By Joe Mathews

President Trump claims that California allowed millions of non-citizens to vote in the 2016 elections. This allegation, while totally bogus, has put California on the defensive as Trump and his allies use the lie to justify a new federal commission devoted to making it harder for all Americans to vote.

Californians should go on offense – by embracing Trump’s ugly lie and transforming it into a beautiful civic truth. Let’s make our state more democratic—by guaranteeing California’s non-citizens the right to vote in local and state elections.

Joe Mathews

Sounds radical, right? It’s not. In this country, there is no constitutional prohibition against non-citizens voting; states decide who gets to vote. For most of American history, voting by non-citizens was commonplace. Given Trump’s threats both to immigrants and democracy, Californians should seize this moment to give the franchise back to non-citizens.

California is home to about 5 million adults (or one in six California adults) who can’t vote because they’re not citizens. This huge disenfranchised cohort is an affront to American principles. Taxation without representation? These non-citizens pay taxes, but they are not represented. Consent of the governed? Noncitizens must follow our laws—but they can’t vote to consent. Home of the brave? Noncitizens serve in the military but can’t vote for the government that sends them to war.

We Californians tolerate this form of apartheid, even though the lesser status of non-citizens—especially the 2 million-plus undocumented Californians—makes them more vulnerable to abuse and removal from the country they’ve helped build. To its credit, California has taken steps on behalf of non-citizens, who now enjoy in-state university tuition, driver’s licenses, the ability to practice the law, and—if they are children—state-funded health care.

But none of this is enough. All Californians won’t be equal until all have that great democratic weapon: the vote. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Give us the ballot and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rights.”

Americans tell themselves that our country has extended the franchise over time—to African Americans, women, 18-year-olds. But non-citizens had the vote, and lost it.

From the founding through the 20th century, non-citizens voted in dozens of states. The vote was a lure for settlers and part of assimilation process. What better way to educate yourself in civic traditions than by voting? But the coming of the First World War produced an anti-immigrant backlash. By 1926, every state had banned non-citizen voting.

Such voting continues only in limited local form. Some Maryland cities, New York, Chicago, and (as of 2016) San Francisco, allow non-citizens to vote in certain local elections. And internationally, as global migration grows, two dozen countries have established voting rights for non-citizens in recent decades.

And U.S. Supreme Court precedent remains clear; states can let non-citizens vote if they choose. While Congress explicitly outlawed non-citizen voting in federal elections, the door remains open for local and state elections.

California should walk through that door.

Non-citizen voting not only would express our commitment to universal suffrage and protecting vulnerable people. It also would make the voting population, now older and whiter than the state, more representative. 

By the same token, the arguments against enfranchising non-citizens make little sense. Non-citizens don’t constitute some distinct or isolated group that doesn’t understand the rest of us; California’s non-citizens are a diverse array of people by origin, class and education, many of whom have been in California longer than our citizens.

And the go-to argument of the anti-immigrant crowd—that excluding non-citizens from voting makes our society cohesive—is a tautology, as the legal scholar turned Congressman Jamie Raskin has written: “When opponents of inclusion make an argument about insufficient commonality, they are only reinforcing and deepening what they claim to bemoan.”

Practically, establishing non-citizen voting would be hard. It might require a new governor; Jerry Brown, who has said voting should be reserved for U.S. citizens. And in an era of mass deportation, few undocumented Californians would register to vote, since it means putting your name and address on a public list.

But that shouldn’t stop us from enfranchising the millions of non-citizen Californians who have spent at least five years here. The easiest way to do that is to permit voting only in local elections. Allowing non-citizens to vote in state elections would escalate our war with the federal government, since voting for federal representatives is conducted at the state level, and non-citizen voting for federal offices is illegal.

But escalation is inevitable. Trump will dishonestly attack California and its voting practices, whether we let non-citizens vote or not.

California should take the clear and just position: universal suffrage means universal suffrage. If America is going to call itself a democracy, there ought to be at least one state in this country that is an actual democracy.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.

To the community,

Now in its 34th year, the Tahoe Tennis Classic is one of the most popular tournaments in the Lake Tahoe region as evidenced by the record number of players this year – 215.

The four-day event in July is the biggest fundraiser for the Zephyr Cove Tennis Club Foundation. The nonprofit, all-volunteer organization has a contract with Douglas County to operate the six courts. This includes resurfacing the courts, general upkeep, long-term improvements, and providing instruction for all ages and ability levels.

Our sponsors for this year’s Classic – Barton Health and Downstream Technologies – were generous with their contributions, to which we can’t say thank you enough.

This is the third year Harrah’s-Harveys has stepped up to help underwrite our dinner celebration, which includes our silent auction. It was another night to remember.

