Action Now!! What Happened to the Recommendations of the Mendocino County Energy Working Group?

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From DAVE SMITH
Ukiah

[It has been over two years now that a few of our extremely knowledgeable local citizens made recommendations for solarizing our county. What could be more important than securing the energy future of our citizens? Yet this comprehensive report has been filed away in some metal cabinet and ignored, along with a report put together by Ike Heinz to capture methane from our dump. A new courthouse? A multi-hundred-million dollar freakin' courthouse? You've got to be kidding! -DS]

Energy Usage and its Impact on Mendocino County Including General Plan Recommendations Prepared for the Mendocino County Planning Department by the Mendocino County Energy Working Group

The Energy Working Group (EWG) is a group of Mendocino County citizens brought together (under direction of the Board of Supervisors) to provide guidance for the General Plan update. Each member of the EWG group represents some aspect of the greater county and brings various aspects of energy expertise, ranging from renewable energy, engineering, and government.

The volunteer group worked under the guidance of (and with special thanks to) Patrick Ford of the Mendocino County Planning Team.

This paper is a working document that is intended to present the results of the EWG’s county-wide energy and emissions inventory and to outline recommendations for the General Plan update and general policy. Where possible, the pertinent narrations appear in the main body of the document while the details are relegated to the appendices. In creating this paper, every measure has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information presented as well as the feasibility of the steps. Should errors or questions arise, we would appreciate them being brought to our attention so that they can be corrected or elaborated on.

Solar for Ukiah and Mendocino County (Update)

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From MICHAEL LAYBOURN
Hopland

FITs( feed in tariffs, REPs(renewable energy payment) & So Forth…
Or, How to Create Jobs So We Can Operate Our Own City and County Energy

Another update on providing solar/renewable energy for Ukiah and possibly even Mendocino County:
When we left this last April Gainesville Florida had become the first US city to try the feed in tariff system to jump-start the solarization of that city…

From an article in the Alliance for Renewable Energy website:

March 08, 2009
Gainesville Solar REPs Program Meets Target Before Launch

On March 1, Gainesville, FL officially became the first city in the U.S. with a solar REPs law. Utilities in the city are required to purchase solar energy from registered producers for $0.32 per kilowatt hour through 2010. This 2009 tariff rate will be adjusted over time but program profits are guaranteed for 20 years. At the commencement of the program, Gainesville now sees an influx of completed applications to request connection to the electricity grid that would sum up to a total of 4MW of generated solar energy, which is the first-year target of the program.

GRU modeled the their gross feed in tariff program on similar strategies that have been successful in European countries such as Germany. Under the program, the utility will buy all of the electricity produced by registered solar power systems at an initial fixed rate of USD $0.32 per kilowatt hour. The program offers guaranteed payments for 20 years. GRU’s experience has by no means been an isolated case, demonstrating the incredible popularity of gross solar feed-in tariff programs and their potential to rapidly increase the uptake of renewable energy in any country by home owners and businesses. Ontario, Canada’s feed in tariff program experienced a similar response where a 10 year target of 1,000 megawatts was reached within a year.

50 Simple Ways to Get Off

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From DERRICK JENSEN
Orion Magazine

If you’re in love with the world, fall in love with trying to save it

Years ago I was interviewed by a dogmatic pacifist (note to self: bad idea), who in his (grossly inaccurate) write-up said he thought I wanted all activists to think like assassins. That’s not true. What I want is for us to think like members of a serious resistance movement.

What does that look like? Well, to start, it doesn’t have to mean handling guns. Even when the IRA was at its strongest, only 2 percent of its members ever picked up weapons. The same is true for the Underground Railroad; Harriet Tubman and others carried guns, but Quakers and other pacifists who ran safe houses were also crucial to that work. What they all held in common was a commitment to their cause, and a willingness to work together in the resistance.

A serious resistance movement also means a commitment to winning, which means figuring out what “winning” means to you. For me, winning means living in a world with more wild salmon every year than the year before, more migratory songbirds, more amphibians, more large fish in the oceans, and for that matter oceans not being murdered. It means less dioxin in every mother’s breast milk. It means living in a world where there are fewer dams each year than the year before. More native forests. More wild wetlands. It means living in a world not being ravaged by the industrial economy. And I’ll do whatever it takes to get there (and if, by the way, you believe that “whatever it takes” is code language for violence, you’re revealing nothing more than your own belief that nonviolence is ineffective).

That’s fine, Derrick, but what do you want me to do?

Mendocino County: Why are you filling our lungs with pollution?

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Lake Mendocino Dec 6, 2009

From ROSALIND PETERSON
Redwood Valley

December 8, 2009

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors
501 Low Gap Road
Ukiah, California 95482

RE:  Air Pollution – Agriculture Burning, Backyard Burning, Forest Lands

Dear Chairman Pinches & Members of the Board of Supervisors:

The Mendocino County Air Pollution Control District has failed for years in giving timely warnings when the air quality in various parts of Mendocino County, CA, is dangerous to public health, especially in the Ukiah Valley. Since November 23, 2008, agriculture and backyard burning peaked again and the Mendocino County Air Pollution Control District did not notify the public in the Ukiah Valley that they should take precautions due to poor air quality.

Ukiah: Wal-Mart Gearing Up to Kill More of Our Good-Paying Union Jobs and Wipe Out Our Local Food Security

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Racing To The Bottom

Wal-Mart has applied for a Site Development Permit to expand its existing store on Airport Park Boulevard from approximately 109,000 square feet to approximately 160,000 square feet. The primary purposes of the expansion are to accommodate grocery sales and to enlarge the general merchandise area. City staff has determined that an applicant funded Environmental Impact Report is required for the project and the applicants agreed. This agenda item at Wednesday night’s (12/2) City Council meeting is seeking approval of the consulting firm to prepare the EIR, approval of the draft professional services contract…

See also Big Box Bully: Wal-Mart Wants To Kill Every Other Store In Town→

…and Spokane Considers Community Bill of Rights→
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An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore

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From MICHAEL MOORE
Flint, Michigan

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.

It is not your job to do what the generals tell you to do. We are a civilian-run government. WE tell the Joint Chiefs what to do, not the other way around. That’s the way General Washington insisted it must be. That’s what President Truman told General MacArthur when MacArthur wanted to invade China. “You’re fired!,” said Truman, and that was that. And you should have fired Gen. McChrystal when he went to the press to preempt you, telling the press what YOU had to do. Let me be blunt: We love our kids in the armed services, but we f*#&in’ hate these generals, from Westmoreland in Vietnam to, yes, even Colin Powell for lying to the UN with his made-up drawings of WMD (he has since sought redemption).

