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Articles from
February 2007
What do these five people all have in common?
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 ::
0 Comments
Woody Fridae
Mike Martin
Harold Anderson
Cecilia Aguiar-Curry
Tom McMasters-Stone
They are all on the Winters City Council for one thing. They all endorsed Christopher Cabladon yesterday for another.
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Post-Meeting Video Brief
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 ::
4 Comments
I have taped a post meeting brief. It is longer than I wanted but I am not going to do another one tonight.
Please give me some feedback on these. Are they helpful?
Here is the YouTube link.
Today is Webmater Bob's birthday. He is probably out at some big party so this won't be imbedded until he sleeps the party off.
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City Council Tonight
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 ::
0 Comments
I am watching the Woodland City Council meeting tonight - American Idol will have to wait.
I think one of the reasons that the City Council meetings are not as long is that they are not quite as comfortable sitting in the Council Chairs. If you were to sit in the Woodland City Council chambers for eight hours you would be sore and tired.
On the Board of Supervisors we are a little too comfortable up there. So comfortable that we can spend all day there....and we do.
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LAFCO follow-up
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 ::
0 Comments
I forgot to mention one thing important that happened yesterday in the LAFCO meeting. In adopting the budget we corrected a problem that was brought to light by Woodland City Councilman Art Pimentel when he served on LAFCO.
The way that LAFCO is funded is a formula where the cities and couties all chip in. One of the factors is the size ofthe city budget. When Woodland financed bonds a couple years ago the calculation made it appear that the Woodland bduegt was much larger than it really was.
Art made a point of getting it corrected. Yesterday it was. Good for Art. Good for Woodland.
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Cabaldon picks up endorsement
Tuesday, February 27, 2007 ::
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West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon continues to pick up key endorsements in his effort to secure the Democrat Party's nomination in AD 8 (Wolk). Yesterday he picked up State Senator Darrel Steinberg. His list of supporters not only includes a large number of local elected leaders but many from all over California.
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LAFCO Today
Monday, February 26, 2007 ::
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Today was my first LAFCO meeting.
Nothing really exciting was on the agenda.
One item that I voted against was a recommended position of support on SB 162. This is a bill that requires LAFCOs to consider "Environmental Justice" in their decisions. Hard to argue with not including any kind of "justice" in a decision. However, in my opinion this is the kind of thing you have elected officials to deal with.
In every decision you weigh the pros and cons.
I agreed with everything Commissioners Stephen Souza and Helen Thomson said in support of this measure. I just don't think we need another local government mandate to deal wtih the issue.
I have posted the text of the bill below.
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Veteran's Memorial
Sunday, February 25, 2007 ::
0 Comments
Elisabeth Sherwin had this article on the front page of the Davis Enterprise today.
It is my hope that we get numerous contacts from family members as a result of this article.
This is really a good cause and I hope that we will be able to learn more about those people that paid the ultimate price. This same concept was at play in the article with David Wilkinson today in the Democrat. Memories fade and people move on. That is why we should not wait any more to get this information.
If you have any information please pass it on. Semper Fidelis.
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Church of the Divide v. FBC & Freddie Oakley
Sunday, February 25, 2007 ::
10 Comments
Church of the Divide has continued their pursuit on the issue of the "Certificates of Inequility" by protesting in front of FBC in Davis.
You can watch their little protest on You Tube. They have Protest I and Protest II.
I am completely opposed to same-sex marriage for many reasons.
Here is the problem with this sort of protest. Let's just assume that everything they quote from the Bible is right. That is a great debate to have within a church. Within a church.
Doing it this way, on a major road in Davis with the media present, creates more problems for Christians in a community where people of faith are already challenged.
There are many ways to move forward wtih what you believe --- my opinion is that the kind of stuff you see on these video clips doesn't help the cause at all.
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Video update for Tuesday's meeting
Saturday, February 24, 2007 ::
3 Comments
I just finished reading the material for next week. It took me a long time.
This meeting should not take too long but I will bet we are there all day.
YouTube really is amazing.
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Key Agenda Items for Tuesday
Friday, February 23, 2007 ::
6 Comments
The agenda for Tuesday indicates that we could have a spirited meeting. Some of the key agenda items are ---
3.02 Yolo County Advisory Bodies -- proposal for new frame work
3.04 Approve agreement with Pilgrim Operations for filming of a reality-based television show. This is going to be like COPS with the Yolo County Sheriffs.
3.07 Medical Marijauna ID Cards
Please comment on these items (or any on the agenda) here.
Note: Many of you can't get away from jobs or family to come to Board of Supervisor meetings that are held in the middle of the day on a Tuesday. This forum is an attempt to allow you to comment without coming to the meeting.
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Do you need a pellet stove?
