Concerning the Aug. 12 commentary “Clear Lake vs. Mount Konocti” by McKee and Borges ? they were too easy on the board of supervisors who need to be scolded, if not reamed for thinking this county can afford a mountain. We have the worst roads in the state and they want to buy a useless mountain for a handful of people. I am sick and tired of driving on these bumpy roads that are tearing up my car. Too many people with bad backs live in this county and the roads are a killer, and the county wants a mountain.
We have no leadership in the county. It has taken two months for the city and county to get together to even discuss the lake algae problem. For now the wind is taking care of the algae. Have they forgotten that tourism brings in the revenue? There should have been a plan in effect before it got so bad. Years ago the county was approached by someone who wanted to harvest the algae for nothing. The county wanted a cut, which would make it unprofitable for them to do any harvesting. The county should have been grateful there was someone with a workable solution.
Then there”s the City of Clearlake wasting money. Years ago they were offered the airport property from the county for a dollar. They took a year to decide to purchase the property for that dollar. Well, guess what? It was no longer available at that price and they had to pay a million dollars for it. The last time I checked, the City of Clearlake had 36 pieces of property. That includes the prime Old Austin”s Resort, which they purchased with redevelopment monies and have owned now for 20 years, worth how many millions of dollars? Plus you have to add another million dollars for the cost of the lawsuit after evicting the residents. Several developers have expressed interest in the old resort, however, they have so many restrictions on the sale of the property, no one wants to buy it. We need roads, not property! If it were not for redevelopment funds, Clearlake would not have any roads repaired.
Last year when the city had a special meeting, prompted by the petition to unincorporate the city, they told us we”re working on it, give us time. Well, it”s been 28 years, time is up, what”s changed?
Whoever is making these choices has to go. Do the voters know that just because there”s a name on the ballot, it does not mean you have to vote for anyone?
There have been countless poor choices made in this county. Like Lee Iacocca asked, “Where are our leaders?”
Bonnie Barbee
Clearlake
