My Wife "Kristin Olsen" said this would be a Good Position for Me

By Emerson Drake
4/7/11

Was he trying to put the fix in?

There are three members of the Special Economic Development Committee, Chairman Joe Muratore who had business elsewhere and didn't attend, Vice-Chair Brad Hawn and Stephanie Burnside were present, both of whom knew Kristin Olsen and her husband Rod, so Rod naming his wife seemed, well, almost redundant.

They were there Wednesday March 30th on the sixth floor of 1010 10th St. to interview six applicants for four positions. There were two openings on the Modesto Planning Commission and two openings on the Board of Zoning Adjustment or (BZA).Only one member of the public was present.

The four open positions were four year terms and after the four years are up you had to go through the process again.There was only incumbent applying and she seemed well versed in her past duties. All of the rest were new comers to their respective committee positions.

The BZA is known as the baby board where one can aquire the experience needed to advance to the Planning Commission.Many of the people applying had previous experience, mostly from the other side of the table, with one or both of the boards and none professed to have an agenda.


Some were concerned about development infill opportunities in Modesto and two mentioned the carrot and stick phrase that never actually does, but supposedly means jobs that being shovel ready land.

As we all know it's just developer speak for the use of eminent domain and picking the low hanging fruit of others, also called farms and homes.Indeed Rod Olsen was one of the two who pointedly used the phrase.

He also reminded the committee of his past, spent in part with PMZ Caldwell, but now he's a house husband.

But Mr. Olsen was the only applicant to invoke his or her spouse's name to the committee members.

Mr. Olsen, saying this was no occasion to be modest, also laid claim to being the prime mover and shaker behind Modesto getting the Amgen Tour.

Will his blatant attempt to ride his wife's coattails work?

We'll have to wait and see.The committee's ranking should be out very soon.As soon as the City Attorney dots the I's and crosses the T's.

We'll let you know how their rankings compared to ours after they're released.

Added later: Rod wasn't chosen.

Modesto's Answer to Leona Helmsley, "Miss Milky Way" Kristin Olsen

By Emerson Drake
9/21/10

At a recent 9/14 Modesto City Council meeting where charging fees for the first time was being considered for the Maddox Youth Center, which happens to be located in an especially financially deprived area of town, Kristin Olsen said the suggested fees were to low and needed to be higher.

Her callous remarks can be heard by taking the provided link and fast forwarding to the noted times.here is the link.
Go 44 minutes in and hear Kristin "Miss Milky Way" Olsen, Modesto's answer to Leona Helmsley, say the fees should be higher.

Go 47 minutes in and hear her say it again.At 55 minutes in she says she KNOWS "they," meaning some of the most financially deprived kids in town, can afford Milky Way candy bars and sodas.

At 1 hour in listen to concerned parents and kids who use the center.

And please don't skip over Councilman Lopez's comments regarding not being willing to lose one kid to gangs and what the cost of that would be to Modesto.

And don't miss where Councilman Muratore weighs in wanting kids to be kids in a very positive way.
Hear her own words, make your own decisions about the message she was sending to all of Modesto and the 25th Assembly District