The Way I See It. Thoughts, opinions, and musing of a "Seasoned Citizen."

Vol. 1      No. 8

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

(sorry Clint, I needed a title)

It seems, with some regularity, we are made privy to another list of the “Best Ten” what ever in the Napa Valley.  Do you wonder who dreams these lists up, and more importantly, why?  And what about the ten “worst” things?  Shouldn’t we be aware of these too?  After all, “best” is nice, but “worst” might hurt you!  And “ugly”?  Well generally “ugly” is in the eye of the beholder, and since I have an eye, actually two, and I do routinely ”behold”, I guess I can say what I too think is “ugly.” So, obviously none of my lists are intended to be exhaustive or the final answer. It just the way I’m seeing things today. A little disclaimer here. I’m retired so I have no clients, customers or advertisers I need to suck up to.  This is just how the chips fall.

So here we are; some of the thing around town I feel are “good”, or as they said in “The Sound of Music,” these are a few of my favorite things.

The Best Hamburgers in Town?  I call it tie between Norman Rose Tavern and the Squeeze Inn Café. Two different settings, but a great burger either place. 

A nice place for a snack or light meal alfresco?   Bar Ber Q’s in Bel Aire Plaza.  I would have liked to have mentioned Compadres, but, when I go there and try to enjoy the deck, I’m never sure they’ve solved the bee problem. Nothing ruins the meal like a bee sting.  The unique thing about Napa it’s easier to find great high end out door dining.  Coles, Angele, Celadon – too many to pick just one.

Best Biscuits and Gravy in town? No contest.  The Jefferson Café in the shopping mall at the corner of Jefferson and Pueblo.

Best coffee and Coffee shop. Peet’s in Bel Aire.  Good brew, friendly staff and relaxed atmosphere.

Actually Peets qualifies for a double header.  In addition to a great brew, it also qualifies as The Best Place to Meet Friends and People Watch.  Set between T.J.’s and Whole Foods , and next to Rick’s newly renovated Barber Shop, everyone you know will pass by if you’re just patient. 

The Best Drug Dealer in Town?  The pharmacy manager at Walgreens. What’d you think I was talking about??  Melissa is service oriented, very professional, and always ready to help.

The Best Place to Feed Your Musical Desires? For either listener or singer, it’s the premier group, Sing Napa Valley, formerly known as the Napa Valley Chorale.  Quality music by quality singers.  They open their season in November with a marquee performance at the Lincoln Theater, with the valley’s new symphony orchestra, with a Christmas gift to you of the always moving Handel’s Messiah.  Mark it on your calendar now.  If you think you can sing it, check the Sing Napa Valley website to see how you sign up.

OK, no more Mr. Nice Guy, it’s time to move on to the “Bad.”  At the top of my list is the intersection of Trancas and California.  It’s a fatality waiting to happen. The Chief of Police’ apparent laissez-faire attitude towards consistent enforcement of the most fundamental traffic laws almost moved this item into the “Ugly” category.

How about the never ending discussion, followed by another 50k study of the traffic flow on 1st 2nd and 3rd streets? I’ve been in Napa forty years and I honesty believe this discussion and the commissioning of another study has been going on the entire time. It seems the studies, meetings, surveys, and do-overs have become a cottage industry.  Would it be too tough on them, if I were to suggest the city council do, you know what, or get off the pot?

Also on the “Bad” list is the lack of real accountability of our council members.  The county Board of Supes each has a constituency to whom they are accountable. The council will say, “We are accountable to everybody”, to which I reply, “Which means you are accountable to no one.”  Of course the council won’t do anything to change this. Why should they, it’s nice to hide in the crowd.  I wonder if anyone knows how to write a proposition covering this?

How about a “Good/Bad” mix.  Our city street repair crew certainly qualifies for a “Good”.  The goal of 10 miles of paving every season, topping out what’s new to lengthen its’ life, and the restriping of Trower east of SR29 to Lassen, very creative. But, and you know what a “but” means, it means forget everything I just said ‘cause here’s what I really think.  Solano Ave between Redwood and Trower was let deteriorate into a gauntlet of potholes which challenged the most accomplished driver and sturdiest equipment to make that run and finish with your nerves, teeth and tires all intact.  Then bless your hearts you fixed it. Hallelujah!  A smooth transit.  We got to enjoy it about a week when the crew installing a new water line to tore it up again.  And now, there it sits with steel deck plates and a bump to again test your tires, shocks and nerves.  What kind of dim witted coordination is that???  Are we that big of a corporate entity one department doesn’t have any idea what another is doing?? Surely some of these people must pass each other at the city yards, or clocking in or out.  According to our budget we’re paying department heads, at least I haven’t heard we are now using volunteers. We have a right to expect better coordination and planning. If this was an unavoidable “perfect storm” at least look like you care about cleaning up the mess and restoring the roadway ASAP.

And now the “Ugly.”  You know in good conscience, it’s really difficult to refer to anything here in the valley as “ugly”.  Oh yeah, I know there are a few architectural eyesores around town who’s sudden disappearance overnight wouldn’t cause the smallest of blips on the Rector scale of public opinion.  But, in general things are pretty nice around here, in spite of what our perpetual whiners would have us believe about their agenda for a new world order. I have a theory about them too.  The only reason we have so many is most of the rest of the country is too cold and wet for them to spend too much time marching, kumbayahing, or standing outside grocery stores with petitions. But that’s grist for another blog. But having said all that, there is one blight in our midst which has reared its ugly head recently and that is the really ugly idea of destroying our Opera House by taking it from what was intended by its’ restoration and using it to accommodate another carper bagger looking to enrich his bank account by harvesting not grapes, but big bucks he thinks are here in the Napa Valley just for the plucking.  I sat on groups and with committees, which started meeting in the city chambers when this idea first came up to restore the old girl before she caved in from the accumulated weight of rust and dust.  There were those at the time, who didn’t want any restoration, they would have preferred to let her die and go into the same head of rubble they made of Brewsters. Remember Brewsters?  Fortunately a more enlightened plan developed and over the years, through any device, plan or scheme available money was donated, pledged, earned and begged for, enough money to bring her back to life in the grand style we now see her.  At that time the steering committees couldn’t have been more generous with their assurances that for helping to make the restoration happen, the groups whose help they had asked for, could be assured of a venue which would be affordable. What a laugh.

Now the present managers are telling us they can’t make it as a performance center without a sellout to a third party.  The present managers knew what the challenges would be when they took the job.  Did they donate their salary back when it became apparent to them they couldn’t do the job?  Some of the same people, who had all the great ideas for Copia, now have their fingerprints all over the Opera House.  Copia now sits, dark, empty and being carved up by the vultures. Does anyone see a familiar M.O. at the Opera House?  The only ones who seem to be in favor of the really ugly idea is Mr. Dorf,  Mr. Miami, and the Napa Register who has given prominent space on their editorial page for these two to try and make their case to the public.  If the Opera House management was really serious about addressing the problem and keeping the Opera House as it was intended, they would have been calling on the groups who would use it and enlisting their help in seeking a solution to the problem of filling seats on a regular basis.  Perhaps your buyers should look to the north and go pick over the bones of Copia.  I assure you that idea will be better received.. So how about it guys. You have the courage to call for a round table with all interested groups to engage in a sincere effort to find a solution to our problem of fuller utilization of the facility?  Selling it off and hacking it up, now that’s a really ugly idea. 

At least that’s the way I see it.

Charlie