Walking downtown today on my way back from the library, I ran into both my ex-landlady and my current landlord. While I was chatting with both of them, I thought it was kind of amusing that we use feudal terms to describe the people we pay rents to, especially since neither party is terribly autocratic or lordly. But when the topic of the previous night’s planning commission meeting came up, it did get me thinking about authority figures and people in power.

There is a pretty universal division in this country between people who own property and people who rent. Now, I know some people who own the houses they live in, because they lucked out or bought early or are busting their balls or just happen to have some cash. When I talk about people who “own property,” I really mean people who own homes and rent them out to people, often for exorbitant amounts. Sometimes this isn’t their fault, because they bought expensive property and now they need people to pay their mortgages. Of course…those tenants would be better served paying their own mortgages, but they can’t, because they cannot afford to buy property.

And it occurred to me that most of the City Council and Planning Commission seats here are probably held by people who own property. After checking with a friend on the commission, I found this to be true.

“Well, we’re all a bunch of old farts, that’s why,” she said.

And she does have a point. Older people are more likely to own property, because they were more likely to be able to afford it at some point in their lives. And, of course, they have been working longer, so it stands to reason that they could afford to purchase property. She was telling me about buying homes after the war with assistance from the government for sums like $50 a month. Which is…awesome…and totally insane.

And I wonder why it is that we renters are allowing the land owners to make our decisions for us. I mean…we would clearly have very different priorities than they would, since we are on different ends of the social and economic scale. In the case of the Planning Commission, those people are appointees, which means that the members of the City Council who appoint them make a conscious choice to appoint other landowners, presumably to maintain the status quo or what have you.

But why should we stand for that? I am really tempted to run for City Council, not because I think I would win (God help me if I did), but because I would like to throw some youth into the mix, and I would like to get people thinking about what it is like to rent property here. Not in the abstract like “oh, it must be hard for people,” but in the immediate, the hear and now. I want landowners to think about what it means when they rent a one bedroom house for $800 a month. I want to shake the old farts up with a breath of fresh air and differing opinion. I want, in short, to start some shit.

Let’s say you’re renting this one bedroom to a single person making minimum wage, which is now $7.50 in California. This person is making roughly $1,200 per month before taxes, or $14,400 per year. Are you seriously saying that 2/3s of someone’s income before taxes should go into your pocket, as a landowner? That someone should have less than $400 a month to pay utilities, maintain a car, eat, deal with medical problems, and handle incidentals?

Personally, I think that’s rather shortsighted. And it never ceases to amaze me that landowners do not think, really, about how much their rents actually represent. All they care about is getting the cash, which they can get in a market like this because people are desperate. I am fortunately no longer in the position of trying to live on minimum wage, which is good, because I don’t think that I could. But a lot of people are…and those people are not being represented fairly, due to a long chain of events which are largely out of their control.

Personally, I think it’s time to change that. I see some people on the Planning Comission and in City Council trying to make a difference…but it’s clearly not enough. Looking down the raw dirt of Franklin Street today, a voice shouted in my head:

“Whose streets? OUR STREETS.”

And, darn it, that voice was right. They are our streets, not theirs, and it’s time to remind them of that.

My hives and I are going to bed now. Oh, did I mention that I got hives? Yeah, I did. I have hives.

Newsflash: garbage strikes are like block parties for bacteria.

Diabetic athletes are profiled in the Times.

In a rare instance of presidential appointees not sucking, a commission has recommended serious changes for the military health care system.

It turns out Ed Jew isn’t the only supervisor presiding over a district he doesn’t live in.

The cat came back, in business class, no less.

I was astounded when I pulled the page off my Stuff On My Cat calendar this morning and I realized that today marks the second anniversary of this ain’t livin’, which began with a frivolous post about Westport written in the evening hours during my period of unemployment in 2005. When I started this site, I decided to try it for a year and then decide whether or not I wanted to continue, and last year, I made the same decision again, in part because so many interesting people and places were encountered along the way.

A lot of things have happened to me in the past year. I moved to San Francisco, I struck out on my own as a freelance writer, I read a book I’ve been waiting on for a long time, I lost old friends who were dear to me, and I moved back to Fort Bragg to live in a hobbit house.

Sometimes I feel as though I am standing on a street corner shouting and no one is listening. This can be immensely frustrating as a writer, because it causes me to doubt my own abilities, or to wonder if I am utterly boring the numerous people who flit on and off this site every day. I would really like to see more reader involvement, and in the past year I have made a point of making provocative posts in the hopes that people would comment on them. This, alas, does not appear to be the case, and I wonder what it is about you, dear readers, that makes you so shy? It gets rather dull listening to my own voice all the time, you know.

This has been an immensely saddening, frustrating, and also oddly rewarding year.

