Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

I often get more of my news, and I get it faster, on social media. Here’s a good example from Tuesday night:

“APPLE Center for Sustainable Living

“In an extraordinary effort of common sense, Council Members Cookson, Foyer and Swarthout amended the proposed chicken ordinance and passed it 4-1, with Dan Miller voting no and Mayor Arbuckle joining the majority.

The ordinance: 4 chickens, 5,000 square foot min lot, no registration, no additional setbacks, no sunset clause.”

There’s reader react too: Five “likes” and a comment “APPLE rocks . . . so glad this organization exsits.”

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“Get better candidates” is what one prominent moderate Republican around here suggested when the whiners came forward about losing local races.

The same could be said nationally.

“Paul Ryan delivered a heck of a rebuttal tonight, especially if you wanted to make one of those ‘Sarah Palin breathing’ videos. But as far as the facts — on taxes, stimulus, and health care reform — go, a lot of Ryan’s rebuttal came rebutted-back in advance of its delivery.”

The Huffington Post article is here.

It does a good job of separating the rhetorical wheat from the chaff. Here’s one that bothers me. Ryan has declared the “stimulus” package to be a failure.

But here are some signs of improvement:

In short Ryan is just another rookie. Obama will get re-elected to a second term, as I’ve predicted before.

My only questions: When will his critics concede?

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A large majority of Americans approved of President Obama’s message in his State of the Union on Tuesday night, according to a CBS News Poll of speech watchers.

“According to the poll, which was conducted online by Knowledge Networks immediately after the president’s address, 91 percent of those who watched the speech approved of the proposals Mr. Obama put forth during his remarks, while only nine percent disapproved,” according to CBS News.

“Specifically, 82 percent of those who watched the speech said they approve of the president’s plans for the economy, up from 53 percent who approved before the speech.

“The sight of Democrats and Republicans sitting side by side gave speech watchers more confidence about cooperation: 62 percent said they expect more bipartisanship now than in years past.”

The article is here.

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I received this email:

The APPLE Center for Sustainable Living is now a drop-off location for “e-waste.”
Say goodbye to unwanted TVs, fax machines, computers, printers, etc.
We Collect:
Flat-screen TVs
Regular TVs
Computers
Monitors
Laptops
Printers
Fax machines
Cell phones

Drop-Off Location:
The APPLE Center for Sustainable Living
412 Commercial Street
Nevada City, CA 95959
530-478-1700

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I was away from my desk all day, but I’m the first to report this: The Grass Valley Development Review Committee rejected plans for an 11-foot lumberjack statue outside of the Lumberjack Restaurant in Brunswick Basin.

The figure is a sign by definition of the city statute, Steve Enos, speaking on behalf of Grass Valley neighbors, argued. The restaurant already had exceeded its square footage signage, Enos added.

“Staff believes the statue is compatible with the recent building façade and sign changes that took place to reflect a more rustic, logging theme,” according to a staff report. City planning director Tom Last supported this position.

In the end, Patti Ingram, the planning commission’s representative to the Development Review Committee and Tony Rosa, the city’s architectural consultant, spoke up for the rules — and Enos’ position.

Ingram also asked Lumberjacks to remove their banner sign advertising discount breakfast items, arguing it was out of compliance.

The decision can be appealed to the planning commission.

As with any issue there are winners and losers. The winners would appear to be Paulette’s Kitchen and Penny’s Diner, who compete with Lumberjacks in the “big boy” market.

Lumberjack is expected to review its options. It expressed surprise because the statue is at its other restaurants.

The sign ordinance reads: “A structure, device, figure, display, message placard, or other contrivance, or any part thereof, situated outdoors or indoors, which is designed, constructed, intended, or used to advertise, or to provide
information in the nature of advertising, to direct or attract attention to an object, person, institution, business, product, service, event, or location by any means, including words, letters, figures, designs, symbols, fixtures, colors, illumination, or projected images.

“Does not include murals, paintings and other works of art that are not intended to advertise or identify any business or product. Types of signs include the following, which are defined for the purposes of Chapter 17.38 (Signs).”

Footnote: The Union’s Trina Kleist plans to write about the city of Grass Valley, a beat she has been assigned to in the past. Trina brings some experience and expertise to the beat.

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“President Obama will call for a five year freeze on non-security discretionary spending in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, White House officials said, in a bid to help reduce the deficit and counter public perceptions that he spent too freely in his first two years in power,” the L.A. Times is reporting.

“Obama will also discuss plans to find budget cuts wherever he can, the White House said. The military, for example, isn’t covered by the proposed freeze, yet Obama will advance a separate five-year plan, drawn up by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, to achieve $78 billion in savings, the White House said.

“Obama is also expected to make job creation a main thrust of the speech, his second State of the Union address since taking office.

Obama’s speech, set for 6 p.m. PST, is his latest attempt to cast himself as a centrist following the midterm-election results of November.”

The rest of the article is here.

