Better Know Your Blogger...Who is Nelville Flynn?
I was watching the Colbert Report and saw the "Better Know Your District" series which profiles members of Congress and wondered what it would be like if I researched the ontology of the anonymous names that are sometimes used on BlogaBarbara.
This week much has been written about "Nelville Flynn" who occurs to many, at best, as an apologist for the News-Press. I even overheard people talking about it in a random conversation I happened upon today at Blenders. "Like, OMG! Who is this Nelville Flynn at BlogaBarbara -- it's got to be ________!". Yes, it was surreal as they did not know who I was. Very surreal.
Although it is not my policy to try to identify who a person is -- I see no reason why we can't identify who their blog identity is....
Samuel Jackson played a character named Nelville Flynn in what's been considered a really bad movie this year called Snakes on a Plane. The character is known for the following quotes (from IMDB)-- which are interesting considering the context of his comments.
It's interesting how the News-Press owners and management happen to be right smack in the middle of a scenario they hadn't thought of, no? Nelville -- this is probably one big joke as I have already seen someone try to masquerade as Mike Pinto and the erstwhile Valerio el Cacique (where are you Valerio?), for instance, in the past -- so I hope you take this lightly. I also hope you comment on other issues and posts than those related to the SBNP -- it would help with our perception of who you are....
This week much has been written about "Nelville Flynn" who occurs to many, at best, as an apologist for the News-Press. I even overheard people talking about it in a random conversation I happened upon today at Blenders. "Like, OMG! Who is this Nelville Flynn at BlogaBarbara -- it's got to be ________!". Yes, it was surreal as they did not know who I was. Very surreal.
Although it is not my policy to try to identify who a person is -- I see no reason why we can't identify who their blog identity is....
Samuel Jackson played a character named Nelville Flynn in what's been considered a really bad movie this year called Snakes on a Plane. The character is known for the following quotes (from IMDB)-- which are interesting considering the context of his comments.Nelville Flynn: It's my job to handle life and death situations on a daily basis. It's what I do, and I'm very good at it. ; and,
Nelville Flynn: [from trailer] You know all those security scenarios we ran? Well I'm smack in the middle of one we didn't think of.
It's interesting how the News-Press owners and management happen to be right smack in the middle of a scenario they hadn't thought of, no? Nelville -- this is probably one big joke as I have already seen someone try to masquerade as Mike Pinto and the erstwhile Valerio el Cacique (where are you Valerio?), for instance, in the past -- so I hope you take this lightly. I also hope you comment on other issues and posts than those related to the SBNP -- it would help with our perception of who you are....
posted by Sara De la Guerra | 8/11/2006 08:07:00 PM
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47 Comments:
Nelville is also the name of a character from the old Gasoline Alley cartoons.
He is Dan Secord. Secord was AWOL at the Coastal Commission this week, so that he could post on this blog!
I think this movie is preselling tickets at Camino Real.
Mike Pinto says...
I am Spartacus.
Mike Pinto - I hope you are not Spartacus - I don't want to see you go down in a hail of arrows, mostly because I get a kick out of your posts! :-) dd
I said I LIKE SNAKES !
Mike Pinto is Spartacus.
Spartacus is Kirk Douglas.
Kirk Douglas is a friend of The Wendy and Nipper.
Therefore, Mike Pinto is Nipper.
This is why blogs cannot replace real newspapers with real and ethical journalists.
I am flattered by all the attention, but really, I did not post to this blog or the Independent's News-Press forum with the intention of drawing attention to myself.
Rather, I was dismayed at all the overheated, one-sided rhetoric being directed at Wendy McCaw, Arthur von Wiesenberger, Travis K. Armstrong and Ampersand. They are all publishers committed to a free press and to standing for Santa Barbara's values, whatever the cost. Stylistic differences and personality conflicts were magnified into a "crisis of journalism," the embers of discontent fanned by self-serving land developers, a cabal of their political toadies, and most recently the Teamsters union.
Blogabarbara and the Independent's forum has descended to one-sided gripe sessions, lacking perspective and context. My job was (and is) to provide those things.
Who am I, then? Put me down as a concerned South Coast resident, a guardian of our cherished -- and endangered -- quality of life, a defender of a free and locally owned press, a friend to those who represent Santa Barbara values in the face of seemingly insurmountable opposition. My name is irrelevant.
