But not so easy to calm them down…
There was a little kerfuffle here in the mountains.
Short story is this.
Folks whose properties backed up to a wash found out about a major project in the wash in a bad way.
They were told by a workman only part of the story and folks got justifiably pretty upset.
Because the project was starting but the local folks most affected by it really had no notion what was going on it left them feeling as if the project had been in “stealth mode” and it was only by happenstance that they found out that anything at all was going on.
Picture Arthur Dent in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. He’s told his house is being demolished for a bypass. He’s also told that the plans had been on review at the planning office for a year. He counters with “You didn’t go out of your way to advertise it did you? First I heard about it was yesterday when a worker came ’round to look at my house. I thought he was a window washer, yeah he washed a couple of windows and charged me a fiver before he told me my house was going to be demolished.” Later there’s a great line about where he found the actual plans at the planning office. “In a disused lavatory, with no lights, in a locked filing cabinet, behind a door with a sign that said beware of tiger.”
The County had actually been communicating with a town council of sorts but they hadn’t communicated with the people that were going to be directly affected by their project.
You have to understand, around here, we’re serious about trees, especially trees that grow here naturally.
So when a worker off handedly says something like “We’re going to cut all the trees in this area down…” Well that’s like saying “YOUR MAMMA” to someone Or The South Shall Rise Again at a “Lets Destroy the GOP meeting” Things rapidly go downhill.
As it turns out the County project is not going to clear cut the area. They’re not going to put concrete slabs in the wash.
Their plan is to use concrete like grout and cement the boulders in place along the sides of the wash and use a more or less natural looking matrix to stabilize the sides of the wash.
The trees that are being removed will be mulched and that mulch will be reused when the county replants what they’ve taken out. They’ll be sparing as many trees as possible but there will be some thinning of the population. The county makes the case that some of the areas they’ll be clearing / thinning this will add to fire safety because they’ll be removing a lot of thick underbrush. The County says this is actually in compliance with accepted tree density per acre as defined by the forest service.
When they replant they’ve budgeted for water trucks to come up and water the area to help the saplings take root.
Part of the County’s urgency is that they want to catch the “Rainy” season… we really haven’t had one of those in a few years but more power to them.
Other improvements will be adding a series of breaks in the bottom of the wash. These will be raised areas backfilled with native soil. The purpose of these “breaks” is to slow the speed of the water and thereby it’s carrying capacity. The goal is that if the breaks slow the water down enough dirt, silt, rocks, and other debris will settle out behind the breaks and not be washed downstream.
One question asked of the County was, “Has this been tried elsewhere?” In fact it has, and thus far the other wash that has received this treatment has remained stable and isn’t an eyesore. It’s obvious that some work has been done but not quite as obvious as some of the facelifts you see in Hollywood.
The bottom of the wash will remain open allowing water to percolate into the soil. The only exception to this will be in the areas surrounding the breaks. Due to their anchoring requirements they’ll be concreted in place with what appear to be “footers” that go quite a way into the ground.
I myself am much more comfortable with the project itself. Even with the loss of trees.
I know that other folks in the neighborhood aren’t comfortable with it and I understand why. There’s a bit of distrust remaining between the people and the County.
What I’ve taken away from this is the following.
It is the responsibility of the citizenry to tell the County (AKA Government) When they’re doing something wrong. In this case the County actually owns the property entirely.
The County’s screw-up was that they didn’t go down the list of properties backing up on the wash to say “We’re going to be doing this. Here’s what we envision the completed project to look like. Sorry for the mess and here are phone numbers to reach us if you need to.“
The citizens asked for the County to give them that courtesy in the future. The County admitted it had dropped the ball a bit, they also said they’d do better in the future.
Going online to look for the information wasn’t particularly fruitful because the title of the project appeared to change over time. That meant that you couldn’t be sure if what you were looking at was really the same part of the project or another piece that had been / or was going to be completed.
This too has been brought to the County’s attention.
On the plus side. The County was very kind, and very responsive to the folks up here when they started raising Cain. I know that I was able to get my questions answered in a reasonable way. The answers also had the ring of truth. Particularly when the engineer pointed out that there are no guarantees but that based on the best data available, this solution to the erosion of the wash is a pretty good one.
In more general terms the County is apparently receptive to improving their ability to communicate with their constituency I find that interesting and refreshing.
Another take away from this is that lots of folks, old and new in the community weren’t aware of the community organizations that actually do take time to monitor these kinds of issues. In particular, the younger crowd (meaning those who’ve moved recently to the mountain) didn’t know about the community organizations.
That’s sad for a couple of reasons. 1 it makes the younger members of the community feel a bit disenfranchised, and 2 it means that the organizations are perhaps a little too quiet about tooting their own horn.
In short little of what the careless words of a worker said were true. What was true was only part of the story, the town has discovered a hole in their communications with each other and with the County. Both issues seem to have been addressed even if it’s not to the complete satisfaction of all parties.
I daresay, the work is going to be watched like a hawk by the townsfolk, and after all that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
It is our tax money being spent.
The County of San Bernardino is once again showing up with plans to do a bunch of “necessary” work. In keeping with their normal method of operation.
Watch a fireworks show and be Americans, just “American Americans” for today.