So now you feel backed into a corner.

Suzanne Somers speaks out against the conventional cancer industry: mammograms, chemotherapy vs. alternative cures

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From Natural News

As the author of the New York Times bestseller, “Knockout: Interviews with doctors who are curing cancer,” Suzanne Somers is making waves across the cancer industry. Her powerful, inspired message of informed hope is reaching millions of readers who are learning about the many safe, effective options for treating cancer that exist outside the realm of the conventional cancer industry (chemotherapy, surgery and radiation).

Recently, Suzanne Somers spoke with NaturalNews editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, to share the inspiration for her new book Knockout. “People are just starving for some new information… for other options, for hope in [treating] cancer,” she explained.

The full interview with Suzanne Somers is available as a downloadable MP3 file from NaturalNews.com: http://naturalnews.com/Index-Podcas…

In it, Somers explains why she’s so concerned about the current course of the cancer industry:

Call To Action: Please read…

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From THE AUTOMATIC EARTH

Firstly, I would say that the energy prices that currently seem stubbornly high should fall substantially as the speculative premium evaporates and demand falls on a resumption of the credit crunch. The sucker rally that has spawned all the talk of green shoots is essentially over in my opinion.

The result should be a reversal of a number of trends that depend on the ebb and flow of liquidity – we should see stock markets and commodity prices fall, a significant resurgence in the US dollar and a large contraction of credit. The scale of the reversal should be substantial, as should its effects on energy demand. Demand is not what one wants, but what one is ready, willing and able to pay for, and in a severe credit crunch the capacity to pay for supplies of most things will be severely reduced.

As demand falls, and with it prices, investment in the energy sector is likely to dry up. Many projects will be uneconomic at much lower prices, meaning that the projects which might have cushioned the downslope of Hubbert’s curve (and the much steeper net energy curve), are unlikely to be developed. In this way a demand collapse sets the stage for a supply collapse that could place a hard ceiling on any prospect of economic recovery. That is a recipe for extremely high energy prices in the future…

The scale of the problem has been temporarily concealed by a market rally and the shovelling of tens of trillions of dollars of taxpayer’s money into a giant black hole of credit destruction. This has done nothing to reignite lending, but the temporary (and entirely irrational) resurgence of confidence has restored a measure of liquidity. As that confidence evaporates with the end of the rally, that liquidity will also disappear.

Deflation is ultimately psychological. Without trust we will see hoarding of the cash which will be very scarce in the absence of the credit that currently comprises the vast majority of the effective money supply. The combination of scarce cash and a very low velocity of money will be toxic.

Money is the lubricant in the economic engine and without enough of it that engine will seize up as it did in the 1930s, when farmers dumped milk they couldn’t sell into ditches while others were starving for want of the money to buy food. There was plenty of everything except money, and without money, one cannot connect buyers and sellers…

In my opinion, we stand on the brink of truly tragic circumstances.

See original article here→

Local Money Supply Solutions: Mendo Time Bank→ Mendo Moola→
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350 – in every corner of the globe – (Updated)

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UPDATE – Go see the photos: 350 Day of Action

Michael Moore’s Action Plan: 15 Things Every American Can Do Right Now

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From MICHAEL MOORE
Flint, Michigan

Friends,

It’s the #1 question I’m constantly asked after people see my movie: “OK — so NOW what can I DO?!”

You want something to do? Well, you’ve come to the right place! ‘Cause I got 15 things you and I can do right now to fight back and try to fix this very broken system.

Here they are:

FIVE THINGS WE DEMAND THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS DO IMMEDIATELY:

1. Declare a moratorium on all home evictions. Not one more family should be thrown out of their home. The banks must adjust their monthly mortgage payments to be in line with what people’s homes are now truly worth — and what they can afford. Also, it must be stated by law: If you lose your job, you cannot be tossed out of your home.

2. Congress must join the civilized world and expand Medicare For All Americans. A single, nonprofit source must run a universal health care system that covers everyone. Medical bills are now the #1 cause of bankruptcies and evictions in this country. Medicare For All will end this misery. The bill to make this happen is called H.R. 3200. You must call AND write your members of Congress and demand its passage, no compromises allowed.

3. Demand publicly-funded elections and a prohibition on elected officials leaving office and becoming lobbyists. Yes, those very members of Congress who solicit and receive millions of dollars from wealthy interests must vote to remove ALL money from our electoral and legislative process. Tell your members of Congress they must support campaign finance bill H.R.1826.

4. Each of the 50 states must create a state-owned public bank like they have in North Dakota. Then congress MUST reinstate all the strict pre-Reagan regulations on all commercial banks, investment firms, insurance companies — and all the other industries that have been savaged by deregulation: Airlines, the food industry, pharmaceutical companies — you name it. If a company’s primary motive to exist is to make a profit, then it needs a set of stringent rules to live by — and the first rule is “Do no harm.” The second rule: The question must always be asked — “Is this for the common good?” (Click here for some info about the state-owned Bank of North Dakota.)

The Monster Mall Plot is a Local and National Job Killer – Vote No On A (video)

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Save Our Jobs – No On A (video)→

From DAVE SMITH
Ukiah

Allowing a Monster Mall into Mendocino County will only make unemployment worse here, as it has across the country. Fact: Independent studies show for every job the Monster Mall Big Boxes bring, 1.4 are lost. That means the 700 slave-wage jobs advertised by the Monster Mall will destroy almost 1,000 current, better-paying jobs. The reason is simple: the job losses are larger than the gains because Big Boxes accomplish the same volume of sales with fewer employees, and pay poverty-level wages. The money circulating locally from those lost jobs go somewhere else. Not only that, they have killed millions of non-retail jobs nationally by pushing our manufacturing jobs overseas.

Thank you for voting NO ON THE MEASURE A MONSTER MALL PLOT, and for preserving our unique, locally-owned businesses, neighborly small town values, and livable human-scale communities.
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See also The Wal-Mart Dilemma→

… and listen to a Monster Mall plotter’s evasive and unconvincing defense of Measure A on Radio Curious→
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If You’re Fed Up With All The Corruption, Greed, and Bailouts, Here’s Something You Can Do About It Locally

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From DAVE SMITH
Ukiah

We don’t have to march or protest. We don’t have to write letters to our congresspersons and President. We don’t have to fire all the President’s men.

We have it within our power locally, and only locally, to start dealing with this mess by stepping aside from the economic systems that have created it.

