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IT'S THE WATER

11/28/2012

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FLOOD OF WATER RESTRICTIONS

Buried deep in the bottom of an article about Water Agency funding in a small town newspaper in California we find the wave of the future---Do-It-Yourself Cap and Trade.  

Really, you must brace yourself for the full implications of this program.  First, allow yourself to contemplate a system in which a government agency, Sonoma County Water Agency, providing 352,000 people with water, will accept a grant from a non-profit organization.  The California Water Foundation which 'supports investment in sustainable management of the state's water supply' is in the process of finalizing a $255,000 grant, some of which would go towards this:

Launching a pilot program that would allow the sale of efficiency credits between customers who come in below their normal water usage and those who exceed their threshold.

Should we say that again?  Customers who come in below their normal water usage will sell their 'efficiency credits' to those who exceed their 'threshold.'

Did you get that? Those customers who exceed their allotment of water will have to buy credits from those who do not.  Cap and trade for the average user of water.  Will you buy water through an exchange. Will you bid on credits through a third party?  Will you go to an auction where you struggle to acquire enough credits to water your garden, or take a shower every day?  This is not an exaggeration.  Just as Cap and Trade is being developed at the state-wide level in California to establish a market for carbon-based emissions, this program will establish a 'local cap and trade for water.'   Penalties and credits for water usage.  Yes, Sonoma County, known for 100% membership of cities and the county in ICLEI, known for having a County Supervisor (Valerie Brown) on the National Board of ICLEI, will now be known for creating a pilot program in individual cap and trade for a substance fundamental to sustaining life.

WATERSHED REGULATIONS

The Sonoma County Water Agency has put out a publication in which they say that every part of the county is in a watershed.  This concept of expanding the idea of watersheds until it includes every property in the United States and beyond is catching hold.  

Right now 40% of the United States is considered to be in a watershed, and that percentage is growing.  Water run-off, drainage, in urban areas is being regulated and is giving Planning Departments the justification for denying building permits based on 'streamside thresholds.'  The translation for this term encompasses any property, fully developed in an urban area or not, that stands in the way of rainwater moving toward some collector stream or body of water.  

In Marin County, CA, any property owner who might wish to, for instance, build a garage on her suburban hillside property, will find that the local planning department will not allow that until it has mapped the direction of run-off on that hill.  These maps are created when the property owner applies for a building permit and are paid for by the property owner at that time.  In other words the property owner has no way of knowing whether she'll be able to build that garage until she pays for the study.  The study establishes streams in fully developed urban areas where the 'stream' is the way that the rainwater finds its way through your property.  Because these rules only affect one property owner at a time and only when he or she tries to get a development permit most people are unaware that the rules have changed.

Whether you're watering your yard, or taking a bath, or building a shed you will find UN Agenda 21/Sustainable Development flooding into your life and drowning you in regulations, fees, and penalties.   This is how you are driven out of rural and suburban areas.  This is how you are priced out of your single family home.  This is how you end up in Smart Growth. This is how you lose your business.  This is Agenda 21.

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THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

11/28/2012

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It looks like Michael Allen has lost.  While we can regret that he was ever elected to the State Assembly in the first place, we can rejoice that voters recognized his sleazy behavior and rewarded him by giving him the boot. Perhaps it took Marin County voters to recognize that a man who threatens his opponent and takes money to vote shouldn't be (re) elected.


That was the good.


The bad is that Erin Carlstrom and Julie Combs were elected to Santa Rosa City Council.  Erin will undoubtedly show her self-serving dog-eat-dog ladder-climbing colors when tested.  Julie, who has anger management issues teetering in balance with toadying supplication,  will demonstrate her community skills early.  And Gary Wysocky, who was the target of someone calling themselves the 'Anyone But Wysocky' PAC was barely re-elected. 


Because Susan Gorin moved into a supervisory seat her position on the City Council is now open and it's unclear who will fill it.  So it's 3 to 3 on the council now with the so-called Business Friendly faction pitted against the Progressives.  The next closest vote-getter, Don Taylor, restauranteur, is not the shoo-in, though one would expect that the next highest vote-getter would be.  Not in this town though.  The progressives want the majority and they'll bloody faces to get it.  They'll ride their bikes over anyone who gets in their way.  Even if Erin, who pretended to be a cross-over candidate so that she could latch onto voters who wouldn't have chosen her, even if she swings with the Biz Friendly she'll be sharpening her teeth on someone.  Did someone make a contribution to her war chest?  Was it Herb Williams perhaps?  


People who are just out for money and power are much easier to deal with than those with an ideology.  They can be bought.  Maybe that's what we'll see with this new council.  As a friend's father said when he saw the writing on the wall  "Enjoy the ride."  


Oh, and the Ugly?  Having to see Gary Wysocky as Mayor if the Progressives get the majority. 
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