By the time BOS Chairman Bruce Gibson was finished listening to the appellant and general public input at the permit hearing for the Hideous Los Osos Sewer Project, I was struck by how quickly he turned into Chairperson Sarah Christie of the Planning Commission.
After reading the staff report and proposal, Christie must have rolled her eyes something fierce and muttered, Oh really, after spending all those millions of Los Osians’ nice assessment money, this sucky spray fields idea is the best they could come up with? And then took the county staff, their sucky proposal and “her” board by the scruff of the neck and frog marched them straight into the new! improved! strong water conservation, ag exchange, water-in-basin, Giacomazzi property plan. And if any of her Commissioners snorted and skittered about looking like they might jump their traces, a quick snap of the snaffle bit –chink! chink!—and she had them quickly settled down and pulling the project wagon exactly where she intended to take it. It was beautiful to see.
And now here was Gibson, prepared outline (and reins) in hand, heading his fellow Sups swiftly along the path he intended them to take. And if there was any whinny or wither-shivvering -- ka-chink! ka-chink! – Gibson would snap that snaffle bit and they’d settle back in line.
‘splaining a blue streak for the audience, his fellow board members and by that hour of the evening, the record, Gibson firmly guided discussion. Gravity? Check! No, no problems with Broderson, the planning commission’s thinking on that’s just fine. Mitigation? Not a problems? The EIR’s got it all covered. No worries. Giacomazzi? Check! Treatment system as written? Check! Sludge? No problem. Salt water intrusion? We’re on it! The Planning Commission’s plan has nailed it just fine. The annoying, nit-picking appellants we’ve had to listed to all day have had their say. Nothing to see there, move along, move along. Our staff tells us we’ve got all bases covered splendidly! See, it’s all right here in their EIR. Time to get cracking.
Appeals denied 5-0. Project permit approved! Now, on to the Coastal Commission, Yippee-Ki-Yi!
Some random notes along the way:
According to the RWQCB, any “leaks” from the traditional, gravity cap & bell sewer pipes will likely be minimal and is that’s O.K. with them. This from the same people who brought you The Criminal Los Osos 45 who find their criminal septic tank only remains criminal if they still own the property. Once they sell their homes and move away, the septic tank that remains behind and the new owners using it and “discharging” and polluting the groundwater of the state of California, are suddenly transformed into non-criminals, no CDO, no problem. It’s one of those Los Osos “miracles.”
A goodly number of “Dreamers” and TPWers have weirdly gotten themselves stuck in a puzzling delusion. I repeatedly heard them say the project should be moved back to Tri-W because Tri-W is “fully permitted.” Uh, there is no “permit” on Tri-W. The original ginned up SOC was rescinded and the permit was allowed to lapse by all parties, including the Coastal Commission. Were the project to be put on Tri-W, the whole permit process would have to start from scratch and a new SOC would have to be filed saying that there is NO alternative non-ESHA sites available, which clearly isn’t now and never was the case. Somebody should break the news to these folks, but do it gently, please.
Steve Paige had some interesting comments. The property tax State deferral program for seniors is kaput, so any lien put on their homes (sewer assessment) will result in those homes gong immediately ito default, which means they can be seized for non-payment.(since the State’s deferral program is kaput.)
Also, interestingly, septic tanks are property and expensive property at that, all legal and properly permitted by the county and RWQCB. If they’re now “condemned” and shut down without just compensation for their loss and without a proper hearing, that constitutes a government “taking” since there has been no proper hearing and the owners will not be compensated for the loss of a privately owned, legally permitted, expensive device. Basis for a class action lawsuit? According to Steve, yes,
Supervisor Gibson single-handedly took STEP off the table by claiming the county already had Mongomery Watson Harza’s original in-the-ground plans so they’d save $ on the redesign and they could claim they were “shovel ready” for stimulus funds that didn’t pan out. Yet STEP never got put back on the table. So much for the promise to allowing both systems to duke it out through the design-build-bid process.
This becomes interesting in light of Andrew Christie’s (Sierra Club, an appellant) remarks: He told the BOS that the Sierra club would withdraw all their objections and appeals to the Coastal Commission if the BOS would put STEP back on the table and allow it to continue on to the bid process so that the community could finally get real time, real life, real hard numbers. He pointed out that nobody on the staff or Corollo Engineering or the Water Board had any real life experience with STEP so their numbers were, at best, guestimates and the BOS really needed to get testimony and numbers from some real experts in STEP, with real experience with STEP.
