September 24, 1964 (28 pages)

NEVADA COUNTY NUGGET {REE ~ BDITORIAL THE GENERAL PLAN FIGHT BROUGHT OUT MANY SIDE BENEFITS FOR THE COUNTY Now that the smoke has settled and tempers have cooled a bit after the drama last week in the courthouse over the proposed general plan, it might be welltotake a look at what it all meant and will mean in the future. With all the charges and counter charges, offensive and defensive moves for or against final action to start the general plan behind us, we can see at least five good things resulting from the battle. First, the general plan received a full public airing. The things it would do and the things it would not dowere examined carefully by both. sides and by our public officials on both the city and county levels. This very scrutiny tended to enliven a county population which has a tendency to let the supervisors go their own way and then complain later that they were not kept informed. Not since the hearing on the subdivision ordinance has there been such public interest in the county government nor have we seen so many people come out willing to stand up and be counted on an issue. All of this is good for the county for while neither side may have bees convinced by the arguments of the other, at least they were exposed to them. Neitherthe individual nor the body politic can learn in a vacuum. Both must be at least exposed to ideas before they can generate their own. The turmoil over the general plan and the hearing before the supervisors last week did this. The general plan hassle also evoked strong statements from two supervisors who have long supported the county's planning program, but who had been fairly silent during the weeks preceeding the .vote on the general plan contract. . Supervisors Tabe Bishop and Gene Ricker took strong positions in favor of the general plan program and against those who have suggested that the plan would bring down'onour heads all manner of federal regulation. Essentially both men took the same stand which was summed up well by Ricker when he said the plan "will help Nevada County to continue to move forward, and that's why I'm going to vote for it.” , The discussion also brought from Supervisors Neil Hennessy and Chairman Henry Loehr a reaffirmation of the wisdom of the county's current planning program and continued plans for the future. Finally, all the hue and cry resulted inthe decision to go ahead with a plan for the future. Detractors of the general plan would have the public believe that as soonas the supervisors approved the contract withthe state to start the general plan study, mythical federal forces would come riding out of the night and throw people off their property in the name of urban renewal. When the supervisors voted to approve the general plan contract last week they were exercising an option on a rare opportunity--a chance to get a glimpse into the future. Through their vote they were saying: "letus look into the future so we.can decide now what we want to be." This makes good sense to us and we think that the planning we do now will make good sense and will help to make better living conditions for many future Nevada County citizens. IN THE FOOTHILLS VEIN UP TO OUR EARS IN THE MAD WORLD OF POLITICS THE TEMPO ofthe local political campaign is rapidly increasing and our desk and our ears are deluged with all manner of political information, This week one local and one national development are standouts for comment. Heard this week in Nevada City: "Barry Goldwater is going towin every state in the nation---all 13 of them." The important national development is the announcement of the appointment of Dr. L,P, Graham of Tuscon, Arizona, aschairman of the Veterinarians for GoldwaterMiller. Inthe announcement Dr. Graham said, "I am certain that every veterinarian in the country, whose compassion for animals is not questioned, must have cringed at the sight of Lyndon Johnson picking up one of his beagles bythe ears, And I would not be surprised if those beagle yelps didn 't bring the entire veterinarian community into the Goldwater-Miller camp." The formation of Veterinarians for Goldwater-Miller is an encouraging development. It is encouraging because any group that has to campaign against a seasoned politician on the basis of his treatment of his hound dog must really be desperate for campaign material. t+etetetetettrertrtt tt THERE HAS BEEN a lot of noise about government spending’ and the bs agit shag of Democratic administration. Congressman Harold T, “Bizz" Johnson of the Second District, in one of his periodic reports, indicates that the converse is true. Johnson notes that so far the Democratic Congress has cut more than $3 billion from budgets submitted by the President. This rec ord has been achieved with all but the foreign aid budget. The foreign aid budget is being held up pending the outcome of the debate over reapportionment of state legislatures. ee ee ee ee WE READ WITH INTEREST last week Marilyn Dick's letter to the editor about the evil supervisors who approved the start of the general plan last week. Mrs, Dick, mentor of the Very Young Republicans in the county and one of the county's most ardent writers of letters to editors, threw out the now rather threadbare argument that the supervisors did not consider the general plan long enough. A look at the facts clearly indicates that the general plan program was not something which was born full blown out of the head of the planning director, but something that has been in the works for several years. The following isa chronological progression of the plan consideration in the county: the idea of a general plan, which had been discussed by Mr. Roberts’ predecessor, was first presented to the planning commission in Dec. 1960; the commission initiated discussion in Feb. 1963; a preliminary general plan program was prepared by the commission and presented to the supervisors in May 1963-with a budget request for the county's share of the cost; supervisors approved the budget request in the 1963-64 budget in June 1964 and budgeted in the 196465 budget; from June to August 1963 the commission reviewed qualifications and interviewed planning consultants and finally selected Williams& Mocine of San Francisco; in August 1963 the City of Grass Valley asked to be included and Nevada City was asked if it wished to participate; Aug. to Oct. 1963 was spent with the planning commissions of the two cities and the county working to finalize an outline of the work; Oct, 1963 both cities voted to enter into a joint exercise of powers agreement with the county to share the services and costs of the program; Oct, 1963 the commission recommended changes in the program resulting in reduction of costs; Dec, 1963 the supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the program and make application for a planning assistance grant; the application and grant of $23,586 was approved in April of this year; in July the agreement for county services between the county and the state office of planning wasreceived; in August funds pledged from the cities was deposited with the county. and on August 3 of this year the agreement was submitted to the supervisors for approval, considered by the supervisors and the county counsel and approved Sept, 15, Come now, Mrs. Dick, we hardly think all that can be termed hasty action. ---Don Hoagland CALIFORNIA A LITTLE BADGEMANSHIP CAN BE A DANGEROUS THING Sometimes I get just about convinced that the key to getting ahead in this affluent world of ours is a mastery of badgemanship untilsomething happens to bring me up short. In case you don't know, badgemanship is the art of getting in where you want to be but don't necessarily belong, by means of convincing -looking credentials. Newspapermen draw upon the art as part of their stock in trade. In fact, they are so used to preferential treatment that they get sore if their little ruses fail. We had one day in which to catch a glimpse of the World's Fair in New York this summer. On our arrival at the fairgrounds we dutifully found the nearest long lineup of people and stood at the end. “I think this is for General Electric, " I announced to my wife, who replied we were no where near G,E, This was the line for IBM. Whatever it was, the line was long, and a sign about a quarter of a mile ahead of us declared, "45 MINUTE H96T ‘HZ Jequieidag***1033nN AlunoD epeAeN**‘G)

NEVADA COUNTY NUGGET {REE ~ BDITORIAL THE GENERAL PLAN FIGHT BROUGHT OUT MANY SIDE BENEFITS FOR THE COUNTY Now that the smoke has settled and tempers have cooled a bit after the drama last week in the courthouse over the proposed general plan, it might be welltotake a look at what it all meant and will mean in the future. With all the charges and counter charges, offensive and defensive moves for or against final action to start the general plan behind us, we can see at least five good things resulting from the battle. First, the general plan received a full public airing. The things it would do and the things it would not dowere examined carefully by both. sides and by our public officials on both the city and county levels. This very scrutiny tended to enliven a county population which has a tendency to let the supervisors go their own way and then complain later that they were not kept informed. Not since the hearing on the subdivision ordinance has there been such public interest in the county government nor have we seen so many people come out willing to stand up and be counted on an issue. All of this is good for the county for while neither side may have bees convinced by the arguments of the other, at least they were exposed to them. Neitherthe individual nor the body politic can learn in a vacuum. Both must be at least exposed to ideas before they can generate their own. The turmoil over the general plan and the hearing before the supervisors last week did this. The general plan hassle also evoked strong statements from two supervisors who have long supported the county's planning program, but who had been fairly silent during the weeks preceeding the .vote on the general plan contract. . Supervisors Tabe Bishop and Gene Ricker took strong positions in favor of the general plan program and against those who have suggested that the plan would bring down'onour heads all manner of federal regulation. Essentially both men took the same stand which was summed up well by Ricker when he said the plan "will help Nevada County to continue to move forward, and that's why I'm going to vote for it.” , The discussion also brought from Supervisors Neil Hennessy and Chairman Henry Loehr a reaffirmation of the wisdom of the county's current planning program and continued plans for the future. Finally, all the hue and cry resulted inthe decision to go ahead with a plan for the future. Detractors of the general plan would have the public believe that as soonas the supervisors approved the contract withthe state to start the general plan study, mythical federal forces would come riding out of the night and throw people off their property in the name of urban renewal. When the supervisors voted to approve the general plan contract last week they were exercising an option on a rare opportunity--a chance to get a glimpse into the future. Through their vote they were saying: "letus look into the future so we.can decide now what we want to be." This makes good sense to us and we think that the planning we do now will make good sense and will help to make better living conditions for many future Nevada County citizens. IN THE FOOTHILLS VEIN UP TO OUR EARS IN THE MAD WORLD OF POLITICS THE TEMPO ofthe local political campaign is rapidly increasing and our desk and our ears are deluged with all

manner of political information, This week one local and one national development are standouts for comment. Heard this week in Nevada City: "Barry Goldwater is going towin every state in the nation---all 13 of them." The important national development is the announcement of the appointment of Dr. L,P, Graham of Tuscon, Arizona, aschairman of the Veterinarians for GoldwaterMiller. Inthe announcement Dr. Graham said, "I am certain that every veterinarian in the country, whose compassion for animals is not questioned, must have cringed at the sight of Lyndon Johnson picking up one of his beagles bythe ears, And I would not be surprised if those beagle yelps didn 't bring the entire veterinarian community into the Goldwater-Miller camp." The formation of Veterinarians for Goldwater-Miller is an encouraging development. It is encouraging because any group that has to campaign against a seasoned politician on the basis of his treatment of his hound dog must really be desperate for campaign material. t+etetetetettrertrtt tt THERE HAS BEEN a lot of noise about government spending’ and the bs agit shag of Democratic administration. Congressman Harold T, “Bizz" Johnson of the Second District, in one of his periodic reports, indicates that the converse is true. Johnson notes that so far the Democratic Congress has cut more than $3 billion from budgets submitted by the President. This rec ord has been achieved with all but the foreign aid budget. The foreign aid budget is being held up pending the outcome of the debate over reapportionment of state legislatures. ee ee ee ee WE READ WITH INTEREST last week Marilyn Dick's letter to the editor about the evil supervisors who approved the start of the general plan last week. Mrs, Dick, mentor of the Very Young Republicans in the county and one of the county's most ardent writers of letters to editors, threw out the now rather threadbare argument that the supervisors did not consider the general plan long enough. A look at the facts clearly indicates that the general plan program was not something which was born full blown out of the head of the planning director, but something that has been in the works for several years. The following isa chronological progression of the plan consideration in the county: the idea of a general plan, which had been discussed by Mr. Roberts’ predecessor, was first presented to the planning commission in Dec. 1960; the commission initiated discussion in Feb. 1963; a preliminary general plan program was prepared by the commission and presented to the supervisors in May 1963-with a budget request for the county's share of the cost; supervisors approved the budget request in the 1963-64 budget in June 1964 and budgeted in the 196465 budget; from June to August 1963 the commission reviewed qualifications and interviewed planning consultants and finally selected Williams& Mocine of San Francisco; in August 1963 the City of Grass Valley asked to be included and Nevada City was asked if it wished to participate; Aug. to Oct. 1963 was spent with the planning commissions of the two cities and the county working to finalize an outline of the work; Oct, 1963 both cities voted to enter into a joint exercise of powers agreement with the county to share the services and costs of the program; Oct, 1963 the commission recommended changes in the program resulting in reduction of costs; Dec, 1963 the supervisors voted 4-1 to approve the program and make application for a planning assistance grant; the application and grant of $23,586 was approved in April of this year; in July the agreement for county services between the county and the state office of planning wasreceived; in August funds pledged from the cities was deposited with the county. and on August 3 of this year the agreement was submitted to the supervisors for approval, considered by the supervisors and the county counsel and approved Sept, 15, Come now, Mrs. Dick, we hardly think all that can be termed hasty action. ---Don Hoagland CALIFORNIA A LITTLE BADGEMANSHIP CAN BE A DANGEROUS THING Sometimes I get just about convinced that the key to getting ahead in this affluent world of ours is a mastery of badgemanship untilsomething happens to bring me up short. In case you don't know, badgemanship is the art of getting in where you want to be but don't necessarily belong, by means of convincing -looking credentials. Newspapermen draw upon the art as part of their stock in trade. In fact, they are so used to preferential treatment that they get sore if their little ruses fail. We had one day in which to catch a glimpse of the World's Fair in New York this summer. On our arrival at the fairgrounds we dutifully found the nearest long lineup of people and stood at the end. “I think this is for General Electric, " I announced to my wife, who replied we were no where near G,E, This was the line for IBM. Whatever it was, the line was long, and a sign about a quarter of a mile ahead of us declared, "45 MINUTE H96T ‘HZ Jequieidag***1033nN AlunoD epeAeN**‘G)