Vote for Moke
I am writing to express my support for Moke Simon as the candidate for Lake County District 1 Supervisor. Moke has been a leader in the community for years, and a coach of the Middletown High School football team for 15 years. During the Valley and Clayton Fires, Moke stepped up immediately to provide temporary housing and support for hundreds of the victims of these fires. Moke identified urgent needs throughout the community and took action to provide assistance before anyone had to request help. In the aftermath of the Valley Fire, Moke and his team showed up to help the Anderson Springs Water Masters reconstruct and restore the water system.
Moke was named the 2015 Lake County “Man of the Year” and also received recognition for his many humanitarian efforts throughout the trying times following these destructive fires. Despite the enormous devastation, Moke provided the courage, leadership and strength needed to help bring the community together and remain positively focused on recovery efforts.
Moke has my vote and I encourage all District 1 residents to join me in voting for Moke.
Joan Clay, Anderson Springs
Thank you, Ray’s
It was a sad day for us carnivores in south county the day we learned that Ray’s was closing. Ray’s Market in Clearlake had some of the best meat in the county. The meat department staff headed by Norm gave excellent service on special orders, answered questions, and provided all kinds of in-depth information about cuts and preparation of meats, chicken and fish. It was an old time butcher shop type of service most likely we will never see again.
The rest of the staff at Ray’s was equally friendly: Que, the man of a thousand watches, Joel, recently promoted to management, Roni the store manager with the big heart, and all the rest, are to be commended for their years of pleasant service, their smiles, and helpfulness.
The store officially closes Nov 2. It’s too bad that the corporate bosses couldn’t hold out another month and allow employees to get through the holidays with one or two last pay checks. But unfortunately that is not the way big business works.
It’s unclear what will happen to the building. It’s apparently up for sale. With Wal-Mart expanding their grocery section let’s hope it’s not another cheap grocery. That’s the last thing we need.
But the point of this letter was to say thank you to the employees. It was a pleasure doing business with you all these years. I wish you all the best in whatever comes next.
Carolynn Jarrett, Clearlake
Great work
On Tuesday, October 25, several FLOW members attended the Town Hall meeting, hosted by Supervisor Steele. We were delighted that Supervisor
Steele, working with Anita Grant, our County Counsel, had engineered a reduction in Lucerne’s water rates for the next three years.
Depending on water use, this reduction could amount to 30 percent of the user’s current bill, which is, needless to say, a substantial reduction. (Note: According to FLOW’s analysis, the savings will be 30 percent, which differs from the 50 percent savings, mentioned in the Record-Bee article.) This saving is achieved through elimination of the water service charge.
For residents of Lucerne, this rate reduction is the first that has been achieved in years. FLOW, an organization that has championed lower rates for years, is delighted that Supervisor Steele and Anita Grant have finally won a victory for the Lucerne rate payers. We appreciate their efforts!
Charles Moton, FLOW member, Lucerne
Vote for Monica
As a resident of the Lower Lake area, but no longer in District I (because of redistricting) I am still very much concerned with the outcome of the election for District I Supervisor. I am a longtime acquaintance of candidate Monica Rosenthal and strongly encourage District I residents to vote for her.
Monica is hard working, well-informed, and dedicated to this beautiful place we call home. Check out Monica’s website: monicaforsupervisor.com to learn about her many accomplishments and her caring concern for all of Lake County.
Sincerely
Roberta Lyons, Lower Lake
County marketing still falls short
While I appreciate the energy and effort that Tony Barthel (letters, October 28th) brings to Lake County’s marketing program, he overstates the effectiveness of the current program and is certainly wrong in his criticism of Terry Knight’s concerns. By way of introduction, we own a vacation rental in Clearlake Oaks and until recently owned a vineyard in the Big Valley AVA. We speak at length to our rental visitors and we seek out winery customers to find out how visitors found out about Lake County, how they learned about the attractions here, and how they found a chose a place to stay while in the county.
Our rental has been very successful, due almost entirely to our own advertising and marketing efforts. Since opening in 2009, we’ve had over 300 unique visitors at our rental, many of whom have become repeat visitors. We have never had a single visitor who found our rental through the lakecounty.com website. We are not aware of any other lodging operators who have had visitors come to them through that website. Rather, we’ve learned that lakecounty.com is used by visitors after they have already made the decision to visit Lake County. Most typically, lodging operators, wineries, and restaurants refer visitors to that website when the visitor asks for additional information about our county. We do not believe that digital media is driving visitors to Lake County. Rather, we believe that lakecounty.com is a good source of information for people who are currently visiting the county. That’s great, but the real need is a campaign that brings new visitors to Lake County.
The key issue in that regard is that we rarely find anyone who is aware of any of the current advertising (digital or print) or other marketing efforts that are part of the current Lake County marketing campaign. Instead, it appears that new visitors are most likely to come here based on recommendations from friends and family, or through 3rd-party recommendations such as fishing or wine enthusiast organizations. While a few people are aware of print advertising such as the ads in Sunset Magazine, that awareness is relatively unusual. This would, on the surface, seem to point to a certain lack of effectiveness in the current marketing campaign.
Digital media can be an effective marketing tool, but is effective only as a part of a larger marketing campaign. Large numbers of page views (Tony cites a figure of 20 million) may sound impressive, but are relatively meaningless unless they translate into an ultimate sale. Think of a retail web site with a large number of page views and an equal number of empty shopping carts. Without a method of tracking how those digital views translate into a lodging reservation or a winery visit, we are left with large numbers that may not be useful. Other county organizations recognize this. Sonoma County’s marketing arm notes that there are over 230 million annual website views for the sonomacounty.com website, but are careful to note that the important number is total visitor spending in the county — in their case, over $1.9 billion per year. Contrast this figure with the $165 million annual visitor expenditure in Lake County. Our concern about Lake County’s current marketing efforts is that many advertising outlets are either not being used or are not being used effectively to target those who have little current knowledge about Lake County. Fishing publications such as Western Outdoor News, NorCal Fishing News, and The Fish Sniffer appear to be untapped resources. Similar examples exist with wine and general outdoors publications. These and others offer opportunities not only for advertising but for in-depth interviews and partnerships as well.
The interested reader can verify this by doing “walk-around” market research on their own. Take the time to chat up people that you meet on the lake, at restaurants, or in wine tasting rooms. Ask them basic questions — “Is this your first visit to Lake County?”. “How did you first find out about Lake County?”. “What are your plans while you’re here?”. “Have you visited the lakecounty.com website?”. “Have you seen any advertising related to our county?” By asking basic questions, you will get a sense of opportunities both captured and lost. We ask those questions and we’ve found that people are largely unaware of the county’s current marketing efforts.
Again, we appreciate the efforts that Tony and many others have put forth on the part of our county. However, we are somewhat frustrated to see our Occupancy Tax payments seemingly disappear into a black hole. While it’s good to note the successes of the county’s marketing efforts, attacks on Terry Knight are unwarranted. Terry has raised some good and important issues, and the county’s marketing staff would be wise to listen closely to what he has to say.
Dennis Krentz, Clearlake Oaks