That suggestion went nowhere, of course. So the community will never know what the real cost savings with a hard-bid STEP system would have been. But that’s o.k. with the community. While even the staff’s numbers did show STEP as being cheaper, 1/3 of the town didn’t care enough one way or the other to return the Community Survey and the other 1/3 wanted gravity and would stick with gravity unless it could save them more than $30 a month. So, 2/3rds of the community wanted to pay more for their system, so that’s exactly what they’ll get.
The front-loaded $5 million water conservation efforts (retrofit toilets in every home, using the money to reimburse homeowners for the retrofit if they do it within the first year of the project & etc.) got muddled and wandered off the field a bit. The BOS and Paavo started in on their usual mantra about working on a conservation program, which in this county means something will get done, oh, let’s see. . . um. . . never. Planning Commissioner Wyatt came to the podium to try to make the BOS understand that the nexus for that $5 mil was immediate water reduction as part of the reduced flow the sewer system was now designed to handle and it was time sensitive since it was also designed to slow salt water intrusion NOW, not into some vague future. She also wanted to amend the original condition to give it less specificity and allow more flexibility to include commercial establishments & etc. So the Supervisors muddled around with the language and it’s not clear whether the emphasis remains on the up-frontness of the idea. Clearly, all homes must show proof of having high efficiency toilets and retrofit showerheads & etc. before they can hook up to the sewer. But it isn’t clear whether the details of the rebate/financial incentive program will have to come back later for hammering out. So, if there are delays in this project, there’ll be delays in water reduction, which means MORE salt water intrusion, the stopping of which should be the absolute #1 priority.
The most interesting question, of course, is why STEP wasn’t allowed – as promised – to compete head to head with gravity. I mean, it wasn’t as if several systems with hard, real-time bids came back and STEP lost on various counts. It wasn’t allowed to compete in the first place. So, what was the real fear preventing that from happening? After all, if the Process had been allowed to proceed as promised and as it should have proceeded, either STEP would fall away as being too expensive or being environmentally unsound or something. Or it would come in way cheaper and the community or the BOS could then decide to accept or reject it on whatever basis. Or it would be there to “keep gravity” honest, much like the “public option” is being touted as being necessary to keep private health insurance plans “honest.” But it wasn’t allowed on the table to even compete. Why? What was the BOS and county afraid of ? (C’mon, honest answer here, please.)
People holding undeveloped property in the PZ who are under the impression that once the sewer gets built they’ll finally be able to build their dream homes and hook up and live happily ever after are gonna be in for a rude shock. No building, no hook up until the Habitat Conservation Plan, the Estero Bay Plan and the Watershed Basin plan are updated and the water basin is shown to be in balance. When all that happens is not known. Weirdly, people outside the PZ are free to build and use water to their heart’s content, thereby helping to deplete the water while those inside the PZ are SOL, thanks to RWQCB.
The new CAO, Mr. Jim Grant was given the microphone to alert the audience and listening audience of the earthquake in Samoa and to warn of a possible 2-foot tsunami heading for the central coast so nobody should run down to Morro Rock at 9 pm. last night to stand on the rocks to watch.
And, finally, Supervisor Meacham asked Mark Hutchinson why the sewer plant can’t be put back on Tri-W and Mr. Hutchinson said that in today’s world, Tri-W would be $24 million more than the Giacomazzi site, to which someone in the audience said, “Imagine that,” no doubt rolling his eyes as well. $24 million more to build today? I guess “out of town” really is waaaaayyyyy cheaper? Well, well.
Next up, the Coastal Commisison. In their early-on warning-shot-across-the-bow letter, they listed several issues they were “concerned” with. So far, I think their sludge concerns may still be a sticking point. According to Mark Hutchinson, ponds that would eliminate more sludge weren’t recommended due to the specific site size restrictions and Los Osos weather that can be problematic. But we’ll have to see. The Coastal Commissioners may figure two out of three is about the best they’ll get and better than nothing.
And we’ll all have to now set up the betting pool: Who will be the first person/acronym/group to file a lawsuit? Hey, it wouldn’t be The Hideous Los Osos Sewer Project without a lawsuit.
Yippie-ki-yi . . . .
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Start Yer Engines!
The BOS will be meeting today at 9 a.m. for the appeals hearing on the Hideous Sewer Project. The Board may get to the point where they can vote on whether to accept the project as presented by the staff (after major tweaking by the Planning Commission which took to heart the warning pre-shots across the bow found in the letter sent to them by the Coastal Commission, plus all the incredibly hard work by local citizens in the Sustainability Group who number crunched and brought to the Commission some serious proposals for a better project than the original one the County came up with.)
