Valley Archives - Los Gatos News And Events

Smug and grumpy Mill Valley? Look once more – Marin Impartial Journal

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 20:34:47 +0000

Ellen Mattesi with her 3D creation “Evil Clown” on Montford Avenue. (Photo by Mary Ann Hogan)

The Urban Dictionary defines Mill Valley as “a town in Marin County, California, that served as the basis for the South Park episode 'SmugAlert!' The people there… are generally smug, spoiled recluses who live in tiny, 800-square-foot shacks for which they paid $1.2 million.”

The “generally complacent” people tend to make everyone else grumpy. Or so the story goes. If only life were that easy here. As one dinner host recently said, “I get grumpy at people who get grumpy when they hear about what happened to Mill Valley.”

Just look around and you might find an old-fashioned village with a small-town atmosphere and a big-hearted soul. Here's a potpourri of the real Mill Valley:

Terribly good

At the bend in the road where Molino Avenue meets Montford Avenue, you'll find artist and designer Ellen Mattesi's Halloween Valentine's Day gift. For the past eight years, Mattesi, an “inventor of fantasy environments,” has decorated her front yard with elaborate 3D bodies, torsoless arms and hands, skulls, teeth, skeletons, strange bones and a whole lot of clowns, including the giant evil clown with 12-inch-long teeth. Mattesi says, “All the other clowns have to constantly feed him body parts.”

Every year, people honk and wave, give a thumbs up or scream like the dead as they pull off Molino, a funnel for the crowds from Mount Tam and the beaches, as well as for the neighbors who live up the hill.

A few years ago, Mattesi injured her knee and couldn't put up her decorations. She apologized on social media. The neighbors didn't hesitate for a second: “Would you like to help put them up?” “I would help too. We've enjoyed our Halloween fun since we lived here…” Her teenage daughter stepped in and saved the holiday.

This year, the mayor of Mill Valley left a business card with a note in Mattesi's mailbox: “Thank you for bringing Halloween back to Mill Valley.”

Yes, you can

One day last week, a lost bird flew into Scott Snyder's chimney in Tam Valley. Snyder and his wife could hear the helpless fluttering.

First they called a chimney sweep. “They said they didn't know anything about animals,” says Snyder, a data engineer, voice actor and animal lover. Then they called Marin Humane, which sent someone to search. “They thought it might be an owl.” The organization transports animals but doesn't release them from chimneys. So Snyder called WildCare. But they only receive and treat the animals. They don't release or transport them.

Snyder asked neighbors for suggestions. Several offered to help. One suggested the Southern Marin Fire District, which covers Tam Valley. “It had just rained the night before,” Snyder says, “so I didn't feel too bad.”

Within a few hours, a three-man team showed up. They climbed the steep roof of the Snyder. Removed the top of the stovepipe. Lowered a rope down the chimney. The bird climbed about halfway up the rope. Then it took to the skies. It wasn't an owl. “Probably a Florida jay.”

Neighbors cheered on social media. “What a happy ending! … Cats in trees, birds in chimneys, our Southern Marin firefighters can do it all!”

Yes, you can.

And he did.

Signs of optimism

The sign on the wall of Two Neat, a long-standing, funky art and dog gift shop downtown, reads: “Unsupervised children receive an espresso and a free puppy.”

One Friday afternoon, a group of middle school students walked in and told store owner Bob Bijou, “We're unsupervised 12-year-olds. Can we have our free puppy?” Bijou gave them each a free piece of 10-cent taffy instead. The kids gobbled it up. Soon, regular Mill Valley Fridays became Free Toffee Fridays for the original gang of “unsupervised” and their friends. Even if the taffy isn't free, Bijou says, it's a bargain. “Where else in Mill Valley can you get something for 10 cents?”

There are numerous notable signs:

• At the organic produce stand on the corner of Shoreline Highway and Tennessee Valley Road, a roadside sign reads: “Peace, Love and Pickles.”

• The sign at the Book Depot & Café reads: “I say a town is not a town without a bookstore. It may call itself a town, but if it has no bookstore, it knows it is not fooling anyone.” (From Neil Gaiman's “American Gods”)

Make friends with the parks

Next Thursday night, November 2nd, there will be a fundraiser for Friends of Parks and Recreation from 6:30-11:00 p.m. at Sweetwater Music Hall. Tickets are $100 and include wine, beer, appetizers and rock music from Mustache Harbor. Sponsors include the Mill Valley Soccer Club and the Southern Marin Lacrosse Club.

Among the beneficiaries is the city's planned new skate park, a project by and for a savvy group of Mill Valley middle school students.

So, have a nice Mill Valley day.

The post Smug and grumpy Mill Valley? Look once more – Marin Impartial Journal appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Restricted Entry Chimney Session | Squaw Valley

Tue, 16 Apr 2024 04:21:03 +0000

If you're unfamiliar with Squaw Valley's infamous terrain, the Palisades, check out this video. It's a quick look at a special session that several skiers were lucky enough to participate in at the Squaw Palisades' most famous area, “The Chimney.” Not only that, but it's not a particularly snowy year and those lines aren't particularly filled in. For reference, sometimes the line on the right left by most skiers in the video is called “the chimney sweep.” combines completely or is a much smaller air. Not in this session. Check out where they start and where their tracks end! Big shout out to the one-taker on “Center Line” at the end of the video – looks like he nailed it really well too!

The post Restricted Entry Chimney Session | Squaw Valley appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Coastal Pores and skin and Eye Institute now able to serve Encinitas, Carmel Valley and native communities for eyecare and dermatology wants

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 11:27:34 +0000

Coastal Skin and Eye Institute seeks to expand its reach to meet the dermatological, ophthalmic and other needs of the community in and around Carmel Valley and Encinitas. They are a leading dermatology and ophthalmology practice in northern San Diego County with locations in Carmel Valley and Encinitas.

“We provide medical, surgical and cosmetic care for a variety of skin and eye conditions,” said April Lynne Dionela, practice manager at Coastal Skin and Eye Institute.

Christopher Crosby MD, PhD

(Courtesy of Coastal Skin and Eye Institute)

Skin care specialist Christopher Crosby MD, PhD is a board-certified dermatologist whose career began at Duke University. He earned both his MD and PhD degrees from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. An internship at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center followed. While studying dermatology at Emory University, Dr. Crosby then as senior physician. With an insatiable thirst for knowledge, he completed a demanding fellowship (accredited by ACGME) at the University of California, San Francisco, in Mohs micrographic surgery and procedural dermatology.

Dr. Crosby is one of the few fellowship-trained Mohs surgeons in the San Diego area. He has a particular interest in Mohs surgery and reconstructive dermatologic surgery for skin cancer. He understands that a diagnosis of skin cancer can have a devastating impact on a patient's emotional well-being, and he recognizes the amazing impact of compassionate, effective treatment.

Neeta Varshney, MD

(Courtesy of Coastal Skin and Eye Institute)

Coastal Skin and Eye specializes in eye care and employs both an optician and an ophthalmologist. Neeta Varshney, MD, is a board-certified general ophthalmologist trained in the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases. Dr. Varshney is an experienced surgeon and enjoys using the latest technologies available to provide the highest level of care to her patients. Dr. A native of Southern California, Varshney comes from a family of doctors. After graduating high school at the top of her class, she later graduated summa cum laude from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she double majored in biology and psychology. She received her medical degree (MD) with honors from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA in 2009. Dr. Varshney's expertise includes cataract and refractive surgery, the assessment and treatment of glaucoma (including laser treatments), macular degeneration, and diabetic eye disease.

A client treatment at Coastal Skin and Eye Institute.

(Courtesy of Coastal Skin and Eye Institute)

Dr. Connor Caldwell is a board-certified optometrist who was interested in healthcare from a young age. He began his journey in high school, where he was nominated to attend an elite summer course for young professionals and aspiring physicians, the National Youth Leadership Forum on Medicine at UC Berkeley. Here he discovered his passion for the field of eye health and continued his medical journey with a bachelor's degree in Integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado. Dr. Caldwell was one of 50 students accepted into the Arizona College of Optometry. He trained with leading optometrists from around the world in many areas including ocular prosthetics, low vision services, electrodiagnostics and specialty contact lens fitting.

San Diego has more than 200 days of sunshine each year. Regular skin cancer screenings at Coastal Skin and Eye Institute can detect the disease when simpler, less invasive treatments are still possible. An important part of the process is also identifying any abnormalities during self-checks at home.

Coastal Skin and Eye Institute also treats patients with conditions such as acne, moles, skin growths and more. On the cosmetic side, they offer treatments like Botox, laser, microneedling and more. The practice also offers eye exams, including testing for problems such as glaucoma and macular degeneration. In addition to these tests, they can perform vision tests and help choose glasses and contact lenses. Overall, patient reviews praise Coastal Skin and Eye Institute for its “super friendly” staff, its “wide range of services from general skin care to cosmetic procedures,” and “the best service in my 20-year purchasing history.” Glasses” and for having staff who “really make you feel like you are in good and safe hands”.

Coastal Skin and Eye Institute has locations at 5500 Carmel Mountain Rd., Suite 206, in Carmel Valley and 477 N. El Camino Real, Suite C300, in Encinitas. Carmel Valley office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and Encinitas office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Coastal Skin and Eye Institute also accepts Medicare and most PPO and vision insurance plans. The Coastal Skin and Eye Institute's Carmel Valley office offers dermatology, optometry and ophthalmology, and the Encinitas office currently offers ophthalmology.

Coastal Skin and Eye Institute will also debut a more patient-focused website. Patients can use the website to book appointments, learn more about the doctors and obtain other information related to their skin and eye care needs. For more information, visit www.coastalskineye.com. – Coastal Skin and Eye Institute report

— Business Spotlight highlights companies that support this publication.

The post Coastal Pores and skin and Eye Institute now able to serve Encinitas, Carmel Valley and native communities for eyecare and dermatology wants appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Recounting the Late Season Radness @ Squaw Valley, CA

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 12:15:29 +0000

Chimney rounds in mid-May?

Skiing KT-22 through Memorial Day (end of May)?

Father's Day (mid-June) shred weekend?

Open until July 15th???

SAY SOMETHING?

THIS SHOULD BE ARCHIVED!!!

MAY 10, 2017

After watching the Squaw boys do their laps on The Chimney in the Palisades on social media on the days of May 8th and 9th, I knew I had to get up there before the steep lines melted away. So I decided to take a day trip from San Francisco, arriving after a one-way, summer-like drive of 2 hours and 35 minutes. With nervous anticipation, I entered the second funitel of the day on the way to the Chimney… using a flannel shirt as a ski coat.

The day was warm… incredibly warm. How long does the chimney stay open? Will the snow be sticky? Will the exit go smoothly? After one round the answer was clear. The conditions were perfect.

I was greeted by the usual Snowbrains crew of Miles Clark, Andy Hayes, Bevan Waite, Aaron Fox, Alex Knuuttunen, Josh Anderson, Ethan Kizzia and Nate Kushlan. Each line was marked “The Chimney Sweep” on the skier's far left to “Schmidiots” on the skier's far right. Heck, there were even party trains filming as we rode one after the other. It's been a long time since I had so much fun skiing on May 10th.

On my sixth lap I was greeted by a patrol who told me that this would be my last chimney line for the day. Of course I had to do stupid things. Both Alex and Nate have done it in one piece before, so I had the right beta to do the same thing. After a speed check I was able to bend the top, hold it together and cross the exit with ease… thrilled!

We spent the rest of the day lapping KT-22 until 2:15 p.m. From the West Face to Chute 75 to the Nose and the Alternates to under Olympic Lady…the corn snow was smooth and fast. When my legs gave out, I knew it was time to jump back in the car and head home… and I was grinning from ear to ear.

I see that KT-22 looks more white for May…

KT-22 – May 10, 2017

This will be our first twist of the day…

Chimney Sweep – Palisades, Squaw Valley

It was a party for steep ski nerds…

Chimney draft sessions

The sweep drove like a dream…

Squaw Valley, California

It's hard to believe it's almost mid-May…

Casey sends it – Photo: Jay Tierney

Bevan doing what he does best…

No tele-turn here…

Alex follows the speed protocol…

Alex K comes over…

Josh gets unconventional away from the mighty big cornice…

Josh A is a certified skier…

Round after round the boys continued as long as the patrol kept it open…

California ski lemmings…

Alex K shows us why chimney sweeping is so much fun…

Alex K comes over…

Party in the Palisades…

Extreme skiers go extreme…

Now it was my turn to finally get off Schmidiots…

Skiers about Schmidiots…

So the plan was to stay left and drive fast…

Oh boy!

It's time to slow down a bit to keep control…

Hey mom, look at this!

The decisive curve and luckily it was perfect corn snow…

Just one more round here…

Ok, now it's time to let them run…

Skier gets aggressive in the Palisades…

Time to ollie this bergschrund…

Isn't skiing fun?