Are your credit/debit card banks relentlessly raising your fees and charging you usury interest? Start using local money instead. It will save you money, and eliminating the bank fees locally-owned businesses have to pay when you use plastic will lower their costs and lower their prices.

Local money cleans up filthy lucre by jilting the banks and investors who have used our money to build pyramid schemes of debt and ponzi schemes of greed. Local money stays home where it belongs instead of lining the bank accounts of billionaires in Arkansas.

Local money, used face-to-face and hand-to-hand, takes back something valuable we have lost: more control over our own local economy.

For locally-owned businesses, creating and exchanging local money is the cheapest and most effective local advertising ever created because it is carried around in our pockets and is passed around the community from neighbor to neighbor, business to business, as a constant reminder to Buy Local.

Local money has its own built-in insurance. It insures the health and wealth of our own communities, and the more it is used, the more community value and sustainability is built.

Local money is backed by the full faith and trust in our community; by the inventory you see through the windows of our merchants; and by the skills in the hands and hearts of our farmers and restaurateurs.

Go to Mendo Moola→
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Who Is Our Most Crucially Important Local Resource?

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From DAVE SMITH
Ukiah

What is more important than the skills of growing your own food to feed yourself year round? I can’t think of anything other than, maybe, the skill of finding drinkable water when you’re lost in the desert.

But, like most of us, what if you don’t have the skills or land to garden year round to feed yourself? Then I’d say the skills of growing food that other people can eat would be our most important local resource.

But what if most of the food being grown is so poisoned and processed that people are dying from diabetes, cancer and heart disease by eating it, and the cheap energy being used to poison and grow our food is declining in supply? Then I would say, growing healthy food without those poisons for other people is the answer.

But if the cheap energy that grows our food has peaked in supply and will be getting extremely expensive, then the cheap energy that gets that healthy food to our tables from far away will soon shoot food costs through the roof. Well then, the most crucially important skill is growing local healthy food for other people, and the most crucially important local resource is the group of local farmers who grow food using organic and biodynamic growing methods.

But the average age of farmers in this country is 55 and they will soon be retiring.

OK, OK, OK! Our most crucially important resource is our small group of young, local, organic/biodynamic farmers.

Adam Gaska and Paula Manalo farm 4 acres in Redwood Valley. Their biodynamic farm is supported by members who invest in a share of the harvest.

You can invest in our most crucially important local resource by joining their membership for the winter season coming up and help create a sustainable resource for your family and our community… and you will be eating the healthiest food a farmer can grow that money can buy.

Adam and Paula, Mendocino Organics CSA→
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Giant Hoax By Monsanto Continues – Genetically Modified Seeds Do Not Produce Higher Yields

From Union of Concerned Scientists

[As many of us have been saying for years, the only thing Monsanto has accomplished by genetically modifying seeds to withstand their poisons, is to increase the sales of those poisons, blanketing the earth and our bodies with their nasty, cancer-causing chemicals for profit. Their blatant bullshit about increasing higher yields is a con-job to force farmers to buy their seeds every year. Their executives and "scientists" should be pilloried in public humiliation in their own town's public squares and tried for crimes against humanity. Mendocino County was first to ban their plants from our county. We will feed the world with small, local, organic farms. Thanks to Janie for link. -DS]

Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops (Union of Concerned Scientists)

For years the biotechnology industry has trumpeted that it will feed the world, promising that its genetically engineered crops will produce higher yields. That promise has proven to be empty, according to Failure to Yield, a report by UCS expert Doug Gurian-Sherman released in March 2009.

Despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase U.S. crop yields. Failure to Yield is the first report to closely evaluate the overall effect genetic engineering has had on crop yields in relation to other agricultural technologies. It reviewed two dozen academic studies of corn and soybeans, the two primary genetically engineered food and feed crops grown in the United States.

Ukiah: Save Our Local Economy (SOLE) Challenges Measure A Proponents to a Series of Debates

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From Save Our Local Economy (SOLE)
Ukiah

September 3, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino County, North California

“Save Our Local Economy- No On A Campaign” challenges the “Yes On A Campaign,” Mendocino County Tomorrow and Jeff Adams of DDR to a series of face-to-face debates throughout Mendocino County over the course of the next month.

When asked to debate the issues nearly a year ago, DDR’s Jeff Adams told Citizen U coordinator Mary Anne Landis that DDR would debate when they DDR had their specific plan prepared.  That plan has been prepared and is now on the November ballot. “I certainly hope that Mr. Adams and Measure A proponents keep their promise. They have said they want to do what’s right for our community and that they believe in the American Democratic process, so let’s hear what they have to say, side by side a community member who disagrees with them.  Now is the time for DDR to show us their concern for our community by participating in public debates.” said Landis.

When asked about the challenge, SOLE spokesperson, Guinness McFadden, said, “The Citizens of Mendocino County have a right to a fair and open debate about the merits of Measure A, not staged and scripted town hall meetings.  Every major election in American history has included debates between the opponents.  Such face to face debates are American institutions generating great citizen interest and revealing the facts and issues to voters before an election.  SOLE is looking forward to an open and public discussion of the issues around the Measure A proposal.”

McFadden added, “There are a number of local organizations who would be happy to host such an event, in fact SOLE would gladly participate at the two events DDR has scheduled during September in Willits and Fort Bragg.”
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From DAVE SMITH
Ukiah

Do I expect DDR to actually debate the Monster Mall in the best traditions of our democracy? I doubt it. They already refused  to engage in the first debate many months ago, and an empty chair represented them on stage while one of their lawyers in the audience scribbled furiously away on his yellow pad as our guy thoroughly trashed their points, one by one, with documented facts. The local elections that followed doomed their project, so they had to import outsiders to collect signatures under false pretenses to circumvent our local democracy, escape our environmental protections, and steal our water, with Measure A.

They are also trying to avoid our local democratic zoning procedures, so why would they become democratically responsive to our local citizens now? With all the money they are pouring into their carefully contrived, million dollar propaganda campaign, they have much to lose —

Take Action! We Have the Hope. Now Where’s the Audacity?

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From Peter Dreier and Marshall Ganz
Common Dreams

August 31, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North California

On Aug. 25 last year, Sen. Edward Kennedy strode onto the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver and announced to a roaring crowd of party faithful the beginning of a new generation in American politics.”I have come here tonight to stand with you, to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States,” he said. Comparing Obama to his slain brother, John F. Kennedy, the senator shouted: “This November, the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans. . . . Our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.”

