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December 30, 2006

New Year's City Council Resolutions

I'm still on Christmas break and will be until January third. I've managed to avoid the internet and email for close to 3 days now. I spent much of that time doing manual labor in my yard. All of the labor and lack of external information has left me plenty of time to think about my community. My understanding of Chico's future has been focused to a laser-like intensity. I now know what years of concentrated study in a monastery feel like. The dramatic and near religious epiphany I've experienced ties in nicely to the tradition of New Year's Resolutions. For that reason I'm offering up 5 New Year's City Council Resolutions to improve Chico in 2007. 1. The City Council resolves to add "Biological Warfare", "Terrorist Acts", and "Floods and Pestilence" caused by a supreme being to the "Nuclear Weapons" ban in Chico. 2. The City Council resolves to stop any expansion or addition of Wal-Mart services and facilities, but approves without public comment any Whole Foods or Trader Joe's stores that want to come to Chico. 3. The City Council resolves to rename "high density infill development" to "diverse construction neighborhood creation". 4. The City Council resolves to add the prefix "re-" to the Redevelopment Agency once for each bond issued to that agency. Any additional bond issued would then make it the Re-Re-Redevelopment Agency. 5. The City Council resolves to recognize the popularity of the new Downtown Plaza by reusing the same design for all new neighborhood parks. Now it's back to my end-of-year break and a couple hundred feet of irrigation and electrical trench digging.

Posted by Lon at 09:42 AM | Comments (2)

December 26, 2006

Dig Deeper in 2007

In 2006 I watched a slew of issues hit the local press without a depth of coverage. So I'm making a recommendation to David Little and the news staff at the ER for a new year resolution. In 2007 the ER should research and report on the people behind the groups representing themselves in local stories. A recent lawsuit threatened by "Valley Advocates" and "Chico Citizens for Community Justice" is just the latest example. From press coverage you wouldn't know anything about these groups except that they don't like cell phone towers. Valley Advocates has no presence on the web except in relation to Fresno based environmental attorney Richard L. Harriman. This legal action discusses some of the tactics Harriman was accused of and might be an indication of where this is all heading. But as far as I can tell Valley Advocates IS Richard L. Harriman. I posted some links the "Chico Citizens for Community Justice" in an earlier entry, but who's behind the lawsuit? I found the list of appellants and concerns located in two places on the internet. The first document was at the City of Chico web site in its response to an appeal of the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission. It covers the health, noise, and placement concerns related to the appeal. The second document I ran across was posted on the web site of the Friends of Bidwell Park. This covers 30 or so concerns with the cell tower project, including the possible use of non-native vines. The appeal refers to numerous concerns over how the cell tower contradicts various City policies. Most of these concerns appear to be a stretch. But what is a greater stretch is believing that a "Chico Citizens for Community Justice" put together the legal concerns that cite page specific issues from the Bidwell Park Master Management Plan, and then posted it to the "Friends of Bidwell Park web site.

News articles have cited "residents" opposed to the cell towers. But none of the appellants live within sight of the Hooker Oak Recreation Area, and one lives in Forest Ranch. In addition to attorney Harriman the appellants listed include.. John Merz - Friends of Bidwell Park Randy Abbot - Friends of Bidwell Park Phil Johnson - Altacal Audubon Society - Friends of the Foothills Doug Perske - Harold Carlson - Linnea Hanson - Karen Kite - This list includes people that also show up opposing cell phone towers for the last 8 years at City of Chico meetings. But it also includes people that show up in internet searches associated with various groups (California Native Plant Society, Friends of Bidwell Park, and Audubon Society, for example). Oddly enough these latter mentioned groups are not publicly associated with the cell tower issue. I'm under the impression that some of the leaders of these groups chose when to associate their groups with issues and when not to (and the press follows along). By doing this they maintain credibility for the good deeds their groups do and retain obscurity for themselves when acting as obstructionists. Unfortunately, the good deeds and the obstructionism often hinge on the efforts of the same people. Although I disagree with the efforts, these folks have a right to contest the placement of a cell phone tower. But the local press really ought to look behind the public comments and show all of the players in this effort. The fact that none of the appellants live adjacent to Hooker Oak Recreation Area, and that the Friends of Bidwell Park are involved in the legal action and distribution of the legal concerns via their web site should be part of the story. Reporters could contact the listed appellants and ask where they meet and how their group was formed and what other groups they are involved in. Lacking a web site or any public presence I'm not sure the "Chico Citizens for Community Justice" named in the recent ER article even exists. As part of a news room resolution I would ask that the ER dig a little deeper in 2007. In addition to telling a more complete story, it would help reporters start to see the connections that exist behind the scenes on many public issues. Sometimes those connections are the story.

