The Latest in Loyalton

There may be many ways to describe the people who helped craft the Citizen’s Committee Recommended Annexation Plan, but trying to discredit the work by characterizing them as “outsiders” is a disservice to the many people who volunteered time and energy to the project. In the course of the City of Loyalton’s General Plan Update many voices, concerns and ideas have been heard. The participation of everyone who has an interest in the future of Loyalton and Sierra County has been useful to the outcome. Ultimately, it is the job of Loyalton’s elected officials to sift through all of the information and choose the best plan for the constituency they represent. The Citizen’s Advisory Committee’s meetings have been publicly held. The hypothetical annexation scenarios they researched were presented to a well-attended and well-publicized workshop. Public input was solicited and received. The annexation scenario the committee is recommending to the City Council is a distillation of the work and comments of Loyalton citizens, neighbors, speculators and land use professionals. The writer of the post below complains there are not enough people in Loyalton to fund the economy speculating that doubling the size of Loyalton will solve the problems of health insurance and education now faced by the City. Lack of health insurance is a national problem as prevalent in large cities as it is in rural areas. The problems faced by Sierra County schools are endemic to rural schools throughout the state whether or not the area has embraced development, like for example Plumas County, or not. It will take more than simply doubling the size of Loyalton to solve these systemic problems. However, it seems unknown to the writer, the recommended plan of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee proposes doubling the population of Loyalton. We encourage the writer and everyone interested to attend the workshops now being held by Loyalton’s City Council on the General Plan.  The plan itself is posted at: www.highsierrarural.org/documents/loyalton-draftgp.pdf Also, of interest may be the 2007 Sierra County Grand Jury Final Report. Not posted on the web yet, it was reprinted in the August 9, 2007 edition of the Mountain Messenger. Initially the Jury found the Loyalton City Council did not properly follow legal requirements for public participation putting the rights of the County’s citizens at risk. The Jury considered issuing an interim report to inform the public, but “due to increased citizen involvement” determined there was no longer a need. The Jury also found the General Plan process was unduly influenced by a local real estate developer with a substantial financial stake in the outcome and accused Supervisor Brooks Mitchell of “Willful Misconduct” in actions related to the City’s General Plan process. Citizen participation is crucial to maintaining an open democracy. In this instance the citizens of Loyalton with the help of friends are successfully thwarting the bullying tactics employed by outsiders and insiders. However, one family in particular remains victim. The Goicoechea family along with the County has been sued by the Sierra Valley Development Company, the real estate interest with a substantial financial stake in the outcome of the City’s deliberations. The suit attempts to deny the Goicoechea’s of their right to enter into a Farmland Security Zone Contract by imposing a procedural and economic burden on the family and the County. The community is holding a benefit to help pay the family’s considerable legal bills at 4 pm Saturday, September 8 at the Loyalton Rotary Picnic Grounds south of Sierra Brooks. For a $15 donation attendees will receive a steak dinner (Sierra Valley beef, no doubt), entertainment and a chance to participate in a lottery and auction. Details will be announced. Be Happy, Stay Rural! Stevee Duber, Project Manager High Sierra Rural Alliance

NOTE: Our thanks to the person that posted this comment. We appreciate hearing multiple perspectives and encourage dialogue on difficult issues. We felt that portions of the comment that used people's names in a negative fashion were out of step with this website’s terms of use (see the link on the top right column) and so we edited those pieces out. Out of respect to the original writer, we put a // where we made edits. We tried to take out names and leave in the thrust of the comment. Because the author made the post anonymously, we could not reach her/him to discuss the edits. We encourage people to sign their posts. We aim for open and civil discussion and hope for continued interaction about people's visions for Loyalton in the future. ORIGINAL POST //Right now the only bullying going on in Loyalton is by outsiders who think they know what is best for Loyalton. //Those who do not live in Loyalton have no idea of what would serve the community well. There are many in Loyalton who are tired of this holier than thou approach taken by those who are funded by deep pockets outside of Loyalton and Sierra County. Who is paying for // [these] efforts? // Loyalton businesses are dying. We have people here who have no health insurance, who are under-insured and under employed because there is no economy here. Why? Because there are not enough people here to fund the economy. A speaker at the Chamber of Commerce last week said that the most important things to people moving into an area are health and education facilities both of which are endangered here in Loyalton. // If Loyalton doubled in size it would begin to resemble the place where most of the people who grew up here would recognize. // Then we might have a chance of saving a culture that may shortly disappear.