It is my belief that the mice set us up. That’s how the bear(s) knew where to go.

On a mountain in Butte County, a wide-ranging crew of Black people have embarked on a mission of land stewardship.

That means if you want that country cottage, you have to build it yourself.

When we first saw the land after our veteran land steward – let’s call her Goldi-Locs for her long locs that are the gold of California hills – asked for help putting up a fence to ward off potential trespassers. What had been lavish green hills of Douglas fir were now covered with dark spires like burnt matches pushing into the sky.

Up close, moss and ferns edged out from the bases of blackened tree stumps. A lizard skittered by, the only sign of life. No birds. No squirrels. No mice.

And no bears.

Fast forward five years, and FEMA has done all it will do to clear burned trees. The remaining trees are dead and have to be logged and milled.

The most urgent work is to clear the dirt access roads clogged with dead trees. For shelter while we, I mean, they do that, we bought an old trailer that has seen better days but suits our needs.

My husband has anticipated 99% of our needs – tents, saws, canopies, batteries, shovels, rakes, axes, picks, etc., and Goldi-Locs instructs and reminds us how to get from step A to B, but there is nothing like the experience you gain on your own. Meaning: you don’t how to do it until you do it. No matter what you read, what somebody says, until you do it, you don’t know.

So, I thought I knew what I was doing. It was my job to assist with the cooking and set-up. And the break-down. There are cupboards in the trailer and a refrigerator, so I stored a couple of unopened boxes of spaghetti and an unopened bottle of olive oil, salt (Lawry’s of course), pepper, garlic powder and dried Italian herbs in the cupboard. In the refrigerator, which seals closed like any normal refrigerator I (accidently) left a box of butter.

Two weeks later, we get a call in Oakland from Goldi-Locs that the door of the trailer was hanging off its hinge, visible from her trailer uphill and 150 yards west of ours.

She said she would enlist the help of another (male) neighbor, to investigate.

An hour later, we got the report: No one was in the cabin, but a bear – or bears – had been. Outside, a torn box of spaghetti with just one or two remaining stiff strands lay in the dirt. Inside, the salt, pepper, herbs and garlic oil were an aromatic mess on the floor, while coffee grounds were scattered over the counter (After-dinner coffee?).

Paw prints led to the bathroom and beyond a single, muddy paw print marked the duvet on our bed.

Besides claw marks in the cupboard, and a swipe of dirt on the front and side of the refrigerator, there was no major damage.

Goldi-Locs and G. cleaned up the worst of it and were able to get the door up on the hinge and lock it. The trailer remained unmolested until our return.

In the meantime, some sleuthing – as Nancy Drew would put it – had been done. Visitors to the mountain confessed that they had previously prepared a vegetarian meal of – that’s right– pasta in a red sauce with sautéed garlic, onions, and Lawry’s and Italian herbs.

They ate outdoors. The scent filled the air. Mice have returned to the forest. They know how to get under, over and into trailers. Easy-peasy. They managed to get a little of the Italian meal. The bears wanted some. The mice shrugged their little shoulders and said, “we got everything but the crumbs, but over in the next yard, they have everything you need to MAKE IT YOURSELVES.”

So, it was Yogi, ‘smarter than the average bear, according to himself – and no doubt accompanied by Boo-Boo (the Fool), lumbered over to our unoccupied trailer and gently opened the door. The spaghetti in one cupboard, seasonings in the other, olive oil and look out- butter for bread in the refrigerator.

Yes, everything they needed. The whole recipe, or so the trifling mice said, having omitted fresh onion and bell pepper. The mice had left out the most important part – how to get the job done. Yogi had been given no information on pots, turning on the stove, boiling water, etc.

Disappointed, it was time for a nap, but the bed was neither hard, nor soft, but too small and as their cave was more comfortable, Yogi was of the mind to head home, maybe go fishing on the way in that nice stream up the hill.

Boo-Boo (the Fool), however, was of the mind to spitefully take do what bears do in the woods, but Yogi reminded him that, as it is their forest it is wise not to do that where you eat.

