ATT: VALLEJO CITY COUNCIL

Attention City Hall! 

When I moved to Vallejo in 2014, and discovered the deplorable condition of Independence Park, I asked a lot of people what to do.  All roads led to Joe Callahan, who, when we spoke by phone, confirmed his development deal with the city was connected to beautifying Independence Park.  He explained, however, that because the economy was so bad, he couldn’t go ahead with the plans, which made sense in 2014. 

Evidently, times have changed, and Mr. Callahan now proposes a big development plan on the waterfront, residential and commercial, including two parks. 

So, what about Independence Park, Mr. Callahan?  We’re calling in our chips.  A deal is a deal.  You get to develop the waterfront, you give us the park.  A beautiful one, as befits its place in the city.

(written from my new home in San Francisco)

 

THE MAD HATTER

Hear ye! Hear ye! The Mad Hatter’s coming back, and I say not a moment too soon.  As we are forced to witness unspeakable cruelty and crimes against humanity on a daily basis, we need to be reminded of the joyful possibilities of life, the pleasures of a fantastic voyage, and the sweet innocence of childhood. 

The Mad Hatter teaches us how precious we are to each other.  The Tea Party is about friends and family and love. Civic pride, too, gets a place at the table as I see it.  After all, The Mad Hatter is Maestro Malifrando’s chef d'oeuvre about the fair city of Vallejo, a fitting tribute that calls upon its lovable crackpots to come out and play.

On Wednesday, July 4^th. for a few short hours, I plan to leave my worries behind and sashay down to the river to find friends, enjoy exotic street food, and get into the spirit of madness and fun.   

The judges didn’t get it

“The Going Going Gong Show” is supposed to be fun, but I found it a downer.

Someone should have explained to the judges what “The Gong Show” in Vallejo is about. The “rapping grandma” should have gotten top scores. How bad would it have been for us to hear a few more strains of the Didgeridoo? I left after she was gonged off the stage. The judging was all wrong and the MC put the audience to sleep.

With all the talent in this town we can do better. At least it was for a good cause and thanks to the deep pockets for their generosity.

WELCOME

Exciting news, the USS Emory S. Land will dock at Mare Island for routine maintenance with Mare Island Dry Dock, and the community is invited to welcome the ship on the "Vallejo" side of the strait along the waterfront green and Independence Park, near the ferry building.   There will be celebrations for the public who are invited to grab lunch on the waterfront and watch them sail in. The crew will be on deck so we can see them and they can see us.

I look forward to this happy event unfolding right in front of my home.  I'll just cross the street to the river to watch the fine old ship, wave to the sailors, and enjoy a picnic lunch.  But wait! There aren't any picnic tables in Independence Park; there are no park benches either, and there's nowhere to sit.  It's dangerous to your health if you walk on the grass, which is regularly poisoned so it can't grow and need to be mowed.  Independence Park is a shameful blight that welcomes visitors by water to our city.  We do nothing to take care of it, and somehow, it became a political issue, and we know how the wise leaders of Chelm - er, Vallejo deal with such matters. 

Where is the PB money voted and approved to fix the park three years ago?  What about the thousand signers to the petition four years ago who demanded the city clean up that park up?  What about the will of the people?  Is this the way we welcome the crew of the Emory to our shores?  Let's hope they don't notice.

NO SOAP RADIO

 NO SOAP RADIO

Unable to attend the NPR forum at the Empress on Tuesday, I listened to it on the radio.  I called from the freeway but the connection was bad & I couldn't get on. I wanted to thank Michael Krasny for expressing surprise by the sea of white faces of the audience in the most diverse city in the country.  One doesn’t need to be there to know what he saw, and hope for better answers than: “everyone’s welcome,” and, “we’re open to everyone.”

I call B.S.  
That's not what's happening here, and our leaders should recognize it, speak its name, and do something about it. I wanted to tell the listeners of my favorite radio station how ashamed I feel to live in a segregated city. 

Moreover, what can we say about our Mayor Bob Sampayan, who read prepared answers & announced on the forum, for all the world to hear, that he didn't know the racial demographics of Vallejo, and perhaps worse, thought LHBQ was a race. What does this mean?  

TUBE TROUBLES

I made a small dinner party last night and everyone stepped on my oxygen tubes  -- and why shouldn’t they?  I step on them myself.  They trail behind me like a bridal veil as i walk around my place, taking care of business, doing what I do.  The 50 feet of clear plastic tubing gathers in coiled piles in narrow hallways and all over the place, and gets stuck and caught in every place it possibly can.  If there's a hook or a corner, my tube will find it. 

At one point during dinner I noticed Kay’s chair leg sitting directly on the tube and asked her to free it, please.  Then I forgot about it until about 4 hours later when I lay back to sleep in my bed and noticed my heart beating in a noticeable way.  Not pounding but working hard enough for me to notice.  Checked my blood oxygen and found it to be 84, too low, and I wondered why. 

Emergency!  Pulled the cannula out of my nose and stuck it in my mouth; no air.  Then I remembered the chair leg on my tube and realized I’d gotten no oxygen for hours, including while I finished my work in the kitchen after my guests left, and all the time i watched TV in bed.  No wonder I felt so tired.

Jumped up and checked the concentrator; it was working fine and big bubbles broke the surface of the water in the humidifier.  So oxygen was coming out of the machine but not getting through the tube.  Tried to stay calm and proceeded to open each little part to discover where the air was blocked.  I learned that no air was coming through to the water trap, so it had to be the tube.   

No time to inspect, I grabbed a new 50 footer from my supply drawer, and connected one end to the humidifier bottle.  Oxygen flowed through but now I had 100 feet of tubing on the floor in front of me, coiled & curled, and the new one in in so many coils and knots I couldn’t smooth out.  I managed to separate out the old tubing and kicked it away down the stairs, but still needed to straighten out the new tube if I wanted to move.   

It took much too long to untangle the tube, and without getting oxygen, but eventually I won and went back to bed.  My oxygen level was now 97.  I wonder how much damage I did to my organs during the time they were oxygen deprived.  At least my heart had calmed down.

So that's life these days.  Thinking about it now I'm lucky to be alive, because I could have simply fallen asleep and been without oxygen all night.  And dinner was appreciated by all.

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MITIGATION MEASURES?

I read the Orcem/VMT full page ad in the paper on Sunday and was relieved to learn that Vallejo won't be polluted or harmed in any way by anything they do thanks to "mitigating measures."

I'm not sure how these "mitigating measures" work. To clarify:  Is it like dropping a stink bomb on Councillor Verda-Aliga's house and planting flowers on my front lawn, then her house won't stink?  Did i get that right?

Furthermore, I keep looking for the 200 people who called Councillor Verda-Aliga on the phone to ask her to vote in favor of the cement factory.  I'm always worried there won't be enough seats for them at City Hall when this important subject is on the agenda, yet, i never see them.  i wonder where they are?'  

And why did Councillor Verda-Aliga keep rubbing her hands together, like Lady MacBeth, during the talk about the cement factory?  What's up with that?