Mardi Boettcher's Blog

People have been coming to Mendocino County for years for the breathtaking views, award-winning wines, whale-watching, and wonderful food. During the holidays a kind of magical feeling descends over the County’s towns and villages. Mendocino County’s New England charm works overtime at this time of year, with Victorians twinkling with lights, a roaring fire in every fireplace, and a warm, small-town feeling of holiday cheer enveloping everyone.

Escape to Mendocino County where warm fires, friendly people and festive events await you. Plan your trip today at www.goMendo.com.

Come Celebrate!
Events this holiday season include:

A Taste of Redwood Valley – Holiday Wine Sale and Artisan Faire November 21st – 22nd A Taste of Redwood Valley invites old friends and new to join them for the 7th annual Holiday Wine Sale and Juried Artisan Faire. Live Music, one-of-a-kind art, friends, food, wine and Merriment

Festival of Trees – Gualala, CA November 27th- 28th Enjoy a Gualala Christmastime as it was in the 1850’s when it was a thriving mill town. Two “villages” will be decked out for the holidays and vendors dressed in period costume will be offering handmade crafts of the kind available during the 1850’s – quilting, weaving, knitting, felting, woodcraft, folk art, pottery, soap making, jewelry of metal and glass – accompanied with demonstrations of their skills.

Holiday Lights Parade – Fort Bragg, CA Saturday, December 5th Lighted parade with Christmas tree lighting, carolers, and Santa in downtown Fort Bragg. Free to all.

Ukiah’s Annual Small Town Christmas – Ukiah, CA Saturday, December 5th Celebrate this wonderful time of year with your family and friends at Small Town Christmas in Downtown Ukiah. Have a photo taken with Santa, enjoy local performers, and stop by our local shops. There will be live entertainment in the Alex R. Thomas Plaza followed by the Tree Lighting Ceremony.

Skunk Train Christmas Train – Willits, CA Willits Depot: Dec. 5, 6, 12- 23

Fort Bragg: Dec. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19, 20 A yuletide favorite of children and adults alike! Join Santa and his elves on a 90-minute magical ride through the light-strung trees of the redwood forest. Enjoy hot chocolate & homemade cookies while listening to strolling musicians and engaging storytellers. Pajamas welcome! Fares: $31 for adults and $24 for children (ages 3 to 11). For more information and reservations, call 1-866-45-SKUNK or visit www.skunktrain.com.

Annual Mendocino Coast Candlelight Inn Tour December 9th – 11th
The inns of Mendocino County’s ocean-side towns celebrate the holiday season with gorgeous and extravagant old-fashioned decorations and open-house hospitality. Benefits Mendocino Coast Children through Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Mendocino Unified School Enrichment (MUSE). One ticket includes all the days and light refreshments at the inns.

Annual Christmas Eve Celebration “The Festival of Nine Lessons” – Gualala, CA
Wednesday, December 24th Mendocino County’s version of a tradition that has been offered each year since 1919 at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, England, will feature the Anchor Bay Children’s Choir and other musicians. At the Gualala Arts Center in Gualala.

Save the Date:

Mendocino County Crab & Wine Days January 22nd – January 31st, 2010 Every January, Mendocino County in Northern California celebrates locally harvested Dungeness crab and locally grown and produced wines with a festival that delights foodies and oenophiles alike!

From gourmet, crab-themed dinners in four-star restaurants, to family-style cioppino feeds, a countywide Passport wine tasting, to the ever popular Crab-cake Cook Off featuring local Mendocino chefs, this festival has something for everyone!

Visitors will enjoy a multitude of dinners, events and lodging specials over the course of the ten days — so head to Mendocino County come January and enjoy good food, fine wines, and family-friendly fun!
Click here for a complete listing of festival events!

Visit www.goMendo.com

This event is a good example of the unique character of Mendocino County and it’s residents: 

Global Day of Climate Action celebrated in Willits By JAY GORDON
Updated: 10/27/2009 02:12:10 PM PDT
Special for the Ukiah Daily Journal

The city of Willits is a walkable community. It’s easy for residents and visitors to explore the town on their own or as part of an organized group.

Painted footprints at intersections guide the curious around downtown and the nearby areas. This includes locally owned shops, charming cottages, public parks, museums, art galleries and a state of the art skatepark for kids.

Most walks begin at J D Redhouse mercantile, not simply because it is in the center of town but also because it’s a place to fortify yourself with pastries and specialty coffees before your walk — and snacks and ice cream afterward.

Head north toward Commercial Street, where painted footprints on the sidewalk will direct you to turn left and begin whatever part of the 5-mile excursion suits your interests and energy level. There are organized walks about four times a year.  This is a great way to meet local people and other visitors who share your enthusiasm for walking.

