No, this post is not about the LCDC or the Coeur d’Alene City Council.  It is about something beneficial:  honey bees. 

According to a Science Daily News piece titled Scientists Identify Pathogens That May Be Causing Global Honey-Bee Deaths, scientists from the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center and the University of California San Francisco used a technology called the Integrated Virus Detection System (IVDS) to isolate the viral and parasitic pathogens that may be causing what has been called colony collapse disorder.   Scientists “…fear that without honey bees to pollinate crops like fruits, vegetables, and almonds the loss of honey bees could have an enormous horticultural and economic impact around the world.”

The US Congress’s response to colony collapse disorder is outlined in a Congressional Research Service report updated August 14, 2007, and titled Recent Honey Bee Colony Declines.

As we polish and refine this feature, Who’s Who, please feel free to correct or embellish the information listed. But keep it respectable.

Deanna Goodlander:

• CdA City council member
• LCDC urban renewal Board
• General Services Committee Chair
• Panhandle Area Council Board
• Arts Commission Board
• Library Board
• Chamber of Commerce Commodore
• Kootenai Perspectives
• Lake City Senior Center Board
• Business owner and property developer
• Born and raised in CdA, lives within the city now.
• Deanna comes from the old Coeur d’Alene family that owned Lee Ranch, a large tract of land in Northwest Coeur d’Alene, near Ramsey Road and the future Kroc Center. Much of the land is within the urban renewal district and remains in extended family ownership.
• Deanna’s brother, Terry Lee, is the artist creating the Mudgie the Moose sculptures sponsored by the Library Foundation and (?) the Arts Commission.

“We have to make an effort to systematically reduce our ‘LCS Index’ — which is the amount of Lying, Cheating and Stealing per capita. You’ll find the best communities have a low LCS Index while the worst have the highest.”
(more…)

Many of our readers have asked who the power players are in CdA. That, of course, depends on your vantage point. But it is clear that certain people are highly involved in many aspects of our community. So, without resorting to gossip, we will attempt to simply list some of the most connected, active people and their roles and associations. No judgements, just facts. One person at a time, in no particular order.

Jim Elder :

• Owner, Cricket’s Restaurant
• Vice Chairman of LCDC (urban renewal)
• Mayor of Fernan Village
• President of CBNI (Concerned Businesses of North Idaho)
• Chairman, CdA Parking Commission
• Vice President, CASA
• University of Idaho North Idaho Advisory Council
• CdA Rotary member and past president
• Campaign Committee to Elect Tom Cronin, County Commissioner
• Jim lives outside of CdA, in Fernan.
• Born in CdA, but lived elsewhere after high school.
• He moved back here from California in 2000.

Water rates are going up! The reason? Conservation. The real reason? Well . . . post your theory here!
(more…)

I am watching tonight’s City Council meeting on Channel 19. It is amazing. So many things to comment on, but the biggest point, at this time, is the water rates. Never mind that we’ll have water coming out our ears; that flooding is a huge concern this year; that we have an unimaginably large snow pack; that all records have been broken for precipiation this year. No, the water department has hired a “consultant”. (more…)

A well-placed employee at Coeur d’Alene City Hell has informed OpenCdA.com that the City has started a special projects unit to thwart those pesky requests for public information.  The unit patch is pictured below.  Can anyone translate?

It’s a wonderful, yet chilly, day in our mountain chalet. Are you going to go outside and enjoy the weather? I was going to rake leaves, but it’s difficult under 3 inches of snow.

Random thought: In the future, will phone lines going into a house be looked upon as quaintly as we look upon coal chutes today?

City Councilman Mike Kennedy was arguing with a citizen about the need for public input on the Ed. Corridor issue. It happened today, on a different public forum. The citizen wrote: “…there is a growing public perception that deals are being made, plans are being laid and there’s not yet been public input into the project.”

Mike Kennedy responded with “What do you define as “public input”? Because I get dramatically more input at Costco, the post office, and by email than I ever do at official public hearings and meetings….Public input comes in all forms, and I get a great deal of it just going about my day in town. Should that input be discounted because it isn’t delivered with a 5-minute time limit on camera?… In reality, though, the corridor has been only talk until very recently because the land wasn’t available. Now it apparently will be available and soon, and there will be a lot of decisions to be made. I think the Education Corridor is an exciting vision, idea, and just now maybe – hopefully a real future project. Marshall Chesrown should get a lot of credit for allowing this opportunity to be out there by offering to sell the land at his cost.”

**********
Mike Kennedy never once suggested a public meeting would or should be held. Who is he representing… the citizens?

 
I have to go outside sometime this morning. I have to shovel my sidewalks. Again. But before I do that, it has to stop snowing. Again. Here’s your generic “I’m inside today, so I think I’ll go visit OpenCdA and complain about the snow” topic.