I spent much of it feeling lost while I searched for something that I needed to come home to find. I have the sense that I made a lot of mistakes in the last year, but other people made their fair share as well. I don’t know where this leaves me, other than left, and I wonder if I have the will to go on anymore. The meaning of life, if I ever knew it, has certainly changed radically for me.

What haven’t you noticed?

The NPAT tells you how your politicians really feel. It’s totally sweet, and it is hosted at Project Vote Smart, a generally cool organization. Go look up your politicians now! I had a lot of fun doing it earlier.

Gluten free dining is featured in the Times. I love the thought of an entirely gluten free restaurant…and I have some friends who would probably enjoy it too.

Speaking of dining, the Times also has an article about the changing face of the animal rights movement.

A poster intended to raise awareness about child abuse raises ire in Virginia.

The Stranger has a chilling article about the invasion of the townhomes. It’s not enough to fight back against developers, kids. We need to actively bring the fight. With a huge chunk of land right outside my door up for grabs, this issue is of vital concern to me at the moment.

Iran’s vice police are cracking down on Western fashions again, for both men and women.

I just calculated my Walk Score, thanks to a link on Walking Fort Bragg I spotted today. My score is slightly lower than Ron’s, probably because I am a bit more on the fringes of downtown than he is (or maybe it took points off because I have to pass through the fake wood zone to get anywhere), but it got me thinking about walking and walkability.

Oddly enough, Fort Bragg is actually a really walkable town, even though the coast itself is not very walkable. I’ve always thought it’s funny that a lot of my hippie friends criticize me for living in Fort Bragg…but I can get by without a car and they can’t, living in their sanctimonious solar powered spreads on Navarro Ridge or wherever. Indeed, anyone who is committed to the environment really should be living clustered around a downtown area, not out in the woods cut off from everything. I can get to most places with walking, and I see lots of other citizens without cars, staggering under loads of laundry or carrying heavy grocery bags, so clearly other people are living car-less as well. (Or just walking more, which is really commendable.)

I really only have two complaints about the walkability of Fort Bragg. The first is that the hospital and medical services are concentrated at the far end of town, distanced from a lot of residences and everything else. I have an appointment at the clinic next week and I need to round up a ride to go, which is really irritating, especially since the clinic used to be right downtown. I wish they had kept the downtown office open, at least a skeleton clinic for minor stuff, so I didn’t have to beg a ride to get a refill on a prescription. Since a lot of po’ folk live downtown without cars, it sucks that we cannot get access to medical attention without a very long walk, or a car ride.

All the athletic facilities are pretty out of reach as well, especially once the new aquatic center gets finished.

It’s also irritating to me that Harvest is really out of reach, walk-wise. While I shop at the farmers’ market and Roundman’s, it is really nice to be able to get a bunch of stuff at Harvest…and I can’t do that without abusing someone for their car. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to live in Mendocino when I first moved home, actually, because they’re got Harvest at Mendosas, Corners, medical services, and everything else within walking distance. (Well..to be fair…everything in Mendocino is in walking distance, but you know what I mean.)

While both of these things are irritants, it really becomes frustrating that I don’t have a car when I have to attend social events outside of Fort Bragg. Since many of my friends are among the car owning elite, this problem comes up a lot, as was the case last night when someone didn’t think to invite me to an event until it had almost begun. This might not have been a problem for someone with a car, but it proved to be the tipping point for me, and I was unable to go, much to my disappointment. And since many of those people make a conscious choice not to live in Fort Bragg, it’s difficult to get them to come into town, so sometimes I feel very cut off, for all that I live in the middle of town.

Despite all of these things, I really like not owning a car. I am saving a bunch of money, for one thing, which is awesome. And cars, at root, really are a hassle, especially when you only need one one day a week or so. What I long for is a car share, so that I can have a car when I need one without hogging one all to myself. Today I was seized with a passion to plant kiwis, for example, but I can’t get plants until I have the use of a car. (Also…if anyone has any kiwi growing tips, let me know.) With a car share, I could do that without having to bug one of my friends (or my father). Alas, we probably don’t have the population to support a car share, just like we cannot have good public transit.

I highly recommend that you guys check out your walking scores. All you need is an address and a zip code. Just to contrast: my score on the Island is an 8…in Fort Bragg, it’s an 82. Add your score below, if you feel so inclined, along with any comments about what makes your home a good or bad place for walkers.

[Walk Score]

Highlights of last night’s Democratic debate are up on CNN…and the politicians not answering the questions are hilarious. I would say, pretty much uniformly, that all of the candidates failed to clearly respond to any of the questions asked…and the minimum wage segment is well worth watching. Boo, candidates.

Britain is being devastated by terrible flooding…The Independent blames global warming. (I haven’t been able to track down a charity collecting funds for flood victims…if anybody knows of one, please let me know in the comments.)

