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Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

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Wood Colony

Support Urban Limits to Spare Wood Colony

October 4, 2014 By Bruce Frohman Leave a Comment

A ballot initiative was recently submitted to the Stanislaus County Elections office for certification of a measure that would establish urban limit lines for the City of Modesto. There are good reasons to establish urban limits. The City of Modesto Planning Department has a map showing proposals for development of parts of Wood Colony. One of the designations is for a shopping center on the northwest corner of Maze Boulevard […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: RUL Modesto, Urban Limits Modesto, Wood Colony

Colony Protection Must Include Triangle Says Wenger

September 27, 2014 By Eric Caine 3 Comments

When Jake Wenger learned Modesto Mayor Garrad Marsh and Stanislaus County Supervisor Terry Withrow had begun formation of a compact between the city and county that would protect Wood Colony, he was elated. Wenger’s ancestors settled in Wood Colony in 1910. Besides farming and running farming related businesses, the family has a history of community involvement and activism. Jake’s father Paul is President of the California Farm Bureau Federation. Jake […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Jake Wenger, Wood Colony

Can City and County Spare Wood Colony?

September 26, 2014 By Bruce Frohman 2 Comments

At the September 20 town hall meeting, Modesto Mayor Garrad Marsh proposed a solution for protecting Wood Colony from urban development. He suggested that Modesto enter into a written agreement with the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors to leave the area zoned for agriculture in perpetuity. In exchange, Modesto would drop its efforts to annex the area into the General Plan. The agreement would also need to preclude a future […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Spare Wood Colony, Wood Colony

Committees, Water, and Wood Colony

June 3, 2014 By Bruce Frohman Leave a Comment

  Over the years, local government s within Stanislaus County have formed countless committees.  A committee or a study can be a great smokescreen to hide decision making in government. What a committee accomplishes will depend on what politicians want the outcome to be. Sometimes when Valley politicians want to avoid public input, they form a committee.  The committee report may be predetermined when committee members are told what the […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Highway 132 expansion, Stanislaus Water Advisory Committee, Village I fee shortfall, Wood Colony

What’s Happened to Garrad Marsh and Jenny Kenoyer?

April 6, 2014 By Eric Caine 3 Comments

The Valley Citizen enthusiastically supported Modesto Mayor Garrad Marsh and Councilperson Jenny Kennoyer. Mostly because they favor inclusion of Wood Colony in the City’s General Plan, both have left supporters wondering whether they’ve abandoned the principle planks of their pre-election platforms, which included smart growth and farmland preservation. The wide consensus is both have sold out; we don’t think so, but we do think both are in dire political straits. […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Garrad Marsh, Jenny Kenoyer, Salida Annex, Wood Colony

Jackman, Wenger, and Kennedy Propose Urban Boundaries

March 22, 2014 By Eric Caine 3 Comments

Wood Colony’s Jake Wenger has joined Denny Jackman and Vance Kennedy in proposing an initiative that would establish firm growth boundaries around the city of Modesto. The proposal may be a sign that Jackman and others have given up on trying to work with the Modesto City Council and Chamber of Commerce on plans to direct growth away from prime farmland. This won’t be the first time Jackman has put […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: Denny Jackman urban limits, Jake Wenger Wood Colony, Modesto Urban Limits, Wood Colony

MID Rate Policy Threatens Survival of Small Farms

February 27, 2014 By Eric Caine 1 Comment

Farmers are businesspeople first and friends second. When it comes to relationships in the farming business, the farmer looks after his own interests, just like a businessperson in any other business. Water is an indispensable part of the business of farming. No farmer is going to sell his entire water allocation to others unless he does not intend to farm. As a businessperson, the farmer is not likely to sell water to a friend below […]

Filed Under: Featured, History Tagged With: Modesto Irrigation District water rates, Modesto irrigation District water sales, Wood Colony

From Wood Colony to Urban Sprawl: A Planning Manual

February 20, 2014 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

Converting Wood Colony from prime farm land to urban sprawl begins with the land speculator. The speculator buys land near a growing city because it is inexpensive relative to the cost of property within that city. Long term speculators buy land outside of a city’s “sphere of influence.” The speculator buys as much land as he can and then starts to agitate for the land to be included in the sphere of influence of […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Modesto General Plan, Modesto Sphere of Influence, Wood Colony

Best Way to Save Wood Colony? Urban Limits

February 15, 2014 By Eric Caine 2 Comments

When Vance Kennedy called the soil north and west of Modesto “a national treasure,” he was speaking from the perspective of an award-winning scientist who has studied soil and water all his life. Kennedy is also a small-scale farmer—he farms eight acres of citrus on the famous “sandy loam” soil north of Modesto. Realtors and developers like to cite figures that show farm acreage is increasing, and they’re right if […]

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

Marsh Needs to Back Urban Limits Now

February 9, 2014 By Eric Caine 11 Comments

If you’ve been reading the Modesto Bee  lately, you might think Dave Lopez and Bill Zoslocki are guardians of the farmland Garrad Marsh and Jenny Kenoyer are trying so hard to cover with asphalt. Kenoyer and Marsh have been framed as sell-outs and there’s even talk of a recall. It’s a far cry from what many hoped would be a farm-friendly government led by Marsh, whose years as a Modesto […]

Filed Under: Featured, Politics Tagged With: Bill Zoslocki city council, Garrad Marsh, Salida Annex, Spare Wood Colony, Wood Colony

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

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

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

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

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