Apropos of which, I doff my cap to Bo Cooper whose Sept 28 letter to the editor (Tribune) bears repeating here:
"Your editorial describing those of us who critique the Los Osos sewer project i hope of getting a more eco-friendly and economical project have consistently labeled us as "malcontnts . . . (in a) weekly gripefest" ("Blabbers of Los Osos, put a sock in it" Feb 1, 2008). And in the Sept 25 editorial, after viciously mocking Lisa Schicker, you wrote, "The circus surrounding the sewer project needs to end now."
Your editorial tone each time seems purposely disrepectful and degradating to those citizens of Los Osos who are presenting reasonable objections to various aspects of the project proposed by the county; the many changes recently made by the Planning Commission show that at least some of the issues brought forth by the "blabberers" were correct.
I'm okay with The Tribune having a different opinion than myself about the sewer project -- that's democracy -- but I am not okay with the attitude of mean-spirited mockery and disregard expressed in your editorials."
Amen, Bo. Instead of being a watchdog, the Tribune has been a water carrier for the status quo, a basically lazy organization that keeps violating the first rule of semantics: Thing 1 is not Thing 2 is not Thing 3. It's the same trap author Barbara Wolcott (Small Town, Perfect Storm) fell into. (I'm still advocating a necktie party for her editor who really, really did not serve her well at all.) And that problem is getting trapped by meaningless, ill-defined words that become lazy mantras that stop thought or block further information and discussion or (and this is the likely reason for using them, besides sloth) their real intention is to misinform and/or mislead. (Back to Wolcott again, she put Al Barrow into her invented category of "UltraOpposition," a form of super-sized "Anti-Sewer Obstructionsts" without ever 'splaining why an anti-sewer obstructionist/Oppositionist spent about a bazillion hours and years researching and bringing sewer folks to town for sewer workshops, sewer information outreaches, alternative sewer systems and so forth. For Al it's been one years-long sewer focus 24/7. True, he's been a strong advocate for a STEP/Steg sewer system, but a STEP system IS a SEWER system. And yes, he's tried everything in the book to obstruct an unaffordable sewer system in favor of an affordable system. But an affordable sewer system IS STILL a SEWER system. Yet he's classified as an anti-sewer ultra-obstructionst which obscures the complexities and contraditions involved. Thing 1 is not Thing 2 is not Thing 3.)
The Sustainability Group, for example, can be described as "anti-sewer obstructionists" (or blabberers or malcontents or clowns or any number of derogatory words) and dismissed in a "shoot the messenger" move. Or their "message" can be listened to with the result that this community may end up with a better project than originally planned. That's the problem with buzz words; they blind.
Well, let's hope today's BOS will be clear eyed and the public commenters can stay focused and any tweaks will result in better tweaks, not worse, and so the whole thing can go on to the Coastal Commission which are likely loading their cannons already. Chugga-chugga.
Apropos of which, I doff my cap to Bo Cooper whose Sept 28 letter to the editor (Tribune) bears repeating here:
"Your editorial describing those of us who critique the Los Osos sewer project i hope of getting a more eco-friendly and economical project have consistently labeled us as "malcontnts . . . (in a) weekly gripefest" ("Blabbers of Los Osos, put a sock in it" Feb 1, 2008). And in the Sept 25 editorial, after viciously mocking Lisa Schicker, you wrote, "The circus surrounding the sewer project needs to end now."
Your editorial tone each time seems purposely disrepectful and degradating to those citizens of Los Osos who are presenting reasonable objections to various aspects of the project proposed by the county; the many changes recently made by the Planning Commission show that at least some of the issues brought forth by the "blabberers" were correct.
I'm okay with The Tribune having a different opinion than myself about the sewer project -- that's democracy -- but I am not okay with the attitude of mean-spirited mockery and disregard expressed in your editorials."
Amen, Bo. Instead of being a watchdog, the Tribune has been a water carrier for the status quo, a basically lazy organization that keeps violating the first rule of semantics: Thing 1 is not Thing 2 is not Thing 3. It's the same trap author Barbara Wolcott (Small Town, Perfect Storm) fell into. (I'm still advocating a necktie party for her editor who really, really did not serve her well at all.) And that problem is getting trapped by meaningless, ill-defined words that become lazy mantras that stop thought or block further information and discussion or (and this is the likely reason for using them, besides sloth) their real intention is to misinform and/or mislead. (Back to Wolcott again, she put Al Barrow into her invented category of "UltraOpposition," a form of super-sized "Anti-Sewer Obstructionsts" without ever 'splaining why an anti-sewer obstructionist/Oppositionist spent about a bazillion hours and years researching and bringing sewer folks to town for sewer workshops, sewer information outreaches, alternative sewer systems and so forth. For Al it's been one years-long sewer focus 24/7. True, he's been a strong advocate for a STEP/Steg sewer system, but a STEP system IS a SEWER system. And yes, he's tried everything in the book to obstruct an unaffordable sewer system in favor of an affordable system. But an affordable sewer system IS STILL a SEWER system. Yet he's classified as an anti-sewer ultra-obstructionst which obscures the complexities and contraditions involved. Thing 1 is not Thing 2 is not Thing 3.)