Eight months into the Obama administration, as we mourn the senator from Massachusetts, many of us retain the hope, but we are wondering what happened to the audacity that is needed to move the country in a new direction. In recent weeks, many progressives have expressed concern that Obama’s bold plan to reform health care may be at risk. A defeat on this key issue could undermine other elements of his agenda. We don’t believe that the president has changed his goals, but we wonder whether he underestimated the power necessary to bring about real change.

Throughout the campaign, Obama cautioned that enacting his ambitious plans would take a fight. In a speech in Milwaukee, he said: “I know how hard it will be to bring about change. Exxon Mobil made $11 billion this past quarter. They don’t want to give up their profits easily.”

He explained what it would take to overcome the power of entrenched interests in order to pass historic legislation. Change comes about, candidate Obama said, by “imagining, and then fighting for, and then working for,

Take Action! Yo-Ka-Yo Cooperative Gardens Now Organizing

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From JANET ROSEN
Mendocino County
Email: mendojanet@yahoo.com

August 27, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North California

This is to let you know that John Johns, one of the farmers at Ukiah’s Saturday Farmer’s Market, has been collecting names and contact info for local folks interested in a cooperative of backyard gardeners/farmers.

I’ve volunteered to spend some time on the tech stuff, setting up a way for those who signed his list plus other interested people to start conversing about what they’d like this project to be and do. We’ve set up a yahoo group (functions, just like the mendocommunity bulletin board and the mendobirds list, as an email group) at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/yokayocoopgardens as a way to share questions and input.

What we have as a starting point is:

Where are the Yo-Ka-Yo Cooperative Gardens? They could be in your backyard, or maybe your neighbors…

If you look around the Ukiah area, there are a lot of trees producing fruit that is falling on the ground, perfectly good food going to waste. Many family gardeners are finding they either have more vegetables than they need or don’t have the time to maintain everything as they’d like. Meanwhile, there is a growing demand for quality local food.

Yo-Ka-Yo Cooperative Gardens is being established as a cooperative membership organization for “backyard” gardeners and farmers in the Ukiah Valley. Our goals are:

1. Establish a networking and mutual support network for members that will include gardening advice, seed trading, bartering of goods and services.

2. Establish a distribution conduit for excess produce, which may include donations to local non-profits and/or sales to the public.
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“But, Mom? Where would the monster get its water?” “It would TAKE it from US, dear.”

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From MICHAEL LAYBOURN
Hopland
(with emphasis added)

August 26, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North California

EXCERPTS FROM THE LAFCO REPORT CONCERNING WATER USE IN THE UKIAH VALLEY

[This report clearly shows us that the DDR Measure A plan is asking you to vote against your neighbors and possibly yourself if you need water. The DDR plan is also inaccurate and clearly states that the plan is to bypass any laws or careful thinking about how much water is needed or will be used. This is not about politics, it is about resources and there is not enough water. For the complete report go to http://www.mendolafco.org/files/2009-08-Service-Impact-Report.pdf -ML]

The proposed project will not be subject to the level of review required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is being proposed by initiative.  Therefore, a groundwater analysis is not required to occur and thus any potential impacts to the groundwater will not be fully investigated and reviewed by the County prior to approval of the project.

Water and Millview County Water District (MCWD)

The Ukiah Valley is presently overbuilt to its available water resources. Any new growth will severely impact our existing circumstances. Even in non-drought years we have a water availability problem and are barely able to provide water services to existing development. Drought years therefore cause the requirement of extreme measures such as reduction by 50 percent or more of water consumption. Consider the following: Every time we increase development, we decrease our ability to survive a drought.

Take Action! Sing-Along To DDR Monster Mall Promoters Tonight Wednesday 8/26/09 Redwood Valley (Updated)

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From JANIE SHEPPARD
Mendocino County

August 25, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North California

The Bronnettes singing group strikes AGAIN and all others that would like to participate, are welcome to copy the words below, which (loosely) goes to the Ernie Ford song Sixteen Tons.

DDR is planning a Community Town Hall meeting tonight, 6:15 ish or 6:30 is when we plan to sing.

The place….Redwood Valley Grange, 8650 East Road, near the Fire Station I’m told. Please feel free to make as many copies as you want… pass them around… an unofficial “No on A anthem”? Come sing with us, bring friends, we’ll have a few copies there to pass around too I believe. By the way, I find that snapping my fingers keeps a steady beat through out this piece plus I believe there will be guitar to keep us all “mostly together”.

Vote No on A Anthem
[Original lyrics here.]

some… people say a town is made out of shops,
but a good town has a lotta mom and pops,
mom and pops – not yer great big box -
the money stays here on our own sidewalks

CHORUS
with a DDR mall, what do you get -
another credit card and deeper in debt.
if there’s enuff water for a great big mall
you can be sure that they’ll take it all.

DDR’s too broke to develop what it owns,
that’s why they want us to pass a re-zone,
they can turn around and sell it to a bigger guy,
and no one knows if the project will fly.

now… other comp’nys work with the peoples plan,
but these carpetbaggers do whatever they can,
we’ll be stuck with it even if it ain’t right,
as we stop on State at the seventh stop light

What It Means To Buy Local – Letter To The Editors

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From DAVE SMITH
Ukiah

August 24, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino County, North California

To The Editors:

Over the past 50 years, the expansion of national businesses into local domestic markets with Big Box Stores, Chain Stores, Franchises and Monster Malls has diverted and redirected local circulating money to centralized corporate coffers. There it is spent on large capital outlays, national advertising, overseas goods, executive salaries, loan repayments, and dividends to Wall Street investors.

This interception of funds has depleted local towns and cities across our nation of an important source of funds: recirculated income.

To draw attention to this problem and save their small, locally-owned businesses, towns and cities have instituted Buy Local campaigns. They have been somewhat successful, so the giant international corporations are using big buck propaganda campaigns to claim they are “local” businesses.

One of the world’s largest international banks is now claiming to be “The World’s Local Bank” and Lay’s Potato Chips is seizing on citizen’s desire for locally-grown food with a “Lay’s Local” advertising campaign.

And, sure enough, the Masonite Monster Mall folks are also claiming that passing Measure A will be supporting Buy Local. Ha! Because they say it does not make it so! The Monster Mall can mail a million pamphlets, and make a million local phone calls, but the Masonite Monster Mall with Measure A is the antithesis of buying local and will sweep up even more of our money and send it elsewhere.

Buying groceries at Ukiah Natural Foods Cooperative, locally-owned by its members, is buying local.

Letters to the Editor: Another better idea for the Masonite property

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From LINDA CARR
Ukiah

August 21, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North California

Ukiah Daily Journal
To The Editor:

I have heard many ideas for the use of the old Masonite property and have given it much thought myself. I know many think it’s perfect for a shopping mall, but I disagree.

