As @realDonaldTrump prepares to land in California to talk wildfires, here’s a quick refresher:
1. Approx 57% of CA’s 33 million acres of forests are owned and managed by the Feds. Just 3% are owned and managed by the state or local gov’t...
2. Talking about forest management: The US Forest Service’s budget has remained fairly stagnant for the past decade. More and more of the Dept’s budget has gone into firefighting, which means less and less is going into prevention, vegetation management and dead and dying...
... tree removal. AKA “raking the forests” 🙄
3. The US Forest Service here in CA needs approx $300 million per year to meet their annual forest management/dead and dying tree goals. If the President is so concerned, he should step up and fund the CA office.
4. The State of CA has been spending $200 million per year on vegetation management/dead and dying tree removal. Much more is needed.
5. Quick perspective: These devastating mega wildfires are impacting the entire Western United States and Alaska. For example: Between 1997 & 2018, of the 198 largest U.S. wildfires in that timespan, Alaska had 49 of the largest wildfires. CA had 23.
6. Climate change is real. It’s making vegetation drier which means fires are burning stronger, longer and larger than ever before. We must modernize our fire prevention and response efforts across the west and here in the Golden State to meet this reality. And...
... end our reliance on fossil fuels.
7. On November 3, vote like our lives and democracy depend on it.
Progress report and town hall tonight - focused on tackling the homelessness crisis.
California has launched the largest and boldest homeless housing plan in state history. All focussed on data driven solutions to tackle this crisis…
👉 Housing: Hundreds of permanent units have been built, hundreds more are on the way between the Oregon border and the Golden Gate Bridge in the coming few years.
👉 Services: All of these units are wrapped with mental health and addiction services…
👉 Funding: Over $223 million has been invested by the State to expand homeless services, programs and housing on the North Coast over the past 36 months. All with local cities and counties…
California is launching the largest high speed internet project in American history.
This historic initiative will help bridge the digital divide and provide reliable and affordable internet access to millions of unserved and underserved residents...
The bottom line is this: The pandemic shined a spotlight on the massive disparities that exist in California’s small towns, urban cities and rural counties when it comes to the lack of reliable internet activity.
This is why the State is moving with speed to deploy…
projects throughout California, now, and in the coming months.
The first 18 projects were recently announced, including 80 miles of critical high speed internet fiber that will be developed in Lake County along Highways 20, 175 & 29…
Art Ibleto, the beloved Pasta King, has passed away. The King was one of the most generous humans to walk this earth...
He raised millions over the decades - by donating his catering services and all of the food and fixins’ - for neighbors in need and for the causes we all love.
The King shared his love for Italian food with all of us (his pesto pasta and polenta were the best). He loved life, his personality was as big as his heart, he cared so much for the community and no one worked harder.