Every once in a while, a unique individual comes along that represents the qualities that many of us look for to represent our City. Nick Bennett has shown many times over that he is one of these unique individuals.
I met Nick in 1996 while I was employed with the city of Clearlake when he joined the Clearlake Police Department. I grew to know Nick professionally over the years. He has clearly demonstrated that he always puts community first, working to improve the quality of life for our community and its residents.
Nick is a man of high principles and integrity. His judgment and his word are respected. He was recently appointed to the Clearlake City Council in May 2016 due to the respect he has earned.
Nick has always believed that the heart of the community is the people within. He has continuously recognized the needs of our seniors and our youth. He takes the time to listen.
One of Nick’s many strong attributes is public safety. Throughout his law enforcement career, he has worked tirelessly to help keep his communities safe. During his years with the Clearlake Police Department, he helped raise the bar for public safety. We are better today for Nick’s contributions.
The Lake County Association of Realtors has enthusiastically endorsed Nick as they believe in his commitment to move Clearlake forward on the fast track with fresh ideas. Time will not be wasted, as he has proven many times in the past that he gets the job done. He is committed to creating a safe environment for growth within our community.
The best predictor of future performance is past performance. Nick continues to demonstrate this in all that he does.
By voting to retain Nick Bennett on the Clearlake City Council, you will be doing your part to promote a healthy city. You will have the opportunity to observe that Nick embodies the genuineness of leadership that reflects the best of Clearlake.
Please join me in voting Nick Bennett for Clearlake City Council.
Judy Thein lives in Clearlake, Calif., where she formerly served on the city council and as mayor.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – Speed limits could soon be changed in five areas in Lakeport based on an updated speed survey completed for the city earlier this year.
Community Development Director Kevin Ingram presented the study and a proposed ordinance to update the speed limits in certain areas to the Lakeport City Council at its Oct. 18 meeting, explaining that the survey must be completed every five years.
Consultant Phil Dow of Dow and Associates did the engineering and traffic study for the city in June and presented the proposed changes to the council. He's also done past studies for the city over his 40 years of doing such work.
His study is featured in the agenda packet below, starting on page 143, and the discussion starts at the 36:10 point in the video above.
Dow's study recommended that speed limits for the vast majority of the surveyed roadway segments in the city remain unchanged, except for Bevins Street from Lakeport Boulevard to Bevins Court; Hartley Street from 20th Street to the northern city limits; Martin Street from Bevins Street to the western city limits; Parallel Drive from old city limits (near Chester Avenue) to Lakeport Boulevard; 20th Street from Alden Avenue to Hartley Street.
“Usually when I do these there aren't that many changes as there are in this particular study,” said Dow, explaining that California Vehicle Code requires that such surveys be done every five years if a local government wants to enforce them by electronic means.
Dow said the troubling part of the work is that there have been changes made by the State Legislature in recent years to the way speed limits can be determined, which give less latitude for traffic engineers and others establishing or recommending speed limits.
“That's why there's some extra effort put into this one,” he said, explaining that he was trying to mitigate some higher speed zones in undesirable areas in the study.
Dow said that, basically, actually establishing speed limit zones is a democratic process which is controlled to a large degree by how fast the traveling public drives on streets.
“It's based largely on a sample of the existing speeds, the prevailing speeds in your city,” he said.
Those speeds are monitored by putting out traffic counters and reviewing collision date for an area, and determining if those crashes are related to traffic speeds. Dow said the work also involves looking at the roadways, including pavement conditions, the latter being “a subject of discourse locally.”
Whereas at one time lower speed limits could be set if jurisdictions could make a rational argument for doing so, now the process of setting speed limits is bound to considering the 85th percentile of prevailing speeds, Dow said.
He said the changes began in 2009, with the state cracking down on the process of setting speed limits because some entities were cheating and not putting up the proper speed limits.
Dow said the only latitude he now has in his recommendations is setting the speed limits at 5 miles per hour below the 85th percentile, which he has to justify in writing. “So it's a little more complicated than it was just a few years ago.”
He noted that areas that do not have speed limits zoned properly can result in speed tickets being thrown out in court.
“It's just unfortunate that we have to play the reactive game,” said Councilman Martin Scheel.
In the in-depth analysis offered in his written report, Dow explained that current speeds on Bevins Street from Lakeport Boulevard to Bevins Court would warrant raising the limit from 30 miles per hour to 40, but due to factors with the roadway and adjacent development, he said it is warranted to put the speed lower, at 35 miles per hour.
