CARPOOL KARAOKE
If you like Mammoth’s current Town Council, you’re in luck, because they’ll be serving four months longer than anticipated.
Council voted at its regular meeting Wednesday to move Council elections, traditionally held in June, to November beginning in 2020.
The reason for the change is pretty simple.
Town Attorney Andrew Morris said the state’s move of its presidential primary to March (to gain more relevance in the nominating process) necessitated the change, as municipal elections have to coincide with state elections.
Leaving the new options as March or November.
Councilmember Lynda Salcido led off the discussion by saying she couldn’t possibly make a decision until she had heard from every other conceivable board in the town and county. She felt it would be “confusing” to voters if all entities weren’t in alignment in choosing the same election day.
Not a Trumanesque stance. More of a Truman Show stance. The show must go on … and on … and on.
Mayor Pro-Tem Bill Sauser then blissfully intervened. “We can be the trendsetters,” he said, suggesting Council should demonstrate some leadership on the issue. Both he and Councilman Wentworth thought choosing March would be bad timing and would potentially politicize the budget planning process.
Council voted unanimously for November, which also gives each sitting Councilmember an extra four months in office.
In other Council action Wednesday, the Town accepted a bid for its Municipal Signage and Wayfinding project.
The project involves 81 signs, built from Corten steel i-beams and designed to not only withstand the area’s weather, but also adaptable in terms in being able to change out the messaging.
The bids came in higher than staff and consultant estimates.
The winning bid from Express Sign and Neon Co. was $497,870.
The town hopes to use $100,000 from the Joint Tourism Reserve it holds with Mammoth Lakes Tourism to help fund the project.
Council also heard from Eastern Sierra Transit Authority Director Phil Moores, who suggested that maybe it’s time for ESTA to kill the limited fixed route bus service on Old Mammoth Road now that the school year is almost over.
Currently, ESTA runs a small bus up to Red Fir, not specifically to get schoolchildren (because that’s apparently not allowed, for public transit to serve as school transit. It’s okay if it happens, but it can’t be planned. Wink wink, nudge nudge) but conveniently, the bus runs at the optimum time to get schoolchildren in the area every morning and return them conveniently home every afternoon.
The service runs midweek only.
The service costs ESTA $80/hour to run and services between 4 and 7 children daily.
The Sheet raised the obvious question as to why ESTA is essentially providing valet service at approximately $1,500/month when their parents could be, oh I don’t know, arranging their own carpool?
While Moores wants to ditch the service entirely and use the money for recruitment and retention of drivers, or perhaps an improvement of the Snowcreek Athletic Club bus stop, Mayor Pro-Tem Bill Sauser would prefer to see regular service out to Old Mammoth, perhaps with a smaller bus and an extension of the Purple Line making the loop at Red Fir.
Citizen Sandy Hogan said you’ve got a million bucks in the transit reserve. If you have the dedicated money, she said, provide the service. That’s what the voters voted for back in 2002.
Councilman John Wentworth was clearly annoyed by the whole mess, and by the repetition of talking points made on this issue since the 21st century began.
He pointedly told Moores that his predecessor (John Helm) did an analysis of this route, service levels, people served. There’s data to be examined. So go examine it, and then come back to us when you have something specific and well-thought out.
Ouch.
April Fool’s Day has passed. And I assure you the following is not a joke.
This week I was advised to log onto the Visit Mammoth homepage to check out the new marketing campaign.
It reads: Summer and Winter = Swinter. Welcome to Mammoth Lakes’ Newest Season.
Here’s how they pitch it.
“SAY ‘HELLO’ TO SWINTER IN MAMMOTH LAKES
FROM SNOW TO SUN, SWINTER HAS THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
In Mammoth Lakes, winter just doesn’t know when to quit. That’s why this year Mammoth Lakes is announcing a new season: SWINTER! That’s right. Winter has joined forces with summer, creating a magical new season called SWINTER—the awe-inspiring, superbly snowy, summer hot-spot found only in Mammoth Lakes.”
Off the top of my head …
Does this mean I can look forward to Sprummer?
If it doesn’t snow by Thanksgiving, will we need more marketing dollars for Fwinter?
When referring to the Wood Site, do we call it getting Swintlered?
I need a Swinter Van.
I think we should celebrate spring cleaning as well and have Swinter underwritten by Swiffer.
Is there a Trumpian promise that we’re all going to get tired of swinning?
Swindustry swinsiders are hailing this marketing idea as a Swinstant Classic.
Swintacular.
Mering Carson is submitting “Swinter” in a hastily created new category so we can pay for them to win some more awards. Big question: Is Mering Carson up for a swimmy or a swemmy?
Mammoth is like an American Swintzerland.
It’s getting warm. Maybe Swoolly needs a buzz cut.
This slogan makes my swincter pucker.
Finally, an interesting little article from the March 23 issue of The Economist.
Titled “Strong Pot is Hot,” the article references a study which talks about the regular use of pot with a potency of greater than 10% THC.
According to Marti Di Forti, a clinical scientist at Kings College in London, “Regular use of cannabis with a potency greater than 10% increases the risk of developing psychosis five-fold.
In London, 30% of new cases of psychosis in the study were estimated to be tied to strong cannabis.”
But it’s the last paragraph of the story which delivers the punch:
“With the relaxation of cannabis laws in the U.S. and Canada, many will wonder what this means for countries still developing their own policies. Given the impracticality of removing high-potency strains from the illegal market, the finds may support calls for legal, regulated sales of less harmful strains. It is difficult to know how this would affect public health. However, as one scientist remarked recently, while laboratory animals are an expensive way of understanding the risks of cannabis use, ‘North Americans come free.’”