The Chaser’s War on Everything is an excellent comedy show out of Australia…I spent about an hour last night watching video highlights. Not for those offended by strong language or brilliant humor.

A mastodon has been found in Greece. Mastodons, for anyone who is not aware, are really large.

The Chronicle finally points out that the homeless in Golden Gate Park are a serious problem.

An Orthodox Jew writes about being cut off from the Jewish community because he chose to marry a Korean-American.

The families of three slain Colombians have traveled to the United States to sue Drummond Limited, claiming that the company is taking sides in the nation’s brutal civil war in the hopes of preserving its massive coal holdings there.

Women’s rights in Iraq are worse, not better, after American occupation.

The ants came again today.

It started with a faint, thready trickling along my leg, while I was working. At first, I thought it was Mr. Bell’s tail, since he was lying in my lap holding up my keyboard. Then, I saw a black dot working across my desk, and I looked down, and I realized that the trickling feeling was an ant working determinedly up my leg.

“Mr. Bell,” I said, “you are not doing your job.”

He opened one beady yellow eye to glare at me.

“MEOW!” he said.

“Touche,” I replied, squashing the ant on my leg and slamming my mouse down on the one on my desk. “Perhaps they were errant stragglers. Now I’ve sent the message and there shouldn’t be any more.”

But I couldn’t help and remember the warning words of my neighbor, whom I ran into last night.

“Wait until the ants come,” he said.

See, the thing about ants is that while we associate them with dirty houses, your house can be spotless and still any infested. Ants like food and water, which are present in most houses, and they like to explore. So when my neighbor said that, I thought oh, fuck,. My house is pretty darn clean for a small cottage with three cats and one cooking human, but ant-proof it is not.

“Oh, fuck” is right, it turns out, as I went to get a glass of water and saw the cats’ food bowl teeming with ants.

“Erghggwea!” I said.

Two hours later, the house has been fairly well scoured, and there is not an ant in sight, yet. I needed to bleach the ceiling anyway, since I noticed that some mold had popped up. This happens in old houses which are poorly ventilated and close to the ground, so it was not wholly unexpected, although it concerns me, with winter ahead. It looks like someone who shall remain nameless painted over the mold rather than treating it, unfortunately, so I think it is going to be a recurring problem. I will just have to keep bleaching, in the hopes of staving it off and perhaps eventually killing it.

I also swept, mopped, and vacuumed where applicable, in the hopes of making the floor less appealing. I’ve noticed that frequent mopping actually helps, with ants, since it seems to interrupt the chemical trails they use to communicate. Alas, I hate mopping. Once they emerge again, and they will, I’ll tape the entry whole and sprinkle some cayenne around for good measure.

Anyone else know of some good ways to get rid of ants? Because, I’ll be frank with you, ants give me the willies. I cannot stand them any shape or form.

[ants]

Donors Choose is an awesome organization which supports public education with donations of any size from the public. Go check it out!

The British government is under judicial review as people call for a closer examination of the animal testing program. The UK already has one of the most strict animal testing protocols in the world…would that other countries could model theirs on it.

A strong editorial in the Times talks about striking a balance between Presidential and Congressional power. Well worth reading, because it’s sharp, incisive, and very witty.

Organic milk is soaring in popularity, although I resent this quote: “Our constituency is the most educated, most affluent, most sophisticated consumer anywhere in the world,” which seems to suggest that undereducated, poor slobs would never even consider drinking organic milk. Elitism is not the way!

MIT scientists may have figured out what’s behind deja vu.

Identity theft is a serious problem, and catching the thief is only the beginning of the victim’s woes.

Should the source of your biodiesel be important? Some say “hell, yes.”

An awesome organization run by a single man does coverups of gang tattoos for free. It would be awesome to see similar programs started elsewhere as well.

So, the Advocate had a whiny op-ed last week about how if citizens would only read the paper, they would have known about the excrescence of pastiche which was descending upon downtown. I would love to link you to it, but unfortunately it was only published in the hard copy edition, not the online version. For those of us citizens who prefer to read the online edition…there are a lot of things that we tend to miss, since the paper obstinately refuses to publish such news online. At any rate, Advocate, I do in fact read the paper, I was aware of the plans for downtown, and I did write to protest them, to no avail.

It’s kind of a pity, really, that the efforts of the downtown improvement committee have become a running joke among the residents, when we aren’t seething with anger. Every single time I walk down Franklin Street, a complete stranger makes a scathing comment about the situation, and we both chuckle for a moment. I do agree that downtown needed to be spruced up a bit, but the way in which it has been done is truly awful. Several downtown business are on the brink on bankruptcy, the citizens are furious, and the tourists (bread and butter, unfortunately, for so many) are afraid to walk down the street. The fact that most of the sidewalk is finally in has not fixed the matter at all.