Posted by Lon at 10:38 AM | Comments (2)

December 23, 2006

Christmas Music

I'll be leaving town for Placerville this weekend, then back to Chico for Christmas, then down to the bay area. It's just not Christmas if you don't celebrate it 3 or 4 times in 3 or 4 places. It's also not Christmas if you don't hear some of those lovely old Christmas songs. I've been listening to quite a bit of Christmas music over the last month, and downloaded a dozen or so songs from iTunes for our company Christmas party. When you add a collection a neighbor gave us last year that puts me at around 40 Christmas songs. I think I'm well qualified to list the top 10 all time Christmas songs on my iPOD. Feel free to download these songs and listen to them yourself, but if you use them for any social gathering be sure to credit me and my iPOD. 1. The Chanukah Song - Adam Sandler: OK, it's not about Christmas. But it mentions Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and OJ Simpson. That's hard to beat in a holiday tune. It also precipitates a discussion of religion and the violence in the Middle East when heard by children. 2. Disco Santa (Santa Claus/N.O.EL) - Holiday Express: A couple of tunes about Christmas sung to the tune of some Village People classics including N-O-E-L spelled out like Y-M-C-A. Lyrics like "Santa, there's no need to feel down.. Santa, reindeers fly you around!" ice this cake. 3. 'Zat You, Santa Claus? - Louis Armstrong and the Commanders: I don't really like this song, but without a classic blues musician in the mix the list fails to get any "street cred". 4. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - John Mellencamp: Much like the Chanukah song this tune creates an interesting social dialogue. You can either tackle marital infidelity or why parents dress like Santa Claus after your kids hear this one. There's a ton of versions of this, but John Cougar's strikes a chord with me. 5. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues: I'll do anything to get an Irish-y rock band song on a list. This one starts off "It was Christmas Eve in the drunk tank", and ends with some fancy swear words. Not one for the family party, but edgy enough make your Christmas play list feel hip. 6. Blue Christmas - Johnny Cash: If Elvis is "the King" then Johnny is "the God-Emporer of all things good and worth having". 7. Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano: I love mexican music anyway so this makes my list(or is that hispanic or latino I can't keep up with the PC requirements?). I should say I love music with a "south of the border" flavor. As with all music selections I recommend avoiding versions by Celene Dion and The Cheetah Girls. 8. Father Christmas - The Kinks: Not very uplifting, but catchy and fun. About delinquents robbing a department Santa. Again, hits the social issue of giving toys to the poor when they might actually need some money. It leaves with the message "have a merry Christmas, have a good time, but remember the kids that have nothing when your drinking down you're wine". 9. Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt: This is the song from the Victoria Secret commercial. I was listening to it long before it hit the boob-tube (get it, Victoria Secret...boob-tube...catch my Comedy Central special after the holidays). This song is a seductive list of Christmas gifts desired by a high maintenance gal. The list includes a platinum mine, yacht, etc. 10. Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies: Starts slow, ends fast, includes a stanza "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..." which is how we all learned the song anyway. Good stuff. So there's my list. I know I've been pretty snarky. My playlist is about 1/2 full of older, really classic songs that I didn't list here. When interspersed with newer quirky versions the classics take on a new life (at least for me). Don't let the Christmas music be relegated to mall muzak. Make an effort to get an earful this weekend, it's well worth it.

Posted by Lon at 09:48 AM | Comments (2)

December 22, 2006

Icarus Improved

Human beings do cool things.

