ON THE RANCH

From England to Ireland

Actually, I’m not, on the ranch, at present. I came to England a week ago for my nephew’s wedding and am now across the Irish Sea, in Ireland, the land of my ancestors. In some ways it feels very far from the Santa Ynez Valley, but in others it seems very similar. The green reminds me of the Valley in early spring with flowers blooming everywhere, cattle in the fields and lots of sunshine. This is unusual as there has been very little rain this year just like the Valley. Of course, for these people, the rainy season occurs pretty much all year long while in the Valley, our last chance of measurable rain is fast disappearing.

Ireland, for a long time, has been a relatively poor country with many struggles known worldwide. According to a local, in the last twenty years, Ireland has experienced some major changes including huge development and the resultant explosions of people and traffic. Roadways had to be expanded, infrastructures beefed up and more housing provided. All of this occurred because the taxes were lowered, high tech firms were given incentives to relocate here and there was the availability of an educated workforce already present.

Farmers sold off a lot of land to provide room for the expansion. Now people worry about what is going to happen to the remaining agriculture here. Being an island nation means that anything imported is necessarily more expensive. Speaking of expensive, the last time I was in England, about nine years ago, the price of the equivalent of a gallon of gasoline was about five dollars.

I thought that was pretty pricey until this trip where I discovered that gas now costs around ten dollars a gallon. A lot of the price is tax upon tax but it still takes a huge chunk out of people’s budgets. It is no wonder that everybody drives tiny cars as infrequently as possible. People tend to walk as much as they can and, fortunately for them, their infrastructure has been developed to accommodate that, unlike in the States.

Lack of Foresight

It is really too bad that the general public cannot seem to find political leaders with the will to make reasonable planning to accommodate the needs of the Valley or the County as a whole.

There are two cases in point: first, the Board of Supervisors in April was to vote on spending $300,000 to develop an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan. This is the plan “developed” by the GPAC under Gail Marshall’s leadership, and, most recently, by the VPAC which has since essentially dissolved itself by the resignation of the Chair and numerous members, including myself.

Aside from the fact that the majority of the plan came straight out of the Planning Department and did not reflect the will of the residents by any stretch of the imagination, the County is still acting as though this is the plan to work with.

This entire charade of planning does not deserve another dime to be spent on it until the residents wishes are heard and followed. For some reason, the County is determined to ignore the residents again, and additionally refuse to acknowledge that there is a significant effort in the Valley to develop tribal land in our midst with no thought to the obvious impacts that have already occurred. This is simply insanity and a terrible waste of taxpayer dollars!

The other even more egregious effort by the County is the attempt on the April agenda to resuscitate the Resource Protection Ordinance under the new name of the Resource Conservation Steering Committee. This group of eight representing 5 to 3 environmental versus potential landowner representatives is being asked to develop a regional conservation strategy for, initially, the Tiger Salamander, and, then, other endangered species. They plan to budget for the current fiscal year $200,000 with a one time project cost of $1,425,000. Each meeting is projected to cost $1,000.

Incase You Missed It

In case you weren’t following the previous Resource Protection Ordinance story, and how could you when none of the local media covered this very important issue, it happened like this. A couple of ranchers and farmers were picked to represent all of agriculture to explore how to keep resources on their land safe from whatever might harm them.

This included creeks, rivers, trees, bushes, grasses, animals, archeological sites (including ones not yet discovered), and virtually anything else some one might want to “preserve”. Let us not forget that we’re talking about private property here, not public lands. A number of people from the agricultural community attended the meetings even though they were not seated at the table for, at least, a year and a half. We were outnumbered by various governmental representatives by five to one.

Every issue that came up was discussed in detail over many meetings and it became obvious to the ranch and farm people that if this ordinance was passed, there would be no room for their ranching or farming activities to occur. The Ag representatives tried repeatedly to point this out to no avail. The government representatives simply weren’t interested in their problems. When it was clear that there was to be no compromise from their vision of how the land should be “saved”, the entire agricultural community representation walked out of the meeting and refused to come back.

So now, Santa Barbara County has decided to rename this effort and try it again. I say to you, if you care about keeping agriculture in this county you can do one of two things. You can immediately call your representative and tell them you will not tolerate this attack on agriculture or you can simply vote them out at the next election. Maybe you would want to do both.

Using Your Voice

It seems apparent to me that most government officials simply don’t care about what the public feels about any given topic. For some reason, they seem to feel, once they are in office that they can sway to the loudest tune which does not necessarily mean the largest group of people. It can refer to whoever has made the largest donation, whoever can get them the tickets to that special event, whoever can get them elected to higher office if that is their goal, or any number of things.

