Parkway Funding

As a recent editorial from the Sacramento Bee examines, for several years there have been efforts to ensure a stable source of funding for the Parkway through some form of tax increase, which have all failed and the Parkway continues to deteriorate.

The solution is that embraced by other signature parks in the country.

The Parkway is falling behind about $1.1 million annually just in maintenance, according to the American River Parkway Financial Needs Study Update 2006 (p. vii), so it is impossible to care for the Parkway up as it was intended to be cared for, let alone to improve it by adding new land and expanding its educational and recreational assets; particularly during troubled economic times.

The solution we have proposed for stabilizing funding for the American River Parkway is to establish a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) of local government entities (currently being discussed by local public leadership) to govern the Parkway and creating a nonprofit American River Parkway Conservancy to provide management and a supplemental fund raising capability through philanthropy, which you can read more about on our website’s news page in our press releases from January 20 & July 14, 2009.

This is the model being used by the Central Park Conservancy to manage Central Park in New York—the Conservancy provides 85% of funding needed by Central Park—and the Sacramento Zoological Society to manage the Sacramento Zoo, which they have wholly done since 1997 under contract with the City of Sacramento.

Another superb example is the San Dieguito River Park in San Diego, California—an excerpt from their website:

“The San Dieguito River Valley Regional Open Space Park Joint Powers Authority, also known as the San Dieguito River Park, is the agency responsible for creating a natural open space park in the San Dieguito River Valley. The Park will someday extend from the ocean at Del Mar to Volcan Mountain, just north of Julian.

“The San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority was formed as a separate agency on June 12, 1989, by the County of San Diego and the Cities of Del Mar, Escondido, Poway, San Diego and Solana Beach. It was empowered to acquire, plan, design, improve, operate and maintain the San Dieguito River Park.”

The idea in this editorial from the Sacramento Bee—correct in its call for a JPA and stable funding—but not in the benefit assessment district (more taxes) or the idea to support the Parkway through the purchase of $50 passports as the passport funds get swept into the park's general fund which can be used to support any of the numerous parks and activities throughout the County, still leaving the Parkway competing for limited funding rather than having a dedicated funding stream which the JPA/Conservancy combo would provide.

An excerpt.

“To remedy that, elected officials and citizen groups have been exploring a joint powers agreement between Sacramento County (the historical steward of the parkway) and the cities of Sacramento, Rancho Cordova and Folsom to create a "special benefit assessment district."

“While a draft agreement is heading toward a Nov. 19 vote of the county's Recreation and Parks Commission – and then on to the county board and the three city councils – major questions remain on the details.

“Would the proposed governing structure (two votes for the county, four votes for the cities) fragment the vision and administration of the parkway – giving the cities de facto control though the county owns and operates the parkway? And would the proposed assessment really go toward security and maintenance operations, or toward building new facilities in a parkway that until now has remained a largely natural river setting?

“While all this gets hammered out, ordinary folks who use the parkway can help mitigate the funding crisis.

“Buy a $50 Parks Passport. The money goes directly to park operations, and covers unlimited day use and parking for a year. It provides a way for people who bike or walk in the parkway to support the parkway – and other parks in Sacramento County. Currently, the county sells only 2,500 passes a year.”

Problems & Solutions

When people present a problem and a solution is offered but the people with the problem says the offered solution is “nuts”, perhaps it’s a clue to what is really going on rather than concern with solving the problem, which is the situation we see as reported by the Wall Street Journal, as the global warming arguments continue to unravel in the face of solid science.

An excerpt.

“Suppose for a minute—which is about 59 seconds too long, but that's for another column—that global warming poses an imminent threat to the survival of our species. Suppose, too, that the best solution involves a helium balloon, several miles of garden hose and a harmless stream of sulfur dioxide being pumped into the upper atmosphere, all at a cost of a single F-22 fighter jet.

“Good news, right? Maybe, but not if you're Al Gore or one of his little helpers.

