Community

LAKE COUNTY – Low-income singles, families and seniors are invited to apply to see if they are eligible to receive food stamps.

The Lake County Community Action Agency is conducting pre-screenings for individuals and families.

To set up an appointment, call Sarina Beckel at 995-0495.

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MIDDLETOWN – The Middletown Area Town Hall meeting in the Middletown High School's Multi-Use Room at 7 p.m. on February 21 is likely to be "buzzing."

There is a lot on the town hall's plate this month – proposed bylaw amendments, a petition to improve air quality, a presentation by Lake County County Counsel Anita Grant on the state's open meeting laws, the need to discuss local business support – especially in light of the fact three prominent businesses shut down last month within a two-week period.

But, it will be the presentation on "Tools and Strategies to Move MATH Forward" that will likely draw out-of-towners to this Middletown meeting.

People like Lake County Administrator Kelly Cox from Lakeport and Kevin Comora, president of Vizicast Multimedia in Cotarie are likely to attend. Members of Lake County's media establishment have also expressed an interest in attending. Why? The need for progress in Middletown.

According to Martha Webster, who works with the Middletown Times Star, Middletown has been trying to get a viable town hall up and going for more than 20 years. Last year, it looked as though Middletown had finally arrived. The town was granted status for a municipal advisory council (MAC) in compliance with the Brown Act. Funds were also provided by the county for new lights in the downtown area.

But, neither MAC status nor new lights will help generate more revenue for the local small business merchants. Something still needs to be done to entice the sizable traffic traveling through Middletown on State Highway 29 to "stop and shop." Otherwise, more local businesses may be closing their doors as well.

One problem for Middletown may be its perception as the "Gateway to Lake County." The town is not perceived as a destination, but rather as a pass-through to somewhere else in the county. While it might help if Caltrans were to alter the way traffic approaches and passes through Middletown, that would be a very expensive undertaking.

Given California's current economy, it is doubtful Caltrans will be altering the way Highway 29 approaches Middletown any time soon.

What is feasible is for Lake County to introduce much-needed technological innovation to the area – beginning with Middletown. In particular, digital signage.

While Lake County currently has a ban on billboard signage because area residents desire to hold fast to the natural beauty here, the introduction of digital signage can actually reduce the number of billboards and at the same time help small businesses to flourish. This is done by dynamically advertising their message – changing multimedia messages on the big screen rather having a painted display.

Dynamic digital signage would also help promote community service. It can even transform the Lake County press kit from a CD with nothing but stagnant PDFs to a vibrant DVD with documentary-style multimedia presentations.

What can you do when you walk into any of the three visitor centers in Lake County right now? Can you walk over to a kiosk, press a button on the screen and find out information about what Lake County has to offer?

No, there are no kiosks. Instead, you have to sort through printed material and decide what you want – provided you can find it. A digital signage kiosk can deliver what you need at the click of an on-screen button.

Every visitor center in Florida has for years had a kiosk to accommodate its tourist trade. You will find San Francisco has been putting digital signage to work – both out on Fisherman's Wharf at Pier 39 and within 19 of its hotels – for 15 years.

Well, the tourist trade is supposed to be one of the major draws of Lake County. Perhaps the time has indeed come for Lake County to start implementing digital signage?

Kevin Comora is the person responsible for much of the digital signage currently being used in San Francisco. In fact, even the digital signage being used on the USS Ronald Reagan battleship is his responsibility. He came to Middletown back in September of last year and demonstrated to the Middletown Merchants what digital signage might do for the town by showcasing a presentation that included Langtry Estates, Sylvie's and Fergusson Cutlery. This presentation can still be seen online at www.sftv.com. Just be sure to look through the Web site and download the Scala plug-in before viewing.

While technological innovation is a partial solution, it is not the only need Lake County has. Even according to the county's own marketing research, the area has a poor attitude toward itself. Perhaps this is to be expected when you have a bedroom community, like Hidden Valley Lake. A great many of the residents there are forced to work outside the county to be able to afford the lifestyle provided by this gated residential community. Obviously, the need for long commutes can make involvement in local community activities difficult.

Nevertheless, it really is important people CARE about one another, CONNECT with their community and have a DESIGN to move the area forward. This upcoming MATH meeting will hopefully be a step in that direction.

If you would like to attend this meeting, please take time to RSVP. Visit www.squidoo.com/MABA for more information.

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SACRAMENTO – Preventing California’s consumers from being “steered” away from the auto body repair shop of their choice when they are involved in a car accident – that’s the goal of SB 1167, a new bill introduced by state Sen. Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa).

“Car accidents are an unfortunate and frightening experience for any driver and this situation shouldn’t be aggravated by an insurance agent who is asking you 20 questions about why you have chosen a particular auto body repair shop over their ‘recommended’ or pre-selected repair shops,” Wiggins said.

Existing law prohibits automobile insurers from “steering” a policyholder to specific automotive repair shops. “Steering” occurs when an insurer requires an individual’s car to be repaired at a particular auto body repair shop and/or suggests or recommends that his/her car be repaired at a specified auto body repair shop. SB 1167 seeks to clarify existing law prohibiting an insurer from steering a policyholder to a specific auto repair shop, thereby allowing the consumer to select an auto body repair shop of their choice.

“My office has received complaints from constituents about some common statements insurers make to steer policyholders to certain repair shops such as, ‘we won’t guarantee the repairs if you take your car to that repair shop,’ or ‘if you go there, you will have to pay additional costs,’ ” the senator said. “If statements like that are being made, apparently there is some confusion about the intent of the law which prohibits an insurer from ‘suggesting’ or ‘recommending’ a particular repair shop.”

SB 1167 provides that when a policyholder first reports vehicle damage to an insurer, the insurer shall determine if the policyholder has selected an auto repair facility prior to providing any information regarding a program or a facility that performs auto body repairs. If it is determined that the policyholder has selected a repair facility, the representative of the insurer shall cease, or not engage in, any discussions regarding a program or a facility that performs auto body repairs.

“I want to make sure that consumers aren’t frightened into taking their cars someplace other than their preferred auto repair shops because their insurers claim they won’t guarantee the work,” Wiggins said. “These claims are unfounded and disingenuous.”

The purpose of the law is to allow car owners the freedom of choice in selecting an auto body repair shop, but the reality is that insurers discourage policyholders from going to repair shops outside of their network.

This network includes “direct repair programs” which are essentially pre-selected auto body repair shops approved by the insurer where labor rates and repairs are predetermined in a presumed effort to keep costs down. However, many auto repair shops allege that these repair programs could compromise the integrity of auto body repair and could force shop owners to perform substandard repairs.

SB 1167 will be assigned to a Senate policy committee later this month.

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