At the popular Cowles Mountain (Cowles pronounced as in “bowls”) staging area at the corner of Golfcrest and Navajo there’s quite a bit of foot traffic (with lots of regulars) heading up and down the mountain every day. I guess that many returning hikers see the Sunburst Square retail area across the street and think about food and refreshment. There is the Cotija Taco shop–a long-time tenant–but not everyone wants a taco or burrito every time and the donut shop probably has a different audience. After seeing the ‘for lease’ sign there at the former Fromex photo shop for quite awhile now, I figure somebody might do well to put in a sandwich/smoothie shop. In addition to the hikers, I think the neighborhood locals would come to avoid driving a fair distance to San Carlos or Grantville/Allied Gardens. Tons of nearby condos and apartments. Plenty of drive-by traffic. Employees from the Jackson/Navajo businesses would probably swing by for lunch or a smoothie. Even the busy parents dropping off their kids at the KinderCare could grab a sandwich for lunch at work. How about it? Cowles Mountain Subs, anyone?
I don’t know exactly why I’m so drawn to Death Valley (maybe a morbid fascination with water), but over the years I’ve been there five times. Two of those times my family and I went camping there (Texas Spring and Furnace Creek campgrounds). Most recently I went with my wife at Thanksgiving a couple of years ago, although this time we stayed at the Furnace Creek Inn resort. Actually, I do know why I love it there: the geography is spectacular. The picture on the left is at Zabriskie Point. Click it for a little slideshow.
We know the high price we have also had to pay-in our credibility with the international community-in the loss of life-in the individual tragedies of loved ones left behind in communities here at home-in the billions of dollars that should have been spent on jobs and housing and health care and education and civil rights and the environment and a dozen other clear priorities, and should not have been spent on a misguided war in Iraq. –Sen. Edward Kennedy
Americans are apparently supposed to believe that our government providing insurance to a seventy year old is a noble service, but providing that same service to a fifty year old is socialism, and providing that same service to a twenty year old or a ten year old is something that only a goddamned Hitler would do. –Daily Kos
Inland where we live the thermometer was promising 100 today and I read that there was supposed to be a decent long-period (16 sec) south swell at the beach, so I grabbed my video camera and headed for OB’s Dog Beach as it’s been a while. The air was refreshing with a cool breeze, the dogs were playing with their pals, and the surfers were definitely enjoying themselves.
I patched together a rough cut of footage, below . The action is pretty distant so I had to use all available camera zoom, which made for some shakiness since I wasn’t using a tripod. Sorry about that. It may feel like you’re getting battered by the waves. At the end is a shot panning to the east at the San Diego rivermouth.
By the way, you might check out the OB Rag. It does a pretty good job of keeping tabs on what’s going on in the neighborhood.
My previous post on the subject of health care was to highlight the huge disparity in health care costs in our country compared to the rest of the world. As long as I’m on the subject, I highly recommend that you check out T.R. Reid’s piece in the Washington Post: Five Myths About Health Care Around the World. It is worthwhile reading. One of his observations is particularly noteworthy:
The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people’s medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage.
This OECD data chart is pretty revealing. [Revised to add: The data is from a 2007 report. A knowledgeable source tells me that the U.S. per capita expenditure is now around $8300.] As The Daily Howler observes: “People are happy with their current insurance for a fairly obvious reason: They don’t know how badly they’re being looted!”
The new water rules have people complaining and reporters scribbling, but most people are quietly adjusting. So why do I expect there will be lots more adjusting to do down the road?
These days most water districts in San Diego county are enforcing a 3x/week for 10 minutes restriction (1x/week during winter months). Here’s a chart from SDCWA:
With the new rules and conservation publicity, overall consumption has already dropped by an agreeable amount. Over the longer term, though, we’re facing continuous population growth and a permanent shortage of water. It would be bad enough if our existing water supplies remained stable, but global warming threatens to reduce the supply as well. As James Powell observes in his important book Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West, “The supply of its [Colorado River] water is going to fall; our best bet is to focus on demand.” [emphasis mine]
I think water pricing is where the real action is going to be. Where it already is. In San Diego our prices just rose again, following several increases over the past year. In my case, with a single-family residence, the price per-HCF (hundred cubic feet) in August 2008 was $2.4578 (for the first 14 HCF); today in August 2009 it’s $2.9185. And don’t get me started on the sewer fee which is the same whether your water goes down the drain or not–a whopping $130.63 per bi-monthly billing period.
Our neighbors in the Helix Water District will be getting a 24% rate increase starting September 1.
Increases are needed to offset infrastructure and delivery costs, yes, but higher prices can be imposed to control demand as well (David Zetland at Aguanomics is a strong advocate for that approach). That’s where I think we’re headed. If we do price ourselves into appropriate water behavior, though, I hope it’s done equitably. Up north, the Irvine Ranch Water District has a well-considered approach that meets my fairness test. Their rate structure defines a typical household’s size and water needs, then has tiered pricing in low-volume / base rate / inefficient / excessive / wasteful categories. If one’s household is greater in size than the assumed model, one can apply for a variance to accomodate the extra need and avoid being penalized. I would like San Diego to follow suit with such a plan, but I predict our water department would resist having to do more needs analysis and processing of the inevitable variance requests, a great deal of work to be sure.
Regarding today’s LA Times report on Governor Schwarzenegger’s demand that new reservoirs and dams be included in California water legislation addressing the water crisis:
In 1972, the influential book The limits to growth by Donella H. Meadows graphically portrayed how exponential growth in human population (with attendant resource consumption) can reach a stage where it will be too late to avert a monumental catastrophe (I think this book contributed greatly to the sustainability movement).
Are we approaching that point where sheer numbers of a growing population and its increasing demand on natural resources can no longer be sustained (or even that survival itself is at stake) — even if prices were increased to control demand and everybody were to cease excessive consumption of water — unless we build new water storage infrastructure? If we have already overallocated existing water storage reserves, where will the additional needed water come from if not new sources of runoff?
What are your thoughts on this? Please leave your comment below.
Just to highlight the new Del Cerro button below the blog title. That’s the neighborhood I live in. Actually, my street marks the border between Del Cerro and San Carlos (the zip code even changes here) and I’m never sure exactly what to say when people ask where I live. I often reply “Del Cerro/San Carlos!” I suppose I’ll add a San Carlos page here eventually as well. I’ve seeded the new page with some material I previously wrote along with links to resources about the neighborhood. Ideas are always welcome.
