Such as sewer vs. septic tanks, curb, gutter, sidewalk, new paved streets to be proud of, major school fees, these would be financial benefits to the City of Clearlake and improvements to the whole City of Clearlake.
As we all know there are many streets in Clearlake that are dirt, gravel, sometimes paved, and the time will come when there will be a need for an assessment district to put sewers and pavement in areas that are septic systems, which Clearlake has many, and this will be very costly to the residents in Clearlake; especially if you live on one of those streets at this time. So it will be one of two things – an assessment district or the City will leave out bids and every Clearlake resident will pay equally.
If you are open minded you can look at this area now and look at it when this project is completed. There has been some contingents regarding water, Clearlake has many water companies that are efficient with fair rates and these are private companies that have no drain on the finances of Clearlake.
Think about this. If we had in the past not allowed Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, Subway, the new Carl”s Jr. and the new Safeway shopping center, how would it be without those places? Just think about that.
Many, many years ago I knew JoAnn when she was in a highchair, I knew her Mom and her Dad, Mario and Ruth Saccato, and they moved into the Village Housing Project when the Village was in the process of being built. So we need to be open minded to think about the people of Clearlake when you look back. There was Lake County Aggregates, which was owned by Mario and Ruth, with mixer trucks, working 7 days a week. Back in them days I actually worked for and in business with the Saccatos.
The people that are in Clearlake today are many, many past tourists that worked hard at their jobs and came to enjoy Clearlake on the weekends. In the olden days Clearlake Highlands was the other part of Lake County that was not considered as the main stream.
Back in those days many people build cabins and upgraded them over the years so that when they retired they had something very nice that was paid for. They sold their properties in other communities and retired in Lake County financially healthy, to live a comfortable lifestyle and many of them enjoyed fishing then and still do.
Regarding high paying jobs, no place in Lake County specifically has high paying jobs. But on the other hand a lot of people complain about Wal-Mart; but I believe they are good for the community especially when economic times are tough. You can always go to Wal-Mart for more for less. They might not pay the most, but you ask anyone who works there and ask them whether or not their happy to have a job there.
The people that come and buy these new houses will help upgrade the whole community and give financial benefits to everyone in the community. Their fees will give the City of Clearlake money to do more things, hire more people, more taxes to the City, and the people that buy these houses are going to spend money where they live.
That is much, much more than you have now. They will buy insurance where they live, groceries where they live, gasoline where they live. So this is a plus for the whole community; but in all items there are always two sides. Mario Saccato and Doug Dillingham many, many years ago owned approximately two hundred lots in what was called the Gobbie Desert area. Many of those lots were bought for $250 each and two years ago many of those lots sold for $20-$28,000 each, with water availability only.
It has not been easy for the residents of Clearlake but now is the opportunity for the influx of outside monies. I do not live in Clearlake but I and my business partner do own some double and single wide mobile homes in the City of Clearlake. I would go to church and pray that this developer sticks his neck out, which he is doing, and keeps his focus on getting his development completed over the years to come.
Ronald Rose is a resident of Lakeport. Opinions are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lake County Record-Bee or its management.
