OBSERVATIONS

Having had the pleasure of almost 50 years in business in Mariposa
County, has given me a perspective which could be useful in what
seems to be a rapidly declining national economic environment. We
have come a long ways from Antone Jose and his donkey cart tied in
front of Trabucco's Shopping Center to excellent restaurants, a
beautiful book store, a quality supermarket, shops, services and the
like in Mariposa County. But it is all at risk if we are not smart
about how we plan the future. As a county and community we have
always been subject to conditions and events that have occurred
outside our area. But on the other hand, not having the large
speculative subdivisions, extreme land development, massive
manufacturing companies which can ship the jobs overseas in an
instant, and big box retailers and franchises who's profits flee the
community and are not reinvested (with the possible exception of Rite
Aid and that is yet to be seen), our history demonstrates that we can
survive intact.

During the Depression, Mariposa County survived on
subsistence farming, a little tourism and small scale gold mining.
The huge difference between now and the beginning of the Depression
is that Government has grown in such complexity, size and
control of every aspect of our existence as to be in many ways exempt
from the affects of economic declines. In l988, when the population
of Mariposa County was about 14,000, the number of employees of the
county government was 177. Today we now employ nearly 400. Many of
those employees are the result of Federal and State mandated Social
programs which the average citizen never comes into contact with. I
had a brush with this system of social planning a couple of years ago
to realize both the value of the programs, their unfortunate need,
and how fragile they make our society to be healthy and strong.
Today, with less than 19,000 citizens, Mariposa County and its
citizens are the end result of years of social experimentation that
began in the post WWII years. Great advances have been made in
public health, education, public safety, transportation, public
institutions, justice administrations and the like, to give us a
society that no one could have dreamed of fifty years ago.
Under our economic system, all of these advances have come from the
largess of the free enterprise system. That is private capital being
invested to create wealth. In turn, these gains are reinvested to
create more opportunity to support a system in which some level of
personal guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of three meals,
housing and medical care are realities. It seems that the free
enterprise system needs a break from the pressures put on it by a
number of things, if we are to continue to make social progress.
Perhaps a re-balancing is in order.

Where to start. Our political hierarchy is no longer functioning in
the best interests of the people, if it ever did. But at the level
of development of our society, our politicians must have the highest
goals of making the system work as well as it can without regard to
personal agendas. From the mid l980's we have elected a series of
Governors who have essentially destroyed the economic systems of
California. Greed at all levels is burdening our system.
Incompetence created by a series of social programs designed to
destroy the differences between us has left us with good people in
the wrong and destructive positions. This has occurred fairly
rapidly supported by our political and legal system which sees the
ability to correct social wrongs instituted by legislation rather
than within the hearts of men and women. The concepts are legitimate
but the execution is flawed. When we were a poor country with little
prospects other than fulfilling the fundamental survival needs, this
had little affect on the average person. But in a rich society
which seems to desire to become richer, the challenges to the gains
that the society has made are far more difficult and destructive.
For one thing, folks have gotten used to benefits that government
seems to hand out in spectacular quantities. We have a program for
just about every ill of mankind. So be it, I am not sure that the
recipients are capable of fending for themselves anymore anyway. But
this is quietly small compared with the costs of doing business in
our society. Over the last twenty years and as the result of Prop
13, many if not all of our state and county departments have figured
out a way to increase their revenue without facing the harsh
realities of providing a needed service. I remember the first
discussions of departments of government becoming "Enterprise Zones".
The first examples of this concept were attached to land development,
all construction and provision of services at all levels. Now fees
are attached to service provisions relating to such things as fire
and the environment.

