Costly Napa Housing Can Be Bad for Your Health
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‘A rough one’ Tasting 1839 FC falls 6-0 to Chattanooga, SPORTS PAGE B1 memories 4 dead, 29 missing The food of Reims and Lille FOOD, PAGE C1 Boat mishap off Ventura County NEWS, PAGE A3 SUNNY AND WARM 88 • 56 FORECAST, B4 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 | napavalleyregister.com | $1 COST OF LIVING CRIMINAL JUSTICE Better outlook for jail funding County may not have to borrow to pay for it BARRY EBERLING [email protected] Napa County’s fi nancing plan for a proposed $128 million, 304-bed replacement jail along Highway 221 near Syar quarry no longer requires a multi-mil- lion-dollar loan. The county in 2017 contem- TIM CARL PHOTOGRAPHY plated taking out a $50 million The Napa Valley can seem an idyllic place to live, but it comes with high housing costs that squeeze household budgets, forcing many to do loan as part of a patchwork of without or move out of county. This drone phone shows housing in northeast Napa that abuts vineyards. funding sources. This potential loan amount shrank to $20 mil- lion in 2018 and $10 million in April. Now it’s disappeared. The Board of Supervisors last week reviewed the progress of Costly Napa housing can the jail replacement project. That included reviewing potential fi - nancing sources. “We’re in a privileged posi- tion to be able to get to this point be bad for your health without mortgaging the future,” Supervisor Alfredo Pedroza said. Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht Financial squeeze agreed. “That was the part that was adds stress to families scary to me and scary to other folks, because it had inter- forced to prioritize est, (which is) more than just a lost-opportunity cost,” Wagen- essentials kencht said. Still, Pedroza noted that the Editor’s note: This article is county is putting $43 million part of an occasional series that in general fund money toward takes a look at how Napa Coun- the jail. That’s money that the ty’s high housing costs aff ect local county could otherwise spend residents and workers. on programs for residents. Other funding sources in- COURTNEY TEAGUE clude a $23 million state grant, [email protected] $5.3 million from the sale of the Agustina Palafox has dreamed KELLY DOREN GRAPHIC county’s Water Street property of owning a modest house or COURTNEY TEAGUE, REGISTER in the Oxbow district, a $3.1 mil- mobile home for all of her life. Numerous cars parked on a residential street, in driveways or on lawns Some said the county’s high lion Kaiser donation and $8.8 Instead, the single mom of can indicate overcrowded housing. cost of housing has aff ected their million in tobacco master set- three from St. Helena said she mental health. Others report tlement agreement funds. spends many nights lying awake passed away two years ago, could thinks of the Napa Valley, the fi - sharing a bedroom with their One reason the county can in her two-bedroom unit, her take them places. nancial burden that Palafox faces family, being unable to feed their erase the loan is a continued in- back sore from her part-time “I feel really sad because I because of housing costs is not kids on some days, struggling to crease in anticipated excess Edu- housekeeping job at a local win- can’t provide this for them,” unusual here. manage other expenses such cational Revenue Augmentation ery, stressing about how she’ll Palafox said in Spanish, trans- As part of a collaboration with as medical care and leaving the Fund (ERAF) money. The county come up with $1,750 for her lated by Cristina Avina of Up- the University of Southern Cali- county altogether. could get $46 million over several monthly rent. Valley Family Centers, a family fornia’s Center for Health Jour- Nearly four in 10 Napa Val- years from this source for the jail. Palafox, 54, wishes that her in- resource center in northern Napa nalism, the Register has heard ley residents rent and half of ERAF is a complicated move come and work schedule allowed County. “I feel really stressed out from nearly 200 people who renters are housing-cost bur- made by the state during the her to take her kids — ages 9, 12 and pressured … because I’m a shared their stories by respond- dened, meaning they spend at early 1990s economic down- and 14 — on trips to Disneyland, dad and a mom.” ing to our questionnaire and least a third of their income on turn that shifted partial funding San Francisco or the Six Flags While rolling vineyards, and recording themselves at equip- rent, according to 2017 Census of schools to local governments. theme park in Vallejo. Her kids fi ne wines and