Nate and I celebrated our Schmidiots rounds with a Red Bull and a Gatorade…BALLER!

Did you just ski Schmidiots?

After the stressful laps were over, we finally made a few turns…

Nate shares some carvings for late spring…

Over at KT-22 there was an incredible view of the amount of snow on the upper mountain…

May 10, 2017 – Squaw Valley USA

Time for some Chute-75…

Slide 75 – Squaw Valley – May 10, 2017

Mandatory stop at the Eagle…

Eagle's Nest/McConkey's – Squaw

Oh, hello, Alpine Meadows. You sure have a lot of snow!

Alpine Meadows – May 10, 2017

Olympic Lady skied quite well in the afternoon…

Oly Lady slides…

But then again, the corn snow in The Alternates was silky smooth…

The alternatives – Squaw Valley

Ultimately, KT-22 went well on May 10th… but my legs told me to stop… and I always listen to my legs.

KT-22 – May 10, 2017

But on May 24, 2017, Ethan Kizzia decided to lay the final Chimney Sweep tracks of the season…

I'm getting a little skinny there, buddy!

Chimney Sweep – May 24, 2017

And he does it…

Ethan Kizzia stops by… Photo: Aaron Fox

There's enough snow, right?

Threading the Needle – Squaw Valley

My God, I think he did it!

May 24, 2017 – Chimney Sweep – Photo: Aaron Fox

SUCCESS!

Aggressive Alpine Skiing – Photo: Aaron Fox

MAY 27, 2017!

After the infamous KT-22 (The Mothership) chairlift was “closed” on Saturday, May 20th, ski patrol decided there was enough snow to keep it open a little longer. Well, the chair is finally closed for the upcoming season May 28th at 7 p.m but not before I was able to do a few laps in some of my favorite zones.

The Olympic Lady, The Nose, Chute 75, West Face to The Alternates areas were fantastically calm in the warm spring temperatures. Essentially, if you decided to ski anything that was behind or below the chair line, you would end up walking down a patch of dry topsoil. Otherwise, an easy transition to the Mountain Run from Chute 75 to the Saddle gave you access to the base of the KT. Ultimately, given the date, I was beyond thrilled that Squaw kept the iconic chair open for my visit.

The day started in South Lake Tahoe with a beautiful view of Mt. Tallac…

Mt Tallac – May 27, 2017

Emerald Bay looks as quiet as ever…taken from a moving vehicle…

Emerald Bay, Tahoe South

And then straight to Siberia to get a good look at the open terrain…

Squaw Valley – May 27, 2017

Siberia was COMPLETE, so we ended up doing a few high speed laps…

Siberia Express – May 27, 2017

The chimney still shows some life…as do the marks of Ethan's chimney sweep from a few days before…

Chimney, palisades – Squaw Valley

Today was a day with the grandmothers…and of course lots of sweets!

Skied to Gold Coast…

Of course we had to watch “Shirley Wiggle”…

Shirley Lake – May 27, 2017

And then it was time for a few KT-22 laps before lunch…

A little thin at the bottom – KT-22 – May 27, 2017

However, as the altitude increased, things looked much better…

Olympic Lady and Lake Tahoe…

Slide 75 still had the huge slush bumps…

Slush with the Groms – Chute 75

Reese met up with us to ski some of the steeper open areas…

Reese puts one down – Chute 75

I always enjoy the middle ankle from the top…

Slide 75 – May 27, 2017

Perfect weather and easy moguls… HELLO!!!

Fun Happens – Squaw Valley

When your 8 year old tries to compete against you…

Skiing to the base on May 27, 2017

Upper KT-22 still looks pretty buried for late May…

KT-22 – May 27, 2017

High-speed straight lines under Olympic Lady helped with seasonal depression…

Time to let them run…

The Mountain Run won't last long, but should it really? It's almost June!

Mountain running – May 27, 2017

KT-22 will be closed tomorrow and this time forever!

Another day KT-22

Time for one last run on the alternates…

Deputy – Squaw Valley – May 27, 2017

I can't imagine a more suitable drink…

Why not drink the beer that goes with my skis???

17th-18th JUNE 2017!

California's monstrous snowpack in 2017 continues to provide snow sliding fun for winter enthusiasts. Over Father's Day weekend I enjoyed fantastic days in the sun skiing in Siberia, the Gold Coast and Shirley Lake with my wife and children. Saturday ended up being a cruiser day to get a tan, do a few laps and enjoy lunch at High Camp before heading back to the hotel for the pool.

Sunday started with some quick piste laps on Siberia Run, traversing under the Headwall Chair to Hogsback to tackle some steeper sections up to the base of the Chair. After Siberia we headed to Shirley Lake to check out The Wiggle, ride some north facing groomers and mark some off piste just past the Shirley Chutes. The off-piste terrain was still fairly smooth with minimal sunbursts, making higher speed corners quite pleasant.

I'm pretty sure Red Dog is done for the season…

Summer morning in Squaw Valley

Yes, my 6 year old daughter is ready to kill some mud…

Young grom eye is her line…

The family that skis together… skis in Siberia on Father's Day!

Siberia Express – June 17, 2017

It snowed a little faster and more evenly on Shirley Lake…

Parker is doing a carving in mid-June…

I guess the kids are fans of The Warriors…

Summer Shirley carves…

A rare sight of the woman taking turns in front of the camera…

Shirley Lake – June 17, 2017

A few more laps and it was time to reach high camp…

Grom at Shirley Lake – June 17, 2017

No complaints here…

High camp with blue skies and snow-covered slopes…

Lazing around after skiing with the third child…

Hammocks are stressful…trust me!

A lakefront dinner on the West Coast for the win…

Boating Season – Lake Tahoe…

Paid a visit to the brothers at the Slot Bar…

Slot Bar Blanket Ski Mag Porn…

The third child may be young, but he still mandated a visit to the mothership…

First visit to KT-22…

The next day, my eldest son and I got in the Funitel queue early and headed straight to Siberia…

Siberia Express – June 18, 2017

We found that the crossing to Hogsback provided high quality corn with a steeper gradient…

Hogsback – June 18, 2017

Young Steph Curry takes a turn under the Palisades…

After some time in Siberia, we moved to Shirley Lake to explore as much as we could…

Crossing to Shirley Chutes…

The Shirley Wiggle has grown in depth week by week…

Dave Meters shows us how – June 18, 2017

POV from INSIDE THE WIGGLE!!!!

Welcome to the technology of the year 2017…

There's still snow in the Palisades (especially National Chute), but my son didn't want to hike…I think I was being nice on Father's Day

Palisades – Squaw Valley – June 18, 2017

And with one last look at Chute 75, our final trip to Squaw for the “ski season” was over…

Last Funitel ride of the season…

And then when my family's summer travels took us to Telluride until mid-July, Squaw stayed open until Saturday, July 15, 2017…not too shabby, Tahoe, not too shabby.

To see what it looked like on the last day of the season (JULY 15!!!!), click here:

Squaw Valley, CA Saturday, July 15th Weather Report: Last day of the epic 2016/17 season?

WHAT WILL THE NEXT SEASON BRING?

San Francisco’s ‘Cerebral Valley’ Booms in ChatGPT and Generative AI

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 16:08:29 +0000

Because of pandemic-era closings, San Francisco became somewhat of a ghost town for two years.
As people left and worked remotely, some wondered whether San Francisco was dead as a tech hub.
Now a race to succeed in the fledgling space of generative AI has founders flocking back.

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San Francisco’s tech scene is back.

After the pandemic effectively shut down the city for more than two years, sentiment is shifting away from proclamations of a once great city’s demise and toward the good old times, when it was the destination for people trying to reshape the world’s technological vision.

Across the city, founders are planting their flags, with dreams of riding the wave of a new technology that’s been said to be a step change akin to the iPhone: generative artificial intelligence. Amber Yang, an early-stage investor at Bloomberg Beta, recently tweeted that startups in that field were flocking to San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, which founders have renamed “Cerebral Valley.” The tweet was made somewhat in jest, but Yang added that the nascent field of generative AI was advancing so quickly that teams felt being together in one hub was necessary to keep up.

Generative AI takes training data — for instance, a vast collection of written text — and teaches itself how to produce unique works. In the first five days of its release, more than 1 million people tried out ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that can respond to questions with humanlike answers, according to Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Microsoft is reportedly investing $10 billion in OpenAI, with plans to incorporate ChatGPT into its Bing search engine and Azure cloud offerings.

To be sure, ChatGPT has limitations. It may know how to form humanlike sentences, but it can’t discern whether they’re accurate.

Still, the underlying technology of generative AI is impressive, and startup founders see much potential. Twenty-two percent of generative-AI companies are based in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and 55% of capital invested in the space is landing there, James Currier, a partner at the early-stage investment firm NFX, said.

The ‘crazy hackers’ are here

Víctor Perez and Diego Rodriguez knew San Francisco was the place to be for generative AI when they moved there several months ago to build KREA. Their startup, in the city’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, creates models for high-quality image generation and asset management services.

Originally from Spain, the duo first landed in Miami last year, where they developed generative image models. There, they said they noticed that most of the “crazy hackers” they met came from San Francisco.

After they gave New York a try for several weeks, the generative-AI boom picked up. People began telling them to head West. Dave Fontenot, who founded a 12-week founder residency program in San Francisco called HF0, told them they’d be “crazy” and “irresponsible” not to work on generative AI in San Francisco, Perez said.

The home where KREA’s founders work.

Thomas Maxwell/Insider

Perez and Rodriguez initially planned to stay briefly, but when they started meeting people around San Francisco working on generative tech — including people working on artificial intelligence at Meta and OpenAI — they knew they had to stay. They said they felt the excitement and the motivation of developers to build something new.

Pre-pandemic, these types of bare homes for startup founders were common.

Thomas Maxwell/Insider

Perez said that the sense of urgency to get working on building better AI models came from how generative AI improved with more data. Models must be trained using real data created by humans — the more images of a fish that an AI model sees, the better it gets at producing its own image of a fish, for instance.

“We feel urgent,” Perez said. “But it’s not because some other people can create a better model than us today. It’s creating the best models tomorrow.”

KREA is developing high-quality image models, like one that can generate images in the style of a Studio Ghibli film.

Thomas Maxwell/Insider

Another founder who recently landed in San Francisco, Nicholas Locascio, is working on Booth AI, which targets e-commerce with a tool that generates professional product shots without the user having to pay for an expensive photo shoot. Customers of the tech upload an image of a product — say, a coffee mug — and then Booth AI can place it in a lifestyle scene that makes it look appealing on e-commerce pages.

Along with his cofounders, Ian Baldwin and Mitra Morgan, Locascio was recently accepted into the vaunted Y Combinator accelerator program in Silicon Valley.

“This is a technology that a lot of traditional thinking about programming just doesn’t work for,” Locascio said. “Nobody knows the best way to do anything right now. It’s a complete gold rush.”

Ian Baldwin and Nicholas Locascio, two of Booth AI’s cofounders.

Nicholas Locascio

‘No skeptics yet’

While founders are confident that generative AI will change the world, they’re still trying to figure out exactly how it will play out.

“There are no skeptics yet, so it’s a unique time,” Currier, the NFX partner, said. “But entrepreneurs have to figure it out because the Big Tech companies aren’t sitting around.”

To Currier’s point, Google issued a “code red” in recent weeks to respond to the threat of generative-AI products to the company’s search and other key services, The New York Times reported in December.

That’s why it’s key for up-and-coming AI startup developers to work together to get ahead while they can and share ideas with each other — similar to how in the early days of the sharing economy, the Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky would have dinner together frequently and leave with ideas on how to improve their companies, according to the Amazon biography “The Everything Store.”

“The lunch and the parties happening in the Bay Area are going to have a substantial impact” on who figures out the strategies to win, Currier said, adding: “So being in the same place matters.”

The post San Francisco’s ‘Cerebral Valley’ Booms in ChatGPT and Generative AI appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

21 of one of the best Napa Valley vineyards

Mon, 23 Jan 2023 08:41:54 +0000

So, you’re headed to Napa Valley and want to visit a winery. But which one? There are more than 400 open to the public in California’s prestigious vinous heart — and they’re not all created equal. With your cash on the line (tastings are chargeable) you want an experience that goes above and beyond. That’s where the wineries listed below come in — they deliver much more than samples of the region’s esteemed cabernet sauvignon. They come with exclusive experiences and daring architecture, knock-out food pairings and insider tours. Book well ahead to secure your picks, as the valley gets busy. And hire a taxi too — pours can be generous.