We would like to thank the following businesses and individuals for their generosity:

Businesses: AAA Carson City, A Massage at Tahoe, tennis instructor Adam Robin, Andy Veris with All Sports Fitness & Personal Training, Angel Touch Salon & Spa, Anytime Fitness in Zephyr Cove, Bona Fide Books, CalStar, Capisce Restaurant, Carson Valley Inn, Casey’s Restaurant, Casino Fandango, city of South Lake Tahoe, tennis instructor Dave Nostrant, Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department, Elements Day Spa, Elevation Spa Ridge Tahoe, Genasci & Steigers DDS, Getaway Café, Hair by Dawn, Heavenly Sports, Heavenly Village Cinema, Homewood Mountain Resort, Imagine Salon, Improv at Harveys, Lake Tahoe Yoga, Lakeside Inn and Casino, Marcus Ashley Gallery (Marc and Ashley Mattila), Mind/Body Fitness (Rose Marie Ottman), MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa, Mt. Rose Ski Resort, NorCal Fishing Charters Pine Cone Lodge-Tahoe Management Services, Popcorn Girl Las Vegas, Reel-Lentless Fishing Charters, Reno Aces Baseball Club, Sierra-at Tahoe, Barbara Moniot with Splatter Studioz, Sprouts Natural Foods Café, Still Water Yoga, Studio Four, Tahoe Best Friends, Tahoe Bodyworks, Tahoe Custom Massage, Tahoe Fly Fishing Outfitters, Tep’s Villa Roma, The Loft Tahoe, The Ridge Tahoe, tennis instructor Ginny Unger, Weidinger Public Relations, George Whittell High School Boosters, Zephyr Cove Elementary Parents Club, Zephyr Cove Resort/Lake Tahoe Cruises, and Zephyr Cove Tennis Club Foundation.

Individuals: Ann Adams, Suzy Allione, Tom and Doreen Andriacchi, Jenny Bentley, Carol and Carl Bergren, Kari and David Beronio, Louise and Rich Brown, Sheila Cockerell, Barbara Cooper, Tony Cupaiuolo, Jay and Sharla Freeman, Sheryl and Hersh Herschmann, Melissa and Jess Jester, Judy McLennan, Ray and Nancy Peters, Louise and Paul Proffer, Vicki Veris, Kathy Wharton, Tim and Linda Wulf, Carolyn Wright, and Patty Yamano.

Thank you again,

Carolyn Wright, ZCTCF president

By Carline Sinkler

It is a privilege to serve as principal of South Tahoe High School and I look forward to a highly productive year of forming lasting relationships, building teams and meeting challenges together that enable us to prepare our students for college, career and life.

Carline Sinkler

I have already met many people and I appreciate the welcoming spirit and enthusiasm of the South Lake Tahoe community. I am excited to build relationships through authentic listening, dialogue and working side by side on behalf of our students. I will be scheduling group discussion sessions and working groups with students, staff, families and community members throughout the year to understand perspectives, gain clarity around a shared vision of success and build teams that work together toward common goals. Meeting times and topics will be posted in August.

Together, we will focus on learning experiences that build 21st century skills like critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication with the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards as a foundation. We will continue to celebrate our athletes, sports teams, talented artists and musicians, college bound AVID students, and our array of innovative career technical education programs. I look forward to attending events and watching our students shine.

In 2017-18 we will focus much of our efforts on ensuring that we meet and exceed WASC requirements
and aim to grow in several areas:
● Vision and Goals: Refresh and clarify our vision for student success and enhance our Viking Goals to create a graduate profile that describes qualities of STHS graduates.
● College and Career Readiness: Continue to implement Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards with a focus on 21st century learning skills that prepare students for college and career choices.
● School Climate and Culture: Promote a positive school climate and culture through student leadership, collaborative problem solving and clear expectations.
● STEAM: Build opportunities for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Math) careers.
● English Learners: Increase academic achievement, English proficiency and family engagement of students learning English.
● Communication: Provide multiple ways for the entire community to access information and participate in school activities.
● School and Community Environment: Cultivate stewards of our beautiful campus and
advocates for the natural resources within and surrounding the Lake Tahoe region.I look forward to working closely with the 2018 graduating class to gain insight into improving our students’ learning experiences and readiness for their future.

Let’s make 2017-18 a fantastic year!

Carline Sinkler is in her first year as principal of South Tahoe High School.

By Howard Markel

The popular singer and movie star Bing Crosby once crooned, “What’s more American than corn flakes?” Virtually every American is familiar with this iconic cereal, but few know the story of the two men from Battle Creek, Mich., who created those famously crispy, golden flakes of corn back in 1895, revolutionizing the way America eats breakfast: John Harvey Kellogg and his younger brother Will Keith Kellogg.

Fewer still know that among the ingredients in the Kelloggs’ secret recipe were the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist church, a homegrown American faith that linked spiritual and physical health, and which played a major role in the Kellogg family’s life.

For half a century, Battle Creek was the Vatican of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Its founders, the self-proclaimed prophetess Ellen White and her husband, James, made their home in the Michigan town starting in 1854, moving the church’s headquarters in 1904 to Takoma Park, outside of Washington, D.C.  Eventually, Seventh-day Adventism grew into a major Christian denomination with churches, ministries and members all around the world. One key component of the Whites’ sect was healthy living and a nutritious, vegetable and grain based-diet.