Oh yeah, and I'm not very fond of snakes -- on a plane or in the South Coast grass -- either.
Who but Travis Armstrong would refer to himself but as "Travis K. Armstrong"?
And reading about "irrelevant," ee is really becoming more and more irrelevant in everything until he actually talks to the public and South Coast community for which he purports to be so concerned about its quality of life.
The more excuses made up NOT to respond to the news media and other public, the more easily The Wendy can make up a reason to dump the Editorial Page Editor in a few weeks, all with the same style of revisionist, head-in-sand, Orwellian history that has been and continues to be the message from "News-Press Management" whenever something happens that is a perfect opportunity for said Management to tell its side of the story, face the music, and just go through the motions of actually appearing in public and answering just a few questions.
And all the more interesting that the Blogabarbara moderator posts comments with insults about a "cabal of their political toadies." Still, it is all entertaining reading and all the more indicative of the sad psyche of the author.
Nelvile -- thanks for being a good sport. I'm not sure what a political toady is but maybe we can get into that later...
I'm also not sure what the connection is between the land developers and public officials like Susan Rose and Marty Blum....they have traditionally been slow growth oriented.
Maybe you could explain?
Sara! This is good progress for you! You have admitted that you don't know the connection between Land developers and people like Susan Rose. No kidding! We've all been able to tell by your thread topics that you don't get it, and you are not alone. MOST OF THE VOTERS DON'T GET IT EITHER.
I, too, didn't get it in the beginning until I started attending Supervisor meetings, studying county documents and even arranging to to talk with the players themselves. Including one-on-one with Susan Rose. The most common connections are money, friendship, and sometimes just a belief in the same philosophies. Regardless of what the constituents want, these politicans lean on pre-determined positions. In Susan's case, she has already decided how she's gonna vote long before the people step up to tell her what they want. She proclaims herself as slow-growth, but the only reason growth has slowed down a bit in Noleta is because the people have made enough noise. That is why she FINALLY decided to create a visioning committee, but it wasn't in time to have anything done before the housing element. Do you know why? Because for YEARS, she kept saying that an updated plan was not necessary. But she had allowed the Goleta Growth Management Ordinance to be repealed. We had no protection, no plan out here in Noleta, and Susan began setting up for high-density projects to be build by her friend Michael Towbes. It's no secret. It's the way politics work, unfortunately.
The unrest of the people is also the reason Rose decided not to run again. Read that again--> unrest of the people whom she was supposed to represent was finally too much for her.
As for Marty, I am not in the city, and I have been too wrapped up in County stuff to pay close attention. But I do know that I have seen lots of building going on downtown since this current council has been in place. Way too much. Way too high. I do hear city officials talk of mixed-use(aka tall) and stunted-equity homes (aka affordable, government-regulated) or cheap-for-the-builder homes (aka affordable-by-design, but still expensive-for-the-owners). This talk combined with the buildings I've seen going up, combined with the way Rose does business, leads me to believe that there is some heavy developer influence going on with the city council, too. And mind you, sometimes the influence is not direct. Many housing advocacy groups are funded by these developers, but I'm sure you are aware of that.
In Noleta, at least, Travis has given a voice to the people. He has helped to keep the politicians on their toes. It's clear that the people who complain loudest about Travis just don't like his positions. Some just don't like him and may have a personal issue with him. But he is an opinion editor who stays connected and studies the issues. He is not afraid to go against the grain to make a logical point, popular or not. This is a GOOD thing.
8:58am anon: are you so focused on your one issue [no growth] that you can't see the bigger cloud of insanity that engulfs Armstong??? Is the rest of the journalistic world out of step, or is it Armstrong. Even Cheri Rae saw the tea leaves a few weeks ago and distanced herself from him despite his support of her positions; so did Steve Amerikaner. He is a dangerous loose cannon and you are doing yourself and your cause no service by continuing to align with him. You will all be painted with the same broad brush as he continues to decompensate and weave everyone and every organization into his irrational conspiracy scenario. Take a few steps back and realize with whom you are aligning, before its too late.
Travis indeed gives plenty of voice and space on the opinion page, but only to people with whom he agrees.
Once again, people who want no building in their neighborhoods defend the newspaper editor-publisher-censor because for this time he agrees with them. Interference with the news content and all the other journalistic ethical problems do not matter, until, of course, when a news story you like gets killed regardless of its news value. It will happen eventually.
