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AROUND TOWN – The Sentinel staff and friends enjoyed a wonderful Christmas luncheon at Bootleggers in Old Town last week. It was nice to see some of our regular contributors such as Bill Martin, who pens “Sierra College Notebook,” Gary Moffat (“Other Side of Auburn”) and John McCreadie, who writes feature stories and profiles. We also recognized the efforts of our staff and all the hard work they put in to make sure this newspaper gets in your hands. I want to personally thank Deborah Mangione, Rachel Chaddock, Andrew Lukkonen, Rich Kendall, Erin Gallup-Main (who is leaving for a state job), Lorelei Berry (who recently left so she can be a stay-at-home mom) and those who couldn’t attend, like Reene Abbott (our copy editor), Kevin Maguire (who handles distribution in our North Placer area), Nancyjo Riekse (who pens the “Season’s Choice” recipe column), and Kevin Hanley (writer of the “Common Sense” column), for everything they did throughout the year. In 2008, we have a lot of exciting things happening, so stay tuned. * * *
We now interrupt our regularly scheduled “Biscuits and Gravy” to
bring you these New Year’s thoughts. Allow me to channel my inner Andy
Rooney ... With Christmas behind us, we’re left with one last
holiday hurdle – New Year’s. Love it or hate it, 2008 will be here
Monday night. Calendars will change over with some fanfare – a New York
ball drop, music television stations counting down their favorite
videos, a “Twilight Zone” marathon on the SciFi Channel (our household
tradition), and columnists listing their top 10 favorite things about
something unrelated to the day-to-day lives of ordinary Placer County
residents. Well, it’s high time to break from the pack and create
a list that may actually get some locals thinking about the challenges
facing the area. With that in mind, I present a different kind of to-do
list. Consider this a list of New Year’s resolutions that I would like
to see come to fruition in the coming year ... 1. Highway 49
Traffic Safety: This stretch of roadway from Nevada Street to Grass
Valley is horribly congested, dangerous and will become even more so
with the completion of all the new commercial and residential
developments planned for the area. Improvements, some of which are
underway even as I write this, are needed. Drivers shouldn’t have to
worry about how they’ll get back on the highway just because they want
to shop local businesses (such as a quick lunch at Weiner Works). 2.
Signage for Lincoln, Auburn & Colfax: These three towns are in dire
need of better directional signs to help visitors find their way.
Looking for public parking in Lincoln? Drive around until you find
someplace that isn’t in someone’s front yard. Trying to find historic
downtown Colfax? Come off the freeway, loop back over, and hope you
don’t end up heading to Grass Valley. Looking for the Lincoln Chamber
of Commerce? Stop and ask for directions if you can. The number of
vehicles traveling on Highway 65 through Lincoln makes this task almost
impossible. Want to find parking in Auburn? Good luck deciphering all
the signs. Want to find your way from Old Town to Downtown Auburn?
Start driving through what appears to be a residential area along High
Street and you might get lucky. Or, better yet, drive up Lincoln Way
until you hit all the signs near City Hall telling you how to get on
other roadways that take you out of town instead of letting you know
that there is a thriving business district just a few blocks ahead. I
can’t tell you how many times helplessly lost tourists have asked me
for directions on lower High Street because they can’t find Highway 49. 3.
Sewage Solution: Find a reasonable solution to hook up local
communities to this mythical “regional” waste water treatment facility
in Lincoln, which as far as I can tell, is about as regional as a city
bus route. Pumping money into smaller sewer plants that will be
obsolete in a few short years seems a waste of money, effort and time.
Colfax recently opened their own plant, complete with a tour of the new
building and ribbon cutting ceremony. Auburn’s City Council voted to
dump more money into upgrading its own sewage plant, facing possible
fines by the state government, all the while acknowledging it is a
quick-fix patch and not a long-term solution. And, who can blame them?
The Lincoln facility is not equipped to handle regional tie-ins at the
moment because there is no method in place to pipe the waste water down
the hill to the “regional” Lincoln plant. 4. Cries for Help: Food
banks in Placer County are in desperate need of non-perishable food
items and, for the first time, Auburn’s Salvation Army was forced to
purchase food. Why? The cries for help from those who are either
homeless, or families about to lose their homes due to the housing
crisis, increased dramatically in 2007. Also, this problem isn’t just a
local one. Food banks nationwide are reporting similar circumstances.
Something needs to be done. Entire families are facing foreclosure, and
I certainly believe they got themselves into this mess by purchasing
homes they really couldn’t afford, but that doesn’t change the fact
that many will go without a roof over their heads this winter. I
believe it’s time that Placer County faces reality and constructs a
homeless shelter – preferably with private funds. 5. Commerce vs.
Event Planning: All too often, chambers of commerce fall into a trap in
which they become the organizers of events and parties for a community,
rather than the vehicle used to promote commerce, which should be their
main function. The Colfax Chamber of Commerce, a few years ago,
recognized this trend and actively worked to put a stop to it. The
chamber dropped the town’s Fourth of July celebration and, lo and
behold, another group was formed, independent of the chamber, to
continue the tradition. The chamber’s board of directors set about
fixing problems and addressing issues, actively working with the city
and elected officials to ensure that certain needs of the business
community were met. They are concerned with getting more tourists into
their core business district and are actively working to improve their
visibility along Interstate 80 and provide proper signs to direct
motorists. I applaud their efforts and challenge other chambers in the
area to follow their lead. Don Chaddock is the executive editor of the Sentinel. He may be reached at
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