Normally, a hundred or so walkers participate. However, attendance for the Sunday, Oct. 24 event was sizable since it was in conjunction with the Global Day of Climate Action. Groups around the world planned activities for this day to focus on ways to protect the planet by reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

At the time walk organizer Jed Diamond said, “The goal is to have 350 walkers to represent the 350 parts per million that scientists, climate experts, and many national governments say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We are now almost at 390. Our walk will be one of thousands of events going on throughout the world (including one in Laytonville) on Oct. 24 co-sponsored by the group 350.org.”  The final tally of walkers in Willits of Oct. 24 was 377.  Impressive for a town of 5,000 people. 
There were  free cotton T-shirts for the first 350 people to sign in and take the walk. The T-shirts have a net zero carbon footprint and are made from 69 percent pre-consumer recycled cotton.

The local organization spearheading the walks is WHAT (Willits Healthy Action Team).  Cofounder Jed Diamond is a longtime resident, perhaps best known for his seminal best-selling books on men’s issues, including Male Menopause and The Irritable Male Syndrome.  Contact Jed for more information about future walks.  Phone 459-5505 or e-mail jed@MenAlive.com.

Ever wonder what Mendocino County is up to?

Discover www.gomendo.org  An Insider’s Guide to County Promotional Activities.

Check out the new and improved www.gomendo.org.  An in-county website designed to keep the community abreast of Visit Mendocino County activities and updates. 
 
Look at meeting agendas & minutes, quarterly reports on the marketing plan, communicate with staff, meet the current board of directors, check out the visitors guide and much more…
 
 goMendo.org site and learn about all that is happening to promote our county, communities and businesses.  Great things are happening and we want you to know about it!
 
Thanks to Scott Schneider
President & CEO
Visit Mendocino County, Inc.
T 707.964.9010 | F 866.836.7557 | E scott@gomendo.com

The Ukiah Daily Journal has been doing a great series about people in our local government.   I know this information will be interesting to local residents as well as those of you who may be considering relocating here.  Enjoy!

“Prior to becoming Ukiah’s city manager in May of 2008, Jane Chambers received her bachelor of arts degree from Cal State Northridge and her master of arts degree from UCLA and worked for city governments in California and Minnesota. She is the chief executive officer of a multifaceted and multimillion dollar organization that provides full services for the city of Ukiah. She oversees the police, fire, parks and public works, water, sewer and electrical and the internal support services that include resources, finance and information.

It is her job to insure the decisions of the City Council become a reality by working with her seven member executive team to manage the administrative components of research, planning and operational procedures to reach the determined goals. She enjoys working with both City Council members and department heads and believes they all share a common vision in wisely using resources to create a community that meets the needs of its residents. She supervises 174 full time employees and earns $150,000 per year.

The financial downturn for the city has been her greatest challenge. The city lost more than $1,700,000 in the last year-and-a-half because of decreased income from sales taxes, property taxes and other revenues. The revenue from the ‘08-’09 budget looked more like that of ‘05-’06 and she said residents can expect the same if not worse for the next two years.

In reorganizing to keep within budget restrictions, most services have been protected and offices will remain open five days a week. However, 22 full-time positions have been eliminated, including the front desk receptionist position, resulting in less help for people seeking services from other agencies and a longer wait time for people requesting certain information.

Other current challenges include water availability, water usage, upgrade of utilities and an increasing demand for police and fire services with a significant decrease in revenue. Communication has become more difficult as inadequate resources lead to fewer personnel, limiting effective communication between the city government and residents, Chambers said, adding that it is becoming more and more challenging to stay connected in a meaningful way to help people understand the complexities of local government.

She was happy to report that the three-year wastewater treatment plant project, the largest project ever undertaken by the city, was completed on time and on budget.”

The ‘Ukiah Gleaners’, a project of the Mendocino Environmental Center doing its great work again this fall.  Many gardens have been visited and local people have signed up to help picking the fruitful bounty of Ukiah.  Apples, pears, grapes, figs and plums, which otherwise may have gone to waste, have all been picked and sent to the Food Bank, Plowshares and the Ukiah Senior Center.

This is an inspiring example of what makes the Ukiah Valley community so special.  There is a widespread commitment to taking care of the members of the communtiy and to enjoying the beauty and bounty our natural resources.

The biggest gleaning events were two pickings at the Alex Thomas Orchards on Perkins Street.  More than 100 people turned up for the two events which more than 1,500 pounds of pears to the food bank.