Main photo: Inglenook, Rutherford

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Opus One Winery

1. Opus One Winery, Oakville

This lauded collaboration between Cali icon Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe de Rothschild — of Bordeaux’s Château Mouton Rothschild — pairs Napa glamour with French precision in a sleek contemporary space. Patience and deep pockets are essential for snagging a tasting slot within the hallowed walls of Opus One; in high season they can book up months in advance. Entry-level flights of three wines, sipped in the serene courtyard, cost from around £85pp — not as bad value as it sounds given the bottles retail for upwards of £500. Money no object? Settle into a glass-lined space overlooking the vines for a new gourmet food and wine offering, launching in autumn 2022.

Where to stay Carry on channelling the Gallic vibe at nearby Auberge du Soleil, Napa Valley’s long-standing luxury resort with a sublime restaurant overlooking the hills. Book in for sunset hour and arrive thirsty; the lengthy wine list deserves your full attention.

A tasting at Robert Mondavi Winery (Alamy)

2. Robert Mondavi Winery, Oakville

Robert Mondavi Winery is best known for its signature fumé blanc. Created in 1968, the wine is made with dry oak-aged sauvignon blanc grapes, which were at the time an unpopular variety in California, but went on to become a great success. It was opened in 1965 by the eponymous Napa Valley winemaking guru (see Opus One, above, another Mondavi project), whose pioneering methods brought fame to this New World wine region. Mondavi was a philanthropist and a lover of art, good food and, naturally, fine wine, with his winery reflecting these passions. Drop by for summer concerts, bicycle vineyard tours amid the property’s sculptures, an extensive art collection, walk-in tastings, wine-paired dinners and twilight tours around this Spanish mission-style winery.

Where to stay After a day of walking around the winery you’ll want to soak your feet and ward off any hangovers with a stint in the hot tub at Rancho Caymus Inn*.

Inglenook

3. Inglenook, Rutherford

This grand historic estate feels a bit like a film set — but then again, it’s owned by Hollywood royalty Francis Ford Coppola. Wander through the landscaped grounds, through the greenery-lined manor doors and into the library-style tasting room dressed in retro wallpaper and belting out jazzy tunes. The atmosphere at Inglenook is 10/10 and the wines follow suit. Made under the watchful eye of Philippe Bascaules — also the MD at esteemed Bordeaux estate Château Margaux — the flagship red, Rubicon, is bursting with dark red fruit and rippled with silky tannins. But our personal favourite? The Rhône-style white blend, Blancaneaux, all golden and peachy.

Where to stay Book into Hotel Yountville*, where the stone frontage echoes some of the old-world grandeur of Inglenook. After a morning of serious wine tastings, install yourself by the suntrap pool with a good book and a glass of frivolous rosé.

Stanly Ranch

4. Ashes & Diamonds, Oak Knoll

Napa wineries don’t get much more Instagrammable. But the angular mid-century aesthetic and citrussy colour palette at this new-wave Napa outfit is only one part of the draw. Ashes & Diamonds sources grapes from cooler climate vineyard sites to make fresh, approachable wines that are interesting and contemporary — perfect if you find classic Napa reds a bit too hefty. The food and wine pairing is next-level, too: book ahead to devour the fermented potato bread and labneh, charred romanesco with date agrodolce, and spiced chicken with chickpeas.

Where to stay If you like the vibe here you’ll love the slick stylings of Stanly Ranch, a luxurious stay amid vineyards just a 15-minute drive away. Don’t miss the spa — one of the finest in the valley.

Chateau Montelena

5. Chateau Montelena, Calistoga

One of the names that changed it all in Napa. Montelena was the white wine winner of the 1976 Judgment of Paris, the landmark French vs US tasting depicted in the film Bottle Shock (Chris Pine played Montelena’s current CEO Bo Barrett). Styled after a European chateau, the grand, greenery-clad property looks just like it did in the movie. Come for a tasting in one of the wood-panelled private rooms, then wander around the lake and its Chinese-inspired pavilions.

Where to stay Montelena has been in sun-baked Calistoga for ages, and so has Dr Wilkinson’s*, a mud spa and hotel open since the 1950s. Renovated bedrooms are retro in a good way, with mid-century furniture and house plants.

6. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Stag’s Leap District

Not to be confused with the similarly named Stag’s Leap Winery, this cabernet powerhouse was the other Napa winery to win big at the Judgment of Paris — you can see some of the original documentation displayed in the tasting room. Despite the pedigree, Stag’s Leap doesn’t rest on its laurels, turning out silky wines that bring a loyal following to the buzzy window-lined space. Sign up for a Celestial Tour & Tasting, which plunges you into the cool cellars, decked out with a giant steely Foucault pendulum. It includes a seated food and wine pairing where, if you’re lucky, winemaker Marcus Notaro might in pop in for a chat.

Where to stay An eco-conscious stay in idyllic nearby Yountville, Bardessono* is set in a LEED-certified Platinum building and has its own organic garden on site. Spa-style bedroom suites bring the therapist to you.

Four Seasons Napa Vallley

7. Elusa Winery, Calistoga

This intimate, open-by-appointment winery has the visitor experience nailed. Elusa shares its site with the Four Seasons Napa Valley, and the winery’s cabernet sauvignon vines are dotted throughout the hotel grounds. Call ahead for the chance to tour the space with hospitable winemaker Jonathan Walden and sample a catalogue of cabernet sauvignon dating back to 2012, all paired with local cheeses.

Where to stay You’re already at the Four Seasons Napa Valley*, so you may as well check in. Vines are close enough to the rooms that you can reach out and pluck off a grape (though, for Walden’s sake, please don’t).

Round Pond Estate

8. Round Pond Estate, Rutherford

Make no mistake, Round Pond does tasty wine — crisp sauvignon blanc and inky cabernet sauvignon, plus fruity nebbiolo and sweet white fortified. But many visitors also come for the tutored olive oil tastings, set on a shaded terrace overlooking the purple Mayacamas Mountains. Like most of the estate’s grapes, the olives are ripened under the rays right here in Rutherford. Try them in Spanish or Italian varietals, pure and clean or ripened with zingy Meyer lemon or fragrant rosemary.

Where to stay It suffered in the 2020 wildfires — the Michelin-starred restaurant was a casualty and has yet to reopen — but luxurious resort Meadowood* is back. There are 36 lodges which are rustic on the outside and relaxing on the inside, with huge beds and windows that overlook forested slopes. Come for rambling grounds and family-friendly facilities, including tennis courts. Bonus points: three gorgeous outdoor pools.

Long Meadow Ranch (Alamy)

9. Long Meadow Ranch, St Helena

If Old MacDonald had a not just a farm, but a multi-million-dollar ranch in the heart of St Helena, it might look like Long Meadow. The bucolic-chic winery grows on over 2,000 acres across three counties — not just grapes, but fruit and veg too — and serves up the bountiful results in its headquarters here, via a restaurant, café, farmers’ market and tasting room. There’s a delicious diversity of wines to be tasted, from sparkling blanc de noirs from the Anderson Valley to sangiovese and merlot from Napa.

Where to stay If you’re feeling nostalgic for low-key Napa Valley farm life, Wine Country Inn* has a homely feel coupled with vineyard views and private patio space. Its smaller, low-key space is the escape you need from the wine-tasting crowds.

10. Grgich Hills Estate

Perfectly manicured rows of vines, undulating mountains beyond — the view from the tasting terrace at Grgich is special. You’re here to enjoy the flight of five limited production wines, sipped over 90 minutes while comfortably seated, so you can really soak up the scene. And soak up the history; founder Miljenko “Mike” Grgich was the winemaker who crafted Chateau Montelena’s winning 1973 chardonnay, and is a Napa legend who’s still going at age 99. The estate’s whites are sublime as ever; snap up a couple to take back home from the shop.

Where to stay Napa town, a 20-minute drive to the south, has been awash with new restaurant and bar openings over the past few years. Get in the heart of the action at low-key Inn on Randolph*, a B&B set in a historic home.

Artesa Vineyards & Winery

11. Artesa Vineyards & Winery, Carneros

Is it a winery or a Bond villain’s hideaway? However you interpret the dramatic semi-subterranean architecture at Artesa, you certainly can’t knock the sweeping, bird’s eye view. Here in southerly Carneros the skies are big and the landscapes are wide-angle; as you sip the local pinot noirs, chardonnays and fizz you can also fill up your camera reel. If things are looking familiar, that’s because the winery featured in Netflix film Wine Country, starring Amy Poehler.

Where to stay It’s little more than a five-minute drive to Carneros Resort*. With three restaurants, bikes to hire and private cottages with fireplaces, it’s got it all — though we’d be spending most of our time by that pool.

Hall St Helena (Alamy)

12. Hall St Helena, St Helena

Culture enthusiasts should be sure to make a stop at Hall St Helena and book its signature Hallmark tour, which takes guests on a head-spinning whirl around the winery’s grounds, vines, wines and eye-popping modern art. The vineyard is known for its merlot, sauvignon blanc and age-worthy cabernet sauvignon, which is so highly regarded that the property even offers visitors its “ultimate cabernet” experience, allowing guests to sip a selection of some of Hall’s most sought-after cabernets.

Where to stay Meadowood* is close — see 8, above.

13. Shafer Vineyard, Yountville

Showered with accolades — including being hailed as “one of the world’s greatest wineries” by wine critic Robert M Parker Jr — family-run Shafer Vineyard produced its first wine in 1978. It specialises in high-end, premium wines, and its 1994 Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay was included among the top ten wines of 1996 by Wine Spectator; in 2012 the vineyard went one better when its 2008 Relentless was named wine of the year by the magazine. John and Doug Shafer were also named Wine and Spirits Professionals of the Year by the James Beard Foundation in 2010. Tastings are limited to two sessions a day, each with groups of no more than ten guests. Book well in advance.

Where to stay Be a stroll away from Michelin-starred restaurants and wine tasting rooms at North Block Hotel*. Make time for mornings relaxing in the cosy courtyard and heated pool.

The dining room at Castello di Amorosa (Alamy)

14. Castello di Amorosa, Calistoga

Blending new world wines with old world ambience, Castelo di Amorosa — true to its name — was built in the style of a medieval Tuscan castle, featuring five crenellated turrets, a drawbridge, more than 100 rooms connected by secret passages and even its own church. Despite its outward appearance, 95 per cent of this property is devoted to winemaking and guests can visit, by appointment only, to sample six of its eclectic range of wines and take themselves off on a self-guided tour of the castle.

Where to stay The Inn on Pine* is just a ten-minute drive from Calistoga Hot Springs. There’s a hot tub and in-room for conveniences including fridges and microwaves when you’re happy to stay put, too.

The Rhine House at Beringer (Alamy)

15. Beringer, St Helena

Managing to remain in operation throughout the USA’s prohibition era, Beringer is Napa Valley’s oldest continuously operating winery, one of the region’s largest producers, and a pioneer of wine tourism. Dating back to 1875 — when the Beringer brothers, German immigrant winemakers, planted the estate’s first vines — Beringer survived prohibition by slyly selling its dried grapes as “raisin cakes”, supplied with crafty warning labels advising its customers not to let the reconstituted grape juice sit in a corked bottle for 21 days, lest it accidentally ferment into wine.

After prohibition ended, Beringer invited Hollywood stars and attendees of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco to visit the estate, printing promotional maps emblazoned with the words “All roads lead to Beringer”, kick-starting Napa Valley’s enduring oenotourism scene. Beringer is now one of the largest wine producers in the Napa Valley and visitors are welcome to come and picnic in the grounds, explore the winery’s 19th-century mansion and mooch around the property’s hand-dug wine caves.

Where to stay Get cosy in a Victorian home built in 1872 at the four-star Inn St Helena*, a colourful pad just half a mile from Beringer Vineyards.

16. Raymond Vineyards, St Helena

This 100 per cent solar-powered winery, certified organic and biodynamic, does things a little differently. Raymond is a lavish affair and was founded in 1974. The Red Room lounge, in particular, is decked out like a belle époque bordello in sumptuous velvet, lit by crystal chandeliers and can be visited by appointment only. The wine cellar has even hosted burlesque nights. Sample its sparkling rosé and cabernet sauvignons as you make yourself at home with a game of cards or a book from the offbeat library.

Where to stay There’s lots to toast to at the Vintage House*, but start with the daily champagne buffet breakfast that’s included in the rate. It sits on a 23-acre space and there are lots of landscaped gardens and waterways to explore, while inside you’ll find rustic rooms with huge bathtubs and a great spa.

Domaine Carneros (Alamy)

17. Domaine Carneros, Napa

Easily one of the most regal properties in the Napa Valley, Domaine Carneros attracts visitors not just for its fantastic pinot noir and its excellent chardonnay, but also because of its picture-perfect château. Built in the 1980s, but architecturally based on the Taittinger-owned Château de la Marquetterie in Champagne, France, it’s a popular spot locally for a romantic Valentine’s getaway or a classy New Year’s Eve. Enjoy Domaine Carneros’ versatile sparkling wines, served with caviar and charcuterie, in its Louis XV-styled salon or on the terrace, overlooking 36,900 acres of certified-organic vineyards.