The Sustainability Group, for example, can be described as "anti-sewer obstructionists" (or blabberers or malcontents or clowns or any number of derogatory words) and dismissed in a "shoot the messenger" move. Or their "message" can be listened to with the result that this community may end up with a better project than originally planned. That's the problem with buzz words; they blind.
Well, let's hope today's BOS will be clear eyed and the public commenters can stay focused and any tweaks will result in better tweaks, not worse, and so the whole thing can go on to the Coastal Commission which are likely loading their cannons already. Chugga-chugga.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Your Sunday Recipe
This delicious simple-to-make soup comes from the October Sunset Magazine, which describes it thusly: “A smooth, silky, understated first course – the Greta Garbo of soups.” I don’t know about just being a first course or about being Greta Garbo. With a salad and some wonderful hearty whole grain bread, it’s a meal, a soup that causes your tongue to say, “More, please.” And fennel’s one of those weird veggies you see in the market and say, “What the hell is THAT!” So it’s nice to find a lovely soup recipe that uses its wonderful weirdness. (Fennel's also known as sweet anise, but don't be alarmed. The slight licorice smell nearly disappears leaving an elusive flavor. As I said, one of those weird veggies, like parsnips. You can't describe the taste of parsnips without using the word "parsnip," as in, "It tastes . . . parsnippy." Fennel's the same way. It's . . . fenneley. . " )
I made it both with and without the watercress, and I think I prefer without. It’s such a subtle, soft soup I think the watercress is a bit too loud, but try it both ways and see for yourself. The garnish of crumbled blue cheese is a perfect flavor note. Both our local Ralphs and Vons had fennel but no watercress, but New Frontiers has such fresh lovely fat fennel bulbs and they carry watercress regularly. Enjoy.
Fennel apple bisque
1 ½ lb. fennel bulbs (about two large bulbs or 3 medium)
2 large Fuji apples
1 large onion
1 c watercress (if wished)
1 box (4 cups++) low sodium chicken stock (or veggie stock)
spices to try: pinches of white pepper, powdered ginger (if you don’t use the watercress, adds a bit of bite, or use fresh grated), curry powder, garm masala, poultry seasoning (the poultry seasoning was particularly apt for some reason), sage. Sniff and experiment. The soup is so subtle, you'll need to use an easy hand so as to not overwhelm the fennelness of it all.
Trim root end and stalks from fennel. Chop. Peel, core and chop apples and onion.
Saute onion in butter/olive oil until softened. (5 minutes) Add four cups chicken broth, fennel, apple and bring to a boil. Simmer until fennel is soft, 15 – 20 minutes. If you’re using watercress, stir in 1 c.and cook until wilted.
Puree with immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. Season with whatever spices are called for. Garnish with crumbled blue cheese.
Yum.
I made it both with and without the watercress, and I think I prefer without. It’s such a subtle, soft soup I think the watercress is a bit too loud, but try it both ways and see for yourself. The garnish of crumbled blue cheese is a perfect flavor note. Both our local Ralphs and Vons had fennel but no watercress, but New Frontiers has such fresh lovely fat fennel bulbs and they carry watercress regularly. Enjoy.
Fennel apple bisque
1 ½ lb. fennel bulbs (about two large bulbs or 3 medium)
2 large Fuji apples
1 large onion
1 c watercress (if wished)
1 box (4 cups++) low sodium chicken stock (or veggie stock)
spices to try: pinches of white pepper, powdered ginger (if you don’t use the watercress, adds a bit of bite, or use fresh grated), curry powder, garm masala, poultry seasoning (the poultry seasoning was particularly apt for some reason), sage. Sniff and experiment. The soup is so subtle, you'll need to use an easy hand so as to not overwhelm the fennelness of it all.
Trim root end and stalks from fennel. Chop. Peel, core and chop apples and onion.
Saute onion in butter/olive oil until softened. (5 minutes) Add four cups chicken broth, fennel, apple and bring to a boil. Simmer until fennel is soft, 15 – 20 minutes. If you’re using watercress, stir in 1 c.and cook until wilted.
