Do you think this is possible in Fillmore or Ventura County?

I get so many diverse newsletters and blog posting in my inbox. I wish I had time to read them all. This one caught my eye since I've always thought that it's too bad that Fillmore doesn't have a farmer's market where we could buy fresh local produce and support our local agriculture.

We shop at Von's and Super A but it's discouraging to buy citrus or tomatoes from South America, Mexico or even Florida. It's a waste of resources to ship our produce out of state or to other countries while we import theirs.

I do occasionally stop at the fruit stands but I'm aware that a lot of them buy from the LA market rather than Fillmore or Ventura County farmers(I know someone who worked at one of the fruitstands)

Anyway, enjoy this article and think about what it would be like to try the 50-mile diet.

These are just a few excerpts but you can read the entire article here...

The Capital of Local Eating (You’ll Never Guess…)

AUGUST 14, 2007 - Last year, more than 250 people in Powell River, British Columbia (ferry access only, population 13,000) tried a 50-mile diet for five weeks, inspiring communities across North America. Now they’re at it again. This past weekend, nearly 400 people signed on for a six-week Local Food for Change Challenge - enough to reshape, at least temporarily, their farming and food systems.

“The most important thing is it gets people talking about where their food is coming from,” said Lyn Adamson, whose abundant energy drives the challenge...

...Economically depressed and largely abandoned by the logging industry that once sustained it, Powell River is discovering the power that communities have to make a future for their farms and foodlands, simply by choosing to reconnect with the landscape they live in and putting their food dollars back into the local economy...

...We’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: foodlands are the new parklands. If the past 20 years of environmentalism were dedicated to protecting critical wild habitats, the next 20 will also defend agricultural greenspace, critical not only to local sustainability, but also to maintaining our understanding of ourselves as ultimately ecological beings. "

Sewer Saga Update...

The letter I submitted to the Gazette this week was limited to 250 words. This is the longer unedited version...

Editor,

At the July 11th City Council meeting, staff was directed to set up a meeting with PERC to discuss their ability to save $20 million building our plant using their award winning sewer plant design.

PERC submitted a bid for $15 million in 2002 to build our plant and percolation ponds. They are familiar with our discharge requirements. Their plant is efficient and compact and could have been built on city property saving millions. Providing percolation facilities combined with an NPDES permit would eliminate $26 million of the costs for the questionable practice of using the effluent to irrigate the schools and parks.

Two council members and two members of our group were greatly anticipating this meeting. It is now six weeks later and the meeting has not occurred. Why not?

The City will tell you that this plant is being built to improve water quality, not for growth. The truth is this plant initially will be twice (1.8 MGD) the size we require right now (.9 MGD), with planned additions to make it an astonishingly 150% (2.4MGD) over our current needs. Developers should be paying for most of this new plant.

One of the comments made about PERC was that they build a lot of plants for developers. Yes, many cities require the developers to build the sewer plant to accommodate growth. Why isn’t Fillmore? Developer Impact Fees(DIF's) will generate only $13 million (WRP Proforma 6/7/07) for the cost of the plant over 20 years.

Why has this bloated boondoggle been allowed to continue? The Council has not been allowed to meet with any other companies that provide solutions. And worst of all, this “state of the art” - multimillion dollar plant won’t even treat our water enough to discharge into the river and get an NPDES permit like other cities have done.

In the correspondence between the City and PERC there was a blatant effort to sabotage the meeting and keep it from happening. This represents a breach in fiduciary responsibility to the citizens of Fillmore.


Learn more at www.fillmoreca.org

Hold your breath...

...Hope the smoke isn't bothering you too much. I've talked to a few people who have been ill from the smoke and ash from the Zaca fire. The Ventura paper says that air quality will worsen over the weekend.

We spent a few days up in Morro Bay for a little mini-holiday. We really enjoyed the coolness and a little golf.

The local news channel was playing video from the Los Osos Technical Advisory Committee meeting on their sewer plant issue.

They meet every week and there is a lot of public involvement.There were a lot of speakers. I didn't have time to watch all of it but you can read about it here.

There are a few new Fillmore sewer articles on our website but I need to post a few more when I get time.

Are you enjoying the "tech talk" with Tom? I checked out the Sunbelt firewall software and will download and test it in the next couple of days.

Some of you may not know that I am indeed a "geek" and love computer technology. My business in Colorado was technology related and I still support some clients remotely.

It's not quite as much fun now with all the spam, spyware issues. Technology was supposed to be about productivity but has evolved into a lot of nuisance and time consuming security configuration.

Are Cell Phones the Next Target?

Everyone these days is finally realizing the need for computer security. Hopefully you have an anti-virus, malware\spyware scanner, personal firewall and keep your computer's operating system updated. If you don't have these tools, spend the money, it will be well worth it. If you need recommendations I would be happy to make them and in some cases it is free.

What's next on the computer security forefront?
That handy little device you carry everywhere you go, your cell phone.

Here are two links to take a look at.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/26/cell_hack_geek_spook_stalk/

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/4239e29e-02f2-11da-84e5-00000e2511c8.html

The tools used in the compromise are available to you if you have the $$$$! As it stands today the chances are slim that you will be a target but as phones progress in their sophistication they will become more attractive!

I'm still here! But have a lot more questions...

Check out the new documents on the website. There has been an intense email conversation going on between the City and PERC and some from our group.

I will post the emails later but in the meantime read the PERC response to the emails.

They also sent the proposal work they did for free back in 2002. No wonder they wanted to get paid for jumping through the hoop this time.

I have to tell you that these documents will make you wonder what the heck is going on. I have even more questions now.

I'm curious abou the NPDES comments. There have been a lot of questions raised at public hearings about the necessity to spend an additional $30 - $50 million to dispose of the effluent at the school grounds. For one, the existing percolation ponds can handle our 1 MGD most of the time(except for flooding). We are adding capacity at the 22 acre park site and the new 12 acre site. The 22 acre park site is supposed to be able to store 4 days worth of flooding.

Anyway, not to get side tracked here but just read the documents and give us your thoughts and questions. This has to whet your curiosity.