“The hose-in-the-sky approach to global warming is the brainchild of Intellectual Ventures, a Bellevue, Wash.-based firm founded by former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold. The basic idea is to engineer effects similar to those of the 1991 mega-eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines, which spewed so much sulfuric ash into the stratosphere that it cooled the earth by about one degree Fahrenheit for a couple of years.

“Could it work? Mr. Myhrvold and his associates think it might, and they're a smart bunch. Also smart are University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and writer Stephen Dubner, whose delightful "SuperFreakonomics"—the sequel to their runaway 2005 bestseller "Freakonomics"—gives Myhrvold and Co. pride of place in their lengthy chapter on global warming. Not surprisingly, global warming fanatics are experiencing a Pinatubo-like eruption of their own.

“Mr. Gore, for instance, tells Messrs. Levitt and Dubner that the stratospheric sulfur solution is "nuts." Former Clinton administration official Joe Romm, who edits the Climate Progress blog, accuses the authors of "[pushing] global cooling myths" and "sheer illogic." The Union of Concerned Scientists faults the book for its "faulty statistics." Never to be outdone, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman scores "SuperFreakonomics" for "grossly [misrepresenting] other peoples' research, in both climate science and economics."

Water Briefing

An excellent briefing on the water issue in California from The Economist.

An excerpt.

“IN 2007 Oliver Wanger, a federal judge in California, ordered the huge pumping stations of the Sacramento Delta, the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas, to reduce by a third the water they delivered to two aqueducts that run south to the farms of the San Joaquin Valley and onward to the vast conurbations of southern California. His reason was the delta smelt, a translucent fish less than eight centimetres (three inches) long that lives only in the delta and is considered endangered under federal law. The pumping plants were sucking in the fish and grinding them up. The next year, a “biological opinion” by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service reinforced Judge Wanger’s order. Pumping from the delta remains restricted.

“The consequences of these restrictions, which coincided with a drought that is now in its third year, reach far beyond one small population of fish. About two-thirds of Californians get at least some of their water from the delta, so with the stroke of a judicial pen the entire state, the world’s eighth-largest economy and America’s “fruit basket”, entered an economic and political crisis.

“Water has divided Californians since Mark Twain remarked that “whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting over.” But this latest conflict comes as America’s largest state is politically gridlocked and holding back a national economic recovery. From Australia to Israel, parched places all over the world are now looking to California to see whether, and how, it solves one of the most intractable problems of thirsty civilisations in dry regions.

“The pumping restrictions were a huge victory for environmentalists, who fill the ranks of one of the three armies in California’s perennial water wars. With increasing success since the 1970s, greens have argued that the delta in particular, and California’s dammed rivers and wetlands in general, are on the verge of ecological collapse and must be saved.

“For the other two armies, the restrictions amounted to a stinging defeat. One army consists of urban consumers in the dry south, represented by the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies water to about 19m people, over half the state’s population, and gets 30% of its supply from one of the two delta aqueducts. The authority has had to pay farmers in the Central Valley to give up their allocations and let their fields lie fallow, says Jeffrey Kightlinger, its boss. This year it also had to impose mandatory conservation measures.

“The pain has been far worse, however, for the third force: agriculture. The farmers and farm workers who have been hardest hit live in the western San Joaquin Valley, which is supplied by the Westlands Water District, America’s largest irrigation authority. Westlands has contracts to draw water from the other (federally financed) aqueduct. Tom Birmingham, its boss, says that, because of the drought and the pumping restrictions, it is receiving only 10% of its entitlement this year.

“The result, says Mr Birmingham, is fallow land, farm workers being laid off and “people standing in food lines for hours”. In some areas unemployment runs at 40%. There are scenes reminiscent of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”, though most of the poor and jobless are not white “Okies”, but Latinos. Just as the “dust bowl” swept across the Great Plains in the 1930s, so in the San Joaquin Valley, fields are reverting to desert and signs read, “Congress created this dust bowl”.

Dams & Canal Included?