Posted by Lon at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)

December 21, 2006

Better, Faster, and Smarter

I've been working with a client for quite some time on an electronic design destined for mass production. A late addition to the design has hung up its completion. What should have been an embellishment has caught the eye of technical support. The order came down to make it perfect or remove it completely to avoid complaints. As of today I believe I was able to acheive the former and avoid the latter. In the end it was a good catch on their part and will likely save them from annoying complaints later. But the request started me thinking (and that can't be good). When organizations become accustomed to servicing the "squeaky wheels" and not focusing on core services or products they can become dramatically inefficient. Through City Manager Greg Jones the City of Chico has adopted the Better, Faster, and Smarter "effort" to improve effiency (see bottom of this doc for description). A dramatic inefficiency in local government has been the millions of dollars spent oiling the "squeaky wheels". Half-a-million on a Bidwell Park Master Plan because of a threatened lawsuit by a member of the "Friends of Bidwell Park" to stop disc golf. $170,000 for a downtown charrette to service the "Friends of Downtown". Hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to defend a lawsuit that originated from trying to placate the "Friends of the Foothills". The cell-tower controversy is another example and features some of the same personalities and techniques used in previous examples. I hope the Better, Faster, and Smarter, marketing tagline also endeavors to differentiate between serving serial complainers and providing needed services to a mostly silent populace. If not we might rename it Harder, More Expensive, and Ridiculous. One way to avoid that is for the City to remember who the customer really is.

Posted by Lon at 09:00 AM | Comments (5)

December 19, 2006

Movie Maybe Not So Good After All

I'm not surprised that local environmental do-gooders have decided to protect Bidwell Park from cell-phone towers by suing the City of Chico. The "Chico Citizens for Community Justice" (apparently formed due to a tower near Mariposa, but now expanding to stop cell-towers world-wide) have brought in the out-of-town environmental ambulance chasers "Valley Advocates" to save us from ourselves through litigation. While doing research on who the players are I ran across this review of the anti-cell tower movie Public Exposure: DNA, Democracy, and the "Wireless Revolution" "To our amazement and surprise the city council voted to amend the draft ordinance to reflect most of the changes we had suggested making and more. We attribute their abrupt change in perception to this well done film, "Public Exposure". Because of this film, our city council was empowered to make the right decision for our community..." -Maggie Van Dame, Chico Citizens' for Community Justice, Chico, California It seems as though the epiphany foisted upon the Chico City Council by this movie was one without duration. Maybe they should show the movie again. And throw in "Happy Feet" so we can be sure the penguins are saved as well. I guess the movie wasn't that good after all. If Mayor Holcombe watched this film I think it would be appropriate for him to write a new review for it. That way the "Orland Citizens for Community Justice" will know to skip this step and go straight to the lawyers when a cell tower is proposed near them.

Posted by Lon at 10:07 PM

December 18, 2006

Is Chamber Unique In Running a PAC?

I've heard complaints about the Chamber of Commerce receiving City funds while also operating a PAC and endorsing candidates. Jim Goodwin at the Chamber has stated that the City money goes to man a tourism office, and other money that's raised from independent member donations goes to fund the political activities. There are more than a dozen organizations that receive money from the same pool as the Chico Chamber of Commerce (TOT funds, a tax on hotel stays: public art organizations are also funded from this pool). The leaders of many of these organizations contribute money to various PACs or candidates directly. They can also be found on candidate endorsement lists. It is ridiculous to think that in a town as small as Chico groups feeding at the government trough wouldn't also spend money to take part in political "free speech". But is the Chico Chamber a unique or extreme example of this?