Where to stay Carneros Resort* is close — see 11, above.

18. Pine Ridge Vineyards, Napa

Set amid the Stag’s Leap District, against a backdrop of undulating hills, rugged peaks and valley floor vineyards, Pine Ridge, founded in 1978, is one of California’s better known, most consistent wineries — and one of its most ethical. Producing nationally distributed wines from its many vineyards throughout the Napa Valley region, Pine Ridge is a Napa Green-certified winery owing to its commitment to sustainable practices. Tastings are by appointment only and you should try its unusual chenin blanc and viognier blend, plus its flagship wine, the Fortis cabernet sauvignon.

Where to stay Get the five-star treatment with a stay at Bardessono Hotel and Spa* and you’ll be within walking walking distance of Girard Winery.

Del Dotto Estate (Alamy)

19. Del Dotto Estate, St Helena

Paying homage to the Del Dotto family’s Italian ancestry, dating back to 1150, this Venetian-inspired estate was added to the Dottos’ Napa empire of three wineries in 2007. It’s all about opulence — even its hand-excavated wine caves have crystal chandeliers and are clad with Italian marble.

Focusing on small production premium wines, the family has spent 25 years acquiring vineyards and Del Dotto specifically produces cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, sangiovese and sauvignon blanc from its many, organically farmed, Napa Valley properties. Visit for a tasting paired with the chef’s Italian cuisine.

Where to stay Head to the Harvest Inn* for your pick of two pools and — if you haven’t had enough bubbles yet — two giant hot tubs.

Chimney Rock Winery (Alamy)

20. Chimney Rock, Napa

Chimney Rock stands out from its Napa neighbours in the Stags Leap district, with its Cape Dutch architectural style that you’d usually expect to see around South Africa’s Constantia wine region. Oenophiles come for its bold and structured cabernet sauvignon; the grape variety that makes up the vast majority of its vineyards.

Visitors can take a ride around the winery and its various vineyards in Chimney Rock’s specially designed touring carts: enjoying exclusive, guided wine tastings between the vines and taking lunch against the backdrop of sweeping valley views from the Stags Leap Palisades.

Where to stay Hunker down in cottage at The Chimney Rock Inn & Cottages* and you’ll find lots to do nearby including hiking and fishing. As for dinner? Each cottage comes with a barbecue.

Clos Pegase Winery (Getty Images)

21. Clos Pegase Winery, Calistoga

Instantly recognisable by its striking postmodern architecture, designed by Michael Graves, Clos Pegase has an extensive art collection, 20,000 sq ft of wine caves and stirring views across mountains and vineyards. Visitors can try wine flights, guided tours, wine tastings for the connoisseur in the property’s Cave Theatre, and sommelier wine-paired picnics. Its signature experience, however, is roasting s’mores around a fire pit. Munching campfire treats (fire-toasted marshmallows and melted chocolate sandwiched between graham crackers), while drinking a selection of the winemaker’s favourite wines makes for a wonderfully intimate way to end your trip around the Napa Valley.

Where to stay Dial up the romance with a stay at the boutique Bergson*. You’ll be in easy strolling distance of restaurants, spas and quirky museums.

Take me there

Inspired to visit Napa Valley but yet to book your trip? Here are the best hotels from Mr & Mrs Smith* and Virgin Holidays*.

The post 21 of one of the best Napa Valley vineyards appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco & Silicon Valley Housing Markets Puke Enormous Worth Drops, as Startups, Crypto, Tech, Social Media Make Whole Mess

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 14:01:08 +0000

In California overall, prices dropped year-over-year, as sales collapsed, supply more than doubled. No dear, this isn’t just a seasonal dip.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

San Francisco and Silicon Valley are now in the solid leadership role of the housing bust playing out in California with sales collapsing and prices heading south from the peak in April at an astonishing pace.

Just about everything that could come together came together. After a two-year outflux of workers due to working from anywhere, there came the collapse of the startup and crypto scenes, starting in 2021 and continuing unabated, leading to the early entries into my pantheon of Imploded Stocks. In early 2022 came the spike in mortgage rates. In mid-2022 came the downturn in employment at Big Tech. By that time, the Fed had been hiking its policy rates relentlessly, and Quantitative Tightening had kicked off. This was punctuated over the past two months by the chaotic dismantling of the workforce at Twitter and its ecosystem.

Local budgets have fallen into deep deficits – although most are still flush with cash from the pandemic funds received from the federal government and the state.

Vacant office space that is on the market for lease and sublease continues to balloon, while landlords have started to file for huge reductions in assessment values to lower their property taxes, which is going to cut revenues further.

This comes garnished by stories in the New York Times that Twitter stopped paying rent on its leased office spaces, and that it was instructed not to pay vendors. At least one of those unpaid vendors – a Silicon Valley company whose software Twitter had licensed – filed a lawsuit last week in the San Francisco Superior Court for nonpayment. It stated, “shortly after Musk’s purchase of Twitter closed, Twitter refused to pay the outstanding quarterly invoice, which was due on November 30, 2022, and Twitter disclaimed any obligation to pay any future invoices…”

These are all signs that the housing market is going to get a lot messier. Prices have plunged the most in San Francisco, followed by the Silicon Valley counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara.

In San Francisco.

The median price of single-family houses sold in November in San Francisco plunged by 11.4% from October to $1.50 million, and by 27% from the peak in April, according to the California Association of Realtors. A nasty-looking chart:

Condo prices plunged by 4.3% from the prior month to $1.15 million, and by 9.5% year-over-year. Since the peak in April, the median condo price is down by 15.5%. Condo sales in November have collapsed by 49%.

Seasonally, the lowest months are December and January. So that’s still to come.

But who is going to buy in the spring selling season? Prices normally rise as demand picks up in the spring; but who will be the exuberant tech workers that will want to overpay for a house by borrowing against the collapsed value of their stock options? Those lucky ones that still have jobs and stock options?

The housing markets in San Francisco and Silicon Valley are tied to the boom-and-bust cycles of the startup scene – now combined with the crypto scene and cryptos – and they’re tied to the stocks of startups and big tech and social media companies in the area, to the jobs that have to be done locally, and to the value of the stock options. All of them are puking.

Year-over-year, the median price of single-family houses in San Francisco plunged by 21%, the sixth month in a row of year-over-year declines. It was the biggest year-over-year plunge since the peak of Housing Bust 1:

Silicon Valley, San Mateo County.

The median price of single-family houses in San Mateo County, which forms the northern part of Silicon Valley, plunged by 6.2% from October to $1.78 million, and by 26% from the peak in April.

Year-over-year, the median house price plunged by 20%.

Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County.

Santa Clara County, which forms the southern part of Silicon Valley and includes the Bay Area’s largest city, San Jose, is lagging behind but is moving right along. The median price of single-family houses dropped by 1.5% in November from October to $1.60 million, and by 19% from the peak in April:

Year-over-year, the median house price dropped by 5.5%, the first significant year-over-year decline in this cycle. Prices had already undergone significant year-over-year declines in 2018 and 2019, and were on a downward path until the trillions in money-printing, the surge in the stock market, and the interest rate repression began to boost prices again.

Currently, Santa Clara County lags San Francisco and San Mateo by a few months, it seems.

In all of California.

Sales of single-family houses in California collapsed by 47.7% in November, compared to a year ago, the biggest decline since 1980, according to the California Association of Realtors. Condo sales collapsed by 46%.

Unsold inventory more than doubled year-over-year to a supply of 3.3 months, and days on the market also more than doubled – before sellers pulled the unsold homes off the market again.

For all of California, the median price of single-family houses plunged another 3.0% in November from October, which pushed the price down year-over-year (-0.6%). The median condo price fell 2.1% in November from October, which whittled down the year-over-year gain to just 2.7%.

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The post San Francisco & Silicon Valley Housing Markets Puke Enormous Worth Drops, as Startups, Crypto, Tech, Social Media Make Whole Mess appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022 – Anderson Valley Advertiser

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 05:01:17 +0000

DRY WEATHER with slightly below normal temperatures are forecast today through tonight. Frost and freezing temperatures are expected again for the interior valleys late tonight. Also, gusty north and northeast winds are expected for the exposed terrain today and tonight. Cloud cover will increase on Friday as a front approaches from the NW. This front will most likely stall offshore, however a few light showers will be possible over the weekend, especially for Del Norte and northern Humboldt counties. A stronger front from the NW will emerge early next week. (NWS)

A RUMBLING, 5.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE rattled a large swath of the Bay Area [yesterday], with residents reporting feeling the temblor from San Jose to the East Bay.

The quake struck nearly nine miles east of Seven Trees, a San Jose neighborhood, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Seismologists recorded a 2.9 magnitude aftershock roughly five minutes after the initial quake in the Calaveras fault zone, according to USGS data. Shortly after 3 p.m., a quake initially measured as a magnitude-3.6 hit in the same area. Athough many people in the area described an intense swaying that lasted around 30 seconds, the quake evidently did not leave a trail of devastation. As of 12:30 p.m. San Jose police said they had not responded to any calls reporting injuries or structural damage. Residents and workers also reported feeling the ground rock miles north in San Francisco, but nobody had suffered any damage, according to a tweet from the San Francisco Fire Department.

WINTER OUTLOOK SPELLS TROUBLE

by Hayley Smith

A warm, dry winter is in store for much of California as La Niña conditions are slated to persist through at least January, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The agency’s U.S. Winter Outlook, released last week, spells trouble for the drought-dried state as it enters what is typically its wettest season, when rainfall and Sierra snowpack help replenish water supplies that carry it through the rest of the year.

“We’re going on our third year of this extreme drought for much of the Western U.S., with the extreme drought currently focused over much of California, the Great Basin and extending northward into parts of Oregon,” Brad Pugh, operational drought lead with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, said in a media briefing. “In terms of impacts, it’s adversely affecting agriculture, also increasing the wildfire danger and even has impacts on tourism.”

The country’s greatest chances for drier than-average conditions are forecast across Southern California and the Southwest, as well as the southern Rockies, southern Plains, Gulf Coast and much of the Southeast. About 59 percent.

(LA Times)

LAUREN SINNOTT:

So much has been completed in my mural about the Fort Bragg Finns! My posts have fallen behind. I promise to present all the elements with the stories behind them soon. But right now, I’m almost done painting and I want everyone in the area who would like to see the process to visit. I have met a lot of people from the Finnish families, but please, those who haven’t seen the mural yet, come by! Here’s a taste of what it’s like on site, in this delightful downtown.

HAZMOBILE A NO SHOW

Where’s Haz?

A reader writes:

After taking the time to collect and box our materials for disposal, Saturday morning we drove half an hour to Boonville to meet the hazmobile, as listed on their schedule. Other folks had arrived, as well. No hazmobile was there, and they never showed up. This morning I called the Mendo Recycles hotline to ask why they cancelled and heard a muffled, barely audible message stating “Due to a staffing shortage no one is in the office to take your call…” Three quarters of the way through the message the voice tells us that “due to a staffing shortage” the hazmobile program is suspended. I haven’t seen or heard any announcements informing county residents of this. One would think they’d have the kindness and courtesy to save us the hassle by issuing a county-wide notice via all media that the program is not operating, rather than just a phone message.

Must be “due to a staffing shortage…”

BASKETBALL AND HONOR ROLL: The house was packed with parents and guardians for the meeting and many families came to celebrate the 113 kids that made the brown and gold honor roll. (Louise Simson)

A READER WRITES: It’s the time of year when chimney cleaning comes to mind. For years there were a couple of chimney cleaners businesses on the Coast. Now there appears to be ONLY ONE guy who has locked in business from Sea Ranch to Westport; the coast is his because he has no competitors. He can also charge a lot for one chimney to be cleaned. Anyone out there interested in a new business? The equipment is not that expensive and yeah, you gotta love climbing high, but if you charged less than this loan competitor, you’d have tons of customers.

USED STOVE

The AV Grange has a new stove and is looking to re-home theirs. Used but works, great for a hunting cabin or a canning kitchen, or ????. It is currently in the Grange and available for pickup at building between Boonville & Philo on Hwy 128. We can help load it, a trailer would be best. Private message for more information or inquiry.

ARTISTS OF ANDERSON VALLEY show their fall colors. Veterans Day Weekend Studios Open to the public. Follow the signs along HWY 128. I am one of many. My studio is open November 12, 13, Saturday and Sunday, 10am. – 5pm. Inspiration inside and out. Take a break drive along our valley, find the art you dream of, visit a place like no other. (Rebecca Johnson)

NINTH ANNUAL CHESTNUT GATHERING AT THE ZENI RANCH will be Saturday October 29th. 10 am to 4 pm.

No potluck this year but you can bring a lunch and enjoy one of the picnic areas.

Adult and kids costume contest.

Dogs on leashes ok, but you’re responsible for your pet.

