November 2009 Archives

Hey everyone,

The Inside Opinion blog has moved to a new site and a new format. To find us, click here or just go to http://insider.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.   Be sure to bookmark this new site and/or look for how to create an RSS feed so you can get Inside Opinion updates as soon as they're posted.

Sorry for the inconvenience. But we think you'll appreciate the new look.

- Paul Gullixson, Editorial Director

Times are tough, yes, even in Beverly Hills, where it appears Jeff Kolin, Santa Rosa's city manager for the past nine years, is headed.

If this job change goes through, Kolin will be taking over the helm of a city that just cut 46 positions and decided to close city libraries three nights a week to balance its budget.

But before you feel sorry for this community of 90210 fame, Beverly Hills has an annual budget of nearly $400 million serving a community of about 35,000 residents.

By comparison, Santa Rosa has a budget of about $300 million serving a community of 161,000 residents.

To see the flyer promoting the job that Kolin is on the verge of accepting, click here.

-  Paul Gullixson  

Well, so much for Republican tough-on-crime rhetoric.

At least as long as the offense in question is stealing water.

As state lawmakers wrapped up a gargantuan $11 billion water bond proposal in an all-night session Tuesday, they gutted provisions to step up enforcement of water rights and increase the penalty for illegal diversions to ... paying market rate for the water.

The opposition was led by GOP lawmakers representing agricultural regions, though credit also goes to lobbyists for East Bay MUD and the city of San Francisco. They objected to giving the state Water Resources Control Board such rudimentary tools as the authority to issue an interim cease-and-desist order while sorting out illegal diversion allegations. Also removed from the bill was authority for the board to initiate theft investigations rather than waiting for someone to complain.

Enforcement was one aspect of a legislative package that trades restoration of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and new conservation measures for additional storage and delivery systems sought by agribusiness interests and Southern California water districts. With major environmental groups split on the basic question of passing any water bill, the strictest enforcement rules were quietly jettisoned while the midnight debate focused on a questionable earmark for a Sacramento nonprofit group.

Don't farmers, who use 80 percent of the state's water, have the greatest interest in ensuring that water isn't being rustled?

California already is the only western state that doesn't regulate groundwater pumping. And the water package was, ahem, watered down to require measuring rather than monitoring (and certainly not regulating) to guard against overdraft. Also turning a blind eye to illegal diversions suggests lawmakers aren't very serious about oversight.

One laudable provision of the enforcement bill survived. It authorizes the water board to add 25 more people to investigate thefts. Currently, there are six.

Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, who was at the bargaining table, said he'll pursue stronger enforcement rules when the regular legislative session resumes in January. For now, he concedes, "unless someone catches you stealing water, you're likely to succeed."

-- Jim Sweeney