Apple season arrives in Oak Glen after Line fire left it untouched

• September 23, 2024

“We’re open,” is the message Oak Glen is sending out to Southern California.

The Line fire that has burned through huge swaths of the San Bernardino Mountains since Sept. 5 bypassed the mountain community.

“It really didn’t affect us,” said Michael Hudson, owner of Snow-Line Orchard. “We had a little bit of smoke and ash on the roof.”

Last week’s rain took care of the ash, he said in a phone interview.

Oak Glen is known for its apple orchards. Tourism season begins Labor Day weekend as stone fruits ripen.

But the community hasn’t always been lucky in late summer. The Eldorado fire forced evacuations in September 2020. Two years later, flooding caused evacuation orders for Oak Glen and Forest Falls. Mudslides ravaged Oak Glen Steakhouse, which shut down for repairs until January 2023.

The Line fire slowed tourism, but it’s picking up, according to Hudson. He said this year’s apple crop is good and the u-pick raspberry season will last another two weeks, depending on nature and demand.

Big Bear’s Oktoberfest, which started the same weekend as the Line fire, is also carrying on. The fire, which has consumed nearly 40,000 acres and is currently 67% contained, did not burn into Big Bear Valley, although it limited access to the city.

“We now have so much more to celebrate,” a Facebook post proclaimed last week.

Information: oakglen.net, oakglenorchard.com, bigbearevents.com/oktoberfest

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​ Orange County Register 

For home shoppers, Fed’s big cut is just a small step in affordability crisis

• September 23, 2024

By Alex Veiga and Sally Ho | The Associated Press

The Federal Reserve gave home shoppers what they hoped for this week: a big rate cut and a signal of more cuts to come.

Even so, aspiring homebuyers and homeowners eager to refinance should temper their expectations of a big drop in mortgage rates from here.

Also see: Can Fed fix the California housing market it crashed?

While the Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates, its policy pivot does clear a path for mortgage rates to go lower. But in this case, the Fed’s action was widely anticipated, so rates moved lower well before the cut was even announced.

“We’ve seen the bulk of the easing that we’re going to get already this year,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com. “I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if mortgage rates ticked up a bit from here before declining again.”

What’s up with mortgage rates?

When mortgage rates rise, they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage rose from below 3% in September 2021 to a 23-year high of 7.8% last October. That coincided with the Fed jacking up its benchmark interest rate to fight inflation.

More on housing: Rate cut means home prices will moderate as inventory rises

Rates have been mostly declining since July in anticipation of a Fed rate cut. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is now 6.09%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. That’s down from 7.22% in May, its peak so far this year.

Even a modest drop in mortgage rates can translate into significant savings over the long run. For a home listed at last month’s median U.S. sales price of $416,700, a buyer who makes a 20% down payment at the current average mortgage rate would save about $312 a month compared to the cost of buying the same home in May.

So, it’s time to buy?

While lower rates give home shoppers more purchasing power, a mortgage around 6% is still not low enough for many Americans struggling to afford a home. That’s mostly because home prices have soared 49% over the past five years, roughly double the growth in wages. They remain near record highs, propped up by a shortage of homes in many markets.

Mortgage rates would have to drop back to near rock-bottom lows from three years ago, or home prices would have to fall sharply for many buyers to afford a home. Neither scenario is likely to happen any time soon.

Economists and mortgage industry executives expect mortgage rates to remain near their current levels, at least this year. Fannie Mae this week projected the rate on a 30-year mortgage will average 6.2% in the October-December quarter and decline to an average of 5.7% in the same quarter next year. It averaged 7.3% in the same period in 2023.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Fed’s interest rate decisions. That can move the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

“Ultimately, the pace of mortgage and Fed rate declines will be dictated by economic data,” said Rob Cook, vice president at Discover Home Loans. “If future data shows that the economy is slowing more than expected, it would increase pressure for the Fed to take more aggressive action with rate cuts which would likely translate into lower mortgage rates available to consumers.”

Buy now, or wait for lower rates?

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes have been in a deep slump dating back to 2022, and fell 2.5% last month. So far, the pullback in mortgage rates has yet to spur a meaningful rebound, although sales did rise slightly in July.

The muted outlook for mortgage rates leaves prospective buyers and sellers with a familiar dilemma: Test the housing market now or hold out for potentially lower rates.

Nick Young, an attorney who moved his family this year from Phoenix to Evergreen, Colorado, has opted to rent after seeing how competitive the homebuying market was last spring.

