Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

I’ve noticed that people around here like to spread rumors and misinformation out of self interest. It happens all the time.

Here’s an excerpt from hard-right blogger Russ Steele’s blog about the APPLE Center, in a communication with our Congressman Tom McClintock, no less.

I’m hoping some APPLE Center members or board members who comment here — Don Pelton, Mali Dyck or Reinette Senum — can respond to whether this is an accurate account or not.

•Also, did Congressman McClintock visit the APPLE Center or did he contact the APPLE Center to confirm Russ’ comments? Tom was in town about two weeks ago.

•What if the APPLE Center grant was withdrawn based on misinformation?

•How would that reflect on Russ or Congressman McClintock? Did Russ confirm this account with the APPLE Center? Did he “cc” them with his account?

“The compost center was proposed to the Butte PIC as a worm farm. I wrote this to Congressman McClintock about the PIC and APPLE Center relationship:

“The Butte County PIC is the service provider for the Federal Workforce Investment Act of 2000. This PIC gave the Alliance for a Post Petroleum Local Economy (APPLE) money to refurbish a building owned by the city of Nevada City to green standards, pay the rent on the building for two years ($19,200), and $40,000 dollars to start a worm farm and create 7 management jobs, and 2-10 part time laborers jobs.

“The contract was personal service agreement between A.P.P.L.E and the Butte County Private Industry Council for FY2009/2010. This Service Contract was granted based on an incomplete business plan without the Financial and Marketing Sections being completed. There was no way for the PIC Board to determine if the A.P.P.L.E Worm Farm was a viable project based on the Business Plan provided to the PIC. Nor, were there were any performance requirements stipulated in the Service Agreement.

“It is now the Spring of 2011 and there is no worm farm and no jobs and we have no idea how the $40,000 dollars was spent. The city building and A.P.P.L.E Staff have been used to promote all kinds of environmental causes, but has not created any sustainable jobs. Handing our Federal money without adequate oversight and performance requirements should not be allowed.

“The Apple Center has had two years and multiple generious Federal Grants to become sustainable, and so far they have failed. That is not a great record for a Center on Sustainable Living. Yet, it is testament how our tax dollars get spent when their are no performace clauses that demand results.”

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The Private Industry Council of Butte County is shutting down, putting the Nevada City-based Stonehouse Hospitality Academy and APPLE Center’s future in jeopardy. More than a dozen local jobs are at stake in Nevada City alone.

Agencies receiving PIC funding also included the One Stop Business and Career Center in Grass Valley and Sierra Commons, as well as businesses in Butte County, as the Chico Enterprise Record reported on Thursday.

Last week, the House of Representatives approved a budget that eliminates Workforce Investment Act funding, which funds the so-called PIC Programs. The background is here.

Our Congressman Tom McClintock — who represents the soon-to-be jobless workers in our western county — voted for the budget. It passed by 235 to 189. The vote came after McClintock recently visited Nevada City to speak to locals about “job growth.” The Senate has yet to vote on the budget, and President Obama said he will veto the House version.

“(PIC President John) Peace said furloughs were issued because there still are questions about the funding future, but also because PIC wanted to make sure it could meet payroll and was looking to cut expenses,” according to the Chico ER. “All I can say is that we are losing our federal funding under HR 1 — the continuing resolution before Congress,” Peace added.

Rather than regurgitating the Chico ER’s report online — as The Union and gloating hard-right bloggers have done — I called Henry Harman, manager of the Hospitality Academy and Mali Dyck, executive director of the APPLE Center, for the “scoop.”

•The Stonehouse Academy is slated to close on Monday, putting 12 people out of work, according to Harman. But the Academy and the building’s owner are working on a plan that will keep the school open. The background on the academy — a successful private-public partnership — is here.

The Stonehouse Academy plan would involve finding some private investors or tenants who could help keep the academy open. Sierra Commons also is a tenant in the building.

•The APPLE Center is owed about $3,000 from the Private Industry Council under a previously approved grant and pays the lease for the group’s building. But the APPLE Center is working on a plan to become independent after June anyway, when the PIC support expired, Mali said.