I think those pointing a finger at the Chamber are being specious and political in their criticisms. It took very little research on the matter to come to this conclusion. Here are a couple of criticisms as I understand them, and why I don't think they have any merit. 1. No other community organization takes city money and then endorses candidates in local elections: This is simply not true. Chico spends roughly $11million annually to pay local firefighters out of its General Fund. That's 90% of the Fire Department budget. City of Chico employees deduct monthly payments from firefighter paychecks and pay them directly to firefighters local 2734 as specified in the Memorandum of Understanding (section 1 subsection 3.2 DUES DEDUCTION). The union also operates a "time bank" where firefighters can spend up to 56 hours per year on union business while the City pays for the activity (section 5 subsection 7 UNION TIME BANK). So it's clear to me that union local 2734 receives General Funds directly from the City to operate. The firefighters union endorses local candidates and operates the Chico Firefighter Legislative Action Group PAC. And although they seem to fit the same mold as the Chamber, they seem to be immune from the same criticisms. While I didn't look into it I assume the same could be said for the police union. 2. The Chamber of Commerce related CHICOPAC is overtly conservative and not representative of all of its members: The conservative part is probably true today. But lets not forget that this PAC has previously endorsed both Maureen Kirk and Dan Nguyen-Tan for Chico City Council. Not pinnacles of conservatism. They could endorse moderate left-leaning politicos in the future. On whether or not the PAC's politics are representative of all Chamber membership, that's really beside the point. I doubt that all of Chico's firefighters supported candidates endorsed by firefighters local 2734 either. In the last election it would have been highly unusual for a business PAC to endorse three candidates who work for public agencies (two outside of Chico), versus three candidates employed locally in the private sector. I guess statement #2 is true. But as a criticism it ignores the history of the PAC. And nobody levels this criticism at the other organization that is similar but was ideologically opposite in the last election.

Conclusion: I'm not a member of the Chamber of Commerce. And I don't have anything at stake whether they continue to operate a PAC or continue to receive City TOT funds. I do think people should use intellectually honest arguments. The Chamber is not alone in receiving public funds, running a PAC, and endorsing candidates. There is at least one other organization with much larger financial connections to the City purse that does the same. If the Chamber should forgo public funds on an ethical basis where does that leave firefighters union 2734?

Posted by Lon at 08:44 PM | Comments (2)

December 14, 2006

Celebration Ale

Put your Hookahs away, that's a Chinook hop used to brew Celebration Ale not the latest agricultural product from Humboldt county. With all the talk of Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale I decided to drop an email to a friend of mine that works at Sierra Nevada Brewery. I asked questions like "when was Celebration Ale first brewed?", "does the alcohol content or recipe change from year to year?", and "where do babys come from?". Anyway, he forwarded it on to the Brewmaster who sent me this response (no answer on the baby thing, I'll keep looking for that info). Here is some quick info on the Celebration. The recipe is the same year after year, but it of course has to be adjusted for raw materials. Of all our beers, this one is the most heavily dependant on the hop crop because it is brewed directly after harvest.  The alcohol, to my knowledge, has been roughly the same.  The main difference between Celebration and some other beers (other than the recipe) is that it is dry hopped, hops being added at the end of fermentation. The beer was first made in 1982. It is produced from early September until sometime in November, depending on sales. This year sales were up 20% (blogger note- I like to think I helped out with this), and we brewed over 30,000 bbls.  The first year it was brewed we used 100% Cascades from some newly planted hops. The baby cones had a wonderful aroma. Over the years we have incorporated Chinook and Centennial into the recipe. Before Centennial was named, it was labeled CFJ-90 out of the breeding program. At the same time, there was a hop labeled CFJ-45 that we used once, but it was never expanded in production and no longer exists. Damn, that was a good smelling hop! Cheers, Steve Dresler Brewmaster So remember, when shopping for your Festivus party, be sure to pick up some tasty Celebration Ale. And for all those folks on the buy local bandwagon you can purchase this local product all over the country.

Posted by Lon at 08:58 PM | Comments (6)

December 13, 2006

A Festivus For The Rest of Us

I kind of like the idea of Festivus. Not as a replacement for Christmas, but maybe as a way to oppose rampant consumerism. I think everyone agrees that Christmas is too commercial. Even so, we'll all be out shopping soon if we haven't done so already. I remember Christmas with a living nativity scene in the center of town (not Chico, but where I grew up). I remember sitting through family slide shows on Christmas day. I remember those weird cubed shaped flash bulbs that were too hot to touch after being used. Those memories are as important as the recollection of a new skateboard or my first box of Legos. But since those days are long gone I think I'm willing to embrace Festivus as an addition to the Christmas tradition. Replacing tradition with consumerism should be resisted. And before Festivus becomes commercialized it might as well be a vehicle to make that bold stand. As part of my new Festivus tradition I will start with the Airing Of Grievances. 1. I think whoever invented Bratz for little girls should be jailed. Or worse forced to live with Britney Spears for a week since I'm sure people like her are the blueprint for that nonsense. 2. The 49ers have sucked for so long that I don't even think I like football anymore. Somebody should pay for that. I loved football. 3. People should pay their own taxes. No more having the employer collect it and send it in. If people wrote their own checks more of them would give a damn about how the money was spent. 4. Organizations that leave automated messages about things like gas leaks should respond to emails asking whether the leak has been fixed. Or they should leave a phone number so I can call them at home. That's it for now. I feel better. Everyone should air their grievances before Christmas.