With a homebuying budget between $1 million and $1.5 million, he and his wife are still searching for that perfect gem — a house with five bedrooms to grow in with their three kids.

They’re watching mortgage rates, but also other variables, including inflation, the health of the economy overall, and the presidential election.

“There’s not a ton of incentive to buy currently,” Young said before the Fed announcement. “But timing the market is a fool’s errand.”

Real estate agents from Phoenix to Tampa, Florida, say many home shoppers are waiting for mortgage rates to fall below 6%. Some are hoping rates can return to the lows of three years ago.

“What I try to do is bring them back to reality,” said Mike Opyd, a broker with Re/Max Premier in Chicago. “I tell them, ’if you’re serious about buying, get in now.”

To Opyd’s point, the pullback in mortgage rates and a pickup in the supply of homes on the market make for a favorable backdrop for home shoppers this fall, typically a slower time of the year for home sales.

Waiting for rates to possibly ease further next year could leave buyers facing heightened competition for the home they want. Meanwhile, potential sellers may still stay put.

“Keep in mind that 76% of people with a mortgage have a rate below 5%,” said Leo Pareja, CEO of eXp Realty. “So, we may see the supply-demand imbalance actually get a little worse in the near term.”

Refinancing spree

First-time homebuyers Drew Yae and his wife bought a two-bedroom, 1.5-bath townhome in Bellingham, Washington, last month.

In February, Yae, a compensation analyst, was initially quoted a 7% mortgage rate. By the time the deal was done, his rate had come down only to about 6.63%.

“I would like to refinance at 5% or 5.25%, but I just don’t know if that’s realistic and if that’s going to take more than two years to get there,” he said.

Yae could lower his monthly payment by roughly $300 a month if he refinances his $407,000 home loan to 5.5%.

One rule of thumb to consider when refinancing is whether you can reduce your current rate by half to three-quarters of a percentage point.

Demand for home loan refinancing has been growing. Last week, refinance applications surged 24%, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Lenders are increasingly leaning into the old “date the rate” adage by pairing original loans with refinancing incentives from the jump. After buyers saw record high interest rates that peaked about a year ago around 8%, many are marketing offers that essentially give buyers a way out of their current rate once it comes back down as a way to quell buyer hesitancy.

“It is getting a lot more emphasis,” said Mike Fratantoni, chief economist at the MBA. “Getting locked into a 7% rate forever — for a first-time buyer, it is terrifying.”

Navy Federal Credit Union said it started offering their popular “no-refi rate drop” in 2023, which allows buyers to lower their rate for a $250 fee while maintaining the rest of the terms on the original loan.

Many homebuyers are opting both for the temporary rate buydowns and free refinancing, said Darik Tolnay, branch manager of CrossCounty Mortgage in Lakewood, Colorado.

“They all want a home, so if someone comes up with an idea to make it more affordable, given the general sentiment, people are desperate to have options,” Tolnay said.

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​ Orange County Register 

Is this war? The Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is hard to define — or predict

• September 23, 2024

By JOSEPH KRAUSS

Israel is bombing targets across many parts of Lebanon, striking senior militants in Beirut and apparently hiding bombs in pagers and walkie-talkies. Hezbollah is firing rockets and drones deep into northern Israel, setting buildings and cars alight.

But no one is calling it a war — not yet.

Israeli officials say they are not seeking war with Hezbollah and that it can be avoided if the militant group halts its attacks and backs away from the border. Hezbollah also says it doesn’t want a war but is prepared for one — and that it will keep up the strikes on Israel that it began in the wake of ally Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack until there is a cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly traded fire since then — but the intensity rose to another level Monday, when Israeli airstrikes killed more than 350 people, according to Lebanese officials. That would make it the deadliest day in Lebanon since Israel and Hezbollah last went to war in 2006.

“If someone had told me or most analysts in summer 2023 that Hezbollah is striking Israeli bases in Israel, and Israel is striking southern Lebanon and parts of southern Beirut, I would have said, OK, that’s an all-out war,” said Andreas Krieg, a military analyst at King’s College London.

The term hasn’t yet been applied to the current conflict because “there haven’t been any boots on the ground,” but that might be “the wrong metric,” he added.

Is there any agreed definition of war?

Merriam-Webster defines war as “a state of usually open and declared armed hostile conflict between states or nations.” Scholars generally expand that definition to cover large-scale violence involving insurgents, militias and extremist groups.