But when Yogi is not around, evidence shows that Boo-Boo routinely returns to the scene of the crime and leaves a little something in the middle of the path to the outhouse. Just because.

The mischievous mice have yet to be apprehended.

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is criticizing California’s new replacement-tire efficiency standards, arguing they will limit consumer choice and increase costs for drivers. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, says the regulations will save consumers money.

Hilton protested the standards Aug. 20 outside the California Energy Commission in Sacramento, where he and supporters chanted, “Hands off our tires.” The commission unanimously approved the regulations Aug. 17, making California the first state to adopt energy-efficiency standards for replacement tires.

“We are done with these bureaucrats and these politicians in our state, making everything so insanely expensive,” Hilton said at the protest.

Hilton said that, if elected governor, he would eliminate or defund the Energy Commission. His opposition to the tire standards is part of his broader criticism of California’s high cost of living.

Newsom defended the regulations Aug. 19, citing the commission’s projected savings for consumers.

“I think it was a good choice,” said Newsom. “Save a billion dollars a year in fuel. Talk about an affordability agenda, that makes sense to me.”

The Replacement Tire Efficiency Program sets limits on rolling resistance, which measures how much energy a tire requires to move along a road. Tires with lower rolling resistance can improve a gasoline-powered vehicle’s fuel economy or extend an electric vehicle’s driving range.

The first phase will take effect in 2029, setting a maximum rolling resistance of 9.1 newtons per kilonewton. A stricter limit of 7.2 newtons per kilonewton will take effect in 2033.

The Energy Commission says the standards will ensure that replacement tires are, on average, at least as energy efficient as those installed on new vehicles. The agency estimates the regulations will save Californians nearly $1 billion annually in gasoline and electricity costs while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by two million metric tons a year.

Some tire manufacturers, however, have raised concerns about the effect on prices and product availability. Goodyear estimates that about 70% of replacement tires currently sold in California would not meet the 2033 standard and argues that the regulations could increase costs for consumers.

The Energy Commission estimates the standards will add about $1.50 to the cost of each tire during the first phase and $6.50 per tire beginning in 2033. The commission projects that a driver with a gasoline-powered vehicle could save about $179 in fuel costs over the life of a set of tires meeting the 2033 standard.

The regulations exempt several specialty products, including competition, winter, used, retreaded, motorcycle and certain off-road tires.

Dallas is building its next budget on a strong foundation focused on public safety and government efficiency.

Last Tuesday, the City Manager presented her proposed FY27 budget to the City Council, and it reflects many of the priorities I outlined in July: public safety, a focus on core services, more efficient city operations, and a reduced tax rate.

The proposed budget would accomplish several important goals:

• Put public safety first by keeping police and fire salaries competitive, continuing to fund the Dallas Police and Fire Pension System, and increasing police hiring with a sworn staffing goal of over 3,650 officers by October next year
• Improve and maintain 800 lane miles of city streets with the support of the 2024 Bond Program
• Improve efficiency by eliminating redundancies and maximizing the impact of your tax dollars without compromising on service delivery (for example, shifting Dallas Public Library to a flagship model)
• Continue to streamline zoning and permitting processes by expanding the online DallasNow land management system
• Diversify revenue sources and expand public/private partnerships for Park & Recreation and the Office of Arts & Culture so these services depend less on your tax dollars
• Start construction of the Dallas Love Field Airport expansion and continue the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center redevelopment, with funding for both of these projects coming from enterprise funds rather than your taxes
• Expand the use of artificial intelligence to improve efficiency, optimize the permitting process, and improve public safety

Tax Rate Reduction and Economic Growth

All of the above initiatives are balanced with another tax rate reduction, which has been done every year of my Administration. This is possible because the city continues to grow and develop, expanding the tax base every year. This year, new construction alone accounted for nearly $4 billion in property value growth. Since I took office, Dallas has added over $30 billion in new construction.

This is another reason why development and economic growth, like Y’all Street, are so important: They increase the share of the City’s revenue that does not come from individuals, allowing the City to continue providing quality services without excessively burdening residents.

