Mistaken Identity
A recent
publication encouraging the neighborhood groups P.O.L.O. and POSY to stand back
and not be involved in Valley issues, which certainly include the next
Supervisorial election, is simply ignorant.
P.O.L.O. and
POSY were formed specifically to deal with Santa Ynez
Valley issues which residents felt weren’t being given enough attention by
elected officials. Certainly the selection of our representative, if indeed we
still have one, is of sufficient importance to warrant their participation.
Many individuals do not feel comfortable going to the Board of Supervisors or
Planning Commission meetings and speaking in public about their ideas and
concerns. Groups like these can provide a valuable service to a community by
representing the opinions of those individuals.
The point
being made in the aforementioned publication was that local issues could be
lost in the discussions about the casino, which the local officials have little
authority over, while issues that could be impacted
are not getting enough attention. I would argue that this is not the case, as
strictly local issues are certainly being discussed and points being made to
the local powers-that-be, but the issues requiring higher participation -- such
as that of the State of California or the United States -- are equally
important to local residents because often those issues will have a far more
profound impact on the community than the local decisions will. It is precisely
this which is really the sticking point between Valley residents and their
local government.
When we asked
our local government to intervene on our behalf with regard to the development
of the casino, they responded with too little, too late. Hours, days, weeks,
months and years have been spent discussing plans for the future of the valley
in the Comprehensive Plan, all of which, in the face of an ever-growing casino
industry in our midst, seem to be wasted time.
What good did
it do to decide how you want the valley to look when people who decided to not
be a part of the discussion had their own plans that were not subject to the
same regulations and constraints as the rest of the valley? In addition, these
same people have vigorously and repeatedly announced that they are not interested
in sharing their plans with the community, or with anyone for that matter.
Given the additional opportunity of enormous amounts of untaxed capital
available to the casino, something not on the same par with any other
residents, how do locals maintain their presence here, either in business or
living here?
I think
people here are concerned about what the future holds for them when the
expansion of the casino is determined by people who don’t live here and aren’t
impacted by the casino, people who don’t seem to care what negative impacts are
felt by the surrounding area and local government agents who don’t seem
motivated to represent their constituents.
All we hear is, “oh, the casino has jobs for people in my district”.
Never mind that the guys who lay irrigation pipe in my alfalfa fields make a
lot more money than anyone at the casino. Never mind that people in your
district don’t have to deal with the traffic or crime, either.
So tell me
again why P.O.L.O. and POSY should stay out of local politics? Isn’t our local
government our first line of defense? Isn’t our local government the one who
should be representing our concerns at higher levels of government because they
understand it best and they represent us? Don’t they get the connection that their
tax money will get slimmer and slimmer as the casino expands with property
being taken off tax rolls and money being spent in casino stores rather than
taxpaying businesses?
In fact,
hasn’t anybody figured out yet the reality that it is the local government’s
responsibility and charge to provide the proper infrastructure to balance the
negative aspects of a casino in a small rural area? Isn’t it their
responsibility to provide the traffic control, law enforcement and general
protection for the surrounding community? So where are they?
I, for one,
am glad that there are individuals in the Valley who are willing to give of
their time to make sure that we are represented fairly and reasonably. I am not
a member of either organization, but I am happy that there are more people
involved in keeping the valley and the county a safe place to live.
Thanks, CHP!
I have
noticed this past week that the California Highway Patrol has been working hard
on both Highway 154 and Highway 246. From a resident of the Valley and a
resident who lives on Highway 154, I offer a hearty thank you.
Not only is
there a huge increase in the number of vehicles on these roads in recent years,
but there is also a huge increase in the number of rude and unsafe drivers in
our area. People are constantly passing withour
regard for safety, speeding, and either tailgating or forcing you to go faster
to satisfy their speed requirements.
I feel sorry
for residents older than I am who are used to toodling
along at 50 or 55 MPH, the speed limit, who are now faced with an increasingly
aggressive driving public. I could ask, where are your
manners, but I am afraid that most people these days would just laugh at
me, thinking I was from the dark ages.
