Rebane's Ruminations
July 2017
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George Rebane

Sowell_170715We continue on our unintended road to the world described in the UN’s Agenda 21 objectives for ‘voluntary global sustainable development’.  Few people know that A21 is the tacit goal quietly accepted by governments across the world (more here).  On RR, we have been railing against this surreptitiously mandated brave new world for years.  But with progressives intractably embedded within all of our government bureaucracies, there is little hope that our course back to liberty from ‘stack & pack’ collectivism can be directed by any democratic means.  Even our own Nevada County staffers have been trained at the nearby ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) on the means by which progress toward A21 can be quietly achieved (more here).  Here I offer a couple more examples that appear innocuous to the casual reader, and are totally invisible to the low information type citizens.  (As an exercise, see how easy it is to find out what ICLEI stands for; they don’t want to publicize how globalism is reaching its grasp to local levels.  And no progressive will admit that A21 has any influence on America’s public policies – which itself can be used as a handy litmus test for identifying a progressive.)


Nevada City is going through a well-rehearsed exercise to impede people moving into these mountains, which under A21 are supposed to revert back to their pre-human ‘natural state’.  The city council is debating how to make sure that no low-cost housing is ever permitted to be built here.  The government alternative to that is ‘affordable housing’ which is a cynical highly regulated housing program designed to keep poor people poor.  NC is today not sure that it even wants to permit affordable housing within its city limits.  Imagine this, instead of letting poor people buy into an ‘affordable house’ and then benefit from the subsequent appreciation of real estate values, the required deed restrictions put price and buyer controls on your house such that you must sell it for below market value only to other poor people.  That’s why even progressive towns resist inviting regulated ghettos to be established in their jurisdictions.

Today there is a developer who instead wants to build low cost housing in Nevada City.  The council is putting him through the usual wringer that gives our county its well-deserved anti-development and anti-business reputation.  You know, that’s the drill that has kept our population stagnant for over 20 years, and middle-class families pulling up stakes for greener pastures.  You can read about the whole sordid affair here.

Then we have a report of the most recent effort by Leviathan to extend its tentacles more firmly into local communities, all brought to you by the shameless Sacramento scumbags.  Supervisor Hank Weston reports on how “AB 1250 would significantly erode ability to provide services for the Nevada County’s most vulnerable” (here).  It turns out that another ignorant/evil Sacramento scumbag is trying “to stop counties from contracting with community based organizations (CBOs), nonprofits, local businesses and other private providers of quality local services that counties and their residents rely on. Counties contract with organizations and businesses that have the expertise, capacity or the ability to deliver services more efficiently.”

The obvious impact of this new law will be to further increase government by setting up at least one more layer of incompetent, feedback immune bureaucracy to bring ‘in-house’ to county governments new departments that would attempt to supply what is already supplied by contracting with qualified private organizations.  But global collectivists see such private sector involvement as an impediment to the world becoming one giant collective.  And under A21’s objectives such impediments must be removed at every opportunity.  AB1250 would do it under the guise of providing “more transparent” services for the people.  You can’t make this stuff up.  (Exit question – do you know what kind of shot in the shorts SB2 will be to the real estate business?)

On a happier note, Jo Ann and I, with friends, attended an absolutely marvelous production of the musical ‘Chicago’ now playing at the Nevada Theater.  The show is produced by Sierra Stages, our own volunteer community theater organization, and is under the direction of Robert Rossman, with a fine performance by the sizeable on-stage band ably conducted by Ken Getz (with Artistic Director Ken Hardin at the keyboard).  What impressed everyone in the audience was the depth and breadth of singing, dancing, and acting talent that our community has.  The show’s 1920s raucous story line of the tragi-comic vicissitudes of lady murderers on Chicago’s death row binds together an unforgettable sequence of major production numbers.  We all wondered how much work had to go into the rehearsals to pull off such polished and flawless performances.  Needless to say, we clapped and cheered ourselves silly, and at the end stood up to do it all over again.

The play will run until 5 August 2017, more information here.  You definitely have to go see this wonderful delight, and come away proud that Nevada County deserves all the accolades it gets for its wide, varied, and wonderful year-round cultural offerings.

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19 responses to “Roll on A21 – rollin’, rollin’, rollin’!”