Posted by Lon at 10:59 PM | Comments (4)

December 12, 2006

Punk't

Cars are disappearing from the downtown lots like hippies from a bar with a new cover charge! Has the City of Chico signed up for a mass episode of "Pimp My Ride"? Is Ashton Kutsher in town filming the greatest "Punk't" scam ever? Nope. The hepp cats down at Chico PD are towing cars from the downtown parking lots with expired tags. Any cars that are more than 6 months past their registration dates are subject to towing. One of the cars that got pulled out was last registered in 2004. They do call in to verify that the car is not registered (versus just missing the sticker). I recently let my car registration lapse for an extended period of time. I wasn't trying to stick it to the man I just misplaced the DMV notice and then forgot about it. Chico PD left me a friendly little yellow reminder on my windshield and I took care of it. That was much nicer than towing my car. I wonder if the Chico PD hired a Marge-ish consultant to whip the towing department back in shape? I also feel sorry for the students who have to walk the 6 blocks home after finding their cars gone.

Posted by Lon at 08:56 AM | Comments (3)

December 11, 2006

County Plan Gets Weberrific

I have to give the City of Chico credit for such a great web site. The vast amounts of information available there has allowed my blog to go from annoying and uninformed to annoying, uninformed, and chock-full-of-links. The world-wide-web has allowed people with limited interest in local politics and marginal understanding of city policy to learn more about what's going on around them. So it's been really helpful to city staff and elected officials. The county seems to be adopting the web as an information source with their general plan update (takes us out to 2030). See http://www.buttegeneralplan.net for the regularly updated agenda and information related to the plan update. I'm hoping that since the county is web savvy they are also checking this blog for any advice on the county's future direction. Here are a couple of things I think they should discuss. First, they should consider the increase in county population when global warming floods San Francisco and LA in a few years. Second, there's no mention of flying cars, which I think are just around the corner. I've talked to some folks on the plan update task force (30 people selected by Supervisors) and they said after a couple of meetings it was still pretty touchy-feely. So I checked the topics for the 8 planned meetings. Here they are. 11-16-2006 Friendly Chat and Poetry Reading 12-07-2006 Discussion of Favorite Road Sign Colors 1-15-2007 If The County Could Be Any Animal In the World... 3-26-2007 Discuss Dr. Phil's Principles of "Guy-Q" for Women 5-12-2007 Watch "An Inconvenient Truth" DVD 7-06-2007 Watch "Road Warrior" DVD 10-31-2007 Costume Party and Halloween Ball 12-12-2007 Finalize County Plan and Forward to Supes. Of course I'm having a little fun. The 12-12-2007 meeting is about something totally different. But in reality the county setting up a web site for this process is a good step. If Butte County can provide online documents as well as the City of Chico we'd all be better off. The General Plan update seems to show they're moving in that direction.

Posted by Lon at 09:26 AM

December 08, 2006

Day 3: Sheltering In Place

Day 3 of sheltering in place dawned with little positive news to report. The City still has not given the all-clear. Gregg was able to get a large quantity of Celebration Ales airdropped by national guardsmen. But they did not include the gasmask. Although I survived on beer for several years in college, I was able to augment my diet with occasional meals of ramen. I don't have that luxury any longer. I doubt I could survive on Celebration Ale alone for much longer than a year or two. I sent another email to the City (see below). But still no response. I'll give them another day or two. Perhaps others should try?

