The conventional wisdom is that candidates for Mayor of Modesto face inevitable runoffs. That’s why insiders are saying there’s no way either Garrad Marsh or Brad Hawn, the odds-on favorites in a crowded field, will get fifty percent of Tuesday’s vote. Failing to take a stand on the Mayor’s race, the Modesto Bee has written, “we hope to see a runoff between Garrad Marsh and Brad Hawn.” While runoffs may […]
Search Results for: OID
Bee Walks, Citizen Talks on Modesto Mayor's Race
Leave it to the Modesto Bee to whiff on the biggest political decision in years. Yes, when it came time to step up and take a stand, the Bee took a walk. That’s what happened when The Only Game in Town wouldn’t make the call on the Modesto Mayor’s race. With three strong candidates, two of them developer-friendly, the Bee passed. Modesto’s newspaper of record then recommended a solidly pro-developer […]
DeMartini, Barker and Jackman on Cities' Failure to Protect Farmland
Stanislaus County Supervisor Jim DeMartini is nobody’s patsy. So when Stanislaus County cities presented their growth plans to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) at last July’s meeting, DeMartini smelled a rat. “They weren’t plans at all,” he says. “They may as well have been written by the BIA (Building Industry Association).” As far as DeMartini could tell, none of the cities had established firm boundaries. DeMartini was especially miffed […]
By Popular Demand: Flint's Spiked Column, by John Michael Flint
In what has by now become just another stage in the longest political marathon in local memory, Carmen Sabatino is running again—this time for city council. It is a delicious bit of irony that there could be no better occasion to feature here John Michael Flint’s spiked column, the very column the Modesto Bee refused to run last year, when Sabatino vied for county supervisor. As always, Flint’s take is original, […]
CEQA in the San Joaquin Valley: A Boon to Citizens
Shrouded in mystery and misinformation, and once again under intense attack by developer-driven politicians, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is one of the least understood and most powerful weapons Valley citizens have against the negative effects of growth and sprawl. Perhaps because it’s associated with lawyers and litigation, CEQA has never been recognized as the layman’s tool it really is. And mass media have done a poor job characterizing […]
Banned by the Bee: Flint's Spiked Column
August 3, 1997, under a headline that read, “We’re offering differing points of view,” the Modesto Bee announced a new program for the OP/ED page. The idea was the brain child of then publisher Orage Quarles III, who wanted to encourage community participation on the Opinions page. After a contest that featured 249 entries, the Bee chose twelve local writers, each of whose work would appear once a month. The […]
How to Really Learn the Birds
Anyone who has never witnessed the migratory passage of Western Tanagers through the parks and gardens of the Northern San Joaquin Valley is missing one of our grander local spectacles. Male Western Tanagers have brilliant, flame-colored faces atop a bright yellow body cloaked in handsome black wings. Though stunning, they are easy to overlook as they pass through only during spring and fall migration. Nonetheless, with a little practice, almost […]