It appears there is still a possibility for new dams in the bill being worked on by state legislators, but we will hold our hurrahs until we see the signed product, given the adamant resistance to dams by the deep ecology inspired environmental movement which appears to be driving the legislative narrative of the controlling party.

But, again, hope springs eternal that common sense prevails and the reality of water in California—nature provides but we must capture and save—is effectively addressed.

An excerpt from the story from the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Strict conservation, new dams and a peripheral canal are all on the table after six weeks of closed-door negotiations to solve the state's water crisis and restore the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ecosystem.

“Leaders in the state Senate and Assembly are still discussing how to pay for the plan, which could cost $9.4 billion.

“The Legislature could vote on the plan as soon as the end of the week.

“State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said that he did not want the proposal to "linger" and that the overhaul that has been decades in the making has a "momentum that did not exist before."

"There is no question the status quo is unacceptable, and there is no other ... package in our respective houses that would allow us to move forward in a comprehensive way," Steinberg said.

“Water for 24 million people in California - about two-thirds of the state's population - flows through the delta system, which has a series of levees and canals at great risk of failing in a natural disaster such as an earthquake.”

Water, Water

The special session on water convenes, but with the controlling party still trapped by the narrative forbidding new dams for the needed capture and storage of the abundance of water in Northern California, for flood protection here, and use in the valleys of central California and the homes and businesses of Southern California, we can probably expect more confusing mandates to arise; but, that being said, hope springs eternal that a balanced approach will emerge.

An excerpt from the San Diego Union-Tribune about the session.

“The Legislature today moves into crunch time on landmark legislation to modernize California's waterworks and assure reliable water supplies for the entire state for decades to come. Perhaps never has the San Diego County economy had more at stake in a single package of bills, and perhaps never has gutsy leadership from the San Diego County legislative delegation been more desperately needed.

“Legislators were expected to return to the Capitol today to officially convene the special session called by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to deal with the water package, and to begin joint hearings by key Senate and Assembly committees. Floor votes could come by the end of this week or next.

“The legislative package is essentially a collection of water policy decisions and a bond issue. Together, they would pave the way for construction of one or more new dams and groundwater storage reservoirs in Northern California, a canal to carry water through or around the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Southern California, repair of the delta's aged levees and restoration of the degraded delta ecology that imperils threatened salmon, delta smelt and other fish. The legislation would also create new governing bodies to set standards and oversee groundwater management and statewide conservation goals. The bond issue, projected by observers last week to run to at least $9 billion, would help pay for it all.

“The issues surrounding these bills have brought out some of the most powerful interests in California — agriculture, environmentalists, business and labor — and placed enormous political pressure on legislators. The bond issue requires a two-thirds vote for passage, while the other bills could be passed on simple majority votes. No one today can reliably predict the outcome; every vote will be crucial.”

Rangers Report, September

The monthly Rangers Report of crimes—and other incidents—committed on the Parkway is available on the Sacrament County Parks Department website, Rangers Page.

You can also review past reports there.

The links are on the bottom of the page.

Past Homeless Camps Photos

There is an interesting photo gallery of homeless camps along the river—and elsewhere—at the Sacramento Bee.

Global Warming Oooops!

Validating what many have long suspected, the “science” at the core of the global warming claim continues unraveling, as this article from the Washington Post notes.

An excerpt.

“The world's policymakers and scientists have made a critical error in how they count biofuels' contribution to human-generated greenhouse-gas emissions, according to a paper published Thursday in the journal Science.

“Although the article addresses a wonkish subject -- how to measure the environmental impact of energy sources such as ethanol and wood chips, which absorb carbon as they grow but release it back into the atmosphere when they're burned -- it has broad implications. The method undercounts the global-warming contribution of some bioenergy crops, the team of 13 researchers wrote, because it doesn't factor in what sort of land-use changes might occur to produce them.

"We made an honest mistake within the scientific framing of the debate, and we've got to correct it to make it right," said Steven P. Hamburg, chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and one of the paper's authors.

