Inside UDJ by Editor K.C. Meadows

Conversation overheard in the Ukiah library between two homeless people sitting at a table together, one an elderly shirtless man who said he was in town to visit an ill granddaughter and the other a young woman who looked to be in her 20s:
Man: I don't like Ukiah, I'm going to get out of here.
Woman: Yeah, I'm getting out, I'm going back to Willits.
Man: Yeah, Willits is nice, the people are nice there. They have the shelter here and all, but Ukiah people aren't friendly.
Woman: Yeah, in Willits man, if you ask someone for, like, even some coffee or something they might give it to you. Or they might just give you a sleeping bag. Here (in Ukiah) they don't talk to you.
Man: Yeah I'm getting out.
Woman: Yeah me too.

Posted by K.C. at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At a Measure B forum before the Employers Council of Mendocino County Friday, Mendocino County District Attorney Meredith Lintott (who was in the audience, not part of the forum) said the passage of Measure B "will make my job easier." She said that defense attorneys regularly use Measure G (the 25-plant personal use ordinance that is at the root of all the excesses of the commercial marijuana industry in our county and which Measure B will repeal) as a defense on behalf of large scale marijuana growers. She also said that Measure B will likely help bring more law enforcement funding into the county from grants that we have been unable to tap as long as our laissez faire attitude about commercial growing continued.
The speakers at the forum were Ross Liberty for Yes on B and Laura Hamburg for No on B;. Ms Hamburg, who said she is a personal use gardener, made a couple of No on B's major points that were refuted on the spot by Ms. Lintott and Sheriff Tom Allman, who was also in the audience.
Ms. Hamburg said that among her fears of Measure B's effect is that it would make it too easy for sheriff's deputies to go after the low hanging fruit, the smaller growers like herself (although I don't call the 75 plants Ms. Hamburg claims to be able to grow legally a small grow) the people with more than the 6-plant limit Measure B would allow under the state's regs. Sheriff Allman stood up in the audience and said that simply wasn't going to happen. He said his department does not have that staffing to do more than he has always said he can and will do: go after large grows and go after grows that are causing a health and safety problem (which would include the in-your-face grows popping up in what used to be safe neighborhoods). Although he is maintaining his neutrality on Measure B, he did say it will make his job easier in that he believes a lot of people growing 25 plants now for whatever use, will cut back to six plants voluntarily if the measure passes.
He also said, for the record, that in the past few years (Measure G passed in 2000) a "horrendous number" of outside marijuana growers had flocked to this county. He said that there is "no question" that the marijuana growing in this county had created crime and environmental problems. As he put it, "there is a violence associated with greedy people growing marijuana."
Ms. Hamburg also said that since the county supervisors had already voted to limit the number of plants per parcel to 25, Measure B is now unnecessary. But Ms. Lintott told the audience that she knows defense attorneys are planning to challenge that as an illegal limit - presumably using the same Measure G excuses.
The No on B campaign - ably led by Ms. Hamburg, who is a personable and intelligent speaker - has made a large part of its campaign the claim that Measure B will cripple law enforcement in this county. But now both the DA and the Sheriff say that' not so.
No on B's other big argument is that Measure B will hurt medical marijuana patients. This week a group of 40 local physicians came out in favor of Measure B as protecting medical marijuana patients.
The Yes on B campaign believes that passing Measure B will send an important message to the world that Mendocino County is no longer the place to move to in order to abuse our community and environment for the sake of greed. Sheriff Allman cemented that for me Friday when he told me that he had lunched with Attorney General Jerry Brown on Monday and that Mr. Brown had told him that people throughout California were watching what happens here in Mendocino County on June 3.
Measure B is not anti-pot and it's not about medical marijuana. The vast majority of people supporting Measure B, including myself, believe that people ought to be able to grow and smoke a little pot and that medical marijuana is, in fact, helpful to the truly sick.
But now we feel like dupes for having tried to do something progressive and seeing the hoards arrive to laugh in our faces. We sent the wrong message with Measure G. Now we need to admit it was an experiment that went very wrong and bring some sanity back to our county.