From the distance of more than a century and a half, it is fascinating to note how many of Ellen White’s religious experiences were connected to personal health. During the 1860s, inspired by visions and messages she claimed to receive from God, she developed a doctrine on hygiene, diet and chastity enveloped within the teachings of Christ. She began promoting health as a major part of her ministry as early as June 6, 1863. At a Friday evening Sabbath welcoming service in Otsego, Mich., she described a 45-minute revelation on “the great subject of Health Reform,” which included advice on proper diet and hygiene. Her canon of health found greater clarity in a sermon that she delivered on Christmas Eve 1865 in Rochester, N.Y. White vividly described a vision from God which emphasized the importance of diet and lifestyle in helping worshipers stay well, prevent disease, and live a holy life. Good health relied on physical and sexual purity, White preached, and because the body was intertwined with the soul her prescriptions would help eliminate evil, promote the greater good in human society, and please God.

The following spring, on May 20, 1866, “Sister” White formally presented her ideas to the 3,500 Adventists comprising the denomination’s governing body, or General Conference. When it came to diet, White’s theology found great import in Genesis 1:29: “And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.’” White interpreted this verse strictly, as God’s order to consume a grain and vegetarian diet.

She told her Seventh-day Adventist flock that they must abstain not only from eating meat but also from using tobacco or consuming coffee, tea, and, of course, alcohol. She warned against indulging in the excitatory influences of greasy, fried fare, spicy condiments and pickled foods; against overeating; against using drugs of any kind; and against wearing binding corsets, wigs, and tight dresses. Such evils, she taught, led to the morally and physically destructive “self-vice” of masturbation and the less lonely vice of excessive sexual intercourse.

The Kellogg family moved to Battle Creek in 1856, primarily to be close to Ellen White and the Seventh-day Adventist church. Impressed by young John Harvey Kellogg’s intellect, spirit and drive, Ellen and James White groomed him for a key role in the Church. They hired John, then 12 or 13, as their publishing company’s “printer’s devil,” the now-forgotten name for an apprentice to printers and publishers in the days of typesetting by hand and cumbersome, noisy printing presses. Like many other American printer’s devils who went on to greatness —including Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and Lyndon Johnson—Kellogg mixed up batches of ink, filled paste pots, retrieved individual letters of type to set, and proof-read the not-always-finished printed copy. He was swimming in a river of words and took to it with glee, discovering his own talent for composing clear and balanced sentences, filled with rich explanatory metaphors and allusions. By the time he was 16, Kellogg was editing and shaping the church’s monthly health advice magazine, The Health Reformer.

The Whites wanted a first-rate physician to run medical and health programs for their denomination and they found him in John Harvey Kellogg. They sent the young man to the Michigan State Normal College in Ypsilanti, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York. It was during medical school when a time-crunched John, who prepared his own meals on top of studying round the clock, first began to think about creating a nutritious, ready-to-eat cereal.

Upon returning to Battle Creek in 1876, with the encouragement and leadership of the Whites, the Battle Creek Sanitarium was born and within a few years it became a world famous medical center, grand hotel, and spa run by John and Will, eight years younger, who ran the business and human resources operations of the Sanitarium while the doctor tended to his growing flock of patients. The Kellogg brothers’ “San” was internationally known as a “university of health” that preached the Adventist gospel of disease prevention, sound digestion, and “wellness.” At its peak, it saw more than 12,000 to 15,000 new patients a year, treated the rich and famous, and became a health destination for the worried well and the truly ill.

There were practical factors, beyond those described in Ellen White’s ministry, that inspired John’s interest in dietary matters. In 1858, Walt Whitman described indigestion as “the great American evil.” A review of mid-19th-century American diet on the “civilized” Eastern seaboard, within the nation’s interior, and on the frontier explains why one of the most common medical complaints of the day was dyspepsia, the 19th-century catchall term for a medley of flatulence, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, and “upset stomach.”

Breakfast was especially problematic. For much of the 19th century, many early morning repasts included filling, starchy potatoes, fried in the congealed fat from last night’s dinner. For protein, cooks fried up cured and heavily salted meats, such as ham or bacon. Some people ate a meatless breakfast, with mugs of cocoa, tea, or coffee, whole milk or heavy cream, and boiled rice, often flavored with syrup, milk, and sugar. Some ate brown bread, milk-toast, and graham crackers to fill their bellies. Conscientious (and frequently exhausted) mothers awoke at the crack of dawn to stand over a hot, wood-burning stove for hours on end, cooking and stirring gruels or mush made of barley, cracked wheat, or oats.