A mall uses a great deal of natural resources, only supplies minimum wage employment that cannot support a single person let alone a family, and encloses an area for crime and loitering.

I propose that we look into a retirement facility that addresses aging “baby boomers.” Mendocino County does not have enough graduated health facilities and the need for such is an important and necessary reality. Plus, the employment in this avenue offers wages that can support a family. More fast food and fast shopping is not what we need.

Let’s take another look at our future in Mendocino County and do the right thing by allowing those who have lived here, worked here, and paid taxes here have the opportunity to stay here in their hometown. Mendocino County is growing and we need to choose a responsible and profitable way to utilize the property.

Supervisors, give another thought about the realities of our future here and look beyond the same run down decisions. There is so much more to quality of life beyond immediate gratification.
~
Thanks to Steve Scalmanini
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Take Action! on Navy War Games: Marine Mammals and Other Sea Life to be Decimated by the Millions from Sea to Shining Sea

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From ROSALIND PETERSON
Redwood Valley

August 18, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North California

Update on June 5th Report: 5-Year U.S. Navy Warfare Testing Programs Located in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico

The United States Navy will be decimating millions of marine mammals and other aquatic life, each year, for the next five years, under their Warfare Testing Range Complex Expansions in the Atlantic, Pacific, and the Gulf of Mexico. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS under NOAA), has already approved the “taking” of marine mammals in more than a dozen Navy Range Warfare Testing Complexes (6), and is preparing to issue another permit for 11.7 millions marine mammals (32 Separate Species), to be decimated along the Northern, California, Oregon and Washington areas of the Pacific Ocean (7).

U.S. Department of Commerce – NOAA (NMFS) Definition: “TAKE” Defined under the MMPA as “harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect, or attempt to harass, hunt, capture, kill or collect.” Defined under the ESA as “to harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect, or to attempt to engage in any such conduct.” Definition: Incidental Taking: An unintentional, but not unexpected taking (12).

The total number of marine mammals that will be decimated in the Atlantic, Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico for the next five years is unknown. The NMFS approvals will have a devastating impact upon the marine mammal populations worldwide and this last Navy permit, which is expected to be issued in February 2010, for the “taking” of more than 11.7 million marine mammals in the Pacific will be the final nail in the coffin for any healthy populations of sea life to survive.

The single most important way we each can save our planet from Climate Change

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From Sharon Astyk & Aaron Newton
A Nation of Farmers (2009)

August 10, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North America

After all [the] deeply depressing news… there are some reasons for optimism. One of them is that the transition to organic, sustainable, small-scale agriculture by millions of people in the US and billions world wide could do an enormous amount to mitigate the consequences of climate change. Becoming a small farmer is not just a good idea for your own security, you might actually save the planet doing it. As agrarian activist Vandana Shiva has put it, all of our emphasis on lowering carbon fails to recognize that we need more carbon — in soils — and that the power of locally adapted agriculture is the “only adaption strategy that gives us any hope.”

There are a number of ways in which small-scale, relocalized, sustainable agriculture can help sequester carbon and prevent it from being put into the atmosphere to begin with. The first, and most obvious, aspect is that the transportation of food over long distance makes a tremendous contribution to burning carbon. Delicate produce is often shipped by air from Israel to the US or New Zealand to Britain. Air travel, besides emitting large quantities of carbon, creates contrails that increase the effects of global warming. When your kiwi fruit or grapes travel from overseas, it is as if someone drove them to you in a low-mileage Hummer with the windows open and the A/C on.

Whether flown or trucked, all industrial food has a heavy carbon impact. Food is fertilized with fossil fuels, including artificial nitrogen, which creates the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Pesticides are manufactured with and from petrochemicals. Soil amendments are trucked around the world, then added to soils with carbon-spewing tractors. The food is often harvested mechanically, packed into warehouses cooled with fossil fuels,

Socialized medicine – a letter from an American in Italy

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From Doug Dowd
Bologna, Italy

August 6, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North California

Letter to the Editor
Anderson Valley Advertiser→

As an 89-year-old native San Franciscon who now lives in Bologna, Italy, I would like to offer a comparison between health care in the United States and Italy. My experience convences me of the need for a strong governmental health care program as put forth by President Obama.

In 1966, I was a professor of economic history at Cornell University when I was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach in Bologna for a year. On the first day of my first week in Italy, while attending a professors’ meeting in Rome, my wife and I were hit by a car that ran a red light. We were hospitalized for several days, returned to Bologna for further care, and that was that. Cost: $0.00.

When I returned to teach in Bologna in the 1980s, after continuing my teaching career at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz and San Jose State, I was again struck by a car and hospitalized. Cost: $0.00.

As I aged, I did have to pay for always more medications. The costs were at least as high as in the United States, the equivalent of $200-$300 monthly. But that changed a few years ago (while continuing my US citizenship and taxes) when I became an official resident of Bologna. I now have a little health card and a family doctor., who sends me to specialists when needed. My privileges are the same as the Italians. Cost: $0.00.

Health Care: “Since we got nothin, how about we just go in there and kill their stupid democracy”

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From Daily Kos

August 6, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino, North California

Fight the Screamers: Show Up

So we know that the screamers and right-wing performance artists are part of a larger astroturf effort. They don’t represent a significant segment of the actual voting population in the country. But you know what, that doesn’t make a damned bit of difference if they’re the only ones showing up.

Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes made that point in the video clip DarkSyde posted earlier:

MADDOW: Chris, one of the great regrets of Democrats that I have heard over the past decade is that they weren’t called by their party to go fight in Florida the way that Republicans called their people to go fight in Florida. Looking back on Florida nine years down the road, now that we know what happened there, can you imagine how things might have worked out if Democrats had done the same thing that Republicans did?

HAYES: Yes.

MADDOW: I mean, is it conceivable that they might have asked Democrats to go there?

HAYES: Well, I mean, to consider the counterfactual, it’s undeniable the Democrats got out-hustled and they got out-organized. And I want to say, at a certain level, right, what the right is doing right now is corporate sponsored and it’s astro-turf but it’s organizing. They’re coordinating.

There is a set of very powerful interests that are spending literally millions of dollars a day to defeat this agenda and they’re coordinating it. And the answer in a free Democratic republic like our own is to meet organizing with more organizing,

Take Action! Healthcare Reform Now!

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From JANIE SHEPPARD
Ukiah Valley

July 20, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino County, North California

How can we get real healthcare reform NOW?