“When calculating the greenhouse-gas emissions limit, government officials in the United States, Europe and elsewhere do not count the carbon that biofuels release when they are burned. But carbon is released when a producer clears and burns trees, even to grow a crop destined for the biofuels market. Officials also established a legal system that limits emissions from energy use but not from land-use activities such as clearing forests.”

The End is Near!

Global warming is only the latest in an endless series of possible calamities that doomsayers have trotted out to scare humanity into adopting one course or another—often filling the doomsayers own pockets—and yet, what has been found to be most true, is that human inventiveness continues to provide progress and prosperity for more and more of the global population; and that is a very good thing.

This article from the Property & Environment Research Center examines the recent history of environmental alarmists.

An excerpt.

“Last year marked the 40th anniversary of Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, one of the two most influential environmentalist books of the 1960s with Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1962). Ehrlich's tract is now best remembered for its inflammatory statements that "the battle to feed all of humanity is over" and that "hundreds of millions of people" were about to starve to death in spite of any large-scale attempts to boost agricultural production. To Ehrlich's supporters, he only got his timing wrong. To his critics, he misunderstood the inherent capacity of market economies to tap into creative human brains and to continually deliver innovative solutions to pressing problems.

“What both Ehrlich's supporters and detractors fail to observe is how unoriginal his rhetoric was. Of course, the English clergyman and economist Thomas R. Malthus had articulated similar arguments in his "Essay on the Principle of Population" (1798), but so did many other writers in the interim period.

“By a strange coincidence, The Population Bomb was published the year of the death of William Vogt (1902-1968), the man who had introduced Paul Ehrlich to the Malthusian worldview. While largely forgotten today, Vogt was the author of the Road to Survival (1948), a book that reached between 20 and 30 million individuals and was the biggest environmental best-seller of all time until the publication of Silent Spring.

“Vogt belonged to a large group of individuals, many of whom had previously been active in the eugenics movement, who witnessed with horror the diffusion of new agricultural techniques, medicines, and pesticides to less advanced regions of the world. These apparently beneficial technologies, they argued, would soon result in rapid population growth, resource depletion, environmental destruction, and ultimately social collapse. To spread their message more effectively, some propagandists began to use catchwords such as "population bomb," "P-bomb" and "population explosion." This rhetoric became so widespread that it even graced the cover of Time magazine in 1960.

“The importance of population control activists in paving the way for modern environmentalism is now downplayed in favor of causes such as the search for better environmental amenities (clear rivers, clean air, and more green spaces), pesticide use, nuclear weapons, and the rise of ecological science. And yet, the influence of post-war "Neo-Malthusian ecologists" like Vogt cannot be underestimated.”

Lunch in the Parkway

A story in the Sacramento Bee about folks working close to the Parkway getting over there for lunchtime workouts is something we hope to someday see all along the Parkway.

As it now stands in the lower third of the Parkway—from Discovery Park to Cal Expo—it is not safe to venture into, during lunch or any other time, due to the large-scale illegal camping by the homeless, which now includes about 20 registered sex offenders, as we posted on earlier.

But for those folks out near the other end, it is relatively safe, and it is good they are enjoying our premier recreational area.

An excerpt from the Bee story.

“All along the recreational trail, from Sacramento to Folsom, you'll hear a similar refrain right around lunchtime. Employees who work nearby seeking a temporary respite from rigors of the workplace.

“Wait a minute. Aren't workers in these straitened economic times supposed to gulp down a PB&J at their desks, wash it down with a cup of coffee and press their noses back to the grindstone?

“People who work near the American River Parkway, Lake Natoma Recreation Area, nearby bike trails and the waterways running through and near them defy that stereotype.”

Diversity & Cities

From the perspective of Sacramento, one of the most balanced cities in the country in term of ethnic diversity—while often suggested we model ourselves after most of the mid sized cities mentioned in this article, Portland for instance—perhaps there is a reason for them to model themselves after us.

