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Welcome to the first
installment of my new column, available only on my website and through
a free subscription. If, after reading the first issue you
hate it (which I simply cannot imagine), please unsubscribe using
the box at the end. On the other hand if you love it, please
forward to your friends at will.
An important caveat: Please understand
from the get-go that this is a personal project of my own, independent
of Carpe Vino. The opinions expressed are my own, and are
not necessarily shared by my partners in that venture. While
I am sending this out first to the Carpe Vino list, it is being
managed separately. If you unsubscribe from “Only in
Auburn,” you will still receive “Window on Old Town.”
* * *
This ain’t no blog; it was originally
conceived as a newspaper column, but the Auburn Journal—where "Only
in Auburn" was intended to run—is operated by a
cabal of ultra-conservative defenders of the status quo, so you
won’t be seeing my work in newsprint any time soon.
My impression is that I have been permanently banned by the editorial
intelligentsia on High Street.
I’ve been thinking about developing
this column for a long time—even before I killed my long-running
Auburn Journal wine column, “Sierra Foothills AVA,”
in November of 2005. At the end I was writing more about my
experiences living and working in Auburn rather than focusing on
wine. And my readers loved it, especially when I had the temerity
to express an op-ed view about indigenous sacred cows. More
than one of my innocently-crafted columns produced a hail of vitriol
from the ranks of fifth-generation homesteaders.
My basic concept for the column is to write
about anything that interests me, especially if it bugs me.
After more than seven years of living in Auburn, I have plenty to
write about, believe me.
The biggest hurdle I had to surmount was
coming to grips with the fact that it is okay to be different here.
First and foremost, I am different because I am an outsider, and
I will continue as such till the day my ashes are dumped off of
the Forest Hill Bridge. Being an outsider makes you STAGE
ONE DIFFERENT in a small town, Auburn or anywhere else.
The second hurdle--one I will never struggle
over--is I think so much differently and believe in things that
are far removed from so many of the people with whom I share the
sidewalks. I am a person with liberal sensibilities living
in a region that embraces the likes of Mr. John Doolittle.
While I have never worn my politics on
my sleeve, I am happy to engage in spirited conversation with whomever
pulls up a bar stool at Carpe Vino. If someone has ever left
here angry, though, I am unaware of it. A free glass of pinot
noir tends to always help make things right.
On many occasions I have tried to convince
myself that I have never intentionally written anything to provoke
controversy or to anger any person or group. If that were
true in the past, it won’t be in the future. I have
my friends at the Auburn Journal to thank for that.
Because I am self-publishing this column,
I no longer need concern myself about being politically correct
enough to get by the arbiters of good taste at the newspaper.
Another huge benefit is I can write to any length I choose, with
out fear of facing a blue pencil. And perhaps most importantly,
I’ll never risk my work being brutalized again by the latest
22-year old Chico State English major assigned this week to the
copy desk. I can’t tell you how much time I’ve
spent polishing my copy only to have it hacked apart by a neophyte.
I approached Auburn Journal management
with my idea for a regular commentary, and I submitted the column
below as a sample. Basically, I was told it was self-serving
garbage. Garbage perhaps; self-serving, hardly.
It probably didn’t help that I led
my pitch to the Journal muckity mucks by saying the commentary
element of the paper is anemic. It is loaded with wire pick-ups
and tired rehashes of safe topics (“Don’t Drink and
Drive.” Gee, let’s go out on a limb.) Guess
that didn’t go over very well.
The fact that I pissed off the publisher
earlier this year also failed to aid my cause. Carpe Vino
was a charter online advertiser with the Journal, but I pulled the
plug earlier this year when the rates were increased six fold, from
$200 per month to $1,200. I told the publisher exactly what
I thought about what I viewed as a huge gouge, and, well, I don’t
think I’m on his Christmas card list this year. (I am
gratified to know that the web slot we vacated has still not been
resold in nine months.)
My bottom-line assessment is the Auburn
Journal just doesn’t approve of my politics, nor is there
room in a publication that has no interest in stimulating a legitimate,
spirited public discourse (though they do run some of the most outrageous
letters to the editor I’ve seen published anywhere.
Check out today’s edition—December 1—featuring
an assault on the Muslim faith. It’s incredible.)
Here’s my first column that was actually
written in mid-October. It is important to share it with
you now because the Festival of Lights Parade is tomorrow—the
reasoning will become apparent immediately. After reading
my piece, you will find it amusing that earlier this week the AJ
ran a piece about how the Downtown and Old Town business districts
are working closely, a blatant, intentional fabrication and distortion
of reality.
I’ll write more—twice per month
is my goal—as I find the time and am motivation. I know
you’ll let me know what you think, and I look forward to hearing
from you.
As a full city block of Old Town Auburn
lay smoldering a year ago after fire swept through the historic
district, offers of assistance flooded in from around the community—exactly
what you would expect in a small town where people still care about
what happens to their neighbors.
Two fund raisers netted nearly $20,000
that was used in part to help aide some 70 mostly part-time employees
who lost their jobs when seven businesses were burned out.
The City of Auburn stepped up immediately to secure the site and
help with early recovery efforts, and many individuals offered private
acts of kindness.
Bruce Cosgrove, executive director of the
Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce, contacted me to ask what his organization
could do to help Old Town. I thought about that for a while
and called him back.
