
today
1 p.m. Pet Photos with Santa "Claws" Henderson Center
read >4 p.m. Young Parent Support Group College of the Redwoods Kinship Site
read >4 p.m. Teen Writing Group Ink People Center for the Arts
read >6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe
read >6 p.m. Blue Lotus Jazz Libation
read >6 p.m. State of the Watersheds Bayside Grange
read >6:30 p.m. The Transgender Day of Remembrance Humboldt County Courthouse
read >7 p.m. John Ludington + Chris Parreira + Colin Begel (acoustic) Mosgo's
read >7 p.m. Peppino D’Agostino Mateel Community Center
read >7:30 p.m. A Commedia Christmas Carol Carlo Theater (Dell'Arte)
read >8 p.m. Humboldt Folkdancers Arcata Presbyterian Church
read >8 p.m. John Ludington + Scott Garriot + Chris Parreira (acoustic) Mosgo's
read >8 p.m. Stones in His Pockets Arcata Playhouse
read >8 p.m. A Christmas Carol North Coast Repertory Theater
read >8 p.m. Keller Williams (sound) Humboldt Brews
read >8 p.m. Air Supply ('80s soft rock) Cher-Ae-Heights Casino
read >8 p.m. KJNY 3rd Annual Glow Party Arcata Community Center
read >9 p.m. NightHawk WAVE @ blue lake casino
read >9 p.m. The Melodramatics (ska) Central Station Cocktail Lounge
read >9 p.m. Cadillac Ranch Six Rivers Brewery
read >9 p.m. DJ Touch Pearl Lounge
read >9 p.m. Bondage Bash Aunty Mo's Lounge
read >9 p.m. Latin NIght The Red Fox Tavern
read >9:30 p.m. Phil Berkowitz & Dirty Cats (blues) Riverwood Inn
read >9:30 p.m. David Starfire Arcata Theater Lounge
read >10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines
read >10 p.m. DJ Ninja Retro Dance Party Aunty Mo's Lounge
read >10 p.m. SexyTime: MiMosa and Sleepyhead Mazzotti's Arcata
read >previous columns
June 25, 2009
$2.99 Tasting Notes
Cartoon by Joel Mielke
read >June 18, 2009
Wabash Willie in Eureka Street Crossing
Cartoon By Joel Mielke
read >June 11, 2009
Dear Mr. CEO
Editor: As an individual who spent a number of years ...
read >Plan Fit or Plan Fat
By North Coast Journal Readers
Editor:
Insight into the motivations of the Coalition for Property Rights, discussed in “Town Holler” (June 18), is offered by their treatment of Public Health Office Dr. Ann Lindsay last September, as she offered her recommendations on the General Plan Update to the Board of Supervisors. When she commented that “the way we build the world around us, and the policies we implement through land use planning processes, have significant impacts on public health,” the realtors were incensed enough to ask the Board not to adopt her report and to accuse her of “social engineering.” Their publication this summer questioned her scientific integrity by suggesting she was being manipulated by the Planning Department.
Her statement — an axiom for life scientists, that species are dependent upon their habitats — did not invite expressions of concern from our realtors over some of the more dismal facts of our county’s health well known by Dr. Lindsay — we’re in the top five for diabetes, 37 percent obesity rate, etc. — but instead an attack on planning itself. Max Baucus, Chair of the Senate Financial Committee, had a similar reaction to a query as to why he would not allow single payer (health care paid for by the government) to be put on the table. Quoth Senator Baucus: “We’re a different country ... it’s kind of a ‘go West, young man,’ you know, in America…”
It is this exceptionalism, this immaturity, this allegiance to beliefs and feelings regardless of the facts, which distinguish us from other nations. In the wild days invoked by Senator Baucus, elders sent their young men west to make their fortunes, where there were no rules which could not be broken, where resources could be consumed without having to worry about neighbors. But we’ve already gone West. There is no longer any place for those young men to go with the Senator’s maverick anthem except into a world of exhausted resources, such as the salmon mentioned by Jennifer Kalt.
Plus, planning works. In Oklahoma City, for instance, Mayor Mick Cornett, chagrined when his city was dubbed the “Fast Food Capital of America” by Fortune magazine in 2007, challenged his city to lose 1 million pounds. In 16 months they’re nearing a 400,000 pound weight loss and having lots of fun doing it. They’ve added 72,000 jobs, have one of the country’s strongest housing markets, solid growth in agriculture, energy and manufacturing, have improved bicycle routes and public transportation and greatly enlarged parks and green spaces. Forbes magazine just nominated Oklahoma City as the “most recession-proof city in America.”
Like other species, our health is determined by our environment, which in turn is shaped by planning. It is time for us to measure our resources — water, energy, food, wildlife, health — just like the rest of the world.
Ellen Taylor, Petrolia


















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