Not next year, not in five years when the economy may have recovered, but now.  We want single payer healthcare by the end of August.

For a succinct discussion of the health care policy debate, go to Wikipedia here.

We are stuck with two reluctant reformers:  Dianne Feinstein, Senator, and Mike Thompson, Representative.  So far as I know Barbara Boxer is not a problem.

Thompson gets campaign money from the “health sector”, to the tune of $254,625 in 2008.  He does, however, profess to be in favor of the public option (second best after single payer).

Our job is to turn him to single payer.  Here’s his contact information:

E-Mail Mike Thompson

WASHINGTON, DC OFFICE
231 Cannon Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3311
Fax: (202) 225-4335

MENDOCINO DISTRICT OFFICE
430 North Franklin Street
PO Box 2208
Fort Bragg, CA 95437
Phone: (707) 962-0933
Fax: (707) 962-0934

Feinstein’s website tells us nothing about her position on health care.  Let’s force her to play her cards. What does the Senator think?  I asked:

Dear Senator Feinstein:

As your constituent, I would like to see your position on health care reform posted on your website.

Take Action! Training Tonight July 21 to stop the Monster Mall

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From HANNAH BIRD
Mendocino Environmental Center

July 20, 2009 Ukiah Valley, Mendocino County, North California

We all want to help the environment, but it can be hard to make the time and work out the best things to do. The Mendocino Environmental Center (MEC) is a hub for local environmental advocacy, working on issues that affect Ukiah Valley residents and beyond.

Ukiah is a place blessed with stunning surroundings and varied habitats, and the MEC strives to protect this environment and work with the community to minimise our global footprint. I encourage all members of the community to join us and let us know what issues are important to you. Together we can take effect.

One of the most prominent issues currently being tackled by the MEC and other community groups is the possible re-zoning of the Masonite site which will be voted on in November. The MEC’s main concern regarding the rezoning and plan for the site is the lack of an ‘Environmental Impact Report’. It is imperative that an independent report be carried out before planning decisions are made. The methods which have taken this issue onto the ballot avoid the requirement to carry out such an EIR but we believe that the community has the right to know what environmental impacts any development may have before it is agreed. We therefore encourage voters to vote against the re-zoning in November.

MEC is encouraging all those who are against the re-zoning of the site, or who would like to learn more, to join us at a training event led by Richard Shoemaker from SOLE (Save Our Local Economy). The event will be held at the MEC, 105 West Standley Street, downtown Ukiah on Tuesday, July 21 from 6-7pm. Light refreshments will be provided.

Those wishing to attend should e-mail hannah.bird78@gmail.com to reserve a place. The event is free but donations to the MEC are gratefully appreciated.
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Take Action! Boycott the Shameless Seven – Organic Outlaws Labeling Factory Farm Milk as ‘USDA Organic’

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From Organic Consumers Association

July 7, 2009 Ukiah, Mendocino County, North California

While USDA bureaucrats drag their feet on closing key loopholes in national organic organic standards, retailers, wholesalers and major “organic” brands are continuing to sell milk and dairy products labeled as “USDA Organic, even though most or all of their milk is coming from factory farm feedlots where the animals have been brought in from conventional farms and are kept in intensive confinement, with little or no access to pasture.

The Organic Consumers Association is expanding its boycott of Horizon and Aurora organic dairy products to include five national “private label” organic milk brands supplied by Aurora, as well as two leading organic soy products, Silk and White Wave, owned by Horizon’s parent company, Dean Foods. Its time to turn up the heat on the “Shameless Seven.

While thousands of organic consumers and a number of natural food stores and cooperatives have joined the boycott, major national large grocery retailers have ignored the boycott.

Aurora Organic supplies milk for several private label organic milk brands,

Calling Rep. Mike Thompson! Photos from Universal Health Care, Ukiah Demonstration, Courthouse 6/25/09

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From JANIE SHEPPARD
Mendocino County

June 26, 2009 Ukiah, Mendocino County, North California

Thirty-five inland Mendocino County residents demonstrated in the noonday sun to show Congressman Mike Thompson that there is strong support for single payer health care reform in his Congressional district.

Demonstrating were a small business owner, politicians, a doctor, several retirees, and members of the Ukiah Valley Democratic Party.  In other words, people from all walks of life came together to show their support for single payer health care reform.

The ambiance was friendly; there were no hecklers, unlike Friday evening demonstrations for peace where a couple of hecklers can be counted on to shout epithets at the demonstrators.  Could there be more support for health care reform than for peace?  That’s what it looks like.   Perhaps it’s because, as one demonstrator’s sign showed, health care is an out of pocket expense whereas war is covered by our taxes.  We don’t see the tax money; we do see the health care money go to insurance companies that thrive by overcharging and cherry picking whom they choose to insure.

To put health care on the same footing as war, it would be paid for with tax revenues.  Everyone would receive the benefits, not just those with lots of money who have never been sick.  Is that so much to ask?  We don’t think so, Congressman Thompson.

Support H.R. 676, the bill that, if enacted, would give all your constituents health care without worrying about paying for it.

Take Action! Ukiah and Mendocino County – Funding Available for Renewable Energy

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From Jim Apperson
Redwood Valley

June 24, 2009 Ukiah, Mendocino County, North California

A unique situation
Ukiah Daily Journal
Letter to the Editor

I would like to use this forum to alert the citizens of Mendocino County to a unique situation that will benefit us greatly, and have a positive impact on our children and their children.

In addition, I would like to also alert our elected officials, the Board of Supervisors, City Mayors and other county officials to this same issue and to ask for their help in securing it.

I am speaking of our current opportunity to create a county-wide Energy & Water Conservation Program. Due to a couple of pieces of recent legislation and the specific contents of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Act of 2009, our county (along with others) has been given all the puzzle pieces necessary to establish an energy efficiency program, which will lower our utility costs as well as conserve water. We can also curtail global warming and reduce our carbon output by burning less coal and fossil fuels which generate our electricity.

Our new President and his advisors have decided to stand behind the concept that it is less expensive to make our existing homes and commercial buildings more energy efficient than to explore and develop new energy sources. By using the guidelines of SB-811 and portions of the stimulus package, a loan program can be established that would allow home and business owners to have energy efficient items installed on their homes and commercial buildings.

An excellent model is the program that was started two months ago by our Sonoma County neighbors.