Puree with immersion blender or in batches in a regular blender. Season with whatever spices are called for. Garnish with crumbled blue cheese.
Yum.
Friday, September 25, 2009
More Tea! More Tea! Move Down! Move Down!
In case you were idly wondering about the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s CDO Mad Hatter Tea Party and Torquemada’s Auto de Fe CDO prosecution of The Los Osos 45 . . . oh, that’s right, you’ve forgotten all about those poor people who were terrorized, branded criminals, had their freedom threatened with statutory jail time, their property put under threat, dragged through a ridiculous, abusive “trial” that kept changing whimsically when the Board and staff’s incompetence kept tripping them over their own feet . . . and you thought to yourself, What in hell was THAT hideously expensive (tax payers picking up the bill) farce all about, anyway? Was it about clean water? Was it about protecting the waters of the State of California? Was it about stopping pollution? Was it about septic tanks? What was it about?
Well, now we know. One of the CDO holders sold their home and called the RWQCB staff to ask what happened to their CDO since they didn’t intend to dig up their septic tank and take it with them, you know, their illegally discharging septic tank that was polluting the waters of the state of California, the one that was under a CDO?
Well, the reply finally came back and here it is. Let me translate it for you. (1) All pigs are created equal, but some are created more equal than others. (2) Septic tanks in the PZ don’t pollute. Only septic tanks with CDO’s on them do. And when the CDO-holding “criminal” residents sell their property and leave (and leave their “criminal” septic tank in the ground when they move) the new residents using the exact same tank don’t pollute and are not “criminals” and are of no concern to the RWQCB, which does not intend to enforce their CDO policies equally and fairly to all residents in the PZ. CDO’s were clearly a sick joke, a clear abuse of state power that was only intended as an intimidation tactic, and electioneering device, that had NOTHING to do with either “fair and equitable treatment” (not even among the 45 CDO holders . . more equal pigs) or “science” or, hell, even “clean water.”
From a Sept 23, 2009 letter to a Los Osos CDO holder, from Frances McChesney, Senior Staff Counsel, State Water Board
Enforcement of Cease and Desist Orders
Mr. Michael Thomas has asked me to respond to your emails with respect to enforcement of cease and desist orders (CDOs) regarding septic tanks in Los Osos. In particular, you have questions with regard to the following section of Mr. Harvey Packard’s letter to you dated August 18 2009
What requirements does a CDO impose when a CDO holder moves or sells the subject property?
The pertinent parts of the cease and desist order state the following:
3. Discharger shall inform any subsequent owner or occupant at the Site of this Order and provide a copy of the Order. The Discharger is liable for the use of the Septic System, while the Discharger owns the Site, including but not limited to the use of the Septic System by any tenant or any other person occupying the Site.
4. The property owner shall notify the Executive Officer and the Staff Prosecution Team in writing of any transfer of ownership of the Site within 30 calendar days following close of escrow or transfer of record title after transfer of ownership.
CDO holders are required to inform the new owner and the Water Board if they sell the property. However, the order is silent on the issue of whether the order continues in effect after the sale of the property. It is the enforcement team’s position that the order is no longer in effect upon sale of the property, either upon the original CDO holder or upon the new owner.
The Advisory Team agrees with the statements in Mr. Packard’s letter. The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) would consider the issue of the responsibility of the past and current owner to comply with a CDO only if the Enforcement Team brought an enforcement action after the property is sold, which, as Mr. Packard’s letter states, they do not intend to do. Therefore, the Water Board itself cannot make a decision or comment on this issue now, without a proposed enforcement action from the Enforcement Team. If the matter did come before the Water Board, I, as the Advisory Team attorney, would advise the Water Board that the existing CDO does not apply to the new owner or the previous owner once the property is sold. Water code section 13301, which pertains to the issuance of CDOs authorizes the issuance of CDOs against the current owner or operator, not the previous owner or operator. To enforce against new owners, the Water Board would need to issue a new CDO.
With respect to the existing CDOs, penalties only accrue from the date of any violation of a CDO, not back to 1988. If a CDO recipient is not violating a CDO, no penalties are owned or accruing at this time. In addition, enforcement of any CDO is not mandatory.
Well, now we know. One of the CDO holders sold their home and called the RWQCB staff to ask what happened to their CDO since they didn’t intend to dig up their septic tank and take it with them, you know, their illegally discharging septic tank that was polluting the waters of the state of California, the one that was under a CDO?
