WOAH!
There are times I‘ll have a meeting playing in the background and I’ll be half-listening and three-quarters bored out of my mind when something will be said that’ll just make you do a double-take.
During the Board reports section of Tuesday’s Inyo Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Jeff Griffiths mentioned that there had been hate crimes perpetrated against the city’s homeless over the past few months.
The assaults involved gangs of youths. One homeless man was rumored to have been dragged, beaten and then urinated upon.
So I then called Bishop Police Chief Nate Derr.
Derr said two different individuals had been assaulted over the past month. He said one indvidual was possibly urinated upon. Both victims had been punched, kicked and bullied by local juveniles. A total of five juveniles have been identified and charged.
In sleepy Bishop.
I also asked Derr about the fatal traffic accident which occurred on Friday, February 7 on Highway 395 in front of the Shell station at the north end of town.
A local Domino’s delivery driver traveling northbound on his motorcycle was whacked by an elderly gentleman pulling out of the gas station.
The delivery driver was life-flighted to Reno but didn’t make it.
I was reading Matthew Lehman’s real estate report this week and he stated that there had been just two single-family home sales recorded in the first month of 2025.
Lunch: Ouch. How is anyone in real estate supposed to make a living with that sales volume?
Lehman did some research and found stats on historical January sales volume over the past four years:
2024: 2 sales
2023: 3 sales
2022: 11 sales
2021: 10 sales
“I appreciate your sympathy for the realtor community,” texted Lehman. “You’re the first one, lol.”
In regard to Paul Oster’s column starting on page ten, it sure seems like Mr. Oster’s observations are generally quite timely.
And sure enough, I see a story Wednesday on Yahoo titled, “Powell predicts a time when mortgages will be impossible to get in parts of U.S.”
And when is that time exactly, according to the Fed Chairman?
“10 or 15 years.”
I spoke to Dr. Jared Gianquinto this week.
Gianquinto has been recruited to town by the dentist, Dr. Christopher Comfort, to provide orthodontic treatment.
An ad which includes a brief biographical sketch of Dr. Gianquinto appears on page 17.
I’ll flesh out the bio a little more here.
Gianquinto was born and raised in Bakersfield and attended dental school on a Naval scholarship (he is third generation Navy).
He then spent three years on active duty before coming home and starting a medical practice from scratch (now going on two decades) while he continued to serve as a reserve.
He now has two children, ages 4 & 6, so that’s instilled a desire to be here and teach them to ski.
His connection to Comfort is that both have served as past president of the Kern County Dental Society.
At the outset, he plans to be in Mammoth 1-2 times per month.
When I asked him how many patients he might take on, Gianquinto couldn’t get too specific. “As a former Navy guy, I run a tight ship (suggesting he might take more) but I like to get to know my patients. I don’t want to walk into the office and not know everyone (suggesting there are limits and he might take less).”
Lunch suggestion: If you want to get in with this guy, call him sooner than later. His first professional day in Mammoth will be Friday, February 28.
And from Fisher’s desk …
Housing study
On Tuesday, Mono County signed onto the regional housing needs assessment with the Bishop, Mammoth Lakes, and Inyo County governments. The Mono County Board of Supervisors approved the MOU unanimously.
A housing study of this size hasn’t been conducted since 2017, Tyrone Grandstrand, Housing Opportunities Manager, said in his presentation at the meeting. The price tag on such an effort is approximately $32,000 shared between the four entities.
“We were able to get a really good deal,” Tyrone Grandstand said of the cost-sharing. “We’ll spend less than we would have for a Unincorporated Mono County study and we’ll get more information because all of those communities really affect us and we affect them.”
Mono County’s share of the cost is 16% of each invoice, the smallest portion of all four entities; the other three will pay 28% of each invoice.
This reduction is because Mono County has an existing contract with the firm enlisted to provide guidance and extra capacity to support the effort.
Mammoth Lakes Town Council and Bishop City Council approved the document in January, and Inyo County Supervisors have the item listed on the agenda for their meeting next Tuesday.
Data collection for the study is slated to start this month and continue through June. The results of the survey are expected to be fully complete by October.
In the meantime, Mono County Behavioral Health Department secured approximately $1.2 million in grant funds aimed at providing housing for individuals with mental health and substance use disorders.
Amanda Greenberg, Program Manager for the Department, presented information on the grant to the Mono County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning.
Of the funds, $300,000 is earmarked for capital improvement projects (CIP). This is the maximum percentage that can be used for CIP within the grant policy, Greenburg said.
The County does not have an explicit CIP proposal in mind, though Greenberg said the money could potentially be used to acquire a property.
The remaining funds in the grant are budgeted out to fund a position, provide rental assistance, pay for hotel and motel vouchers and supplement possible operating costs for the capital improvement project.
“The housing position that I’m imagining is someone who would be able to do the things that I dream about and don’t have time to do,” Greenberg said.
She listed tasks such as building relationships with landlords and service providers and ensuring better resource access for low-income individuals experiencing homelessness; “having this person be a bit of a clearing house of information for the various different programs that folks might qualify for.”
A similar position, the Housing Navigator Position through Eastern Sierra Community Housing, aligns with what Greenberg was imagining.
It already exists but is at risk of losing funding, and Greenberg said she would talk to the grant administrator about allocating the funds there.
-Fisher
