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Catching Up on the News After a Week in Isolation |
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Written by Gary Moffat
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I just returned Sunday from a relaxing week in San Miguel de Allende – hence the temporary change in the title of this column – a colorful and historic town of 80,000 people about two hours north of Mexico City. Founded in 1542 by Franciscan monk Juan de San Miguel, I felt genuinely at home: the “Policia Federal” (Mexico’s highway patrol) tool around in blacked-out Dodge Chargers.
Separated from Auburn by a vast cultural divide plus a four-hour flight and a 90-minute car ride through tiny hamlets in the high desert of central Mexico, San Miguel nonetheless is evocative of our town in many ways. It is in a struggle to preserve its historic texture while accommodating wild growth at its edges. Huge box stores — including an under-construction WalMart and “Mega,” a giant discount grocery and clothing chain — are challenging the traditional Centro markets and the Tuesday “Tiengas,” a once-per-week, open-air “traveling mercado” where you can purchase anything from just-picked squash blossoms to sticky sweet charros to bootlegged DVDs of first-run movies.
Famous as a center for the arts, San Miguel is dealing with an influx of wealthy invaders from both Mexico City and the United States. Grand new homes and exclusive condo developments are helping fuel a construction boom for weekend refugees from the nation’s capital as well as American expatriates who are retiring on the cheap here in vast numbers — reminiscent of the exodus of Bay Area transplants seen in Placer County over the past decade.
Though it was easy enough to navigate the narrow streets of San Miguel, had I not been in the company of friends familiar with Spanish, it would have been a different trip. As it was, I did not see an english-language newspaper all week nor did I watch any television or log on to the Internet. It was an exercise in total isolation.
So, when I returned home, the first order of business was to wade through a week’s worth of back issues of the Auburn Journal. Relying on my hometown daily for news of purely local interest yielded an amusing snapshot in time. Here’s what I learned:
— There is a move afoot in Old Town, according to Gus Thomson’s Media Life column, to install an eight-inch “commemorative brass button” in the middle of Sacramento Street to mark the spot where actor John Travolta was struck by a bright light and fell to the pavement in the 1995 film “Phenomenon.” For those readers unaware, Old Town was the primary shooting location for the movie back in the day when the former Shanghai Restaurant and Bar was a favorite hangout for locals.
I’ve been in business in Old Town for six years, and not one visitor has ever asked me about the movie, though apparently other shop owners field such questions with regularity. In the spirit of making the most of what we have, the notion of exploiting the movie might make sense except for one problem: In such a highly trafficked area, is it safe for clusters of tourists in short pants and sandals to gape at a bronze marker sunk in the middle of the Plaza? Do we really need throngs of visitors jamming the streets trying to find out what everyone else is looking at?
No, I think this idea should be given a pass because we don’t need any needless pedestrian fatalities in Old Town. Anyway, I’m sure there is a local or Caltrans statute that would prohibit such a move.
— The Station “A” Post Office in Old Town is in jeopardy of closing, according to a front-page Journal story, because of declining revenues, especially in post box rentals. More than a decade ago a threatened closing of the Old Town post office — presumably the oldest in the West — was averted when the Old Town Business Association agreed to subsidize the facility by paying the rent on the space.
But apparently that isn’t enough any more. I rent a post box at Station A and I appreciate the convenience and charm of the space, but the end of the road may be in sight for this venerable, historic curiosity. In an era of economic decline, process-changing technologies and hard calls, it may be time to let the lease lapse. It wasn’t all that long ago that the OTBA could barely pay its bills, much less perform an altruistic community service it could not afford.
—A story in the Journal’s April 24th business section reported that Placer County was the recipient of a $35,000 state grant to help develop a countywide “Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy.” Economic Development Director David Snyder was quoted saying the county “hasn’t had a strategy for many, many years, going back to the original Economic Development Board in 1991.”
That got me to wondering. If Mr. Snyder’s organization hasn’t had a formal, documented economic development strategy to serve as a guide, what have they been doing for the past 17 years? Deep in the county bureaucracy there must be a cadre of planners grinding out PowerPoint presentations outlining a course of action. If not, has the county been floating along aimlessly, allowing random economic winds to push us along? Our Supervisors should be outraged!
This news story begged another question. If the state of California is in debt to the tune of more than $15 billion, why is it wasting $35,000 on a study the county should conduct independently? If our current staff can’t do the job, then we should eliminate the department, or find qualified staff to take on this important task. In this treacherous era, we can’t wait until the middle of 2009 for a freakin’ plan that should have been in place five years ago.
— Finally, the Journal’s August 17th editorial took the county to task for spending $36,000 to rid the Placer County Courthouse of its swallow problem. Every year, thousands of swallows descend on Old Town, carpet bombing the historic district with droppings and building mud nests in the highest reaches of the Courthouse. They are a horrific nuisance and the money is well spent to help keep the area clean and preserve the structure.
Not so fast, says the Journal. We should exploit the swallows as a tourist draw in the same way as San Juan Capistrano. It is certain to be a marketing bonanza for Auburn!
Maybe so, but I have a suggestion. Let’s take the $36,000 and use it to move the swallow nests from the Courthouse to the Journal’s office on High Street. That way, the newspaper can enjoy the swallows up close and personal. Or as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog from Conan O’Brien’s Late Night show says: “The better to poop on you!”
Gary Moffat is a journalist and owner of Carpe Vino in Old Town Auburn. He can be reached at
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