Pat Gillum is a Certified Public Accountant, has served on the Modesto Planning Commission, the Community Qualities Forum, and has participated in the Lions Service Club for a number of years. She is running for Seat 3 on the Modesto City Council. Opposition to Measure G Ms. Gillum opposes Measure G, the one half percent Modesto city sales tax ballot measure. She believes the City Council cannot be trusted to spend new […]
Bruce Frohman on Carmen Sabatino
When Carmen Sabatino ran for mayor in 1999, Modesto voters were disenchanted with incumbent Mayor Richard Lang and the city council. Mr. Sabatino presented a compelling case for making a change and was elected in an upset. When he assumed office, he went to work reforming city government, stopping subsidies to residential developers, and eliminating wasteful spending. He hired a new city manager and a new police chief. Traffic signals […]
Bruce Frohman Interviews Dave Lopez
Dave Lopez has served for about seven and a half years as a Modesto City Councilman. He will be termed out at the end of 2015. He is running for mayor because he wants to clean up the town, and remove vagrants and litter. He wants to try new methods to clean up the city, including a get tough policy. He says inadequate attention is given to problems created by […]
Frohman: Yes on G
Bruce Frohman served on the Modesto City Council 1999-2003 This November, Modesto voters will decide whether to raise the sales tax by one half percent. If Measure G passes, taxes will rise only within the city limits. The tax expires in eight years; after that time voters will decide whether to extend the increase or make it permanent. Ever since California Proposition 13 passed over 30 years ago, property tax […]
Limit Drone Use in the Valley
Internet giant Amazon is proposing package delivery using drones. As envisioned, the drones would fly day and night. Unfortunately, the more drones are used, the more evident the hazards. In the Valley, he potential for life-threatening accidents is greater than in many other parts of the country. Stanislaus County is a typical Valley county. It has several small airports, including ones in Modesto, Oakdale, Turlock, and Crows Landing. There are […]
Expect Increases in Modesto Water Rates
Between 1999 and 2003, the public works department repeatedly told the Modesto City Council that the city needn’t worry about water supplies for many years. In fact, water managers worried that if we didn’t use more surface water, we could lose water rights by state edict. Yet, Modesto citizens have been on water rationing since the late 1980’s, with restrictions on landscape watering. Earlier this year, the State of California […]
Hot Night at Knights Ferry Water Meeting
Thursday, June 25, over two hundred people met at the Community Club in Knights Ferry. Sponsored by the Stanislaus Ground Water Alliance Committee, the purpose of the meeting was to provide a forum for large farming operators, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID), and elected leaders to respond to questions from local residents about problems caused by thousands of acres of new orchards and the ongoing drought. The overflow crowd packed […]
Union Square Modesto?
Former Modesto Mayor Carol Whiteside has proposed using the block currently occupied by the Stanislaus County courthouse and jail as a park in downtown Modesto. The block is bounded by “I” Street on the north, 12th Street on the east, “H” Street on the south and 11th Street on the west. The park would be modeled on San Francisco’s Union Square. At first blush, the idea sounds great. More green open space […]
The Target on Matt Beekman’s Back
Valley citizens were outraged by the proposal of six Stanislaus County mayors to remove Hughson Mayor Matt Beekman from the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo). Important but little known (see “The Developers’ Best Kept Secret”), LAFCo regulates annexation of land to cities and allows the taking of farm land for urban development. Control of LAFCo is critical to urban developer interests. The removal was to be justified on the basis […]
Goodbye Lawn, Hello Desert
Within the past few decades, climatologists have discovered that urban development significantly alters climate. In part, this is because heat islands exist around urban areas as large numbers of homes use heaters in winter. The heat escaping from homes warms the surrounding air. The more homes there are, the greater the effect on temperature. In summer, expansive tracts of concrete and a corresponding reduction in vegetation result in hotter days […]