Personally, my problems lie more with aesthetics than the downtown improvement itself. The “improvements” are meant to echo an era of bygone Fort Bragg, which I happen to think is disgusting, and foul. Fort Bragg does not need to be turned into a quaint echo of its former self, and…what has been done is just ugly, and not at all historically respectful. The fake wood at the street corners is laughable, the fake cast iron lamp posts are expensive and ugly (and the ones that are up now are temporary, wait until you see the real ones!), and the streets, which of a historically accurate narrowness, are impassable. Yes, it is important to recognize the City’s past, but we do not need to live in it. I for one am stoked that female residents have the vote, for example, which was not the case for much of the time when Fort Bragg had wooden sidewalks. (Ladies beware, perhaps this is next stage in the “turn the clock back” campaign!)

So, rather than complaining endlessly, I thought I would point out the most serious problems. It’s a bit too late to fix them, but it’s nice to point to something concrete to complain about. Fellow citizens, I welcome your comments.

1. The streets. While widening the sidewalks made them more accessible and pleasant to walk on (well, the bits that are actually sidewalk, not dirt), it made the streets really, really narrow. Since people expect to be able to park on Franklin (and continue to do so), traffic is passing dangerously close to parked cars and vehicles in the other lane. The other day I saw two monstrously ugly SUVs and I was afraid that I was going to witness an accident. The continued blockage of some corners with netting, forcing pedestrians into the street, is also dangerous: I was almost hit the other day by a mindless bimbo in a fancy Lexus. I don’t know how they are going to address this problem…and I fear that they are going to remove parking on one side of Franklin to make room for the cars. Or, God forbid, make it one way. Both terrible ideas.

2. The hideous, ugly as a celeriac bulb sidewalks with their monstrous fake wood. They should be pointing out into Franklin Street so that pedestrians can see around the giant cars parked next to them to determine whether or not they can safely cross the street. Once again, I was almost hit by a car which I didn’t see coming, and to their credit, they couldn’t see me because I was hidden behind…a giant SUV. The moment was heartstopping for both of us. Having the bulbs point into the cross streets is just insane, and really does not make sense from a safety standpoint, which was the reason they were allegedly installed.

3. The fake wood. It’s really, really ugly. And I really feel like it should be torn up. Especially at the corners, where there’s red anti-slip knobbly stuff, regular concrete, and fake wood…it looks like shit. It really does. It does not look olde timey, or even mildly bearable, like the fake brick along the Embarcadero in San Francisco. It…just…looks…bad. And several of my anonymous informants on the Planning Commission agree with me. (They also claim that they were not involved in the selection of the fake wood.) I understand that real wood could not be used, and that’s fine. But the fake wood…needs to go. Please.

Hey guys, the intent was good. I think that even the bitchers and moaners can agree. Right now, though, I think that downtown looks worse than it did before. We don’t have enough money to look like Healdsburg, and I wouldn’t want to, personally. Why couldn’t we have spent less to design something simple, graceful, and modern, that would age well with the City, and used some of those funds to repair decrepit alleys and to continue offering grants to homeowners and businesses who want to invest in making their buildings look better? These community development grants are awesome, and a great way to reward people for taking care of their community. This…hideous construction downtown is going to be an object of shame and derision until it gets fixed.

While we’re at it, it certainly would be nice to address other pressing issues, such as rising crime and, yes, Advocate, police unresponsiveness. Responding to every call, dear Editor, is not the same thing as doing something about crime, and I know a number of Fort Bragg residents, including myself, who can give some examples of police bungling. This is something which will require the entire community if we want to do something, but it would be nice to know that the cops had our backs.

In a sense, the Advocate is right. People do need to be more active in the community if they don’t want to see bad things happen, and we need to be active as a group. As a group, collective residents can form a critical mass to oppose the harebrained decisions of a few. Clearly my words as a single citizen had no impact on the development of downtown…but if we band together, maybe we can prevent things like this from happening in the future. Better yet, perhaps we can try to salvage downtown before it gets any worse.

As part of this, I would really love it if my local readers would tip me off to important stuff that is going on, so that I can pass the word on. At some point, perhaps we can organize a reader meetup to see what we can do. One of the reasons I moved back is because Fort Bragg is my home, and I value it too much to be lazy about making it a better place. How about you?

Tips can be emailed to meloukhia at gmail dot com, as always.

[Fort Bragg]

A great feature on transgender youth.

Should we be treating juvenile sex offenders in a different class than adults?

The trash standoff continues in Oakland…what’s going to pop up first, cholera or dysentery?

The makers of OxyContin are fined for “misleading the public about the painkiller’s risk of addiction.”

Headscarves are a topic of debate in fiercely secular Turkey.

Mr Bush signs an executive order banning torture…but not banning “incommunicado detention.”