What a wonderful day. Hey folks, what a day today.
The sun is shining, the lake looks very nice, kids are running around, people are gardening and in general it is a good time to be alive.
Now the real news.
The kids who are graduating do not have a future here nor can they get summer jobs for lack of adequate employment.
Even part-time work is difficult. If you are an artisan of any sort, you now must go farther to work because basically there is less building, less money, less people, less entertainment of any sort and, for that matter, less money to expand our horizons.
Taxing those who live here will not help matters any. For those of you who have civil service jobs, beware that it appears that things will get worse as time goes on and there is no doubt many jobs will go on the chopping block, including city and county police.
The fact of the matter is that money for this county depends on outside sources for revenue. We as a county have some of the best natural resources this side of the Sierras.
We have a gigantic lake, federal and state parks, hiking and many other activities. This brings me to Konocti Harbor Resort and Spa, again. It of course, is now closed.
Our city fathers did not realize nor did they understand what the impact might do to this community.
I have now retired and have been here on a permanent basis and I can say unequivocally that there is not someone that I have spoken to that has not been touched by this absurd closure.
You figure, if our government can bail out companies for a few trillion dollars, why can”t we spend a few million dollars to save such a money making machine.
We should buy it and let a private company run it for profit. We should force the state, city and county to allow an all-out 24-hour card room and maybe even a casino such as what our local tribes have.
Consider this, since all this would be monitored by our city and county, we as a county would not have to get into a taxable begging match for revenues as we do with the tribal casinos.
Bay Area folks would flock up here for all kinds of entertainment, all year round. I spent a better part of 25 years coming here for many of the things that I have mentioned and all I can say now is that this is a travesty for a community that can make it happen.
I truly hope that something positive transpires from this message.
Moses Ornelas Valdez
Kelseyville