dining come to ment posted at the UpValley say that they wish their dad, who mind when most of the world Family Centers offi ces. Please see HOUSING, Page A6 Please see JAIL, Page A2 RECREATION Users opine on proposed Skyline housing BARRY EBERLING Calvin Lee of Fairfi eld reacted Park property and leases it to [email protected] with surprise to the housing pro- Napa County, which has the Visitors to 850-acre Skyline posal. He came to Skyline Park nonprofi t Skyline Park Citizens Wilderness Park these days have on Labor Day and took his horse Association run the park. The a new possibility to contemplate through the obstacle course, state is trying to deal with the – homes someday being built on doing such things as having the housing crisis by making some 20 acres of the park’s fl atlands. horse step on a wooden platform, of its surplus lands available for The possible housing area prior to heading to the trails. aff ordable housing. has a horse arena, horse obsta- “This is the best place to ride,” Last week, the state released cle course, equestrian staging Lee said. “I come out here and a map of dozens of state-owned site and vacant space for events, ride quite a bit.” sites throughout California BARRY EBERLING, REGISTER among other things. It doesn’t He expressed hope the state that have potential for housing. Calvin Lee of Fairfi eld (foreground) and Tami Miles of Vacaville work their include the park’s oak-covered fi nds another place to put hous- Twenty acres of Skyline Park horses out at 850-acre Skyline Park. The 20 acres of Skyline with the hills with 25 miles of trails and ing. equestrian area appeared on a recent state map of potential aff ordable Lake Marie. California owns the Skyline Please see SKYLINE, Page A2 housing sites. Iran will “take a strong step” away from its 2015 nu- FOOD C1 NATION & WORLD A3 LETTERS A5 clear deal with world powers if Europe cannot off er CAROLYN HAX C3 HOROSCOPE C3 SCOREBOARD B3 the country new terms by a deadline at the end of this CROSSWORDS C3 BRIDGE COLUMN C3 SPORTS B1 week, NEWS, Page A3 M 1 $1 • D • Volume 157, Issue 9 • A Lee Enterprises Newspaper • Copyright 2019 Follow us online: facebook.com/NapaValleyRegister twitter.com@NapaRegister instagram.com/naparegister A2 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 NEWS NAPA VALLEY REGISTER Today Wednesday Wednesday Trump is ‘joking’ about pardoning Four-sport standout Ryan Steen will be inducted Builders are starting to use construction staffers who commit crimes on into the Vintage High School Athletic Hall of materials that combine hemp and con- AT NAPAVALLEYREGISTER.COM his behalf? How is this a defense? Fame Sept. 7. napavalleyregister.com/sports. crete to offset their carbon footprint. Gun owners find new outlets in the midst of a weakened NRA LISA MARIE PANE for Safety. Associated Press As the 2020 presi- Bob Mokos is a passion- dential campaign draws ate gun owner who on the closer, gun control groups surface would seem like a are seizing on the turmoil card-carrying National engulfing the NRA — as Rifle Association mem- well as recent high profile ber. shootings in Gilroy, Cal- The retired airline pilot ifornia; El Paso, Texas; has been shooting guns Dayton, Ohio, and this since he was a child. weekend’s in Odessa and The Vietnam veteran got Midland, Texas — to court more serious about fire- firearms owners in hopes arms as a civilian after one of persuading them that of his sisters was fatally there can be bipartisan shot during a mugging in solutions to gun violence Chicago. After the 9/11 that don’t infringe on terror attacks, he became their Second Amendment qualified to carry a gun in rights. the cockpit. Giffords’ group formed But Mokos has grown coalitions this year with so disillusioned with the gun owners in Colorado, NRA over the years that Minnesota and Texas in he has joined forces with outreach that manag- a rival organization — the ing director Robin Lloyd gun control group founded said was done expressly BARRY EBERLING, REGISTER by former Rep. Gabrielle to show that not all gun Calvin Lee of Fairfield and Tami Miles of Vacaville head toward 25 miles of the Skyline Park trails on Labor Day. The 20 acres Giffords. owners believe in the of park with the equestrian area where they are starting out from appeared on a recent state map as a potential site for “The more gun own- NRA. affordable housing. ers I contacted, the more “The fallacy that the I found out that every- NRA has perpetuated for “It would be better to have dates at least to the late of the fledgling group said at body is thinking the same so long is that you’re either Skyline it down further,” Theios said.