Friday, February 23, 2007 ::
0 Comments
I serve on the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District. They are offering incentives to get people to get rid of their wood burning stoves.
You can read information about the program below.
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Moving to a virtual government.....Amen
Friday, February 23, 2007 ::
0 Comments
Yolo County Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector Howard Newens' office today took something new to the world wide web. You can now look up your county property tax bill on line.
You can look up the tax bill for any property in Yolo County here.
Newens and the IT Department deserve a great deal of credit for this.
It is my hope that you will be able to fully inteact with county government at 0330 in the morning while you sit in your own home looking at your compueter screen.
Nice job.
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The Chamber of Commerce - Supports Round-about
Thursday, February 22, 2007 ::
1 Comments
I'm told that the Woodland Chamber of Commerce executive committee voted today to support the round-about at the corner of Kentucky Avenue and Road 98.
As someone that is supportive of the Chamber and their mission it pains me to see them take this position. At this point, I do not see how I could possibly support this proposal.
It's not that I am against round-abouts. I actually think they are appropriate in some situations. This intersection is not one of them. It is too bad I need to part ways on this policy issue with the Chamber.
Wait. This is the solution to the I-5/113 intersection. $63 million. Forget it. We will stick in a round-about for safety. If gravel trucks can do it -- so can interstate traffic. We need to go back to the California Transportation Commission with this $2 million proposal. We just saved them $61 million. Awesome.
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Someone needs to wake up every morning and think about flood control
Thursday, February 22, 2007 ::
16 Comments
Woodland and Yolo County need someone every single day thinking about nothing but flood control for the area.
The proposal below is important for Woodland and for Yolo County. It will be an important topic in the coming weeks. I support it and will be encouraging others to do the same.
You can read some of the information here.
It is my hope that as community groups and the media learn more about it...they will also suppor this effort. It is time to get serious about flood control.
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Reviews of Rexroad.com
Thursday, February 22, 2007 ::
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This little experiment that started with a brief offer by Bob Huber to help me with a campaign website has really turned out to have a big impact. I have had four different people come speak to me at this CSAC meeting about this website. They love it.
It is having an impact in Yolo County and in other parts of the state as well. Others are going to start bloggin and using YouTube to communicate. I love it.
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CSAC -- Budget Information
Thursday, February 22, 2007 ::
0 Comments
I'm attending a New Supervisors Meeting in Sacramento today. The California State Association of Counties runs these things. Like most everything some of the presentations are great....some leave a little to be desired.
One of the things I picked up this morning from a speaker with Santa Clara County was a very citizen involved budget process. He said they have budget meetings in the evenings all over the county so people know what is included in the budget. I think this is a great idea.
When Dotty feels better we are going to start crafting Yolo County 101. Seperate from this I would like try a budge presentation in Woodland. We need more people to understand county government. A budget presentation would be a small step in the right direction.
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Sunday Interview
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 ::
0 Comments
Karl from insidewoodland joined me in Davis on Sunday night. He wrote a piece for his blog on the interview.
On the whole I thought the interview went fine with both the radio guys and Karl.
No reason to worry about this stuff if you know what you believe.
Have a great week everyone.
The radio interview plays again in the middle of the day on Wednesday. Here is the story from insidewoodland.
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American Idol
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 ::
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Jenn is at book club tonight so I am keeping Adam and Abbie from getting out of the house to destroy Woodland and/or Davis. As I am sitting here working I have had Amercan Idol on television.
I just saw two women blow everyone else away. They are clearly the best singers in the bunch. Everyone else is competing to finish third.
The woman on the left is Lakisha Jones. She just rocks. She gets a big contract out of this no matter what.
The woman on the right is Melinda Doolittle. Probably not related to the Congressman. She has been singing back up. Not any more.
What I like about both these young women is that they appear so humble.
I want to be a judge on American Idol. That would be a great job.
 
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3B North
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 ::
0 Comments
Yolo County spends a tremendous amount of money on mental health services. As I learn more and more about Yolo County government I discover how many different areas of Woodland that county government touches.
3B North is the behavioral health wing of Woodland Memorial Hospital. This morning I took a tour. It has capacity for twenty but due to the state mandated nursing ratios of 6:1 it only makes sense to have 18 clients in at one time.
The number of people that are 5150 (this is more than just a Van Halen album) is really amazing to me. This is something that health care providers must deal with every single day.
I could write a tremendous amount about the visit...but I need a few days to process all of the information. At this point, I am drowning in information on health care.
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Reisig mixes it up with ACLU
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 ::
4 Comments
Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig and the ACLU mixed it up today in the 3rd District Court of Appeals.
You can read the article from the Sacramento Bee here.
It doesn't matter if you agree with Reisig or not you have to love the fact that he is in the court room himself....making it happen.
