Latest news with #JeffGolden
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This $3.85 Million Laguna Beach House Has a Deck With Stunning Pacific Ocean Views
Don't let the drama from MTV's 2004 hit show Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County fool you. The coastal city doubles as tranquil retreat for many homeowners, alongside picturesque beaches and jaw-dropping ocean views. Those seeking a pad with access to both might find a cottage-style abode overlooking Victoria Beach the perfect place the settle down. Jeff Golden and Tim Smith of Coldwell Banker Realty hold the sun-soaked $3.85 million listing. Located in a private cul-de-sac, the updated three-bedroom home was built in 1924 with over 1,900 square feet of living space. It's been off the market since 2002, when it sold for $1.22 million, reports show. When it came back to market this past April, it initially listed at $4.25 million before receiving a price cut that brought it down to the current asking price. More from Robb Report You Can Rent Carmelo Anthony's Former Fifth Avenue Pad for $43,000 a Month A Trunk Full of the Balvenie's 50-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch Is Heading to Auction Inside Monte-Carlo's Luxe New Cigar Club A gated courtyard welcomes guests onto the property, ahead of French doors that lead inside the beach house. Floor-to-ceiling windows set beneath a soaring vaulted ceiling in the living room allow an abundance of natural light to stream in. Exposed beams highlight the common area set ahead of a den with a red-brick fireplace. The latter also includes custom built-ins and a glass-paneled door that opens out onto the backyard. Homeowners step out onto a private oasis in the rear, where a 400-square-foot deck provides breathtaking Pacific Ocean vistas. RELATED: A Modern Hilltop Home in L.A. With a Central Courtyard and Citrus Orchard Lists for $3 Million Back inside, the gourmet kitchen is anchored by an eat-in island that sits opposite the home's original fireplace from over 100 years ago. Blue Stone counters and Thermador appliances trail the space with Sailor Blue cabinetry, too, ahead of an area that seats four by coastline views. Vintage barn wood flooring leads the way to the primary suite with a captivating sight of its own, plus a built-in desk and ensuite bathroom punctuated by a copper soaking tub that was featured in 2009's comedy-romance flick The Proposal, according to press materials. The primary also opens to out a private patio that's surrounded by lush landscaping. Elsewhere, two secondary bedrooms are featured in the home, with one offering private entry through a Dutch door. There have been a number of notable upgrades to the home, too, such as its 2014 electrical upgrade and new roof/gutters that were done in 2019. A Pure Elements water filtration system installed in 2002, and Lutron-controlled lighting and Rinnai gas heaters incorporated into the coastal pad also make it pleasant for year-round of Robb Report The 10 Priciest Neighborhoods in America (And How They Got to Be That Way) In Pictures: Most Expensive Properties Click here to read the full article.
E&E News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Oregon lawmakers ready to junk contentious wildfire map
Oregon's wildfire map is again headed for the trash, and this time it might stay there. After years of working to chart the areas in the most danger of wildfires, Oregon lawmakers are conceding that the effort provoked too much opposition among rural communities and endangered political support for the rest of their wildfire programs. At a House hearing on Tuesday, lawmakers from both parties got behind S.B. 83, a bill that would repeal the wildfire map — along with the extra regulations it would have required for buildings in hazardous areas. The Senate voted in April to approve that bill unanimously. Democrats control both chambers in the state Legislature. Advertisement 'This map was hopelessly dividing Oregonians at a time when we need a united focus on our wildfire challenge,' said state Sen. Jeff Golden, one of the architects of the state's mapping program and now the sponsor of the bill to end it.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill repealing Wildfire Hazard Map passes Oregon Senate
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Oregon Senate unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday in an effort to repeal the state's controversial Wildfire Hazard Map. The Wildfire Hazard Map was created in 2021 under the bipartisan Senate Bill 762, which directed the Oregon Department of Forestry to map out fire-prone areas in the state. Under SB 762, homeowners living in areas that are at a high wildfire risk face stricter building codes and must reduce vegetation on their properties. A provision in 2023 disallows insurers to cancel or decline to renew homeowners' insurance policies or increase premiums. Despite this, the backlash against the Wildfire Hazard Map has persisted. Tribes battle PGE's plan to seize Willamette Falls land Now, with SB 83, lawmakers are aiming to eliminate the map, and the property maintenance rules, with the Democratic Majority Office noting the maps did not represent various individual property conditions 'and would have had consequences for land and building regulations.' 'We need Senate Bill 83 to heal the huge divide among Oregonians, triggered by a wildfire map that made no logical sense to thousands of affected people,' said Senate Natural Resources and Wildfire Committee Chair Jeff Golden (D –Ashland). 'That divide was squarely in the way of building the broad-based collaboration we need to meet the wildfire crisis, which is far beyond what government on its own can solve.' While repealing the map, the bill also directs state agencies to create fire regulations that property owners can choose to follow, or municipal governments can adopt regulations to enforce at the local level. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now By voting to repeal the map, the committee also nullified requirements for sellers to disclose a property's classification on the map and that property owners in hazard zones follow certain construction rules for accessory dwelling units and replacement buildings. Under SB 83, two members will be added to Oregon's Wildfire Programs Advisory Council, including one member from the firefighting field, and a second from the insurance industry. Additionally, the bill requires the Department of Environmental Quality to issue reports on community smoke monitoring and response and directs the Public Utility Commission to report on efforts to reduce wildfire risk from utility infrastructure. 'Today, we celebrate a hard-fought victory for rural Oregon,' said Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles). 