During the four years that this writer served on the Modesto City Council, many maps were examined and studied for planning purposes. Various urban configurations were presented for consideration. Based on this writer’s experience, the residents of that community may have considerable misconceptions about the impacts that the construction of the 132 freeway would have on them. Historical Examples When the 120 Freeway Manteca bypass was originally opened, the road cut through pristine farm land. There […]
Withrow vs Calkins, by Bruce Frohman
Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow will be running with opposition in his bid for a second term in District 3. Citizen advocate Scott Calkins is dissatisfied with the representation provided by the incumbent and will raise several issues during the campaign, including expansion of the 132 Freeway, the future of Wood Colony, and toxic waste sites in the District. Supervisor Withrow strongly supports construction of the 132 Freeway between Highway 99 and Interstate 5. Scott […]
The Great Valley Would Suffer as Its Own State
News Item: A Ballot Initiative is circulating to break California into six states. The Great Valley would become part of a mostly rural landlocked state which would include the Central Sierras. If California were broken up into six different states, the Law of Unintended Consequences would figure prominently in our future. The Valley would lose a lot of the benefits from being a part of a great state, but would keep most of […]
Wood Colony: Déjà vu Reality Check for Local Economy
For over 30 years, various political groups and private citizens have worked for the preservation of farm land for future generations. With the current proposal by the City of Modesto to appropriate Wood Colony for an industrial park, now is a good time to look at the big picture of Stanislaus County’s economic development. The Economic Goal of Urban Developers The primary goal is to entirely destroy agriculture and replace it with urban development. Former Stanislaus County Supervisor Jeff Grover […]
Great Valley or New Dustbowl?
News item: On January 17, 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency. In 1846, one could book passage on a river boat between San Francisco and Bakersfield. In that year, the San Joaquin Valley had numerous lakes and marshes. The water table was at the surface in many of the lower parts of the valley. In the fall and winter, great flights of waterfowl darkened the sky. For thousands of years, Native Americans had […]
Frohman to Council: Spare Wood Colony
Dear Modesto City Councilmembers: During the last Modesto General Plan update a little over a decade ago, while serving on the Modesto City Council, I proposed removing the Beckwith Triangle from the updated plan. My rationale was that the Triangle was isolated from the rest of the community and separated by a freeway that makes infrastructure expensive to provide. The other even better argument was that the area was on the world’s best farm land. I […]
What Science Says About Wood Colony Soil
One of Vance Kennedy’s first jobs for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was a study of “sediment transport” in streams throughout the state of Georgia. He probably got the job because of his degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and because he was the first student ever in the first course ever in the subject of Applied Geochemistry. When you study the streams and sediments of an […]
Tactics to Save Wood Colony—An Opposition Strategy
This article is dedicated to the citizens of Wood Colony who do not want to annex into the City of Modesto. The Modesto City Council is proposing to annex Wood Colony on a whim. They don’t have a plan. Nor does the Council care about what you think. They are doing this because some individuals in the urban development business are telling them to do this. Your best hope of defeating the proposal […]
19th Century Thinking Won’t Help Drought, by Bruce Frohman
In the 19th century, California’s leaders developed a solution to potential water shortages that served the state for over 100 years. A system of dams and canals was built all over the state. As time went by, bigger dams and more canals were built to move more and more water. The last big project was the Central Valley Water Project of the 1960s. The system did substantial environmental damage to rivers, streams, and fisheries, […]
MID Faces Conundrum about Need for Rate Increases, by Bruce Frohman
The Modesto Irrigation District (MID) is the primary electricity supplier to northern Stanislaus County and the town of Mountain House in San Joaquin County. The Board of Directors of MID has been discussing an electric service rate increase in 2014. The numbers suggested have ranged from zero percent to a double digit increase. Current MID electric rates rank among the highest in California. The debate about the rate increase centers on the overall financial condition of the utility. MID […]