Although I really, really wanted to go to the public outreach meeting last Friday evening at Turtle Rock Park, that nasty little viral bug that's been pestering mountain and Valley people, kept me away.
Between coughing spells, I urged my husband Ruggero to take notes and also to take photos in my place. Even when we do go to meetings together, we often sit apart from each other, because I like to sit in the back where I can see everyone, but he likes to sit in the front where he can hear everything.
His assessment of the standing-room-only meeting was that the material was impartially and comprehensively presented by Woodfords Volunteer Fire Chief Buck McClelland, Alpine County Director of Public Works Dennis Cardoza and representatives of the architectural firm, Murray and Downs.
Ruggero encouraged Cardoza to jot down these notes in his book.
"Plus or minus about 100 people... First of many meetings ... Letters going out...Three things covered: water tank, airport and capitol improvements."
The next day, I e-mailed Nancy Thornburg to ask her opinion of the meeting.
"One of the better meetings I've been to in the last few years," she said. "Well organized (by Dennis Cardoza and his office staff), good turnout, no bickering or whining allowed.
"Buck McClelland started out by describing the need for a big water tank for fire fighting in the mesa area and went on to describe the two main location choices and which one the VFD and AFSC (Alpine Fire Safe Council) preferred," Thornburg said.
"Then Dennis Cardoza made a rapid-fire presentation on airport options which mainly boiled down to: 1) abandon the airport and give the land back to BLM; 2) close the airport and do something else with the land (RV park, campground, etc.); keep and improve it and develop it in some way. To have/improve an airport we must have either a private developer do it, which would probably go along with starter castles in that area and airport improvements (private hangars, etc.) or maybe havethe California Department of Forestry improve it for firefighting and emergency purposes and put a CDF conservation camp there (that's the choice that got my vote).
"Then a firm named Murray and Downs (which designed the Health and Human Services building) made a presentation on Markleeville infrastructure options - basically moving it all to Turtle Rock Park or trying to figure out how to keep it in Markleeville and still meet infrastructure needs for additional space."
Ruggero, with his Italian accent, told me about "the boots" where people voted. Married for 37 years, I did figure out that he meant booths, but still was a bit puzzled about the voting.
Thornburg cleared up my confusion.
"The crowd broke into smaller groups where they could go to various "stations," including those three plus others, ask questions, and, in the case of those three, they could cast their "vote" by putting a sticker on the box with their choice. Only residents and property owners in Alpine could vote."
On Monday, I phoned Cardoza to find out the results of the informal polling. He assured me that this was merely an indication for the directions that his department would be following.
The group was divided about evenly for the location of the water tank; some of the people who thought that the airport should be used by the CDF didn't understand that firefighting inmates would be involved; most citizens prefer trying to keep the infrastructure of the county government in Markleeville, the county seat.
My heartfelt thanks go to three people; my husband, Dennis Cardoza and Nancy Thornburg, who in essence, wrote my column this week.
-- Gina Gigli is a Markleeville resident. Reach her at ginagigli@villagigli.com
