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About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in add...  (More)

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Some comparisons between Oregon and California

Uploaded: Jul 14, 2022
Having just returned from a week in the vacation paradise of Central Oregon, some observations are in order.
Chatting with one business owner, he observed that during the pandemic he thought Oregon Gov. Kate Brown simply was copying what his highness, Gov. Gavin Newsom, was doing in California. There are some differences.
The redemption tax on bottles and cans is a dime in Oregon compared to a nickel here in California. When we took food home from restaurants, we were handed Styrofoam containers---they’re banned in the Golden State. Buy something in a store and you have your choice of paper or plastic bags at no charge—it’s a dime here. Perhaps California is just ahead of the curve and advocacy groups focus here to try to set a trend, or could it be just an over-reach.
We filled up our car in Klamath Falls nearing the California border at $4.99 per gallon. We’d paid 35 cents more than that in Central Oregon. As we neared the state border a truck stop proclaimed “fill up here and save on CA taxes.” It was $5.09 per gallon. About 10 miles down the road in California, a similar truck stop was priced at $6.59. That was a bit extreme, but when we got to Redding, the going rate at the truck stops was $5.59.
Oregonians pride themselves on their green ethic, but it seems like they either haven’t caught up with California or they’re figured out more important things than banning Styrofoam and plastic bags in stores.
Congratulations to Bev Lane of Danville who is concluding an impressive run of elected service when her term on the East Bay Regional Park District ends this year. She was elected to the Danville Town Council when the town incorporated in 1982 and served for 11 years.
Ben then was elected to the regional park board in 1994 and has served 28 years over seven terms. That’s a bunch, even for a board that tends to have long-serving members. She’s spent nearly 40 years as an elected official.
Speaking of long-serving members, her colleague, Ayn Wieskamp of Livermore, matches her. She’s served 23 years on the park district board, service that followed eight years on the Livermore City Council and eight years (if memory serves) on the Livermore Area Recreation and Park District. Her term is up this year.
Then there’s Danville Town Councilman Newell Arnerich who was elected in 1995 and has been re-elected every four years since that time. Danville, unlike other Tri-Valley cities, has no term limits for council members.
Democracy.
What is it worth to you?

Comments

Posted by DublinMike, a resident of Dublin,
on Jul 14, 2022 at 8:47 am

DublinMike is a registered user.

(Oregon) they're figured out more important things than banning Styrofoam and plastic bags in stores.

Wrong again, Tim. Tim, go to remote beaches in Mexico and you'll see why plastic bags are a problem. Even remote beaches are littered with these damn things. BTW, read up on plastic pollution in our oceans. You'll learn a great deal.


Posted by Dirk Svensen, a resident of Country Fair,
on Jul 14, 2022 at 10:44 am

Dirk Svensen is a registered user.

DublinMike:

Ease up with the personal attacks - it's just not that productive and becomes unnecessarily divisive. I took Tim's comment to mean that there may be better things our legislature could spend their time on (the legislature has shown they cannot do more than one thing at a time, regardless of that they may say). For example, maybe they should be better addressing the institutional racism*, fentanyl crisis, vagrant/mental health issues, crime and/or water shortages.

But I have seen the amount of plastics on Mexican beaches and helped clean some up as part of a cruise I was on. 30 people spent two hours on one gulf beach and picked up 1 ton (2000 lbs.) of plastics - many bottles labeled from other countries thousand of miles away. But California may need to get its own house in order before its pursues these other things.

* It seems obvious at this point that the most common cause of institutional racism is the teachers unions in the public schools.


Posted by Nils Erickson, a resident of Pleasanton Heights,
on Jul 14, 2022 at 1:06 pm

Nils Erickson is a registered user.

Please Tim, move to Oregon. You'll be happier. We'll be happier.


Posted by Jake Waters, a resident of Birdland,
on Jul 15, 2022 at 7:27 am

Jake Waters is a registered user.

Did we really ban plastic bags? Actually, I believe, the plastic bags have become more dense. The Pandemic stopped us from bringing our own carrier, but some stores now allow them.

And now we have a byproduct that has been created by this Pandemic- ‘masks'- they are on the ground everywhere. Solution- ban masks.


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