Letters to the Editor 10-17-13

Industrial zoning?
Editor: Well, I finally went to The Barlow for dinner at a restaurant. I hadn’t been to the zoned industrial shopping mall for some weeks. It was far worse than I first commented on months ago. The restaurant featured 30-foot high ceilings, metal walls with sound rocketing around, and roll-up bay windows with westerly winds blasting through the building, so much so that we asked to have the windows closed. The food was over-priced and mediocre. I’ll never go back again.
Question: I thought the Barlow was zoned industrial. Is a restaurant industrial? Are wine-tasting rooms industrial? Is a proposed hair cutting salon industrial? Are clothing boutiques industrial? Are planned second story offices industrial? Is the allegedly planned upscale hotel at the corner of Morris Street and Highway 12 industrial?
I was told the Barlow zoning was industrial.
What’s going on?
I think the Planning Commission, Barney Aldridge the and City Council have been spending too much time at Peace in Medicine.
Ed LaFrance
Sebastopol
Shutdown redux
Editor: Something smells in Washington. You have to be in a coma or worse not to know what’s been going on for the past 16 days in Washington. Our first and greatest president, George Washington warned us in his famous farewell address, “Beware of partisan politics.” It is shameful when a soldier is killed in action in Afghanistan and his or her nation won’t even pay to get his remains back to the States.
As we all know, if Congress doesn’t act today (Wednesday, Oct. 16), it’ll force our Treasury to lose its credit rating. Secretary Lew will have to decide which bills to pay. It could lead to a new international recession. Barring that, there will be a rise in interest rates, of course hitting the poor and middle classes the hardest.
Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire), John McCain (R-Arizona), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (D-Alaska) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) fought for a compromise. Rep. Paul Ryan carped, “Why weren’t there any House members included in the Collins proposal to the White House?” Some nerve, right?
Rep. Xavier Becerra said that what the Republicans in the House are doing is having an “internal feud” between their Tea Party wing and their conservatives. Rep. Pelosi also saw this as “sabotage” or “taking the government hostage.” Haven’t any of the GOP reps (either Tea Party or conservative) ever heard of the Hatfields and McCoys?
Nasty range wars and extended legal fights over property rights right here in northern California defrauded Jasper O’Farrell and many worthy Californians of their family ranches. Truth really is stranger than fiction and even more tragic sometimes.
Frank Baumgardner
Santa Rosa