Michael Haley, president of the Napa Valley Taxpayers Association, writes on local, state and national issues. He can be reached at napaeagle@hughes.net
October 28th, 2009
One final thought before signing offWith my recent announcement that I am forming an exploratory committee to run for County Supervisor, my ability to write a blog column for NapaValleyRegister.com has come to an end.
September 23rd, 2009
Time for local economic stimulusOne form of economic stimulus that should not be controversial is for our county to change the winery definition ordinance to allow for more types of marketing events at wineries. Napa County can certainly use the business, and it is rather mystifying that we are not already doing this anyway.
August 31st, 2009
Community in a world of chaosThe world appears to be swirling with chaos right now. Nothing appears to be working, and all kinds of choices are presenting themselves that are non starters from the get go.
August 20th, 2009
Schwarzenegger finally proposes pension reformThis week our Governor finally came out and proposed a state wide plan to reform pensions which have become economically unsustainable. This is the first real effort in over a year of a budget crisis that anyone in Sacramento has actually proposed something that will address the real problems.
June 29th, 2009
Road budgets explainedThere was one big pothole on Highway 29 that I had driven over for years, I learned to look out for it every time I drove home, and there it would be. I could count on having to swerve around it. After a while I grew to like looking out for it, swerving on cue every time I went by.
June 15th, 2009
Making history in IranNo matter how things turn out in Iran in the immediate future, a huge statement has been made by the Iranian people that they want more freedom, and my belief is that in the future we will see the manifestation of their courageous actions.
June 5th, 2009
Lake Luciana vote was a mistakeThe vote against the Lake Luciana project today flies in the face of County rules for acceptable uses in the open space area of the agricultural watershed, and was a mistake.
There's more to land use than grape growingThe vote against the Lake Luciana project today flies in the face of County rules for acceptable uses in the open space area of the agricultural watershed, and was a mistake.