Posted by Lon at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2006

Day 2: Sheltering In Place

On the second day of "sheltering in place" I have not received an all-clear from the City. I took stock of the survival material I have available... 3 AA batteries 7 slices of bread including 3 heals(?) 1/2 carton of milk, 1 carton orange juice, 4 celebration ales 1 bowl of cat/dog water 4 pieces of pressure treated lumber 1 nicely repaired toilet I'm concerned about my neighbors and family. After watching my neighbors and wife drive to work, I'm beginning to wonder if they got the word to watch this blog for more emergency information. It's not safe out there. The ER seems to be saying that the leak is repaired, but without confirmation from the City, I can't recommend anyone leaving their homes. I emailed the City Information Systems Dept. (see graphic above), but no reply! Is there anyone left at the City? What if they evacuated to Orland and didn't tell us? What if something worse happened and I'm the only source of information left? I'm worried. And now I've only got 3 celebration ales left.

Posted by Lon at 02:21 PM | Comments (2)

December 06, 2006

An Indispensable Cog in the Wheel!

I received an automated phone call tonight from the City of Chico. It told me that there was a gas leak on at the corner of Stewart and Nord, and that I should "shelter in place until 6PM". The speaker was clear in stating that this was just a recommendation. Recalling Anthony's description of the nuclear bunker on Bruce road I decided to make a break for it. I packed my kid in the car (wife had already driven to work), and then realizing the upper control arm shaft was broken and the replacement coming from Vermont was still en route, I unpacked him. We quickly hopped on our bikes, and carrying 150lbs of food, water, and survival equipment headed down Nord Avenue. Unfortunately it was closed... because of the gas leak. Eventually we decided to "shelter in place". Okay that last part didn't happen. But the automated phone message did occur. I checked the ER which gave me more info, and went outside to see if I could smell or see anything. Nope, nothing. But there were 7 kids from 6 to 10 years old playing outside. So I told them if they smelled anything funny they should "shelter in place until 6PM". They ran screaming from me with their shirts pulled over their noses. That did happen. I talked to a few of my neighbors (who wondered why their kids were running about with their shirts over their noses), and I'm the only one that got the phone call. I've concluded that the blogs are now part of the emergency broadcasting system, and I've been deemed indispensible to the continued functioning of local government. And as long as I get this blog posted before 6PM somebody out there might still be able to "shelter in place until 6PM".

Posted by Lon at 05:49 PM | Comments (2)

December 04, 2006

Living By The Code

Lately I've been concerned about what my city is doing for me in case there's a nuclear war. I was secretly hoping the downtown plaza was actually hiding a very thick concrete bunker where we could all escape the radiation and wait out the nuclear winter playing chess. But after reading the municipal code section 9.60 I realized how wrong I was. It says clearly in our city code that a nuclear war can't be won, and preparation to survive one would just egg-on the war mongers. At first I thought this was a pointless ideological stand, but then I realized that there hasn't been a nuclear war since this section was added to the code. It's really hard to mock success. I wonder if we could build a giant bunker, and stock it full of food and water in case a giant meteor strikes the earth. There's nothing in the city code against doing that. And I'm sure we can all get together and promise not to use it if there's a nuclear war.