From what I have read about this case I completely agree that the plaintiffs do not have standing since they are not impacted by the injunction. Unless the plaintiffs are willing to admit they are gang members they need to wait for someone that is willing to do that.
This would be like me seeking punative damages in a class action suit by long haired, Peace and Freedom party members, vegetarians from Davis.
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California Transportation Commission today
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 ::
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Today at the California Transportation Commission meeting Speaker Fabian Nunez played hard ball. He wen to the podium and basically said that without the improvements he was seeking in the transpotation allocation that he would block the funding of the bond money for the list. That is a tough play.
The Governor then followed with a list of items he wanted included. I have enclosed the text of the letter from the Governor below.
These people are playing rough. I think that I-5/113 interchange, although very important, is not in this league.
In the end, they have the political muscle to make this happen.
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Collings Teen Center - West Sacramento
Tuesday, February 20, 2007 ::
0 Comments
This afternoon I took a tour of Collings West Sacramento Teen Center. It was very impressive.
Please take a look at the website linked above.
They are a faith based private non-profit that really seems to have a great deal going for it. I know that I'm one of the old people because the music was too loud when I went there today.
I am looking forward to seeing the youth center in the new Woodland Community/Senior Center.
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Obama
Monday, February 19, 2007 ::
3 Comments
 Please check out this quote in the Dallas Morning News today. You can read the entire article here.
Other black leaders are not as enthusiastic – indeed, their experience leads them to be more pessimistic about Mr. Obama's chances.
"Those of us who understand politics realized that he can't win the nomination," said Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who hasn't decided whom to support yet. "It's early now, and people are excited. But he just won't have the resources and the money to compete with Hillary Clinton and the rest of the field. And don't forget: This is a nomination process with delegates. It's not an election, it's a nomination."
This guy is not much of a team player. Commissioner Price certainly does not sound like much of a visionary.
Much will be made about race, religion, and gender during the upcoming Presidential campaign.
I still believe that the first female President will be a Republican. Senator Clinton is the one candidate who could change this if the Iraq issue is not resolved in some way in the next two years.
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Medical Marijuana - ID Cards
Monday, February 19, 2007 ::
16 Comments
There is an issue coming before the county regarding the implementation of SB 420 (Vasconcellos). This bill requires counties to implement some kind of a plan regarding identification.
You can read more about SB 420 here.
I've never smoked (or inhaled) marijuana but personally have real doubts about making it illegal while we allow alcohol and tabacco to be used freely. We have to draw a line somewhere but I am not sure that the current line can be justified.
In preparing for this issue that will come before the board I was provided with this document prepared by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
You can read it here.
The legal brief prepared by the Riverside DA is pretty compelling to me. Please let me know what you think.
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Sometimes I just shake my head
Monday, February 19, 2007 ::
3 Comments
This e-mail was sent to the Woodland City Council. I have removed the name of the person that wrote it. Before you think that Sue Vannucci has gone mad....I think it has more to do with not understanding the roles of city v. county government.
I need to go back to writing my letter to Mayor Steve Borchard ripping him for the whole Conaway Ranch thing. What was he thinking?
Subject: Regret that the City of Woodland seems to be supporting your Clerk
Please do something about your clerk, I am writing to inform you that as a long time Yolo County resident that
I am discouraged of Woodlands lack of a stance against your city clerk for taking cioty time on her hands to make a public spectacal of her job.
What she did was wrong to do on county time. She at least needs to be reprimanded , if not fired. She knew she was out of line by using county time to make a personal statment. I hope that the city of Woodland makes it known that this type of behavior will not be tolerated by any employee.
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Higher Office
Monday, February 19, 2007 ::
1 Comments
Last night on Your Politics in Davis I was asked the question again about running for higher office. I am not going to be running for anything else for a very long time....if ever.
Jenn and I have two children. Abbie will be three in April and Adam is six months. I am not going to be an absentee Dad. These three people are by far the most important people in my life.
The other factor is Woodland. I'm sure that the people in Vacaville are nice. I just don't have any interested in going there. I am sure the folks in Colusa are wonderful but I am partial to Woodland.
Finally, I am building a business that I really enjoy. We have assembled an amazing team that is great. I like being part of building something. This will take another ten or more years.
Do I think I could do a good job in higher office? Maybe. Do I want to spend time away from my family and Woodland.? No.
The reason for this post was my realization last night as I was eating ice cream with Mr. Inside Woodland. I don't want to run for higher office so the questions don't bother me. But what if I did want to run for something else?
The same people who criticize me for this are the same people who strongly support Lois Wolk, Helen Thomson, Mike McGowan, and Mariko Yamada. What do all four of these people have in common? They have all run or will run for the State Legislature. This is not wrong. They just have felt that they had something to offer and went for it at the right time for them. They felt they had their families and personal lives in a solid spot to try something like this. Good for them.