Well, the reply finally came back and here it is. Let me translate it for you. (1) All pigs are created equal, but some are created more equal than others. (2) Septic tanks in the PZ don’t pollute. Only septic tanks with CDO’s on them do. And when the CDO-holding “criminal” residents sell their property and leave (and leave their “criminal” septic tank in the ground when they move) the new residents using the exact same tank don’t pollute and are not “criminals” and are of no concern to the RWQCB, which does not intend to enforce their CDO policies equally and fairly to all residents in the PZ. CDO’s were clearly a sick joke, a clear abuse of state power that was only intended as an intimidation tactic, and electioneering device, that had NOTHING to do with either “fair and equitable treatment” (not even among the 45 CDO holders . . more equal pigs) or “science” or, hell, even “clean water.”
From a Sept 23, 2009 letter to a Los Osos CDO holder, from Frances McChesney, Senior Staff Counsel, State Water Board
Enforcement of Cease and Desist Orders
Mr. Michael Thomas has asked me to respond to your emails with respect to enforcement of cease and desist orders (CDOs) regarding septic tanks in Los Osos. In particular, you have questions with regard to the following section of Mr. Harvey Packard’s letter to you dated August 18 2009
What requirements does a CDO impose when a CDO holder moves or sells the subject property?
The pertinent parts of the cease and desist order state the following:
3. Discharger shall inform any subsequent owner or occupant at the Site of this Order and provide a copy of the Order. The Discharger is liable for the use of the Septic System, while the Discharger owns the Site, including but not limited to the use of the Septic System by any tenant or any other person occupying the Site.
4. The property owner shall notify the Executive Officer and the Staff Prosecution Team in writing of any transfer of ownership of the Site within 30 calendar days following close of escrow or transfer of record title after transfer of ownership.
CDO holders are required to inform the new owner and the Water Board if they sell the property. However, the order is silent on the issue of whether the order continues in effect after the sale of the property. It is the enforcement team’s position that the order is no longer in effect upon sale of the property, either upon the original CDO holder or upon the new owner.
The Advisory Team agrees with the statements in Mr. Packard’s letter. The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) would consider the issue of the responsibility of the past and current owner to comply with a CDO only if the Enforcement Team brought an enforcement action after the property is sold, which, as Mr. Packard’s letter states, they do not intend to do. Therefore, the Water Board itself cannot make a decision or comment on this issue now, without a proposed enforcement action from the Enforcement Team. If the matter did come before the Water Board, I, as the Advisory Team attorney, would advise the Water Board that the existing CDO does not apply to the new owner or the previous owner once the property is sold. Water code section 13301, which pertains to the issuance of CDOs authorizes the issuance of CDOs against the current owner or operator, not the previous owner or operator. To enforce against new owners, the Water Board would need to issue a new CDO.
With respect to the existing CDOs, penalties only accrue from the date of any violation of a CDO, not back to 1988. If a CDO recipient is not violating a CDO, no penalties are owned or accruing at this time. In addition, enforcement of any CDO is not mandatory.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Question Remains
The Tribune reports that the jury in the Dan De Vaul case (Sunny Acres and state fire codes and various county violations) returned a mixed verdict: guilty on three misdemeanor counts, acquittal on two others and deadlocked on five others. The DA is considering whether or not he’d refile on the undecided five charges and start this whole thing over again.
So, here’s the same question that needs to be asked of both the County and Dan De Vaul: Do you want to do something to help homeless people turn their lives around or do you want to be right?
Yes, Tax Them Froot Loops!
Here’s a two-fer one proposal: slap a tax on sugar and high fructose corn syrup, remove all federal subsidies and import protections for “foreign” sugar and for homegrown regular sugar (and, while you’re at it, slap mitigation fines on the huge agri-business, conglomerate Florida cane growers for the environmental damage done to the Everglades by their agricultural practices), then slap an extra tax on sugary soft drinks.
I understand there’s a new public interest ad out, similar to the ones being run against tobacco, that visually illustrates the problem by equating drinking sodas with drinking Big Gulps full of liquid, oozing yellowish liquid fat (Eeeuuuuuuu) in hopes that teens (and others) will think twice about the amount of nutritionally zero soft drinks they daily pour down their gullets. That’s a delicious idea and a good start.
Part of the tax collected could go to financing more such public info ads and other informational, educational formats, much like the tobacco tax goes for education efforts to prevent smoking. And the rest of the tax money collected could help offset the cost of medical care brought about by all the fat too many of us are carrying around as a direct result of swilling down too many soft drinks (not to mention inadvertently consuming all the hidden sugar and high fruit corn syrup that’s been put into nearly everything on the supermarket shelf.)