It was no wonder Dr. Kellogg saw a need for a palatable, grain-based “health food” that was “easy on the digestion” and also easy to prepare. He hypothesized that the digestive process would be helped along if grains were pre-cooked—essentially, pre-digested—before they entered the patient’s mouth. Kellogg baked his dough at extremely high heat to break down starch contained in the grain into the simple sugar dextrose. John Kellogg called this baking process dextrinization. He and Will labored for years in a basement kitchen before coming up with dextrinized flaked cereals—first, wheat flakes, and then the tastier corn flakes. They were easily-digested foods meant for invalids with bad stomachs.

Today most nutritionists, obesity experts, and physicians argue that the easy digestibility the Kelloggs worked so hard to achieve is not such a good thing. Eating processed cereals, it turns out, creates a sudden spike in blood sugar, followed by an increase in insulin, the hormone that enables cells to use glucose. A few hours later, the insulin rush triggers a blood sugar “crash,” loss of energy, and a ravenous hunger for an early lunch. High fiber cereals like oatmeal and other whole grain preparations are digested more slowly. People who eat them report feeling fuller for longer periods of time and, thus, have far better appetite control than those who consume processed breakfast cereals.

By 1906, Will had had enough of working for his domineering brother, who he saw as a tyrant who refused to allow him the opportunity to grow their cereal business into the empire he knew it could become. He quit the San and founded what ultimately became the Kellogg’s Cereal Company based upon the brilliant observation that there were many more normal people who wanted a nutritious and healthy breakfast than invalids—provided the cereal tasted good, which by that point it did, thanks to the addition of sugar and salt.

The Kelloggs had the science of corn flakes all wrong, but they still became breakfast heroes. Fueled by 19th-century American reliance on religious authority, they played a critical role in developing the crunchy-good breakfast many of us ate this morning.

Howard Markel is the George E. Wantz distinguished professor of the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and the author of “The Kelloggs: The Battling Brothers of Battle Creek”, which will be published in August by Pantheon Books/PenguinRandomHouse. He wrote this for Zócalo Public Square.

By Jerry Nickelsburg

In 1865, British economist William Stanley Jevons wrote an influential essay entitled “The Coal Question.” Today his insights are interesting to me not as they relate to coal, but rather as they relate to me sitting in the legendary traffic of the 405 freeway in Los Angeles during my morning commute.

Jevons’ observations on coal also have something to say about the Oshiya (train pushers) who squeeze every last person onto subway cars in Tokyo, and about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent declaration of a transit emergency for New York’s famed subway system.

Jevons wrote that an increase in the efficiency of coal production would stimulate increased demand for coal. Jevons’ reasoning was that more efficient coal production would lead to lower prices.  And Economics 101 tells us that lower prices lead to more consumption—perhaps, in this case, creating so much more demand that it would outstrip the capacity to produce coal.

In such a scenario, the production of coal might be increased to meet the heightened demand, but that would require marginal mines to be brought into operation. Given that these mines would be less efficient; prices necessarily would rise to cover the additional cost. Prices would not initially increase back to their old levels, but as the population grew it would generate additional demand for coal and such a rebound in prices might well occur.

These same insights about coal are applicable to mass transportation systems—particularly freeways. Last February, the Dutch firm TomTom, which produces traffic, navigation and mapping products, drew on the brave new world of big data to release their 2016 index of traffic congestion. Our region, the Pacific Rim, was the clear “winner”—or, I should say, the clear loser. Seven of the top 10 congested cities are on the Pacific Rim and Los Angeles leads the list of American cities.

Anyone who travels the cities around the rim can attest to snarled traffic in Jakarta, Beijing, Seattle, and Los Angeles. The question “What are we going to do about traffic?” is a constant source of conversation, particularly here in LA, and it is pervasive enough to have given rise to the parody “The Californians” on Saturday Night Live.

There would seem to be two ways to ease traffic congestion: build more capacity, or reduce the number of people who use the existing capacity. Yet, just as with Jevons’ coal demand, traffic seems to expand to meet whatever capacity exists.  And this is not just a Los Angeles or Beijing problem. In 1990, British transportation analyst Martin Mogridge observed it as a more general characteristic of highways, and it is now enshrined in transportation planning circles as the “Lewis-Mogridge Position.”

Why is it that cities cannot build enough capacity to solve the problem?  The answer may lie in two factors: the price of housing, and the pricing of congestion.

Let’s start with the price of housing.  The purchase or rental price of a home reflects the sum value of many characteristics of that home.  In this column I have often written about how proximity to natural amenities, such as beaches and mountains, makes housing more expensive. But proximity to work also is an important consideration.  The closer to work, the shorter the commute time, and the more valuable will be the home.

But it is commuting time and not linear distance that matters most. Consequently, when you increase the capacity of transportation infrastructure, you get shorter commute times—at least initially. And that makes homes close to the new infrastructure initially more attractive.

Intensifying congestion, however, will affect a home’s price. At 3am, the opportunity cost of traveling the freeway to a destination is practically zero.  It takes a little time, and that is a cost, but not much.  But in rush hour when freeway speeds slow, the opportunity cost increases with the additional time spent sitting in your car listening to the Grateful Dead on the radio.  The more cars there are (higher demand), the more time is required to crawl through rush hour (the higher cost).

