Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive
I have a sneaking suspicion that I may be the only one in Marin who reads the Washington press releases funneled through Rep. Jared Huffman’s office. The format is boilerplate rhetoric laden with Washington-ese about how the good representative from San Rafael (or sub in the congress person of your choice) is working hand-in-glove with the Biden Administration to make his district a better place, all the while saving the planet from certain and utter destruction.
The latest of these came to our newsroom last week with this headline: “Rep. Huffman applauds funding of $60.3 million for projects in Northern California to strengthen Climate-Ready Coasts.”
Imagine that? Only a measly $60,300,000 to get climate-ready. Great bang for the buck.
If only it were true.
As you read deeper into the missive, you encounter an onslaught of meaningless phrases like “resilient to climate change,” “investing in America,” “generational investment in climate readiness,” “implement strategies to tackle the climate crisis more effectively,” and my personal favorite, spending tax dollars on things that “benefit the wider ecosystem as a whole.” (The mollusk community must be overjoyed.)
So, ladies and germs, what are these projects that will make us resilient to climate change and benefit the wider ecosystem as a whole?
Well, there’s $7 million to complete work on Prairie Creek to make salmon more comfortable, $8.7 million to the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District to restore fish migration in the lower Russian River, $4.9 million to restore the kelp forest habitat in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, $5.4 million to make juvenile Coho Salmon more at ease in the Smith River, $8.3 million for transformational habitat Restoration of Coho on the Mendocino Coast, $1.6 million to restore Red Abalone in Northern California, $519,000 for Red Cap Creek, $739,000 for Ackerman Creek restoration on the Pinoleville Pomo Nation and $14,000 to remove marine junk throughout the National Marine Sanctuary System.
As good as all these projects may be, they are minor in the grand scale of things. A million here, a million there. And, hoo-boy, how about that $14,000 to remove junk from the National Marine Sanctuary System? Is that the missing piece in federal spending to make us “climate resilient?”
Of course, I’m writing all of that in a sarcastic font because I don’t think our government is being very honest here. These projects, notwithstanding the enthusiastic applause from Rep. Huffman, do not match the rhetoric. Together they do not add up to anything that could be described as a “generational investment in climate readiness.” Not even close.
Oh, and by the way, the press release concludes with a special Washingtonian trick. The last paragraph – and I kid you not about this – contains this priceless asterisk:
“At this point in the selection process, the application approval and obligation of funds is not final. Applications are being ‘recommended’ for funding. This is not an authorization to start the project and is not a guarantee of funding.”
That is the perfect ending to this Washington fairy tale: “And they all lived happily ever after on a climate-ready coast (if approved).
The end.
SHERIFF’S REPORT
A couple of things jumped out at me in reading the 2022 annual Marin County Sheriff’s Department report today. (You can see it on the Sheriff’s website, by the way.)
– When use of force was applied, 86.9 percent of the time it was applied on men; 11.5 percent was on women; and in 1.6 percent of the time, the gender was unknown. Unknown? I can’t think of a situation in which deputies would not know the gender – eventually, at least – of a person upon which force was applied? Can you?
– When looked at by race, 44 percent of the use-of-force stats involved white people, 56% people of color. (That’s a large imbalance when looking at Marin’s population as a whole. So, if white people could please step up their efforts in resisting arrest, the equity folks in Marin would appreciate it. It will make their reports look so much better. Thank you in advance.)
– Crime numbers were about the same as 2022.
– 2023 Search and Rescue missions: 54.
– The entire report is written in ALL CAPS, which makes for a very hard read. Other than that minor criticism, I’d call that a fairly good report for Marin County’s finest.
EQUITY BEAVERS
Some of my woke-inclined friends gave me a hard time for poking fun at Marin’s new “racist roads” policy. “Weird though that may be, leave them alone,” they said, “they’re trying their best.”
But, I’m not wrong.
Right now, as you read this, the equity beavers deep within the county government are preparing a list of roads that they think have benefited from white privilege over the years and thus now will go to the bottom of the repair list. Public Works will sooner or later have to tell us which roads will get repaired first. When they do, take the bottom half and call those roads the “Roads of Shame.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘Believe this: The politicians and companies that seek to control what each of us may watch are a far greater danger to America and our treasured freedom than any of our guests ever were or could be” — Jerry Springer, who died last week at 79.
ONE MORE THING
The A’s baseball team are following the football Raiders and leaving the Bay Area for Vegas. Ouch, Oakland, ouch.
Thanks for reading again this week. Until next week, avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always question authority.
(“Properly Subversive” is a commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick for Marinscope Community Newspapers, the “mother ship” of the Novato Advance, San Rafael News-Pointer, Mill Valley Herald, Ross Valley Reporter, Twin City Times and the Sausalito Marin Scope. Mr. Frederick is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)
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