And, again, this Kelly blogger comment above conveniently forgets about all the many people who have been praised by the editorials on public policy issues promoted by those people, but the same people recently have harshly criticized the implosion of credibility and journalism integrity that has befallen the News-Press. Such people have included Cherie Rae about neighborhood protection, Dave Bearman about medicinal pot, Dave Pritchett about water quality, and even Dan Secord, who was there at the restore the news integrity rally held last month.
And by curtailing opinions other than his, Armstrong kills his own credibility so that nothing he writes can be believed, including items about Noleta. I would note here "nothing he says" but he says nothing and is afraid to appear in public.
If Travis Armstrong were so much of a populist he would stop hiding up in the tower and actually show up in a public venue and defend himself and answer questions. What a poop de pollo he is.
To the 1:23pm anonymous fearmonger,
I see the bigger picture. And I see you in it dishing out fearful propaganda. 8:58am answered Sarah's question about the connection between land developers and politicians. Your post just bashes on Travis, with no facts as usual. But Sarah posts that stuff while the rest of us have to be careful.
And what's with the "step back before it's too late" comment? You must really get off on threatening people. Life in the 21st century. Sad. Maybe I'll pray for you. To JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!
are you so focused on your one issue [no growth] that you can't see the bigger cloud of insanity that engulfs Armstong???
And what would that be?
Is the rest of the journalistic world out of step, or is it Armstrong.
Uhhh, what? Has the entire journalistic world weighed in?
Even Cheri Rae saw the tea leaves a few weeks ago and distanced herself from him despite his support of her positions; so did Steve Amerikaner.
Is that the same Amerikaner who's the president of voicesforhousing.org which also has Craig Zimmerman of the Towbes Group as a board member. Yeah, that's an impartial example. Good one.
Amerikaner works for Hatch & Parent. Both Hatch & Parent and the Towbes Group are part of the Coastal Housing Partnership.
Take a few steps back and realize with whom you are aligning, before its too late.
Lies laced with fearmongering.
I think Amerikaner used to be City Attorney.
This issue is stopping all growth. If the NP can help, good!
Good to read a direct confirmation that the issue is stopping all growth, and the only reason to support News-Press political positions is to help that issue of stopping all growth.
Now we know their motivation: it is securing their property values and entitlement regardless of anything to do with journalistic integrity and ethics.
To First District Streetfighter--
Why do you take the cause for preserving environment and quality of life and always turn it into a "money and property value" rant? Don't you acknowledge that it is possible that people who live here and own a home are passionate about the PLACE and it's not about their bank accounts?
Once again, a big reminder to all you wanna-be homeowners...equity does not equal money, so stop your bitchin on that one please.
The end justifies the means.
Glad you agree first district. We need to stop growth before it's too late.
Yes, your goal is to stop growth before it's too late, and if that means the daily newspaper of record for more than 100 years also stops publishing anything by people who disagree with the editorial position, and yours, then all the better, right?!?!
The NP is a buggy whip.
Kelly,
As usual you make several good points about the 2nd District.
Those of us who care about the future of the 2nd District are getting a once in a generation chance to vote for a supervisor who is not already an incumbent.
It is unfortunate that I have a choice of Secord, or no Secord. It's sad that we have to choose between someone with a horrible record of not listening to people and doing what he wants, or someone who we hope might not be too pro development, but have almost no way of knowing for sure.
For many of us Secord is just unacceptable. It is not so much how he votes but the way in which he conducts himself. He thinks very highly of himself and isnt afraid to tell you how great he is. He has no tolerance for the little people, like neighborhood groups in the city.
The jury is still out on Wolf. She says she has protected open space at Ellwood(is that true?) and that she listens to people and is open minded. If true that is good but I need to hear more from people who worked with her. I don't need politicans telling me to vote for -
I want to hear from people she has represented.
She could win on a stop growth platform.
"She could win on a stop growth platform."
Huh? Oh, you mean like Joe and Das?
Let's face facts, it's not just a simple grow/no-grow issue as many of the NIMBYs and BANANAs have made it out to be. The discussion is more about people and their interaction with the built and unbuilt environment. It's not simple, but certainly worthy of reasonable discussion by all of us.
One thing I've noticed is that we tend to lock-in on a position and stop listening to one another.
