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“Just Thinking"
This week’s newsletter is a follow up to the September 19th article about leaving California, I had so many notes leftover that I decided to make a leaving California part II, this is a non-political, somewhat emotional, article with my opinions and some facts. A musical quote from Guy Clarks L.A. Freeway and a movie recommendation.
Pack up all your dishes
Make note of all good wishes
And say goodbye to the landlord for me
That son-of-a-bitch has always bored me
Throw out all them L.A. papers
And that moldy box of vanilla wafers
Adios to all this concrete
Gonna get me some dirt road back street
If I can just get off of this L.A. freeway
Without getting killed or caught
I'll be down the road in a cloud of smoke
To some land I ain't bought…
Fire and Water
The year started in horrific fashion with the Palisades Fire which began on January 7, the fire began in the Santa Monica Mountains area, near the Pacific Palisades, it was not fully contained until January 31.
Dry conditions combined with the powerful Santa Ana winds drove the rapid spread, with embers being carried far distances, causing spot fires throughout the area. The result, 23,448 acres burned, 6,837 structures burned another 1,017 structures damaged, 12 people lost their lives and tens of thousands were displaced.
According to Cal Fire, as of this date, there have been 7,439 wildland fires, burning 522,289 acres statewide with 16,479 structures destroyed and 31 deaths. In January of this year alone in the Palisades and Eaton Fires, over 57,000 acres burned, more than 18,000 homes and structures destroyed or damaged and over 200,000 people displaced.
The fires and aftermath have been a blithe on the landscape of this great state, the lack of forest management, fuel reduction, controlled burns, forest thinning and firebreaks and forest restoration were common sense until the mid-1900’s when a system of suppression was adopted. Suppression prevented low-intensity, natural burns, causing dead wood and underbrush to pile up. Over decades, this “fuel load” created conditions primed for hotter, more destructive wildfires. Ecologists linked this suppression policy to the escalating severity we see in modern wildfires.
The water woes of California mirror the calamity of the empty Santa Ynez Reservoir, during the Palisades fire, a 117-million-gallon reservoir that was emptied in early 2024 because crews discovered a large tear in its protective cover. By the time the fire ignited the reservoir was not available to supply water to the fire fighters.
Although the population of California is 2.5 time larger then it was in the 1960’s there have been no large-scale water infrastructure projects, big dams or aqueducts, since the mid-20th century. After environmental and regulatory constraints increased (e.g. Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, CEQA), fewer new dams got built, especially in environmentally sensitive areas.
In 2014 Proposition 1, the California water bond was passed which allocated funds to new water storage projects. To date, none of the major new water storage projects were completed many remain in planning, environmental review, or pre-construction phases.
Yearly during our rainy season, the majority of the downpour runs unimpeded into the Pacific Ocean. The lack of forest fire mitigation and water conservation are two more reasons that Californian’s are leaving the golden state.
A new show came out on Prime this week “John Candy – I Like Me” it is a well done funny and touching movie about the life of John Candy, weather you are a fan or not, it is well worth the watch.
“I’ve always played the nice guy, and that’s fine with me. I like the idea that people can smile when they think of me.” John Candy.
Let me know what you think.
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