Here is where Jevons’ idea comes in.  When there is not much congestion, one can live farther away from work where home prices are lower, and still arrive at work on time without spending too much more time commuting.  Consequently, building another lane on the freeway opens up more residential options.

So adding capacity makes two big things happen.  First, there is an increased demand for the housing that is now within driving distance to work; and second, more people will use the freeways to get to work. This leads to more freeway congestion and ultimately longer commute times for everyone.  Empirically we see this happening quite fast, and eventually the new lane has done nothing to ease congestion.

There are a number of solutions to this. One is to build mass transit and induce people to use it.  This is the favored solution of urban planners today because mass transit is a more efficient means of transportation. It can carry many more people per dollar spent on building, maintaining and operating the transit than the highways can.

But with mass transit, as with highways, the same principles of capacity and demand apply. When Japan began building the Tokaido Shinkansen (high-speed rail) in 1959, it was, in part, intended to ease the burden of commuting in densely packed Tokyo.  Today, anyone who rides the rail line, especially in rush hour, knows what a sardine feels like when packed into a flat tin can.  In this case the cost is not time, but the discomfort of cheek-to-jowl train ridership.

Another solution to the problem of increased capacity driving demand is to convert lanes on the freeways to toll lanes.  This is a favorite of economists because people who value time more will pay a premium to avoid the costs of congestion. Consequently, the scarce resource—road space—will be rationed according to its relative value to consumers. Of course, it is not only the value of time that matters in the decision; income—the ability to pay tolls—does as well.  Adding a toll lane allows rich people to drive fast and reduces the capacity on the freeway for everyone else. And that raises issues of equity for infrastructure built with tax dollars.

The other problem with toll lanes is that there is an alternative to either paying for the less congested toll lane, or driving in the now more congested free lanes: driving on surface streets. With navigation apps such as Waze, drivers can take the nearest off-ramp and motor through residential neighborhoods.  When they do that, they expose residential neighborhoods to the congestion, noise and pollution that the freeways were originally built to eliminate.

Moreover, a 2001 article by Ingo Hansen of Delft University of Technology suggests that transportation analysis of toll roads gets it all wrong.  His research indicates that when fed-up freeway commuters start taking app-directed shortcuts through residential areas, the local roads quickly become clogged, hampering residents’ ability to make short trips or run errands. These residents are now competing with longer-distance drivers, and so they, too, pay a cost in congestion, safety and pollution. Indeed, this Waze phenomenon induced L.A. Supervisor Paul Krekorian in 2015 to suggest new government regulations for local street usage.

So, toll roads don’t seem to be a complete answer either. Recognizing this, Mexico City, Beijing and other cities have followed the example of Julius Caesar, who in 1st Century BCE Rome banned chariots from the center city during the day, except for two hours in the morning and two hours in the late afternoon. Romans responded by moving their trips to the allowable four hours each day—thereby creating epic chariot jams.

Today Singapore uses a combination of policies to limit the number of cars on the roads.  First there is a quota system that limits the number of cars on the island.  Second, those who have cars are charged for driving them through a sophisticated system that measures where they are and when they are driving.  This system will be improved shortly with the installation of GPS monitors in each car.

These are useful alternatives. But let’s remember our friend Jevons. Policies to limit traffic might not do much, even with the best of planning, so long as the city we live in is attractive to a lot of people. An oft-heard refrain about my hometown is: “I would love to live in LA but couldn’t stand the traffic.” If you make traffic better, more people would move here, and traffic would get worse. Congestion costs ration limited space and this reduces the number of people moving in.

All we can do for now is stay ahead of the game in the best way possible.  Provide incentives for people to use the least-used modes of transportation and plan for the increases in population that will invariably happen to cities that are attractive to people from far-flung lands.  Perhaps the advent of self-driving autos will provide the bandwidth to break the traffic jam for good, but perhaps not.  What will be required is to engage transportation planning with housing planning in a way that recognizes the close tie between the cost of congestion and the price of housing.

On the bright side, if you are late for something in one of the Pacific Rim’s notoriously congested cities, simply saying “Sorry, traffic!” is sufficient to get you by.

Jerry Nickelsburg, an economist at UCLA Anderson School of Management, writes the Pacific Economist column. He wrote this for Zócalo Public Square.

By Garry Bowen

The title today is to introduce a bit of a word game, but timed to coincide with several Tahoe items, not to mention the beginning of our calendar’s eighth month, August. The word august is not used as much as it once was, meaning as it does: respected, impressive, or inspiring reverence or admiration.

Therefore, the word offers both a time line, along with some timely admonitions, to introduce   yet another acronym into Tahoe’s life, that of AFP, standing for “activities feigning progress.”

Garry Bowen

When this writer worked with media for the last two Amgen events here, the slogan they used both times for their race T-shirts was If You See Something, Say Something. So the use of admonitions can be thought of as following-through on that, for both future and local reasons.

