FAKE NEWS

Napa State Sen. Bill Dodd (pictured) is at it again. He just reintroduced his “fake news” bill in Sacramento (SB 830) after it stalled in the Assembly in the 2017 session. His bill sets out to add media-literacy education to school curriculums to address the real-time concerns of educators that kids are confused and overwhelmed by the info offered on social media.

“The rise of fake and misleading news is deeply concerning,” says Dodd, “as is the habit by some to dismiss real facts as ‘fake news’ just because they don’t like them.”

In offering his bill again, Dodd cites a 2016 Stanford study which found that 82 percent of middle school students in California can’t tell an advertisement from a news story. That’s a sad fact which cannot be helped with the advent of all those confusing “sponsored content” news stories that are popping up all over the regional daily newspapers.

The bill has naturally picked up support from media-literacy advocates, along with a range of bipartisan lawmakers. Also on board is Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom who says it’s critical to teach kids how to “discern factual information from farce.” It’s a fact that Newsom is running for governor this year.

TAX NEWS

It’s also a fact that state Sen. Mike McGuire hosted an informal hearing on Jan. 10 to talk about the ways the recently enacted federal tax reform bill will impact Californians. Quite badly, is the general upshot in a release from McGuire’s office this week, which highlighted how the new law would hit the 99 percent hard, and those are his words. McGuire notes that among other damage done or proposed to be done, the bill will “ruthlessly cut the health insurance of 1.7 million Californians.” The hearing is archived at senate.gov.

BADGES OF HONOR

The race for Sonoma County Sheriff is heating up in the new year, and last week SCSO Captain Mark Essick nabbed the endorsement of interim Sheriff Rob Giordano and three county supervisors. In a release, Essick reported that Shirlee Zane, David Rabbitt and James Gore have each endorsed him. Essick is the the only candidate for sheriff who is an employee of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

The other candidates are outspoken reformer John Mutz from Los Angeles, the most demonstrably progressive of the candidates (he initiated reforms in L.A. following the Rodney King incident), and Santa Rosa City Councilman (and former Santa Rosa Police Department officer) Ernesto Olivares. Windsor Sheriff Carlos Basurto, also a member of the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, dropped out of the race last month.

Among a slew of posted endorsements, Olivares has grabbed support from numerous past and current Santa Rosa elected officials, along with getting the nod from U.S. Congressman Mike Thompson and California State Assemblyman Marc Levine.

Mutz, the former police chief in Los Angeles, has been endorsed by the likes of San Francisco police chief William Scott, along with a number of community members and activists from around the county.

Essick’s posted endorsement list is very heavy with current members of the SCSO, and includes department spokesman Sgt. Spencer Crum.

There were six contenders to replace Sheriff Steve Freitas back in May 2017, and Freitas had endorsed Basurto before he dropped out of the race.

Freitas left office for health reasons and was replaced by Giordano last August. He pledged to stay out of the race even as his public profile was enhanced mightily by his media presence during the North Bay fires. A profile of Giordano in the Press Democrat from late in October 2017 noted that Supervisor Zane was then pushing him to change his mind and run. Now they’re both endorsing Essick. The primary is in June, and the issue will be decided in November—an election of the first uncontested sheriff’s candidate in two decades.

In other county-related election news, District Attorney Jill Ravitch has announced she is running for re-election.

EMBER ALERT

A couple weeks ago we wrote about a pending legislative push by the North Bay state delegation to bring reform to California’s inadequate early warning system for emergencies (“Next Time”,
Dec. 27). This week the lawmakers made good on their pledge and introduced SB 833, which seeks to bring various emergency-warning systems around the state under one set of protocols. Call it the “Ember Alert” bill. The push was prompted by shortcomings in the regional early-warning system which were smoked out during the North Bay fires of October.
—Tom Gogola

Napa and Sonoma counties are in the early stages of rebuilding as the region recovers from the massive fires that decimated the region last year.

In a stroke of good timing, Calistoga, the city where the Tubbs fire began on Oct. 8, has already approved a condominium project for 50 units of sorely needed housing.

Housing has become an urgent need for those whose homes were destroyed in the fire. Last month, the Calistoga Vista development cleared the city’s planning commission; the city council votes on the project next week.

The Tubbs fire began Oct. 8 north of the city limits on Tubbs Lane. Fierce winds blew the fire into Sonoma County and Santa Rosa with devastating results. Calistoga lost 30 homes on the outskirts of the city.

Calistoga Mayor Chris Canning said the market-rate housing would be geared toward lower and middle-income residents—precisely those suffering from a dearth of available housing made worse by the fires.

Calistoga Vista, located on Grant Street, will offer 46 condominiums and four live/work townhomes. The development includes 18 studio units, 15 one-bedrooms homes, two two-bedroom units and two three-bedroom condos.

While Canning predicted a waiting list for applicants, it hasn’t yet been created. The new homes can’t come fast enough, but construction won’t begin until early 2019.

New development is often a contentious issue in Calistoga; the Vista project, however, appears to have been improved with minimal opposition. There were two public forums on the project last year. At the first one, no members of the public showed up. At the second, there were four people in attendance.

The project is designed to be eco-friendly. Napa-based architecture and construction firm Healthy Buildings created the project and designed it for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. Solar power and other environmentally conscious technology will be part of the design, says Lisa Batto, managing principal at Healthy Buildings.

It’s only 50 homes, but with many people still displaced from the fires, it’s a start, says Canning.

Another well-timed development is the city’s new Boys & Girls Club, which began its first full year of use in 2018. The Napa Valley Vintners Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Helena and Calistoga clubhouse benefited from a $10.5 million capital campaign that drew from donors across Napa County. Had the fundraising campaign been waged after the fires, it would have faced competition from the many fire-recovery fundraising efforts.

The facility’s primary purpose is to serve the area’s youth, but its versatility may provide a bigger boon to the community, says Canning. The 14,000-square-foot clubhouse and kitchen double as a rental venue. Fundraising events are still being held to help those impacted by the fires, and the facility offers a venue for those events.

Canning hopes rental revenue for other events like weddings and quinceañeras will help keep the club’s coffers filled in the uncertain economic climate following the fires.