  1. Russ Avatar

    It was my first or second Transportation Commission Meeting as a new Nevada County Transportation Commissioner. We were hearing a request from a local developer who was proposing a small development of 6-8 homes, I forget the final number. As the developer and his representative were taking their seats, a fellow commissioner leaned over and he whispered, “ We keep asking for more studies until they run out of money and leave the community.” Sure enough, the final judgment of the Commission was yet again another traffic study, this time with fewer houses in the development. Two years passed and I never saw the developer again. I was only on the TC for two years, as the BoS removed me for asking the wrong kind of questions. I was just not their kind of Commissioner. I was later reappointed to the Commission, once the Gang of 4 BoS was vanquished, but never allowed to sit on the Public Transit Commission, as my questions about the taxpayer cost for empty bus seats were not appreciated.

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  2. ScenesFromTheApocalypse Avatar
    ScenesFromTheApocalypse

    “taxpayer cost for empty bus seats were not appreciated”
    Lemme guess. Is simply handing out cab vouchers cheaper than running a bus service?

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  3. Russ Avatar

    Scenes @03:43 PM
    Excellent! Now that we have Uber and Lyft services, it is even cheaper to hand out vouchers, or a transportation version of the EBT card. If I remember correctly every empty seat on the bus costs tax payers $3-4 dollars per seat, per trip. When I did my informal survey, I just waited near the bus stop in Glenbrook and counted the passengers, which had 3-6 people on board a bus to carry 21-58 seats depending on the model and manufacturer. Sometimes it was an empty bus.

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  4. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    “As the developer and his representative were taking their seats, a fellow commissioner leaned over and he whispered, “ We keep asking for more studies until they run out of money and leave the community.”
    Russ, it might have made a difference had you piped up and, in open session and on the record, told the developer of the bad faith of your fellow commissioners by repeating what had been whispered to you.
    Yes, your tenure as a county commissioner would have been shorter.

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  5. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    The Duke speaking about things to come from way back.

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  6. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    OK

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  7. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUzRyPuuSVQ&feature=youtu.be
    There I think I finally got it. Sorry

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  8. ScenesFromTheApocalypse Avatar
    ScenesFromTheApocalypse

    re: Russ@3:56
    “Now that we have Uber and Lyft services, it is even cheaper to hand out vouchers, ”
    It seems like a total no-brainer now. I expect that the county could set up an account with Uber, hand out some cards/memberships, no cash changes hands. Does Uber/Lyft have some sort of government account concept?
    Plus, some people make some pin money.
    Seriously, it’s such an obvious thing to do, it’s a crying shame if that isn’t the current mechanism for public transport here.

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  9. Russ Avatar

    Scenes @ 05:01 PM
    I will suggest to Dan Landon, the TC Executive Director it is time again to review the bus operation now that Uber and Lyft are functioning in the community. This would be an economic boost to the community, plus providing door to door service to riders. No walking to the bus stop.

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  10. Russ Avatar

    Todd@04:14 PM
    Yes, calling out the commission would have shortened my tenure even more. I was still learning the ropes and it was later that I felt confident enough to challenge the process. At the time it was not clear if it was one commissioner or the whole commission, but knowing the person doing the whispering, I suspected it was a single member, not the whole commission.

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  11. Gregory Avatar
    Gregory

    Russ 531 that was me at 4:14
    I’m shorter and pudgier than Todd…
    Scenes 501
    An Uber ride from the Grass Valley airport to my home (about 7 miles) is about $14 to $19… and up, depending on demand. I somehow doubt these would be handed out like candy to the transportationally challenged.

