Opinion
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- Written by: Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit
To all supporters, participants, and members of the Lake County Branch, NAACP's black history program, held Saturday, February 28 – we thank you most heartily.
Our program was held at the Praises of Zion Baptist Church in Clearlake in conjunction with the support of Rev. Jonathan Greene, Alice Smith, Josie Smith Easley, Ashley Smith, the Women on the Move choral group, Denise Johnson and Mrs. Head.
We are equally appreciative of all participants of our program: Rick Mayo (first vice president, NAACP), St. Elmo Mosby, Jr. (education chair, NAACP), Rob Young (Americorp, program director), Robert Stark (Cobb Water District, and guitarist), Rev. Kate O'Leary (Kelseyville Methodist Church), Rev. Don Dyne (Universalist Unitarian Church), June Jackson, Clarence Wright, Sr.,Yasemin Kirsten Mash' Allah and Charlissa Bryant.
And, finally, I am very proud of the continuing support of my administrative and executive members who helped coordinate and execute this program with symphonic rhythm.
Aqeela El-Amin Bakheit is president of the Lake County Branch of the NAACP. She lives in Clearlake.
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- Written by: Lake County News Reports
I was very disappointed to read the letter submitted by Herb Gura published in the March 26 Lake County News and also the the letter published in the the March 25 issue of the Record-Bee. Herb is an opponent of the Provinsalia project in Clearlake, as am I. However, his letters are so misleading and inaccurate that I fear it will weaken the credibility of all who oppose the project.
Let me be specific and set the record straight.
In his LakeCoNews letter Herb states, “It is poor policy to treat the public as the enemy rather than the source of wisdom that they usually are.” He is trying to demonize the city council, and paint a picture that simply isn't true. The Clearlake City Council are good-hearted well-intentioned people that I have known and worked with for years. They are not treating the "public" as the "enemy.” That is so weird that I am wondering what Herb is up to, with this bizarre crusade of misinformation and personal attack.
Let me take his Record-Bee letter apart in detail, as follows.
Herb says, "How are the City of Clearlake's current residents to view the city taking on a commitment to maintain streets for 650 'upscale' homes and a golf course out on the edge of town? " Not true. The city is requiring the residents of Provinsalia to maintain the streets in Provinsalia and the new off-site street Provinsalia Avenue through a maintenance district. Regarding the golf course, Herb, where did you come up with the idea it would be maintained by the city? It's a private golf course. The city couldn't maintain a private golf course, it would be a gift of public funds. The truth is that the city has taken measures to protect the golf course land from ever being developed into residential lots should the golf course go out of business, by having it revert to open space.
Herb says, "When a city government sits the developer's lawyer at their table and shuts down public input based upon that lawyer's advice when a city council rushes to a vote on a controversial project with two of its own council members not present, something is wrong." Again not true, and very misleading.
The truth is that the city contracts for legal services with the firm of BB&K, and had asked BB&K to have their California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) attorney Fernando Avila to be present at the meeting to provide expert advice. BB&K works for the city, not the developer. However, the city did require the developer to cover the extra cost of the attorney, as well as all the other city staff time and costs to process this project, thus saving taxpayers money. This is a good thing. Because Mr. Avila is a CEQA expert and not a Brown Act expert, the city is now seeking legal advice on the Brown Act complaint from their regular attorney.
Herb says the council "shuts down public input", but does not mention that they took his input, and mine and many others, at the public hearing on Feb. 12. They allowed him to speak as long as he wished, and did not shut him down in any way.
Once again, about two council members not being present: There were four council members at the hearing, not three. Roy Simons was there until he decided to leave, leaving only three.
Herb says the city "should not be looking to expand.” The proposed project is inside the city limits. The city is not looking to expand, but processing a proposal to develop undeveloped land within the city. And the process isn't over yet.
Finally, Herb's R-B letter indicates Herb lives in Lower Lake. He lives at the Double Eagle Ranch east of Clearlake Oaks off Highway 20. His Lake County News letter indicates, correctly, his Clearlake Oaks area residence. What's this discrepancy about?
I wrote recently about the need for respect from all sides of this issue. How about we start by having some respect for the truth? If we are going to have an honest debate about this project, we must be honest.
Ed Robey, the recently retired supervisor for District 1, lives in Lower Lake.
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- Written by: Lowell Grant
I was at the birthday party for an old friend last weekend and had the pleasure of a conversation with several of my son’s friends, all of whom are around 30. To my surprise they were anxious to talk politics, something new in my experience with the younger generation as they have generally always seemed turned off by the topic.