Oh well. Some people just don't get it.
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Pornography in the United States
Monday, February 19, 2007 ::
0 Comments
At church on Sunday the sermon topic was pornography. I understand it is a problem and I understand that it can be serious.....but in the end I just don't understand pornography.
The statistics quoted were items that I had heard before but I viewed them a little sceptically. I knew the industry was large but I didn't realize how large. This is really big business.
Here is the one that got me --
At 12 billion a year, the revenues of the sex and porn industry in the U.S. are bigger than the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball combined. Worldwide porn sales are reported to be 57 billion. To put this in perspective, Microsoft, who sells the operating system used on most of the computers in the world (in addition to other software) reported sales of 36.8 billion in 2004.
Wow. Bigger than Microsoft! You have got to be kidding me. I have seen pornography. I know what it is..I think. I just don't understand the attraction.
I look at ESPN's website every day. Most days several times. If USC lands a top level recruit I get an e-mail update right away. I actually pay for that.
News junkie....that is me. Pornography? Not interested.
Some quick research this morning on line tells me that this really is a much bigger deal than I ever could have imagined.
I live a very sheltered life in my world of news, sports, blogs, politics, changing diapers, country music, and princess madness. The wildest thing I read every day is a couple blogs from Davis.
Here is how I think this matters to society. This has got to have a big impact on the way people view women and children. Lots of people talk about rights for women and violence against women. I have a hard time believing that the views of women are going to change dramatically when more money is spent on porn than the amount of money on the operating system running the computer you're using to read this.
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Hollywood Comes to Woodland
Monday, February 19, 2007 ::
0 Comments
David Wilkinson has had a three part series about theaters in Woodland. The third and final part of the series appeared yesterday in the Democrat.
Just great stuff about Woodland.
Wilkinson is an excellent writer and gives just enough facts without overwhelming the reader like some historians are known to do.
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Biggest Challenge of the Week
Saturday, February 17, 2007 ::
0 Comments
 My biggest challenges this week were both today. The first was this morning at the Sacramento Zoo. Abbie was all over this dumptruck. She would have stayed on this thing until Monday if I would have let her. We go to the zoo on a regular basis so this was a quick two hour trip to check on our friend the anteater, the flamingos, and the tiger cubs.
My biggest challenge of week by far was today with Adam. This kid went wild over his pear-raspberry baby food and was mad when I stopped spooning it up for him.
When I would pick up the spoon and the baby food jar this is what he would do....he would jam his hands and his bib in his mouth so I couldn't feed him. I didn't have my camera with me when he jammed the whole bib in his mouth....and then was still trying to scream at me for not feeding him the raspberry-pears. This kid is a piece of work.
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Yolo County District Attorney's Office
Saturday, February 17, 2007 ::
0 Comments
Friday was my first chance to go over and visit Jeff Reisig since he became the Yolo County District Attorney.
As always, it was ncie to see Jeff and check out the office. He gave me a thirty minute tour of the office which was appreciated.
We talk about making Yolo County technology friendly. How important it is to be on the cutting edge.
What sticks with me from the tour of the office is the enormous amount of paper in the office. A huge chuck of that office is taken up by paper files.
It is pretty clear to me as you look at the DA's office that we can't be considered to be a technology friendly until the records they keep in the D.A.'s office are digital. They move a ton of paper in that office. That is their job.
We can save paper, build fewer buildings, and be much more effecient if the county adopts technology.
It is more secure too.
Parts of Yolo County government are like a law firm. Most major law firms are moving to digital to save money, improve security, and increase efficiency. We need to go there too.
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Yolo County Taxpayers Annual Dinner
Saturday, February 17, 2007 ::
0 Comments
Dudley Holman just sent me an e-mail about the Yolo County Taxpayers Annual Dinner. It is going to be on March 16th at Cracchiolo's Conference Room. Tickets are $30. If you are interested please call 530) 753-7529 or email: yolotaxpayers@sbcglobal.net.
The reason that I posted the information on the blog and on the community calendar is that Congressman Wally Herger is going to be the speaker. The Congressman does not make it to Woodland very often. It seems to be about once a year or less. It is my continual hope that he will become more engaged with the activities here in Yolo County.
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The Wayfarer Center
Friday, February 16, 2007 ::
4 Comments
This morning Dotty, Leticia, and I headed over to the Wayfarer Center to get to know more about the programs there.
I was able to learn more about the budget and the sources of revenue that the emergency shelter and Walter's House have.
It had been a long time since I had been there at the facility. It was clean and orderly.
The Wayfarer Center provides a great service to the people of Yolo County.
