I had the windows to my house open last night (had a light breeze not common for this time of year) but had to close them because of the smell from the wildfires. On top of the fires down in Santa Cruz, there is a new one just north of us in Paradise, Butte County. This morning, ashes on all the vehicles; a smoky haze fills the air. Its that time of year again. This year seems to be windier than I have ever seen it in the past. The high winds sure don’t help the firemen contain the fires.

My thoughts and prayers are with all the people this has affected and the firemen willing to risk their lives fighting these fires.

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We moved our family to Brentwood in April 2003 because we loved the community, the schools were ranked outstanding, and it made me feel closer to *home* as it IS a farming community. (Brentwood reminds me so much of my hometown in Texas). In the past year, I have seen two of my neighbors in my cul-de-sac outgrow their homes and move elsewhere in Brentwood, but keeping their homes here in my neighborhood to rent. I have NOTHING against renters (I was one once) but lately, they seem to be bringing in the rif-raf and I am sick of it. Last weekend, for two hours straight all I heard was helicopters. Once upon a time, that meant one of two things 1) crop dusting or 2) medi-vac. Not this time. This time there was a gang-related shooting and they were looking for the suspect. Last week, my son’s Jr. High School had have a lockdown (all kids locked down in classrooms, lights out, no sounds) as there was yet another *armed/dangerous suspect* on the loose close to the school and they were afraid he would come on campus! GEEEZ! What the heck happened to the place I chose to raise my family?
Tonight, in all my news findings (I get ALL my news via the net) I found an article about Brentwood and the changes it has gone through the past 10-20 years. Its astonishing how our population has shot up way beyond what I thought. Census says we are sitting at an estimated 47k people in 2006, up from 23k in 2000.

On the edge of Brentwood, where the hills begin to roll, surviving farmland emerges between the big-box stores and single-family developments. The yellow wildflowers ubiquitous throughout East Contra Costa County cover nearly all the patches; “For sale” signs stand in many.

The area that would become Brentwood was covered in wheat fields by the time the town was founded in 1878. Its fertile clay loam soil sustains just about anything in the produce aisle: peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, pears, oranges, nuts, figs, apples, corn, cherries.

As the city’s population ballooned, much of the development came at the expense of farmland and industry. From 1992 to 2006, almost 25,000 acres of Contra Costa agricultural land, including 12,521 acres of prime farmland, was converted from such use, according to the California Department of Conservation.

This clash has fueled tensions over the pace and type of development in Brentwood for years, with long-timers and natives lamenting the loss of farms and the shifting character of the town. More people meant crowded classrooms, packed roads and increasing crime.

From 1998 to 2007, five annual robberies grew to 44, 105 burglaries turned into 259, 187 simple assaults swelled to 394, and four rapes became nine, according to the Police Department.

read more here

A vast mountainous region glimpsed by generations of Californians mainly through bug-pocked windshields on Interstate 5 was preserved Thursday in what conservationists say is the largest, most ecologically crucial acquisition of public land in state history.

The deal saves from development more than 240,000 acres of the Tejon Ranch - a ruggedly diverse stretch of grassland, forest and oak woodland just north of Los Angeles that is known to motorists simply as the Grapevine.

It is, in reality, a unique ecosystem eight times the size of San Francisco. The 375-square-mile expanse of open land combines desert, mountain and valley habitat, a multi-layered wildlife corridor that is home to a wide variety of birds and animals, including the endangered California condor and the kit fox.

The plan is to reroute a 37-mile segment of the Pacific Coast Trail that now meanders through the Mojave Desert so that it goes through the ranch. It would open vast tracts of wilderness to the public and create a natural corridor that would give wildlife room to migrate and adapt in the event environmental changes caused by global warming disrupt their current habitat.

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So you can imagine my disbelief when I received this email today from the Parent’s Club President of my son’s middle school.

BRENTWOOD — Feeling the sting of the state’s financial crisis, Brentwood Union School District is preparing to slash an estimated $3.1 million from its budget by the end of this month.
Trustees met Wednesday for the first time since district administrators began telling employees about the imminent spending cuts two days earlier.
The reductions could mean laying off about 25 teachers along with approximately four campus administrators.
Bus transportation is also on the chopping block, and a broad array of other services from special education and counseling to music classes and grounds maintenance could be curtailed.
Superintendent Merrill Grant outlined how anticipated losses of attendance-based revenue and funding earmarked for specific uses prompted half a dozen district administrators to come up with a two-page list of proposed reductions totaling $5.1 million.

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also:
https://www.brentwood.k12.ca.us/district/business_services/budget_reductions.html

ps. maybe if Bush put his tax refund back into the schools??