Valley Solutions

Take the subway to Yosemite?

SF Chronicle. The latest plan for CA high-speed rail: Connect it to Yosemite.
Synopsis: In a story that topped the Chronicle’s website Thursday, reporter Rachel Swan details the “novel idea” being advanced by Merced political leaders. They think the CA High-Speed Rail Authority should be touting Merced’s connection to Yosemite National Park when it builds the new train station in Merced. In other words, “Skip downtown, and link the train to Yosemite National Park.” This has come up since the CHSRA’s request to consider moving the train station from downtown to a location about 4 miles south of town. Rail officials insist moving the station will save $1 billion, accelerate construction and allow connecting Merced to the system more quickly. Mayor Matthew Serratto noted the location’s proximity to Campus Parkway and Hwy 99 with easy access to Hwy 140 – which runs into Yosemite. A shuttle bus, like YARTS, could make the final connection to Yosemite about 80 miles away. “It could be a Merced-Yosemite station. Call it that. That’s how they should market it,” said the mayor. Folks in San Francisco told the reporter that eliminating some of the “windy roads” between the park and San Francisco is a great idea. The rest of the story offers pros/cons to a downtown station vs. one outside of town. Pros: shorter construction period, fewer business displacements. Cons: Connecting the city to a more remote station will invite sprawl and hasten the deterioration of downtown.
MAD Take: First, has anyone questioned that claim of saving $1 billion by moving the train station 4 miles? A billion represents roughly 3% of the entire high-speed rail budget; you can buy up a LOT of downtown dirt for much less than that.  Second, anyone who believes a train from San Francisco to Merced will eliminate any travel on “windy” roads needs to buy a better map.

Merced County Times. Confronting the process of high-speed rail.
Synopsis: Columnist Greg Wellman has been paying attention to the high-speed rail discussions and reminds Merced that any change to the location of the downtown station would require state approval. He also urges folks to recognize that high-speed rail is “a BIG DEAL for all of us.”

Merced County Times. Consider making an underground HSR station for Merced.
Synopsis: An unsigned op-ed submitted by “Strong Towns Merced” suggests the rail authority is strong-arming the city: “If this appears to be a top-down pressure tactic … trust your instincts.” To get around it, “The Merced community needs to offer a less impactful alternative …” The writer’s suggestion is to go deep – build an underground train station.

Speaking of new bus lines

ABC30. New thruway bus route cuts travel time between Merced, Bay Area.
Synopsis: The Merced County Hispanic Chamber cut the ribbon the Gold Runner Route 40 bus on Wednesday. It has stops in Merced, Los Banos Memorial Hospital and the Gilroy Transit Center. The Gold Runner already offers 7 daily trains from Bakersfield to Oakland or Sacramento. The new bus gets them into San Jose with service similar to that already offered in Stockton and Manteca. Supervisor Josh Pedrozo said the bus would help alleviate Valley traffic congestion.

Lathrop: What’s this bill for?

KCRA. Lathrop faces unexpected $5.4 million wastewater bill from Manteca. 
Synopsis: The city of Lathrop has been billed $5.4 million by the city of Manteca for wastewater treatment services dating back to 2016. But Lathrop deputy city manager Thomas Hedegard said every bill ever sent to Lathrop from Manteca has been paid in full, so this is an unwelcome surprise. He said Lathrop has asked Manteca for a full accounting of this billing, but none has been delivered. Manteca declined to comment.

Court approves CA maps

LA Times. Supreme Court, with no dissents, rejects GOP challenge to CA’s new election map.
Synopsis: The US Supreme Court ruled without comment that CA can use whatever electoral map its voters want. The changes, approved under Prop 50 in November, are expected to send five additional Democrats to Congress. The maps were redrawn after Texas Republicans gerrymandered districts to give their party five additional seats. The lawsuit, brought by Assemblymember David Tangipa, claimed California was trying to create more Latino-majority districts. Its example was the 13^th Congressional District, represented by Adam Gray. The courts found that argument “exceptionally weak.”

Sacramento Bee. Sutter County lobbies governor for earlier special election to replace LaMalfa.
Synopsis: Sutter County supervisors are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to allow an earlier election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Rep. Doug LaMalfa. Newsom scheduled the election for June 2. If any candidate gets more than half the vote, the candidate would take over the remainder of LaMalfa’s term. If no candidate gets 50%, a runoff would be required, delaying filling the seat until August. Consolidating the election with the primary saves the cost of an extra election to be borne by the 11 counties that make up his district. The district will be reshaped under Prop 50, so it will have new voters and new candidates in November.