Chestnuts are $3.50 a pound if you pick and $4.50 a pound if already picked.

Call or text Jane Zeni 707-684-6892

Fresh raw chestnut honey, T-shirts and our popular nut sacks will be available, and other farm products.

COUNTY NOTES

by Mark Scaramella

Last Tuesday, the Supervisors briefly discussed two seemingly minor consent agenda items that should be captured for posterity because they are filled with potential problems and indications of managerial failure.

The first was the item to turn payroll over to the Executive Office and hire a $100k consultant to “assist” with it.

In August the Supes decided to transfer Mendo’s Payroll processing from the Auditor’s office to the CEO’s office on grounds that the Auditor was understaffed and Supervisor Ted Williams was worried about it without providing any specifics.

Consent Item 3j: “Approval of Agreement with ClientFirst Consulting Group DBA ClientFirst Technology Consulting in the Amount of $100,000, to Assist with Payroll Processing Project Management, Provide Project Oversight for Recurring Munis Improvements, and Initiate and Plan for Munis Improvements in 2022 through 2023, Effective Upon Full Execution through June 30, 2023.”

Supervisor John Haschak: This is taking the payroll out of the Auditor Controller Tax Collector’s purview and putting it into the Executive office. Is that $100,000 being transferred also? Where is that $100,000 coming from to pay for this?

CEO Darcie Antle: Yes, that is $100,000 being transferred to the Executive office. Part of this is an ongoing process improvement that we have been working on that needed to be stepped up earlier in September, earlier than we originally planned. Mr. Dunnicliff is in the room and I believe we have these funds in the ITMP [?] that we are using to increase this contract.

Supervisor Ted Williams: Although the Executive office may be assisting with payroll, I believe ultimately the accuracy of every check is the legal responsibility of the Auditor Controller. County Counsel, do you agree?

County Counsel Christian Curtis: Yes, that is correct.

Williams: Including item 3j?

Curtis: Yes.

In this payroll item we detected another hint of “Get Cubbison” from Supervisor Williams in case the payroll transfer gets screwed up by people other than Auditor-Controller Cubbison who will get “assistance” from people she has no control over. Why did Williams even ask that question? Why did he say that the Executive Office would now be “assisting” Ms. Cubbison with payroll, not handling payroll as was originally claimed? Why are they paying $100k for “assistance” from a consultant about something that has not been previously discussed as a problem other than understaffing worries in the Auditor’s office? Why do they need “assistance” when the original idea was to transfer the payroll function to the Executive Office because the Auditor was understaffed and the Executive Office could (presumably) handle it? This one deserves close monitoring by the County Employees since it appears the Board is expecting problems to arise.

* * *

Farming out the Ag Commissioner, an update.

Consent Item 3m: “Approval of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Sonoma County for Licensed Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer of Weights & Measures Services, Beginning Upon Execution Through April 18, 2023, in an Amount Not to Exceed $50,000.”

Supervisor Glenn McGourty: This is one that Steve Dunnicliff and CEO Darcie Antle worked on very hard to find a solution by working with the Sonoma County Ag commissioner on a part-time basis to help direct our staff here. We are required to have an Ag Commissioner for certain functions and we are fulfilling that while we figure out what the next steps are going to be. Hopefully hiring a new Ag Commissioner. We are trying to stabilize a very important department that a lot of people depend on. So we are making steps in the right direction.

Williams: It appears that the state has set requirements for that particular position, the Ag Commissioner, that maybe there are 57 people who qualify in a state with 58 counties.

They already have an Assistant Ag Commissioner who presumably met his own set of licensing requirements. If there are so few Ag Commissioners in California, and the department is “very important,” why didn’t the County arrange for Assistant Commissioner Aaron Hult to finish his licensing? And if the job can be handled by a $50k part-timer out of Sonoma County, why wasn’t that done long ago? Need we recap the high turnover rate in the Ag Commissioner’s office again? Why isn’t someone trying to figure out the reason no one lasts very long in that particular job? What will happen if the SoCo Ag Commissioner wants something done that the Supes either disagree with or won’t pay for? Or refuses to do something staff wants or needs done? Never mind, the Supes have assured us that it’ll all be fine when (if?) they hire a new Ag Commissioner.

Obviously, we’d like to hope that these things will both work out to be just hunky-dory. But Mendo history shows that such hopes are unjustified.

Fort Bragg (and the Koch Bros ocean front property)

CALIFORNIA MICROBUSINESS COVID-19 RELIEF GRANT PROGRAM STILL AVAILABLE

Eligible microbusiness owners still have the opportunity to apply online for a $2,500 grant from the California Microbusiness COVID-19 Relief Grant Program. Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until all funds have been granted. This grant is administered in partnership with Economic Development and Financing Corporation (EDFC) and funded by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate.

Eligibility Criteria

Verified as locally-owned and operated (physically located in Mendocino County).

The microbusiness is currently active and operating, or has a clear plan to reopen when the state permits the reopening of the business.

Open and operating prior to COVID-19 (prior to December 31, 2019).

Currently have <5 full-time equivalent employees and had <5 full-time equivalent employees in 2019 and 2020.

Generated <$50,000 in business revenue in 2019.

The applicant is the majority owner and manager of the microbusiness.

This business was the applicant’s primary means of income in the 2019 taxable year.

Significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as evidenced by at least a 10% reduction in revenue from the 2019 to 2020 taxable years.

Did not receive a grant from the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program.

Not a business excluded from participation in the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program, as specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section 12100.82.

Please visit https://www.edfc.org/microbusiness-relief-grant-program/ for more information.

Please contact EDFC at robert@edfc.org or by phone at (707) 234-5705 with any questions and support with the application process. Assistance is available in Spanish upon request.

(Mendocino County Presser)

PLANNING COMMISSION TO TAKE A CRACK AT SHORT TERM RENTALS

Discussion And Possible Action By Planning Commission Regarding Short Term Rentals Including Possible Adoption Of A Resolution Providing Clarification And Interpretation Of County Code

The Planning and Building Services Director has previously interpreted Mendocino County Code section 20.164.015(L) Room and Board to apply to the occupancy of a single-family residence as transient habitation, finding that such use is an accessory use that is necessarily and customarily associated with and is appropriate, incidental and subordinate to the principally permitted residential use of the property. Chair Pernell of the Planning Commission created an ad hoc commission on December 2, 2021, to review the interpretation of the Planning and Building Services Director regarding Section 20.164.015(L) and Vacation Rentals.

The Mendocino County Planning Commission intends to discuss the recommendations of the Planning Commission Ad Hoc at their regular meeting on November 3, 2022 at 9:00 am. This may include possible adoption of a resolution providing clarification regarding interpretation of the applicability of Mendocino County Code section 20.164.015(L) and 20.024.135 as they relate to occupancy of a single-family residence as transient habitation.

For more information about this meeting, please contact the Planning Division at 707-234-6650. The public zoom information is contained below and this notice has been posted on the Department’s website at: https://www.mendocinocounty.org/government/planning-building-services/public-notices

Planning Commission November 3, 2022 – 9:00 AM ZOOM Information

Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://mendocinocounty.zoom.us/j/86547840562

Or Telephone:

Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

US: +1 669 444 9171 or +1 669 900 9128 or +1 719 359 4580 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 646 558 8656 or +1 646 931 3860 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 309 205 3325 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 360 209 5623 or +1 386 347 5053 or +1 564 217 2000

Webinar ID: 865 4784 0562

MEASURE P: READ MORE CAREFULLY

To the editor:

The writer of the long letter passionately urging a Yes vote on Measure P, to provide much needed funds for our county’s volunteer fire departments, apparently did not read the proposition. Because that is not what the measure actually says.

Measure P is a .25% sales tax that, to quote the exact legal wording of the measure, “will be placed in the general fund to support general County services and functions, including but not limited to fire protection services.”

PERIOD.

No further details, no promises or estimates of how much, if any, of the money will go to our volunteer fire departments.

For the ten years this tax will be collected, the supervisors can spend the money however they want, as long as some of the money — a million dollars? a thousand dollars? ten dollars? — goes to “fire protection services,” a term that, like everything else in the measure, is not specified.

We voters, and sadly our great fire departments, are all being misled.

L.C. Lewis

Willits

* * *

A REPLY TO L.C. LEWIS’ LETTER concerning Measure P in the October 25, 2022 online version of the AVA.

L.C. Lewis is either unaware of or has opted to deliberately ignore how and why Measure P was developed. Measure P is a general fund tax because a general fund tax can pass with a 50% plus one vote. It is timed to take advantage of a rare moment when another tax is sunsetting so that it can be implemented without raising current tax levels. As such it is a good (and the only) plan for getting our fire services the support they need when they need it, which is now (e.g., fire calls alone have gone up every year for the past five years, cumulatively by 52%).

Given the public’s concerns about how promises made about prior general tax measures have been honored (or not) the Board of Supervisors and our county fire chiefs’ implemented a very deliberate plan to create clarity and accountability for Measure P funds. Before it was put on the ballot, the Board of Supervisors unanimously enacted Resolution 22-159, which details how the money will be used, with 90% of the funds going to our local fire departments and 10% to fire-prevention work, using a specific preset percentage for each department that has been agreed upon by our County Fire Chiefs Association.

(See https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62e98ec6aa8745355a38c00b/t/62f2ff0109ae867245607be3/1660238300611/ProposedSalesTaxAllocations.pdf).

Resolution 22-159 also requires annual reporting on how the money is actually allocated. The County cannot spend the funds otherwise without violating this Resolution and breaking its commitment to the fire chiefs, who will be watching closely. As such L.C. Lewis’ claim that “No further details, no promises or estimates of how much, if any, of the money will go to our volunteer fire departments” is simply incorrect. As an added safety measure there is also a ten-year sunset in case the funds are not consistently allocated as promised.

So, for some people, your vote may come down to whether or not your distrust of your local government is so strong that, despite a specific promise we can all monitor, you would spite your local fire services rather than trust your local elected officials.

Apparently, L.C. Lewis distrusts his local government sufficiently to believe that all 20 of our county fire chiefs are gullible enough to be misled about a tax measure they helped bring into existence.

Scott Cratty, Executive Director, Mendocino County Fire Safe Council Ukiah

Boonville General Store

ENDORSED BY THE MWPC!

Greetings Fort Bragg Voters!

I am honored to be endorsed by the Mendocino Women’s Political Coalition!

Experience matters and my participation in local issues as an active citizen and NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) representative is extensive. I am the only candidate other than incumbent City Council members who are running that have participated or attended local and regional governmental hearings, meetings etc. for over 20 years. I have left the area several times to pursue advanced academic degrees. I bring all my experience and skills acquired locally and internationally back home here to the Mendocino coast and our City of Fort Bragg.

Some quick snapshots of my experience and views (for more details of my platform go to Votersedge.org or email me at mrkaczorowski@gmail.com) FYI:

The skills I bring to this council position is A SOLID understanding and the ability to navigate the basic and laws regulations governing housing, land use and development such as The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) The California Coastal Act, Local Agency Compliance with Housing Element Law etc.

I was a labor union steward for CUE Local 3 when I worked at U.C. Berkeley Survey Research Center and I was instrumental in negotiating positive changes between management and employees in the workplace. I have worked as the executive assistant to the Fort Bragg Main Street Program Executive Director ( we helped start First Friday with the Chamber of Commerce in Ft. Bragg!) and on their Facade Grant program. I worked closely with Mendocino County Board of Supervisor Chair Charles Peterson and others on our Executive Board Team to help county residents prepare for input into the County General Plan per update as required by the State of California. Together with the Air Quality Management District, Farm Bureau, Environmental groups and other community groups to develop, design, and then implement a collaborative three-year series of Mendocino County Living Community Conferences. I worked as Operations Manager and with Joe Webb (Interim General Manager) in administration, community communications and operations during the transition the from Visit Mendocino County, Inc. to the Mendocino County Tourism Commission.

At the national level, I spent time in Washington D.C. area and worked with Alliance for Appalachia where we met with U.S. Congressional members of the 112th Congress and/or senior staff to present information and data on health, economic, poverty rates, environmental issues– related to large-scale mountaintop removal impacts on water quality in five Appalachian states.

During my MBA studies at Mills College, I worked in a position assisting the executive director in administration, communications, planning and development of programs and public/private partnerships/linkages at the Center for Socially Responsible Business (CSRB)

While in graduate school, I worked for CARD-Collaborating Agencies Responding to Disasters in Oakland CA where I researched and conducted policy analysis on ICS (Incident Command Systems) policies and procedures (nationwide). I also represented CARD at the Chevron regional stakeholder bi-monthly planning meetings (at Chevron Headquarters in Richmond CA) for emergency preparedness after the Chevron fire (culminated in the 2012 Richmond Preparedness Expo in partnership with Chevron, 2-1-1 Contra Costa County). I also facilitated collaborative partnership and community training with Northern California Islamic Council (80 organizations), and ICNA Relief USA – Disaster Response Services

Our City has a great deal to be proud of!