“Bruce, one thing would really help.
It would do a lot to lift everyone’s spirits down here if
the Festival of Lights Parade went through Old Town this year.”
The line was silent for a moment before
Bruce responded. He agreed to talk to the parade director,
a Downtown business owner, and see what could be done.
As Auburn’s signature event, the
Festival of Lights Parade is a joyous happening every year that
draws thousands of people to see gaily lit floats, vehicles, horses,
bands and, of course, the Sugar Plump Fairies and Santa Claus.
It is the official after-Thanksgiving kickoff of the Christmas season
and it is aimed squarely at families and children.
When Bruce got back to me, I was not surprised
with his report: The parade route was set, and it would not
be changed.
At that time I had operated a business
in Old Town for more than three years, long enough to understand
the ingrained rivalry between the two business districts.
But at that moment, for the first time, I fully appreciated the
depth and breadth of the gulf separating Upper Town from Lower Town.
It was a sad revelation that has been manifested in many other ways
over the past year in what has every appearance of being a calculated,
predatory scheme:
--On October 14, what would have been the
4th Annual Auburn Wine Festival became the Downtown Auburn Wine
Festival. The program, which was originally conceived in Old
Town, was in effect purloined by the Downtown Business Association
(DBA). The organization purchased the event for a reported
$3,000 from the Placer County Wine & Grape Association (PCWGA),
which apparently was not in a position to run the event this year.
In its original format, the Auburn Wine
Festival was purposefully designed to unite both business districts
through a single event. With local wineries and restaurants
showcasing their products within merchant locations, event participants
would be exposed to the entire town, its businesses and the emerging
wine industry of Placer County.
The Old Town Business Association (OTBA)
was never contacted by either the DBA or PCWGA about their deal.
OTBA President Reese Browning of Old Town Pizza learned of the consolidated
arrangement when he sat in on a DBA regular meeting.
The DBA put its spin on the change—it
was more convenient for participants with the event limited to Downtown.
At the end of the day, though, the net effect is Old Town was aced
out of this shared program with no notice, with all of the benefits
now reaped exclusively Downtown.
--Earlier this year, the DBA leaned heavily
on the Farmer’s Market to move its regular Saturday morning
open-air fair from the Courthouse parking lot in Old Town to a new
location Downtown. This always festive market has been wildly
successful in Old Town, and the DBA’s reasoning was that the
current space is overcrowded and Farmer’s Market customers
would be better served in Downtown digs.
An expensive venture launched several summers
ago to create a Wednesday evening Farmer’s Market Downtown
failed decisively, so apparently, the next best thing is to co-opt
the Old Town program. So far the Farmer’s Market has
resisted the overtures, and it is staying put for now.
--When Placer County shuttered a gift shop
that was a perpetual money-loser in the historic Placer County Courthouse,
the DBA stepped up earlier this year to fill the void in the middle
of Old Town. In what was unlikely an altruistic gesture to
ensure tourist access to Auburn souvenirs and assorted chotskies,
the DBA took over management of this venue outside of its own turf
for a single reason: to direct tourists out of Old Town and
point them Downtown.
--New monument signs are being built on
I-80 in an effort to visually market Auburn to the 80,000 cars that
pass by on the freeway everyday. A petition was started by
a Downtown business owner seeking to eliminate “Old Town”
from any of the exit signage, using only the word “Auburn.”
The drive was ultimately squashed by planners.
--No citywide parades, the ultimate community
binder, are routed through Old Town. The aforementioned Festival
of Lights and the annual Family Fourth of July parades both originate
and terminate Downtown.
--Perhaps the most threatening episode
occurred in the fall of 2005, when a truck exiting I-80 at Maple
Street crashed into a historical marker near the end of the ramp.
Almost immediately, a hue and cry arose to plug the eastbound Old
Town exit, a move that would have two impacts: With easy access
from the freeway blocked, Old Town would become an instant island,
and it would ultimately shrivel and die. At the same time,
motorists seeking to enter Au burn would exit at Rte. 49 and be
funneled Downtown. Guess who led the chorus for closure?
Actually, it was the Auburn Journal.
* * *
Membership of the DBA is much larger than
the OTBA, and Downtown has far greater monetary resources and substantially
more influence with both the Chamber of Commerece and the City of
Auburn. Old Town is cloutless in comparison, but trumps nonetheless
with two key assets:
--As the first eastbound Auburn exit from
I-80, Old Town gets the lion’s share of motorists leaving
the freeway for services. They get off, then get right back
on.
--Old Town offers visitors what they seek.
. .a slice of the true Old West exhibited in a timeless enclave
that is a living reminder of California’s beginnings.
This is no re-creation—it’s the real deal—and
visitors love it.
The rivalry between Old Town and Downtown
is as omnipresent and habitual as the ancient turf war between Israel
and Palestine. The issues that divide the business districts
seem to be imprinted on the DNA of the participants, but at the
end of the day, it’s all about economics. Money gets
spent either Downtown or in Old Town, creating winners and losers.
It doesn’t have to be this way, especially
if win-win programs such as the Auburn Wine Festival were encouraged
to flourish. One can only imagine what the two sides could
achieve if they invested their energies in working together rather
that creating strategies that deepen the divide. Based on
what the record reveals, however, it will be a cold day in Cool
before that happens.
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