• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

Bee Says No to Modesto, Yes to Developers

October 21, 2013 By Eric Caine Leave a Comment

Onward Asphalt Empire!
Onward Asphalt Empire!

The tipoff that the Modesto Bee was going to oppose Measure X came when the Bee suddenly decided to cover the Ridenour administration. Modesto Mayor Jim Ridenour’s term ended in 2012. He enjoyed eight years in office that were remarkably free from scrutiny.

It was only at the tail-end of his tenure that Ridenour’s administration received any criticism, and that involved the SCAP scandal. And just weeks ago, the Bee exposed what appeared to be gross negligence in city involvement with an affordable housing project named Archway Commons on Carver Road. Again, the City’s part in the affair was during the Ridenour administration.

The intent of the articles was to discredit city government in general. It worked. Opponents of Measure X are now referring to SCAP and Archway Commons as reasons to distrust our current city government.

In a classic case of doublethink, Bee editors started calling Measure X the “trust-us tax” as early as August. The Mayor and most of the current members of the City Council were endorsed by the Bee when they ran for office. Now the Bee is telling us not to trust the very people the Bee endorsed.

Maybe the real message is, “Don’t trust the Bee.”

In Sunday’s editorial, the Bee claims citizens’ oversight committees such as the one that will be appointed to monitor expenditures of revenue from Measure X aren’t effective. That’s only true if the public fails to hold government accountable. In the past, it has been the local newspaper’s role to inform the public, but the Bee has chosen to inform Valley citizens only when the news fit the Bee’s own political agenda.

That tactic survived until the recent proposed water sale by the Modesto Irrigation District (MID). When the Bee tried to tilt the story in favor of the water sale, the public  found other news sources via social media.

The outcome was not only rejection of the sale. As a result of an ongoing tsunami of public criticism, three MID Directors decided not to run again and MID General Manager Allen Short resigned. Public scrutiny no longer depends on the Bee.

The six-year span of the one cent tax offers ample time not only for public review, but for the betterment of the city through enhanced public safety. Expenditures from Measure X revenues will be the most scrutinized expenditures in Modesto history.

The motive for the Bee’s opposition to Measure X is the Bee’s preference for a county-wide road tax. The road tax has been the developers’ Golden Fleece for years because it’s growth-inducing. The Bee is also in favor of growth. Supporters of the road tax say it will make us a “self-help” county, a designation that brings in millions of federal and state dollars.

The reality is that unless used wisely, road taxes promote unsustainable growth and destruction of farmland. San Joaquin County, our neighbor to the north, is a “self-help” county. It’s largest city, Stockton, is not only beset with high crime rates, it’s bankrupt.

The Bee claims sales taxes hit poor and middle income families hardest, but says nothing about the devastating effects of gangs and crime on those same families.

The Bee says a one cent sales tax would be a drag on the economy, but makes no mention of the costly effects of crime.

How many of our citizens pay higher insurance rates because of our nation-leading crime statistics? How many properties decrease in value because of crime? What is the cost of the psychological trauma when entire sectors of the city are held hostage by criminals and gangsters? How many citizens and businesses avoid locating in Modesto because of our crime and gangs?

The Bee, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Building Industry Association, want another growth binge. Thoughtful citizens should reflect on previous growth spurts and the negative effects they produced.

If Modesto is to prosper, it will fulfill the first duty of any city to its citizens and provide public safety.

Once we’ve established public security, we can begin a program of smart growth that features protection of prime farmland. Until then, wise Valley citizens should recognize the need to provide essential public services is far more worthy of public investment than another ill-advised growth binge whose only possible result will be the expansion of a crime-ridden outpost for the Asphalt Empire.

 

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Crime in Modesto, Measure X Modesto, Self-help counties

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

California faces catastrophic flood dangers ? and a need to invest billions in protection
California faces catastrophic flood dangers and a need to invest billions in protection
A new state plan for the Central Valley calls for spending as much as $30 billion over 30 years to prepare for the dangers.
www.latimes.com
Oakland will get millions for the ?inhumane? crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it?s not enough
Oakland will get millions for the “inhumane” crisis at one huge homeless encampment. Officials say it’s not enough
Gavin Newsom’s administration has awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant to come up with…
www.sfchronicle.com
Alaska?s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
Mary Peltola won her election by campaigning on a platform to save the state’s prized fisheries. A powerful fishing lobby is standing in her way.
www.politico.com
Jimmy Carter's final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
Jimmy Carter’s final foe: A parasitic worm that preyed on millions in Africa and Asia
One of former President Carter’s biggest hopes is wiping out an infectious parasitic disease that’s plagued humans for millennia. How close is he?
www.latimes.com
Climate Extremes Threaten California?s Central Valley Songbirds - Eos
Climate Extremes Threaten California’s Central Valley Songbirds – Eos
A “nestbox highway” in California’s Central Valley is guiding songbirds to safe nesting sites and giving scientists a peek at fledgling success in a changing climate.
eos.org
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Alaska Republican touts benefits of children being abused to death
Republican David Eastman suggested the death of child abuse victims could be a “cost savings” to wider society.
www.newsweek.com
Editorial: Newsom's drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Editorial: Newsom’s drought order amid wet winter threatens iconic California species
Gov. Gavin Newsom has effectively ended environmental regulations protecting California rivers and migratory fish by extending drought-year waivers.
www.latimes.com
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
Two-thirds of McPherson Square homeless remain on street, D.C. says
As of Thursday, just two of the more than 70 residents of McPherson Square had been placed in permanent D.C. housing.
www.washingtonpost.com
More Building Won?t Make Housing Affordable
More Building Won’t Make Housing Affordable
America’s housing crisis has reached unfathomable proportions. But new construction isn’t enough to solve it.
newrepublic.com
Why YIMBYs are about to sue the daylights out of cities across the Bay Area
Why YIMBYs are about to sue the daylights out of cities across the Bay Area
Housing advocates are about to deliver a message to the Bay Area: Comply with state…
www.sfchronicle.com
At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty 'Law of the River' holds sway
At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty ‘Law of the River’ holds sway
At the heart of tensions over water allotments from the Colorado River is a complex set of agreements and decrees known as the ‘Law of the River.’
www.latimes.com
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America's largest rainforest
Biden restores roadless protection to the Tongass, North America’s largest rainforest
The Tongass National Forest in Alaska, a focus of political battles over old-growth logging and road-building in forests for decades, has received new protection from the Biden administration.
theconversation.com

Find us on Facebook

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

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

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

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design