PG&E has yet another plan to emerge from its bankruptcy, this time it includes reworking the board of directors. The overhaul reportedly happening so the state won’t take over the utility company. The info came out Friday in the latest plan to get out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy by the end of June. But Governor Newsom still has to go along with the idea, as he’s been threatening a government takeover and saying the company needed a different plan after a string of catastrophic fires blamed on the utility company’s equipment. The Gov. had told PG&E it needed to replace its entire board including the CEO. No word on what the exact make-up of the board will be, just that it was refreshing it before coming out of bankruptcy.
A massive overhaul to state schools on the ballot in March. Proposition 13 is a $15 billion dollar bond to fix and modernize schools, with 9 of the 15 billion going to K-12 schools, especially for health and safety concerns including earthquake retrofits, removing mold and asbestos from old classrooms and lead out of drinking water. The remainder of the money would help public universities and community colleges. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers’ Association opposes the idea saying instead the state should use money from the state surplus, not borrow it.
State Sen. Mike McGuire says there’s a million dollars available over the next three years for an expansion of construction programs at Mendocino College after catastrophic wildfires. McGuire says he’s been working to help find money for jobs for rebuilds in Lake and Mendocino Counties. He was in Ukiah Friday at Mendocino College announcing the money to expand the school’s construction career program with a specific focus to recruit more students for the program. He says the fires have created job losses in the two counties and this money will help the local economy and provide young community members the tools needed to start a construction career. The money will help the school’s construction program expand by as much as 40%.
There’s a plan to refinance debt the Ukiah City Council and the Ukiah Valley Sanitation District have accrued to upgrade the Wastewater Treatment Plant. The Daily Journal reports the two entities have been working to refinance bonds used for the plant, one to increase capacity and the other to rehabilitate the plant. The deal’s not done yet, but apparently the city and district are considering a refi to be split 54% the district’s responsibility and 46-percent, city responsibility.
Not enough votes for an affordable housing bill to pass. There had been a lot of support for Senate Bill 50 to force cities to say yes to more apartment buildings that were not high-rise, but instead, mid-rise. And so that they’d be by public transit and in the same neighborhoods as some single family homes. But it died in the legislature. After the bill died, the Governor chimed in saying the state has to pass a historic housing production bill. The statement after he campaigned to have as many as 3.5 million new housing units up by 2025. The governor has vowed to focus on the issue this year.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors will get an update on so-called benefit zones in Kelseyville where vegetation management is set. It’s a new county based program to help reduce fuels and hazardous vegetation. Lake Co News reports the board is getting an update at their regularly scheduled meeting tomorrow morning. The benefit zone update from Community Development staff for the Clearlake Riviera, Riviera West, Buckingham and the Riviera Heights. Later in the meeting, the board will hear a report on the hazardous vegetation program the county started last year. As usual, the meeting starts at 9am.
A report on stabilizing rent at mobile home parks in Lakeport this week. The city council meeting featuring a presentation by the City Attorney tomorrow night on the rental market at mobile home communities after several community members in the Clearlake Marina Mobile Home Park complained last week to the council that their rents are going way up. The park is for seniors, 55 and over. They say a lot of the people living there are disabled and there are several veterans also living there. Many are on fixed incomes and although they own the homes, they don’t own the land and say they can’t leave that easily. They’re asking the city to put in a rent stabilization act similar to one in Ukiah. No action is going to be taken yet, the topic is just informational in nature.
Cal Fire has awarded several million dollars for landscape-scale land management projects in more than a dozen counties. The $67 million dollars for projects to restore and maintain healthy forests, conserve working forests, and enhance carbon storage in forests throughout the state. It’s all part of Cal Fire’s Forest Health and Forest Legacy programs. There are 17 Forest Health grants for more than 130,000 acres of forestland where they will thin dense and degraded forests; reduce hazardous fuels; manage drought, insects and disease; and prescribed burns for ecological restoration. There will also be 170,000 trees planted to sequester carbon, provide habitat for wildlife, and stabilize soil in severely burned areas. The grants thru a statewide program using Cap and Trade savings to work on climate change.
The Mendocino Cannabis Alliance have some candidate events planned. Q & A sessions with those running for the Board of Supervisor seats in Mendocino County districts 1, 2 and 4. The town halls are open to the public and focus on the cannabis community in Mendocino. For District 4, it’s on February 19th at the Redwood Coast Senior Center at 6pm Lindy Peters and Dan Gjerde, on February 21st, for District 2, in Ukiah at the Alex Rorabaugh Recreation Center at 6pm for Maureen Mulheren, Joel Soinila and Mari Rodin, the District 1 meetup in Redwood Valley at the Redwood Valley Grange with John Sakowicz, Jon Kennedy, James Green and Glenn McGourty
If you would like more information on this topic, please email Courtney Bailey at info@mendocannabis.com
A man from Kelseyville arrested last fall for starting a fire has pleaded guilty. Jody Hickey in court last week regarding the September fire last year. He got 90 days in jail and 3 years probation. The fire burned more than 50 acres and 300 people had to be evacuated. Hwy 29 was also closed for several hours near Kelseyville after the fire broke out. He was charged with a misdemeanor, careless or negligent action, someone either tossing a cigarette, ashes or a flaming or glowing substance, or incendiary device directly or indirectly starting a fire. Cal Fire took the opportunity after the sentencing to remind residents whether you’re trying to create defensible space around your home, mow your lawn or if you’re pulling your dirt bike over to the side of the road in a wildland area you need to use all equipment responsibly. Lawn mowers, weed-eaters, chain saws, grinders, welders, tractors and trimmers can all spark a wildland fire.