Hannah Bird, co-coordinator of the Ukiah Gleaners said, “They were such lovely events with young and old present to do the picking.  One ‘gleaner’ in particular came up to tell me that not only did he think it was a great idea, but he also felt that he was actually part of something’.  The sense of community spirit really glowed.  I want to thank the Thomas family for allowing us to pick these delicious pears, it was sad to think these orchards may not be here in the future.”

The final gleanings of the season are set to take place over the next few weeks.  To get involved call Hannah at 391-0044 or e-mail  hannah.bird at gmail.com

I recently had a conversation with a client who wants to wait a couple of years to purchase because she thinks prices will continue to go down with more bank owned homes coming on the market.  I told her that, in this area, the inventory of bank owned properties has really slowed down.  One colleague of mine described it as “drying up.”  Perhaps that is just a temporary situation.  Time will tell.  In the meantime, the lowest priced homes are getting multiple offers with the winners offering as much as $20,000 or more over the asking price.  The consensus among the local Realtors is that we have passed the bottom and are headed back up. 

Below, is an article from C.A.R. with the latest data for the state, but bear in mind that we are a unique local market here.  The areas that had massive growth are the areas that seem to be hurting the worst.  Our lack of housing keeps our prices elevated.  That’s why there were ten offers (6 of them first-time buyers) on a house I tried to get for some clients last weekend.  (They didn’t want it badly enough to bid as high as I recommended and they didn’t win.)    Here is the article…..

Foreclosure filings decrease less than 1 percent in August
Foreclosure filings, including notices of default, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions were reported on 358,471 U.S. properties in August, a decrease of less than 1 percent from July, and an increase of nearly 18 percent from August 2008.  The report by RealtyTrac^® also shows one in every 357 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing in August.

“The August report demonstrates that there still is an ample supply of properties filling the foreclosure pipeline even while the outflow of bank-owned REO properties onto the resale market is being more carefully regulated,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “After hitting a high for the year in July, REOs dropped 13 percent in August, but we also saw a record high number of properties either entering default or being scheduled for a public foreclosure auction for the first time.”

California documented the nation’s third highest state foreclosure rate, with one in every 144 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing.  California REOs declined 32 percent from the previous month, but continued to post the highest overall total of any state, with 92,326 properties receiving a foreclosure filing in August. California’s total was down 15 percent from the previous month and was also down 9 percent from August 2009—he first year-over-year decrease in California foreclosure activity in RealtyTrac’s monthly reports.

Six California metro areas documented foreclosure rates among the top 10 in August. Stockton posted the nation’s second highest metro foreclosure rate—one in every 74 housing units received a foreclosure filing—followed by Merced at Number 3 (one in 78), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario at No. 4 (one in 80), Vallejo-Fairfield at No. 5 (one in 82), Modesto at No. 6 (one in 84), and Bakersfield at No. 10 (one in 94).

Visit Mendocino County, Inc., in partnership with Sunset Magazine, are offering a special advertising opportunity in the October issue of Sunset Magazine.
The advertisements in the magazine will invite Sunset readers to learn about and visit destinations in Mendocino County.  Sunset will offers a great editorial and it will be a great opportunity to \grow Businesses here!

Visit Mendocino County and Sunset Magazine have agreed to publish a Full-Page, 4-Color Co-Op Ad in the October Northern California Travel Planner.

Keep and eye out for it!

Thanks to Visit Mendocino County!  Great work!

Check out their website at www.gomendo.com

For those of us who participated in the Charrette process to envision and plan the future of the downtown area, this is exciting news.  See: http://www.hallalminana.com/projects/downtown-ukiah/downtown-ukiah.html   The updated draft of the Downtown Zoning Code (form based code) will be reviewed by Planning Commission in a series of public workshops that will be held at the regularly scheduled Planning Commission meetings.  At each workshop, specific sections of the draft Downtown Zoning Code (DZC) will be reviewed.  The notice for the first workshop which will be held on July 8^th  is attached. The notice includes the draft schedule that identifies the sections to be reviewed at each workshop.  workshop-notice-with-boundary-map-7-8-2009

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me or you can go to http://www.cityofukiah.com/pageserver/?page=hot_topics 

As of July 1st, the Mendocino County Lodging Association (MCLA) in partnership with the Mendocino County Promotional Alliance (MCPA) will be pooling their resources under the Visit Mendocino County organization to better promote and market the County.

This is a giant leap forward and much time, dedication, and energy have been devoted to getting to this point.  The Visit Mendocino County team will function as the county’s official Tourism Bureau, and is focused on growing visitors in order to increase the economic impact of travel in the County. From visitor guides to the County website to working with members and businesses, the Visit Mendocino County team will direct and implement the entire marketing campaign.

Visit their great website:  www.gomendo.com  and see all the community information there.