The following is a letter to the editor submitted by Mendocino County District 3 Supervisor John Haschak, published here as a column, in which he updates his constituents. We encourage the other supervisors to submit letters — we will happily publish them. You can see Haschak’s previous letters to his constituents here. The opinions expressed in this letter are the author’s, not those of The Mendocino Voice.
December 2019 Update
‘Tis the season to be thankful for the past year and look forward to 2020. There is so much to be thankful for that it is hard to know where to begin. So I will just start writing…
I am thankful for the voters who voted me in last year. Since taking office in January, I have had the opportunity to help people in many different ways whether it be connecting an elderly woman who lost her food in the power shutoff with the proper agency to the many people who just don’t know where to go in dealing with governmental bureaucracy (which I am learning more about each day). This work means so much to all involved.
So many people care passionately about mental health services, homelessness, health care, forest health, our environment, the future of our children in Mendocino County. Whether we agree on how to get from here to there on each issue, I appreciate the engagement on these issues which is what makes for better decisions. And amazingly enough, everyone has been quite civil so far.
Much gratitude to first responders. The sheriff, deputies and police, fire chiefs and volunteer firefighters, or citizens trained in the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) all sacrifice to make where we live better. I am thankful for the service that Sheriff Tom Allman has given to our county. A big shout out to the Firewise Councils for hours of volunteer work to write grants, organize communities, envision safer ingress and egress routes, provide home hardening classes, fire safe information and so on. They all play vital roles in making our communities safer.
I greatly appreciate In Home Healthcare Workers who take care of some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. They do this with little pay but much love and care.
I am very thankful for the people I work with now at the County. They have been very supportive in helping me try to accomplish my goals for the 3rd District. They are hard workers who put in many hours beyond their contracts.
There are so many people who are on committees, commissions, councils, Friends of …. groups , and advisory boards that help make our public entities function better. They often do their work without any fanfare so I want to take this time to thank them for all that they do, which is considerable.
Finally, I want to thank my wife for her support. She puts up with me being gone a lot of the time. She is a critical part of our team with a listening ear and passionate advice.
Yes I ditto all our gratitudes and thank you and your wife for your service!
I am very worried about the Harris Quarry expansion and have lots of questions.Why was a 30 year extraction permit granted and why 200,000 yards both of which seem excessive? Why will the plant be allowed to operate 100 nights out of the year? Most of all, why did Carrie Brown did not allow the opposition to show a video documenting that fires can get started by asphalt plants? Her refusal is very troubling. What was she afraid of, possibly the truth? There is only one road in and out of the Black Bart and Black Hawk area, and it is in need of major repair. As to the statement that “Northern Aggregates has not been a cause of fires in the Ridgewood Summit area, there has not been an asphalt plant here in the past! As our third District Supervisor pointed out, “We have unprecedented fire danger in our communities” already. Why would you put an asphalt plant at the bottleneck of our only escape route? Because of the road situation, this is a Paradise fire waiting to happen. I have an elderly member of my family who is entirely bed ridden. Fleeing a fire, especially if it is on our only escape route will be impossible. The supervisors have put our lives in greater jeopardy by this decision. Is money more important than thousands of human lives? How do we reverse this tragic decision? Virginia De Vries
regarding repair of roads in the previous comment, when (if ever are you going to do something to repair roads (especially roads, dos rios road and the list goes on) in your own district 3? in you campaign you stated that was a priority. perhaps you forgot as after a year you are still trying to get your feet on the ground. i suppose it takes a year or more to learn what you are doing and who you represent beside yourself.