But any attempt at greater precision is difficult since armed conflicts run the gamut from states clashing with tanks and fighter jets to lower-level fighting.

Sometimes states officially declare war, as Israel did after Hamas’ attack last year.

It has not made a similar declaration with regard to Hezbollah, but it has linked its strikes against the group to the war in Gaza, saying last week that allowing tens of thousands of residents to safely return to the north is an objective in that conflict. Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, also frequently talks about an ongoing war with Iran and its allies along “seven fronts,” including Lebanon.

States often refrain from declaring war even when they are plainly engaged in one. Russia officially refers to its invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” and has banned public references to it as a war. The United States has not formally declared war since World War II, even as it took part in major conflicts in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Why does neither side want to call it a war?

Part of the reason neither Israel nor Hezbollah is using the word “war” is because they both hope to achieve their aims without setting off a more severe conflict — or being blamed for one.

“Though tensions are flaring, the situation in southern Lebanon is not that of a full-scale war as both Hezbollah and Israel hope to use limited means to pressure one another,” said Lina Khatib, a Middle East expert at Chatham House.

With its rocket and drone attacks, Hezbollah hopes to pressure Israel to agree to a cease-fire with Hamas — a fellow Iran-backed militant group — and to avoid being seen as bowing to Israeli pressure.

Hezbollah has said it would cease the attacks if there were a truce in Gaza, but the prospects for such a deal appear remote.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to do whatever is necessary to halt the attacks so that displaced Israelis can return to their homes.

“I think the Israelis are trying to either tell Hezbollah, you come to the negotiation table and we’ll settle this through diplomacy, or we’ll push you into a corner until you overreact,” Krieg said. “And that will be the all-out war.”

What might a full-scale war look like?

Until recently, experts generally agreed that any future war between Israel and Hezbollah would look like the war they fought in 2006 — but much, much worse.

For years, Israeli officials warned that in any future war with Hezbollah, the army would exact a punishing toll on Lebanon itself, destroying critical infrastructure and flattening Hezbollah strongholds. It came to be known as the Dahiyeh Doctrine, named for the crowded southern Beirut district where the militant group is headquartered, and that suffered heavy destruction in 2006.

Hezbollah, meanwhile, spent years expanding and improving its arsenal, and is believed to have some 150,000 rockets and missiles capable of hitting all parts of Israel.

The military build-up and threats created a situation of mutual deterrence that kept the border largely quiet from 2006 until October of last year. For most of the past year, the region has been braced for the worst, but both sides have showed restraint, and the talk of “all-out war” has been hypothetical.

That could change at any time.

“We’ve gone up a step, but we haven’t yet made it to the penthouse floor,” said Uzi Rabi, the director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University. “At the end, I don’t see there’s going to be any alternative to a ground operation.”

Is it definitely a war if there’s a ground invasion?

Any Israeli decision to send tanks and troops into southern Lebanon would mark a major escalation and lead many to categorize the conflict as a war. But the two don’t necessarily always go hand in hand.

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Israel officially declared war in Gaza nearly three weeks before it sent any ground troops in. Israeli ground forces have been operating in the occupied West Bank for decades, and in recent months have routinely launched airstrikes against militants, without anyone suggesting it’s a war.

A limited Israeli ground incursion might still leave room for both sides to back down.

Of course, Lebanon would likely see a ground invasion as a blatant violation of its sovereignty and an act of war. But Beirut already accuses Israel of routinely violating its airspace and of occupying disputed territory along the border.

In fact, the two countries are already officially in a state of war, and have been since 1948.

Associated Press writers Abby Sewell and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.

​ Orange County Register 

Corky: Laguna Beach is a dream of a cool beach town

• September 6, 2024

For some unknown reason, well at least unknown to me, I had a dream last night about sitting on the beach at Oak Street in Laguna Beach.

It was a warm sunny summer day, and by the look of the people and surfboards it was sometime in the late ’60s.  I have no idea what I was doing there or pretty much anything that was going on, just that I woke up and had the image in my head.  It made me start thinking about how much I have always loved that town and brought back a ton of memories.

Laguna Beach, like most beach towns that have surf, has a rich history of legendary surfers who grew up there and pioneered the different surf spots.  My first memories of the area is doing surf checks at Brooks Street on the way south.

