How mainstream can
you be?
|  I
wrote this poem because I was found to be not mainstream
enough to be on the Planning Commission. A few
weeks later I heard that they removed the bench in front
of Pacific Flavors in Old Town because no one mainstream
ever used it. It made me wonder just who is mainstream??
Is it something I would aspire to? Is it discriminatory
or discriminating to label someone "mainstream"? |
I call it a conciliatory poem because I don't think people
really have thought through the meaning of this label. and
I think it is a dangerous one. People need to think about
it.
HOW MAINSTREAM CAN YOU BE?
(a conciliatory poem)
Can you love old -growth redwoods and still be Mainstream?
Can you oppose clear-cuts and still be Mainstream?
Can you be a tree-sitter and still be Mainstream?
Can you talk to the homeless and still be Mainstream?
Can you be unemployed and still be Mainstream?
Can you be homeless and still be Mainstream?
Can you be disabled or handicapped and still be Mainstream?
Can you be mentally challenged and still be Mainstream?
Can you be gay or bisexual or transsexual and still
be Mainstream?
Can you drink herbal tea and still be Mainstream?
Can you be a vegetarian or vegan and still be Mainstream?
Can you have long hair and still be Mainstream?
Can you wear dreads and still be Mainstream?
Can you have your natural hair color and still be Mainstream?
Can you wear a nose ring and still be Mainstream?
Can you oppose war and still be Mainstream?
Can you walk in a Peace March and still be Mainstream?
Can you live in an old house and still be Mainstream?
Can you live in the Clark District and still be Mainstream?
Can you be an artist and still be Mainstream?
Can you jam in a band and still be Mainstream?
Can you speak out for historic preservation and air
quality and still be Mainstream?
Can you boycott drive-thrus and big box stores and still
be Mainstream?
Can you be a non-native of Humboldt County and still
be Mainstream?
Can you be native American and still be Mainstream?
Can you be a person of color and still be Mainstream?
Can you wear Birkenstocks and still be Mainstream?
Can you belong to a third party and still be Mainstream?
Can you read the Greenfuse and still be Mainstream?
Can you engage in civil disobedience and still be Mainstream?
Can you speak your conscience and still be Mainstream?
You can be Mainstream if you answer yes to fewer than five
of the above questions. Then you may qualify for the Planning
Commission. And you will be entitled to sit on a bench in
Old Town.
Maybe if we didn’t have to invent criteria about who
is or isn’t Mainstream we could accomplish a lot more
to make Humboldt a liveable place with nice neighborhoods,
good schools, parks and trails, and less traffic. These are
things we all want and if we work on them together the things
that separate us into Mainstream or not Mainstream do not
really matter.
Xandra Manns
Eureka
Concerned about contribution fund
for Eureka
1. There are several positions on the EPD that are already
budgeted and not filled. How about the fire department, are
all of the budgeted position filled there? Before asking for
contributions let's fill those positions and see where the
finances are lacking. Councilman Jones was right to question
this.
2. Public Safety is council’s FIRST AND FOREMOST obligation
to the city and I feel certain that any such contributions
would likely be used for the general fund, one way or another.
Public Safety, is council’s HIGHEST priority, it should
be totally funded from the general fund, contributions should
not be counted on to fill gaps in what the general fund must
supply. With that in mind, any funds from contributions should
not be for priority items. Contributions should not be used
for any "Must Have" purposes! So, if not used for
the "must have" then a request for donations from
the public can be made at any time. The public can always
donate to special purposes, I have, and likely most, or all
of you have as well. (The currently non functioning R-U-OK?
life saving program comes to my mind. It is a program that
can be used for many things, like verbally alerting neighborhood
watch captains for example.)
3. Is the city a registered non-profit organization that
allows the citizens to deduct contributions for their federal
and state income tax as donations? I think you may be, but
if not, citizens could get into a heap of problems with the
IRS.
4. If any of such funds are used for any purpose other than
bonafide public safety - outside of what the general fund
must budget for - I suspect the city would be opening itself
up to litigation, and I don't see how that can be avoided.
I feel that Councilman Leonard understands this better than
most of the council after hearing his comments at the 11/1
council meeting.
5. I assume the city is putting the statement about senior
sewer rates on the billings, as suggested when I was turned
down on my refund request. I would not want to see the contribution
box push the senior notice out. (The small amount of my claim
and my conditions are the only reason I did not go to small
claims. Two attorneys reviewed the ordinance and assured me
that my case was just and winnable. I hope for council’s
sake that the ordinance gets amended because as the separation
in rate grows, a class action could be appealing to at least
one of those two attorneys.)
6. The Eureka Redevelopment Agency owes the city millions
of dollars (well over $6 million), it takes in millions of
dollars in property taxes annually (well over $3 million),
and could make payments to the general fund for any use council
desires, including public safety. The Taxpayers' League has
repeatedly brought this to council’s attention. The
city manager has assured me that there is NO LEGAL REASON
that the debt cannot be repaid, even though he would not recommend
it. I understand it is carried on the books as a growing asset
with its accumulating interest charges. If the city won't
collect the debt, how can it continue to be consider it as
an asset?
7. I've been led to believe that council may be considering,
not only the renewal of the utility tax, but and increase
in it as well, and perhaps even adding more utilities, and
a repeal of the maximum tax on businesses, as is the case
in most cities that have Utility Users Tax. Should any of
this come to be, I assure you I will make every effort that
these old bones can manage, to urge the Taxpayers League to
fight it in every way possible. And what happened to all the
money from the utility tax anyway? Money that council said
was needed for public safety? I know that almost a half million
was refunded to businesses that overpaid, thanks to the efforts
of the Humboldt Taxpayers’ League and a former city
council member. So much was refunded that council decided
to invoke the one year statute of limitations which cut some
businesses off from larger refunds. And, there are still businesses
overpaying their utility tax. Is the city putting as much
effort into correcting overpayments (utility tax, senior sewer
charges and what else?) that it is in seeking more money?
After Kerrigan first brought this up I received two calls
that expressed concern as to such contributions possibly being
public record, and available to the police. I don't know the
answer and said so. A point though, that perhaps should be
clarified.
Howard Rien
Eureka
More research needed to protect elections
I would like to address some remarks made by Lindsey McWilliams,
Humboldt County Elections Officer on 'real world' hacking.
Bev Harris, founder of blackboxvoting.com
(a non-profit that has done extensive research on voting system/voting
machine problems), demonstrated on live TV that a Diebold
machine can be hacked. As reported by MSNBC
in 2005, Bev Harris demonstrated to Howard Dean how it could
be done in 90 seconds!
The Blackboxvoting.com group also showed that a chimpanzee
could play havoc with Diebold equipment!
With the stake of our political way of life on the line,
I find Mr. McWilliams' remarks disheartening. I would hope
that he does more research, to assure the people of Humboldt
that our elections are as free of fraud as possible.
Thank you for your time and consideration!
Scott Kender
Eureka |