The building is owned by the city, so APPLE could receive some rent relief. In addition, the store has begun to generate some revenue from its eco-store, as well as becoming an e-waste center. A plan to become a compost center remains in the works and is supported by many residents.

Though the APPLE Center and Stonehouse face challenges, thanks to federal funding being yanked from under them, it’s good to hear they are working on a “Plan B.” We wish them luck, and they have our support.

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Mother Jones has provided some charts that illustrate the income inequality in America. The article is here:

•How rich are the super rich?

•Out of balance

•Why Washington is closer to Main Street than Wall Street:

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“Under the Volcano” by Malcolm Lowry is one of my favorite novels.

It also is the metaphor that is being used to express our addiction to oil, brought on by the widening revolts in Arab nations.

“’America, you have built your house at the foot of a volcano. That volcano is now spewing lava from different cracks and is rumbling like it’s going to blow. Move your house!’ In this case, ‘move your house’ means ‘end your addiction to oil,’” Thomas Friedman writes in the New York Times.

It comes as oil is topping $100 a barrel due to the unrest in Libya — a large oil-producing nation.

“For the last 50 years, America (and Europe and Asia) have treated the Middle East as if it were just a collection of big gas stations: Saudi station, Iran station, Kuwait station, Bahrain station, Egypt station, Libya station, Iraq station, United Arab Emirates station, etc.,” Friedman writes.

“Our message to the region has been very consistent: “Guys (it was only guys we spoke with), here’s the deal. Keep your pumps open, your oil prices low, don’t bother the Israelis too much and, as far as we’re concerned, you can do whatever you want out back.”

Friedman and others are making a cogent argument, but will anybody listen this time?

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Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, a Republican, was elected to office in November 2008. Zoeller served as Assistant to Vice President Dan Quayle in the White House from 1989-1991. His website promises to “protect the rights, freedoms and safety” of its citizens.

Now, however, Zoeller’s office, is making national headlines for the wrong reason. An Indiana deputy AG was fired after he urged police to “use live ammunition” on Twitter.

“The exchange started Sunday, when Jeff Cox, 39, tweeted ‘use live ammunition’ in response to a Mother Jones tweet that riot police had been ordered to remove union supporters from the Wisconsin state Capitol in Madison,” as the Indianapolis Star reports.

“He tweeted back that the demonstrators were ‘political enemies’ and ‘thugs’ who were ‘physically threatening legally elected officials,’ ” Mother Jones wrote in Wednesday’s article. “In response to such behavior, he said, ‘You’re damned right I advocate deadly force.’ He later called me a ‘typical leftist,’ adding, ‘Liberals hate police.’ “

“Civility and courtesy toward all members of the public are very important to the Indiana Attorney General’s Office,” the AG’s office said in a statement. “We respect individuals’ First Amendment right to express their personal views on private online forums, but as public servants we are held by the public to a higher standard, and we should strive for civility.”

Zoeller wasn’t available Wednesday for comment, according to the newspaper. Spokesman Bryan Corbin said it’s the first time the office has terminated anyone over social media use.

Cox admitted to a “lousy choice” of words.

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As expected, the pro-development Grass Valley planning commission unanimously approved the environmental report for a less-than-impressive Loma Rica housing project on Wednesday. The background is here.

Critics justifiably complain that the project doesn’t contain the sparkle of before — ranging from “walkability” to honoring a world-famous racehorse that is buried there, named Noor.

I first wrote about this issue more than a year ago, though it’s starting to become more public now. See “Will Noor’s grave at Loma Rica become a business park?” here.

Like a child before it was a glimmer in “your daddy’s or mommy’s eye,” the Loma Rica project faces a long path ahead.

You can expect Grass Valley’s pro-development City Council to embrace the “new, unimproved” project too. No matter what they say, it’s one key reason for embracing the Dorsey Drive interchange.

But the test comes with the community as a whole. My prediction is that the Loma
Rica project eventually will go to a vote.

It will lead to the same growth vs. no growth stalemate that makes our community infamous, but with a new twist: Many residents complain it is an inferior project that comes amid a record housing glut.

When it comes to Loma Rica, don’t hold your breath. We will need new civic, elected and business leadership to get deals like this cleared. There’s too much self-inflicted animosity.

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