You can see the needs list for the Wayfarer Center on the "Community" tab of this site. One of the things that they say they need there is socks. I have taken the $100 I got for attending the Yolo-Solano Air District Meeting on Wednesday and asked Dotty to buy as many pairs of socks on ebay as possible with that $100.
Dotty claims to be an ebay queen. We will see how many pairs of socks she can get for $100. I will bet it is more than two or three pairs.
One of the other things they need is small personal size shampoos and soaps. If you have any please drop them by my house or office. If you need me to come by and pick stuff up at your house or business I will be happy to do that.
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We don't need no stinking chocolates.
Friday, February 16, 2007 ::
3 Comments
Something crazy is going on over at insideWoodland. Check out this post from Josh.
While I disagree with Freddie's position on same-sex marriage I love the irreverance of this post. My wife thinks I am losing it.
Two of the best posts on local blogs this year have been by FloatingFoam regarding FREE BEEF and now this from Josh.
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Woodland at 70 MPH
Thursday, February 15, 2007 ::
0 Comments
I have been driving all over the region for the last couple of weeks. My business office is over by Sac State so I take I-5, the River Road, or 113/80 to get to work. I mix it up.
It is pretty clear to me that the walled communities are ugly. Take a look at the Highway 50 east from 99. U-G-L-Y.
Take a look at any freeway with 10-foot walls made of any material on each side of the road. U-G-L-Y.
UGLY and unhealthy.
The areas that I see that look good to me are actually the areas of north Natomas along I-5 and the areas of 113 south of Woodland. No walls...open area with businesses and or schools on the side.
When I look at Woodland from I-5 there is not much but walls to look at. Walls representing Woodland.
When I look at Woodland from 113 I see walls on part but looking better going south.
As Woodland grows along the freeways we need to make an effort to have Woodland look good to people from their cars. We can talk about marketing Woodland and Yolo County to people outside the area...how about marketing to the thousands of people that have rolled through Woodland in the last couple hours on I-5 and 113.
The other part of this is to get homes and apartments away from freeways. We don't need anyone living right along these roadways. In Natomas they don't have homes up against the freeway. It is businesses and some open area with no walls. This should be the plan for areas along the freeway for Woodland and Yolo County.
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Yolo County Landfill
Thursday, February 15, 2007 ::
0 Comments
Last Friday Dotty and I took a tour of the Yolo County Landfill with Linda Sinderson. It was awesome. My prior involvement with the dump involved payng my fee, backing my truck up, unloading, and driving away.
You can find out more information on this part of county government here.
Linda is a great tour guide that is excited about her job. They are pushing the envelope out there with some stuff that other areas aren't doing. The tour gets five stars from me.
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City of Woodland Solid Waste Committee
Thursday, February 15, 2007 ::
0 Comments
The City of Woodland Solid Waste Committee is set to meet on Febraury 28th at 6pm in the City Council Chambers.
At this meeting the staff will discuss their negotiations with Waste Management.
For more information call Christine Engel at (530) 406-5110.
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Vic Stewart - 49 ounces
Wednesday, February 14, 2007 ::
0 Comments
 Today I cleaned out my bookshelf at work. One of the things I found was a certificate I "earned" at Vic Stewart's Steakhouse in Walnut Creek.
This was certainly not "Free Beef" and was much harder to finish than I expected.
It appears that someone else in Woodland went for the Free Beef option. Check out this post from Dave from Floating Foam on Inside Woodland.
For those of you what don't know who John Herrington is -- I believe he was Secretary of Energy and may have been an under Secretary in the Navy.
To do this as a restuarant review (It is a TIRE STORE)-- really does speak volumes.
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Bauer Building -- Best Community Impact
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 ::
0 Comments
In the Sacramento Business Journal this week they have an insert titled "2006 Real Estate Projects of the Year". In the Best Community Impact category the "Herbert Bauer, M.D., Health and Alcohol, Drug & Mental Health Building" was the winner.
The article mentions several things about the building I did not know.
Ray Groom is quoted extensively in the article. Nice job. Much better than the KMart building.
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"Marriage" event tomorrow
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 ::
15 Comments
Tomorrow Yolo County will be the focus of a number of political statements regarding same sex marriage. This issue is not why I sought to become a County Supervisor.
In this case the County Clerk/Recorder is making a political statement about the policy issue of same sex marriage. This is a policy area I am very familiar with.
Same-sex marriage is not something that is required to be recognized under the US Constitution. Further, due to Proposition 22 which made a clear statement of public policy against same-sex marriage, California is not required to recognize those ceremonies performed in other states.
When people make political statements like the one being made by Oakley they also can expect those that diagree to make statements on the same policy issue. I am sure that I will not be the only one speaking up tomorrow.
