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Friday, Jun. 26, 2009

Loose Lips: Airing air board grievances

The air-board paratroopers trying to drive Supervisor Mike Nelson from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board should've consulted Lips before launching their blitzkrieg.

Rather than this public-relations campaign that's only going to have Nelson bunkering down to hold his position, the group should've found a replacement and offered Nelson a six-pack to quietly give up his seat.

Though Nelson maintains his most recent quote that brought out the bombers was taken out of context, he has referred to his term on the air board as a "sentence." Lips can't help but think he would prefer to spend his time elsewhere, such as working to expand Castle's enterprise zone designation.

The Battle of the Bored continued Monday with Sen. Jeff Denham, R-I got your back, defending Nelson in a public letter to the air board. The counteroffensive came after Sen. Dean Florez, D-Leader of the Pack, pounced on the county supe for creating "unwarranted level of hostility" during the meeting.

"Nelson is a believer that scientific facts, not shrill and emotional appeals, should be the grounds for decision-making," Denham wrote, adding that such criticism is "self-serving."

Of course, they both may be guilty of that. The two could face off in the 2010 lieutenant governor race. Denham won the battle, but this war may have just begun.

Driving Mr. Denham

Speaking of Denham, he put his perks where his mouth is when it came to cutting the state's budget. Not only did he agree to a pay cut, he turned in his state car -- a Toyota Highlander hybrid -- and the gas card. No word on what he's now driving, just that it's his personal vehicle.

Lips understands Merced County needs to trim its budget by $18.5 million. Perhaps the supes can follow suit and shave their salaries.

Power of the (wine) press

Merced County Times publisher John Derby, in his recent column, called for a letter-writing campaign to get a Trader Joe's in Merced and asked Lips to join in the effort.

Harnessing the power of the masses worked to lure the first lady, he reasoned, why wouldn't it work for the grocery chain?

Well, we accept.

Just after lunch Thursday, Lips sent an e-mail to Trader Joe's requesting a store and got a prompt response in the form of a friendly, but generic e-mail.

City leaders say Trader Joe's needs 30,000 residents with incomes higher than $50,000 and a UC campus with 5,000 students to justify a store.

Between 25,000 and 30,000 households in the Merced market (basically the county and part of Madera) have incomes above the magic number. UC Merced expects 3,200 students next academic year. That means Merced may be on the cusp.

Home-grown marketing campaigns have been known to spread organic olive oil on Trader Joe's wagon wheels, and Lips hears Riverside leaders credit a vocal public with landing the city a store. So pick up your pens, friends. Lips will buy Derby a bottle of Two-Buck Chuck if this succeeds. Cheers!

Loose Lips can be reached at editor@mercedsun-star.com.