Bob Dunning: The neighbor’s grass isn’t always greener

LAND OF THE BRAVE, HOME OF THE CACTI … as our city’s long-running water debate rages on, it’s amusing to hear the occasional comment from newcomers to the area who claim we shouldn’t be planting all these trees and grass and flowers in what is basically a desert climate …

These are the same folks who are slicing their outdoor water bills by chopping down trees, ripping out turf and planting rocks and cactus instead … if you’re interested in saving money, this is an excellent way to do it, but cactus isn’t native to the Sacramento Valley either … trust me on this … in Sacramento, where they’ve been keeping accurate weather records for well over a century, the average annual rainfall is just slightly over 20 inches … that is not a desert climate …

Yes, it can sometimes climb to 110 degrees in the summer, but occasional high temperatures don’t define a desert either … in fact, many deserts can be downright cold … if you go back in time to the days of John Muir or the Donner Party, the Sacramento Valley was nothing at all like a desert … trees, grasses, shrubs and wildlife were plenty, but none of them were representative of what one might find in a desert …

Plant those non-native cacti if you must, but don’t assume you’re taking the land back to what nature and God intended for the region …

FIT FOR A KING … like many folks in our town, I’m passionate about a number of sports teams and the games they play, but the Kings are no longer among them … I’m tired of the complaints about a suitable “major league” arena …

Put a good product on the floor and you’ll sell out every night, even if you’re playing in an old barn … and put a bad product on the floor and even the brilliance of a new arena will soon wear off …

If the Maloofs want to sell their interest in the team to that aggressive group in Seattle, we’ll still have plenty of teams in Northern California to root for … and when you think about it, the Kings in King County seems to make a lot of sense … forget the Supersonics, just call them the King County Kings and people will beat a path to your door …

LANCING LANCE … Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace is a case study in why the city of Davis refuses to name a street or building after anyone until after that person has died …

When Armstrong came through Davis two years ago to display his ill-gotten talents, I was afraid his see-no-evil fans would petition the City Council to rename the town for their doped-up hero … who knew the “P.E.D” in “pedal” stood for “performance enhancing drugs?” …

MOODY BLUES … the city of Woodland received a high-voltage shock this week from Moody’s Investors Service, which “downgraded the city of Woodland’s 2002 Lease Revenue Bonds to A2 from A1 and 2005 Lease Revenue Bonds to A3 from A2,” citing such things as the city’s “below-average assessed value (AV) and resident wealth; continued AV contraction and lagging economic recovery.” …

Oddly, among Woodland’s strengths, Moody’s allowed that Woodland is the “county seat of Yolo County,” which is something we already knew … whether this downgrade will have any effect on Davis voters who will shortly consider partnering with Woodland on a $245 million surface water project remains to be seen, but expect Measure I opponents to have a field day with this information …

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net