Oh, I know, Grover Norquist And His Cult Of No Tax Republicans, all of whom have signed a blood oath to him, will have cow. But they simply need to view the “tax” as just another cost of doing business. Some products cost more than others because some ingredients cost more than others. No big deal. If sugar is more costly, then that’s simply a part of doing business and the customer has a clear choice; to buy or not to buy. And isn’t CHOICE, (except for a woman’s control over her reproductive rights) something conservatives love to preach about? Well, nobody, not even a “nanny government” is forcing you to drink a soda. You have a choice and you're free to make that choice based on health issues or simply price issues. Just like you do all other products. Let’s see, do I have a Coca-Cola for $2.50 or do I have a bottle of water for $1.65. Hmmmm. . . let me think.
Go Ahead, Carbon It! I Dare You!
It’s finally time to get serious about a carbon tax. Cap and trade just moves the problem around. A nice, flat, across the board carbon tax would be a good start. Then remove all subsidies from all carbon based fuels, you know, nice tax breaks and depreciation allowances and such like for oil producers. Might even start billing a pro-rata share of the military budget needed to protect that oil while it gets from places like Iraq and keep it safe on the high seas via our wonderful Navy. The military can send the oil producers a bill for their services. Don’t frown, it’s simply the cost of doing business.
Then take that nice carbon tax money and use it to fund R&D and subsidize non-carbon based energy systems. (Hey, don’t squawk about Nanny Government. We’ve subsidized carbon fuels for years, not to mention farm products – all that nice government cheese—as well as any number of “protected” businesses and products. That’s nothing new. And if the government can subsidize cheese, which, to my knowledge does not threaten the future of the world, surely it can subsidize efforts to save the world for future generations, who can then be around to eat all that saved cheese.)
Then let’s get busy setting up a nationwide Rent-A-Roof program. Utilities, whether public or private, could contract with willing homeowners to install solar panels on their roofs. The utility would maintain the unit, supply the house with X amount of power, and capture the keep the rest and send it back to the grid. Win-win. Homeowner gets a lower (or even zero) energy bill, utility gets more power to sell, can delay building more expensive power plants, and already “disturbed,” non-environmentally sensitive urban habitat would become huge solar arrays one roof at a time, thereby delaying the need for screwing up wilderness areas with huge single arrays.
Yoo-Hoo, PG&E. Gotta roof right here. Be happy if y’all’d come put a few solar panels on it. We’ll do a fair deal on the energy produced so we both benefit. Whatya say? Call me. We gotta talk.
Public Option?
Why in hell is Congress pulling their hair out over re-inventing the wheel in the form of a “public option” for health care reform. It’s already been invented and is sitting there ready to be turn-keyed. It’s called Medicare. Simply make Medicare available to anyone under 65 who wants to opt in on a pro rated basis. And make sure the law as it’s being written allows anyone to buy in if they want to, even people who have health care at their place of employment. There, done.
If Medicare can offer what they offer at the price they offer it, surely private insurance companies can do the same, can’t they? And if they can’t, then they can’t compete and they go out of business. Isn’t that what capitalism and competition and choice is all about?
But to make a public option work, people need to be free to buy into the public option any time they want. The way the quasi-completed proposed bill has it, employees will simply be captives to whatever health care policy their employer foists off on them at whatever price the insurance company wishes to charge. That’s not choice. That’s not competition. That’s government mandated captivity.
Weirdly, all Republicans and some Democrats have been violently opposed to any kind of “public option.” Which means they are in favor of no choice and no competition and want to make all Americans captive to private insurance companies?
Well, that makes sense since Congress is a fully owned subsidiary of Big Pharma and Big Insurance. I guess they’re simply following the old dictum: Ya gotta dance with them what brung ya. And clearly, the American people didn’t brung the Congresspeople they thought they were voting into office to dance with them.
Ah, Well, Dear Sweet Voter. . .wrong on that one . . . sucker!
So, here’s the same question that needs to be asked of both the County and Dan De Vaul: Do you want to do something to help homeless people turn their lives around or do you want to be right?
Yes, Tax Them Froot Loops!
Here’s a two-fer one proposal: slap a tax on sugar and high fructose corn syrup, remove all federal subsidies and import protections for “foreign” sugar and for homegrown regular sugar (and, while you’re at it, slap mitigation fines on the huge agri-business, conglomerate Florida cane growers for the environmental damage done to the Everglades by their agricultural practices), then slap an extra tax on sugary soft drinks.