For example, California State Fish and Game is in the business of
determining how you will use a parcel of ground which you own and
charging an unwanted fee for the service. What was at one time a
suggested policy is now a law that tells you where to place your
development on your property to observe contrived environmental
considerations. What was then the California Division of Forestry got
into the Medical Aid business because building codes, better
construction, higher density that produced better land management,
had reduced the need for various fire services. And still they
continued to be responsible only for wild land fire. No doubt that
we needed better medical aid services but that could be and was
provided by ambulances services that switched from volunteer to
professional with a county tax subsidy. Now called CALFIRE, the old
CDF is in position to become the State Fire Department, contracting
services with all jurisdictions incapable of providing the services
for themselves. Failure of Mariposa County to properly equip and
staff our county fire stations will lead to the contracting of fire
services of all levels with the state. There is no question about
the competence and skill of CALFIRE and frankly, in spite of the
quality of direction of our County Fire Department, public desire to
have first class fire services available to our citizens essentially
immediately, leaves only one conclusion. Purchasing new fire trucks
will not make the County Fire Department, admittedly inadequately
staffed primarily by volunteers, instantly co-equal with the
potential level of service provided by a state contract. There are a
number of down sides to this approach, including increased costs for
the service. However, new fire trucks raise the need for new and
properly located fire stations. Staffing will still be subject to
availability of young men and women who can qualify both in skill and
physical ability to be county fire fighters. The future course of
this issue will raise a great deal of debate, and in a county that
resists economic development, this could be difficult indeed.

The state is broke. Mired in political squabbling it is only
occasionally that the voters let the legislature know that they have
gone too far, such as in the rejection of term limit modifications.
Not that the public won, because term limits has not given us better
government, but for just a minute, the electorate awoke and said
something. I guarantee you that the politicians will be back. These
are the people who cannot govern except by referendum. That is, any
difficult decision is given to the voters to decide, usually by
casting uninformed ballots. In the meantime one decision after
another puts our economic system in a deeper hole so much so that the
Governor uses threats to the State Parks System, among others, to try
to bring the legislature to the point of consideration of just
balancing the budget. By the way, the Constitution of the State of
California calls for balancing the Budget each year. That is of
course if you cannot find a way around it by one means or another.

We have a few foreclosures in Mariposa County but they for the most
part are not related to sub prime lending and other immoral methods
of doing business. Right now, in all the 65 years we have been in
Mariposa, there are more vacant retail locations than I can remember.
There would be more office vacancies were it not for government
taking up more and more space. It is February and the worst business
month of the year. I fail to equate the Ferguson Slide with these
vacancies. However, if the discussions over the effects of the slide
on our economy continues to demonstrate a negative aspect or the
traditional poor me approach, then we can and will talk ourselves
into a significant recession. Looking at each of these vacancies one
realizes that, while there are individual business downturns, the
facts are that the loss of business is more related to other issues.
The major affect of the slide has been to curtail tour buses. But
also, it has prevented emergency equipment from accessing east of the
slide, caused the School District to use smaller, less efficient
buses, caused expensive rerouting of delivery of goods and materials
to the Park, increased construction costs on very badly needed
projects and could lead to damages to the Park roads when
re-construction eventually occurs causing equipment and materials to
take a much longer route to the site having to pass through the Park.
The small business in Mariposa do suffer, but they do compensate and
work harder to survive. Now it has become apparent that CalTrans has
caused for whatever reason a situation where more and more delays
will occur. The simple expediency of a new, longer and at better
angle west bridge or notching the hill side at the north end of the
west bridge will give us even for a temporary period, unimpeded
travel by all classes of vehicle.
The issue of concerns by Environmental Groups about the final project
should not prevent a temporary measure which will relieve the problem.
Attacking the Environmental Groups based on past difficulties does no
good in trying to resolve at least the temporary problem. Frankly,
very little has been heard from the Sierra Club or Friends of the
River except legitimate concerns about following the laws governing
the process. CalTrans has tried to circumvent this process and
should be a bit ashamed, for now they have become a part of the
problem and not the solution.


Leroy Radanovich

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Leroy Radanovich

To Read More By Leroy Radanovich:
Leroy Radanovich's Mariposa Life Archives

To learn much more about Mariposa County along with
historical photos:
A signed copy of "Images of America" - Mariposa County,
By Leroy Radanovich can be purchased at his web site:
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This is a early day photo of the Mariposa Mine in
Mariposa County that is mentioned in the article to
the left by Mr. Radanovich.

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books












Mariposa in 1920

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books


















Mariposa County Courthouse written by Leroy Radanovich and
Scott Pinkerton is a book about the oldest courthouse in California that is still in use today.
The book is signed by Leroy Radanovich.
To purchase the book:
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Mariposa in 1860

This photo and others can be purchased in various sizes.
All prints are archivally printed on fiber based paper, given a selenium wash which renders the photographs permanent with a warm tone ready for framing
Radanovich Galleria & Books