Roundup: Emus, elexting and EVs
Roundup: Emus, elexting and EVs
From lost birds to lost parking spaces, a farmers market petition, and police logs.
Are you emu’sed?
The fate of the emu seen wandering around near Occidental Road and Mill Station remains a mystery. Interestingly, the folks at Animal Control say they got several calls from around the county for wandering emus this week. One was solved by reinforcing a fence, but they couldn’t say if that was the case of the Sebastopol emu or not. But they did say they no longer had a missing emu in Sebastopol on their books.
Hmmm. Punster Renee Price Braschler suggested on the Facebook group, “What’s Up Sebastopol?” that perhaps “emu’ved in” with the folks who reported he’d appeared on their property. Or perhaps emu’ved back home.
Are you suffering from “elextion” overload?
Time Magazine reported in July that with the upcoming November election, “Americans across the country are experiencing a surge in text messages from political campaigns vying for their attention, donations, and votes.” I might call it “elexting”—these friendly messages that ask me “to chip in” and fill a candidate’s coffer.
What I’m calling “elexting,” the FCC says are “political text messages sent to a mobile phone using an autodialer” and “they require the called party’s prior express consent.” These are the same rules that apply to robocalls, which nobody seems to follow. Moreover, political candidates don’t have to abide by “Do-Not-Call” lists.
“Messages sent manually can be sent without prior consent,” says the FCC. So am I to suppose that these texts are generated manually? I never gave consent.
According to a CBS News story, I probably gave consent somewhere, says Cyber security expert Peter Tran says:
"If you have used your number in any type of online ordering, or any type of marketing, or any type of social media platform, those simple end user agreements may have in fine print that they may also share your phone number with other service providers."
“Campaigns should also honor opt-out requests if you reply “STOP,” You can also report the sender “if you are receiving texts that you didn’t ask for” by forwarding the texts to 7726 (or “SPAM”).
However, the reality is that you won’t stop the onslaught.
Kamala Harris was on FIRE! If we raise $1M tonight, Trump is DONE.
DONATE TO PROGRESSIVE TURNOUT PROJECT >>
Even if you feel good about supporting a particular candidate who elexts you for a donation, chances are good that your donation will be used to elext you again and again, as well as elexting many others besides.
Have you heard about the Sebastopol Farmers Market Petition?
You may have noticed that over the last few months, the Sebastopol Farmers Market has expanded into the little parking lot that connects Weeks Way (the official name for the parking lot around the plaza) with Highway 12. Expanding into the parking lot allowed the farmers market to add more vendors. But more important, according to Sebastopol Farmers Market manager Barbara Hom, it made it safer for farmers market visitors because it put an end to cars driving through the market into that little spur of a parking lot.
“The main reason we wanted to expand was because there was traffic and pedestrians in the same space, and it was really dangerous to have the cars go through our market and into the West America parking lot. We had multiple near accidents, pulling children out of the way and people out of the way because cars went through,” Hom said.
“A couple months ago, I spoke to the manager or at West America Bank about the parking lot and talked to him about expanding our market, and they were wholeheartedly in agreement,” Hom said. “They said they don’t use it on Sunday. So we got our insurance, and I asked for a lease, and he said, ‘Don’t worry, you won’t need a lease.’”
Turns out a lease would have been a good idea.
After getting complaints from the toy store and a few bank customers frustrated by the lack of parking for the ATM, West America Bank decided to pull out of the deal and told Hom that today, Sunday, August 31, would be the last day the farmers market would be allowed to use the parking lot.
Hom created a petition she hopes will change their mind. You can find it here.
“We’re talking about a loss of just four spaces for three hours on Sunday—that’s the only overlap with the toy store’s hours,” she said, noting that all the other merchants in the surrounding area (with the exception of Second Chance Books and the toy store) had signed her petition.
Tesla Superchargers come to town
Construction is nearing completion on a dozen Tesla charging stations, the first within city limits. They are located along Hwy 116 at the Redwood Marketplace, which also has two EVgo charging stations.
It’s a sign of the times. Sebastopol was once a town of pickup trucks, and then the Prius became a source of pride. Now it’s Tesla that turns heads and you see more of them in town and passing through town. However, it’s hard to imagine that 12 Teslas will be charging at any one time, right across from our seemingly permanent street-side trailer park.
Sebastopol Police Logs, August 19-25
The following are crimes excerpted from Sebastopol Police Department daily crime log entries and listed at the time the alleged violation was reported.
TUESDAY
4:43 a.m. Burglary, vandalism with damage to property, and conspiracy to commit a crime (felonies) at Pleasant Hill Avenue North and Bodega Avenue. Cleared by circumstances beyond police control.
11:44 a.m. Theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle (felonies), violation of probation, and resisting a public officer (misdemeanors) at Jewell Avenue and Leland Street. Suspect arrested.
WEDNESDAY
8:10 a.m. Vandalism with defacing property (misdemeanor) at Willow Street and Jewell Avenue. Investigation suspended, leads exhausted.
THURSDAY
1:37 p.m. Failure to appear in court after promising in writing (misdemeanor), at Morris Street and Laguna Park Way. Suspect arrested.
FRIDAY
9:08 a.m. Failure to appear in court after promising in writing (misdemeanor), at Petaluma and Abbott avenues. Suspect arrested.
2:38 p.m. Grand theft, shoplifting, and conspiracy to commit a crime (felonies) at Sebastopol and Petaluma avenues. Investigation suspended, leads exhausted.
SATURDAY
11:56 p.m. Driving while under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol content of at least 0.08% at Bodega and Washington avenues. Suspect arrested.
SUNDAY
3:16 p.m. Appropriating lost property and showing unlawful registration (misdemeanors) at Gravenstein Highway North and Hurlbut Avenue. Referred to District Attorney for review.
9:47 p.m. Vandalism valued at less than $400, petty theft from a building (misdemeanors), and conspiracy to commit a crime (felony) at Gravenstein Highway North and Hurlbut Avenue. Pending further investigation.
OTHER POLICE ACTION
The Sebastopol Police Department also recorded 212 other events requiring police action during the period, such as lost animals, assisting citizens, parking violations, foot patrol, traffic hazards and reckless driving.
Quote of the Week
Every year at this moment I observe young parents walking little kids to the first day of school, the kids wearing backpacks big enough for a spacewalk. The kids look happy and excited. The parents look terrified.
— Gregg Easterbrook on Substack, Why Time Begins to Pass More Quickly as You Age
