Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

UPDATE: I found the document that the FDIC sent to Citizens Bank. It is 2011-06-029. Why isn’t The Union reporting this?

“A struggling Nevada City bank has been hit with a warning notice by federal regulators over its weakened financial state,” according to the Sacramento Bee.

“Citizens Bank of Northern California was given a “prompt corrective action directive” by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The notice went out in late June but wasn’t disclosed by the FDIC until today.

The FDIC ordered the bank to sell enough stock to become “adequately capitalized” or agree to be sold altogether to another bank.

The bank’s president Gary Gall couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

The rest of the article is here.

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“The California Citizens Redistricting Commission approved new district lines Friday, setting off what is expected to be more competitive Congressional races than the state has seen in decades,” according to Roll Call.

“The final draft of the new Congressional map shuffles the delegation’s lineup by moving incumbents into new districts and, in at least three cases, forcing Members to run against each other.

“Republicans feel the map has improved for them since the first draft was released June 10, but Democrats stand to pick up two to four seats under the new map, with some experienced Democratic analysts predicting that gains of five to six seats are possible.”

“Republican Reps. Dan Lungren and Tom McClintock were both drawn into the new Sacramento-area 7th district, but McClintock told Roll Call on Friday that he will run in the 4th district, which has a strong Republican lean and includes most of his old district. Lungren’s district is competitive, and he already has at least one Democratic challenger in Ami Bera, who took on Lungren last year as well.

The rest of the article is here.

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Editor’s note: This, also from the Friday memo, is likely to stir debate. Proposed rezoning of the HEW parcels to 20 units per acre to accommodate a high-density housing project that was written about here previously. The background, including the Litchfield Construction proposal for the condos, is here.

The Nevada County Facilities Management Department has filed a Zoning Map (Rezone) and General Plan Land Use Map Amendment (GPA) application for the H.E.W. Building located at 10433, 10523 (APN 36-310-60) and 10599 (APN 36-310-39) Willow Valley Road in the Nevada City Sphere of Influence. The project is a proposal to Rezone and amend the General Plan Land Use Map for the two County-owned H.E.W. parcels, consisting of approximately 11.97 acres, from P/PUB to R3/UHD (APN 36-310-60) and RA-3/EST to R3/UHD (APN 36-310-39).

Consistent with the County General Plan, the R3 zoning would allow a maximum density of 20-units per acre because the H.E.W. properties are located within the Nevada City Sphere of Influence. This Rezone/GPA project is only proposing to establish the R3/UHD zoning/general plan designation for these sites and is intended to assist the County in meeting a portion of its 2003-2008 and 2009-2014 Housing Element unmet Regional Housing Need Allocation.

The Rezone/GPA does not include a proposal for land development and all future proposals will require sufficient due process, including application for the appropriate land use entitlements and CEQA review. Additionally, all proposals for future land development will be required to demonstrate that adequate infrastructure is available to support any proposed use. Should you have questions about the Rezone and General Plan Map Amendment process please contact the project planner, Tyler Barrington at 470-2723.

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Editor’s note: From the Friday memo:

You may have read in the news media that the FAA has closed down all “nonessential” operations. The FAA has been on numerous continuing budget resolutions since 2007.
Recently Congress failed to pass another continuing resolution causing the FAA shutdown. During the shutdown the FAA will not be processing grant and contract activities. As you know the Nevada County Airport is currently initiating major capital projects for erosion and drainage improvements and runway rehab & repair. These projects totaling approximately $2.4 M will be funded in large part by FAA grants which now have been placed on hold. Bids for the project have been submitted and are valid for 90 days and will expire on October 14. FAA personnel prior to their shut down have indicated that a grant award will take 3-4 weeks to process and depending how long the shut down lasts we may not be in a position to award a contract for the projects as we will not have approval on a grant.

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Editor’s note: This press release appeared in the county’s Friday Memo.

Nevada County Clerk-Recorder, Gregory J. Diaz, is pleased to announce that the California Secretary of State’s office has certified Nevada County Elections as an official Ballot Finisher, defined as an entity that “processes sheets or unfinished ballot cards to make ballot cards to be used in California elections.”

Certification requires:
• Knowledge of ballot creation and layout regulations
• Accurate inventory control forms and ballot security documentation
• Enforcing a high level of ballot security during the finishing (printing) process
• Ensuring finished ballots are securely transported from one location to another
• Voting System vendor testing and certification of ballot production quality
• On-site inspection

The rigorous certification process was a year-long endeavor, beginning with the creation of the ballot finishing program, requiring approval from the voting system vendor, and culminating in an on-site inspection of the facility and security measures by a representative from the Secretary of State’s office; Nevada County Elections staff successfully satisfied all these requirements.

Earning this certification allows the Nevada County Elections Office the opportunity to realize possible cost savings on ballot printing in upcoming elections. Printing ballots on demand eliminates the practice of estimating ballot inventory levels needed for an election, which will increase both efficiency and security going forward.

Special thanks to Assistant Clerk-Recorder, Gail Smith, and Clerk-Recorder Assistant I, Elise Strickler, for their hard work during the process and successful completion of Nevada County Elections’ Ballot Finishing Certification.

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“(Calaveras County) Supervisor Darren Spellman has tentatively withdrawn his congressional bid pending official confirmation that Rep. Tom McClintock will be the Republican candidate for the district,” according to the Calaveras Enterprise.

Spellman launched his short-lived campaign at a town hall meeting hosted by Rep. Dan Lungren in May. Spellman stated that he was running specifically to unseat Lungren and said his campaign now “depends on whether Dan Lungren intends to try to represent our area.”

“If Lungren knows what’s best for him, he won’t come poking around here,” Spellman added.

McClintock, who lives in Elk Grove, would not be a resident of the district, but his campaign manager, John Huey, confirmed he intends to run. He currently represents District 4, which encompasses Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Placer and El Dorado counties.

“He’s one of the people that inspired me to run for politics when I saw him back in ’09 at the state Capitol,” Spellman said. “He would do a great job.”

The congressional district – titled Foothills with a number to come later – puts Calaveras in one district with other foothill counties instead of connecting it with Sacramento. The Foothills district would include Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Alpine, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties.

The rest of the article is here.

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This from Paul Krugman in the New York Times is worth noting:

“The facts of the crisis over the debt ceiling aren’t complicated. Republicans have, in effect, taken America hostage, threatening to undermine the economy and disrupt the essential business of government unless they get policy concessions they would never have been able to enact through legislation. And Democrats — who would have been justified in rejecting this extortion altogether — have, in fact, gone a long way toward meeting those Republican demands.

As I said, it’s not complicated. Yet many people in the news media apparently can’t bring themselves to acknowledge this simple reality. News reports portray the parties as equally intransigent; pundits fantasize about some kind of “centrist” uprising, as if the problem was too much partisanship on both sides.

Some of us have long complained about the cult of “balance,” the insistence on portraying both parties as equally wrong and equally at fault on any issue, never mind the facts. I joked long ago that if one party declared that the earth was flat, the headlines would read “Views Differ on Shape of Planet.” But would that cult still rule in a situation as stark as the one we now face, in which one party is clearly engaged in blackmail and the other is dickering over the size of the ransom?

The answer, it turns out, is yes. And this is no laughing matter: The cult of balance has played an important role in bringing us to the edge of disaster. For when reporting on political disputes always implies that both sides are to blame, there is no penalty for extremism. Voters won’t punish you for outrageous behavior if all they ever hear is that both sides are at fault.

The rest of the article is here.

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