I happen to fall on the side that thinks we are woefully behind on planning, zoning/re-zoning and building a reasonable amount of housing (not all low density mini-mansions) that will help our workers live here, which will result in better overall community health for the long term.
Evidence of this housing need can be seen in many places, but I wonder how many of the NIMBY side really care about what's best for the environment - and when I say environment I mean on a broader scale than just their fenced-in 1/4 or 1/2-acre lot in Noleta.
Don't you have folks have jobs - at least some of you? Didn't you have them before you retired and joined the ranks of the disgruntled NIMBYs? I mean, if you have any idea about how community health, economics, non-profit volunteerism and similar issues work you would see that healthy communities need a vision, sound planning (and by planning I don't mean PLANNING as a code word to shut down any forward movement of anything) and balance, vitality, etc. I could go on and on...
The silent, disenfranchised majority have had enough of the detriment caused by the vocal minority NIMBYs and BANANAs and have spoken by voting for those open to discussing a vision for our community's future and defeating Joe and Das who were not about engaging in that discussion.
The time for change is now.
P.S. - Definitions of terms used in this post:
NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard
BANANA - Build Anything Near Anything Never Again
Wow - did you think of all that by yourself, or did someone fax you those talking points? When a ship is sinking, you don't take on more passengers.
Let’s compare the Upper Eastside to the Lower Westside shall we. What are we seeing now with the increase in density?
1. Increased street congestion
2. Increased gang activity
3. Increased crime
4. More need for law enforcement (which the City is unwilling to pay for)
What else so we have? Stabbings on State Street in the middle of the day. An increase in aggressive homeless. Crumbling infrastructure. Less open space.
The people I work with who stated families now live in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Buellton, Santa Ynez, Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Ojai, and Moorpark. They continue to drive here for work, but they are getting close to retirement and will leave. I’ll miss them. They did what they had to do.
Do we want to continue to add to the growing problems by building more? Or do we do what we have to do and stop growth and live within our resources?
So is that "increased density" the kind of density targeted towards households with an annual income of $160,000????
Cuz that is what Santa Barbara City Council just approved as their latest "high density" project.
Do families of 3 with that income house gangsters and drug dealers leading to increased crime?
Density Is as Density Does, eh?
I get it. The plan is the spread the misery to the St. Francis area. I can see why this is upsetting the neighbors.
The project Council just approved needs to be stopped - affordable housing for the rich? Are they kidding?
The folks in bangerville off San Andres are all living in Million Dollar homes, and look at the place. Crime and density seem to go hand in hand.
So we should provied for each according to their need? Where have I heard that before?
FDS an apologist for developers?
Researchers in the social sciences have long tried to explain the effects of urbanization on the human animal. Of special interest has been the observed rates of crime and deviant behavior found in cities. In the United States city crime rates are higher than suburban rates, which in turn are higher than rural rates.
Two major theories have developed to explain the effects of density on human behavior. Wirth’s (1938) is the most common with his famous statement that size, density and heterogenity explain the effects of urban life on the human animal. The experiments done by Milgram (1970) suggest that when people are confronted with a large number of strangers in everyday life, they tend to withdraw and take less interest in the community in order to protect themselves from overload. Wolfgang (1970), among others, suggests that urban withdrawal and anomie resulting from density explains higher urban crime rates.
Oh, wow!
I live in a condo. After reading the posts above I suddenly feel this strong urge to smoke crack, steal a car and do a drive by...
It's amazing how close minded some of our south coast neighbors have become.
I guess next we'll start rounding up and busing our homeless and indigent to Malibu (before they kill us all)!
No need to insult folks from Ventura.
I'm not sure anyone has proven with data that population density alone results in increased crime rates... urban areas with high density often have confounding variables, like socioecononmic differences when compared with suburban and rural areas.
Here's a link to a study that looked at data and measured no significant correlation between desnity and crime...
GIS Application
The economic status of most people who would buy high density condos in SB is pretty high. Cannon Green at 10 units/acre has no significant crime problem.
I remember a story once told by Alice Kahn, a Berkeley writer who coined the phrase YUPPIE. Her mother was visiting from Chicago and they took a walk in Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills. Her mother felt unsafe because no-one was around, and said the park was creepy because she thought people would bury bodies there. Chicago with high density felt much safer to her.
8/16 9:43am... you made me laugh out loud... building housing will increase homelessness!!!
