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Measure C: the war of words
Measure C: the war of words
Bill Hocker | Jun 2, 2018 on: Measure C
Update 6/2/18
Sean Scully cut off acceptance of political letters-to-the-editor to the Register on May 25th and the last one appeared on May 29th. I have kept track of them at the top of the Measure C page, and if the letters-to-the-editor are any indication of the popularity of Measure C it would win handily. There were 114 yes-on-C editorials to 28 no-on-C editorials and 2 neithers. We'll see if the energy needed to write translates to the ballot box.
Update 4/18/18
Jay Golic NVR 4/18/18: The three periods of wine
Jay Goric lays out the big-picture context for the stage of decline we find ourselves in. (Verified here). His analysis tracks nicely with the Butler Report's first 3 stages of tourist area evolution. Is it just a question of slowing the inevitable? We must try.
2/28/18
NVR 2/28/18: Napa County supervisors place oak woodland initiative on June ballot
Measure C, the watershed conservation initiative headed for the June 5th ballot, was officially born Feb 27th, with the supervisors as seemingly reluctant midwives. The process was an odd one: The supes first had to "receive" a "9111" report outlining the potential legal pitfalls in the text (a supposedly unbiased report done by the same law firm hired by the county to squash the 2016 version of the initiative on a technicality). That information seemed quite useless regarding the decision the Supes were allowed to make: either adopt the initiative as law or else place it on the June ballot in each case as is. It was an expensive "I told you so" document for future litigation - which undoubtedly there will be.
This promises to be a very well debated initiative. Public comments at the hearing were evenly split between "yes" and "no" and there was more than a little hyperbole: "beginning of the end of agriculture", "sincere ignorance" of proponents, a "weasel wording" 9111 document, a "voraciously aggressive" supervisor. The legal response to the 9111 report was made by Perl Perlmutter, who drafted the initiative.
Letters to the Editor on Measure C are being archived at the top of this page.
The very well financed campaign against Measure C will probably roll out the best-free-speech-that-money-can-buy megaphone to drown out the more limited finances of the grass roots campaign. Will development money again win the day as it did with Napa Pipe, the "Costco-of-our-own" and the 2016 election of Supervisors? Stay tuned.
Sean Scully cut off acceptance of political letters-to-the-editor to the Register on May 25th and the last one appeared on May 29th. I have kept track of them at the top of the Measure C page, and if the letters-to-the-editor are any indication of the popularity of Measure C it would win handily. There were 114 yes-on-C editorials to 28 no-on-C editorials and 2 neithers. We'll see if the energy needed to write translates to the ballot box.
Update 4/18/18
Jay Golic NVR 4/18/18: The three periods of wine
Jay Goric lays out the big-picture context for the stage of decline we find ourselves in. (Verified here). His analysis tracks nicely with the Butler Report's first 3 stages of tourist area evolution. Is it just a question of slowing the inevitable? We must try.
2/28/18
NVR 2/28/18: Napa County supervisors place oak woodland initiative on June ballot
Measure C, the watershed conservation initiative headed for the June 5th ballot, was officially born Feb 27th, with the supervisors as seemingly reluctant midwives. The process was an odd one: The supes first had to "receive" a "9111" report outlining the potential legal pitfalls in the text (a supposedly unbiased report done by the same law firm hired by the county to squash the 2016 version of the initiative on a technicality). That information seemed quite useless regarding the decision the Supes were allowed to make: either adopt the initiative as law or else place it on the June ballot in each case as is. It was an expensive "I told you so" document for future litigation - which undoubtedly there will be.
This promises to be a very well debated initiative. Public comments at the hearing were evenly split between "yes" and "no" and there was more than a little hyperbole: "beginning of the end of agriculture", "sincere ignorance" of proponents, a "weasel wording" 9111 document, a "voraciously aggressive" supervisor. The legal response to the 9111 report was made by Perl Perlmutter, who drafted the initiative.
Letters to the Editor on Measure C are being archived at the top of this page.
The very well financed campaign against Measure C will probably roll out the best-free-speech-that-money-can-buy megaphone to drown out the more limited finances of the grass roots campaign. Will development money again win the day as it did with Napa Pipe, the "Costco-of-our-own" and the 2016 election of Supervisors? Stay tuned.