For Hartley Street from 20th Street to the northern city limits, which has steep curves, limited pedestrian improvements and has been identified as an access route in the Lake County Safe Routes to Schools Plan, Dow recommended keeping the existing speed of 30 miles per hour for the segment of Hartley between 20th Street and Hillcrest Drive.
He also suggested the completion of an engineering study to extend the school zone speed limit of 25 miles per hour for up to 1,000 feet south of the Lakeport Unified School District school grounds, and removal of some speed limit zone postings.
Based on critical speed monitoring, Martin Street from Bevins Street to the western city limits should have its speed limit raised from 35 to 45 miles per hour. However, Dow said lower speeds are justified due to driveway obstructions and west of Smith Street and further mitigations needed for the blind junction approach at Bevins Street.
He suggested a speed limit of 40 miles per hour on Martin Street from the west city limit to Smith Street, with a 30-mile-per-hour limit on Martin Street between Smith Street and Main Street, and brush clearing on the south side of Martin Street west of Smith Street to improve sight distance.
On Parallel Drive from the old city limits near Chester Avenue to Lakeport Boulevard, where the speed limit currently is 35 miles per hour, speed zone monitoring results suggest that, based on state rules, the speed should be raised to 50 miles per hour, Dow reported.
Dow instead suggested that conditions can warrant a slightly reduced new speed limit of 45 miles per hour, but that even then, “there are concerns regarding obstructions to sight distance, due to horizontal curves, that obstruct driveways in the area of abrupt roadside land use changes.”
Among his proposed changes are a roundabout advance warning sign, installation of a curve warning sign with a 35-mile-per-hour advisory and monitoring of travel speeds within one year to propose warranted adjustments.
On 20th Street from Alden Avenue to Hartley Street, where the speed currently is 25 miles per hour, the monitored speeds would suggest that the limit should be raised to 35 miles per hour. However, as Dow wrote in his report, “a 35 mph speed zone through a residential area is inconsistent with residential neighborhoods. Even a reduction to 30 mph is judged to be inappropriate for the narrower and curvey area near the western terminus of the street.”
He proposed in his report adjusting limits of the speed zones on the street and establishing the speed limit on 20th Street from Will-O-View Street to Hartley Street at 30 miles per hour.
During public comment, city residents brought up a host of concerns about other streets – including speed limits, school zones, and lack of sidewalks, crosswalks and shoulders – particularly on Lakeshore Boulevard and areas around the school district.
Carol Jardstrom raised issues about children walking along Lakeshore Boulevard to get to school and other pedestrians – including seniors – who walk in the area. She said there should be a sidewalk near a school bus stop on the road.
Dow said he could look at the concerns in relation to a school zone study he was to work on for the area.
Suzanne Lyons, a former city council member who lives on Lakeshore Boulevard, said she doesn't believe the crash data is accurate, as residents along that roadway are aware of collisions that occur that aren't in the records.
She said there are a lot of hit-and-run accidents involving mailboxes and cars going on to the beach. “They're not going a safe speed,” she said of some of the drivers who travel through the area.
Lyons said when she moved to her home, the speed limit sign said 25 miles per hour. Someone ran it over, and when the new sign was placed, the new limit was 30 miles per hour. She said no one should have to get killed before something is done.
Jeanette Payan, another resident of Lakeshore Boulevard, said she has made complaints about the lack of sidewalk and the speed limit issue there.
Payan recounted recent hit-and-runs on Lakeshore Boulevard that took out one neighbor's mailbox and the fence of still another neighbor.
“People drive dangerously fast on that road,” she said, adding that when she walks on the road, she fears for her life, as she has cars coming too close to her. “It's too much. It's too much. It's a serious issue.”
She asked them to look at adding sidewalks in the area to accommodate the heavy foot traffic, adding she wants to see the town be safer and better.
Michael Froio, who lives in the north end of Lakeport, added that he thinks the speed limit is too high along Lakeshore Boulevard, where people like to ride their bikes and walk, as there are only a few places where they can walk and see the lake.
Councilman Kenny Parlet said the number of unreported crashes is a real impediment to the process.
Scheel moved to introduce the proposed ordinance establishing the updated speed limits, with a public hearing to be set for Nov. 1, at which time the council will consider adopting the ordinance. The council approved the motion unanimously.