Judge rejects Patterson fees

Modesto Bee. Stanislaus court decision nullifies city’s development fee increase; builders win.
Synopsis: Reporter Ken Carlson catches up with last week’s Superior Court decision that threw out Patterson’s new building fees. The city set new impact fees for developers but did not follow public-notice requirements in setting the fees. Judge Sonny Sandhu said city studies failed to show a nexus between the fees and anticipated costs. Those fees would have added around $14,300 to each of the 720 homes proposed for Keystone Ranch.

Slowing soccer’s roll

Modesto Bee. Modesto’s pro soccer stadium unlikely to break ground this year.
Synopsis: Modesto’s dream of a downtown soccer stadium is running into delays. The city has suggested putting the stadium on Centre Plaza, adjacent to the DoubleTree Hotel. But the hotel convinced the city to keep Centre Plaza in operation through the end of the year. The city has yet to figure out exactly what it wants to build, how to pay for it and who will use it. So far, there is no agreement with the United Soccer League for one of its lower-tier teams to locate in the city. Until an agreement is reached, it will be unclear how much taxpayers will have to contribute to the stadium, but early figures put it at around $35 million.

Cars linked to mass shooting

Modesto Bee. Sheriff’s officials collecting DNA from cars linked to Stockton mass shooting.
Synopsis: San Joaquin County sheriff’s investigators confiscated two cars believed to have been used by those involved in the November shooting that killed four and wounded 13 at a child’s birthday party. The murdered included children from 8 to 14 and a 21-year-old man who tried to shield them. No arrests have been made in the case. Deputies seized a Volkswagen and a Honda.

Patterson’s new fire chief

Patterson Irrigator. Patterson installs a new acting fire chief.
Synopsis: Eventually, editor Timothy Benefield gets around to telling readers that Patterson Fire Chief Jeff Frye has moved into the newly created position as chief of West Stanislaus Fire District – which once was combined with Patterson FD. Jeff Hakola has been named acting fire chief by the city. He has been the Chief of Operations and Training and has support from the Patterson Firefighters Association.

Save Mart feeding the hungry

Modesto Bee. New partnership to provide food to underserved Central Valley families.
Synopsis: Save Mart is partnering with Healthy Room Project to provide food boxes to those in need. The company will also distribute gift cards to families along with meal boxes that include fresh produce, proteins and pantry staples. The gift cards can be redeemed at Save Mart, FoodMaxx and Lucky stores. Healthy Room Project partners with police forces in four states to serve those in need. It has 2,500 volunteers, including some from the Modesto PD.

They hate Bay-Delta plan

Sacramento Bee. Environmental, tribal groups slam Bay-Delta deal over weak flow rules.
Synopsis: The Bee’s coverage of the three-day Bay Delta Plan hearings before the State Water Board continued with criticism of voluntary agreements between the state and Valley water districts. Groups such as the Winnemem Wintu (who live roughly 160 miles from the Delta), Save California Salmon (funded by commercial salmon fishers), the Yurok Tribe (360 miles from the Delta) and the Southern CA Watershed Alliance (whose only connection to the Delta is through steel pipes) insisted the voluntary agreements are catastrophic. All insist that only by sending 55% of all CA’s rivers to the ocean will we save salmon.
MAD Take: There was no mention in the story of the floodplain, streambed and habitat restoration funded through the voluntary agreements. Or the significantly higher flows that are being provided under the agreements. Or the incredible resurgence in salmon populations seen this year mainly due to a three-year ban on killing them in the ocean.

Fundraising update

Valley Sun. Perea jumps to major Assembly fundraising lead, despite significant outside spending. 
Synopsis: Daniel Gligich looks at fundraising reports, finding Fresno city councilwoman Annalisa Perea is leading in the race for Assembly District 31 with $116,000. Opponent Sandra Celedon raised $27,000 and James Polsgrove raised $7,000. In AD 27, Supervisor Brian Pacheco has raised $513,000 while former Merced Mayor Mike Murphy has raised $146,000. In AD 8, David Tangpia – who backed the challenges to Prop 50 -- has raised $204,000 while Democrat Josh Engel did not file a report. In AD 9, Heath Flora of Ripon raised $411,000 but has only $46,000 in the bank compared to $11,000 raised by Matthew Adams. In AD 13, Rhodesia Ranson is unopposed and has raised $251,000.

This is his 19^th Olympics trip

Modesto Bee. From Modesto to Italy, Olympic superfan is off to his 19^th Games. 
Synopsis: Reporter Maria Figueroa finds another interesting Modestan in Jeff Kolkmann. He’s been to 18 Olympic Games in his 63 years and is on his way to Italy for No. 19. The limo driver and solar salesman and has collected some 4,000 Olympic pins and other memorabilia. He was in Grenoble when Jean-Claude Killy won 3 golds and helped hang nets for the basketball team in 1980. He’s also worked as a runner for TV producers.