Together we have the opportunity to:

• expand and support our sustainable fishing economies

• introduce, design & establish ocean water infrastructure for aquariums, research, aquaculture, & to manage climate change resilience

• further support our downtown arts & business community

• to expand on preparations for climate change impact

and address housing issues!

I will work with the council & the public to build on these efforts!

My Best Regards,

Mary Rose Kaczorowski

We’ve reached our initial goal!!! Thank you to EVERYONE for contributing to and sharing our campaign. This is SO EXCITING! A big goal of this project is to help launch the music of The Real Sarahs into a wider listenership and for us to actualize a project we’ve long dreamed about – the Music Is Medicine Initiative. We’ll be taking music into prisons and nursing homes and other spaces where people need it the most. Please jump onboard and help us reach our big goal!
www.tinyurl.com/SarahsandAlex

THAT WAS COOL; From joy to pain and back again:

How October 26 ended three lives and began another

by Justine Frederiksen

Life and death on Oct. 26: How one day turned great joy into great pain, then great pain into great joy.

Carolyn

In 1965, 20-year-old Carolyn was traveling with friends in Germany when she met a man in a bar. He helps her request a song from the band, and later in her journal she describes him as a “very quiet, nice person” whom she hopes to see again in Greece.

In Athens he waits a week, visiting the same spot every day at noon until she arrives. Then Carolyn decides to leave her friends and travel through Turkey with this “beautiful person who enjoys meeting and talking to people, and looks for the good things that happen.”

By the time they reach Syria she describes herself as “in love” with the 27-year-old Dane who speaks English with a Scottish accent and hitchhikes in a kilt

“I enjoy being with him so much. We don’t have to talk to each other, we can sit in silence for a long time, each having their own thoughts.” Her journal entries end soon after, but not their romance.

On Oct. 26, 1965, the pair married in Scotland, and Carolyn finally returns to Los Angeles in early 1966 with a husband.

Justine

Nine months after her wedding, Carolyn had a baby girl whose lungs could not keep her alive. But her third girl had lungs that worked too well, because Justine screamed all day, only sleeping when too exhausted to wail.

One morning when she was 15, Justine felt like screaming all day again. Already angry that her mother was gone birding, she got even angrier when Carolyn didn’t return in time for their day trip.

“But you’re not here, are you,” she tells her mother’s note promising to be home by 10. Soon after Justine starts to get ready anyway, there is a knock on the bathroom door. Thinking it is her mother, she begins stoking her anger again until it is drowned by the fear in her father’s voice.

“I need you to come out here, please. There are men here. There’s been an accident. Your mother’s not coming home.”

The day before, exactly 20 years after her wedding, on Oct. 26, 1985, Carolyn was killed in a car crash.

As soon as the deputies left her house, Justine sneaked into her parents’ bedroom to pull out her mother’s pajamas and pillowcase, secreting them away to smell whenever she wanted.

The next day she went with her grandmother to see the body, but her father stayed home. “I want to remember her as she was,” he said of the adventurous American who had been his best friend for two decades.

After Justine carried her mother home in a box, the family scattered her ashes on Carolyn’s favorite beach, where she had gone every weekend at dawn to help save a small population of endangered shorebirds.

Decades later when Justine last saw her father, he said his wife had been hovering at his bedside, trying to tell him something.

“I should have gone to see her after. You were right to go.”

“No, dad, you were right,” she said, wishing she still saw freckles instead of black bruises on her mother’s cheeks.

When her father died, Justine brought his ashes to the same beach to finally reunite him with his wife on what would have been their 49th wedding anniversary: Oct. 26, 2014.

Sarah and Harvey

Also on Oct. 26, 2014, Sarah was recovering from what felt like a car crash: The birth of her first son.

“All those women who told me how beautiful childbirth is, I thought they were full of shit!” she remembers thinking as she lay in the hospital after 26 hours of labor, unable to feel her legs or hear her baby crying.

“Babies are supposed to cry, why isn’t he crying?” she wonders as the ever-growing number of staff in the room struggled to get her boy to breathe. Finally she heard him cry, and waited anxiously for them to give him back to her, looking forward to finally holding and trying to feed him.

But they said he needed to go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and “only let me hold him for a second or two.”

After a week in the NICU, her baby finally came home, but his breathing problems continued. Sarah said it took two years for her to emerge from the tunnel of trauma, finally pulled through by the need to keep up with a now thriving and determined young boy.

“He stubbornly keeps trying to get what he wants,” said Sarah, both awed and frustrated by her son’s drive and focus. “He is smart in ways I have never been, and I love that so much. I am very lucky that I get to be with Harvey.”

NOYO HARBOR, FORT BRAGG, CA – OCTOBER 1965

A submarine was launched in Noyo Bay on Friday. The 140-foot vessel went down the boat ramp with the assistance of a forklift truck, and on airplane-type tires. Also assisting was a large wrecker with a cable stretched across the bay.

The submarine, shipped to Fort Bragg to be used in the filming of The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, required eight trucks and semi-trailers to bring in the ten sections.

Some two weeks and 2,000 man hours were required to get it assembled and ready for the water.

Jack Luoma, driving a forklift from the Eastman Transport Company, pushes the 140-foot submarine into the water Friday at Noyo. The craft was tied to the piece of powerful equipment and all on the site were hoping that Louma would not have to jump off or take a swim when the vessel moved down the ramp into the water.

The boat, built of plywood, had 4½ tons of steel on the bottom, is filled with 17 tons of styrofoam, and has outside measurements of 140 feet in length, is 20 feet wide and 22 feet high.

Yet to be installed is a 3½ ton, 3-inch practical gun, which it was felt was too heavy for the launching. Four motors will be used for power. All are McCulloch with 100-horsepower thrust. Two are forward and two aft, in specially built wells.

The craft, originally built by 20th Century for the Marlon Brando film Morituri, was German in design. Robert Boyle, art director for the Mirisch company, redesigned the exterior to make it appear Russian for this picture.

It is hoped that the seas will remain calm enough that the craft can be floated to Los Angeles, between two barges when its use is completed in this area.

(Mendocino Coast Beacon, October 22, 1965, p. 9, col. 5.)

CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, October 25, 2022

Cespedes, Crosby, Farias

CARLOS CESPEDES, Garberville/Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JUSTIN CROSBY, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, registration alteration, smuggling controlled substance in jail.

JORGE FARIAS-ARAUS, San Francisco/Ukiah. DUI.

Heilmiller, Hendriks, Nelson

PAUL HEIMILLER, Redwood Valley. Sexual act with child of 14-15 years and perpetrator at least ten years older.

KELLY HENDRIKS, Point Arena. Failure to appear.

JARRETT NELSON, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

Ortega, Marcello Torres, Mauricio Torres

ARTEMIO ORTEGA-REYES, Ukiah. Ammo possession by prohibited person, probation revocation.

MARCELLO TORRES, Antioch/Ukiah. Robbery, short-barreled rifle, conspiracy.

MAURICIO TORRES, Clearlake Oaks/Ukiah. Robbery, conspiracy.

Walls, Wilkins, Vazquez, Villalobos

WILLIAM WALLS, Ukiah. Robbery, willful cruelty to child.

ROBERT WILKINS, Covelo. Protective order violation.

EDGAR VAZQUEZ, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

LUIS VILLALOBOS, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

MARIE TOBIAS: I went to see a counselor after my Husband’s passing. He died in my arms, we were together 37 years… In quick succession, I lost the love of my life, had my income reduced by 75%, lost the room we’d been renting from friends (they decided to sell their home), had my car break down with insufficient finances to maintain it, so I ended up driving his car. Ended up homeless for most of 2 months, living in that car, Within a year I was in a terrible car accident, totalling that car, and shattering the right side of my body, lost all my possessions of a lifetime when I couldn’t pay the storage bill, and had to deal with intermittent hunger (more than a couple times went nearly a week without food… it’s not as bad as it sounds, you kind of stop being hungry after about day 3.) And I guess, developed a pretty nasty case of depression. A friend got me to see his counselor for nearly a dozen sessions, I’m the kind of person who through adversity drops my head and just plows through as best as I can until I get to the other side… but this was a serious slog. I needed the extra support. I hear the same news, and see the same signs, and sometimes find myself more than a little terrified at where all this is going and what a single person in this blizzard of a shit storm can do to make a difference. The answer is I have no idea… The people who pull the bacon out of the fire almost to a person never know they were the one, until someone figures it all out, years after they left this mortal coil. So cope the best you can. Get the support you need. Surround yourself with as many loved ones as is humanly possible (and if you must, you make new loved ones.) And you drop your head and keep chugging, With any luck, you’ll get to the other side, and be part of the community that made a difference. And that my friend is the best life anyone living in this age can hope to have.

THINK OF LIFE AS IT REALLY IS, think of the details of life; and then think that there is no meaning in it, no purpose, no goal except the grave. Surely only fools or self-deceivers, or those whose lives are exceptionally fortunate, can face that thought without flinching.

— George Orwell

CALIFORNIA’S DROUGHT IS UPENDING MIGRATION For Millions Of Birds Along The Pacific Flyway

by Kurtis Alexander

Millions of migratory birds fly south each year to winter in California, or continue beyond.

The white-faced ibis is one of the first. The large wading bird with its distinctive curved bill, like its avian counterparts that fill the sky in late summer and fall, relies on the state’s wetlands to rest and recharge.

But this year, the ibis that arrived at the California-Oregon border from points north didn’t find the marshes and ponds they’re accustomed to, just a lot of dust and dried-up mud. So, the birds touched down only briefly and kept flying — some all the way to Mexico, says John Vradenburg, supervisory biologist for the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

As California’s fall migration revs up, many birds will have to abandon familiar stops and make adjustments, often big ones, if they haven’t already, to adapt to a landscape stricken by drought. For some, the changes may be asking too much, and the coming months will be difficult.

“A lot of the birds are just bypassing the mid-continent and going straight to the Central Valley, but there’s not a lot of habitat to support them there either,” Vradenburg said. “Wetland availability is just really low (everywhere) right now. … This landscape (level) drying is a phenomenon we haven’t really seen probably since the 1930s, the Dust Bowl.”

The fear is that migratory birds, from ibis and egrets to ducks and geese to hawks and eagles, won’t find the water and moist feeding grounds they need, even by flying the long distances they’re built for. Or, they’ll fly so far that they may tire, increasing risk of starvation, susceptibility to disease, vulnerability to predators and chance of reproductive failure — risks that grow as the stress continues over multiple years.

Already, last year’s counts of traveling birds at popular stopovers and wintering areas in California were down. With the drought in its third year, marking the state’s driest three-year period on record and following a severe five-year drought last decade, scientists, environmental groups and hunting organizations say the slide could worsen.

“In a lot of ways, the (birds) are built to handle drought,” said Jeff McCreary, western director of operations for the conservation and hunting advocacy group Ducks Unlimited, which recently launched aerial surveys to figure out where waterfowl are going when there’s no water at their usual roosts. “If the drought continues years on end, though, it will start to outpace the ability of the birds to respond.”

California is a key link in the 4,000-mile Pacific Flyway, one of the primary migratory routes used by birds to move north and south across the continent.The fall flights, which sometimes originate as far north as eastern Russia and span as far south as Patagonia, demand spots across the nearly 800-mile-long state for birds to stop and refuel, with water, plants, insects and fish.

With 90% of California’s historic wetlands no longer around, the options for stopovers are limited, with several of the go-to points being refuges created by the state and federal government with support from environmental and hunting groups. Many are now perilously low on food and water.

“Every year that we have drought, the problems in the flyway get magnified,” said John Carlson, president of the California Waterfowl Association. “The birds are resilient and they can move to where there’s water, but this is going to be a tough year.”

Some state and federal wildlife refuges have taken the unprecedented step of shutting down hunts for waterfowl in fall and winter, or delaying the season, because of the dry conditions and challenges for birds. Human predators would only add stress.

The Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex is one that’s taken precautions, postponing its opener and reducing hunting quotas in many areas. The collection of five refuges in the Sacramento Valley has recently seen an influx of birds that are usually farther north this time of year, an advance that refuge managers chalk up to the feverish search for water.

The white-bodied, loud-honking snow geese have recently been reported in unusually high numbers, coming from Russia’s Wrangle Island and the western Arctic. So have greater white-fronted geese and northern pintails from Alaska. Most are holing up on the wetter east side of the Sacramento Valley.

The problem, refuge managers say, is that the parched landscape won’t sustain big numbers.

“These birds would typically be up in the Klamath Basin,” said Michael Derrico, supervisory biologist for Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. “There’s more pressure now on the food resources in the Central Valley.”

