Op Ed: The Glitter of Growth

Posted by Yubanet.com News

March 9, 2008

Jim Hurley offers this view on growth in the Sierra Foothills:

"The room was packed. Not just the usual riffraff, but luminaries of every hue and sheen. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting an elected official. They came from Truckee, Nevada City, Grass Valley and the County Board of Supervisors. It was one of the periodic joint meetings held in order to coordinate county and city business. Usually these meetings attract crowds numbering in the tens. This one boasted an audience numbering in the hundreds.

We all came to hear if we got our money's worth ($50,000) from the San Francisco consulting firm of Seifel Inc. Not surprisingly, we learned that Nevada County should look more like San Francisco. We need to shift the area away from tourism, we were told, and "expand the capacity of Nevada County to engage in business attraction," in the areas of construction, financing, health care services and information services to the tune of $300,000. "Whew," some of us were saying, not only is that a lot of money to be spending when money is in short supply, but we haven't agreed that it is a good idea to begin with."

Read the entire op-ed.