This article from New Geography looks at the lack of diversity in several cities offered as model cities.

An excerpt.

“Among the media, academia and within planning circles, there’s a generally standing answer to the question of what cities are the best, the most progressive and best role models for small and mid-sized cities. The standard list includes Portland, Seattle, Austin, Minneapolis, and Denver. In particular, Portland is held up as a paradigm, with its urban growth boundary, extensive transit system, excellent cycling culture, and a pro-density policy. These cities are frequently contrasted with those of the Rust Belt and South, which are found wanting, often even by locals, as “cool” urban places.

“But look closely at these exemplars and a curious fact emerges. If you take away the dominant Tier One cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles you will find that the “progressive” cities aren’t red or blue, but another color entirely: white.

“In fact, not one of these “progressive” cities even reaches the national average for African American percentage population in its core county. Perhaps not progressiveness but whiteness is the defining characteristic of the group.

“The progressive paragon of Portland is the whitest on the list, with an African American population less than half the national average. It is America's ultimate White City. The contrast with other, supposedly less advanced cities is stark.”

People Friendly Parks

As beautiful as the American River Parkway is, it is not very friendly to folks who just want to sit in a nice place and commune with the natural surroundings without fear of being mugged.

There are too few places where park benches are situated with a view of the river and it is a shortcoming that can be resolved with a more vigorous management and fund raising organization working under contract with the Joint Powers Authority that is being discussed to govern the Parkway.

This article from the Wall Street Journal profiles a person who designs public spaces just for that reason and she has also written a book, Parks, Plants and People.

An excerpt from the article.

“Lynden B. Miller has white hair and a green thumb. A public-garden designer of renown both in her native New York and elsewhere, she also has the kind of full-blooming forcefulness that could get a century plant to reconsider its position and flower annually. "I feel very passionately about this," said Ms. Miller. "People need places to go in a city and sit on a bench and be connected with nature."

“In the early 1980s at the urging of a city-planner friend, Ms. Miller, then a painter and ardent weekend gardener, took on the daunting task of restoring the Conservatory Garden in Central Park, a long-neglected and vandalized six-acre triptych of Italian, French and English-inspired designs. It took almost five years of raising funds and awareness, of scouring graffiti, hauling trash, pulling weeds, analyzing and amending soil, corralling volunteers, amassing and planting vast quantities of annuals and perennials, bulbs, shrubs, bushes, trees and ornamental grasses, all with the goal of giving visitors an eyeful at every season.

“When work was completed in 1987, New Yorkers had a glorious new showplace and retreat. Ms. Miller had a new career. Since then she has created 18 urban edens in and around the Big Apple, including projects in Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, the New York Botanical Garden, and on the campuses of Columbia, Princeton and Stony Brook universities. "I opened a horticultural Pandora's Box," Ms. Miller said. "I was going to go back to my studio, but painting with plants was more challenging and exciting."

Sacramento, Our Home

In this article from a Midwesterner now in Sacramento, the realities that many area natives eventually come to realize about their home are lovingly described.

I was born in Sacramento and, like many others, moved away to look at other areas of the country—Seattle, Madison Wisconsin, & Santa Cruz in my case—assuming anywhere was better than hot, dry Sacramento.

Many of us have returned and discovered the ambience and amenities that make Sacramento (in terms of quality of life) the world-class-city my cousin once envisioned enhancing when he led the group that brought the Sacramento Kings to town.

This Sacramento Bee article captures our fair city in many of its most pleasant aspects.

An excerpt.

“I've started to think of this town with a silent last vowel, as Sacrament(o), a sacred place I call home.

“Here's a short list of reasons why I have ended up loving this place: trees, trains, rivers and gold – or at least the search for it.

“And let's not forget the oftmentioned Delta breeze.

“All are truly sacraments, gifts to this geography that make it indeed special.

“Trees: Our shade, our nourisher

“First, there is the sacrament of the trees.