Also on Oct. 18, the council voted to accept a federal policing grant for the Lakeport Police Department ( http://bit.ly/2ejLp1u ); held a public hearing and approved proposed changes to the administrative citation appeal hearing process, including bringing the hearings in-house to reduce costs and simplify the process; approved refunding certain former redevelopment agency bonds and a proposed resolution of preliminary intention to proceed with the refinancing of outstanding Series 1993 Limited Obligation Improvement Bonds; reappointed Parlet to the Abandoned Vehicle Service Authority Commission; presented a proclamation designating October 2016 as Domestic Violence Awareness month to representatives from the Lake Family Resource Center; and heard a presentation from the Lake County Chamber of Commerce thanking the city for support of chamber events.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council, sitting as the Board of Directors of the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency, will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. in the council chambers at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss and adopt the proposed resolution authorizing investment of monies in the Local Agency Investment Fund, or LAIF, and approving certain other matters and official actions related to that action.
With the controversy of this coming presidential election, one local measure is noncontroversial and straight forward.
Measure V will create a significant and long term plan for improvements of the residential streets in Clearlake.
We finally have an answer to how the residential streets in Clearlake can be repaired and resurfaced and to get started, our city needs the residents of Clearlake to vote yes on Measure V!
Voting yes on Measure V will start a 20-year plan that will rebuild the roads in Clearlake and here’s a brief glance at how we got to this point.
Last year an ad hoc committee of the Clearlake City Council was established by then-Mayor Denise Loustalot. I requested to be a part of that committee along with then-Councilwoman Gina Fortino Dickson.
The committee was made up of people who had supported prior road measures and those who had spoken out against those previous road measures.
The committee listened to battalion chiefs and captains from the Lake County Fire Protection District, the chief of Clearlake Police Department, and department heads from the Konocti Unified School District Transportation Division and the Lake Transit Authority. All of them described the damage done to their vehicles because of the poor road condition.
The ad hoc committee learned that public safety was compromised by the additional costs associated with vehicle repairs and equipment that was taken out of service because of damage from the poor roads. Most importantly, response times are greatly reduced in emergencies because of bad roads. We learned that our ambulances and fire truck’s life span was cut significantly.
The former manager of Lake Transit Authority, Wanda Gray, reported that buses used in Clearlake had more damage and cost more in repairs than in any other area that they operated.
Information was also provided that Clearlake Police patrol vehicles received significant damage when engaged in emergency response or pursuits because of the poor roads within the city.
Lastly, evidence was provided via a national transportation safety report that motorists driving on poor road conditions spent more than double the national average in vehicle maintenance.
Gina Fortino Dickson and I met with Sen. Mike McGuire and Assemblyman Bill Dodd along with representatives from other cities and counties.
The short story is that the state has reduced funding for cities and county streets because of lower gas tax revenue and that will continue to decline. They are still trying to pass some type of legislation for our state’s crumbling infrastructure, but thus far cannot create new legislation that will pass.
Their answer from them was to create a local funding tax and that is exactly what Measure V does. Our state of California representatives encouraged us to move forward with a measure to resurface roads and help with grants for local road projects and we were told those may only be awarded to cities and counties with local funding measures.
Based on the above information, the road ad hoc committee requested the Clearlake City Council place a single cent sales tax on this November’s ballot. The council did, voting unanimously in favor of the measure.
As we are getting closer to the election, questions have been asked by those living on private streets within the city of Clearlake, specifically if their roads would be part of those being helped by Measure V.
The short answer is that publicly collected taxes cannot be provided to private individuals. Doing so would be a gift of public funds, which is not legal.
However, if Measure V, a "special tax," passes by the 66.7 percent needed, a percentage of the tax will be set aside for use in obtaining grants and it can be used to fund bonds and for new "special districts" if an assessment district is voted on and passes.
I met with the Clearlake Public Works director and he confirmed that if residents of Clearlake who live on private roads were to go through the process of creating a special district for their neighborhood, they could improve their private streets and then request the city accept them into their street maintenance program.
Vote yes on Measure V! It is an investment in ourselves and our city. It will be another big part of making our city cleaner, safer and better managed and a place for us all too proud of.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The weather may be changing but there are still lots of things happening at the Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum.
Although usually open every Saturday and Sunday, the museum will be closed the weekend of Oct. 22 and 23.
Ely has been chosen as the venue for a Boy Scout weekend campout. This is an annual event for the Boy Scouts allowing them to perform community service projects while honing their camping skills.
This year they will camp out for two nights on the Ely property, clearing the hillside below Ely’s main house during the day.
That particular weekend would also have been Ely’s Living History Day. That activity is being pushed to the next Saturday, Oct. 29.
Historian Ruby Glebe will return to the Stage Stop that day to share more stories from the past. Glebe preserves and promotes Lake County’s historical resources.
