LAKEPORT — Sen. Pat Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) visited several Lakeport businesses and held a discussion with county officials and business owners that addressed a variety of problems facing the area.
The luncheon took place at the Lakeport English Inn Tuesday afternoon.
Attendees posed questions to Wiggins regarding such topics as blighted areas of the county, the economy and roads.
Wiggins replied with brief and sometimes vague suggestions and thoughts on each topic. The crowd of about 15 included county supervisors and staff, Lakeport city council members and business owners. The discussion provoked brainstorming among participants as they bounced ideas and solutions off one another.
The issue of protecting consumers from faulty manufactured homes was a concern of Lakeport officials and county supervisors. They asked Wiggins for advice on how to protect buyers who purchase manufactured homes that are sent to the county and then found to have structural problems after they are purchased.
Wiggins was not familiar with the problem at hand and spoke up in defense of manufactured and mobile homes as the last affordable housing option in the state of California. After the problem was reiterated, Wiggins said it was an issue of consumer protection.
Lakeport city councilman Bob Rumfelt asked Wiggins how to control blighted areas and encourage mobile home owners to upgrade and “clean up” their residences. “If you were to drive through three mobile home parks in this city you would be horrified,” Rumfelt said. “How can we get them to upgrade?”
Wiggins replied, “I don”t know how you would do that.”
An issue of concern for several attendees including Dist. 5 Supervisor Denise Rushing was the condition of roads in the county. Wiggins agreed.
“The roads in Clearlake are rubble.” Rushing said on a scale of zero to 100, with zero being ?no roads,” Clearlake scored a mere 28 last year. Wiggins said, “Lake County has horrible roads?I”m going to work on that.”
Rushing then brought up the energy crisis in the state and nationwide. She said Lake County”s “economy going south will be precipitated by the energy crisis?the rural county will be the first to feel the economic downturn and energy crisis; the cost of gas directly affects and limits (commercial) deliveries to the county. We”ll be the canary in the mine.”
Wiggins said, “I drive two Honda hybrids?there are things you can do, but you have to have money to do it.”
She noted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has passed laws geared toward climate control and curbing emissions, but that he has driven gas greedy Humvees.
“I think he”s had them altered (to low emission vehicles),” Rushing said.
Wiggins advised attendees to look into green energy, and was apprised of the existence of The Geysers by members of the audience as a possible energy and revenue source for the county. The Geysers is a geothermal energy source located on the boarder of Lake and Mendocino Counties above Cobb. “We”re a resource source,” Rushing said in reference to the vast amount of energy fed from They Geysers to Pacific Gas and Electric company.
A discussion ensued about how to harness some of the money and energy from The Geysers for the county, but Wiggins warned of earthquakes that are caused by drilling. “Those are small earthquakes that release pressure of the trapped steam,” said one participant in the discussion. “We need to keep some of this energy and money at home.”
Wiggins appeared to be unfamiliar with any of the concerns that directly face Lake County residents, although she represents the county in the state Senate as well as serving on many committees that concern the county, including the Select Committee on California”s Wine Industry.
The discussion ended at 2:00 p.m., Sen. Wiggins said she was meeting with county official Kelley Cox in the Courthouse at 3:00 p.m. Supervisor Jeff Smith asked if he could join her to discuss the issue of IHSS housing in the county. She agreed, but denied the presence of the Record-Bee to report on the discussion.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com.