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Two Free Tickets -- Library Murder Mystery
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 ::
0 Comments
The Library Murder Mystery is on Saturday the 24th. I committed a long time ago to watch the kids that night while Jenn does something - it has been so long I don't even remember what it is.
When the tickets came on sale I just bought two without really looking at the date because 1) Jenn likes the event and 2) It is such a godo event we would not want to miss it.
Anyway, we have two tickets to the Library Murder Mystery that are free to the first person to e-mail me with a request for them. It is a great event that almost always has a couple classic moments.
Let me know if you want the tickets.
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Woodland Lost Property -- State Controller
Monday, February 12, 2007 ::
0 Comments
The Realist sent me this website of unclaimed property with the State Controller. Link is here.
In just doing a quick check of Woodland items I see lots of unclaimed property from Woodland Healthcare, City of Woodland, Woodland Bodyworks, Woodland Sports Boosters, a Woodland High School Class of 52, and Woodland Youth Services.
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Wild and Scenic Madness
Sunday, February 11, 2007 ::
0 Comments
I have heard from two friends in the State Capitol that State Senator Pat Wiggins was looking at the possibility of making the upper parts of Cache Creek as wild and scenic.
The claim was that the bill by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk did not go far enough and that it should have gone further west.
Good grief. This is never going to end.
I think the arboretum at UC Davis needs to be labeled as Wild and Scenic.
Isn't it important?
Isn't it beautiful?
Isn't it worth saving at all costs?
Isn't it time state government saved the University from their own madness?
You heard it here first. SAVE THE ARBORETUM. NO DAMS IN DAVIS.
This can be the rallying cry for John Garamendi, Jr. in his bid for the State Senate.
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Yolo County Memorial -- biographical information
Sunday, February 11, 2007 ::
11 Comments
Yolo County Veteran Service Officer Ted Puntillo and I were standing out in front of the Court House on Friday with a UC Davis honors history student and Rachelle Arroyave. We were there in the rain taking pictures with the Davis Enterprise and being interviewed by Daily Democrat reporter Josh Fernandez.
About a year ago or so Ted and I were e-mailing back and forth about the people listed on the memorial. It was amazing how little we knew about them other than their names. Most of the people in Woodland know about SSgt. Jimmy Arroyave, USMC and Petty Officer Neal Roberts because they were recent events. What about the others.
Ted recruited Sara from UC Davis to research the local newspapers to put together some basic biographical information about those that lost their lives. So far the WWI folks are done and we have information on Jimmy and Neal.
It is our hope that as a result of the articles in the newspapers some of the families of the fallen that still live in the area will contact us to let us record their histories. I will get a list of the names and post them on the Veteran's Memorial part of this page. If you have any information about them ..please let us know.
They will not be forgotten.
Semper Fi.
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Jason Larrabee - Assembly District 2
Sunday, February 11, 2007 ::
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On Friday I met with a young guy named Jason Larrabee. He is someone that grew up in Willows and graduated from Chico State. He and his brothers farm up in the Butte City area.
Some of you may have met him when he worked for Congressman Doug Ose or Congressman John Doolittle.
Now Jason is running for Assembly District 2 which is currently held by Doug LaMalfa. LaMalfa is leaving the Assembly at the end of this term due to term limits.
The two candidates that have announced so far are Laribee and Sam Wakim. There is no way in the world I will be supporting Siskiyou County dentist Wakim.
Larrabee is knowledgable about the issues and seem willing to work hard for the region.
There have been rumors of a third candidate entering this race. We will see what happens in the coming months.
This primary is in June 2008.
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Got water?
Sunday, February 11, 2007 ::
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Tom Philp is the Pulitzer prize winning editorial writer at the Sacramento Bee. I met him for the first time when I interviewed with the Sac Bee editorial board in the June primary. I was immediately impressed with his knowledge of water and land use.
He is now writing a blog on state water issues. You can read it here.
Today he has a profile on State Senator Darrell Steinberg. Here is the article. This is important because this is the man that will have a great deal of impact on water policy in Sacramento.
I don't agree with Steinberg on a whole host of issues but I think he is extremely effective. When the guys makes up his mind to push for an issue he makes it happen.
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Voice Mail Stuff
Thursday, February 08, 2007 ::
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Check out this story from Fresno.
Watterson doesn't hold a candle to Dave Flory. I should have been saving the messages I have gotten on my home answering machine, cell phone, and business.
He never threatens anything like this guy but he does demonstrate some level of instability. When Jenn and I need a permit for our pool I am going to leave a really good message with Flory....when he is on the City Council in 2014.
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Vote by Mail -- I am all for it
Thursday, February 08, 2007 ::
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Contra Costa County election chief Steve Weir is the head of the California County Clerks and Elections Officials. He is pushing to have some entire counties in California vote by mail. Amen.