I lived in North O.C.  Normally the destination was San Onofre or one of the spots in that area.  But we always had to stop and check out Brooks Street.  Hobie Alter lived right there.  While checking the surf, it was also customary to point that out: “Yep, there’s Hobies’ house.”  Part of the deal.

The early surf heroes of the area, at least that I know of, would have included Hevs McClelland, Dick Metz, Dave Whitegon, Barney Wilks and Corky Smith.

Hevs became one of the all-time great surf contest announcers.  He was also one of the funniest dudes and best storytellers that I ever knew.  Dick Metz owned a bunch of Hobie surf shops, including the one in Honolulu.  He also started the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.  The dude turns 95 this week and is still going strong.

I started hanging out in Laguna Beach during the early 1960s.  I had a girlfriend, Banzai Betty, who lived there and went to Laguna Beach High.  She lived across the street from the famous Calhoun girl surfing family.  Marge Calhoun had been one of the best women surfers in the world and her daughters, Candy and Robin, both surfed.  Candy was great, too, she won a number of events.  Great all-around water person, too.

Ron Sizemore won the United States Championship in Huntington Beach at the age of 16.  He entered the mens division, shot the pier standing backward, and became an overnight sensation.  He is part of the Sizemore surfing family, big time in Laguna Beach and also San Onofre.

There were a number of great surfers in town during the 1960s.  There was a dude, John Parlette, who could bodysurf feet first.  He was another great all-around water person, like Candy Calhoun.

There was also Pat Tobin.  Pat rode some radical speed-type shaped boards.  Narrow, pointy and with extreme “down” rails.  He wound up living on mainland Mexico and discovered and pioneered many surf spots that are well known today.  There is legend of him paddling 10 miles into a spot that had no roads.  He had a backpack with some supplies and would camp out for weeks surfing really extreme waves all by himself.  He became very well-known for his paintings.  Really good artist.

Probably the best surfer to ever come out of that town was Billy Hamilton.  Billy grew up in South Laguna, just above Thousand Steps Beach.  He was one of my best friends during high school.

He and I, along with Mark Martinson, went to most of the surfing contests together.  Billy had, I should say “has,” because he still does, one of the most beautiful and elegant surfing styles, ever.

Our surfing developed pretty opposite.  He got style and I had moves.

I think it was about the time we both hit 17 or 18 that the two met for both of us.  To this day I consider him one of the greatest surfers ever.

There was a younger kid who was called “Brother.”  Another infamous local surfing family.  He surfed like Billy Hamilton, super good style.  He got the name from his sister, who was a known surf girl in the area.

I got to briefly live in Laguna Beach twice.  Once in 1965 in South Laguna with Allan Seymour.  But they condemned our house so I had to move.  I then lived in Gaylord Vermelya’s kitchen for a few months, on Glenneyre Street, near Denny’s.   I had to sleep with my head out the window because the stove leaked gas and would almost asphyxiate me every night.

Lastly, that town has always produced some of the greatest musicians anywhere.  The HONK band is still to this day one of two fav bands, along with the Rolling Stones.  I could go on for days talking music stuff, but no space for that.

Needless to say.  I love Laguna Beach.

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​ Orange County Register 

Laguna Niguel’s Ziggurat auction at $156.6 million after flurry of minimum bids

• September 6, 2024

The online auction for the “Ziggurat” in Laguna Niguel is now in its fourth month, thanks to minimal bids made just before deadline.

On Friday, Sept. 6, the bidding reached $156.6 million for the pyramid-shaped Chet Holifield Federal Building, which sits on an 89-acre campus.

A bid $300,000 above the previous day’s last bid – the smallest increment permitted – landed just 36 minutes before the auction would have ended. It was quickly followed by another bid, upping the price by another $300,000.

These moves, essentially parroting the bidding pace of the seven previous bidding days, created a new auction deadline for Monday, Sept. 9, at 1:22 p.m.

You see, bids increasing the price by the minimum amount are this auction’s norm. My trusty spreadsheet found 78 of the 88 bids made were $300,000 above the previous price. Now $300,000 is real money, but in the scope of this auction it equals less than 0.2% of the latest price.

It’s all part of the gamesmanship of this GSA auction, which started June 5. At stake is a campus centered around a 53-year-old, seven-story, 1-million-square-foot office facility for which the government has no use.

Bidding was originally due to end July 31, but the auction rules say if the current high bid is topped on a deadline day, the auction remains open for another 24 hours. That extension requirement was met July 31, when four bids pushed the price up by $1.2 million to $136.8 million. Plus, this requirement to extend bidding has been met on all 26 business days since July 31.

