Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published by “Mark Scaramella”

Major Contributor

The Freedman Follies

When last we tuned in to the Freedman Fiasco, Ralph Freedman, Mendocino County's former Director of Child Support Services (aka the Deadbeat Dad office), had been fired by the County and was being prosecuted for…

Freedman Follies Take a New Twist

When last we tuned in to the Freedman Fiasco, Ralph Freedman, Mendocino County’s former Director of Child Support Services (aka the Deadbeat Dad office), had been fired by the County and was being prosecuted for…

Mendo’s Unstable Budget

The just concluded County budget hearings saw the supervisors institute an across-the-board 10.1% spending cut. Everything got whacked that much. Redundant departments?  Excessive pay for department heads? Crazy spending?  No.  No real cuts at all.…

Lightning Strikes Anderson Valley

Wednesday morning’s freak storm system sparked dozens of lightning-fires in Mendocino County and in many other places on the Northcoast. About a dozen fires blew into life in Anderson Valley.  “It’s a lightening siege,” was…

Does Georgia-Pacific Have a Secret Plan for Fort Bragg?

A Mendocino Coast community group is meeting with Georgia-Pacific consultants to discuss the future of the Atlanta-based corporation’s 434 seaside acres in the center of Fort Bragg. Once the site of a thriving lumber mill…

Mendo Budget Jumbo Mumbo

The proposed Mendocino County budget is written to hide the county's true fiscal plight. It also pretends that the austerity budget will work and that it's fair. But its overblown prose, larded with impressive-looking but…

Blind Men with Box Cutters

As predicted, County Administrator Jim Andersen has suggested to the Board of Supervisors that they lay off several low level county workers to balance the county budget. Highly paid county employees are safe, including Andersen's…

Abating Mendo’s Wrecks

Mendocino County budgets $60,000 a year to get abandoned cars permanently put away. According to people who perform this valuable public service, Mendocino County gets off cheap. Since fiscal year 1997 Mendocino County has contracted…

General Plan Roadshow Visits Anderson Valley

One act of the show, that is. The Mendocino County General Plan Update is the full name of the touring extravaganza, but Saturday afternoon's Boonville presentation at the Fairgrounds cafeteria addressed only the Plan's “housing…

-