Posted by K.C. at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I was lucky to be one of the people in the audience last night, with my husband Bob, at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa (yes I know it's the Wells Fargo Center now but it will always be the Luther Burbank to me) for "An Evening with Jackson Browne," an entirely acoustic event. And that's what it was: Browne, his guitar, his piano, a straight-backed wooden chair and nothing else. Actually there were 15 guitars that I counted, all lined up on a long stand with their hard-sided cases all lined up behind them. Each one was tuned to particular songs, which was a wonderful change from the constant retuning of the guitar that solo artists often have to do before starting the next song.
Anyway, Browne - a little whiskey-voiced and wheezy at times, still sang his heart out in the voice every person in that room was thoroughly familiar with. Except for a salt and pepper beard, Browne looks exactly as he has since the beginning of his career, with the same pin-straight dark brown hair parted on one side and falling into his eyes.
The evening began as he walked, without announcement, onto the bare stage (thank you for no oriental rugs, back drops or other props) at 8:15 p.m. and except for one 15 minute break, sang and played until 11:15. Browne got more relaxed and chatty as the evening progressed and by the final chorus of the final song, "Stay" he had made you feel like you were sitting in each other's living rooms playing your favorites.
Browne did practically every song that was requested - and between each song came a cacophony of brayed requests, so much so that audience members started telling each other to be quiet and just let the guy play what he wanted. Browne, however, didn't seem to mind and in fact said the audience was making it easy on him, relieving him of having to decide what to play next. Except for two new songs - one about "Time" that was that wonderful Browne mixture of philosophy and extraordinary melodic percussion, all the songs were Browne classics. From early songs like "Doctor My Eyes" and "Jamaica Say You Will", to later songs like "Lawless Avenue" and "Looking East," and everything in between ("The Pretender," "Late for the Sky," "For A Dancer" you name it - Browne's fine guitar playing and full piano arrangements made you forget that many of these songs were produced with large rock n roll bands.
Admitting that the Internet era made him anxious about what he said on stage - that it would be read back to him on-line everywhere - he soon lost whatever inhibitions he had and spoke freely about things that, it seemed, were occurring to him at the moment.
Things had already begun to loosen up earlier when one fan shouted for him to sing "Redneck Girlfriend." He did a double take and then laughed. "Redneck Girlfriend?" and then proceeded to sing the song about "My Redneck Friend" exchanging "girlfriend" each time in the chorus to loud laughter and cheers.
When someone wanted to hear "Rosie," he began the song and then had to stop himself with a chuckle after the opening line about Rosie "She was sniffing all around like a half grown female pup" and admitted "Hey, I have to live with having written that line."
There were tales of a trip to Amsterdam, being on the road, and even a compliment to Northern California, where he said, he could easily have envisioned himself ending up like so many of his LA area friends have.
"It's not too late" the audience called back to him.
All in all it was an amazing performance and certainly memorable for me as Jackson Browne's music is basically the soundtrack to my life.
I traveled back to romance in Red Bank New Jersey, a winter on Fire Island, playing in a band in Michigan, sharing a river view apartment in New York with an extraordinary blind 80-something woman, sitting up for hours with my (now) husband, making friends for life.
Jackson Browne was right there the whole way.
(Note to the folks at Luther Burbank: If you let people keep wandering in after the stated show time, all your shows, like this one, will start late. If you close the doors at 8 p.m. and make people wait until the first break between songs, people will actually make sure they're in their seats on time.)

Posted by K.C. at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning I talked with Belinda at KZYX after calling the station to talk to program manager Mary Aigner to congratulate her on her participation in my program last night on Measure B with Ross Liberty (Yes on B) and Keith Faulder (No on B) . Mary, I was told wasn't there but, boy, Belinda (Station Manager) wanted to talk to me. She said the folks at KZYX were very upset that I got involved in expressing my own opinions during the hour and that Mary had been suspended for speaking out on problems with commercial pot growing. As soon as Mary (who was running the board for me and there to do pledge drive breaks) started saying her own Anderson Valley neighborhood had been overtaken by pot growers the staff at KZYX went nuts, signaling to her over and over to shut up. She didn't.
Mary never said, "Vote for Measure B." She simply stated that problems with commercial pot growing were real and she'd seen them first hand. Suspending her for that, it seems to me, borders on a serious First Amendment violation. (I wonder, if Mary had said something like, "It's been my experience that medical marijuana patients really have a problem finding supplies" she would be under suspension right now.)
For some reason there was a real crowd at the station last night, I assume because they're in the middle of pledge drive. The crowd, I am told from someone standing among them, was also going crazy trying to get me to shut up too. One woman actually put a note to that effect up to the broadcast booth window, but I didn't have my glasses on and couldn't see it.
Anyway I wouldn't have shut up. I said at the beginning of the broadcast that I was a fervent B supporter and that would be clear during the show. For some reason the folks at KZYX assumed I was simply hosting some kind of non-partisan debate on Measure B. I would never have agreed to that. First I am not unbiased about it. That is why I stepped aside from my usual role as moderator for the forum the Daily Journal is hosting May 8 with the American Association of University Women and the National Women's Political Caucus. Plus, I express my opinions on my monthly show all the time. Why would last night be any different?
Belinda (I am sorry but I don't know her last name and the staff isn't listed on the station Web site) told me that all programmers are forbidden from expressing opinions on anything on any up-coming ballot as they are officially representatives of the station when on the air. She said that's an IRS rule and an FCC rule.
I have to say I find this odd given the dedicated bias of KZYX, NPR and other public radio sources on any number of left of center issues. They defend it saying they are basically the voice of the non-mainstream and that's their mission.
Belinda said she would send me a copy of the rules.
She said I am suspended from KZYX too.
I said, let's just consider it my last show.