It’s the same story farther south in the Kern National Wildlife Refuge Complex, known for the sandhill cranes that come from Homer, Alaska, to winter in the San Joaquin Valley. Already, thousands of the once nearly extinct birds have arrived.

“We have more birds showing up and earlier, but we’re only able to provide so much,” said Miguel Jimenez, manager of the complex. “There’s just not enough habitat for us to support all the birds.”

Complicating matters, refuges face the same problems that many cities and farms confront during dry times: not having priority claims on water.

The Kern Refuge Complex, which relies on water releases from the federally operated Central Valley Project, received less than half of its full water allocation this year while the Sacramento Refuge Complex, also reliant on the federal project, received only slightly more. The Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex farther north is not allocated any water from the federal Klamath Project, and depends on excess in the system and from local farmers, of which there’s been little this year.

Beyond the refuges, many migratory birds seek out rice paddies, which serve as a surrogate for lost wetlands.

About 200 species of birds find shelter in the flooded fields and find food in what’s left of the harvest as well as in the insect- and crustacean-rich irrigation water. Some stay for days, like the recently arrived long-billed dowitcher. Others stay all winter long, like the incoming American wigeons and green-winged teals.

This year, however, less than half of the usual 520,000 acres of rice was planted in the Sacramento Valley because of water shortages, according to the California Rice Commission. This means less than half as much accommodation for birds.

“You take rice out of the equation, the Pacific Flyway will look a lot different and not in a good way,” said Luke Matthews, wildlife programs manager for the commission. “The lack of food and the lack of habitat is going to leave birds with worse body condition. They’re not going to be as healthy.”

In an effort to preserve these watery areas for birds, the state and federal governments are paying millions of dollars to rice farmers to continue flooding their fields. Tens of thousands of additional acres are coming online, which Matthews called a “Band-Aid” for the migration, but one that’s essential for the moment.

An added concern with sparse water in the fields and wetlands is avian botulism. The bacterial disease can paralyze waterfowl and is common when bird concentrations are high and water levels are low.

“Once the birds get here in full force and they’re forced to stack together in the limited habitat, you have the potential for an outbreak that could be pretty devastating,” Matthews said. “It might even be better to have no water than a little water.”

An outbreak of botulism two years ago in the Klamath Basin, as the area began to dry up, killed more than 60,000 birds.

Avian flu is also a threat. This year’s strain of the virus, which has already been detected in waterfowl in California, is being compared to one in 2015, which killed millions of domestic birds in the United States. Many chickens and turkeys were purposely put down to prevent spread of the disease, which moves readily between birds, including wild and domestic populations.

Nowhere is there more concern about birds than along the California-Oregon border.

The two most important refuges at the vast Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex — Tule Lake and Lower Klamath — have run completely dry, turning the areas into little more than mud flats. Only the Lower Klamath refuge has seen this happen before, but not since the 1940s.

Historically, this network of marshes and lakes, sometimes dubbed the “Everglades of the West,” has been visited by as many as 80% of the birds in the Pacific Flyway, leading refuge managers to call its decline this year the “collapse of the most important staging area” on the route.

Already, migratory waterfowl numbers at Tule Lake and Lower Klamath refuges fell 61% last year, compared with the prior year, according to refuge surveys. The estimated 42,716 birds that visited the refuges at peak migration last fall was the lowest count ever — and just 3% of what the peak was four years earlier.

“We’re seeing birds (this fall) but we’re not seeing them in any significant number,” said Vradenburg, the supervisory biologist at the complex.

When the ibis weren’t showing up in their usual droves, Vradenburg knew this year was going to be bad. Huge flocks of the birds from the Pacific Northwest and sometimes southern Canada have historically marked the beginning of the migration season.

“Most mornings in the summer (in the past), I would see two or three thousand birds fly over my house,” he said. “This year, I’d see maybe 10 or 15.”

While it’s too early to know how many migratory birds will end up visiting the Klamath Basin this fall, or any of the main spots in California, a recent state survey of breeding waterfowl shows that this segment of the population is slipping, meaning broader declines are almost inevitable.

In the state’s April survey, ducks, which made up the majority of birds in the count, experienced a 19% decrease since 2019, the last year that the census was done because of the pandemic. The number of American coots, the next most common bird, was down 30%.

“Birds have been through this before,” said Melanie Weaver, a senior environmental scientist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and a waterfowl expert who co-authored the April bird survey. “Drought is wired into waterfowl. They’re not going to fall out of the sky.

“That said,” she added, “we don’t want to see (dry conditions) every year, because it will cause a population decline.”

(SF Chronicle)

THIS ENVIRONMENTAL LAW Made Half of America’s Fresh Waters Swimmable and Fishable

by Robert B. Semple Jr.

In the early 1830s, the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville, on his way to the Great Lakes, is said to have described the waters around Cleveland as among the clearest he had ever seen. Less than four decades later, in 1868, a river he had greatly admired, the Cuyahoga, by then choked with industrial and municipal waste, burst into flames. It would do this periodically until 1969, when one last blaze persuaded the editors of Time magazine’s new “environment” section to publish pictures of the Cuyahoga on fire. “Some river!” Time exclaimed. “Chocolate brown, oily, bubbling with subsurface gases, it oozes rather than flows.”

The once-combustible Cuyahoga is now considered safe for fishing and other recreational uses. So, too, are the Delaware, the Potomac, Boston Harbor, large stretches of the Hudson and a multitude of once-filthy water bodies. They all owe their improved health mainly to the Clean Water Act of 1972, to this day one of the most creative and important statutes born of the great wave of environmental lawmaking that swept over Washington in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The act celebrated its 50th birthday this month, and its successes are worthy of toasts. But its work is not done. It established 1983 as the year when America’s fresh waters — its rivers, streams and lakes — would be fishable and swimmable. That proved wildly optimistic. A recent report from the advocacy group the Environmental Integrity Project shows that roughly half the nation’s rivers and streams, and a slightly larger percentage of its lakes, do not meet that standard.…

nytimes.com/2022/10/26z/opinion/environment/clean-water-act-sackett-epa.html

VIA MIKE GENIELLA:

On this date 95 years ago in Yuba County history as reported in the Sacramento Union by sportswriter Bill Conlin, “On Oct. 25, 1927 Ruth’s Busting Babes and Gehrig’s Larruping Lous came to Marysville and they dismissed the schools that morning so we could all go to the ball park. Merchants closed their stores for three hours so that they, too, could see the game. As they did at all points on the transcontinental barnstorming tour, both Babe and Lou played first base, which brought Babe closer to the crowds and, besides, the Bambino liked to play first because there was more action. The rest of the two teams were made up of semi-pro Sacramento Valley Leaguers, who were as excited about playing with Ruth as the lads and lassies who were escaping a morning of school. The Busting Babes won that morning in Marysville, 9 to 7, before 3,000 fans…The Babe walked his first trip, flied to left, singled and then homered in both the seventh and eighth innings. Gehrig homered in the first inning, walked in the third, singled in the fifth, homered in the seventh and singled in the ninth.”

And here’s where Ed Burt comes into the picture, as Conlin acknowledges, “No, this is not all from memory. The official scorer that game was Eddie Burt, the retired golf writer who then was sports editor of the Marysville Appeal-Democrat. He kept that scorebook. You see Babe Ruth autographed it.”

Presented here is that very scorebook signed as well by Gehrig—whom Conlin evidently gave short shrift in the column. Both pencil signatures rate about “9” in strength. In addition to the fully scored 10/25 barnstorming game in Marysville, there are also fully scored games from between June 5, 1927 and July 15, 1928. Condition-wise, the book features front and back interior binding reinforcements.

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

When I was 16 it never occurred to me to own a car. Very few kids that age had them. I had enough friends so that when we wanted to go out, one of the kids’ parents (including mine) would get the family car for the night. Mornings, I walked to school – a little over a mile away. I also worked weekends at a car wash as a car wiper and vacuumer (at $1.05/hr) to earn a few bucks, but I never thought about saving up the money to buy a car. Boy, are times different.

LEFTISTS, DON’T GASLIGHT YOURSELVES: It’s time to unite against the fascist Republicans

Think the Democrats are disappointing? You’re right. But that’s no excuse for allowing actual fascists to win

by Norman Solomon

Six months ago, people on the left in France faced a crucial choice. None of their candidates had gotten enough votes to make it into the presidential runoff election. On the upcoming ballot were the neoliberal president Emmanuel Macron and the neofascist challenger Marine Le Pen, who had trailed the incumbent in the first round by less than five percentage points. What to do?

Rather than sit out the decisive election and enable the far-right candidate to take power, millions of leftist voters held their nose and voted for Macron.

Now, progressives in the United States face similar choices. In key House districts and states with pivotal Senate races — including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — leftist voters could tip the balance of congressional power. At this point, in the balloting that ends on Nov. 8, the choice is binary: neoliberalism or neofascism.

While the GOP is in a strong position to win a majority in the House of Representatives, the latest polling indicates that control of the Senate is on a knife’s edge. No doubt Sen. Mitch McConnell is hoping that enough progressives won’t vote for Democrats so he can run the place starting in January.

You don’t have to tell me how awful, and how corrupted by corporate money, the Democratic Party leadership is. On foreign policy, other than on such matters as climate and the Iran nuclear deal, the two major parties have similar approaches, including widely destructive militarism. But on domestic matters — while the Democrats’ tepid reformism falls far short of addressing the crises we face — their policies are vastly better than the increasingly racist Republican Party as it offers extreme versions of free-market economics and Christian fundamentalism. Claiming that there are no significant differences between the two parties is a form of super-ideological gaslighting on automatic pilot.

Abortion rights, judicial appointments, climate, environmental protection, taxation, racial justice, voting rights, labor rights, LGBTQ rights, misogyny and so many other basic matters are on the line. Yes, the Democrats are often anemic on such issues. At the same time, the Republicans are much worse. And their agenda now includes nothing less than destroying electoral democracy.

Republicans in office and even more extremist candidates seeking to join them are blending in with political scenery they’ve created to normalize gliding farther and farther rightward. They’re the electoral shock troops of a party now fully engaged in what scholar Jason Stanley, in his book “How Fascism Works,” calls “fascist politics.” What seemed dangerously outrageous not long ago can soon come to seem normal — becoming even more dangerous.

In Stanley’s words, “Normalization of fascist ideology, by definition, would make charges of ‘fascism’ seem like an overreaction, even in societies whose norms are transforming along these worrisome lines…. The charge of fascism will always seem extreme; normalization means that the goalposts for the legitimate use of ‘extreme’ terminology continually move.”

Progressives have overarching responsibilities to oppose the corporate power that ushers in oligarchy and also to oppose the far-right forces that lead to tyranny. Focusing on just one of those responsibilities while dodging the other just won’t do.

It’s accurate to say that the neoliberalism of the Democratic Party has been creating and exacerbating conditions that fuel right-wing engines. But at certain times — which definitely include the next two weeks, through Election Day on Nov. 8 — electoral battles come to a decisive fork in the road. We will be living with the consequences of this crossroads for the rest of our lives.

UKRAINE, TUESDAY, 25 OCTOBER

The Ukrainian military claims Russian forces are preparing for a “potential retreat” near a key river in Kherson as Moscow-installed leaders in the southern region step up their evacuation efforts in response to Kyiv’s advancing counteroffensive.

US and Western officials have dismissed Moscow’s claim that Ukraine plans to use a so-called dirty bomb as a Russian false-flag operation. The UN Security Council will have closed-door discussions Tuesday on Russia’s allegation, sources say.

International inspectors will visit two nuclear sites in Ukraine at Kyiv’s request, the UN nuclear watchdogsaid. Ukraine’s foreign minister said Kyiv has “nothing to hide.”

A Russian court upheld US basketball star Brittney Griner’sdrug smuggling conviction Tuesday. Griner’s sentence of nine years in prison will be slightly decreased, as the judge ruled to count the time spent in custody since Feb. 17.

(NYT)

INFRASTRUCTURE WARS

by Patrick Cockburn

In 1944, a V-2 rocket blew up my parents’ house in St John’s Wood in London, reducing it to a heap of ruins. Fortunately for my mother and father – and for me – they were both out at the time. I still have the telegram which my mother, Patricia Cockburn, who was safely in Cumbria, sent to her mother. It begins: “I hope you are alright. My house destroyed…”

As a child, I learned that the V-2 explosion had vaporised much of the furniture in the St John’s Wood house, but a small round marble table had survived which I could see in the front room. It was not unscathed and had a great scar across its surface where the blast had ripped out the yellow, red and green stone inlay. I used to run my fingers down the crack and gained a healthy respect for the destructive power of ground-to-ground rockets.

The damaged table and the story of the V-2 strike also left me with a strong fellow feeling for people bit by rocket fire, most recently in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Odessa and other Ukrainian cities. A difference from my parents’ experience is, of course, that many of those whose houses have been hit were at home at the time.