Recently, there were side-by-side columns by Steve Teshara and Carl Ribaudo, both of which offered stark AFP reminders: Teshara announcing a chamber endorsement of the proposed one-half percent sales tax increase, purportedly to create a designated fund to fix our roads and potholes, while Ribaudo opined on our tourism status, at the same time serving notice on the “broader direction of  sustainability, which involves, at least on the local level, the need to think beyond separating trash, doing away with plastic bags, and reusing hotel towels (used) for more than a day.” His is a correct implication, as there is indeed way more to sustainability than that, as inferred by TERC’s current state-of-the-lake conclusion that Tahoe’s waters are warming 14 times faster than usual, so the need exists to reconcile what the current meaning of progress really means.

Somewhere in Teshara’s chamber endorsement is mentioned “an adopted vision and principles (that) include a commitment to physical infrastructure that supports business and community” as that half percent funding increase will create $2.5 million designated only for road repair. While in August, we are also starting with the demolition of Knight’s Inn after protracted discussions on the environmental and fiscal benefits of yet another grocery store, including the inevitable struggle between resource agencies versus development – too much activity left unexplained.

What’s being revealed is contrary to professed support for city and regional improvements, and the Knight’s Inn situation offers the easiest route to explain why: having heard the arguments about a lack of environmental improvements (Knight’s Inn, aka Ramada, aka Tahoe Sands, was built on one of Tahoe’s 60-plus watersheds in the 1950s), the supposed lack of enough watershed improvement caused the California Tahoe Conservancy’s financial support to be withdrawn, so true-to-form, business-as-usual (BAU) prevailed.

As Knight’s Inn has over 100 units, the idea of demolition was never questioned, as a lot of cities across the nation have embraced deconstruction, which in this instance would have allowed the city to begin making headway on the housing affordability issue, thanks to California’s newly-passed “granny flat” laws, which suspend some permitting requirements to allow those who want and need an extra $500-600/month in revenue to offer simple housing.

In addition, the mediation for the city, the Conservancy, and the developer could have been abated in more positive directions for all had there been a second look. Very recently, the highly successful Clif (power) Bar company built themselves a 300,000-square-foot, $90,000,000 LEED platinum manufacturing plant in Idaho. But before they took possession they had the building assessed by a well-known firm devoted to biophilic design, found several things to be improved upon before moving in. A great move considering that food is subject to sanitation issues, along with energy savings, daylighting on their production lines, etc.

Idaho doesn’t have a Lake Tahoe to continually correct, so this was indeed the type of value-added approach not yet present in any “adopted vision and principles (that) include a commitment to physical infrastructure that supports business and community” in accomplishing a green and secure future for Lake Tahoe.

Ribaudo’s comment, on the other hand, shifted immediately into managing a “system of tourism” when it is already known that those tourists are becoming very much attracted to those “places that take care of themselves,” including steps beyond another coat of paint, and beyond those behaviors not usually seen, such as separating trash, doing away with plastic bags (still ubiquitous) or replacing the linens every other day. Green is quite often the deciding factor precisely because of a deeper trust in dedication to preserving what is valuable to a place.

Yet another indication of what now can be seen in AFP terms is that most of the new home subdivisions: Gondola Vista (40-plus), the Sierra Colina project (40-plus) are effectively stripped of earlier requirements toward affordable housing, meaning that some domiciles will stay unattainable as preferences stay unaffordable.

This, of course, in is direct opposition to current municipal planning protocols, except for Tahoe.

Lastly, the city signed on to the idea of “100% Renewable Energy”, but any mention of a missing link in not moving squarely in these directions does not mean progress, but rather that older modes of thinking are being “grandfathered in” as “100% Renewable Energy” is already being compromised via multiple projects that don’t yet appear to be contemporary in thought.

Contemporary is increasingly green, and of strong conservation measures, but need we be reminded of Tahoe’s fragile and vulnerable beauty, not merely an image impressive to “picture-postcard mentalities” expressed in multi-million dollar sales brochures.

Vast amounts of taxpayer money go into supporting Tahoe’s beauty, but that may become problematic (and most certainly declining) unless sustainable development standards are met. Ribaudo’s “stay tuned” advice is, as suggested, incomplete, as is Tahoe’s, in comprehending its own managed future.

The idea that California’s population went unnoticed at 40,000,000 is not unnoticed globally, as we now add two California’s per year to the world’s population, in a world changing so fast, we can no longer rely on just money as the only needed commodity to assure a future; we will leave too much of that money on-the-table absent the efficiency and effectiveness needed to fortify our communities.

Activities Feigning Progress is not just a measure; it is a filter and lens with which to determine how much progress is being made, and as well to understand what constitutes success on longer time-spans – not someone’s choice-of-color glasses with a myopic prescription: ill-informed, inconvenient, or not really thought through.