While the City Manager’s proposal is an excellent start, the budget process is not over. In the coming weeks, the City Council will refine the budget before final adoption on September 16. The council’s next budget workshop will take place this Wednesday, August 19, and council district budget town halls will be held through August 25. Some council members have already advocated for raising taxes, but I will fight to keep the City Manager’s proposed rate cut.

Supporting Southern Dallas Parks

As noted above, Dallas continues to expand its world-class urban park system with funding that doesn’t rely on your taxes, including public-private partnerships and grants. Last week saw a prime example of this as Congressman Marc Veasey presented the city with $2 million in federal funding for the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt.

Led by the Trust for Public Land, the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt is a transformative greenspace project in southern Dallas that includes three new parks and 17 miles of trail. Once complete, it will provide access to close-to-home greenspace for nearly 200,000 southern Dallas residents. With supporters like Congressman Veasey, Dallas is expanding park access for all residents and becoming an even greener and greater city.

That’s everything for today. Have a blessed week!

Until next time,

Based on reporting by Texas Metro News.

WUNC – Rows of low-lying brick buildings and corrugated tin bungalows crowd a 32-acre property in east Burlington. Photos from the 1990s reveal a silver water tower and pristine pipes glowing white in the sun. Now, these structures are rust-red.

This is the former Tarheel Army Missile Plant, or TAMP. A vestigial organ of Cold War-era military manufacturing, it has changed hands several times since the Department of Defense auctioned it off to a private buyer in the early 2000s. For the past three decades, the U.S. Army Environmental Command and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) have investigated and worked to address chemical contamination on the property.

This decades-long timeline may make their restoration endeavor look like a failure. But according to Sue Murphy, an NCDEQ engineer, in comparison to other projects, TAMP has been a resounding success.

“There are over 3,300 contaminated sites in this state of North Carolina, and a lot of them are way worse than this,” she said.

Murphy manages the NCDEQ’s restoration of sites – including TAMP – across the state. She says one explanation for the relative success of TAMP’s cleanup is culpability. There was a clear responsible party: Military operations caused the contamination, so the Army Environmental Command was sent to clean it up.

But for many other sites, culpability isn’t so obvious. In those cases, responsibility falls on the state.

In North Carolina, the Department of Environmental Quality’s Inactive Hazardous Sites program oversees more than 3,300 contaminated properties. But the state has limited money to investigate and clean them up. Murphy said the program’s budget had recently been doubled to $800,000 a year, an increase that still amounts to only a fraction of what the state would need to address the backlog.

“The budget for 3,300 sites has been doubled to $800,000 a year, which might cover sampling and assessment of one moderately contaminated site,” Murphy said.

The money available for that work comes from a federal program designed to support state oversight.

The Defense and State Memorandum of Agreement (DSMOA) program reimburses states for regulatory oversight on Department of Defense (DoD) properties. On Aug. 4, the Department of the Army abruptly suspended all reimbursement activities under the program, telling states to cease work covered by the agreement. Ten days later, on Aug. 14, the Army restored the funding. No explanation was provided for the suspension or its reversal.

For NCDEQ, the episode illustrated how quickly the resources available for environmental cleanup can change.

Army Environmental Command officials affiliated with TAMP said they were not aware of the funding changes, and the Department of the Army representative did not respond to requests for comment about the suspension.

The brief suspension did not eliminate the larger funding problem facing North Carolina’s contaminated-site program. But it exposed another vulnerability: Even work that has already been planned can depend on funding decisions that can be reversed with little notice.

The DSMOA program is intended to help states carry out regulatory work at military sites, including technical reviews, site visits, public participation and sampling. Nationally, states and territories receive more than $40 million annually through the program.

For North Carolina, that money supports oversight at Army-affiliated sites across the state, including locations where contamination has raised concerns about PFAS and other chemicals, such as Fort Bragg and Cherry Point. At these sites, contaminants have leached into groundwater, putting residents of nearby communities at risk.

Remediation work continues at Tarheel facility in Burlington

At TAMP, the Army has the resources and authority to investigate contamination because the federal government is the responsible party. When contamination comes from an uncertain or disputed source, determining who has to act comes before rehabilitation.