A lot has stayed the same in missile warfare since the Germans were firing V-1s and V-2s at London 80 years ago, but much has changed radically without the rest of the world paying attention. And it is the results of these changes which we are now beginning to see play out in Ukraine today.

Iranian-made drones

The White House is accusing Iran of supplying drones and missiles to Russia and on Thursday said that the Iranians had sent advisers to Crimea to instruct Russian military personnel on how best to use Iranian-made drones and missiles. The National Security Council spokesman, John Kirby, said that Iranian troops are “directly engaged on the ground” in Crimea supporting Russian drone attacks on Ukraine’s power stations and other key infrastructure.

This may well be true, but misses the point that we are looking at a new type of warfare that has taken decades to develop and has already changed the strategic balance in the Middle East. Put briefly, the US and its allies have lost their monopoly of precision guided missiles which they previously enjoyed.

I was in Baghdad in 1991 when US missiles and smart bombs systematically destroyed the Iraqi power stations, electric transmission cables, oil refineries and oil storage facilities. It did not take the US air force long to do this to 70 per cent of Iraqi generating capacity – much of it damaged beyond repair. Baghdad soon smelled of rotten meat thrown out by people when their fridges and deep freezes lost their power supply. Blackouts became the norm at night and life in Iraq largely returned to the pre-electric age – aside from limited power from little petrol-powered generators whose put-put sound was inescapable in the capital.

Great accuracy

In that period, it was only the Americans who had the capacity to quickly cripple a country’s infrastructure beginning with its electric power system. Even in a major oil producer like Iraq, petrol and diesel became scarce with boys selling bottles of them, often diluted with water, beside the road.

For many years, it was only the US that possessed large numbers of precision guided weapons capable of hitting any target precisely at long distance. But others have since made successful efforts to catch, notably Turkey and Iran, which have both turned themselves into what some military specialists call “drone superpowers”. Iran, in particular, has had a strong incentive to develop a weapon to counter the air superiority of the US and its allies in the Gulf.

A telling example of the vulnerability of infrastructure and economic assets to drone strikes came in September 2019 when on a single night drones and cruise missiles – almost certainly launched by the Iranians though they deny it – hit Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais with great accuracy. Saudi oil output was cut by 50 per cent and world oil prices surged. Not only was the damage great and vastly expensive to repair, but much of it had been caused by drones costing as little as $15,000 each.

Easy to damage

The same strategy is now becoming visible in the war in Ukraine, with Russia targeting the Ukrainian electricity system, knocking out 30 per cent of its generating capacity in a few days. Blackouts are becoming familiar in Ukrainian cities and lack of power also affects water and sewerage systems. Much can be repaired and Ukraine is looking for more and better anti-aircraft equipment, but swarms of drones and less frequent cruise missiles will overwhelm almost any defence, however sophisticated it may be. Infrastructural targets like power stations, oil refineries and water utilities are by their nature large, impossible to move, difficult to hide and easy to damage.

The worst has not happened yet. Russian military strategy has so far proved shambolic since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. Reports that the Russians have started systematically degrading Ukrainian infrastructure using cheap drones and missiles may turn out to be premature. Presumably, Putin is aware that Ukraine would probably hit back at Russian infrastructure using similar methods, and this might give him pause.

There is a western fixation on Russia’s potential use of tactical nuclear weapons, which is understandable. But there are other non-nuclear and very destructive things that Russia and Ukraine could do to each other in the present war – and this new type of drone warfare is one of the them.

Patrick Cockburn is the author of War in the Age of Trump (Verso).

HOUSE PROGRESSIVES RETRACT LETTER To Biden Calling For Talks With Russia

Rep. Jayapal blamed the release of the letter on her staff

by Dave DeCamp

Progressive Democrats in the House have retracted a letter to President Biden calling for talks with Russia after facing backlash for suggesting the idea of pursuing diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine.

The letter was signed by 30 lawmakers and was led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. In a statement, Jayapal said the letter was drafted several months ago and blamed its release on her staff.

“The Congressional Progressive Caucus hereby withdraws its recent letter to the White House regarding Ukraine,” Jayapal said. “The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As Chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this.”

A source familiar with the matter contradicted the statement in comments to Politico, saying the letter’s release was personally signed off by Jayapal. The letter was initially drafted in June, and some signatories publicly said they wouldn’t have endorsed it today.

“I signed this letter on June 30, but a lot has changed since then. I wouldn’t sign it today,” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “We have to continue supporting Ukraine economically and militarily to give them the leverage they need to end this war.”

In the letter, the lawmakers made clear that they support the Biden administration’s policy of shipping tens of billions of dollars in weapons to Ukraine but said diplomacy should be pursued due to the risk of nuclear war and “catastrophic escalation.”

Jayapal said it was retracted because it was being conflated with comments made by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who said a Republican-controlled House wouldn’t be willing to write a “blank check” for Ukraine.

“Because of the timing, our message is being conflated by some as being equivalent to the recent statement by Republican Leader McCarthy threatening an end to aid to Ukraine if Republicans take over,” Jayapal said.

Jayapal pointed out that there has been no opposition to the Biden administration’s Ukraine policy from Democrats in Congress. She said Democrats “have strongly and unanimously supported and voted for every package of military, strategic, and economic assistance to the Ukrainian people.”

Jayapal said that the war in Ukraine will only end with diplomacy after “a Ukrainian victory.” According to the Ukrainian government, victory means driving Russia out of the territories it has captured since February 24, all of the Donbas and Crimea.

The Biden administration has shown no sign of seeking diplomacy with Russia to end the conflict despite the president’s recent warning that the world is facing the highest risk of nuclear “armageddon” than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that US officials have ruled out pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table even though they don’t think Kyiv can win the war “outright.” In an earlier statement, Jayapal said the Congressional Progressive Caucus supports the administration’s policy of not negotiating with Russia “about Ukraine without Ukraine.”

(news.antiwar.com)

The post Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022 – Anderson Valley Advertiser appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

San Francisco is in want of public restrooms, however is $1.7 million an excessive amount of for a 150-square-foot facility in Noe Valley?

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 11:36:24 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — San Francisco is a city of controversies and there is a new one brewing. This time over the estimated cost of a public restroom that will make your nose scrunch.

There is also a competition of sorts in America to earn the right to be in the hall of fame for public bathrooms. Bryant Park and Greeley Square Park, both in New York City, and Bancroft Park in Colorado, all of them shown here in full glory.

MORE: San Francisco ‘fixer upper’ home with no bedrooms sells for nearly $2M

San Francisco public toilets have never reached that claim to fame.

“We have not had any winners from San Francisco,” revealed Julia Messinger of Cintas Corporation, the large restroom supply company actually honors the best, brightest and most innovative public bathrooms.

“It’s not something that people talk about often, but I think everyone values a clean and functioning bathroom,” she added.

Maybe San Francisco is not ready to give up yet. Why not? The plumbing already exists. The city has secured state funding to build a small, 150-square-foot public bathroom right in the heart of the Noe Valley neighborhood at a cost of $1.7 million.

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“Put it to better use. It’s ridiculous. $1.7 million for a stupid bathroom,” expressed Augusto Illidge, a San Francisco resident.

That’s the estimate given by the Department of Recreation and Parks because of all the permits, planning, union labor, etc. that would be involved.

City officials hope it won’t cost that much.

“They have an idea of what it will be but I don’t think they have the formal final plans but now they will be in a position to be able to put that together,” said State Senator Scott Wiener.

MORE: SF considers taxing vacant apartments to help with housing crisis

Still, people here wanted to have a commode in place. By the way, commode comes from the French meaning suitable or convenient.

“You know it would be nice to have some facilities like that,” said George Matiasz, a resident of Noe Valley.

“Having public access rather than having to go into a restaurant and say can I use the bathroom, I think that’s what a neighborhood should have,” added Kay Taneyhill, also a resident of Noe Valley.

New York, for example, is considering legislation that would force the city to build public restrooms in every ZIP code.

“We don’t have nearly enough public restrooms in San Francisco,” said Wiener.

Like most things in San Francisco, big dreams start in small places at a high cost.

If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live

The post San Francisco is in want of public restrooms, however is $1.7 million an excessive amount of for a 150-square-foot facility in Noe Valley? appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Boisson, San Francisco’s First Devoted Nonalcoholic Bottle Store, Is Opening Close to Hayes Valley

Fri, 21 Oct 2022 12:03:18 +0000

Nonalcoholic cocktails and liquor are eating up a ton of market share throughout the country and the Bay Area is doing more than its fair share of that work. Whether it be the nonalcoholic nanobar at Valencia Street’s Hawkerfare or any of the litany of bars in San Francisco with nonalcoholic options, the region has tons to offer those who prefer to stay sober. New York-based nonalcoholic bottle shop Boisson took note, and on or around September 26 will open its first San Francisco shop at 333 Hayes Street. The location is across the street from Bill Graham Auditorium and up the block from Civic Center’s vegetarian restaurant Ananda Fuara. And while Los Gatos has its own nonalcoholic bottle shop, and the Outer Richmond may well get a nonalcoholic speakeasy to pair with sober hangout Ocean Beach Cafe, Boisson marks the first dedicated nonalcoholic bottle shop and wine outlet in San Francisco.

The online retailer launched in New York in 2021 and, after opening five shops there and three in Los Angeles, it has set its eyes on San Francisco. “Outside of the first two core markets, San Francisco was obvious for us,” says Nick Bodkins, Boisson co-founder and CEO. “We had hundreds and hundreds of emails asking when we were coming to San Francisco.” (Though the business may be angling to attract the athleisure-sporting denizens of Hayes Valley, the shop is right off of Market Street and cuspy with Hayes Valley at best.)

The company says they’ve increased sales seven-and-a-half times over in 2022, which is probably in part due to the fact that about half of millennials report reducing their drinking habits in recent years. The nonalcoholic trends and products coming out of Napa and Sonoma are specifically interesting to Bodkins; the former French Laundry couple running All The Bitters are making primo alcohol-free bitters, for example. He’d like Boisson to be the neighborhood store that carries these sometimes hard-to-find products.

Boisson will offer a veritable trove of non-alcoholic wines, spirits, and beer. boisson

A spread of non-alcoholic cocktails at a Boisson pop-up. boisson

For him, proximity to California producers making alcohol-free wine is a huge part of the motivation for coming to the Bay. “It’s actually not just grape juice,” Bodkins says. “It started as full-strength wine, and this dealcoholization process is not new.” Bodkin says many people don’t realize nonalcoholic wine is actually conventionally-made wine with the alcohol removed. The process has been around for a long time, he points out, likely because of an arcane tax on wines with more than 14 percent alcohol content, which has given winemakers cause to artificially lower wine’s alcohol content — way before it was cool. Proxies is one such nonalcoholic wine he loves, alongside Blurred Vines and distilled hemp spirit the Pathfinder.

Tastings, three to five times a week, will be a part of the weekly life at the shop, and Bodkins wants to invite regional and national producers to show their drinks, though local delivery will be an option, too. He says he’d like to get a series of local restaurant and bar partnerships on the docket; the company’s partnership with Rosewood Sand Hill, through which Boisson stocked the luxury hotel in Menlo Park with nonalcoholic beverages, is one example of what Boisson will look to expand. These relationships are well-established with New York stockists Eleven Madison Park and Jose Andres’s new restaurant at the Ritz Carlton. He’s also proud of the all-electric, carbon-offset vehicles the company will use for deliveries.

As for the inspiration behind these choices, Bodkins cites being a father to an 11-month-old daughter. “My daughter wakes up at the same time whether I’ve been drinking or not,” Bodkins says.

Boisson (333 Hayes Street in San Francisco) will open the week of September 26. Hours of operation will be noon to 8 pm Sunday through Thursday, 11 am to 9 pm on Friday, and 10 am to 9 pm Saturday.

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5. Chateau Montelena, Calistoga

6. Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, Stag’s Leap District

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9. Long Meadow Ranch, St Helena

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13. Shafer Vineyard, Yountville

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15. Beringer, St Helena

16. Raymond Vineyards, St Helena

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18. Pine Ridge Vineyards, Napa

19. Del Dotto Estate, St Helena

20. Chimney Rock, Napa

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San Francisco & Silicon Valley Housing Markets Puke Enormous Worth Drops, as Startups, Crypto, Tech, Social Media Make Whole Mess

In California overall, prices dropped year-over-year, as sales collapsed, supply more than doubled. No dear, this isn’t just a seasonal dip.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

In San Francisco.

Silicon Valley, San Mateo County.

Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County.

In all of California.

Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022 – Anderson Valley Advertiser

San Francisco is in want of public restrooms, however is $1.7 million an excessive amount of for a 150-square-foot facility in Noe Valley?

Boisson, San Francisco’s First Devoted Nonalcoholic Bottle Store, Is Opening Close to Hayes Valley

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