Here’s a video on the State of the Union address:

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“‘The King’s Speech’ dominated the Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning, earning 12 nods including best picture and best lead actor for Colin Firth as King George VI, who battles to eradicate his stammer before he unexpectedly takes the throne,” according to the L.A. Times

“Joel and Ethan Coen’s spirited remake of the western ‘True Grit’ followed with 10 nominations for the 83rd annual Academy Awards, including best picture. ‘The Social Network’ and ‘Inception’ scored eight apiece.

“Those four films are in the running for best picture with six other movies: ‘Black Swan,’ ‘The Fighter,’ ‘The Kids Are All Right,’ ’127 Hours,’ ‘Toy Story 3′ and ‘Winter’s Bone.’ ‘Toy Story 3′ is also nominated in four more categories, including best animated feature.”

More details are here.

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Whether it’s an unlimited gas card for travel, mass mailings at taxpayer expense, the hypocrisy among politicans is rampant. Here’s the latest example:

“Texas Governor Rick Perry, the Democrat-turned-Republican who served as George W. Bush’s lieutenant and won his third term last year, wants you to think he’s not a fan of federal bailouts,” according to Raw Story.

“Yet, on the same day ‘Texans for Rick Perry’ launched their “No Government Bailouts” campaign, Perry himself was lining up with the rest of the states asking for billions in federal funding from President Barack Obama’s Recovery Act.”

“Despite having $9.1 billion in surplus in a so-called ‘rainy day fund,’ Texas faced a $6.6 billion budget deficit in the 2010-11 fiscal years. To fill that gap, the state took $6.4 billion from the Obama administration and declared their budget gap covered, freeing up the Republicans who dominated the legislature to run on their fiscal responsibility.

The rest of the article is here.

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“While Gov. Jerry Brown struggles to erase $25 billion in red ink from the state budget by slashing everything from cell phones to staff, California lawmakers routinely rack up thousands of dollars in bills annually with a political perk unique in the country – no-limit, state-issued gasoline credit cards,” according to the S.F. Chronicle.

“Last year, California taxpayers footed the bill for those legislative gas credit cards – $208,862 for the 80-member Assembly and $86,762 for the 40-member state Senate, according to documents requested by The Chronicle through the state’s open records laws.”

Our Assemblyman Dan Logue ranked third among all assemblymen, spending $6,441 on his unlimited card last year.

The state-issued plastic is supposed to be used for legislative purposes only — although there is no limit specified for daily or annual spending on the card. California is alone among states in offering this perk. Most other states reserve it for leadership — or simply reimburse for mileage.

Proponents attribute the the policy to the state’s vast land mass, including districts such as Logue’s. But others find the unlimited, no-spending limit excessive.

“If you’re making cuts for the blind, the elderly and the schoolkids, then you shouldn’t have unlimited credit cards for gas,” Jamie Court, of Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog. “And if you don’t rip up your credit card, how do you look constituents in the eye when you close their parks and take away their health care?”

Perhaps Logue or a fellow assemblyman could back an effort to simply reimburse for mileage — as the rest of us do in the private sector. Logue is making a field trip to Texas, so perhaps he could learn about their policy.

(As I’ve written before, our Congressman Tom McClintock likes to rail against government spending, but he is among the biggest spenders when it comes to Congressional mass mailings paid for by taxpayers to promote himself back home.

Top gas card spenders in 2010

Assembly

Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber (Tehama County), $10,410.68

Isadore Hall, D-Compton (Los Angeles County), $6,739.81

Dan Logue, R-Linda (Yuba County), $6,441.70

Van Tran*, R-Costa Mesa (Orange County), $5,773.79

Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert (Riverside County), $5,681.14

The rest of the article is here.

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Editor’s note: Robert Davila of the Sacramento Bee has written a wonderful obituary about Nevada City artist Charles Woods in Tuesday’s paper. Robert contacted me on Friday after he saw my post about Charles’ passing, and I put him in touch with Paul Matson. A blogging network is very powerful to help showcase our community and its residents to the region.

“Charles F. Woods, a longtime Nevada City resident and cultural force who helped revitalize the historic mining town as a haven for artists, alternative-radio listeners and teddy bear lovers, has died at age 79.

“He died Thursday of complications related to a recent stroke, former Nevada City Mayor Paul Matson said.

“Mr. Woods and his longtime business and life partner, David Osborn, were Bay Area graphic artists who settled in Nevada City in 1957. They opened Osborn/Woods, a shop where they designed, created and sold silk-screened cards and lithographs.

“The pair supported the arts and preservation of the region’s mining heritage. In 1972, they bought and converted the historic Miners Foundry into the American Victorian Museum to display a trove of 19th-century architectural and cultural artifacts.

“The former industrial site became a lively downtown center for civic and cultural activities. Besides performances by local theater groups, the museum hosted appearances by poet Allen Ginsberg and Gov. Jerry Brown and concerts by Buffalo Springfield, Tower of Power and Kate Wolf.”

The rest of the article is here.

Read more:

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