This is a timeless favorite from the municipal code for Chico. In addition to telling us how many dogs we can legally house, and how we must all license our bicycles, the City of Chico makes a bold stand on nuclear war. 9.60.010 Declaration of purposes. The city council finds and declares as follows: A. That the possibility of nuclear war is a clear and present danger that threatens not only the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Chico community, but also their very existence. B. That the use of nuclear weapons in the event of war, whether for the purpose of self defense or any other purpose, is totally unacceptable. C. That even participation in preparation against nuclear war is inappropriate in that it lends credence to the belief that such a war is survivable when in fact it is not. D. That by reason of the foregoing, the interest of the citizens of the Chico community will be best served by making the city a nuclear free zone in which the production, testing, maintenance, and storage of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems is prohibited and in which the appropriation or use of city funds or property for participation in or preparation against nuclear war is also prohibited. E. Nothing in this chapter is intended to preclude or hinder the preparation or response of city personnel and resources in preventing or mitigating radiological emergencies other than nuclear war. (Ord. 1564 §2 (part), Ord. 1676) 9.60.020 Definitions. The definitions hereinafter set forth in this section shall govern construction of the words and phrases to be used in this chapter. A. Nuclear Weapons Component of a Nuclear Weapon. “Nuclear weapon” shall mean any bomb or other weapon designed to explode as a result of a chain reaction caused by nuclear fission or fusion. “Component of a nuclear weapon” shall mean any material or device produced or manufactured for use in a nuclear weapon. B. Nuclear Weapon Delivery System - Component of a Nuclear Weapon Delivery System. “Nuclear weapon delivery system” shall mean any equipment designed to transport, propel, or guide a nuclear weapon. “Component of a nuclear weapon system” shall mean any material or device produced or manufactured for use in a nuclear weapon delivery system. (Ord. 1564 §2 (part)) 9.60.030 Prohibition on the production, testing, maintenance and storage of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems. No person shall produce, test, maintain, or store within the city a nuclear weapon, component of a nuclear weapon, nuclear weapon delivery system, or component of a nuclear weapon delivery system. (Ord. 1564 §2 (part)) 9.60.040 Prohibition on appropriation and use of city funds and property for civil defense against a nuclear war. No city funds or property shall be appropriated or used for civil defense against a nuclear war or other preparations for nuclear war, including but not limited to those civil defense measures which address the physical or social aftereffects of a nuclear war. (Ord. 1564 §2 (part)) 9.60.050 Remedy for violations. At the direction of the city council, the city attorney shall file an action in a court of appropriate jurisdiction to enjoin any violations of this chapter. Such action for injunctive relief shall be exclusive of any other remedies whether civil or criminal, provided for by this code. (Ord. 1564 §2 (part))

Posted by Lon at 05:21 PM | Comments (2)

December 03, 2006

No Pressure at the Landfill

A mainstay of fence/deck building or repair is pressure treated lumber. The lumber is rot and insect resistant and has a life span of about twice that of untreated lumber(from my experience). This is the stuff for sale down at Home Depot with a blue-green tint, and often weighs much more than other lumber due to the chemical treatment (they're soaked with liquid when delivered). I once built a lovely fence using all untreated redwood, and then replaced all of the rotten posts 4 years later with treated posts. There's no doubt in my mind that treated lumber is a good building product.

States like Louisiana have long depended on treated lumber to reduce rebuilding costs due to termites. Some forms of the lumber have arsenic content (CCA) that caused California to ban its use for play structures and projects the public will use (like picnic tables). Lawyers began filing lawsuits over arsenic contamination, which of course caused public institutions to take measures to reduce exposure to liability. Now California has banned burying pressure treated lumber in landfills. I found this out this weekend when Neal Road Landfill told me I couldn't dump some treated lumber there. When asked where I should take it they recommended Marysville or Lincoln. Yeah, that's going to happen! So what other options do we have? None that I know of. People will probably hide the treated lumber under loads of rubbish and dump it in the landfill, dump it on private property, burn it, or leave it decomposing in their yards. If treated lumber is truly toxic, then the rules that prevent Neal Road Landfill from accepting it will cause a wider distribution of smaller, unregulated, contaminated sites. This is bad public policy.

What's the result of the landfill restriction? I think we can expect more public headaches like the Jaeger Construction burn piles where a company had to pay $400,000 to cleanup some private property where treated lumber and PVC was burned. Most occurrences along these lines won't be reported. What alternative products are there? There are a number of alternatives to pressure treated lumber with problem chemicals. This EPA site lists some. I have no idea what the cost and availability differences are. From a laymen's point of view Home Depot still sells the pressure treated lumber that is not allowed in California landfills. Why use pressure treated lumber? This "Natural Handyman" site lists some of the benefits and issues with pressure treated lumber a do-it-yourselfer might be interested in. "Natural" in the site name does not refer to an "environmental" ideology. What else is restricted at Neal Road Landfill? I could not find pressure treated lumber as a restricted item on the Neal Road Landfill web site. I did find several other interesting restricted items. Explosives are restricted. So is "tanning sludge" which I think is that creamy residue left in tanning booths around town. My favorite restricted dump item was "other waste", which I guess does cover pressure treated wood.

