unique, we have historically looked to people in each community to help us give out grants. These are our regional advisors. Although there are over 750 community foundations in the United States, very few of them have a system in place that uses local residents in the way we do. Because we are rural, we have always known that using local volunteers was the only way we were going to be able to understand what the needs are in each community.”

The money for the Anderson Valley grants comes from two sources. The Foundation has a general “community endowment fund” which has been built through local donations over the years and is invested for the long-term. Earnings are used to make grants in all seven regions of the county. The Anderson Valley gets a slice of this pie. Grants to Anderson Valley also come from “donor advised funds,” in which case donors who care about the Valley participate in selecting which organizations to fund. Often the Community Foundation plays a role in matching local organizations with donors’ interests.

“The Foundation’s Community Enrichment grant program is pretty home grown,” says Maureen. “Applying is not intimidating. We like to say that ‘no experience is necessary’ when writing a grant. The Community Foundation has people to help with the process, and the regional advisors visit many of the organizations that apply. This helps us get to know more about the project and the people working it. We go beyond how it looks on paper. Because we are a part of this valley, what we really care about is the project and whether the people involved have the expertise to make it happen.”

There are no formal requirements for being a regional advisor other than being involved in the community and caring about its needs. “Each of us has different expertise, and we each look at projects with our own perspective. This helps us keep our objectivity,” notes advisor Ann Christen. “Curiosity is an important attribute. I try not to have preconceived ideas about what is needed and stay open for ideas and creative solutions.”

All of the advisors are enthusiastic about the “site visits” that allow them to learn more about organizations in the community. Ann says, “I’ve liked knowing what is happening on the ground. You peel back the curtain of how lovely the Valley is, and you see volunteers doing things like developing housing or tutoring children. It’s been exciting to see the level of commitment that people have when it comes to helping others. It’s important to get to know the people behind the scenes; otherwise all you see is the glossy surface view.”

Margot Rawlins, who previously was Senior Community Leadership Officer at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, is now working as a regional advisor in the Valley. “Because I’m new as a fulltime resident, this has been a great way to learn what’s going on. I’m also appreciative of the fact that the Community Foundation can assist organizations in non-monetary ways. I think several Valley non-profits have taken advantage of some of the technical assistance programs offered by the Community Foundation. Things like board development and organizational planning are big issues for local groups. Community foundations can also play the role of being a neutral convener when difficult community issues arise. Last but not least, they provide an excellent way for local people to leave legacy gifts that are earmarked for our region, or even specific causes in our region. Our hope is to get the word out so that more people can know how our local Community Foundation might be of use to them.”

Ann concludes, “Anderson Valley has always been self-reliant, stemming from the fact that it was for many years a pretty isolated community. But it is important to know that both donors and non-profits can find ways of partnering with the Community Foundation. It doesn’t take away from the local fundraising; it augments it.”

Anderson Valley regional advisors are Maureen Bowman, Floriane Weyrich, Jim Taul, Daniel Angulo, Ann Christen and Margot Rawlins. For more information on the Community Foundation, visit www.communityfound.org.

BOB: A LIFE IN FIVE ACTS, continues through July 17th at the Mendocino Theatre Company.

Take a wild ride with BOB as he criss-crosses the American cultural and geographical landscape on his epic journey to become a "great man". Directed by Ricci Dedola (The 39 Steps), this play is sure to challenge your view of the American Dream while winning your heart! See the trailers here https://youtu.be/ardHr4ye4j0 and here https://youtu.be/Sfhw5EL8ZTI.

"The birth of Bob, alone, is worth the price of admission!" Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm at the Mendocino Theatre Company, 45200 Little Lake Rd. in Mendocino (on the campus of the Mendocino Art Center). Tickets are available online http://mendocinotheatre.org/ or at the box office, 707-937-4477. Youth 22 and under are always half price!!!

CATCH OF THE DAY, June 30, 2016

FRANCISCO CEJA, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, possession for sale.

JAIME CEJA, Cloverdale. Pot cultivation, possession for sale.

MIGUEL CEJA, Ukiah. Pot cultivation, possession for sale.

GRADY KNOX, Leggett. Fugitive from justice.

ANTOINE MOORE, Ukiah. Vehicle theft, failure to appear.

JAMES NORTON, Willits. Vandalism, probation revocation.

JOEL RAMOS, Hopland. Probation revocation.

JESSE RODRIGUEZ, Ukiah. Use of another’s ID for credit, suspended license, probation revocation.