The extra auctioneering has boosted the price by $19.8 million, so far. And it’s been somewhat dramatic: on 17 of these days, the auction was extended within one hour of the deadline.

The Ziggurat is a rare opportunity for large-scale real estate development in south Orange County. This is its second auction.

The first, which required the buyer to preserve the sprawling structure, drew no bids. This auction – without that restriction on development – will likely mean demolition of the structure designed by the late famed architect William Pereira.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com

Ziggurat tales

3 months of bidding ups price by 123%
Last-minute bids keep Ziggurat auction going
The $150 million-plus bidding war
Ziggurat back up for auction, no preservation required
Feds get no interest in auction of iconic Ziggurat building
$70 million Ziggurat auction is wasted opportunity
Any interest in buying the iconic Ziggurat ?
 Ziggurat: How a white elephant became county landmark
Laguna Niguel’s landmark could be facing the wrecking ball
Ziggurat a touch of Babylon in Orange County

​ Orange County Register 

Havasu Lake residents boiling over water quality as EPA assumes oversight

• September 6, 2024

From his front porch, Havasu Lake resident Gary Chamberlain can see the shimmering Colorado River. He also can see the storage tanks of the Havasu Water Co., which is supposed to supply his community with clean and safe drinking water.

Although the privately owned, 64-year-old water company draws its water from Lake Havasu — itself a large reservoir formed by Parker Dam — its ability to provide potable water to its 361 customers in their sundrenched community has been a challenge for more than two years.

Since May 2022, the company has been slapped with multiple citations and violation notices from state and federal water regulators for operational deficiencies, faulty equipment and failing to provide potable water to its customers. The company has repeatedly issued water boil notices to its customers due to high levels of trihalomethanes — byproducts formed during the water treatment process — that exceed minimum federal safety drinking water standards.

An attorney representing the company said costly and ongoing litigation with the neighboring Chemehuevi Indian Tribe has thwarted the company’s efforts to make necessary fixes to its public water system.

“The irony of this whole debacle is that my wife and I can sit on our front porch any time of the day or night and watch millions and millions of gallons of water flow by, and yet we can’t get any of it to drink. We feel like we’re in a Third World country,” said Gary Chamberlain, 75, an 18-year resident of Havasu Lake and former chairman of the town’s municipal advisory council.

Community meeting

Residents aired their grievances during a community meeting on Thursday, Sept. 5, in Havasu Lake, hosted by officials with the state Public Utilities Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, which assumed regulatory oversight of the Havasu Water Co. on Jan. 1 because its 1,500-foot pipeline runs across the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe’s reservation.

Residents voiced frustration over bureaucratic red tape they claim has prevented them from getting clean and safe drinking water consistently. They also complained about increasing water rates and unsatisfactory results when complaining to state and federal agencies seeking help.

“We’re tired of this! This has got to stop!” demanded one resident who did not give their name.

Government officials told them they were doing everything they could, but insisted there is a process.

Christopher Chen, drinking water enforcement officer for the EPA, said the agency issued an order in May giving the water company until Dec. 31 to submit a plan for correcting significant deficiencies. Should the company fail to comply with the agency’s directives, the EPA can seek redress with the U.S. Department of Justice, Chen said.

The EPA has ordered Havasu Water Co. to develop a plan to, among other things, come into compliance with federal safe drinking water standards regarding levels of trihalomethanes, retain an appropriately certified operator, and submit timely surface water treatment data.

On Aug. 7, the agency issued the water company a notice for failing to comply with the May order by not submitting a compliance plan and not providing evidence that qualified personnel were operating its water system, among other things.

“We feel like we’ve exhausted all our routes for getting the water system to return to compliance, and we need to escalate — we’ll evaluate our options, and that can potentially be a referral to the Department of Justice,” Chen said during Thursday’s meeting.

But Chen also said the water company has been making strides, albeit small ones.

“We have seen progress made, but it may not be the progress you’re seeking,” he said.

Power outage started descent

Problems at Havasu Water Co. first surfaced in March 2022, when it was hit by a Southern California Edison power outage. The company did not have operable backup generators to keep its decrepit pump working, which cut off the supply of water to its customers. The crisis was compounded when the company’s only operator walked off the job.

