Columnists

Public Eye: Where Are the Jobs?

By Bob Burnett
Thursday July 09, 2009
More than 14 million people are unemployed in the United States, 9.5 percent of the workforce. While there are a few signs of economic recovery, employment isn’t one of them. The Obama administration must address the jobs crisis. -more-

UnderCurrents: The End of OUSD State Control: A Tale of Two Legislators

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday July 09, 2009
It seems somewhat odd, doesn’t it, that our good friends at the Oakland Tribune waited until the State of California officially turned (back) over the keys to the Oakland Unified School District Administration Building to write one of the better articles summing up the damaging effects of the state takeover. -more-

Wild Neighbors: Woodpecker Wars: Free the Fort Collins Twenty!

By Joe Eaton
Thursday July 09, 2009
A male acorn woodpecker near Groveland.
Last fall in this space, I wrote about the Rossmoor acorn woodpecker controversy. Homeowners there complained that the birds were drilling acorn storage cavities in their houses, and the Homeowners’ Association (HOA) had obtained a depredation permit from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to kill 50 of the woodpeckers. The actual dirty work was farmed out to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, an agency with a long and inglorious history of exterminating “nuisance” animals. -more-

Architectural Excursions: Beltane Ranch: From ‘Dusty Place’ to ‘Mammy’s Place’

By Daniella Thompson
Thursday July 09, 2009
The Southern-style house built by Mary Ellen Pleasant at Beltane Ranch in Glen Ellen is now a bed-and-breakfast inn.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of two articles on the Sonoma County village of Glen Ellen. -more-

About the House: Wastewater is Not a Grey Area

By Matt Cantor
Thursday July 09, 2009
I think it’s fair to argue that our biggest problems in saving this planet are conceptual and often simply emotional (though these two intertwine to fuzzy indistinguishability). There are few areas in which this is more true than with our sewers. -more-