'Senate Bill 83 repeals the most flawed and overreaching aspects of Senate Bill 762 from 2021, including the State Wildfire Hazard Map, while preserving the programs that genuinely protect property owners and reduce wildfire risks.' Washington limits armed forces from entering the state without governor's OK 'I'm delighted to see Senate Bill 83 pass the Senate,' added Sen. Noah Robinson (R-Cave Junction). 'Many of my constituents and thousands of Oregonians have made it clear: they want the ability to protect their homes without being burdened by unfair regulations. Today's vote is a crucial step toward undoing the damage caused by this flawed policy and returning control to landowners.' 'This has been years in the making. With today's overwhelming bipartisan support for Senate Bill 83, we are one step closer to undoing the harm caused by Senate Bill 762's wildfire map,' said Sen. David Brock Smith (R-Port Orford). 'I want to thank the thousands of residents who raised their voices to make this possible, as well as my colleagues for their support. I look forward to seeing Senate Bill 83 move swiftly through the House and be signed by Governor Kotek, bringing much-needed relief to our communities.' SB 83 passed the Senate unanimously and heads to the House of Representatives for consideration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hundreds support pausing Oregon's investment in private fossil fuel holdings but Treasury opposed
A fracking site in Greeley, Colorado, is pictured on June 24, 2020. About 10% of Oregon's Public Employees Retirement System fund is invested in so-called real assets, such as investments in infrastructure, commodities and natural resources including fracked gas and oil. The single largest portion of emission-related investments in the state's pension portfolio are held in real assets. (Andy Bosselman/Colorado Newsline) A bill to get the Oregon State Treasury to pause new pension investments in private assets and equity funds that are invested in fossil fuel companies received hundreds of letters of support this week, and one powerful letter of opposition. Senate Bill 681, the Pause Act, would put a five-year moratorium on new private equity investments made with Public Employees Retirement System, or PERS, funds, if more than 10% of the private equity fund is invested in fossil fuel companies or heavy users. The bill had its first public hearing Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Finance and Revenue. Nearly 300 letters of support were submitted in advance of the hearing and more than 30 — including one from the Oregon State Treasury —were submitted in opposition. The idea, according to the bill's chief sponsor Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, is to ensure the Treasury actualizes its own plan to get the PERS portfolio to 'net-zero' greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Former state Treasurer and current Secretary of State Tobias Read published the plan in February 2024, with the goal of getting PERS out of some fossil fuel investments, stop investing in some fossil fuel funds and companies and increasing investments in industries that are cutting or absorbing greenhouse gas emissions or are committing to doing so. 'We have an opportunity to answer an important question about an important document,' Golden told lawmakers during Wednesday's hearing. 'The question is this: Are we looking at yet one more comprehensive document that will only gather dust on bookshelves around the Capitol? Passing Senate Bill 681, Mr. Chair, is a clear way to say 'No. We are actually beginning to put this plan into action in careful alignment with the pathway to net zero.'' But new state Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner and the Oregon State Treasury are opposed to the bill, according to written testimony submitted in advance of the hearing. 'It reduces our ability to diversify our portfolio and maximize returns for the retirees who are beneficiaries of the Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund,' wrote Jessica Howell, the Treasury's lobbyist. Her letter included data showing Treasury's private investments have had 10-year returns on investment about 2% higher than those from investments in public markets. Steiner is instead sponsoring House Bill 2200, which would codify the goals of the Net Zero Plan in law, but does not mandate specific ways of achieving them. Senate Bill 681 would mandate the Treasury pause new private investments in specific funds. Susan Palmiter — co-founder of the coalition of nonprofit advocacy groups Divest Oregon and a chief petitioner of the Pause Act — told lawmakers at the hearing that the Treasury is already backing away from its commitment to end investment in private funds enmeshed in fossil fuels. 'This is in the plan that they hope to implement, but we have no indication that anything has been done in this area. The plan's been out for over a year,' she said. 'This is why we need Senate Bill 681.' About 28% of the funds in PERS, which serves more than 166,000 current retirees, are invested in private equity funds, which are pooled investments in non-publicly traded companies. That is more than double the average of other state pension systems, according to Public Plans Data, a nonprofit research consortium housed at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. This exposes the PERS system to major risks, according to Divest and pension watchdog groups like the Chicago-based Private Equity Stakeholder Project. Rep. Mark Gamba, D-Milwaukie, testified in support of the bill Wednesday and took aim at Treasury's heavy investment in private funds and assets. Gamba explained to lawmakers that the Oregon Treasury typically commits hundreds of millions of dollars at a time to private fund managers, with investment contracts lasting 10 to 15 years. 'Treasury becomes a limited partner and has no say in what the fund manager invests in. These private investments are secret. Long ago, private investment folks got laws passed in every state that keep the beneficiaries — in this case, Oregon PERS members — from knowing what their retirement money is invested in,' he explained. Another 10% of PERS funds are wrapped up in real assets, such as investments in infrastructure, commodities and natural resources including fracked gas and oil. This is where the single largest portion of emission-related investments in the state's pension portfolio are held. A study commissioned by the Oregon Treasury in 2021 from the international financial consultant Ortec Finance showed the Treasury's asset values could decline nearly 40% by 2060 due to the effects of climate change. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
