Wednesday update: Part II: Ideal fit or 'fiasco'? Despite criticism, Land Trust stands by its hiring of Conklin. Your task: read the piece, find the 'fiasco'.
Also, added link to (and excerpt from) The Union's past Cassano profile at end of the previous (below?) post. It's worth reading, if you don't already know him.
The Union has Part I of a 2-part news article on Conklin-NorthStar-LandTrust issue today.
The four aligned supervisors - Conklin, Martin, Green and Peter Van Zant - feared the new board would use Wilson's bequest for something other than open space, which was translated by the supervisors to mean anything related to recreation
Roads, mental health, and the general county budget are also not open space.
They had reason for concern: Bedwell (who recently wrote this) had spoken of the need for softball fields and mental health services, while Sutherland had often discussed the importance of roads.
(a bit timidly stated - see Gift of park funding causes clash(Dec 2002) for background)
On the North Star House:
After a school for troubled youths failed and left the North Star House vacant in the mid-1980s, no one seemed to want the dilapidated building.
Designed by acclaimed architect Julia Morgan...scarred with crude graffiti, smashed windows... Owning it, much less restoring it, would require a colossal commitment of time and money.
"no one seemed to want" it? Was it available? My recollection (perhaps flawed; perhaps The Union could check its archives for this? articles were written) was that the (previous) property owner would not allow anyone to protect the building from vandals and the elements.
Designed by acclaimed architect Julia Morgan...scarred with crude graffiti, smashed windows... Owning it, much less restoring it, would require a colossal commitment of time and money.
A spokesman for Terra Alta Development, which owned the house from the mid-1980s until April 2002, declined to comment on the house for this story.
Who was the individual who declined comment? Who comprised this group?
From Dec 7 2002 article on then-pending sale of North Star to now-current owner Sandy Sanderson:
Lowell Robinson (of Robinson Timber), one of the [then-]current owners...
...
[ironic...:] Andy Cassano of Nevada City Engineering, a representative for the [then-current] owners...
...
The land is also home to a house designed by Julia Morgan, who also designed the San Simeon mansion for newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. The house has reportedly been in dire need of repairs for years.
...
[ironic...:] Andy Cassano of Nevada City Engineering, a representative for the [then-current] owners...
...
The land is also home to a house designed by Julia Morgan, who also designed the San Simeon mansion for newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. The house has reportedly been in dire need of repairs for years.
In the older (for pay) archives:
- 4/11?13?/2000
As stewards, we must preserve Northstar Mine's history
The Union's Opinion
Historic buildings are among the strongest fibers knitting together any group of people. They serve...
(Times (and leadership at The Union) have changed. From the current publisher today: "If given a say-so in the decision on how best to spend Mr. Wilson's money, I suspect that most Nevada County residents wouldn't have placed the North Star House at the top of the wish list. Not even in the top 10.")
- 11/22/1997
Evelyn Foote Gardiner grimaces when she recalls how her family's once-proud home at the North Star Mine has deteriorated over the years. Vandals have caused extensive...
- 10/2/96
Locals protect pioneering woman architect's work
Another irony - Bedwell had an opinion column a month or three back (The Union's Search didn't find this one either) in which he defended spending Calif-voter-approved Open Space money for public buildings. Or so I recall; it would help to have the column at hand.
To my first commenter:
1. Thank you!
2. I wish you were someone more civil and evidence-based - recommend you find congenial territory elsewhere.