Action Taken! Universal Health Care, Ukiah Demonstration, Courthouse 6/25/09

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From JANIE SHEPPARD

Mendocino County

>>>>Photos from the demonstration→

June 21, 2009 Ukiah, Mendocino County, North California

To demonstrate how much universal health care means to Mendocino County, let’s meet on Thursday at 12 Noon in front of the courthouse in Ukiah. Bring video cameras. Make some beautiful signs. The videos can show our way too-conservative Congressional Representative, MIKE THOMPSON, that his constituents CARE ABOUT UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE, preferably the single-payer kind.

MIKE THOMSON recently said outside a business meeting in Fort Bragg to the 20+ constituents requesting his signing onto HR 676 that “there is not enough public support for Single Payer Health Care. If there were 2,000 of you here, that would be public support.”

In a recent Letter to the Editor (UDJ 6/18/2009), a constituant addressed the following to MIKE THOMPSON: “You said that while Single Payer is popular in your district, it does not have wide spread support throughout the country. This statement is factually in error; poll after poll shows a large majority of the Americal people in support of Single Payer. Here is a list of reputable independent polls on Single Payer with the percenage of people in support: Feb. 2009 New York Times/CBS News Poll – 59 percent; Feb. 2009, Grove Insight Opinion Research – 59 percent;

Take Action! Help Stop the Planting of 260,000 Genetically Engineered Trees in the U.S.

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From RON EPSTEIN
Ukiah

June 17, 2009 Ukiah, Mendocino County, North California

Please help stop this ecological nightmare before it begins. No recall of the GE genes from the environment will be possible. Where they will go, how they will interact with other species and viruses no one knows…

Ron
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Dangerous Genetically Engineered (GE) Eucalyptus Trees on Fast-Track to Large-Scale Release in the U.S.

ACTION NEEDED BY JULY 6! Tell the USDA NO WAY to ArborGen’s Eucalyptus Frankentrees

In an unprecedented move toward commercial large-scale release of GE forest trees in the United States, GE tree giant ArborGen is petitioning the U.S. government to be allowed to plant an estimated 260,000 flowering GE eucalyptus trees across seven southern U.S. states on 330 acres in so-called “field trials.”

The mass-planting of 260,000 flowering GE eucalyptus trees is a major step toward the unregulated development of large-scale GE eucalyptus plantations in the U.S. ArborGen has already requested permission for the commercial planting of GE cold tolerant eucalyptus clones across the U.S. South. The government is expected to issue their decision on this later this year.

Government approval of GE eucalyptus trees will set a dangerous precedent to allow other experimental GE forest trees, including poplar and pine, that would inevitably and irreversibly contaminate native trees with destructive GE traits, devastating forest ecosystems and wildlife. Once GE trees escape, there is no way to call them back.

The only way to stop genetic contamination of native forests is to ban the commercial release of GE trees before it is too late.

TAKE ACTION! Tell the USDA that GE cold-tolerant eucalyptus plantations pose an unprecedented threat to U.S. forests and wildlife. Tell them to reject ArborGen’s request to plant more than a quarter of a million dangerous alien GE trees on nearly 30 sites across the Southern U.S. Since these field trials are a concrete step toward unregulated commercial growing of dangerous GE eucalyptus, they must be rejected.

For more information about the STOP GE Trees Campaign, click here.

Take Action! Petition Supporting Single Payer Health Care

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From Independent Senator BERNIE SANDERS

June 16, 2009 Ukiah, Mendocino County, North California

Our current private health insurance system is the most costly, wasteful, complicated and bureaucratic in the world. Today, 46 million people have no health insurance. Even more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments. Close to 20,000 Americans die each year because they don’t have regular access to a doctor.

The time is now for our nation to address the most profound moral and economic issue we face.

The time is now for our country to join the rest of the industrialized world and provide cost-effective, comprehensive quality health care to every man, woman and child in our country.

The time is now to take on the powerful special interests in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and pass a single-payer national health care program.

* Sign the petition
* Tell Bernie your experience with health care and insurance.

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Read also Top 10 Reasons To Support Universal Single Payer Health Care→
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Take Action! Navy To Sacrifice 2.3 Million Marine Mammals Per Year For 5 Years Of War Games Off Our Mendocino Coast

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From ROSALIND PETERSON
Redwood Valley

June 5, 2009 Ukiah, Mendocino County, North California

SAVE OUR FISHING & WHALE WATCHING INDUSTRIES, our marine habitat, and protect the public from highly toxic chemicals.

A wide variety of marine mammals (whales, dolphins, porpoises, manatees, seals, walrus, and otters) have already died due to Navy Warfare Testing of Weapons currently underway in the Hawaiian Islands, the Mariana Islands, the Pacific Ocean off the coastline of Oregon, Washington, Southern California, the Gulf of Mexico, and other areas where testing is now conducted in both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The Navy now proposes to expand its NWT Range Complex warfare testing range to encompass more land areas of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California and the Pacific Ocean.

Many chemicals, like depleted uranium, used in this program are toxic to humans, marine mammals, all wildlife, and birds.

The Navy has violated NEPA laws by not informing the majority of the citizens of the United States about this program.

The Navy admits that there are severe declines in some marine mammal populations, and they will “take”, harm, maim or kill approximately 2.3 million marine mammals per year over five years.

The Navy will disrupt the fishing and whaling tourist industry near some of their weapons test areas in the Pacific Ocean even though there are sensitive marine areas in the Pacific Ocean which need to be preserved and protected.

Airborne sky obscurants like toxic fog oils, red phosphorus, white phosphorus, Aluminum Coated Fiberglass & Flares,

Take Action! Summary of the Monster Mall Ballot Measure

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From Save Our Local Economy (SOLE)

May 19, 2009 Ukiah, Mendocino County, North California

•   What it does

The ballot measure would amend the County General Plan and zoning code to adopt a Specific Plan covering DDR’s 76-acre Masonite site.  The Specific Plan was written for DDR by an Orange County consultant and is 310 pages long.

It allows DDR to build “Mendocino Crossings” with any combination it wants of big box retail stores, residences and other facilities.  The limit for big box stores is 800,000 square feet [B-41], which would make Mendocino Crossings a tie with Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa as the largest shopping mall on the North Coast.  The parking lot would hold more than 3,000 cars.

The Specific Plan would also allow DDR to build up to 150 residences.  Although the Specific Plan provides 3 different “Conceptual Plans” of how the shopping center might look, it also states that “The exhibits shown are conceptual and do not reflect what may actually be constructed on the site.  The actual development of the site is subject to change based on market and regional demands.” [B-42]

•    Could the Specific Plan ever be amended?

Only by another ballot measure [Initiative text, Section 8].  Once adopted, the Specific Plan is law and the County’s elected officials would have no control over what DDR does with the property, within the broad limits established by the Specific Plan.