They were quick to toss out all of the right wing myths about government, using catch phrases like “tri-lateral commission” and “new world order,” etc., as though these things actually existed. They were certain of it.
At every turn in the conversation they made it clear that they were convinced that private industry should be in charge of virtually everything since, in their minds, government could only screw it up. It was as though they didn’t realize that Enron, AIG, Citibank, Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch, Countrywide and all the others were private businesses that had done incredible harm to our society.
Later, I found myself thinking about this odd phenomena and came to the realization that during their lifetimes government has always been cast as an evil and dark force. It is simply not in their experience to conceive of government being able to play a positive role in society. To them it was nothing more than a monster standing in the way of private enterprise.
During their lives, government has been dominated by those who have focused on making sure that the agencies designed to regulate private industry have instead protected those industries from being governed.
Instead of agencies like the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) being a watchdog, the Bush administration turned it into a lapdog. I doubt there is any logical person left who has witnessed the carnage in our economy during the past 18 months who still thinks this has worked out for the better.
Instead of the Department of the Interior ensuring that the gas and oil companies operating on our federal lands were paying their fair share of royalties to us, they were instructed to stop collecting from them! The main office in charge of this was located in Denver, Colo. Instead of sending accountants to review the books, the Bush administration sent hookers with drugs to party with them! I know this sounds impossible, so I invite you all to Google “Dept. Interior scandal” so you can read about it first-hand, please don’t just take my word for it.
These are but two examples that jump to mind but it’s the same story from the EPA to the Food and Drug Administration and right on down the line. No wonder these young men don’t believe in government! It takes one more step in the process of logic to understand that just because government has been hijacked and turned into a dark force, that it cannot be turned back into the force for good that we should all expect and demand.
President Eisenhower warned us when he left office in 1960 about the military industrial complex seizing control of our government and he was prophetic, as that is exactly what happened. No one was better able to understand the threat, as his unique set of experiences enabled him to see clearly the forces at work. Our government is owned and operated by the corporations who buy access to those in office to promote their agenda. Fundraising is now a full-time job for every congressman and senator. Until we take the money out of the equation, this will not change.
It is my sincere hope that President Obama realizes that this may well be the last chance to prove that government can actually work on behalf of the people.
One of his goals should be meaningful campaign finance reform. As long as our government is up for sale there will be no shortage of those who will buy it. This does not have to be all that complicated to be effective.
Why not simply limit all campaign contributions to a certain dollar amount and make it illegal for anyone other than a U.S. citizen to make a contribution? Corporations and unions are not citizens by the way and should not be allowed to buy votes. If they want to endorse a viewpoint or even a candidate, they should put their own commercials out there and clearly identify themselves with their own legal names instead of using sham names like “Concerned Citizens for Clean Water” when what they really want to do is dump industrial waste into rivers as a cheap way to dispose of it.
Another step in the right direction would be to outlaw all lobbyists. If they want to state their case for their industry, make it in a public session of congress, on the record. No back room deals, no contact with public servants in private settings, period.
We have an entire generation of young adults who have no reason to believe that government can work because our government has been hijacked during their lifetime. We must stop electing people who don’t believe in government, as that is simply a self fulfilling prophecy for failure and we must take control back from the corporations, or risk losing the democracy we give lip service to every day.
Lowell Grant lives in Kelseyville.
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- Written by: Herb Gura
Fifteen years as a public servant and an elected official have taught me something about the way democracy works best. The most innovative and creative ideas usually come not from us politicians and the professionals we hire, but from the other side of the table where the public sits.
It may be time-consuming and uncomfortable to listen to hours of public comment about an issue that we may think we already have all the answers to, but time and again I am surprised by some well-informed citizen stepping up to the microphone and providing a solution or at least the seeds of a solution that I have overlooked.
California law sets forth some pretty specific guidelines about the way public officials are to conduct the public's business and the manner in which public meetings are to be run. A particular section of the Government Code known as the Ralph M. Brown Act, mandates that with very few exceptions, all members of the public be permitted to address any issue on a government body’s agenda.
I believe that the Clearlake City Council violated that law in limiting and then shutting down the public hearing regarding Provinsalia on Feb. 26.
Even if the city's lawyer can make some argument that the council acted technically within the law (which is unlikely), it is poor policy to treat the public as the enemy rather than the source of wisdom that they usually are.
Herb Gura lives in Clearlake Oaks.
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