Ron Fink

The last time I watched a presidential debate was in 1956 when surrogates represented Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson who was challenging incumbent Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. Since then, I have relied on press/media reports and analysis of what was said or how the candidates acted. But I changed my strategy when President Joe Biden “debated” […]

If your son/daughter and their mate have a couple of kids and they have a joint income of say $85,000 a year, why can’t they find an affordable home to rent/buy? Well, there are lots of reasons why it will be hard for them, and most are associated with government policies that have dramatically increased […]

Your standard of living is defined as the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community. Your quality of life is similar, the standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group: the things that are needed for a good quality of life. Inflation is a general increase […]

Earlier this year, a few local citizens created great concern when they tried to imply that something sinister was happening concerning the finances of Visit Lompoc Incorporated (VLI).  According to a May 21 staff report, “Between the months of March and June 2023, three individuals made public comments during the regularly held City Council meetings […]

As Santa Barbara County and the state of California continue with their efforts to save the Earth, the metrics for measuring success of the effort continue to change like the weather. For example, in 2021 the Board of Supervisors set a goal of reducing so-called greenhouse gasses (GHG) by 50 percent of the 2007 levels […]

According to the state Air Resources Control Board, California is mandating by executive fiat the electrification of all new vehicles purchased in California by 2035. Not mentioned is the cost of the mandate or who will pay for it. The first issue is fire safety. According to Business Insider, “Car fires have always been dangerous […]

In January of this year, the state of California raised the minimum wage to $16 per hour, but this wasn’t good enough for some union leaders and the politicians they own in Sacramento. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has been trying to organize fast food workers but has failed, so they hatched a plan […]

Anyone who lives in the city of Lompoc knows that many streets and alleys in our city are in poor shape. But when subjected to a professional review using a nationally accepted roadway standards, how bad are they? During a City Council meeting on March 19 to discuss a public hearing to consider Measure A, […]

The city of Lompoc like many other jurisdictions is adding a new environmental justice element (chapter) to the general plan.  The introduction to the new chapter says, “Today, and throughout California and United States history, communities with lower incomes, lower levels of education, and higher proportions of minority residents often bear a disproportionately large burden […]

Normally the once proud and gracefully flowing Santa Ynez River is reduced to a dry sand bed with its banks occupied by numerous homeless camps, but occasionally during heavy rains it flows almost as it did when steelhead were abundant, long before Bradley Dam was built and Lake Cachuma was formed. For the last two […]

Voters have received vote-by-mail ballots. All three incumbent county Supervisors running for reelection need to be replaced, but I want to focus on the 3rd District because that’s where I live. The 3rd District supervisor’s seat is being contested by two people: One is widely known in the Lompoc Valley, and the other is relatively […]

First let me be clear, searches authorized by a local, state, or federal courts are essential to capturing crooks. This commentary addresses data mining for commercial purposes and government searches without benefit of a search warrant from the court. With today’s electronic technology, folks can “spy” on you anywhere you go without you knowing about […]