Inspectors with the state Water Resources Control Board were called in to investigate, and it took nine days before the company could restore water service for showers and toilet flushing. However, residents said they went about a month before potable water was restored.

That opened a floodgate of citations and violation notices issued to the water company by the WRCB, starting with a $1,500 fine in May 2022 after the company failed to provide evidence that it had a certified water treatment operator and distribution system operator on staff. The company also failed to provide the state with a corrective action plan.

And while the company has provided documentation to the state Public Utilities Commission claiming it has certified operators working at its treatment plant, a PUC representative said during Thursday night’s meeting his agency has yet to actually observe the operators on site and working.

“That’s a little more difficult figuring out,” said Wilson Tsai of the PUC’s water services division.

From March 2022 to December 2023, the WRCB issued nine citations to the company totaling more than $7,800 for failing to comply with its directives.

According to court and EPA records, Havasu Lake residents had clean and running water only 44% of the time from March 2022 to March 2023. For the remainder of that time, their water was under-pressured and subject to “do not drink” and water boil notices due to high levels of trihalomethanes.

Patrick Wilson, senior regional toxicologist for the EPA, assured residents Thursday that the levels of trihalomethanes in their water supply were not that harmful.

“At the end of the day, we are talking about an extremely low level of contaminants in the water,” Wilson said. Still, he said it was unacceptable for the water company to continuously exceed trihalomethane levels in violation of federal safe water drinking standards.

“And we’re going to do something about it,” Wilson said.

Since the EPA assumed regulatory oversight of the water company, it has issued more than a dozen letters and notices to company President Jennifer Hodges citing significant deficiencies at its treatment plant, noncompliance with EPA administrative orders, interruptions in water service, and concerns over water pressure loss and water boil notices.

Lingering dispute with tribe

Havasu Water Co. had spent more than a decade of wrangling with the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe when the tribe sued in March 2020 over the right of the water company to run its pipeline across tribal land to the Lake Havasu waterfront, where it pumps its water to customers.

The tribe maintains that a 30-year agreement allowing the pipeline expired in 2006, and the water company has refused to negotiate a new annual rental agreement at fair rental value. Instead, the company continued paying the tribe only $500 a year under the original agreement, according to the lawsuit.

The water company disputes the tribe’s assertion that its 1976 agreement with the tribe terminated in 2006, and the lawsuit is ongoing.

“The tribe seeks to have the pipeline and pumping equipment removed, which will deprive 361 customers of water,” said Patrick Webb, an attorney representing Havasu Water Co., in an email. “This concerted illegal attempt to put Havasu Water Co. out of business after 60 years of serving the public has already cost the company and its customers hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, which has delayed maintenance of the water system.”

Webb called the tribe’s lawsuit “erroneous,” noting that, in 1985, the Public Utilities Commission ordered the easement to be extended for the provision of public utility water service until it was no longer necessary.

Related links

Crippled water supply problems still lingering weeks later for Havasu Lake residents
Havasu Water Co. fined for leaving residents without drinkable water
Residents and Indian tribe at odds over water

Webb also claims the EPA has erroneously asserted jurisdiction over the water company, which has been regulated by the state for the last 60 years. He said federal courts already have ruled that the treatment plant is not within the boundaries of the Chemehuevi reservation, but rather on federal Bureau of Land Management land.

“The EPA, apparently in cahoots with the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, now erroneously asserts that it has displaced California regulation of the water company because it is a tribal water company within the Chemehuevi’s reservation, when it’s not,” Webb said.

Attorneys for the tribe did not respond to telephone calls and emails requesting comment.

While the legal battle between the tribe and water company rages on, and state and federal regulators continue pushing the water company to comply with their directives, Havasu Lake residents, at least for the foreseeable future, could be looking at more water boil notices and more bottled water.

“Our water situation has not gotten any better,” Chamberlain said. “It’s gross negligence in my book.”

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: How much can Jim Harbaugh change the Chargers?

• September 6, 2024

EL SEGUNDO — How much do fresh atmosphere, environment and leadership really help on an NFL game day?

Or, to put it another way, will the ebullient, sometimes hokey but unwavering attitude Jim Harbaugh has brought to the Chargers be the antidote to … well, Chargering?

We will have 17 opportunities to find out this season, beginning with Sunday’s game at SoFi Stadium against the Las Vegas Raiders. (And for the moment we’ll overlook the fact that SoCal’s chapter of Raider Nation considers this one of 10 home games, eight in Allegiant Stadium in Vegas and one each in SoFi against the Chargers and Rams).

