We love to read the
quotes that Mary Dawn of Deans Plumbing includes in the bills. The
latest is one that the Bureaucracy could take to heart and make
everybody’s day better. It goes like this: “Life is more accurately
measured by the lives you touch than the things you acquire.” Simple,
but profound when applied daily.

Here’s another profundity from the weekly observations by those of
us in the Bureaucrat Beat newsroom. While sharpening our pencils and
polishing our cell phones, we heard on the police scanner that there
was glass in the street at a certain Bishop intersection. The scanner
talk revealed that the City Public Works folks were on the way to clean
it up. How great is that? We are soooooo lucky to live in small towns.
We’ve spent some time in the gnarly southland lately. Freeways,
terrifying and adrenaline producing. City streets – majorly crowded and
in some neighborhoods, too much horn honking.

Speaking of small town goodness. Barbara Richter shared with us a
most amazing occurrence that makes you glad you’re part of a diminutive
community. Seems Kim Marshall lost her engagement ring in the Stump
Alley Parking lot area at MMSA. She posted her loss on the Mammoth
Mountain internet forum. According to the site, Erik and friends found
the ring. Kim notes the amazingly bad odds at work in the discovery of
the ring and how thankful she is at the honest return.

Speaking of returns, Mammoth officials still stew over developer
impact fees. As Mayor Kirk Stapp put it, they’re in the squirmy
position of a balancing act – between fees that will work for
developers and fees that will raise enough money to complete community
projects.

The Town did agree to lower the fees, but developers squeaked for
more consideration. Mayor Stapp, who has history, said he doesn’t want
to see the no development years of 1987-1992 again. He’s mindful of the
need for fees that will raise important funds but not discourage
development.

Councilman Neil McCarroll made note of the formidable
effectiveness of Mother Nature. McCarroll, who serves on the Air
Polution Control Board said that while Mono Lake’s water now handily go
up, thanks to a State order to stop DWP diversions, DWP must spend up
to a half billion on the Owens Dry Lake clean-up. McCarroll said it
“pays not to mess with Mother Nature.” And, that is also profound.

Remember the Nature Deficit Disorder that the Sierra Club raised?
They specifically offered up evidence that children, in particular,
suffer from too much indoor activity, too much concrete and not enough
green stuff and fresh air. We’re in the midst of learning that there
are some programs in our area to remedy that. Not to mention the SNARL,
Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Lab, which offers summer science camps
for kids.

Stay tuned for more of this good news.

One final headline. The LA Times reported that voters had approved
water bond measures, we all thought, to help shore up levees, build
reservoirs and purge pollution. But, guess what? The Bureaucracy got a
hold of dollars and they are looking at spending our money on a bike
path through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, or water accessible
overnight accommodations on Lake Tahoe or even a museum in Los Angeles
and maybe an aquarium in Fresno.

Lew Uhler, president of a group called the National Tax Limitation Committee said , “I think the people have been hoodwinked.”

Proposition 84 gave the bureaucracy the green light to borrow $5.3 billion for water quality, safety and supply.

It really does pay to vote no on propositions – most of them, anyway.

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