“I remember how proud Sacramentans were to tell us their city had as many trees as Paris. (Paris!) Then came the murky qualification: Per square foot. Maybe per capita. Per mile? That part was harder to remember.

“But we all know the trees here are special. Just look around: the sycamores, oaks, redwoods, magnolias, cypress, crepe myrtles, English elms, and on and on. Trees bless this city with its natural canopy, providing an organic sunscreen on hot summer days.”

Homelessness in Sacramento

This column from the Sacramento Bee about the underlying politics of homelessness in Sacramento is merely saying what everyone who has been following this issue already knows; that as long as the only services provided to the homeless are domestic enabling services rather than personal reformation services—tough love—the situation will remain as it is described here.

An excerpt.

“Together with Mayor Kevin Johnson and others in the faith and charity communities, they paint quite a picture: A Catholic nun and some very affluent people advocating for homeless folks to remain in squalor – preferably next to other poor people and a safe distance from Sacramento's well-heeled neighborhoods.

“It's not that these voices shouldn't be heard. They just shouldn't be the dominant voices. It's time for their 15 minutes to be up. Winter is upon us – the first storm came and went – and Sacramento wasted this year on a tent city proposal that has no support outside a small group of advocates.

“Meanwhile, the county eliminated many of its services for the poor. And to great fanfare, Loaves & Fishes keeps preaching a handout as opposed to a hand up. They enable destructive behavior and invite others to donate money and goods to this cause.

“How about another approach?

“Sacramento is a compassionate and sensible community. It's compassionate to want to help everyone needing shelter. It's sensible to conclude that local government can't help everyone. Any effort should require people to follow rules, stay clean and sober and stay out of trouble.”

American River Watershed & Floods

The most crucial bit of information in this news story from the Sacramento Bee is the reminder of the fact that the American River Watershed is one of the most flood-prone in the nation, due to the prevalence of rain storms that can flow in from the Pacific.

It is this propensity that created the importance for constructing the Auburn Dam, the only way to insure a 500 year level of flood protection for the Sacramento area, which now has a 100 year level, lower than that of New Orleans when it flooded.

As we saw just a little over 20 years ago in 1986, the potential for flooding in Sacramento from too much water in the American River Watershed and too little storage capability, is high.

An excerpt.

“The storm that soaked the state this week was the California equivalent of a hurricane, according to experts working to ready the public for the next one.

“Called an "atmospheric river," the storm pulled a geyser of moisture all the way across the Pacific Ocean, from the tropics near Indonesia. The narrow channel of intense rain scored a direct hit on California's Central Coast, then gushed like a fire hose all day.

“Near Big Sur, more than 20 inches of rain were recorded in a single day. Sacramento received 3 inches, enough to make this the city's fifth-wettest October in history.

“Had the storm hit farther south, it could have caused devastating mudslides on recently burned Southern California mountain slopes. Had it occurred later in winter, when the ground was already saturated, the storm might have caused dangerous floods in the Sacramento region.

"We just dodged a bullet," said Lucy Jones, chief scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project, which is researching atmospheric rivers.

“Smaller versions, born near Hawaii, are popularly known as "Pineapple Express" storms.

"We've shown ... they are largely responsible for the big rains and big floods that occur," said Marty Ralph, chief of the water cycle branch at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colo. "Those are the ones to watch out for."…

“Ralph's lab in 2005 began installing weather instruments in the canyons of the American River, making it the nation's most closely monitored watershed. The river was chosen for its potential to cause disastrous floods.”

Agriculture & California

In the ongoing discussion between the needs of industrial agriculture and the more specialized issues emanating from the environmental movement, what can often be lost is the vital importance of American industrial agriculture—especially that within the great valleys of California—to the growing population of the world.

This article from New Geography examines this gap.

An excerpt.

“A complex agriculture, along with urban culture, is one of the fundamental pillars of human civilization, and one of the fundamental bulkwarks of American prosperity. For families and communities involved in farming and ranching it’s also a way of life that is cherished, oftentimes passed on through generations, taking on reverential if not religious overtones.

