Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Editor’s note: Howard Levine, executive director of the Grass Valley Downtown Association, has commented here, providing a solid economic analysis of the state of the downtown, in response to reader queries. Thanks Howard!

“The facts are approximate, but these are the statistics. The GVDA has about 600,000 sq. ft of first and second floor rentable space (adding in the Gold Miners Inn, Holiday Inn retail area). Currently, there is about 2,200 sq. ft available at 130 E. Main where Dena’s on Main was, maybe 1,500 sq. ft. where Passe used to be at the end of E. Main (they are now by the clock), about 1,000 sq. ft. of usable space on Bank Street under Sole Mates. Upstairs there is a larger space, 200 sq. ft. where Pilates Place was, entering from the South Church parking lot. There is another second floor space above Ragtime, about 1,700 sq. ft.

“That is a total of about 4,700 sq. ft retail first floor and a total of approx. 8,400 sq. ft. There may be a few more here or there, but it is at about 1.4% total, close to 1% first floor of the total.

“As businesses have changed some business have moved closer to the core (Mill St.) for better locations with higher traffic, others have re-sized for survival with lower rents. We have had a number of new businesses, but it is not much more than normal. Our major core businesses are surviving, however, it is common knowledge we are not in a bubble. It is important to be ‘right sized’ when it comes to inventory, staff and size and rent per square foot.

“The business district sales tax revenue is a smaller percentage of the overall sales tax revenue of the City since the Glenbrook Basin was annexed. The sale tax numbers that have been reported over the last few years have been down but the are incrementally inching back up. The numbers in downtown change if there is or is not a used car lot on East Main but that is not of really great significance.

“The Downtown area has had a decline in employees, but there is more parking available for customers. My estimate is that we have lost about 80 employees downtown, mostly part time.”

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I enjoy celebrating the diversity in my home-state. I’ve lived in other places — Denver, Chicago, Miami and the like — but California will always be my home.

I grew up in Los Angeles, and one of my favorite artists and authors is Leo Politi. Fresno-born Politi (1908-1996) was an Italian-American artist and author who wrote and illustrated some 20 children’s books, as well as a book called Bunker Hill, Los Angeles (1964), for grown ups. Politi’s birthday is this month.

Many of his books, “Meiko,” “Pedro, the Angel of Olvera Street,” and “Mr. Fong’s Toyshop,” celebrate the diversity of the Los Angeles area. They were written between 1946 and 1989 and beautifully illustrated in water color. Besides Pedro, he wrote about Moy Moy, a girl in Chinatown, and Meiko, a girl in Japantown.

We have many displayed on our bookshelves at home, alongside some history books of Nevada City and Grass Valley (Nevada City by Orval Bronson, for example). Some of them have a handwritten greeting, as Politi had book signings at children’s bookstores in L.A. (You can see an example of Politi’s illustration and the elaborate greeting in the video below).

Politi began painting from a spot on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. During the Depression, he sold his paintings there.

“An aficionado of Los Angeles who could frequently be found sketching children on Olvera Street, Politi is remembered for both his gentle disposition and soothing watercolors,” according to a biography on a website maintained by his family and friends.

“He was a fan of Bunker Hill, Chinatown, Little Tokyo and the Historic Core, all of which he captured in books. His work encompassed much of California, and his honors included the prestigious Caldecott Medal and having a local school named after him.”

In 1977 he painted the mural “The Blessing of the Animals” on the side of a downtown L.A. building, depicting the annual Olvera Street event.

An L.A. elementary school, a small park near Dodger Stadium and this year, a garden at Fresno State is named after him.

The Getty Museum is republishing some of the books, too.

Politi’s work is a reminder that we have much diversity to celebrate in our state.

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Two years ago this month, we had to put down our 14-year-old yellow lab “Gretchen.” Though she was older, we didn’t expect it then — just before Thanksgiving.

We walked the grounds of the Loomis Basin Vet Clinic, a little dazed, knowing we soon we have to say goodbye for the last time. Dr. Jon Peek — our vet here, and the same doctor who put down the famous racehorse “Noor” and told me about that experience — had prepared us for the inevitable.

We got a book for our son “Dog Heaven” to help him understand: “When dogs go to heaven they don’t need wings, because they like running best,” it reads.

I wrote an obit for Gretchen: “We will miss your companionship, your thumping tail, our walks in the woods together, swimming and sailing with you at the lake, and napping next to you in front of the fireplace.

“You were a fixture at the foot of our bed for more than 13 years, friendly to all, and definitely weren’t a picky eater. You were our first ‘child,’ a ‘counselor’ to us on occasion, and a constant reminder why a dog is a man’s best friend.”

We could never replace Gretchen, but we now have a two-year-old red lab named Whiskey (pictured here). She is a wonderful dog: happy, playful, a swimmer and smart. Whiskey can carry The New York Times to our doorstep (when we subscribe during the wintertime). Her hips had been a concern, but her mobility remains excellent, the vet said in a checkup this month.

The relationship between dogs and humans has been documented for many thousands of years. I’m a big fan of the Dutch masters’ paintings of dogs — sitting beside their “master” or pulling a fowl off the dinner table when the guests are looking the other way. Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum houses some of them.

Here’s a video of a soldier coming home from Afghanistan to his dog. It’s very heartwarming:

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