written 8 September, 2024
published 15 September, 2024
I have moved a great deal in my life, but have lived in the City of Ukiah longer than anywhere else. As a resident, I thank every City employee, including the City Council, department heads, administrative staff, and all the workers with boots on the ground. "We The People" own and operate the essential systems of life, which provide water, sewage treatment, electricity, and roads.
Ukiah is blessed with a natural underground lake as a result of our geographic location. Our water system draws from this source, storing, treating and delivering potable water throughout the City, with enough extra to offer to other communities in the county, as needed. Constant repairs and upgrades ensure reliable delivery, and long-term planning keeps the system expanding ahead of needs.
Our sewage system has multi-level, state of the art treatment, and now, with the grant funded purple pipe project, recycles more than 3/4 of that water for City parks and local agricultural, among the first in the state, maximizing the use of this precious, finite resource.
The electrical department, publicly owned for over a century, consistently delivers reliable power, at half the cost anywhere else in the region. System improvements are ongoing, steadily increasing operational reliability.
Our city roads are being upgraded with grant funding, replacing essential aging infrastructure, and turning a former business highway into a lovely community thoroughfare. Despite being disruptive in the short term, which have been managed to a minimum, it satisfies goals that will pay off for decades.
The planning department has allowed Ukiah to be one of a handful of communities in the state who exceed mandated housing goals, preserving planning rights lost to all the other cities.
The City Council unanimously passed a Climate Emergency Resolution, recognizing the growing climate crisis. A Climate Resiliency Officer has been hired to coordinate actions by all the City departments to work efficiently toward preserving a habitable planet. This function is rare for a city the size of Ukiah. However, we are a viable test bed, with all the issues facing larger communities, but on a more personal scale, making changes more possible. What we accomplish here will be a model applicable everywhere.
All this has been done with limited staff and budget, leveraging state and federal grant opportunities. You have collectively created a living example of a functional socialist community, where the benefits of the system accrue to everyone. With public ownership of water, sewage treatment, electricity, and roads, prices reflect the actual cost of operations and staffing, with the "profit" returned to every citizen as reliable, high quality service.
It is important to notice, and honor, the good work that is already happening. People appreciate being appreciated. Therefore, I want to acknowledge, and express my deepest thanks.