I am
beginning to understand what my father used to say about the world going to
Hell in a hand basket, although I tend to be a bit more positive-thinking than
that. Many parents seem to not take the time to explain the values that most in
my generation were taught -- things like right and wrong, good and evil, caring
for others who cannot care for themselves, the importance of being truthful,
values like that. It is either that, or peer pressure and the “Hollywood value
system” are having a profound negative impact on our youth. It is rare these
days to have a polite driver around you, and I know my perception is not just
my experience, for other long time residents have remarked on the same thing.
I have stated
before that we need more CHP officers on our roads here, but I also am aware
that the Governor controls their budget and they go where they are told. If our
Governor chooses to move to the valley, which is the current rumor, he will
find this out for himself and perhaps, then, we will have a change. In any
event, thanks CHP!
Bugs, Creepy Crawlys
and Parasites
I just heard
that our nation’s security is being threatened by some lizard that lives near
or on the border between the U.S. and Mexico. Some enterprising environmental
organizations have sued, stopping construction of the barrier between the two
countries because of the unsubstantiated claim that the lizards could not reach
water if it were built.
Do you mean
to tell me there is no water in the US or Mexico other than that exact spot? If
that’s the case, we’re in a whole lot more trouble than worrying about
terrorists crossing through the sieve that is our southern border!
What are we
thinking, or more accurately, what are our judges and lawmakers thinking, or
are they? It appears a coalition of open-borders people and the
environmentalists have joined hands to halt construction of this wall. We have
taken away the property rights of millions of Americans who are guaranteed
these rights in the Constitution, we have allowed our public agencies such as
the Forest Service, Fish and Game and Fish and Wildlife to be financially
destroyed by continuous lawsuits against them by environmental organizations
across the country who exist on federal funds and donations from people who
worry about the existence of polar bears and other fuzzy creatures. Unfortunately,
there is rarely any truth-grounded data provided to support the claims, which
usually are greatly exaggerated to make them more dramatic. In our busy lives
it is hard to remember to look for that data, so we just write a check to save
whatever the species of the day is. Usually the money just goes to pay the
salary of someone whose primary interest is in either socialism or wealth
redistribution.
As these folk
continue to destroy our freedoms and deplete the national treasury, their goal
of restructuring the United States is being paid for on the backs of the snowy
plover, the spotted owl, the red-legged frog and the “two-striped gopher
snake”. In exchange, entire industries have been decimated, such as the logging
industry. Today, agriculture is the target, which I know for a fact from a
friend at the Environmental Protection Agency.
I believe
that the environmental movement has accomplished only one positive thing, and
that is to educate all of us as to the value of the land we live on, to take
care of it and to develop new systems to better reduce pollutants. Of course,
farmers and ranchers have always known how to do this because if they destroyed
their land, it would no longer be productive and they would lose their
livelihoods and that of succeeding generations.
Once again,
this has gone way too far because now jobs have to be preserved and projects
are now valued on how many jobs are protected rather than anything else. A good
example of this that you may not be aware of is what the Regional Water agency
is planning for ranchers. A big topic in recent years has been storm runoff and
what it dumps into our creeks and rivers. Far from understanding that this is
Mother Nature’s way of cleaning house, the programs that have been developed so
far make farmers pay money to be educated on how to farm, pay for permits to
farm and pay to be certified by someone who is school educated, not practically
educated. This has had a terrific impact on farmers, and one wonders how they
are surviving. Soon, ranchers will be held accountable for whatever lies on
their dry, unirrigated pastures when the rains come
and wash it away. So if you see me out on my pastures every day, I’m just
picking up cowpies, deer droppings, lion leavings,
possum poop, rat scat and, well, you get the point.
There are
many natural things that produce nitrogen, such as dead leaves, dried grasses
and weeds. Did you know that native grasses produce more nitrogen than
non-native grasses and that oak trees are a tremendous
source of tannic acid and nitrogen in the soil? So are we responsible for
natural processes which actually cleanse the land? Are we also going to be held
responsible for oils and chemicals that are deposited on our highways or the
trash that unthinking people toss out of the windows of their cars?
The
definition of a parasite, according to The American Heritage Dictionary, is
“Any organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism
while contributing nothing to the survival of its host”. It seems to me that
the environmental community, whatever their original intent was, has been
hijacked by a group of people who have become parasites who intend to live off
your tax dollars that were meant for other programs. They are literally sucking
the life out of public agencies which are designed to make life better for all
of us, primarily enriching themselves. How long is
this to go on? Can you think of other parasites in our community?