The idea of creating oversight committees is itself inadequate these days, as the heightening of standards now necessary makes the issue of making sure bills have been paid (on-time) ludicrous, as it is vitally important to now know what the money is being spent on, especially if there are toxicities that don’t contribute to either citizen’s health or that of Lake Tahoe Basin itself.

Tahoe’s LEED platinum TERC building is a great example, being rated No. 4 out of 60 rigorously tested around the world. It operates at about 10 percent of energy required for a building that size.

My next cultural piece will be to introduce the SQ factor, designed to offer ways to get more of us on the ‘page’ we’ll need, not just to suffice, but to thrive, in our extenuated world. My work is global, so I’m familiar with the issues on a reality scale, as the changes mentioned are now “before our eyes.”  

Garry Bowen has more than a 50-year connection to the South Shore, with an immediate past devoted to global sustainability, on most of its current fronts: green building, energy and water efficiencies, and public health.

By Joe Mathews

Sorry, Utah.

California’s epidemic shortage of housing hasn’t just sickened our own state—driving up prices, forcing residents into rentals, and putting a $140 billion annual drag on our economy. The disease is spreading to our neighbors, too.

Today, Western cities are experiencing minor league versions of the California housing crisis. Shortages are severe in Seattle, Portland and Eugene, Ore.. Even in Boise, prices are increasing at nearly 10 percent annually.

Joe Mathews

California’s housing crisis and those of its neighbors share some causes: lack of water sources, shortages of skilled construction workers, and the rising price of scarce land near job centers. But our Western neighbors face an additional challenge: the influx of Californians unable to find housing in their own state.

I witnessed the California epidemic’s spread recently in Utah. For the first time since the 1970s, Utah, growing via births and arriving jobseekers, is adding more households than housing units. So homeownership rates are falling, homelessness is rising, and the Salt Lake City council has declared an affordable housing emergency.

Facing these challenges, some Utahans are seeking lessons from California’s mistakes. “California’s housing market can shed some light on our own,” said a recent assessment by Envision Utah, a nonprofit organization focused on civic engagement and planning. “Faced with rapid growth, many California communities, and even the state, imposed ever-more-stringent regulations designed to curb development, believing that if they slowed development it would put the brakes on growth.”

But, said Envision Utah, “California’s constraints didn’t slow growth, so demand for housing stayed high. Instead, those regulations simply diminished the supply, and we know what happens next.”

Comparisons with Utah also hold lessons for California. Yes, the Golden State has 13 times as many people, but the states have two of America’s most diversified economies, young populations, and relatively high incomes.

Most intriguingly, Utah and California are distinguished by their lack of housing. California is ranked 49th in the country in the number of housing units per person. Utah is 50th. But Utah, for its housing struggles, hasn’t had a shortage as deep or long-lasting as ours, or prices that exceed the national average by 2½ times. Why?

One part of the answer might sound obvious: Utah doesn’t need as many housing units because it has the country’s largest families and households, a product of the prevalence of the Church of Latter-day Saints. That suggests one wildly impractical solution to the housing crisis—California embracing Mormonism as its state religion. But it’s no more farfetched than the 50-plus bills in our state Legislature that offer minor or counter-productive changes to California’s housing markets.

Putting religion aside, the most serious difference between Utah and California housing involves local government. Utah is a place where state government defers to local government, and local communities retain control over their destiny. California is not.

It’s hard to exaggerate how little control California communities have over their fate. For 40 years, California government has been the site of a war between a state government that centralizes power at the expense of locals, discouraging housing. State environmental regulations make it slow and costly to build housing. State limits on local taxes, especially Proposition 13, create incentives that encourage retail and commercial development, not housing.  

This state of affairs fuels NIMBYism. With their local representatives having relatively little power, local communities cling to the power they do have: saying no to change in their communities.

Utah, a strait-laced place, has almost none of California’s restrictions on growth and local control. It takes years, even decades, for brave developers to navigate California’s anti-housing regime and build something. In Utah, housing comes together in a matter of months.

“We don’t have the problem you have with widespread anti-growth sentiment,” says Utah economist Robert Spendlove, a member of the state Legislature.

That culture has made it easier for Utah to respond to its housing problems. There’s momentum to lift limits on housing density and streamline permitting processes. Utah builders are also increasing production of more moderately priced homes.

In California, the response is very different. Gov. Jerry Brown and leading legislators want to impose even more rules on local governments, with the goal of forcing the construction of more housing. But local governments are already weary of state mandates. Might new housing ones only encourage more defiance and NIMBYism?

Of course, reforming California’s system of local government to restore local control and eliminate anti-housing incentives would be extremely difficult. But how easy is it to live under a miserable housing shortage that exports our people—and our housing challenges—to states like Utah?

Failing to address our housing crisis is bad for California. And it isn’t very neighborly.

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.

By Kathryn Reed

Five years ago today one of the saddest and what turns out to be best things happened. My friend Joy died and her dog became a member of my family.

