Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

Editor’s note: Russ Steele followed up with an economic development discussion on his NCMedia Watch blog after I proposed a county Economic Summit. It led to a thoughtful, civil discussion here on Sierra Foothills Report: Check out the comments here. Russ’ blog has some thoughtful comments, too, but also some predictable ones. This dialog illustrates the impediments that exist, often with entrenched long timers like “JohnS” who focus on personalities rather than solutions:

“JohnS said…
Yep!, it’s the regulations that have been put in place since 1995, state and local, that will ensure we cannot make it happen. then throw in a good measure of Dizzy Izzy’s (and the like) to file law suits, and our little community is screwed. Oh we’ll try, and we might make some headway, but until we take out the trash we will continue to decline.
And for once I think Steve Frisch had a moment of clarity when he said “Everything should be on the table–everything”.
There may be hope for him yet.

Reply June 08, 2011 at 07:51 PM

Steve Enos said in reply to JohnS…
Is it possible to comment on the issues without making personal, snide remarks that under mine the ability to work together on community issues?”

And with that, the discussion on Russ’ blog paused.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 12 Comments »

The graduation season is underway, our elementary school aged son included. He received a certificate as the best math student in his class, including word problems, the teacher noted. He also received a “signed” certificate from none other than President Barack Obama for passing a national fitness test. We are justifiably proud — like parents across our nation.

But the biggest challenges are faced by the students are entering the job market. “This month’s bad news about jobs — that fewer were created in the private sector in May than at any time in almost a year — couldn’t come at a worse time for young people,” as PBS reports.

“Reports have shown that for the past couple years that (new graduates) have joined the older generation in taking a hit. A large number have moved back home with their parents after graduation; another large percentage have had to settle for lower paying jobs, or for jobs in fields outside their area of main interest,” it continues.

“It’s too early to know what this means for their confidence in the future, but studies show that getting a late start on the job of one’s choice – and starting at a lower salary level – often means lower total earnings over the course of a career because of the difficulty in playing catch-up.”

The rest of the article is here.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

The San Jose Mercury News is testing a commenting system that ties Facebook to the bottom of each article published on its website, MercuryNews.com.

To comment on an article you must log into Facebook. If you prefer to remain anonymous, you can participate in discussions in a forum section.

“We’ve found that more people join the conversation and article commenting becomes more civil when a person is easily identifiable with their name and face attached to a comment,” according to the newspaper.

More details are here.

Some readers are not pleased, however:

“Facebook comments tied to articles is a bad idea all around,” according to one (anonymous) poster in the forum.

“1. loss of anonymous speech – a Constitutional right well protected in courts.

2. New tracking information for facebook – another bad idea.

3. No trackback so you don’t know when someone else publishes a comment – thus, less dialog and more diatribe.

4. User intimidation – Since there is no way to know initially that you can prevent the post from being seen on your Facebook account, many people will eschew its use for privacy concerns.

5. Cross purposes – Facebook is largely a social media outlet, not an editorial/news one. News outlets are supposed to provide political/news stories. These are clearly not the same.

I could go on, but really, isn’t that enough to see that this is a really bad idea?

Count me as another who will not use this system, ever.”

Sierra Foothills Reports offers two options — each one encouraging signed comments: There are comments via WordPress at the bottom of each article, as well as automated posts to my Facebook account, where readers can comment.

For newspapers, tying Facebook to the bottom of each article for commenting saves them the effort (and expense) of having a dedicated moderator. On the other hand, it raises some of the concerns expressed by the naysayers.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

Our Assemblyman Dan Logue likes to bash the Golden State, going so far as to draft the Texas Governor for President because of his supposed job creation skills.

Well here’s something for Californians (including Logue) to celebrate: Apple Computer has revealed plans for a new Cupertino headquarters with room for 12,000 employees.

Chief executive Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance before the Cupertino City Council to share renderings of the new headquarters.

“I think we’ve found a way to stay in Cupertino,” he told them, reminding the politicians that “since we’re your largest taxpayers, we thought you’d be happy about it.”

“Apple is growing like a weed” and needs to expand from its current headquarters on Infinite Loop, as the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »