Support Measure V
The citizens of Clearlake have an opportunity this November to help our city take a positive step forward by voting yes on Measure V — the road tax. Over the past year or so I have read many accounts of Clearlake police busting up illegal commercial marijuana grows and city employees abating hazardous and abandoned buildings. Under the direction of the current city council, our city has been moving forward with very limited resources. Now we have a chance to get a firm toe hold on addressing our situation with our poor roads. Make no mistake, Measure V will not solve our road problems. That will take millions of dollars and many years. But it will allow us to start addressing the issue by being able to attract and obtain outside grant money, maintain the current quality of roads and stop their degradation by allowing regular maintenance and begin a program of upgrading roads in some areas.
Measure V is unlike other road measures in that it solely and entirely is focused on our roads.
We all want our city to improve and flourish. I hope you will join me and vote yes on Measure V.
Carolynn Jarrett, Clearlake
No to Riviera Dollar General
I have lived in the area of the Clear Lake Riviera for two decades. I have been visiting the area for thirty years prior to that. What has struck me since I first came to Lake County, were the beautiful, world class views of the lake and Mt Konocti from Point Lakeview Rd. From the top of the hill at Jago Bay, you can see to the narrows, with Mt. Konocti on one side. This view has been featured on a phone book cover, post cards, the banner of the first Redbud Audubon website, and campaign literature of Supervisor Rob Brown. The entire Point Lakeview Rd — Highway 281 — Soda Bay Rd corridor was highlighted in an article about viewing Fall color in Sunset Magazine, and is a Lake County designated scenic corridor.
As you enter the Clear Lake Riviera on this scenic road, you see Mt. Konocti looming ahead. Now, Dollar General, which has been invading our county with big box, cheap merchandise stores, has an application to put a 9100 square foot store, two stories high, at the intersection of Point Lakeview and 281/Soda Bay Rd. I ask you, would you see one of these stores on the Monterey Coast Drive?, the Amalfi Coast?, the rim of the Grand Canyon? Any place that has a spectacular view protects it and markets it to tourists. We should do the same.
I will acknowledge that the proposed location for this store is zoned commercial. Other commercial buildings in the area are smaller in scale. If they have a large footprint, they are single story; if they are two story, they have a small footprint, and fit into the character of our neighborhood.
The proposed store would be a huge eyesore, detracting from the scenic value of the area. So I say to the Lake County Planning Commission: “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Please deny the Dollar General application for the Clear Lake Riviera.
Janet Swedberg, Kelseyville
Measure Z
I hope the public realizes once the money from measure Z sales tax gets in the general fund , the city may use the money for almost anything they desire.
There is no guarantee that any of the money will ever be spent on repair or replacement of our city streets.
Alan J. Hyden, Lakeport
Vote for Moke
Moke Simon is my choice for County Supervisor and I urge the residents of District 1 to support him with their votes.
Born and raised in Middletown, Moke is a trusted leader and presence at every important community meeting and event — and no one can match his Herculean efforts to provide shelter and ongoing support to hundreds of Valley and Clayton Fire victims.
Moke has the business experience the South County needs in its next Supervisor. Ask anyone who’s benefited from one of the many job fairs he’s organized or any of the hundreds of local residents employed by the Rancheria’s enterprises. Moke is the only candidate who has worked with local, state and federal officials for 20 years, negotiating multi-million dollar contracts that help drive the region’s economy.
Finally, people know that Moke is a man of his word, and when he says he will make county services more accessible and user-friendly — and bring county government directly to Lower Lake, Hidden Valley Lake, Anderson Springs and Middletown — I for one believe he will do it.
John Hess, Hidden Valley Lake
Wrong about destination marketing
On October 12, 2016 Terry Knight wrote a scathing review of Lake County’s destination marketing program, showing a complete lack of understanding of the program and its incredible effectiveness.
Lake County’s marketing is a two-pronged approach with the first prong being an extremely effective digital outreach. So far this year over 20,000,000 people have seen our digital advertising which we can target very specifically to income, geography and lifestyle to name a few.
The ads send visitors to areas of www.lakecounty.com with all sorts of features and focus including ones Mr. Knight stated that the County doesn’t care about such as fishing, birding, stargazing and so many other aspects of the natural beauty that is Lake County. By sending them to this resource they encourage discovery as well — someone coming in through a birding interest can also find out about lodging, dining or other natural wonders in the area. Their interest in birding could lead to their discovery of water trails, bicycling, golfing, wine tasting or the other wonderful things that make up our destination.
From those digital ads the County can measure the website metrics to get results and effectiveness of the messaging and make almost instantaneous changes to maximize that effectiveness. It’s a very powerful way of doing things.
There’s a second part of telling people how incredible Lake County is and that’s proving it. That’s where the Certified Tourism Ambassador program comes into play. This program trains people to correctly answer questions tourists would have and to offer exceptional service. Considering that some people speak so harshly of the county to tourists or are misinformed, this growing program can be a significant factor in making a real difference to those who choose to visit this wonderful destination.
There were other errors in the article as well, which is unfortunate. For example, the bus trips to the top of Konocti weren’t canceled because the County doesn’t want to do them, but because of property rights and access issues that arose. Those are presently being worked on.
I would strongly suggest that more research is done before blasting a program that has delivered measurable results at a very cost-effective price. Considering the wealth of experiences Mr. Knight generally shares with people in this wonderland of tourism, it’s a shame he didn’t even ask one source for the facts before denigrating the work of people whose job and passion is this telling people about this wonderful land.
Tony Barthel, Lakeport, Certified Tourism Ambassador
