Archive - Mar 2013 - Opinion

The digital future

March 19, 2013

We can’t wait to meet Mammoth’s new director of community development, whoever that is.

Judging by the job description, he or she will, ideally, possess superhuman powers, with an ability to juggle a minimum of 19 specific job duties and about a dozen peripheral duties.

He or she also must leap tall buildings in a single bound, and demonstrate superhuman strength, speed, stamina, invulnerability, freezing breath, super hearing, multiple extrasensory and vision powers, longevity, flight, intelligence, and regeneration.

Comments on the Mammoth Trails website

March 19, 2013

I have two comments on last week’s article titled “Mammoth Trails website springs to life.”

The Mammoth Lakes Trails System Coordinating Committee June 28, 2012, minutes note the total cost of the trails website as “approximately $225,000.”

Measure R funds and Town General Funds were the major contributor, along with some private funds. 

That amount, plus the approximately $30,000 budgeted for first year maintenance totals more than one quarter of a million dollars.    

A bighorn sheep thank you

March 13, 2013

The fundraiser gala “500 and Rising” was a terrific success, sharing with over 150 guests the remarkable story of the wild sheep in our backyard.

On behalf of the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation I would like to thank the friends from near and far who came to show their enthusiasm for Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep, as well as the many people who worked hard to bring about this event.

Rich Boccia

March 13, 2013

We’re sorry to see Rich Boccia go.

No we’re not.

Yes we are.

Boccia’s sudden resignation as superintendent of the Mammoth Unified School District, effective March 1, elicited similar responses all around town and, presumably, in the cloistered halls of the high school, middle school, and elementary school.

He was a smart, brash, in-your-face Italian American, and Mammoth has never seen anyone quite like him.

The price of “go fish”

March 6, 2013

It’s all about money. The local and out of town trout fishermen bring in a lot of revenue to the county, and in the process, get to relax and enjoy life.

But, there is a steep price to pay for their enjoyment.  

First of all, there is a definite opposition from the fish and wildlife biologists to trout rearing and planting.

Their philosophy is that such practices disrupt the natural balance of nature and causes big problems for the eco-system. 

As a local, I feel ripped off

March 6, 2013

Kudos to Michael Raimondo and Matt Lehman for being the only responsible council members who voted to impose the penalties and interest in regards to a home being illegally rented out nightly. 

As a local, I feel ripped off. 

For the other council members who voted to allow the owners Kevin and Carolynn Cozen to not have to pay on the penalties and interest, when they fully knew and basically admitted they were renting their home illegally, should resign.

We want an explanation!

March 6, 2013

The TOT remitting, fine, and late-fee paying members of the Mammoth Lakes Lodging Association want an explanation! 

At last Wednesday’s Town Council meeting, you heard the first of what will no doubt be many appeals from homeowners who have been renting their single family home out illegally.

Yosemite

March 6, 2013

Amid the debate over the proposed Tuolumne River and Merced River Plans in Yosemite National Park, two questions remain unanswered.

In years of development and tourism in Yosemite Valley, what have we lost? And what have we gained?

Yosemite Valley has a long history of one set of people evicting others in an ongoing exercise in how best to utilize the spectacular, one-of-a-kind glacial valley.