Posted by Lon at 11:06 AM | Comments (4)

December 02, 2006

Santa Claus Came to Town

Hundreds of people packed the downtown plaza to see the tree lighting. Mayor Gruendl completed what was probably the last of his very public duties as mayor. His speech paid homage to Mary Anne Houx and John Nopel who both recently passed away. He also discussed how the plaza was the beginning of revitalizing the downtown from the core outward. It'll take more than a new park and public spending to make that a reality, but the plaza is a good start. The Mayor received a number of applause lines, but the largest came when he alerted the crowd that he was almost finished speaking. That's not reflective of his speech's reception, just the fact that it was cold and people came to see some tree lights fired up. A children's choir and men's choir sang some Christmas tunes and Santa Claus arrived in a Chico fire truck. The tree lighting went off without a hitch, and the downtown plaza nicely fit the expansive crowd. A group that often gets ignored for their part in these events is the DCBA (Downtown Chico Business Association) and Katrina Davis, who help make many of the downtown events happen.

Posted by Lon at 08:52 AM

December 01, 2006

An Unexpected Chess Move

The downtown chess complex suffered a brief setback recently. The tops fell off two of the tables. The story I heard was that a kid was standing or sitting on one of them and it fell off. Apparently the top was held on by epoxy and it failed. A second one came off a little later. Nobody was hurt (although I'm sure someone could still sue), but an injury could have been severe. If you look under the tables you'll now see metal mounting brackets with bolts connecting the table legs to the table tops. Apparently a local construction design consultant created plans for the tables with the option for metal mounting components to strengthen the connection. The plans were shopped out to an out of town vendor who would do the work for less by using only epoxy. The original designer was shut out of the contract, and epoxy joined tables were produced to save on costs. I heard this second hand so take it for what it's worth. The original designer had not responded to email at the time of this post.

To me the chess tables are symbolic of the entire downtown plaza. The designs are excellent, and Chico may have to grow into them since they depart so significantly from what we're used to. But you can't help but shake your head at the cost, especially compared to some of the things that remain un funded. Things like this happen and we should expect public projects to require repairs or retrofitting. The implementation and actual use of these very expensive art pieces are as important as the decision to fund them to begin with. There's a good article in the Chico Beat print edition (not posted online as I write this) on the chess table failure. There is a minor error in it where Land Image is called Land's Image. I was working on this story for a few days when the Beat scooped me. Damn you all to hell Tom Gasgoyne!

Why was this art project controversial?: This art project was expensive (last I heard $250K for the "area", and $68K for the chess tables). It was also hardly reviewed by public officials, and was fast-tracked through the review process. Public input and alternative designs were for the most part absent from the process. The artist selection process did not follow the rules commonly used by the City of Chico, but instead staff was allowed to select the artist as is done with some capital projects. The artist that did the project was the same artist the city used as a consultant for the plaza design, which if not a rule violation certainly had the appearance of an insider deal.

Posted by Lon at 02:13 PM | Comments (3)

Light'em if you got'em

The Christmas Tree lighting at the new downtown plaza will happen at 6PM tonight. Along with the Christmas Preview (which already happened), this event is one of the downtown events that define Chico for my family. The others are Halloween riots, tubing down the Sac. with a kegger, partying at 4AM on St. Paddy's day, and... oh wait that was what defined Chico when I was in college. Chico has a lot of great events and it seems like more and more come on line as the years go by. This is a fun one, and it'll beat last year which was on the steps at City Hall. Last year Santa arrived in a fire truck, and there was a children's choir populated by some kids from our neighborhood. One thing I've noticed (and I'll blurt out here) is that these community events are usually attended by the "progressive" politicos. I've been to a lot of them and I don't often see "conservative" counselors in attendance. I've shared this observation with others, and they've seen the same thing. I tend to disagree with "feel-good" liberal policies, especially those that cost a bunch of money. But I do appreciate the local politicians that come out to community events and mingle with the rest of us. I think politicians being seen and approachable at community events was a factor in the last election.

Posted by Lon at 10:10 AM