The day-to-day environment itself is dramatically different. The name of Chargers’ new training center, “The Bolt,” might be a shameless ripoff of the Dallas Cowboys’ “The Star.” But the three-story, 150,000-square foot facility is a dramatic improvement over the team’s temporary digs in Costa Mesa the past seven seasons. And – you can avert your eyes, San Diegans – it makes the team’s old quarters in Mission Valley look like the NFL training grounds equivalent of a two-room shack. It’s that opulent.

And while I didn’t see any inspirational signs encouraging Chargers players to attack every day “with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind” – one of the Harbaugh family’s favorite expressions, handed down from paterfamilias Jack Harbaugh – the influence of the new coach is there, and it’s unmistakable.

Consider: Each Chargers player this week got a collared work shirt with an inscribed name tag and an embroidered lightning bolt, the sort of shirt your mechanic wears when you take your car for servicing. The point: To get where they want to go, hard work is involved. Derwin James Jr. proudly displayed his at his locker after Thursday’s practice.

“It (the environment) definitely feels different,” he said. “Everything is new for us. … I love it. Very detailed, technicians, hard-working coaches.”

The idea that paying attention to the little things will enable you to conquer the big things? Here’s an example: Harbaugh himself organized and orchestrated the taking of the team photo, making sure every player was in the spot he needed to be. Potentially it’s like herding cats. This one was done in seven minutes.

“That was my first experience having a head coach kind of call everybody up and sit everybody down in the seat for the team photo,” edge rusher Khalil Mack said. “But he’s been like that this whole time. I talked to one of the ladies on the (team) plane, and he was cleaning up his area and she’s saying, ‘No, I got it.’ And he’s like, no. He’s walking the halls picking up (stuff), you know, so you kind of get a sense of the person he is and the man he is.

“He’s a detail guy, a detail-oriented guy. And so, yeah, it was different, but he’s a special dude.”

Offensive tackle Rashawn Slater played against Harbaugh’s Michigan teams at Northwestern. “We had him in the first half” of a Wolverines-Wildcats meeting in 2018, he said, “but then they turned around and put a beating on us.”  From seeing his teams across the field and talking to fellow players after Harbaugh was hired in January, he had an inkling what was coming.

“They’ve really instilled this culture of, just preparation,” he said. “Preparation, hard work, consistency. That’s really at the foundation of everything we do, and I think everyone’s bought into that. And it’s very special. Simple but effective, you know?

“… The message (from other players) was, ‘You’re going to work, but you’re going to love him.’ And I would definitely agree with that. It’s been hard work, but we all bought into the vision and we all understand the purpose. And, you know, he’s a great guy.”

There’s a Ted Lasso kind of quirkiness to Harbaugh, sort of a befuddled uncle quality that can come particularly – but evidently not exclusively – at the interview podium. As Joey Bosa put it in a video interview with Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, “He has a unique perspective on things … he gets his messages across in a unique way, in a fun, kind of funny Jim Harbaugh type of way.”

During his midweek availability this week, Harbaugh talked about wanting to create a season where everyone in the organization, not just in the locker room, considers this the “favorite ball team they’ve ever been on.”  He compared the tunnel vision involved in preparing for the season to “being in a submarine and ready to surface.”

And this was his answer when Channel 2’s Jim Hill asked Harbaugh what his biggest concern was going into the season:

“You do everything you can to prepare, but you just don’t know. The way the preseason’s set up, it’s hard for any team to know exactly what they have. So, yeah, it’s like, let’s go. We’re jumping out of a plane and let’s hope the parachute opens. You know, hopefully we all packed it in there good and it opens for us. And there’s been – I can’t say enough about all the people in the organization that have made sure that parachute is packed right.”

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There are no “Believe” signs in the Chargers’ locker room as far as I could tell, although each player’s nameplate includes not only his college but his high school alma mater and what his recruiting ranking was. Additional motivation intended, perhaps, for the guys whose nameplates read “NR” for “not ranked?”

However you characterize it, Harbaugh’s style has worked at each stop along his coaching trail – at the University of San Diego, at Stanford, with the 49ers, and at Michigan. If he can erase this franchise’s history – if he can bring home a Lombardi Trophy to be displayed in “The Bolt,” does that make him a miracle worker?