When Joy was diagnosed with cancer the previous fall one of the first things she did was ensure AJ’s future. I tried to avoid the conversation, but Joy wouldn’t have it. And, really, how could I? Her strength to have this most difficult discussion was the prelude to nearly a year of moments that made me admire my friend even more. She taught me how to die with grace and dignity.

Joy and AJ

AJ was Joy’s 9-year-old dog. Her baby. Her child. This part greyhound, part yellow Lab and part things we don’t know was her companion.

The three of us would walk on occasion. AJ provided me with my dog fix since at the time I was dog free.

That last year of Joy’s life I became AJ’s primary dog walker. Joy told me AJ soon recognized the sound of the Jeep pulling into the driveway and would get excited. (She still does.) Sometimes the three of us walked, but in the last months it was just me and AJ.

I miss those walks – the three of us. I miss my friend more than I ever imagined, and love this dog of ours more than I thought possible.

It took me a while to consider myself AJ’s mom; somehow doing so seemed to diminish the memory of Joy. But I know Joy wanted me to be mom; and that brings me comfort.

I remember the first time AJ got into my Jeep. She sat on my lap as we drove. We were going for her mani-pedi as Joy called it. AJ knew it was just a nail trim. She didn’t look back at Joy – which I heard all about. But she also made driving down Highway 50 a bit challenging. I finally got her into the passenger seat.

Now she is a regular there. I often take her on errands with me. I’m not sure which one of us wants the company more.

It wasn’t an easy transition for AJ. She had become Joy’s protector, not wanting people to get close – especially as Joy spent more time in bed. AJ transferred that protection to me. This wasn’t good.

I enlisted the help of Karenina with Dogs with Issues for some training sessions. AJ was softening and at the same time starting to have a firm grasp of my heart.

Hiking to Winnemucca Lake in 2015.

Joy wasn’t AJ’s first mom. We don’t know what abuse she may have endured that led her needing to be rescued.

She still has issues. She doesn’t like other dogs in her house; doesn’t even really like them in their home. She can be temperamental on occasion. And she really doesn’t like men in sandals or flip flops.

AJ sleeps on my bed now; something I had never allowed a dog to do. She even uses a pillow. On special occasions or when I’m feeling sad or there’s thunder she’s invited onto the couch. (This is our little secret.)

I have more pictures of AJ than any human family member or friend. I’ve stopped thinking it’s weird to have a dog as a best friend.

She’s 14 now. That’s how old my last dog lived to. She’s smaller than Bailey, so I’m hoping there’s a few more good years ahead of us. There are too many hikes I want to go on, too many bunnies and squirrels for her to chase, too much life to still share.

Sometimes we talk about Joy; we even talk to Joy. I thank my friend all the time for AJ. That’s not to say I wouldn’t rather have my friend be alive, and for AJ to be with her. But clearly that’s not going to happen.

On this anniversary of Joy’s death, I will smile at knowing she knew what she was doing when we had that difficult conversation, then I’ll hug and kiss on AJ and be thankful for the gift my friend gave me.

AJ (Audrey Jean) is proof that something magical can come from something so sad. It took me a while to appreciate that. The circle of life is quite powerful.

By Steve Westly, San Jose Mercury News

Jerry Brown has been a strong governor and a moderating force on budget issues. But when it comes to pensions, the new state budget projects that California has nearly $206 billion in “unfunded liabilities” for the state’s two public pension funds.

Over the last eight years, we added $100 billion in unfunded retirement liability for these funds. This is the elephant in the room of state finances, and it is time we got serious about it. 

You probably haven’t heard much about the looming pension crisis because elected officials don’t like talking about it and it’s easy for them to kick the can down the road: they can make promises to public employees now that won’t come due until they’re out of office.

Read the whole story

To the community,

“It was great to see a community come together to help those down on their luck,” said Jacob Klade while taking a break from serving shepherd’s pie, roasted zucchini and Swiss chard salad to the guests at Bread & Broth’s Monday meal on July 17.   

Klade and his fellow sponsor team members Christopher Hostnik, Jarrett Morgan and Christian Neville, all from Kirkwood Mountain Resort, were on hand to help the B&B volunteers at Kirkwood’s Adopt A Day of Nourishment.

Kirkwood Mountain Resort hosts six adopt a days annually and all of the sponsorships are funded through Vail Resorts’ EpicPromise grant program. Vail Resorts grants support many nonprofit partners in Vail Resorts mountain communities. Through these partnerships, Vail Resorts helps ensure our communities thrive. Vail has been funding Monday dinners since the inception of the AAD program and B&B could not be more grateful for Vail’s support.

The Vail EpicPromise monies have funded over 75 meals and fed over 6,800 dinner guests though B&B’s Adopt A Day program. In addition, Vail has sent awesome team members to help at their sponsorship meals. These last four sponsor crew members were enthusiastic and could not have been more helpful at the dinner event. “It was a great experience,” added Klade. “I am looking forward to the next opportunity to volunteer at a B&B meal again.

To partner with B&B as a donor or sponsor, contact me at 530.542.2876 or carolsgerard@aol.com.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth