We’ve finally had a real snow fall in Nevada County last night and early this morning. We’ve also had the power go out in Cascade Shores, (where I live), last night for about 4 hours.
I measured the amount of snowfall this morning on my back deck after it stopped snowing and it came in at 11 inches. The pictures tell the rest of the story.
Another shot from my deck
December 5, 2009
They continued work on the new Walgreen’s that’s coming in at the corner of Brunswick Road and Sutton Way. They paved the parking lot yesterday, just in time. Snow and rain is suppose to be here this coming week, at least that’s the latest forecast, which changes according to how the weatherman feels. If he’s depressed, a storm is coming in, if he’s happy, it’ll be sunshine.
How much money is in drugs anyway? We seem to have eight or ten pharmacies right now. With CVS, Rite Rite Aide and now Walgreens, I think there is a lot of money in drugs. Legal ones that is. Why is it that in any other industrial country, you can get the same prescription you buy in the United States so much cheaper? The argument is the drug companies spend so much money in research that we have to pay for their research. How come the rest of the world doesn’t? It seems the only business that is growing right now are drug companies and drug stores. Anyhow, that’s my rant of the day.
Enjoy the holidays.
John O’Dell
WIN $250 IN LOGO DESIGN CONTEST
Submit the winning logo for the 2010 Nevada County Fair and you could win
The Nevada County Fairgrounds is sponsoring a contest to find the best logo to illustrate the 2010 Nevada County Fair slogan – “Rooted in Tree-dition” – featuring trees, one of our counties top ten agricultural products. If you’re a talented artist, and you’d like $250, then this is the contest to enter!
The contest, which is open to Nevada County residents only, takes place now through Friday, January 15. If you submit the winning design, you will win $250 and a 2010 Nevada County Fair package that includes admission tickets, parking and carnival coupons. Additionally, the winning artwork will be used on various Fair promotional pieces, print ads, buttons, t-shirts, banners, posters, and flyers.
Interested artists may use any medium and can submit up to three entries, which must be on 8-1/2 by 11-inch paper. Entries can be delivered to the Fairgrounds Office at 11228 McCourtney Road or mailed to the Fair Office at PO Box 2687, Grass Valley, CA 95945. A complete set of rules can be found on the Fair’s website at Nevada County Fair, or by calling the Fair Office at 530-273-6217.
Hollie Grimaldi Flores of Grass Valley submitted the winning slogan, “Rooted in Tree-dition,” for the five day Fair, August 11 – 15, 2010.
Source: Wendy Oaks Nevada County Fair Publicist
The Grass Valley’s Group parent company, French media technology company Thomson has breached its debt covenants and has been in talks throughout most of 2009 with creditors.
Thomson now plans to ask creditors to vote on a restructuring plan on 21 December.
This plan will be based on the terms agreed by many of its senior creditors in July.
Chief executive Frederic Rose said: “After 10 months of constructive discussions with a majority of our creditors, I am satisfied that we have now a clear timetable for closing our debt restructuring. [Safeguard] allows us to provide clarity and certainty to our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.”
Safeguard is the French equivalent of Chapter 11 and prevents anyone that is owed money by the company from attempting to call in debts or instigate winding up proceedings.
Thomson said that it has enough available liquidity to be able to continue to operate under normal conditions during this period.
Various parts of its business, including broadcast equipment manufacturer Grass Valley, have been put up for sale in an effort to help with debts.
The Grass Valley sale was expected to have been completed by September but a ‘challenging’ market has delayed the process.
Thomson also owns Technicolor, the parent company of the Soho visual effects facility Moving Picture Company.
Source: Broadcast
How many Ponzi schemes can there be? I don’t know, but it seems like every day another one is discovered. Here’s one in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where attorney Scott Rothstein’s suspected Ponzi scheme may have taken $1.2 billion from investors. One investor calls it a “tragedy” who says he is at risk for tens of millions of dollars. The scandal has sent lawyers, investors, and politicians alike in a tizzy while investigators are scrambling to learn exactly how much money has been lost.
Rothstein, a partner of the law firm Rothstein Rosefeldt and Adler, is suspected of running a covert investment scheme on the side and may have walked away with “substantial sums” put up by investors, according to a lawsuit brought by his partner, Stuart Rosenfeldt.
In what federal authorities say is the biggest fraud case in South Florida history, the 47-year-old faces five counts of racketeering and fraud related to his alleged scheme. Prosecutors say Rothstein ran the scheme out of the 70-lawyer Fort Lauderdale law firm where he was CEO, swindling his own friends and clients. He allegedly forged federal court documents, including judges’ signatures to make his investors believe the settlements they were buying into were legitimate
He once graced the society pages of local newspapers and gave big to Florida politicians, but on Tuesday, Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein was arrested on federal fraud charges, accused of running a $1.2 billion mini-Madoff Ponzi scheme. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 100 years in prison. How did he spend all that money? Well, the fed’s grabbed $60 million of his toys, including 20 luxury cars, 15 real-estate properties, an 87-foot yacht, 304 pieces of jewelry and $12 million stashed in Moroccan banks
Click HERE to read the federal charges against Rothstein.
Source: ABC News
I wrote earlier that we should not walk away from your house if you are upside down on your mortgage. I’ve changed my mind. If you lost your job or had a great reduction in income for whatever reason, the banks don’t seem to care. I’ve read and seen were they’ll stall until you have used up your savings, made the very last payment you can and than foreclose on your home.
Here’s a portion of a great article on the subject of walking away from your home that appeared in the SF Chronicle:
“Go ahead. Break the chains. Stop paying on your mortgage if you owe more than the house is worth. And most important: Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t think you’re doing something morally wrong.
That’s the incendiary core message of a new academic paper by Brent T. White, a University of Arizona law school professor, titled “Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis.”
White argues that far more of the estimated 15 million American homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages should stiff their lenders and take a hike.
Doing so, he suggests, could save some of them hundreds of thousands of dollars that they “have no reasonable prospect of recouping” in the years ahead. Plus the penalties are nowhere near as painful or long-lasting as they might assume.
“Homeowners should be walking away in droves,” according to White. “But they aren’t. And it’s not because the financial costs of foreclosure outweigh the benefits.” Sure, credit scores get whacked when you walk away, he acknowledges. But as long as you stay current with other creditors, “one can have a good credit rating again – meaning above 660 – within two years after a foreclosure.”
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“How does White’s 52-page manifesto go over with mortgage lenders? Predictably, not well. Officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – investors who fund the bulk of all new mortgages in the country – disputed White’s characterization of how quickly after foreclosure a walkaway borrower can obtain a new loan. It’s not three years, they said, it’s a minimum of five years, absent extenuating circumstances such as medical or employment problems that caused the foreclosure.”
Remember, before you walk away from your home, check with your accountant and or a tax attorney.
This is a great article, read the rest at San Francisco Gate
So what do you think readers?
By Tina Perinotto
Here comes more proof that green buildings make sense – dollars and sense in fact. This time a study by the University of San Diego and CB Richard Ellis Group, found that tenants in green buildings experience increased productivity and fewer sick days, and that green buildings have lower vacancy and higher rental rates.
On the financial front in terms of rents and sales values, that’s exactly what Nils Kok, a professor at the University of Berkley, California and at Maastricht University in The Netherlands, found and presented to the Australian Property Institute and Australian Direct Property Investment Association, with his study, Doing Well By Doing Good. Energy efficient buildings were worth 17 to 18 per cent more than inefficient building and they earned 6 per cent more in effective rents, he said. [See our report http://www.thefifthestate.com.au/archives/7633]
Now preliminary findings from the latest report, Do Green Buildings Make Dollars and Sense? overseen by Dr Norm Miller, academic director and professor at the University of San Diego’s Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, in collaboration with CBRE’s national director of sustainability, Dave Pogue, and Ray Wong, CBRE’s director of Americas research, has found that green buildings are more productive.
According to the research, which will be published later this year, green buildings are more productive on two measures:
The average number of tenant sick days and the self-reported productivity change. “Respondents reported an average of 2.88 fewer sick days in their current green office versus their previous non-green office, and about 55 per cent of respondents indicated that employee productivity had improved,” the report said.
This equated to a net impact of nearly $53.82 a sq m [$5.00 a sq ft] occupied, and the increase in productivity translated into a net impact of about $215.28 a sq m [$20 a sq ft] occupied, based on the average tenant salary, an office space of 23.23 square metres [250 square feet] per worker and 250 workdays a year.
“The study additionally showed that green buildings have 3.5 per cent lower vacancy rates and 13 per cent higher rental rates than the market,” CBRE’s Dave Pogue said.
“The results of this project are beginning to demonstrate the very real and positive impact of sustainable buildings for both our owners and tenant occupants. We have been seeking ways to make an empirical case for the economic benefits of sustainable practices and the results of this study exceeded our expectations,” he continued.
Mr Pogue said the research involved a survey of 154 buildings under CBRE’s management, totalling more than 5.35 million sq m of (51.6 million sq ft) and housing 3000 tenants in 10 markets across the US.
“The study defined a green building as those with LEED certification at any level or those that bear the EPA ENERGY STAR ® label. All of the ENERGY STAR ® buildings in the survey group had been awarded that label since 2008. Most of the buildings included in the research had also adopted other sustainable practices like recycling, green cleaning and water conservation.”
Dr Miller said: “This is an exciting time for the commercial real estate industry where great values and great investment upgrade opportunities coexist. This window won’t last forever.
“We have now confirmed in this and other studies that green features and energy savings pays off. Tenants care about healthy energy efficient buildings. We also know that green leases and managing to a new and higher standard will soon become the norm. Commercial real estate players have no choice but to learn how to be better in a sustainable way. We know the economics of green will drive the market, not altruism or concern about global warming,”
The report also said:
These findings are generally consistent with other research on this topic, which has determined buildings with the ENERGY STAR ® label, LEED certification or other identified sustainable programs generally perform better.
November 28, 2009
I was in Downieville last weekend. Seems like the place is shutting down, at least the restaurants are. In Sierra City the Red Moose closed during the summer and we were there for the last meal at the Buckhorn. Seems like the Buckhorn is closing for the winter. In Downieville, the Wooden Trout went bankrupt and is closed. So if you want a meal at night you are out of luck. All that’s open is a pizza place called the Gallows and a little restaurant in the local grocery store. By the way, the restaurant makes great sandwiches. Oh, there is only one grocery store, so you don’t have to worry about which one has the place to eat.
Not much happened this week, first the grocery stores were so busy you had a long line at the cash register with everyone buying food for Thanksgiving and then with black Friday there were long lines at the department stores. Wal-Mart stayed open 24 hours, JC Penny’s opened at 4 or 5 in the morning and I slept until nine. The heck with going to the store at 5 am, I can spend my money at a decent hour.
Scotts Flat Lake continues to drop, waiting for the upper lakes that feed it to fill up. With the way the winter is going so far, it doesn’t look too good. You can argue if we have global warming or not, but you can’t argue with the fact that we’ve had some mighty dry years lately. The last thing we need is another dry winter. Interesting that people don’t want any more dams to store water and create hydro-electric power, but they want drinking water and clean energy, doesn’t compute, does it?
Oh, here’s a picture of the newly painted bridge in Downieville. I understand it took six weeks to paint the bridge. They had to completely enclosed the bridge so when they sandblasted the old paint none of the debris would fall into the river. The natives are happy that the bridge is open again. The detour was a real pain going through the narrow winding streets of Downieville. By the way, did you know that Downieville missed being the state capitol of California by 10 votes? Hopefully this adds your trivia facts in case you ever get into a trivia contest.
Have a great holiday season.
John O’Dell
I want to wish all of you a very happy Thanksgiving. Here’s a funny video, related to Thanksgiving, although it’s a commercal, it’s still fun to watch.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L3bGKlxzGE
Donate a can of food on Sunday, November 29, and receive $1 off admission
The Nevada County Fairgrounds and HOPE (Help Other People Eat) in Nevada County are teaming up to help feed those in need in Nevada County.
Bring a can of food (or two or three) to the Country Christmas Faire on Sunday, November 29, and the Fairgrounds will give you a coupon for $1 off general admission to the Christmas Faire on that day. Volunteers from HOPE will collect the cans at the food collection bins at the Fairgrounds from 10 am – 4 pm at Gates 1, 3 and 5, which is also where you’ll receive your coupon.
With the help of HOPE, all food collected at the Fairgrounds on Sunday will be used to help feed those in need in Nevada County. HOPE in Nevada County is a program established through the Grass Valley Elks. Through this program, the Grass Valley Elks partner with the Food Bank of Nevada County to feed those in need, as well as working with the organization on a school snack program. HOPE distributes food once a month to anyone in the county in need of food.
The Country Christmas Faire is happening Thanksgiving weekend, November 27 – 29, at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. Hours are 10 am – 5 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 10 am – 4 pm on Sunday. Cost is $4, and free to children under 12. Visit Nevada County Fair for more information or call the Fair Office at 530-273-6217.
Source Wendy Oaks, Nevada County Fair Publicists