We’re about to find out. As Harbaugh put it this week, “Every day matters, but the games count.”

jalexander@scng.com

​ Orange County Register 

How to avoid the new ‘shoulder season’ crowds

• September 6, 2024

By Sam Kemmis | NerdWallet

Traveling during peak season can be a drag. Visiting Europe in the summer, for example, means contending with higher prices, tight availability and throngs of fellow travelers.

That’s why many savvy travelers choose to vacation during “shoulder seasons” that lie between peak season and low season — spring and autumn for many destinations. Yet remote work and overcrowded peak seasons have increased the popularity of these shoulder seasons.

Take the Jersey Shore, a popular seaside destination in New Jersey, for example. This coastal region has seen a significant increase in visitors during the fall months, with October through December occupancy rates in 2023 up by as much as 50% compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to a 2024 report from AirDNA, a short-term rental analytics firm. And it’s not the only place that’s getting more visitors outside of peak season.

As many destinations see more tourists spill into the shoulders, what’s the best way to avoid these offseason crowds?

Avoid trendy destinations

If everyone is zagging their travel plans, maybe it’s a good time to zig.

For example, Japan saw a huge influx of travelers this spring. The number of U.S. citizens departing for Japan in March through May of 2024 rose 17% compared with the same months in 2023, and jumped a whopping 41% compared with the same months in 2019, according to the International Trade Administration. Similarly, Greece saw nearly three times as many U.S. visitors from March through May in 2024 compared to the same period in 2019.

Closer to home, popular national parks have seen a surge in shoulder season crowds.

In Maine, “Acadia National Park, which was once highly seasonal with peak demand only in July and August, now sees high demand stretching from June through October,” Chloé Garlaschi, a communications manager for AirDNA, said in an email. “This trend is part of a broader shift where national park destinations are attracting visitors outside of their traditional peak periods.”

If everyone you know is talking about visiting Tokyo or Athens, Greece, maybe it’s worth researching locales that have seen fewer tourists in recent years. For example, Australia saw 27% fewer U.S. visitors in the spring months of 2024 compared with the same months in 2019. China, which has seen much less U.S. tourism since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, had 78% fewer U.S. visitors this spring compared with 2019.

Embrace the offbeat

Even within popular destinations, it’s possible to venture to offbeat locales with far fewer tourists. Most travelers to Japan visit the Eastern cities of Tokyo and Kyoto, but fewer venture inland to mountain towns such as Takayama, which boasts impressive temples and a quiet, quaint atmosphere. And few foreign tourists visit the island prefecture of Okinawa in Japan’s south, despite its warm weather and distinct culture from the mainland.

In the U.S., well-known national parks like Acadia (in Maine) and Yosemite (in California) may be popular during shoulder season. But lesser-known parks such as Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado or California’s Channel Islands National Park may see smaller crowds.

Avoid high prices

When demand for travel to a destination peaks, so do prices for airfare, accommodations and ground transportation. So looking for deals can save you money and help you avoid the most crowded spots.

According to data provided by Hopper, a travel booking platform, these destinations in the U.S. are seeing the biggest spike in flight booking demand this autumn:

Seattle.
Portland, Ore.
Salt Lake City.
San Jose, Calif.
Hawaii Island, Hawaii.
Spokane, Washington.
Lihue, Hawaii.
Indianapolis.
Portland, Maine.
Asheville, N.C.

Meanwhile, these international destinations are seeing the biggest price spikes:

Seoul, South Korea.
Shanghai.
Athens, Greece.
Frankfurt, Germany.
Venice, Italy.
Zurich.
Lima, Peru.
Brussels.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Bangalore, India.

Of course, just because a flight is expensive doesn’t mean the destination will be crowded, but it does provide a proxy for demand. These lists give a sense of which spots are hot even when the weather isn’t.

Know thy shoulder

Not all shoulder seasons follow the same pattern, so knowing the right time to travel to avoid crowds means more than just leaving in the spring or fall.

“In Phoenix and Scottsdale, [Arizona], we see an unconventional seasonal pattern,” Garlaschi said. “The peak season actually falls in February and March due to the mild winter climate.”

And keep in mind that, even though travel data show shoulder seasons getting more popular, crowds (and prices) will still be much lower during these off-peak periods. You don’t have to travel to the North Pole in winter to avoid overtourism.

Sam Kemmis writes for NerdWallet. Email: skemmis@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @samsambutdif.

The article How to Avoid the New ‘Shoulder Season’ Crowds originally appeared on NerdWallet.

​ Orange County Register