Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
KZYX reporters and independent journalists cover local news for Mendocino County, California, Monday through Friday in six and a half minute reports. The KZYX News podcast is available for redistribution under CC BY 4.0, or the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
From Mendocino County Public Broadcasting. This is the KZYX News for Friday. October 4th. I'm Elise Cox
Supervisor Glenn McGourty brought his proposal for a noise ordinance before the county board of supervisors at the last meeting. He found wide support and also opposition from a resident who loves her roosters.
“Good morning. My name is Maureen Phillips. I wasn't gonna speak but I'm here to save my roosters. Donald and Richard deserve to have a happy (inaudible). They do crow, but I'm gonna call them my guardian roosters. When the skunk comes with the chicken coop, the roosters go off when somebody comes in the yard, the roosters go off. And I was a little concerned with, um, what this young lady said about, uh, if you get a noise complaint and you get a citation and you go to fight it that you may be responsible for paying all the fees of everybody that the court costs and the deputies, if you have a vindictive neighbor that I may have one and they constantly call and you keep getting citations and you want to fight it is that then going to adversely affect your finances. That's a concern, not a super big concern, but it could be a concern.”
Supervisor Maureen Mulheren: “Supervisor Williams, did you have a question for Maureen?”
Supervisor Ted Williams: “Yeah, just some point of clarification. Hopefully. Um I don't want to take your roosters away.”
Williams explained that the goal of the ordinance is to give the sheriff and his deputies another tool to help address loud and unpermitted disturbances. After some discussion, the supervisors voted unanimously to move forward with the ordinance.
In other news, the city of Ukiah has won a $1.4 million grant to invest in an urban forest and to plant more than 700 trees. California local news fellow Sidney Fishman has the story.
The city of Ukiah was named as one of 22 statewide projects to receive a grant aimed at addressing climate change in urban settings. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Urban Community Forestry Program and the United States Department of Agriculture are giving $31 million in grant funds to projects throughout the state. Under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The program funds environmental projects in California cities. Most of the projects intend to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve urban forests and increase opportunities for environmental careers. Ukiah’s grant of over $1,399,000 will fund a climate resilient forest project which is a plan to create a climate resilient urban forest by planting hundreds of new trees throughout the city.
During a city council meeting earlier this month, Chief resilience Officer Blake Adams outlined how the grant will fund planting 722 trees in Ukiah. Approximately 400 trees will be planted on city owned property such as parks and recreation centers. The city plans to hold community events for volunteers to plant about 200 of those trees.
“A big portion of the program it requires um which I would say is a good thing and we would plan on doing this anyway, but it requires us to engage with the community um at length in a real meaningful way. The way that we're thinking about is like weekends mass planting events where folks from the community can come out and volunteer learn about the value of trees, but then also help us plant trees um on that same day in that activity. Um But ahead of all of the actual tree plans and will be engaging with the communities and really seeking their input on what types of trees they want to see.”
Adams says the initial events will help the city engage with the community and understand what types of trees residents want to see and receive feedback on where to plant them.
“The the goal is to really get the community involved and, and, and you know, it it helps to increase awareness, but also it helps us to plant a whole bunch of trees really quickly. You know, I can't really specify yet as to how many there will be um, again, it'll be sort of budget, you know, funding.”
According to Adams, the grant will also fund two other programs to support low income families and small businesses. One is called Ditch Your Lawn A community assistance program that will provide $50,000 to low income households to plant 120 trees on private properties. The other, the green parking lots program will provide $75,000 to small businesses to remove concrete and plant trees around their stores. There will also be improvements to four miles of the city's rail trail and the Great Redwood Trail Corridor.
Additionally, the grant will help fund three new jobs with the city of Ukiah, including that of the climate resilient forest project program manager. Adam says that the project will be funded for three years but the city will need to find longer term funding after that. He says that receiving public feedback is important in creating a program that supports the people of Ukiah. You know, actual implementation will really be dictated by more community engagement. Obviously, everyone here is very excited to hear some news and, and um it's, it's really great. It's gonna mean a lot to the community.
For KZYX News, I'm Sydney Fishman, a reporter for the Mendocino Voice and a California local news fellow. This story was originally published with the Mendocino Voice for all our local coverage with photos and more. Visit kzyx.org. You can also subscribe to the Kzyx News Podcast, wherever you get your