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  12. Russ Avatar

    Here is a list of California Governments who are ICLEI Members:
    ● Alameda County ● Alameda ● Albany ● Amador County ● American Canyon ●
    Antioch ● Arcata ● Arroyo Grande ● Arvin ● Atascadero ● Atherton ●
    Avenal ● Belmont ● Belvedere ● Benicia ● Berkeley ● Brisbane ●
    Burlingame ● Calistoga ● Campbell ● Carson ● Chico ● Chula Vista ●
    Cloverdale ● Colma ● Contra Costa County ● Orlando ● Sarasota County ●
    Sarasota ● South Daytona ● Tampa ● Venice ● West Palm Beach ● Culver
    City ● Cupertino ● Daly City ● Danville ● Davis ● Duarte ● Dublin ● East
    Palo Alto ● El Cerrito ● El Segundo ● Emeryville ● Eureka ● Fairfax ●
    Fort Bragg ● Foster City ● Fremont ● Gardena ● Gilroy ● Grover Beach ●
    Half Moon Bay ● Hawthorne ● Hayward ● Healdsburg ● Hercules ● Hermosa
    Beach ● Hillsborough ● Humboldt County ● Inglewood ● Irvine ●Lafayette
    ●Lakewood ●Larkspur ● Livermore ● Lomita ● Los Altos Hills ● Los Altos ●
    Los Angeles County ● Los Gatos ● Manhattan Beach ● Marin County ●
    Martinez ● Mendocino County ● Menlo Park ● Millbrae ● Mill Valley ●
    Milpitas ● Monte Sereno ● Monterey ● Moorpark ● Moraga ● Morgan Hill ●
    Morro Bay ● Mountain View ● Napa County ● Napa ● Newark ● Novato ●
    Oakland ● Oakley ● Orinda ● Pacifica ● Pacific Grove ● Palm Desert ●
    Palo Alto ● Palos Verdes Estates ● Parlier ● Paso Robles ● Piedmont ●
    Pinole ● Pismo Beach ● Pittsburg ● Pleasanton ● Portola Valley ● Rancho
    Cucamonga ● Johnson County ● Lawrence ● Mission ● Overland Park ●
    Prairie Village ● Rancho Palos Verdes ● Redondo Beach ● Redwood City ●
    Richmond ● Riverside ● Rohnert Park ● Rolling Hills ● Rolling Hills
    Estates ● Sacramento County ● Sacramento ● Saint Helena ● Salinas ● San
    Anselmo ● San Bruno ● San Carlos ● San Diego ● San Francisco ● San
    Joaquin County ● San Jose ● San Leandro ● San Luis Obispo County ● San
    Luis Obispo ● San Mateo County ● San Rafael ● San Ramon ● Santa Ana ●
    Santa Barbara ● Santa Clara County ● Santa Clara ● Santa Cruz County ●
    Santa Cruz ● Santa Monica ● Santa Rosa ● Saratoga ● Seaside ● Sierra
    Madre ● Solana Beach ● Solano County ● Sonoma City ● Sonoma County ●
    South Gate ● South San Francisco ● Stockton ● Sunnyvale ● Temecula ●
    Tiburon ● Torrance ● Tracy ● Union City ● Ventura ● Ventura County ●
    Visalia ● Vista ● Walnut Creek ● Watsonville ● West Sacramento ● Willits
    ● Windsor ● Woodside ● Yountville
    I did not see Nevada City, Grass Valley or Truckee, nor Nevada County. But the County is surrounded, and we often heard the Agenda 21 Dog Whistle “Sustainability”.

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  13. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    Russ I have no clue what you meant. I think you were responding to Gregory. I tried to build affordable housing for the middle class in 1993. 23 houses. Defeated by the limosine liberlas (Van Zant and Paul Emery)trying to defeat Fran Grattan/Freedle (she won). That is why I don’t believe them on anything as they are all about politics. They are for the poor just like Hillary and Schumer. NOT!

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  14. ScenesFromTheApocalypse Avatar
    ScenesFromTheApocalypse

    re: Gregory
    “An Uber ride from the Grass Valley airport to my home (about 7 miles) is about $14 to $19.”
    Even at that, it wouldn’t surprise me if Uber was cheaper than running the bus line for a given number of rides. It would be interesting to see an analysis of that if one has been done.

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  15. Todd Juvinall Avatar
    Todd Juvinall

    It has. When I was on the Commission we did a study and found we could use the money for the buses and buy every rider a car.

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  16. Russ Avatar

    Under the rules when I was a commissioner the farebox only had to cover 10% of the operating cost the other 90% was covered by tax dollars, so each empty seat had an operating cost and then there is the cost of bus purchase, mostly using grant money ie tax dollars. The budget is public as is the operating cost data. See Dan Landon at the Transportation Commission. Contact information is here http://www.nctc.ca.gov

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  17. ScenesFromTheApocalypse Avatar
    ScenesFromTheApocalypse

    No doubt the .gov might have a higher need for insurance and auditing, but it would be cool if Uber had a government program for just this kind of thing. To offload 95% of the bookkeeping and 100% of the labor and equipment would certainly be a Good Thing.
    Russ, how would you go about inventing a rule set for use of Uber (that they might accept)? It has that commons problem of overuse given no limits on use. Plus, being a bus line, some number of the denizens are going to be the mentally ill and generally PITA homeless. Would you expect private citizens in the role of part-time cabbies to handle that kind of thing?

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  18. MikeL Avatar
    MikeL

    SB2 will only be another jobs bill for gubnet employees. If we must have this law than I think that the $75 per transaction should not be paid to the government but rather to an organized charity that actually builds low income housing. The effect of SB2 will be to cause greater production of See-oh-two because of the all of the moving trucks leaving the state.

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