RECOMMENDED READING/VIEWING: ‘Blood Brothers: The Fatal Friendship Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X,’ and ‘The Trials of Muhammad Ali,’ a 2013 documentary. It’s been about a month since Muhammad Ali died and most of what we’ve heard about him since then has been hagiographic, and well deserved of course. But Ali the man was much more than the civil rights and boxing legend that has come to dominate the pop culture view of him. These two very revealing bios on top of the recent biopic starring Will Smith give a much fuller picture of Ali from his days as a teenager and club boxer in Louisville to the silent days when he was overcome by Parkinson’s disease around 1990. Ali packed more high drama into those years in the 60s and 70s than most of us could imagine, much less live.

‘BLOOD BROTHERS’ is a close examination of the tumultuous relationship between Ali and Malcolm X, both of whom were young and outspoken, with outsized egos and a genuine sense of outrage at the condition of blacks in the United States. Both lived their lives against the tense backdrop of the upheavals of the 1960s and early 70s. Both Ali and Malcolm X joined the cultish Nation of Islam at fairly early ages and quickly became sought-after celebrities within that organization due to their individual star-power. Malcolm X split with the NOI when he discovered that their leader, Elijah Muhammad, didn’t practice the morality he preached — and then went bluntly public about it in his unique very-pointed style. This put Ali in the middle of a power struggle between Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad that eventually lead to Malcolm X’s murder. The book uses Freedom of Information FBI files on the two men — Ali began to be tracked by the FBI as a teenager when he went to his first Nation of Islam church service in Louisville — as a primary source, especially useful in establishing a timeline for where they were and when, which allowed the authors to correct the record in the earlier biographies of the two men which were essentially “authorized” autobiographies, not independent reviews of the actual record.

‘THE TRIALS OF MUHAMMAD ALI’ is a 2013 documentary that compliments ‘Blood Brothers’ very nicely, lending a visual accompaniment to many of the events in ‘Blood Brothers’ combined with interviews and archival footage of the real characters, both at the time and recently. As expected from the title, the documentary goes further into Ali’s conscientious objector case after the murder of Malcolm X which took Ali out of boxing during the prime of his boxing career, his maximum earning years. Ali’s decision turned much of the county against him when he first publicly refused the Vietnam era draft with memorable remarks like “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Vietcong,” and “Ain’t no Vietcong ever called me a nigger,” and, when asked why he could be so aggressive in the ring but was unwilling to go to war replied, “I’ll beat ’em up, but I won’t kill ’em,” and, “I just can’t go over and shoot those people that didn’t do nuthin’ to me and then come back home and I’m still a nigger.”

YOU WON’T BELIEVE the tiny little legal loophole the Supreme Court used to unanimously reverse Ali’s conviction for draft dodging. (He didn’t get his felony draft dodging charge overturned on religious principle, but on an obscure interpretation by a clerk for a Supreme Court justice about an earlier supreme court case involving the mormons.)

PARTICULARLY worthwhile in the documentary are the excerpts of a mature and articulate Ali on the lecture circuit around the country during his hiatus from boxing to make some money in lieu of boxing matches while his case was slow-walked through the judicial system.

ALI came to regret some of the fateful decisions he made in the days leading up to his estrangement with Malcolm X and the murder of Malcolm X (probably at the behest of Elijah Muhammad and his close, sometimes criminal, famiy members and cronies who saw Malcolm X as both a threat and an apostate) that followed shortly thereafter. The vivid and intense background and context to Ali’s decisions prior to the murder of Malcolm X is what makes ‘Blood Brothers,’ and ‘The Trials of Muhammad Ali’ so fascinating. In these fuller pictures, Ali’s life while under extreme pressure becomes even more admirable and expansive than the shallower portrayals that followed his death. (— ms)

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

Greetings Friends and Neighbors,

In early June we had the pleasure of helping Mendocino Solar Service customers make history, by designing and installing the first-ever residential solar system in the historic Mendocino village.

Mendocino's first solar home has an on-grid, roof-mounted solar array. The array was designed to be unobtrusive, hugging the line of the roof, with south facing solar panels to capture sunlight throughout the day. The energy produced by the panels during the daytime is used to power the home, and then excess surplus energy is fed in to the electrical grid. With net metering, excess solar energy is carried by PG&E power lines to homes and businesses nearby.

This on-grid solar energy system highlights one of the exciting ways that solar is making a difference, now:

Solar energy systems are making it possible for home and business owners to greatly increase their personal energy independence.

Rather than just paying endlessly increasing PG&E bills, with electricity rates that can rise up to 6 or 7% a year, homeowners and businesses can invest in time-tested solar energy systems, securing a reliable source of cost-effective energy for years to come.

