July 31, the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau (SCFB) sent a letter to the Modesto Irrigation District (MID). Some ten pages in length, the letter voices strong objections to the proposed MID sale to San Francisco, and questions not only the MID’s legal authority to make the sale but also whether the MID actually has surplus water to sell. In strong language, the Farm Bureau argues that, “MID has not […]
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MID Water Sale—Amnesia or Worse?
Back in 2010, the State Water Resources Board released a study that said survival for salmon and the San Joaquin Delta depended on far greater flows from the local rivers, including the San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Stanislaus, and Merced Rivers.“ Apoplectic” doesn’t begin to describe the reaction from local water districts. Jeff Barton, assistant general manager for engineering and water resources at the Turlock Irrigation District said, “It would be […]
Denny Jackman Named President of Central Valley Farmland Trust
Former Modesto City Councilman and longtime farmland preservation activist Denny Jackman was just named President of the Central Valley Farmland Trust (CVFT). Jackman’s long history of activism includes successful implementation of the Stamp Out Sprawl initiative (with Modesto Mayor Garrad Marsh), a long involvement with the Farmland Working Group, and decades of effort to educate and inform local citizens about the value of San Joaquin farmland. Denny was generous […]
Water—It’s a Dirty Business
It’s axiomatic that truth is the first casualty of war, and that’s just as true of water wars as of wars between nations.Throughout the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) water sale controversy, background buzz has maintained that unless the water is sold, “They’ll give it to the fish,” or, less often, “They’ll give it to Los Angeles.” “They,” of course is “the government,” and it doesn’t much matter whether federal […]
Jeff Denham’s (Robo) Townhall Meeting, By Bruce Frohman
On August 22nd, 2012, Congressman Jeff Denham held a district wide town hall meeting, as he called it. The meeting was conducted entirely by telephone. The Mechanism of the Meeting Prior to the “meeting,” a robocall was placed throughout the district. Those who answered the phone were invited to participate in the meeting by listening and could even ask a question. Those who wanted to ask a question had […]
Senator Feinstein: Just dropping by? It’s the water, stupid!
Woody Allen has said, “Paranoia is knowing all the facts,” and the more one knows about the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) water sale to San Francisco, the more likely one is to suffer severe attacks of paranoid dementia. Back in March, we alerted readers to one of the compelling factors behind the water sale—proposed legislation by California Senator Dianne Feinstein that would make water transfers less subject to government […]
Salida Probably Will Not Be Annexed To the City Of Modesto, by Bruce Frohman
In 2005, this writer ran for a seat on the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors. I lost the race to the incumbent, Jeff Grover. During the race, I talked to voters living in Salida, an area I would have represented had I been elected. Many Salida voters did not want to be annexed into the City of Modesto. They thought that if they were annexed, their taxes and fees […]
Failure of Crows Landing Industrial Park Good for The Great Valley, by Bruce Frohman
Realtors value real estate based on location, location, location. Economic growth and development is based on land use, land use, land use. Just as a poor location dooms a property to low value, poor land use decisions dooms a region to economic mediocrity. The recently failed Crows Landing Industrial Park (West Park) would have been a poor land use decision. The original plan was to develop the former Navy base […]
LAFCo: Your Tax Dollars at Work—For the Asphalt Empire
At every LAFCO meeting they put out a stack of pamphlets entitled “What is LAFCO?” Yeah, it’s a good question. LAFCO has three objectives: “To Encourage the Orderly Formation of Local Government Agencies,” “To PreserveAgricultural Land Resources,” and To Discourage Urban Sprawl.” And so, by their own measure, the Stanislaus LAFCO has been a failure. Our county, one of the top farm producing counties in the nation, has one of […]
LAFCo: The Developers’ Best Kept Secret
Ask a Stanislaus County resident what LAFCo is, and there’s a 99% chance you’ll draw a blank look. That same resident may lament the ongoing loss of local farmland and the blighted appearance of empty houses and brown yards but never know that there exists a local government agency charged with preserving farmland and preventing sprawl. Unfortunately, that agency has been the developers’ best kept secret. By the 1950s, the […]