Santa Rosa Creek + Logjam

We walked down to the creek this morning to see how much water is  in it. I don't think it ever stops flowing altogether, but it is fairly low right now. Half the creek is totally blocked by a giant logjam. The water in flowing on the right hand side and is very low right now, but that could change very quickly with a good rainstorm.

I'm standing on the bridge which crosses the creek giving access to the people who live on Wildwood Mountain. Many houses up there were lost in the fire in 2020 but a few have rebuilt and one or two survived. My neighbor Cindy calls it 'Disfunction Junction' because they are always arguing about everything, but they have a lot to argue about. They live on a private road and are financially responsible for its upkeep, including that of the bridge which is developing holes right through the roadbed. Apparently they have applied for a permit to rebuild the bridge and have decided to hire somebody to clear the logjam first so that it doesn't take out the bridge leaving them stranded. They are still trying to decide whether to apply for a permit to do that. It seems like a lot of chutzpa to charge money for a permit for somebody else to clear the jam when it should be their responsibility. On the other hand, a permit promises some kind of oversight to make sure it is done safely. It wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't much oversight but at least everybody would be protected in case something did go wrong.

Our own part of the road is a public street and it is the responsibility of the county to maintain it. We are having some neighbors over this evening to discuss ways we might encourage the county to do it since it  has never had anything but pothole repairs done since it was put in in the '60's. We are planning to point that out in a letter,  along with the fact that we all pay our taxes and should at least be assured of a safe street. I just met Joan and have never met her husband, but she seems willing to take charge of the effort so I thought it would be a good idea to get to know them better and provide a little backup along with a glass of wine or beer. If we can compose a letter, we can put a copy in every mailbox on the street with a note asking them to sign it and send it into the county. That is the working plan for now anyway.