Now that prices are starting to come down, why build at all.
8/16 @ 9:43AM said:
"The people I work with who stated families now live in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Buellton, Santa Ynez, Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Ojai, and Moorpark. They continue to drive here for work, but they are getting close to retirement and will leave. I’ll miss them. They did what they had to do."
Wow! So you're saying if you want to have families in our community you can't and should pickup and move to one of those other places?
The poster also alledges density results in the following:
"1. Increased street congestion
2. Increased gang activity
3. Increased crime
4. More need for law enforcement (which the City is unwilling to pay for)
What else so we have? Stabbings on State Street in the middle of the day. An increase in aggressive homeless. Crumbling infrastructure. Less open space."
I agree these things are occurring and will continue to get worse. Why? We certainly haven't built more housing. Santa Barbara hasn't become a Mecca for developers.
Ah, now I get it. Here it is. Wait - just a little more. Oh, yeah...
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DON'T PERFORM SOUND PLANNING OR BUILD THE INFRASTRUCTURE NECESSARY TO ACCOMODATE GROWTH!
All the negative things 9:43 is saying are occurring because we're NOT building dense housing and infrastructure to support it. The Eastside and Westside neighborhoods 9:43 is referring to are primarily older, smaller, single-family bungalo-style houses. They are being over-densified because we have not adequately planned and built the necessary range of housing types for the varied needs of our community.
The infrastructure is "crumbling" becuase it was designed for a different purpose, and has not been upgraded due to poor planning and elected officials burying their heads in the sand pretending these things aren't a reality in "pristine Santa Barbara."
Even the police issue that's been the subject of much attention lately is a part of this issue. If you don't plan to police a growing community and it grows, the result is more crime.
Once again the solution to all of this is not to try and stop something we have no control over, it's to be proactive in our planning policies and work together to plan for and accomodate the changing face of the community.
Those that are trying to tie the "no growth" horse to the "neighborhood preservation" wagon are living in the past. They've already lost that fight. Isn't it time to come together and deal with our community's future with logic, reason and vision before it's too late?
It's already too late! We are fast becoming the Geriatric Slum, and that demographic, along with the tourist are who our elected official are catering to. It's where the money is, and where the easy gutless path points. We have to adjust to that fact and live with it, or leave.
Some of us want this nonsense to stop. I know that the only way my kid could stay is if I left her my house. But, given the value of homes here, she will have to sell it to pay the estate taxes. I've told her to start looking for a town that she'd like in and go to college there.
My daughter moved to northern california and is very happy there. I know that she will be able to raise a family and buy a house. Something that was impossible here.
ref the snake plane ringer...you guys are kidding right? do you remember back between labor day and the union vote when huff started lofting accusations about 'a corporate campaign'...she at the time was referring to the daily webloid which was very pro union ergo anti wendy and although not supported at this blog or others the dw has widely read among wendy's friends and also in ny leading back to wendys friends...thats what huff was freaking about with corporate campiagn accusations, ie that dw came out of nowhere, got through the defenses and had impact...now that the webloid has stopped posting, huff has kicked into gear fueled by indignation over having gotten caught short by dw, so now it is full blown war...and the blogger sites where you are able to post are being neutralized...you have perhaps noticed that wendy is picking up momentum on a wide range of fronts and the blog campiagn is real simple...top dollar talent from out of town speaking as ghost writers for 'local people'...craig smith's guess that the mystery snake writer is von porkburger is puzzling...if the von pretender could write like that then its a voice we would have heard well before this...the mystery scribes are ringers kids and because blogabarbara is commited to fairness unless she can prove its bogus...she is sort of obligated to keep posting them...same with the indy...we're amazed here that huff took so long to jump on this one...but its a great score...two out of three blogs pinned down on the wendymess...prediction for one year from now---wendy will have driven the teamsters out of town...really craig what are you thinking? von porkburger?
yes of course its von porkburger speaking but its a ringer writing it for him...welcome to wendyworld
Ah, wendyworld...such a travisty!
Ah...von cheeseburger from wendyworld as Neville, the snake in the grass...with a ringer...what a TRAVISty, hummmmmm.
Now we see the whole picture clearly, von cheeseburger from wendyworld as Neville, the snake hater - perhaps not wanting to be linked with snakes but appearing to be one, with a snakelike ringer. Clearly a TRAVISty.
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