North Salt Lake: A Northern Tijuana?

I haven't been going out much the past week and a half because I've been sporting a black eye, which frankly, invites a lot of staring and some sympathetic looks -- and one can only explain so many times to dubious listeners that it was a self-inflicted injury.

Plus, there is now a major water project blocking the lower half of the street that accesses my house, requiring me to take a detour going and coming. I find less and less incentive to just hop in the car and run out for some little thing.

So when I did take such a trip earlier this week, I was surprised to see the corner of Hwy 89 and and Center Street, across from city hall, festooned in racks of colorful blankets, shelves of athletic shoes, and a variety of other items. It literally reminded me of a booth in Tijuana, Mexico. These weren't pretty ethnic blankets, they were gaudy garish pictures of cartoon characters, monsters, and that lady silhouette you see on trucker mudflaps. Cheesy and cheap. Upon seeing this, I hoped it might be just a one-day thing like when they sell sports clothing and items just before a big game. But maybe not. Yesterday when I went out, it was still there.

North Salt Lake is already a town without an identity. The name alone makes people think we must be in Salt Lake County rather than Davis, or it just makes it sound like we are the northern part of Salt Lake City. We don't have a charming, small-town center because Hwy 89 runs through the middle of town and we look like nothing but a long entrance into Bountiful which does have a beautiful, walkable city center. If we are known for anything here, it's our blight of oil refineries firmly ensconced just west of the freeway.

North Salt Lake recently approved building a new city hall that will surely update the look and warmth of the city. But if the city is going to approve and/or encourage transient businesses such as the one currently across the street from the city offices, we are destined to sink further and further into obscurity as a city.

What this city needs is a master plan for making the city feel like a real cohesive city instead of the piecemeal approach of development. Heaven help us if this blanket business is any sign of the future for our little town.

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum Again!

Grim times indeed for many Americans who have lost homes or can no longer pay rent. Reminiscent of Depression era times, tent cities and shanty towns are springing up all over the country. So many people who were already living in narrow margins, now find themselves jobless and truly homeless, forced to find shelter as best they can.

FRESNO, Calif. — As the operations manager of an outreach center for the homeless here, Paul Stack is used to seeing people down on their luck. What he had never seen before was people livingin tents and lean-tos on the railroad lot across from the center.

“They just popped up about 18 months ago,” Mr. Stack said. “One day it was empty. The next day, there were people living there.”

Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”

Untold others are living in their cars - the only shelter they can have.

It's just after sun-up. The streaks of light shimmer off the car windows. In the back of the Ford Explorer John Nilsen stirs. This is home. Clothes are kept in a suitcase. Food is wherever they can find it.

"It's definitely not something that you ever see yourself being, homeless," Nilsen says.

But homeless they have been for the past six weeks, ever since the money ran out and they were evicted from the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, apartment they shared. Nilsen had lost his job, and Barboza is waiting for disability checks to start arriving.

Clearly cities are struggling to find ways of housing and helping the growing number of homeless people. But I fear this problem will only continue to grow, reflecting increasing unemployment. And the tide will turn only when the stimulus really kicks in and jobs become more available. Until then, thank goodness good weather is coming.

Utahns, remember the Boy Scout Food Drive this weekend. If you are lucky enough to have plenty of food for your family, be generous in sharing with those who don't.



(Or you might prefer another tune of the same title by the late, great Utah Phillips.)

Does North Salt Lake have a Noise Ordinance?

I think I'm about to find out. The first nice weather of the year has brought out the neighborhood's worst offender. My neighbor has a VERY good stereo, and he plays it loudly. I can sometimes hear it inside my house when we both have all doors and windows closed -- especially when he has a party. But when he opens the windows and we get the full effect blasting in the neighborhood . . . I mean, I like rock and roll too, but please. All last summer I did my best to ignore the loud stereo, hoping some other neighbor would complain and save me the trouble.

But this morning, my peaceful Sunday, inside my own quiet house, is shattered by thump-thump-thump-thump, thump-a-thump-thump-thump. That's right, I'm treated to just the bass and drums while he gets the full sounds. The reason for this is physics -- lower frequencies can penetrate more easily through the walls. Doesn't this guy have an I-Pod?

He's outside working today, and has his stereo cranked up so he can hear it out there. Yes, we can all hear it. And judging from last summer's experience, this is going to be the rule not the exception all summer long.

So how to handle it. Go over and talk nicely to him? Not sure about that. The guy is a macho-man kind of a guy with big truck, chopper motorcycle, guns he has shown in his yard. I doubt he will be receptive to a friendly request from the nice little old lady next door. And although we became acquainted when he first moved in, I've decided I don't want to be friends since seeing his guns.

So, call the city and complain? Only if I can do so anonymously. I know sometimes these macho guys have a personal philosophy of don't get mad, get even. And, of course, I need to find out if the city does have a noise ordinance.