“At the same time in today’s overwhelmingly urban culture, cooking has become prime time entertainment, dining a social event, and what a person eats is increasingly associated with a healthy body and mind – sometimes a sort of spiritual well being. This elevates agriculture to an important issue even among those who have never spent a day on a farm.

“Sadly, recent years have seen mounting efforts to discount the value, in particular, of the industry’s productive core. A just published feature story in Time magazine – Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food – makes the following claim. “With the exhaustion of the soil, the impact of global warming and the inevitably rising price of oil — which will affect everything from fertilizer to supermarket electricity bills — our industrial style of food production will end sooner or later.”

“Yet it is industrial, highly commercialized agriculture that first transformed America – and increasingly such countries as Australia, Brazil, Argentina and Canada – major forces in the world economy. The trend towards smaller-scale specialized production is indeed a welcome addition to our agricultural economy, but it is principally large-scale, scientifically advanced farming that produces the vast majority of the average family’s foodstuffs and accounts for all but a tiny percentage of our exports.

“The attack on “industrial” agriculture reflects a growing trend by environmentalists to subordinate all productive industry to their own particular agenda. Some extremists in the local food movement would discourage cold climate inhabitants from the luxury of a midwinter tropical fruit because of the energy used in shipping. Others propose elaborate schemes for urban farming so that land can be left to nature instead of cultivation.”

Water Announcement

After storm, Calif reservoirs up 1-foot and rising
The Associated Press
Published Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

FRESNO, Calif. -- Northern California's biggest storm in October since 1962 is raising water levels in the state's reservoirs, but not enough to ease the drought conditions that have plagued the state for three years.

Officials at a meeting in Fresno Wednesday said Lakes Shasta and Oroville in Northern California each had risen by a full foot by late Tuesday night as they continued to see runoff from the storm.

Keith Coolidge, acting chief deputy director of the joint state and federal water agency, CALFED, said the Sacramento River, which had been flowing at 6,500 cubic feet per second, was rushing at 18,000 Wednesday. The amounts are equal to a like number of basketballs passing a fixed point each second.

Despite the early storm, state officials are planning for a dry 2010.

Global Warming?

Though, as this column from the San Francisco Chronicle notes, the consensus on global warming is fraying, legislation to deal with it still appears to be winding its way through Congress.

An excerpt.

"What happened to global warming?" read the headline - on BBC News on Oct. 9, no less. Consider it a cataclysmic event: Mainstream news organizations have begun reporting on scientific research that suggests that global warming may not be caused by man and may not be as dire and imminent as alarmists suggest.

“Indeed, as the BBC's climate correspondent Paul Hudson reported, the warmest year recorded globally "was not in 2008 or 2007, but 1998." It's true, he continued, "For the last 11 years, we have not observed any increase in global temperatures."

“At a London conference later this month, Hudson reported, solar scientist Piers Corbyn will present evidence that solar-charged particles have a big impact on global temperatures.

“Western Washington University geologist Don J. Easterbrook presented research last year that suggests that the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) caused warmer temperatures in the 1980s and 1990s. With Pacific sea surface temperatures cooling, Easterbrook expects 30 years of global cooling.

“EPA analyst Alan Carlin - an MIT-trained economist with a degree in physics - referred to "solar variability" and Easterbrook's work in a document that warned that politics had prompted the Environmental Protection Agency and countries to pay "too little attention to the science of global warming" as partisans ignored the lack of global warming over the past 10 years. At first the EPA buried the paper, then it permitted Carlin to post it on his personal Web site.”

Cool Roofs

Modern technology is indeed wonderful, and this array of new roofing solutions from Fast Company rolls out some of the latest additions to that wonderment.

An excerpt.

“MIT's Thermeleon material is a composite of layers that makes it thermochromic--on exposure to heat it changes color from black to white. It works by sandwiching a common polymer between flexible plastic layers, with a black one at the back--when cold the polymer solution stays dissolved and the black rear face shows through, and when it heats up the solution condenses to form light-scattering droplets.