But even the federal agency (the Army Environmental Command) overseeing cleanup at TAMP has faced cuts from the last year’s larger reshuffling of federal funding.

“We’ve had a hiring freeze for about a year. And during this time, we’ve lost about 20 to 25 percent of the people that worked with us,” said Nathan Edwards, who leads the Southwest branch of the Army Environmental Command. Those cuts could affect remediation efforts.

The site’s Residential Advisory Board, or RAB, was created to ensure the surrounding community remains in the loop about TAMP’s restoration. They hold community meetings several times a year.

Despite this framework, there’s still a sense of wariness from the community members who attend these meetings. After decades of misinformation and failure to resolve the contamination on the part of the Army, many Burlington residents living in proximity to TAMP do not believe that the toxic waste has been cleaned up. Emily Sutton, who represents the Haw River Assembly as part of the RAB, mentioned during the July 29 meeting that despite safe TCE and PFAS values in tap water, many community members don’t dare drink it.

Based on reporting by The Carolinian.

OAKLAND – A sweeping, multiphase redevelopment of the Oakland Coliseum site led by Ray Bobbitt, president of the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG), and businessman James “Jim” Reynolds Jr., could eventually attract between $3 billion and $5 billion in investment.

Reynolds said the first phase, estimated at $1 billion to $1.5 billion, could include housing, hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, open space and opportunities for local small businesses.

“We are going to transform the entire area with housing, hotels, with an infrastructure that benefits the community,” Reynolds said.

He also wants to attract major entertainment partners and position Oakland to compete with venues in San Francisco and San Jose. Reynolds said the city already possesses natural assets that other cities spend fortunes trying to create.

“One of the most naturally beautiful cities I’ve ever been to,” he said. “In Oakland, if you do nothing, it’s beautiful naturally: lakes, the mountains, the scenery, the open space, the weather.”

Reynolds’ vision, however, extends beyond buildings and entertainment. He is also focused on which businesses receive contracts and which residents benefit from the jobs and economic opportunities the project creates.

Reynolds said Black and Brown contractors have historically lacked the bonding, insurance, equipment and staffing required to compete for large contracts because they were denied opportunities to expand.

“Why would you build a big business when you know no one was going to hire you to do the job?” Reynolds asked.

He recalled working with longtime business partner Earvin “Magic” Johnson to encourage minority-owned firms to compete for larger contracts. About 1,000 businesses attended one outreach event after receiving assurances that opportunities to serve as prime contractors were real.

Reynolds wants to bring the same approach to Oakland.

“I don’t need goals and set-asides to figure out how to give Black companies a chance to be a prime,” he said.

He also wants Black businesses to move beyond seeking only small portions of projects or subcontracting roles.

“When we run the concessions, we pick who has a concession,” Reynolds said, citing partnerships involving Johnson, LL Cool J and Stephen A. Smith.

The same principle should apply to construction, entrepreneurship and workforce development, he said.

“Job training and opportunities to have Blacks lead something like this matter,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds also wants young Oakland residents connected to the jobs and career pathways created by the redevelopment.

“They’re going to have jobs, job training, and opportunities to work,” Reynolds said.

He rejects assumptions that Black youth and Black-owned companies cannot manage major responsibilities.

“I’m not going to sit here like others who have been in positions like this and doubt that Black people can do certain things,” Reynolds said.

For Reynolds and Bobbitt, the Coliseum redevelopment is an opportunity to create more than a replacement for the professional sports teams Oakland lost. Bobbitt contributes deep Oakland roots, community relationships and years of persistence, while Reynolds brings capital-market experience, global business relationships and a record of structuring enormous transactions.

Together, they envision a destination that attracts visitors while creating jobs, businesses and ownership opportunities for Oakland residents.

“Thank you, Jim, for believing in Oakland and investing,” Bobbitt said.

CEO of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce Cathy Adams, who wrote a letter of support for AASEG at a time when many doubted the feasibility of their goals, said the Coliseum area development plan will become the example of how Black-owned businesses and contractors can help close the disparity gap in Oakland.

Next week, Part 2: Len Turner and local business owners can benefit.