Posted by K.C. at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

For you folks who like the more free wheeling world of the blogosphere we have a couple of new entries for you to check out during the week. The first is Crime and Puzzlement by our police and courts reporter Ben Brown. I have been encouraging Ben to use a blog to report on all the weird and interesting stuff he sees and hears on police blotters and in the courthouse that never make it into the pages of the Daily Journal. Reporters at newspapers have always had lots of newsroom conversations about the odd things or frankly funny things that happen in the world of crime and now there's this great immediate way of passing them on to you. I predict that Ben's blog will be well-read.
Also coming soon is a blog by our sports editor Anthony Dion. Anthony has been keeping his nose to the grindstone getting to know our community and the sports world here and so has not had time until now to think about blogging, but he's ready to give it a try.
And you will see that the folks that are bringing you Diary of A Play in our Sunday editions will be blogging about their experiences putting on the latest Ukiah Players Theatre production.
Blogging, as I have found out, isn't an easy thing to do. It requires at least - and perhaps more - time than a regular column does, although the time is taken up in frequency as opposed to polish.
The Internet world continues to change so fast that already we're hearing that blogging is already old hat and on the downslide. I think that may be in part because there are so many of them now that people are tired of sifting through them and also that so many of them aren't informative or interesting so people get turned off.
Well, I don't think we'll get very overcrowded with blogs here at the Daily Journal, so if you have a theme for a blog that you think would be interesting, AND you're willing to put the time in to blog regularly, let me know and perhaps we'll host one here for you too. Email me at udjkcm@pacific.net.