Although many people do not like to get involved in politics for a variety of reasons, including not having the time to study the issues or individuals, it is really important to make the effort to exercise one’s freedom to vote. People have died to give us this ability, one which citizens of many other countries around the world do not have. You don’t have to travel very far to discover that we are truly privileged to be able to choose who are to be our leaders. We have the ability to remove leaders if they do not perform to our expectations. We can pass legislation which we feel will enhance our quality of life by way of the petition.

We can also change legislation which we feel has not been properly used or has outlived its usefulness. An example of that is the gaming legislation which Californians voted in favor of to help Indians out of their cycle of poverty. Perhaps it needs to be reworked as it does not seem to help everybody it was intended to help and is being abused by others who are now using their millions to buy legislators and unfairly influence life for all of us thereby jeopardizing our sovereignty.

Keeping It Local

There are so many important issues out there; one can hardly keep up with it all. What seems really critical, though, is to keep the focus on issues in one’s immediate surroundings, the Santa Ynez Valley.

Parallels between planning in Ireland and planning in the Valley are strikingly similar. Changes occur and plans must be made in a timely manner to keep life rolling on. It was not that long ago that Santa Barbara had the only signal lights on Highway 101 between Los Angeles and San Francisco and the politicians argued about it for twenty long years before doing anything about it. Dealing with the traffic issues on 101 are now going through the very same ordeal with politicians who refuse to deal with reality to fix problems.

So too, traffic and many other issues are already a concern in the Valley due to increased population and the huge draw of the casino in our midst. Why, then, can the politicians continue to ignore these issues of importance to Valley residents in favor of their own agendas? Is it okay for them to allow our quality of life to diminish for their own reasons? I think not.

Perhaps we need to speak more loudly before our way of life disappears forever. I, for one, do not intend to allow three generations of efforts to go by the wayside because the elected officials have chosen to ignore the impacts we are already dealing with. This issue will not go away until it is dealt with. What does it take to get their attention? More deaths on Highway 154, more drug deals, more instant homeless people, more addicted gamblers?

Solutions

There are lots of solutions available to deal with the problems we are facing in the Valley. All we need is the political will to accomplish the ideas of many residents to solve them.

We need a lot of common sense and an ability to keep ourselves comfortable and safe. We can support our local farmers and ranchers and all those who contribute to the uniqueness of our Valley. We try to focus on some of the many wonderful people who call this place home. I know that we can make a difference in a positive way if we just require that our elected leaders work to accomplish our goals and not their own or a special interest group agenda. We have an opportunity to work together in our community to keep it one of the most wonderful places on earth. I can’t wait to be back on the ranch.

Off the Ranch with Pill Hall

Yikes!!!!!! Gas Reaches $10 Per Gallon

In England that is. We have just arrived for our nephew’s wedding. We survived British Air, the service and food was outstanding, however, their so-called sleeper-bed is still in need of refinement. We drove from Heathrow to Lichfield with Nancy being nervous in the left seat, I am not sure if it was because the steering wheel was missing from her side or the fact that she was not driver.

When it came time to fill up with gas we found that gas (petrol) is about 1 pound ($2) per liter, as there are almost 4 liters in a gallon that makes $8.00 per gallon. To add insult to injury they then add 17.5% V.A.T. (Value Added Tax). I cannot see any value in taxing taxes as their original costs for gas are about the same as ours, the difference is the amount of tax.

Our stay at New Hall in Sutton Coldfield was pleasant. The Old Hall was built some 2000 years earlier by the Earls of Mercia. Edwin, Earl of Mercia who lost his land and his head to William The Conqueror in 1071, 5 years after the Norman invasion. Of course it would have taken less than 5 years to confiscate the land if they had had a Planning Department. The land was later deeded to the Earl of Warwick in 1126 by King Henry 1st. but building the house was not completed until 1200. Apparently, building permits were probably required in this period and the contractor took longer to dig the moat than expected. The moat was filled by piping in water from seven nearby springs. There are several signs warning of DEEP WATER in the moat, including one of Very Deep Water. The house underwent several extensions and expansions over the next 500 years.

For those considering upgrading to WINDOWS VISTA consider that the first WINDOWS operating problems at NEW HALL occurred in 1528 when a later Earl built an extension and added leaded glass WINDOWS in honor of a visit by Henry VIII, who was in hot pursuit of Anne Boleyn. Because the glass is set in soft lead frames they tend to buckle or fall out into the moat below. This problem continues today and guests are warned not to slam windows or leave them unlatched. Next we are off to Dublin next to check some of Nancy’s ancestors.