I understand there’s a new public interest ad out, similar to the ones being run against tobacco, that visually illustrates the problem by equating drinking sodas with drinking Big Gulps full of liquid, oozing yellowish liquid fat (Eeeuuuuuuu) in hopes that teens (and others) will think twice about the amount of nutritionally zero soft drinks they daily pour down their gullets. That’s a delicious idea and a good start.
Part of the tax collected could go to financing more such public info ads and other informational, educational formats, much like the tobacco tax goes for education efforts to prevent smoking. And the rest of the tax money collected could help offset the cost of medical care brought about by all the fat too many of us are carrying around as a direct result of swilling down too many soft drinks (not to mention inadvertently consuming all the hidden sugar and high fruit corn syrup that’s been put into nearly everything on the supermarket shelf.)
Oh, I know, Grover Norquist And His Cult Of No Tax Republicans, all of whom have signed a blood oath to him, will have cow. But they simply need to view the “tax” as just another cost of doing business. Some products cost more than others because some ingredients cost more than others. No big deal. If sugar is more costly, then that’s simply a part of doing business and the customer has a clear choice; to buy or not to buy. And isn’t CHOICE, (except for a woman’s control over her reproductive rights) something conservatives love to preach about? Well, nobody, not even a “nanny government” is forcing you to drink a soda. You have a choice and you're free to make that choice based on health issues or simply price issues. Just like you do all other products. Let’s see, do I have a Coca-Cola for $2.50 or do I have a bottle of water for $1.65. Hmmmm. . . let me think.
Go Ahead, Carbon It! I Dare You!
It’s finally time to get serious about a carbon tax. Cap and trade just moves the problem around. A nice, flat, across the board carbon tax would be a good start. Then remove all subsidies from all carbon based fuels, you know, nice tax breaks and depreciation allowances and such like for oil producers. Might even start billing a pro-rata share of the military budget needed to protect that oil while it gets from places like Iraq and keep it safe on the high seas via our wonderful Navy. The military can send the oil producers a bill for their services. Don’t frown, it’s simply the cost of doing business.
Then take that nice carbon tax money and use it to fund R&D and subsidize non-carbon based energy systems. (Hey, don’t squawk about Nanny Government. We’ve subsidized carbon fuels for years, not to mention farm products – all that nice government cheese—as well as any number of “protected” businesses and products. That’s nothing new. And if the government can subsidize cheese, which, to my knowledge does not threaten the future of the world, surely it can subsidize efforts to save the world for future generations, who can then be around to eat all that saved cheese.)
Then let’s get busy setting up a nationwide Rent-A-Roof program. Utilities, whether public or private, could contract with willing homeowners to install solar panels on their roofs. The utility would maintain the unit, supply the house with X amount of power, and capture the keep the rest and send it back to the grid. Win-win. Homeowner gets a lower (or even zero) energy bill, utility gets more power to sell, can delay building more expensive power plants, and already “disturbed,” non-environmentally sensitive urban habitat would become huge solar arrays one roof at a time, thereby delaying the need for screwing up wilderness areas with huge single arrays.
Yoo-Hoo, PG&E. Gotta roof right here. Be happy if y’all’d come put a few solar panels on it. We’ll do a fair deal on the energy produced so we both benefit. Whatya say? Call me. We gotta talk.
Public Option?
Why in hell is Congress pulling their hair out over re-inventing the wheel in the form of a “public option” for health care reform. It’s already been invented and is sitting there ready to be turn-keyed. It’s called Medicare. Simply make Medicare available to anyone under 65 who wants to opt in on a pro rated basis. And make sure the law as it’s being written allows anyone to buy in if they want to, even people who have health care at their place of employment. There, done.
If Medicare can offer what they offer at the price they offer it, surely private insurance companies can do the same, can’t they? And if they can’t, then they can’t compete and they go out of business. Isn’t that what capitalism and competition and choice is all about?
But to make a public option work, people need to be free to buy into the public option any time they want. The way the quasi-completed proposed bill has it, employees will simply be captives to whatever health care policy their employer foists off on them at whatever price the insurance company wishes to charge. That’s not choice. That’s not competition. That’s government mandated captivity.
Weirdly, all Republicans and some Democrats have been violently opposed to any kind of “public option.” Which means they are in favor of no choice and no competition and want to make all Americans captive to private insurance companies?
Well, that makes sense since Congress is a fully owned subsidiary of Big Pharma and Big Insurance. I guess they’re simply following the old dictum: Ya gotta dance with them what brung ya. And clearly, the American people didn’t brung the Congresspeople they thought they were voting into office to dance with them.
Ah, Well, Dear Sweet Voter. . .wrong on that one . . . sucker!
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