Posted by K.C. at 08:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Now that the Ukiah Valley Smart Growth Coalition has released its winners in the contest it hosted to try to find an alternative industrial use for the old Masonite site, I can talk about my role as a judge in that contest. The contest was launched in an attempt to show that the county need not rezone the property for Diversified Developers Realty, that there were perfectly good industrial uses for it. Smart Growth opposes any rezoning of the land and opposes DDRs plans in any form.
I was asked by Smart Growth spokeswoman Judy Pruden to be among a dozen or so community members being asked to judge the 27 contest entries and I agreed.
The first thing we were asked to do by Smart Growther Mari Rodin when we arrived at the meeting room on an early weekday morning was to agree to confidentiality about what went on in the room. I felt the request was aimed directly at me and so I guess I will let the Ukiah Valley Smart Growth coalition release the names of the judges as they certainly should be willing to do. I will say that they were not all officially Smart Growthers although clearly a number of them would be expected to agree with the group's overall goals. The group did release the fact that a DDR rep was there and so it should be no secret that that was DDR's Jeff Adams. I don't see any reason anything else about the general tone and methods of the judging should be a secret.
I will make the obvious crystal clear right here: these are my own observations and opinions and not necessarily those of other people in the room.
We were all given a packet ahead of time with all 27 ideas and a matrix judging sheet through which you gave points based on each idea's conformance to policies such as the use of local resources, creation of local wealth, environmental quality, quality of jobs, business viability etc.
We all came to the meeting having looked at the ideas ahead of time.
Unfortunately, the ideas came mostly in one page format, with little detail about how the idea would be carried out. We all had to simply guess whether they would create good jobs or be economically viable.
For instance, one idea that won the "creativity" award was a Harry Potter Theme Park complete with a Hogwarts Express train that begins in Cloverdale. Clearly a non-starter. First of all, the people who own the rights to Harry Potter certainly are not going to build a theme park in Ukiah. Second, such a theme park would use up more resources than the biggest big box mall you can imagine, would create far more traffic, and a load of low paying tourism jobs.
A number of other ideas also included retail and some unrealistic and certainly non-industrial uses (an Arts Center, a Water Park, A Recreational Park, and Skateboard factory and Skate Park). At the start I asked if we, as judges, should have discounted any idea that would require rezoning of the property (which is the point Smart Growth is making) and was told no, but that lots of things other than industry can go forward on a piece of land like the Masonite site with just a use permit.
As we continued, we were each asked to write down our personal top three projects.
Then we all discussed how the point system would play out, and we were broken into three groups of four, prechosen by the Smart Growth folks, and asked to come up with our top three projects out of the 27, plus some honorable mentions.
Most of the people in the room came in with one of the projects, an alternative building materials, alternative energy, mixed use non-profit and educational center on our lists somewhere so it rose to the top. Many of us were also enamored with my personal number one, a wood pellet plant suggested by local resident Bill Smith. (It came in number two overall on the personal lists we were told.) But that project lost steam in the groups as too old-world, although my group still had it among the winners. It was considered by a number of us in the room as the only really immediately viable idea using local resources and creating good jobs. I am not sure why it doesn't get any mention at all in the Smart Growth press release as I left the meeting thinking it had al least garnered an honorable mention.
Other ideas about wine bottle and other recycling, biofuels center, solar energy plant, and the like, showed up in different plans as well, sometimes more than once.
Overall, I think the group agreed that some kind of progressive, alternative energy, light manufacturing center that would showcase the trends in that area already far forward in this county would be a good thing.
The problem is, that's not a particularly new idea. People have been talking about that for some time but no one is coming forward to do it.
That was the problem a number of us in the room saw with most of the ideas on the judges' tables: They were light on details and light on viability.
As I said to the room as we discussed how to proceed with PR once the judging was over, Smart Growth needed to put some meat on the bones as certainly no one would be surprised that this group ended up with a contest winner all about alternative energy and progressive light industry. Rodin objected to my characterization, saying it was not Smart Growth which had come up with this winner, but instead we diverse community members who served as judges. Except that Smart Growth hosted the contest, and came up with the matrix to judge the entries. I'm not saying I think the contest was unfair or rigged in any way. And I believe there are a lot of good ideas out there.
However, a contest like this should not be portrayed as having come up with any sort of realistic, doable alternative to what's being presented now by DDR (which by the way is clearly different from what is still portrayed as 700,000 square feet of big box stores on the Smart Growth Web site).
Speaking of DDR, their spokesman Jeff Adams was asked to come and participate in the judging and I give him credit for agreeing. At the end of the meeting Adams was asked by one or two people adamantly opposed to the DDR project what can be done to move DDR closer to something like one of the winning Smart Growth contest projects. Adams said basically, that as long as Smart Growth remained adamantly opposed to any retail in the project, it would be hard for DDR to bend any further. (There was also a comment from a DDR opponent which not so jokingly intimated that if Whole Foods, say, were one of the big box stores it wouldn't be so bad.)
Again, I think there were lots of good ideas coming from this contest. None of them alone would likely work, but a combination of several of them might. Interestingly, I would hazard a guess that a mixed use zoning for the Masonite site (which Smart Growth opposes) may in fact be the best zoning to provide a chance for some of those ideas to move forward. The vast majority of the ideas were not anything like "heavy" industrial use.
Also, I think it's time for some real economic data and some good figures on how the DDR project will affect spending here and also how anything like Smart Growth's contest vision could pay off for investors. After all, without people to put up the money and make money - sorry, it's still about making money, progressively or not - the property will continue to stand empty which is what I think is a big fear for lots of Ukiah Valley residents.
And, whether or not you agree with the DDR plan, and I haven't made up my own mind yet, I think DDR ought to be required to first build the live-work housing, the light industrial park, the bus depot and the other non-big box amenities they say make this "not just a big retail project," guaranteeing our community that the benefits of the project we are being sold actually happen before any big box store arrives. That way, if the big box ghost town Smart Growth predicts will eventually follow this project comes true, we'll still have a nice group of non-retail projects from which to recover.

Posted by K.C. at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)