FoCuS board members at first of Visioning meetings for Calaveras County General Plan
About 40 people attended the Saturday December 1st Vision and Values session in Arnold, the first in another round of community meetings throughout the county to gather local input on what people want to see in the county as a whole. FoCuS was well represented by Josh Bridges, Randy Crutcher and Rhoda Nussbaum, Foothill Collaborative board members. More FoCuS members will be involved with other community visioning meetings in other locations in the county.
The agenda included a brief summary of the GPU process (Larry Mintier ) and the baseline report (Rik Keller -project mgr). Mintier and Associates are the consultants contracted by Calaveras County to assist the process of developing the new general plan. The Vision and Values sessions are considered the third phase of the process.
An Issues and Opportunities Summary and Draft Vision Statement based on this second round of citizens meetings will be prepared and reviewed by the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission.
After this summary by the consultants there was a brainstorming exercise where groups of 6-8 citizens prioritized the issues most important to them and listed the principles and values to be incorporated into the vision statement in each area.
A sheet with the Ahwahnee Principles (developed in l991 at a conference in Yosemite by a broad range of Californians involved in planning for the future) was available for each group as well as the nine general areas of interest that had been identified in the first round of community meetings.
Each group identified land use, community planning, economic development, natural resources, facilities and transportation as major issues. Other issues including housing, and health were included in the identified areas or mentioned in the Q&A session thereafter.
Almost all the groups visions and values were included in or compatible with the Ahwahnee principles. There was consensus about keeping Calaveras County rural and planning for growth in or contiguous to existing communities. Issues of forest protection and water, climate change and decreasing annual snow pack were highlighted. There was consensus about attracting employers to Calaveras County who would provide living wages and opportunities for our young people to stay in the county.
There was a refreshing emphasis on youth. There will be involvement of high school students in the GPU process according to Stephanie Moreno, county Director of Community Development.
A summary of the sessions will be posted on the web site.There was a commitment stated to provide bus service to future community meetings and for transporting people from Rte 4 corridor to San Andreas for other county meetings in this visioning round. A list of attendees will be used to develop a distribution list for the county to inform us of future events. This will allow us to pass information on to our wider constituencies during the process. The summaries of community workshop results will be posted on the county website. The draft baseline report is now available on the county website - link below -.Ü When the final version of this report is released in a few weeks, written comment from the public will be welcome. This is an opportunity to correct errors or add missing information.
http://www.co.calaveras.ca.us/departments/gp_update.asp#BaseReport
Written input can be submitted to the county via General Plan Coordinator Lynn O'Connor (loconnor@co.calaveras.ca.us). If you do submit material, it would be wonderful if you would be willing to send a copy to cap@goldrush.com so the Calaveras Action Project and the Calaveras Planning Coalition can hear what folks are saying.
We will do our best to keep you informed about this important process, and it is a good idea to check the County General Plan website regularly.Ü Questions or comments are welcomed by Mickey Williamson, FoCuS representative to the Planning Coalition. mickeyw@goldrush.com
Transportation And Recreation
Calaveras Transit has published a new bus schedule, which went into effect on November 5. Along with increased service comes a fare increase, from $1 to $1.50 for a one-way trip. A new route makes 5 daily round trips between Angels Camp and Copperopolis. The new schedule and route map are available at calaverastransit.com
The 2007 ski bus
schedule should be out soon.
We know that a lot of folks make frequent trips between the Highway 4 corridor
and the SF Bay Area. If you're one of them, please join Ebbetts Pass Rides, an
online ridesharing group for people who occasionally need a ride or can offer a
ride. There is absolutely no obligation. You'll get an occasional email when
someone needs a ride. That's all there is to it! To join, contact Sandy Kasten
at arnoldtax@yahoo.com
On Sunday December 2,
the second Arnold Rim Trail trail work day this year took place with a dozen
volunteers working to restore highly eroded trail surfaces. This already
designated portion of the Arnold Rim Trail is on Stanislaus National Forest land
near the town of Arnold . The vision is for the trail to eventually consist of
a 35 mile loop that will link scenic and natural treasures, towns and
neighborhoods for walkers, hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians up and down
the Hwy 4 corridor between Hathaway Pines and Dorrington. FoCuS is the 501 3c
fiscal sponsor for ART, the Arnold Rim Trail should you wish to make a donation
toward its construction. To join these volunteer day efforts or come to monthly
meetings, contact Randy Crutcher at
rama50@comcast.net
New Renewable Energy/Green Building Seed Pod Forming
Interested in promoting renewable energy/green building? A few of us have been interested in forming a seed pod to promote these ideals. Several ideas have been discussed about designing a website promoting local green builders to planning a “real” Earth Day with workshops and demonstrations. Interested in participating? How about a meeting in the second or third week in January? Please let me know what time and day is good for you by e-mailing me at ginouye@volcano.net (please include phone number).
Energy Web links
Challenges in promoting sustainable energy…a market survey to better help understand customer motivation
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/press/landmark-study-energy-efficiency/
Are high gas prices good?
http://www.energyplanet.info/blog/2007/09/08/high-gas-prices-good/
Hope on the coal front?
HEALTH & WELLBEING
We continue to add local classes to our site. Check out www.focusonwellbeing.info for yoga, homeopathic, meditation, lectures and workshops.
OUR PERSONAL TIPPING POINTS #3
John Adams
This is the third in a series of eight mini-articles that cover the essential success factors for making deep personal habit changes. There are eight factors. In the November Newsletter, I introduced factor #1: “Understanding and acceptance of the need for change.” Making changes in our deeply ingrained habits is not easy. Whenever we are setting out to make a significant change in how we do things, we may benefit from checking over the eight success factors to see which ones we need to invest energy in.
This time, I will introduce factor #2: “Belief that the change is both possible and desirable.” Even if we have accepted the necessity for making a change (#1), we may not succeed if we do not affirm that we can be successful, and that making the change is the right thing to do.
One way to convince ourselves that the change is both possible and desirable is to spend more time with people who have already made the change in question, and/or less time with nay-sayers, who don’t think it is a worthwhile change. In my experience, I have personally made quite intentional changes in my “support base” in order to succeed in developing a new and healthier habit. In moving to the Sierras, for example, I explicitly sought out people who were further along than I was in adopting sustainable living, in order to have role models for “possibility and desirability.”
This month’s challenge is for you to identify a new and more sustainable behavior and develop a new “story” about making this change that describes it as being both possible and desirable. For example, perhaps you have been thinking about using less harmful laundry detergents. You are already convinced that these are a better way to do your laundry, but you’ve found that the local supermarket doesn’t carry “Seventh Generation” or one of the other eco-friendly detergents. Asking the manager to stock these products, and getting your friends to also ask for them, might just make them available to all of us! If there is no cooperation, mention that you will be looking for an alternative place to shop that does carry the more desirable products.
One goal is to keep our money circulating longer within the community. Another goal is to make sure that healthy and environmentally products are available in the community as well!