You can read this article in the Contra Costa Times.
The only place I have every been registered to vote is Woodland. I am pretty sure that I have votes by mail in every election since I was 18. Vote by mail is the way to go.
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Daily Democrat Editorial Today
Tuesday, February 06, 2007 ::
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The Woodland Daily Democrat today editorialized against the proposed development by Mike Gill on 113 and Road 25A. A few hours ago duriing the public comments portion of the Board of Supervisors Rich Jenness spoke on behalf of Mr. Gill.
Here is the editorial.
From what I observed in the room I did not see much support for the concept.
We will find out when we go back in the board room in a few minutes.
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Tonight at the Fairgrounds
Monday, February 05, 2007 ::
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About 50 people turned out tonight at the Fairgrounds to discuss potential uses of the site if it were to move. When you take out the Woodland Planning Commissioners (1), City/County Staff (2), Former Mayors and Supervisors (3), Fair Board Members (3) you are left with about 40 people.
The groups at the tables came up with six different options. Some were more economically viable than others.
My problem with some of these exercises is that everyone would like the world to be full of parks. In reality, it has to work economically.
As I have said before, I have come to the conclusion that the Fair needs to move. It is only where and when.
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Yolo County General Plan getting some attention now
Monday, February 05, 2007 ::
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The Yolo County General Plan is finally getting some much deserved attention.
The piece written by Josh Hernandez below is the headline story today and the Democrat even included a color map so people would know right where it is.
Then on page A-3 is a ad paid for by "Yolo Land Watch" that attacks "The Taylor Project". The ad describes the project as "a spcial-interest proposal to build 1,200 houses on 300 acres on County Road 19, west of Woodland."
Now things are heating up.
Note: I know this because I have the best newspaper delivery person on the planet. Early this morning it was three feet from my front door.
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Other blogs on 113/25A
Sunday, February 04, 2007 ::
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Josh Fernandez has a piece on blog central regarding the proposal. You can read it here.
Doug Paul Davis comments on the same proposal over at Davis Political Vanguard. Here it is.
People are really coming unglued on this proposal. I have been contacted by farmers, environmentalists, planners, and other developers. All are opposed to this plan.
Mr. Gill is asking the county to tear out vineyards in order to put in a couple big box stores. If the county does this we will have absolutely zero claim to valuing agriculture at all.
Note: As a legal disclaimer, my mind is stil completely open on this and I will make up my mind in the board chambers...just like I always do. This post is nothing more than thinking out loud.
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Free Beef
Sunday, February 04, 2007 ::
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 Jenn needed new tires for her car. She dropped it off last night and then jogged home.
So today she took Adam out for a run in the baby jogger to run some errands and pick up her car. She came back with....FREE BEEF.
At Les Schwab Tires if you buy four new tires you get FREE BEEF.
I think this is really funny. They even packaged this thing right.
The CD case is for size reference.
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Community Needs List Working
Saturday, February 03, 2007 ::
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Thank you to those of you that have responded to the community needs list so quickly. Keep it coming.
It is Saturday afternoon. Dotty and I are here in the County office with a hand truck and a shredder that were donated today by Robert Ramming. There are some other smaller items that are going to be dropped off at my house over the next week.
Please take a look at the list and see what you might have sitting around.
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The Community Calendar
Saturday, February 03, 2007 ::
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Under the "community" section of this website you will be a sections titled "Community Calendar". All of the invitations that come into my office go up there. I use to to figure out my schedule and you can do the same.
We try to provide all of the information you need to be able to be active in the community.
If you have events that you would like included please send me a note. We will get it up there if it is an appropriate item.
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Abbie likes pink
Saturday, February 03, 2007 ::
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 This is the sort of madness we have going on in the Rexroad home.
Good grief.
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Global Warming
Saturday, February 03, 2007 ::
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At a lunch meeting this week I asked a person I respect a great deal about global warming. He scoffed.
The indication was that it was not proven and was potentially some big hoax.
The lead story in the New York Times today is about an international group of scientists that have placed the idea of global warming as "unequivocal". This is an increased probability of global warming.
I guess it is just something that makes sense to me. When you put a bunch of Marines in a harbor site they walk and roll around in it for twelve hours .....they leave a foot print. All the military "academics" say that you should not have you Recon team leave a footprint when you leave a harbor site. Right! Clearly they have never tried to do this.
The reality is that you can take steps to leave less of a footprint but you will leave some mark behind. People do that.
Well, the same thing for the earth. You put 3 billion people on the planet. Have them drive cars, blow things up, and dump stuff in the ocean ...they are going to leave a mark.