By Post Staff

By 

The Oakland Black-Eyed Pea Festival (BEPF), a celebration of African American traditional music, food and art, will return to its roots through a partnership with Farms to Grow, Inc., the hosts of the Freedom Farmers’ Market on Sept. 12.

Now in its 11th year, the downsized festival sponsored by Omnira Institute will open with presentations by Wakan Wiya Two-Spirit Drum, a drum invocation for the ancestors by Awon Ohun Omnira, a performance by Andre Thierry of Accordion Soul, and most importantly, fresh black-eyed peas for sale.

Freedom Farmers’ Market (FFM) vendors sell produce and promote wellness and nutrition through organic herbs, massage, and other gift items from July through October on the second and fourth Saturdays at a dozen canopies in the last block of Shattuck Avenue, where it merges with Telegraph Avenue.

Over the years, FFM vendors have appeared at the Black-Eyed Pea Festival and vice versa, so this collaboration is like a family reunion.

Farms to Grow, Inc. Executive Director Elaine Smith said the collaboration with Omnira Institute was an opportunity she couldn’t refuse. “People talk about community and unity for Black people – I always want to be an example of what has to be done,” Smith said. “Anyway that we can partner with our people, we want to do that.”

Charlotte Jackson, a longtime vendor with FFM and the festival, had been known for her jellies, jams and chow-chow through Pots n’ Jars. For the last several years, she hasn’t been able to find a commercial kitchen she can afford, so she began selling vegan soap and skin care products that her son and his partner produce under the name Lather and More.

“It’s been a blessing,” said Jackson, who will tell her customers that although they can order the wares from the website, there’s no such thing as ‘smell-avision.” From her table, she encourages passers-by to take a sniff of the soaps, then directs them to the nearby booths.

Jackson functions as a sort of ‘town crier’ of ‘buying Black,’ never failing to encourage Black people to take their mule or Pontiac or Chevrolet and steer it toward Black businesses like Mandela Market.

Likewise, the Black-Eyed Pea Festival was established to encourage Black entrepreneurship by providing a space for Black creatives to sell their handmade or original designs and products without competing with commercially produced goods.

It also served as a way to both commemorate and invigorate memory of the once-thriving Black community of West/North Oakland before it was divided by highways, BART, and then ravaged by the crack cocaine epidemic.

“For one day, I wanted to invoke the success of that community through the sound of music, the taste of soul food and black-eyed peas and the beauty of our art,” Ravernell said.

Once deciding to follow through on the idea of holding a festival celebrating African American traditions, Ravernell settled on using the black-eyed pea as its symbol because of its pride of place in Black people’s consciousness on New Year’s Day and because the peas were originally cultivated in Africa.

Learning that Fresno farmer Wil Scott, former president of the California African American Farmers Association, grew black-eyed peas as well as other legacy crops that are the foundation of a soul food menu, Ravernell was intent on ensuring Scott’s presence at the first festival in 2014. Whenever he could, and whenever the weather yielded a bountiful crop, Scott would bring his black-eyed peas to the festival, shelled or on the pods.

Originally cultivated in Africa, the black-eyed pea is believed to have been brought to the U.S. hidden in the hair of African captives brought to the Western Hemisphere during the holocaust of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

Known to grow plentifully even in poor soil, the pea was associated with abundance in Africa and later, in the U.S., with good luck.

She also learned that black-eyed peas nourish poor soil, that they are a very good source of nutrition, and that they probably contributed to the longevity of the enslaved.

“I thought the black-eyed pea, its story and its significance for Black people made it a great symbol to represent Black culture,” she said. In spite of everything they endured, Black people emerged from slavery and Jim Crow as masters of making a lot from a little, creating a culture that would be emulated and imitated at home and abroad.

Feeling that many people know only the most recent iterations of Black music – Hip Hop and R&B – she created the festival to promote the music of earlier eras, which reflect the thoughts and feelings of Black people over time.

That’s why the festival highlights straight-ahead jazz, gospel, zydeco and the Second Line of the New Orleans jazz funeral.

“It’s not enough to remember,” Ravernell said. “We need to actively nourish the roots of our culture.”