But I don't want to put up with another summer like the last one. Something must be done.

To those hurt by gay marriages - an apology

From HuffingtonPost

Portia De Rossi appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" last night and talked about being a teenage model and her new show "Better Off Ted." She also brought with her a new PSA she made about gay marriage.

Despite being a gay rights activist, it was an apology to all the Prop 8 supporters who were put out by protesting same-sex marriage. She was wed to Ellen DeGeneres in August of 2008 after California legalized the practice. The ensuing battle of over the proposition to reverse the court's ruling is now before the California Supreme Court.

Death penalty now banned in New Mexico

Governor Richardson has signed legislation that repeals the death penalty in New Mexico.

Richardson, a Democrat who formerly supported capital punishment, said signing the bill was the "most difficult decision" of his political life but that "the potential for ... execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings."

New Mexico is only the second state to ban the death penalty since it was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976, and is one of 15 states that do not now impose capital punishment. Remember, Utah had the dubious distinction of executing Gary Gilmore in 1977, the first execution in the U.S. after the ruling.

It may have been a difficult decision for Richardson, but it was also a courageous decision. I don't expect to see such a decision in our red and blood-thirsty Utah.

Republicans eat their young

What's up with this. John McCain's daughter does a little gig at the Daily Beast. She's a self-avowed Republican and conservative. But for some reason Laura Ingraham has decided to attack Meghan McCain's figure. That's right, not her politics, her body. I don't get it really. Is Laura worried she looks old and wrinkled by comparison? Or maybe she's just sticking up for uber-anorexic Ann Coulter who Meghan said is a train wreck and a pending disaster for Republicans.

It's puzzling really. There seems no logical explanation for Ingraham's behavior. But to borrow some of Meghan's words, Republicans these days do give one the feeling of watching a slow-mo train wreck.

Jim Cramer manipulates the market

UPDATE 3/14/09: See my post on this topic at OneUtah for the complete uncut video of the Jon Stewart interview with Cramer. It's in three segments and if you can only watch one of them, make it the third - Jon really lets him have it, and it's personal and not funny.

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(Original post 3/12/09) This video is about the most stunning thing I've seen yet in the Wall Street debacle. We already know guys like Cramer lie and create "activity" to manipulate stock prices. But his bald-faced admission of that here is unbelievable. You have to do it, he says. If you're not willing to, then you shouldn't be in this business.

Those of us sitting on our pathetic 401Ks and other stock investments certainly don't have the "millions" Cramer has to make the kinds of moves he describes. He mocks the SEC as not knowing what's going on and he calls Wall Street Journal reporters Bozos.

On this day when Bernie Madoff is probably going to jail for a long, long time for bilking people out of billions of dollars, maybe it's time for the SEC to start looking at hedge fund managers - like Cramer - who freely admit their illegal activity.



From the HuffingtonPost.com, here are some of the things Cramer says:

-On manipulating the market: "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund, and I was positioned short, meaning I needed it down, I would create a level of activity before hand that could drive the futures,"

-On falsely creating the impression a stock is down (what he calls "fomenting"): "You can't foment. That's a violation... But you do it anyway because the SEC doesn't understand it." He adds, "When you have six days and your company may be in doubt because you are down, I think it is really important to foment."

-On the truth: "What's important when you are in that hedge fund mode is to not be doing anything that is remotely truthful, because the truth is so against your view - it is important to create a new truth to develop a fiction," Cramer advises. "You can't take any chances."

Finally, Utah, we're warming up!

Thanks to the SLTrib for this lovely reminder that spring really does follow the long cold lonely winter. I'm posting the tune to go with the message: Here Comes the Sun!



(My new favorite version from Cirque de Soleil, Love.)

Confused

I have too many blogs. Sometimes I get busy writing an entry and forget which site I'm actually in. So this morning I posted a personal entry on my political blog. Well not too personal, but still. Jeez. The RSS feeds may have picked up the post before I deleted it here, so you may see it if you follow me via reader. Ah well, we try.

Good News Wednesday: Logan Defies the Economy

Continuing the series of good news posts, I read this week that Logan, Utah has seemingly been only slightly affected by the dive in the economy.

While Utah home prices fell more than 6 percent last year, Logan is the one place where they rose 1.9 percent. Logan skipped the housing boom and has skipped the bust.

Realtor Kristen Seedall said, "We weren't a part of that bubble. And so now, what has happened is that we remain a different kind of market than everywhere else; slow, steady, consistent."

In Logan, lenders are still lending, buyers still buying, and there is no rash of foreclosures.

At Logan's storied Blue Bird Restaurant, business has not faltered. Owner Ansheng Xu said, "We still can do a really good business. We still can do the same every year."

