San Diego County - Special Election for Vector Control Assessment

[slackmaster]

I have received a ballot from the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health asking whether or not to approve a special assessment for vector control, in particular mosquitos. The concern is West Nile virus.

I have no problem voting Yes on this. All they want is $8.55. If they asked for a tax-deductible donation rather than a vote I'd gladly send them $25.

Is this happening in any other counties? Any other San Diego property owners care to comment?

:shrug:

[livetohike]

1. I voted no

It's not the money (but that $8.55 (more depending on how much property you own)will add up to a nice sum. If you read the pamphlet you will see that they are whining that their funding was cut. This money will purely be administrative costs to prevent more layoffs in their department, imo. It has nothing to do with "controlling" mosquitoes.

I live next to some wetlands and haven't seen one mosquito in the four years I have lived here. I hike all over the mountains in this county and haven't seen one mosquito yet. They should go to MN or SC or Houston, TX if they want to see mosquitoes!

[slackmaster]

3. I don't get mosquitos at my place either

As long as I keep lids on my rain barrels.

I haven't voted yet, and very much appreciate your input.

[cascadiance]

5. I'll vote yes!

I too live in San Diego. My sister who lives up in L.A. last year swears that she probably got a case of West Nile Virus then. She rides a lot and hangs out at her stable where she keeps her horse and thinks thats where she caught it. The doctor wouldn't diagnose it as such, but she was out of commission for days with symptoms she said were exactly what is described for West Nile Virus on various net sites. I'm guessing she's not the only one like this and I recall hearing at least one other person say the same thing. There's probably a lot of other undiagnosed cases of this disease out here in the wild.

We may not get a lot of mosquitos around here, but with the added rain we've had this year, and if you are in areas where they might gather, it does sound like the disease is there.

[Kolesar]

2. I called my county health dept and told them to quit spraying pesticide

...in front of my house. Our county has a well-funded mosquito spraying campaign. I think only one person in Ohio has died of West Nile virus in the last year.

[MindPilot]

4. I voted yes

$8.55 a year is a bargain--even if it is a administrative costs--I spend more than that on citronella lamp oil in a month.

The problem I have with it as the other poster mention is we are being asked to dig into our pockets because of federal and state funding cuts. This is something that should be paid at the federal level--probably CDC. The whole point being that we have already paid for this stuff but that money went to Iraq because W thinks they are more important than Americans.

[hecate77]

6. Santa Cruz county has one also. Using only natural controls, though

Here, the assessment would be $12 a year and would include free mosquitofish for residents, and some other bacterial methods of control. It didn't include any spraying that I could see. The county would take care of public lands and residents would take care of their own, with help from the county to assess situations if desired.

[slackmaster]

7. Mosquitofish aren't native - they were introduced to Cali in 1922

Not exactly "natural" controls. http://www.glacvcd.org/HTML%20Pages/mosquitofish%20frames.htm

How about training banana slugs to swim and eat the mosquito larvae? If they have trouble breathing you could hook them up with little snorkels.

:D

[Liberty Belle]

8. I'm voting no.

No standing water anywhere near our place in East County and no mosquito problems, but I have had serious adverse reactions to pesticide spraying and feel I'd be at greater risk from spraying then taking my chances with West Nile.