•    How does the Initiative affect the County General Plan?

If enacted, the Initiative would require that everything else in the County General Plan would have to be revised to eliminate any inconsistency with DDR’s Specific Plan [Initiative, Section 5-B].

•    Will there be an Environmental Impact Report?

No.  Rezonings that are put on the ballot by petition are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), since there is no public agency which is responsible for approving the project [B-228].

•    How did DDR qualify the Initiative for the ballot?

DDR, under the name “Mendocino County Tomorrow,” hired a professional signature-gathering company, H&H Petitions, which brought approximately 20 signature gatherers here from out-of-county, beginning April 9, 2009.  They were paid $2 per valid signature.  According to numerous citizen reports, the petitioners mostly told the public that the petition was to “clean up the Masonite site.” There were 4 letters to the editor in the Ukiah Daily Journal from different individuals who stated that they had been misled in this way, and 82 people who had been misled by the signature-gatherers sent letters to the County Clerk asking that their names be removed from the petition.  Nevertheless, DDR was successful in submitting its petition to the county on April 29, 2009, claiming it had sufficient signatures to force a special election in November on its Initiative.

•    What is the history of the property?

The site is zoned for industry and was used by Masonite Corporation for 50 years.  DDR bought the site in 2005 and demolished the plant facilities, despite appeals to save it for new industrial uses.  The 76-acre property is the largest industrial parcel in the inland county and has rail access and other features that make it ideal for new industrial development.

•    Why should the site stay in industrial zoning?

Because industrial employers offer better wages and benefits than the minimum-wage jobs offered by big box stores.  Also, industry creates a stronger local economy because it brings money into the area, instead of draining it out like big box stores do.  There is good potential for future industrial use of the Masonite site, if it stays in industrial zoning.  About 27 acres of new industrial buildings have gone up just north of the Masonite property just since 2001, showing the demand for industrial property.  Many timber industry officials believe that the regrowth of the county’s forests will create a need for a new wood byproducts facility.

•    How would DDR’s mall affect traffic?

The County’s draft Ukiah Valley Area Plan found that major traffic improvements are needed if there is more development around the Masonite site, including a new north-south road and a new freeway access off Brush Street.  But DDR’s Specific Plan doesn’t include any of these new roads.  Instead, the Specific Plan dictates that North State Street will bear all of the burden. DDR’s Specific Plan specifies 5 new traffic lights on North State Street, bringing the total to 7 traffic lights in the ½ mile stretch from Orr Springs Road to Ford Road [B-65].  While this forest of red lights will make North State Street a nightmare for thru-traffic, DDR apparently figures that it can still get shoppers off and on the freeway.

•    Besides North State Street, would DDR pay for other off-site road improvements?

Almost certainly not.  The Specific Plan says DDR will pay for the new traffic lights and road widenings it wants on North State Street.  Beyond that, the County must prove by a “nexus report” that any fees imposed on the project are justified by impacts created by the project, AND THEN, whatever DDR has paid for the North State Street alterations will be DEDUCTED from those fees [B-223].

•    How would it affect the water shortage?

DDR says that it would meet the large new water demand for the shopping mall from an existing well (Masonite well #6) near the Russian River [B-73].  How this pumping would affect the total demand on the river and on Lake Mendocino isn’t clear, since DDR is circumventing the requirement for an Environmental Impact Report.

•    What development standards would apply to the project?

Only what DDR has written into the Specific Plan, which substitutes for all County Zoning regulations [Initiative, Section 3].  In other words, DDR has written its own rules.  Not surprisingly, these conflict with the existing limits and aesthetic standards that are common in Mendocino County.  For example, DDR gives itself the right to erect a 100-foot tall lighted sign next to the freeway, four times taller and eight times larger in area than allowed by County zoning [B-124].   Signs on the stores themselves can be up to 500 square feet, three times larger than allowed by County zoning. [B-120].   There is no provision whatsoever for design review by the County of the buildings or other features.

•    How can this area support such a huge shopping mall?

Only by capturing the lion’s share of all retail business in Mendocino County.  With about 12 big box stores and numerous smaller shops, the development would be designed to be a “magnet” destination sufficiently compelling to attract shoppers and keep them on site for most of their shopping needs.  The impact on downtowns and existing shopping districts throughout Mendocino County is obvious.  An economic study commissioned by the county in 2007 concluded, “The prospects for new regional retail [center] depend on its ability to capture expenditures from a trade area larger than the Ukiah Valley.”  [“Ukiah Valley Area Plan Economic Background,” Economic & Planning Systems, Inc., p. 37]  DDR claims that its shopping mall would create hundreds of new jobs, but there is every reason to believe that these new jobs would be offset by lost jobs at existing stores in Mendocino and Lake counties.

•    But don’t we need DDR’s shopping mall to get a Costco store?

No.  Costco was in advanced negotiations to build a store in Ukiah’s Redwood Business Park and detailed site plans had been submitted to the city in both 2003 and 2007 for a 15-acre parcel.  As soon as it bought the Masonite site in 2005, DDR went to work to persuade Costco to give up on the City of Ukiah site.  Finally DDR succeeded, and Costco suddenly stopped talking to the city in June, 2007. But when DDR’s ballot initiative is defeated, Costco can still build on the original City of Ukiah site if it still believes the local market will support its store.  The City of Ukiah has 95 acres of vacant land zoned for retail.

•    DDR is experiencing financial distress.  How could DDR build a new shopping mall when it is trying to sell property to raise cash?

It’s true that DDR is shaky.  Last year its stock plunged to only $2 a share, and its debt was recently reduced to junk bond status by the rating agencies.  But the ballot measure is a potentially lucrative speculation for DDR, even if the election campaign costs $1 million.  A rezoning could increase the market value of the DDR property by as much as $30 million.  Then DDR could sell it to another developer.

•    But isn’t it the democratic way to let the voters decide?

Only if there is full information fairly presented to the voters.   As DDR showed in the signature-gathering campaign, lies succeed when they are aggressively disseminated without opposing information.  DDR figures it can spend so much money painting a one-sided picture of the Initiative that it can drown out all opposition.  Even before the Initiative drive, DDR mailed 5 fancy brochures to all county voters, projected a false image of their plans.  DDR will circumvent the normal requirement for an Environmental Impact Report, which is an essential source of objective analysis on any project.  DDR seeks to lock its 310-page Specific Plan into law and prohibit any public hearings or review by our elected officials.  This can’t be described as democratic.  It’s more like direct corporate rule.
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Go to Save Our Local Economy→

See also The Masonite Monster Mall series→
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