“The upshot is that when the sun is shining a roof tile covered in the material is white-colored, scattering up to 80% of the sunlight back and thus keeping the building beneath the roof cooler. The result is a 20% reduction in cost to keep the interior at a comfortable temperature in the summer, a figure which also comes with an eco-friendly drop in the electricity supply demands. During winter, of course, you'd prefer your roof to capture as much heat as possible from the sun, which is where the black coloring is handy--the tiles scatter just 30% of incoming solar radiation then.

“The team's working on micro-encapsulating the chemicals, so that in future they may work as a paintable or spray-on coating, and then if the prices drop to match the innovation, the tech could also find much use in the developing world.”

Crime in Parkway

While it is true—as this Sunday editorial from the Sacramento Bee reports—that good use drives out bad, what is not noted is that local public leadership has allowed a large concentration of illegal homeless camping and supportive domestic services in the Lower Reach area of the Parkway (Discovery Park to Cal Expo) and adjacent neighborhoods, that has helped create and sustain the crimogenic environment that ensures crimes against Parkway users will continue.

It is our position, posted on our website, that until the Parkway is independently managed by a nonprofit organization—created and overseen by a Joint Powers Authority of Parkway adjacent governments—able to raise substantial supplemental funding philanthropically, supporting increased public safety funding, the situation will continue to degrade.

Our annual report from last year—pgs. 37-38—recounts media reported crimes over a twelve month period in 2007-2008.

And from five years ago, this 2004 Sacramento News & Review article, reveals the longevity and toxicity of the crime problem in the Lower Reach.

An excerpt from the 2004 Sacramento News & Review article.

“Encompassing 32 miles from downtown Sacramento snaking east into Folsom, the American River Bike Trail is a regional jewel of recreation and outdoor splendor. But some enthusiasts point to a discomfiting trend of incidents--including muggings, vehicle burglaries and assaults--that suggest public safety on the trail is sorely lacking. Those trail users argue that a combination of understaffed park rangers and law-enforcement agencies can make an everyday outing turn ugly.

“Lloyd Billingsley, who has eluded two attempted muggings while riding on the trail, said he saw a sheriff’s deputy with an M-16 on July 4, while riding between Watt Avenue and Goethe Park.

“He’s sort of ready to rock and roll with this thing. I stopped and asked what was going on,” Billingsley said. “He said someone was out there shooting off a gun. But I talked to some people at the park, and they said there have been four people robbing bike riders.”

“Between May 10 and June 30 [2004] this year, there were six robberies, assaults or combinations of the two reported on the trail in the Northgate and Del Paso Heights areas. In one incident, the victim was stabbed before the assailant took money; in two, the assailants pointed a gun or what appeared to be a firearm; and in another, a victim was hit with a stick.

“According to reports filed by the Sacramento Police Department, in all cases, the suspect descriptions were different, as was the method of operation.

“In addition to those, since 2002, there have been 11 other reported cases of assault or battery on the trail, two robberies, one rape and one attempted rape. In one case, a bicyclist was seriously injured after riding into a head-high length of what may have been fishing line strung across the path.”

An excerpt from the 2009 Sacramento Bee editorial.

“Two recent incidents on the American River Parkway trail have been chilling to anyone who bikes on the section of the trail near downtown.

“Last month, a 64-year-old man riding in the afternoon was brought down by an assailant who threw another bike in his path, then began hitting him with a pole. The victim suffered a broken hip from the fall but no other serious injuries. He scared off the attacker by telling him that a police friend of his was riding a short distance behind.

“Then, last week, a 36-year-old man riding in the same area was confronted by a person who cursed at him, then hit him on the head, possibly with a stick. The cyclist managed to stay on his bike and escape.

“Police arrested suspects in both cases: a 14-year-old boy from nearby Del Paso Heights in the first assault and a 24-year-old homeless man in last week's attack.”