Here is my problem with the folks that say global warming isn't an issue. For arguements sake, let's just say that global warming is not proven yet. Let's say that scientists are only looking at fifty years worth of good data over the history of the world. Let's say that fifty more years worth of data is necessary to confirm the existance of global warming.
Where will we be in 2057? I think we will be way too far off the cliff to correct course by then. We do need to take some corrective action now. I am not quite willing to go as far as some of the people in Yolo County but I do think taking some steps in that direction are appropriate.
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Davis Water Problem
Friday, February 02, 2007 ::
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The Davis Enterprise has a very important article on the front page today that has to do with water....and fees associated with water/sewer.
Here is the article.
This is why it is important. It is my guess that Davis has about 23,000 utility hook-ups. Let's go 25,000 for fun. If you read this article the number estimated for these fixes is $300 million......$300,000,000.
When you divide $300 million by 25,000 you get ....$12,000. That is $12,000 per hook up or per house. That is a pretty big liability for each dwelling unit in Davis.
The Woodland City Council took a great deal of heat for the fee increases we were forced to adopt a couple years ago. I will bet the outcry in Davis will be even louder considering the increases they are looking at.
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Communty Needs
Friday, February 02, 2007 ::
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Please take a look at the new community needs list under the "Community" tab on the left. We are listing needs that have been expressed by the Wayfer Center and other organization. If you have some of these items and they are surplus please consider supporting the Wayfarer Center.
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Proposal for 113 and 25A
Friday, February 02, 2007 ::
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I have been warned to be careful about what I say in public about certain proposals. I need to express some level of opportunity to change my mind and have an open mind when expressing things prior to public meetings.
So in that light, the chances of me supporting this proposal are about the same as the Sacramento Kings winning the Super Bowl on Sunday....not impossible but extrememly unlikely.
My reasons for opposing this proposal are ---
- No public scrutiny. This proposal was given to the Board of Supervisors three business days prior to the hearing on the Yolo County General Plan. The Planning Commission never really considered this option.
- It is outsie the Woodland Urban Limit Line that was passed by the voters. It would need voter approval in Woodland.
- The portion outside the Woodland ULL would need to use septic. As I understand California law -- this is not possible for business development.
- It would defeat the purpose of the Gateway Center. We would end up with two Big Box complexes between Woodland and Davis. They would both be marginally sucessful at best.
- This is PRIME farmland. Prime.
- If this is an effort to serve the people of Davis. Great. Let's build it right next to Sutter Davis. Let's put it right near them.
Please read the letter below.that arrived in my office on Thursday.
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Hate Mail and Calls
Friday, February 02, 2007 ::
1 Comments
I am now getting drilled with e-mails saying that I am a liberal and at the same time ones that say I am evil for opposing same sex marriage.
Look -- my statement below stands. I was not misquoted in the Sacramento Bee. I oppose same sex marriage and don't think Freddie Oakley should be somehow punished by the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. Go talk to Freddie and get a packet on the recall of elected officials.
The reality is that she has done this kind of thing before ....and yet it appears that she had broad support in the last election.
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Oakley in Same-Sex Marriage spotlight
Thursday, February 01, 2007 ::
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Today Jim Sanders of the Sacramento Bee called me to ask about something County Clerk-Recorder Freddie Oakley is doing.
I guess she is going to be passing out "Certificates of Inequality" to same-sex couples on Valentine's Day. They were prepared by Oakley on her own time and at her own expense. It is a way to get some press attention to the issue of same-sex marriage.
This whole thing is completely silly. However, Oakley is an elected official that is expressing her views. In the article that will be in the Sacramento Bee tomorrow Assemblyman Doug LaMalfa says that if he were a County Supervisor he would ask her to do this on her own time and not out of her office.
Well -- I think he should then lead by example and make the same request of Assemblyman Mark Leno of San Francisco. If it is good for a Yolo County Supervisor -- it is good for an Assemblyman. Good luck on that one Doug. When you get Leno to shut it down and I will go talk to Freddie about it.
I'm completely opposed to same-sex marriage. However, I'm not going to tell another elected official in Yolo County not to do something with her own time and resources. She's not violating the law. She's expressing an opinion that she holds. Bring it up at election time.
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Corrections Reform
Thursday, February 01, 2007 ::
1 Comments
Yesterday I spent the morning with the California State Association of Counties. The committee I serve on is the Administration of Justice Committee.
We met in Sacramento to get a briefing by Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Jim Tilton. He was very good. He briefed us on the current reforms being considered for his department.
I have attached a document that discusses the general issue. It is a huge deal that will dominate the news this summer.
The end of the meeting was with Assemblyman Todd Spitzer of Orange County. He was good but basically told CSAC to get more involved in this process.
I have so much more to relay on this meeting. This is the perfect committee for me to serve on. I really like it.
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