by Richard Koscher, Publisher

After writing these columns in every issue of 110° Magazine since the first one, I’m planning to hang up the pen for a while. Beginning next month I intend to hand this column over to our Associate Editor, Jacki Irwin.

Three years ago, when my Editor In Chief, Don Huntington, and I first sat down together to work out the details for the first issue of our 110 Degree Magazine, we had no idea what kind of success the publication would achieve, though of course we were full of high hopes. In most ways the magazine has actually exceeded our expectations because, for example, strangers stop us on the street sometimes to thank us, with perfect sincerity it seems, for bringing 110° Magazine to the area. Judging from people’s comments and from what they’ve been marking on their subscription cards, many of our readers read the magazine from cover to cover.

Those three years passed in the blink of an eye. It’s difficult to imagine the changes that have taken place in that short period of time. In many ways the years were hard on the pocketbooks of East County families. A record-breaking housing boom came and went. The interest rates are up from three years ago, when they were approaching historical lows. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. “What goes up must come down,” they say. When it comes to interest rates, the opposite is especially true. The decline has had a negative effect on the housing market. A couple of years ago there were only four or five houses for sale in all of Brentwood. Now I see that many for sale signs on my block.

We were also slammed by gas prices. Three years ago we were paying $1.99 per gallon. Now we’re relieved if we can find it for “only” $3.19.

Everything is boom or bust, it seems – mostly bust. The rise in PG&E prices is a case of boom and bust occurring simultaneously because it is a boom for the fat cats running the utilities but a bust for us who are struggling to pay our run-amuck utility bills. Last year PG&E raised our fees by a whopping 40%, creating a $100 increase in my monthly bill.

After socking us with that enormous increase, PG&E had sufficient gall to mount a huge TV campaign congratulating themselves on their superb management and offering to give us a 10% rebate if our usage fell below last year’s! How many millions of dollars did they spend on that exorbitant attempt to pacify us while they gouged us with those enormous increases?

I am sure the PG&E executives had a merry Christmas with the huge windfall revenues the hikes generated. Peter A. Darbee, the company’s CEO, for example, took home $5.47 million last year, which averages out to more that $15,000 per day. That means that during the eight days of the Christmas holidays, from December 25 to January 1, he made over $120,000. I could have a merry Christmas with that many bucks.

A lot of us, I think, have a feeling of helplessness in face of the forces that shape and often misshape our quality of life. It takes a lot of day-to-day courage to just keep on plugging away no matter what results come from the great social rises and falls that go on around us.

People use the word “hero” to refer to a firefighter on top of a ladder in the heat of some inferno or of a policeman confronting an armed suspect. But when I stand on a street corner waiting for a walk signal, I look into the faces of the people driving by and often feel that I’m getting a glimpse of America at its best. These hardworking people, many of whom drive to San Francisco or to the Santa Clara Valley and back each day, are doing whatever it takes to support their families. These men and women are true heroes in my book. Even though life throws them curveballs in such things as high gas prices, soaring interest rates, and PG&E bills that continue to go up without finding a peak, they continue to work tirelessly to find economic stability for their families.

The past three years were full of changes in my personal life as well as on the East County stage. Our daughter, Ella, is two years old. Our second child, Nikolas Allen, is due this month. Life keeps getting more complicated and demanding – but more wonderful in some ways.

I’m not planning to completely retire from writing. I’ll be contributing to a new media section in the September issue. I will write about movies and TV shows, plus music and Internet entertainment.

We’re going to surprise you with what we’re planning for that September issue. Just wait and see!

Richard Koscher,
Publisher
richard@110mag.com