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Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
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Bruce Frohman

How Would the New 132 Freeway Affect Wood Colony?

March 20, 2014 By Bruce Frohman Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Highway 132 and Wood Colony, Highway 132 expansion

Withrow vs Calkins, by Bruce Frohman

March 9, 2014 By Bruce Frohman 3 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Scott Calkins for Supervisor, Stanislaus County Supervisor's Race District 3, Terry Withrow for Supervisor, Withrow vs Calkins District 3

The Great Valley Would Suffer as Its Own State

March 5, 2014 By Bruce Frohman Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: California states, Divide California

Wood Colony: Déjà vu Reality Check for Local Economy

January 24, 2014 By Bruce Frohman 4 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: losing farmland, Modesto planning, urban growth in Stanislaus Counthy

Great Valley or New Dustbowl?

January 20, 2014 By Bruce Frohman Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: California drought emergency

Frohman to Council: Spare Wood Colony

January 18, 2014 By Bruce Frohman 3 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Beckwith Triangle, Beckwith Triangle Modesto, Spare Wood Colony, Wood Colony

What Science Says About Wood Colony Soil

January 12, 2014 By Bruce Frohman Leave a Comment

Dr. Vance Kennedy

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 […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: sandy loam soil, Vance Kennedy, Vance Kennedy hydrologist, Wood Colony Modesto

Tactics to Save Wood Colony—An Opposition Strategy

January 4, 2014 By Bruce Frohman 4 Comments

  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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Save Wood Colony, Wood Colony, Wood Colony Annex

19th Century Thinking Won’t Help Drought, by Bruce Frohman

January 1, 2014 By Bruce Frohman 1 Comment

  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, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: California drought, San Joaquin Delta water, San Joaquin Valley water table

MID Faces Conundrum about Need for Rate Increases, by Bruce Frohman

December 29, 2013 By Bruce Frohman Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: MID electric rates, Modesto Irrigation District rate increases

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Off The Wire

?Monster Fracks? Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
“Monster Fracks” Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
A Times analysis shows that increasingly complex oil and gas wells now require astonishing volumes of water to fracture the bedrock and release fossil fuels, threatening America’s fragile aquifers.
www.nytimes.com
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has 'paralyzed' California cities
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has ‘paralyzed’ California cities
The Democratic governor’s intervention lays down a mark in a legal dispute with potentially profound implications for one of California’s most pressing issues.
www.politico.com
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
www.propublica.org
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How bad is hunger in California? A lot depends on your access to food aid, which expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but now is being reduced.
calmatters.org
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento County had nearly 9,300 homeless people in 2022, based on data from the annual Point in Time count. That was up 67% from 2019. Roughly three-quarters of the county’s homeless population….
www.mercurynews.com
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
After decades of minimal action, Congress passed the largest and most comprehensive piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. Will we make the most of this opportunity?
www.audubon.org
How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
How the fentanyl crisis’ fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
The epidemic’s staggering scale and infiltration of communities is laid bare in a new study.
www.bbc.com
Can licensed tent villages ease California's homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Can licensed tent villages ease California’s homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Taking people off the street and into tents is a new twist on homeless shelter being explored by the San Francisco-based Urban Alchemy in two tent villages operating in Los Angeles and Culver City.
www.latimes.com
Mississippi has problems, but it's handling homelessness better than L.A.
Mississippi has problems, but it’s handling homelessness better than L.A.
The public tends to blame homelessness on poverty, drug use, crime or even warm weather. But other cities don’t have L.A. levels of street homelessness because they have more available housing.
www.latimes.com
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
The demonstrators raised “Heil Hitler” salutes and waved flags with swastikas.
www.thedailybeast.com
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom's CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom’s CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Gov. Gavin Newsom?s experiment to push Californians with mental illness off the streets and into treatment, CARE Court, starts soon.
calmatters.org
Pope says 'backward' U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope says ‘backward’ U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church. He says they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.
apnews.com

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The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

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The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
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Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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