Recessions generally hit manufacturers hard, and Logan is much more dependent on manufacturing than the rest of the state.

But Kirk Jensen, with Logan Economic Development, said, "A lot of those industries are in such things as cheese and dairy, food manufacturing, that weather downturns."

Cache Valley is not an island, not immune to global trends, but it has an economy that's still working well, despite bailouts and bankruptcies far away.

My friend who is a professor at USU unfortunately was not happy to get a 5-day unpaid furlough, so not all economic news in Logan has been rosy. But overall, little Cache Valley is weathering things pretty well.

Utah Liquor Law Reform: the new meaning of "Bar" Code

It appears that the guv and the legislature have worked out a compromise for changes to Utah liquor laws. Of particular note is the doing away with private club designations for bars. No longer will you have to be a *wink-wink* member to get in. However, anyone who appears to be younger than 35 will have their ID scanned and the information will be retained on-site, but not in a master database, for seven days.

I'm pretty sure I look well over 35, so it won't be a problem for me, but I noticed my driver's license must be very old as there is no bar code at all on it. Well, it expires this year, so maybe I'll go in and get a new one with with a more current picture too.

It does make me wonder, though. What about other states and countries who may not put bar codes on their driver's licenses. How does a bar now accommodate those people?

A bit of sunshine: Laid-off workers get their jobs back

The news is so bad every day, and just gets worse. I think we are in need of a little optimism, a little joy, a little sunshine. I'm going to try to make this a regular feature to write about something joyful in our mostly sad little world.

Do you remember in December when those laid-off employees of Republic Windows and Doors had a sit-in inside the company plant protesting the failure of the company to give them their 60 days notice and pay? Well good news! In addition to getting the pay they were entitled to, "an even bigger miracle has occurred":

Some of the workers are getting their jobs back because of provisions in the stimulus package that put aside about $30 billion in subsidies for improved home energy efficiency. You see, California based Serious Materials, a producer of energy efficient building materials, took a look at that particular part of the stimulus package and realized they were going to be getting seriously busy since their windows qualify for a $1500 tax credit. Recognizing the need to expand to meet the coming demand for things like energy efficient windows, and having a desire to do some good in the world and to have a midwest location, they thought why not purchase the former Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago, and while we’re at it, why not rehire some of those union workers, at their former union wages, and teach them about making our energy efficient products? So that is exactly what they did.

“The reopening of this factory and the rehiring of these workers provide an excellent example of how the money in the Recovery Act is targeted to spur job creation quickly,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday.

“These workers will not only earn a paycheck again; they will go back to work creating products that will benefit America’s long-term economic future.” - Agence France Presse

So there is a little bright spot for you. The items I bring in this slot will not be cynical or sarcastic, but entirely upbeat. If you have a story you'd like me to feature, email me (see my profile for email address).

Limbaugh: Fearless GOP Leader

Yes, Rush Limbaugh is afraid of no-one. In fact, the elected leader of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, has bowed to the de facto leader, Rush. The Dems were pretty sly with this one, stating straight out they think he's the R's leader. And the once svelt though drug-addicted Rush, now all swollen up physically from I-don't-know-what, gets further swollen up egotistically, and says he is the leader, if he doesn't mind saying so himself.

And it all plays for great entertainment really, so keep up the good work, Rs.

My favorite blogger, Helen, says we should just flush Limbaugh, as we would with any piece of sh**. If you haven't read today's post over at Margaret and Helen, you need to do it right now. Really. I mean it.

It's going to get worse before it gets better

The stock market opened with a dive today. We are used to the jittery stock market and we know it is just one indicator of how our economy is doing. The most important thing it reflects is confidence--or lack thereof.

The politicians are doing a lot of partisan bickering and finger-pointing. More Americans are starting to suffer. More people are losing jobs, more businesses are struggling to stay afloat. Those people who have jobs are saving more and spending less at a time when spending is needed. I know I am saving more, but it's because any retirement savings I had in stocks lost so much money, and I am close enough to retirement, I really need to save more.

President Obama said in his inaugural speech that the economy was going to get worse before it gets better, and experts pretty much all concur. The most positive thing I've heard is that the recession might 'flatten out' by the end of this year - might.

Republicans all seem to be in campaign mode, criticizing the budget proposal, blaming Obama for not solving our economic woes by now, only a few weeks into his term, and failing to participate in solving our problems.

The proposed budget is beyond staggering, and I'm sure there is plenty of room for debate on specific items. But the sad truth is, we have to take our medicine. We need spending to keep businesses in business - and some of that is going to have to be government spending for awhile until our shaky economy begins to support itself.

We have to be in this for the long haul. Some experts are saying we will not be out of this for five years or longer. It's sort of like losing weight. We didn't gain all the fat overnight, and we're not going to lose it that fast either. We need patience, a plan, and persistence if we are going to beat this thing.