Solar energy installations are not "one size fits all." Each installation is individually designed to cover the consumer's specific energy needs, including electric car charging.

On-grid solar energy systems allow consumers to monitor their home's energy production and energy consumption online, even when away from home.

And keep in mind, solar increases personal energy independence whether the system is in town and on-grid like this example (using net metering) or is located farther out of town and off-grid (using battery backup).

Join us in celebrating the arrival of personal energy independence to the village of Mendocino!

Warm Regards,

Bruce Erickson & Maggie Watson, Co-Owners, Mendocino Solar Service

Note: In June 2014, Harvest Market at Mendosa's became the first Mendocino village business approved for a commercial solar installation, after receiving the OK from Mendocino's Historical Review Board. Despite that promising development, it was almost two years before the first residential solar installation was approved in May 2016, when MHRB endorsed an application converting a charming Village home to solar energy.

THE DEBATE WE NEED: GARY JOHNSON VS. JILL STEIN

Bernie Sanders is rapidly making himself into Mr. Irrelevant, a footnote of campaign history like Jesse Jackson and Howard Dean before him, the great Progressive Hope of 2016. He pretends he is the revolutionary his followers want him to be, while he twists and turns his way to Philly for the coronation of Queen Hillary, where he will kiss her ring. He and Noam Chomsky and Gloria Steinem and Tom Hayden can then get on a bus called Furthur Down the Rathole and tour until November, berating and guilt-tripping independents and lefties to vote for Hillary and against Hitler, aka Trump.

But that is not the candidate bus tour we need, nor one you could pay me enough to see. What would tremendously benefit the current scene of political rot in America is if the Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, and the Green candidate Jill Stein, announced a two week coast-to-coast tour of debates versus each other. Both desperately need to elevate their poll numbers and break through the corporate media’s censorship of any candidates but Trump and Clinton. The networks ignore them, except to run stories of how these so-called third parties are ruining it for everyone by trying to intrude on our democracy and the massive system of corruption that so rewards the paid media and the industry of professional political hacks.

I doubt either Johnson or Stein’s campaigns have the imagination to do this, because the inherent nature of campaigns is to play it close to the vest, not make any foolish moves, not swing for the bleachers. But I suspect that such a tour, which is both sustainable and easy to organize, could pump blood into their poll numbers, so much so that one or both could hit those shamefully high numbers that would force the two-party monopoly to let them into the debates they own.

My slogan this election year is simple: #BoycottTrumpClinton. And I know that a majority of Americans are with me. So if you are shaking hands with, or writing a check to Gary or Jill, pass on this suggestion. I am already sick in the stomach watching Bernie play sheepdog for Hillary, and seeing ahead to five months of the vicious garbage and propaganda that Hillary and Donald and their pals will be dumping on us.

Let’s see if we can light a fire under Johnson and Stein, and at least get an interesting and rather honest debate of critical issues that would highlight and publicize their campaigns. Maybe keep hope alive, and not just a jive, for a little bit.

Oh, and if you see Bernie, make sure you get a button for your grandkids!

John Stauber is an independent writer, activist and author. His books include Toxic Sludge Is Good for You, Mad Cow USA and Weapons of Mass Deception. In 1993 he founded the Center for Media and Democracy to exposed corporate, political and media propaganda campaigns. He retired from the Center in 2008. http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnstauber.

ON LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

Response to May’s “Eyesore of the Month”: San Francisco’s newly expanded Museum of Modern Art designed by Snohetta

I visited SF MOMA yesterday.

The GOOD: The artwork contained in the post-1960 German exhibit. The Calder mobile exhibit. The living wall (beautiful display of ferns/plants behind the fifth floor Calder exhibit.)

The BAD: Not only can you see minimalist art — the café offers minimalist food, such as a “lettuce sandwich” and catsup-fried rice. (Someone in SF needs to run to the grocery store.)

The UGLY: Kunstler called out the museum’s exterior crumpled fiberglass cladding. Up close it is dingy. I could actually see whole footprints low on the wall on one of the outside balconies. I suggest they power wash the whole building twice a year. Call the fun police.

The Snohetta expansion makes no reference to the original building, an underwhelming edifice in its own right. They closed the whole museum down for years while they built the expansion and “lent” some of the sculptures around town. A series of really bad sculptures were placed on a green space near the Golden Gate Bridge. Residents and tourists alike asked that they remove this “art” because it was ruining the view of the lovely bridge.

— Jen in San Jose