No word from the local media, but the Nevada City Tech Center and the City of Nevada City is seeking a general plan amendment at this week’s planning commission meeting from “employment center” to “mixed residential” for 10.9 acres and to “urban high density multiple family residential” for 2 acres.
All told, this would result in a maximum of 59 residential units, according to a memo. The site is currently unimproved.
Creating a Tech Center at 210 Providence Mine Rd. with tech companies has been difficult. 2Wire, which recently was acquired, is an anchor tenant. The housing plan is expected to draw some criticism from some locals.
“It is noted that since 2004, a serious economic recession has been under way that has no doubt diminished the total number of jobs in both the city and county by as much as 10-15 percent,” the memo reads.
I have alluded to this housing plan previously, but it hasn’t drawn much attention in the local press.
In addition, a proposal will be considered to rezone a 1 acre lot at 646 Searls Ave. to accommodate up to 16 various sized, multi-family housing units. An existing home and garage are on the site.
The meeting is Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. Action may be taken on any item on the agenda.
“As the recent mid-term elections progressed towards their culmination, and in their immediate aftermath, one theme clearly emerged for the Tea Party Movement’s success: They are ready to shut down the federal government to enforce spending discipline,” writes John Dean, the former counsel to the president, on FindLaw.com. “While choking government operations by fiscal inaction is outrageous, we have all been warned that extreme behavior is the Tea Party’s norm.”
Mark Meckler, who lives in our county, pounded the shutdown drum before the election, as Dean observed, adding there is a growing consensus we are headed toward one or more government shutdowns to implement the “radical Tea Party agenda.”
“This tactic operates with about the same finesse as those used by Mexican drug lords. As the Tea Party Movement candidates enter the Washington political arena — with their penchant for Second Amendment remedies — shutting down the government could be one of their friendlier strategies, unless, of course, the GOP establishment co-opts this crew.”
“But yesterday’s Republican radicals, like Mitchell McConnell and John Boehner, actually look reasonable if put in a room with Rand Paul and Michelle Bachman — the poster people for the Tea Party.”
Here’s how shutdowns work:
Under Article I, Section 9, clause 7 of the Constitution — often called the “appropriations clause” — funds cannot be drawn from the Federal Treasury, or obligated by federal officials, unless Congress has appropriated the money by law.
“As the country has grown more polarized, particularly since the Reagan Administration, it has become increasingly difficult for Congress and the White House to agree upon the appropriations needed to fund the federal budget,” according to Dean.
He worries that “when the thug-talking Tea Party players get going in Washington this coming January, they may successfully bully their way with President Obama.”
The bottom line: “It is time now to plan for the bad behavior that will be coming to Washington with the Tea Party Movement, and to recognize the high stakes that will be involved when they threaten to shut down the government.”
Regular readers of this blog can’t state they weren’t warned — before June or the November elections. Where’s the local media on this story? Last I checked, they were patting Mark Meckler on the head.
The nasty post-election rhetoric of the hard right won’t abate — here and elsewhere.
It often starts at the top. “I support this week’s (September 23) Republican ‘you cut’ proposal to reduce the federal work force to its pre-Obama level by phasing out 188,000 new Obama bureaucrats,” said our Congressman Tom McClintock in a message posted on CABPRO’s website this morning.
“New Obama bureaucrats”? How about “federal workers”? The bailout that created many of the jobs passed in both houses of Congress. It’s over.
Here’s how the bi-partisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, led by a Democrat and a Republican, handled the issue.
“Cut the federal workforce by 10 percent (2-for-3 replacerement rate). This proposal would reduce the federal workforce by 200,000 by 2020.”
A little more respectful isn’t it?
•This is the same Congressman who said it’s time to replace the “left wing” clerk-recorder.
•It’s also the same Congressman who said wrote a letter of “support” for a local broadband grant stating, “My support for the project should in no way be interpreted as an endorsement of AARA, which I believe was one of the most ill-advised acts ever passed.” The grant lost.
•It’s also the same Congressman who said to his supporters “agitate in every forum you can” and “take back” the White House.
And according to Tom, “Ironically, in Reagan’s home state, Republicans tried to campaign to the left of the Democrats and the result was disastrous.” Our Congressman wouldn’t even endorse the GOP’s own candidate for governor.
Let’s also not forget that our Congressman talks out both sides of his mouth: Though he likes to rail against government spending, he’s a big spender on Congressional mass mail (funded by taxpayers) to promote himself. The details are here.
There’s also a misperception that Tom “won” our county by a wide margin. But the latest election results show McClintock holding on to a mere 2 point lead when you add the results of his opponents — Clint Curtis and Ben Emery — against him. What kind of “mandate” is that?
TOM MCCLINTOCK (REP) 19,291 51.1%
CLINT CURTIS (DEM) 13,984 37.1%
BENJAMIN “BEN” EMERY (GRN) 4,468 11.8%
“By the way Ben, congratulations again on winning the Congressional race in Truckee,” as one reader observed.
Around here some spokespeople for the hard right rhetoric — including a former county Supervisor and CABPRO founder — has resorted to calling people “Nazi’s” who don’t toe their political line.
“Whoops, Godwin’s Law violation,” as one reader wrote. “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches,” said another, who defined this. “In other words, Godwin put forth the sarcastic observation that, given enough time, all discussions—regardless of topic or scope—inevitably end up being about Hitler and the Nazis.”
Sounds like a bottom of the barrel discussion to me.
Exit question: Is the hard right uniting, or dividing us, with its post-election rhetoric? What are we going to do about it? After all, most of us are “in the middle.”
Here’s a well-publicized video of Rand Paul supporters stomping on a woman’s head.
No word from the local media, but the Nevada City Tech Center and the City of Nevada City is seeking a general plan amendment at this week’s planning commission meeting from “employment center” to “mixed residential” for 10.9 acres and to “urban high density multiple family residential” for 2 acres.