Fifteen years ago, the Lake County Board of Supervisors appointed Glebe to the position of Lake County Historian. She is only the third person to hold this distinction, preceded by Henry Mauldin and Marion Goebel.
Glebe will be talking about the Pine Flat Community of 1870, once a quicksilver mining boomtown in the rugged Mayacamas Mountains that straddle Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties. Nothing remains of the community that was killed by the plummeting price of quicksilver and periodic wildfires that plague the area.
Her presentation will begin at noon. Admission is free with donations accepted. Through these Living History Days at Ely, the stories of Lake County's history are being preserved for future generations.
Finally, save the date of Nov. 6 when Ely again hosts the California Old Time Fiddlers Association for a jam session in the Ely barn from noon till 2 p.m.
Musicians will follow the usual round-robin format with donations benefiting both the Ely Stage Stop, helping to fund the construction of the blacksmith shop, and the Old Time Fiddlers Association District 10, using it to partially fund their scholarship programs.
The Lake County Historical Society’s Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum is located at 9921 State Highway 281 (Soda Bay Road) in Kelseyville, near Clear Lake Riviera, just north of Highway 29-Kit's Corner.
Current hours of operation are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday. Private tours can be arranged by appointment. Facilities are available to support events, conferences, or family gatherings. Celebrate a wedding, reception, special anniversary, or family reunion.
No. 1: Voters will be asked to approve this tax before a cultivation ordinance is finalized, so no one knows for certain who will be able to grow how much cannabis in what areas, as it is unclear what past criminal convictions will be disqualifiers, production limits are still unknown and so is which land parcels are included and which are not.
No. 2: Measure C's financial success depends on a lot of cannabis being grown indoors, so it encourages the completely indefensible use of large amounts of electricity to grow a crop indoors that is well suited to our natural outdoor climate. Cannabis can be a low-environmental impact crop, measure C gives it the carbon-footprint of Godzilla.
No. 3: Cannabis grown indoors virtually always needs pesticides to control mites and mold, but unlike any other crop there will be no pesticide use reports filed with the ag commissioner under measure C or the proposed cultivation ordinance, meaning consumers have to hope their grower didn't use any harmful substances on the crop.
No. 4: Measure C constitutes an unfair business practice as it holds commercial cannabis growers to many cultivation standards that are far higher than growers of other crops are expected to meet. This is in spite of the fact that nearly all cannabis grown on the scale proposed in the measure is done in bags, so the natural soil is never disturbed by plowing, fertilizer use or irrigation.
No. 5: The areas identified so far (but not yet decided on by the Board of Supervisors), where growing can occur are all in remote areas that have few roads, so access is either difficult or impossible. The lot sizes tend to be very large, oftentimes in the hundreds of acres, meaning only the very rich can afford many of the parcels. The 40-acre minimum proposed will cost a fortune and must include a full-time residence, and while the total area may look impressive on a map the reality is very few viable parcels will be available on the market.
No. 6: The fact that few parcels will fit all the criteria means the $8 million in annual tax revenue the supporters claim is extremely unlikely to materialize, a more realistic figure will be below $1 million annually. The city of Clearlake tried a permitting process and expected $75,000 annually, they got less than $7,000 and measure C is on the same path.
No. 7: Because only the seriously rich can afford the minimum land requirements, the backbone of the local cannabis industry – people who have for years used cannabis production to supplement their incomes just to get by – will be crowded out by those who have the money to do industrial-scaled farming in the newly designated grow areas.
No. 8: Between the costly and complicated state and proposed local regulations one thing is certain: Many will choose to not comply. After Measure N passed in 2014 plant seizures have steadily climbed, Measure C will also help push much of the industry back into the shadows, where it will continue to be a major drain on law enforcement.
No. 9: Our county has consistently gone back and forth on cannabis regulations, first it took well over a decade after Proposition 215 passed to have any rules, then it went overboard on regulations, now it just wants to make money off the crop and not much else matters beyond that and keeping it out of sight of tourists. Measure C is poorly planned and written, and the legal challenges are already in the works should it pass.
No. 10. A reasonable measure could have been crafted if the growers had been involved in the initial development stages instead of being excluded as they have been with this measure and the cultivation ordinance. We could have had a balanced proposal that would have actually protected the environment, generated tax revenue while encouraging compliance, protect the people who have grown here for decades without causing problems, but instead we have this seriously flawed measure that puts the government's financial wants ahead of our needs.
KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – The weather may be changing but there are still lots of things happening at the Ely Stage Stop & Country Museum.
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