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| Developer's West Side tour winds down |
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| Written by John Saiz / Patterson Irrigator / | |
| Tuesday, 21 August 2007 | |
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As developers promised 37,000 new jobs last week, several local Spanish speakers wanted to know how they could get in on the action .... GRAYSON — As developers promised 37,000 new jobs last week, several local Spanish speakers wanted to know how they could get in on the action. PCCP West Park — the company that hopes to develop a massive industrial facility 5.5 miles southeast of Patterson — wrapped up its first series of West Side presentations Saturday with a Spanish-language meeting at the United Community Center. Nearly a dozen attendees listened for an hour as company representatives described plans for a 7.5-square-mile industrial center at a former U.S. Navy airbase in Crows Landing. Then, many asked questions of the developers. “What percentage of people will be hired locally?” one woman asked. Developers didn’t have specific numbers, but they said plenty of resources would be available for local people trying to get jobs at the proposed facility. West Park officials are going throughout the county telling people about their project and fielding questions. They had initially planned 11 meetings in seven cities but have decided to visit the West Side two more times, because so many people were interested in attending. At previous West Side meetings, including three in Patterson, many people were skeptical about the project. Some said the traffic and air pollution caused by the facility would be a huge detriment to the West Side. They peppered the project’s traffic consultant with questions about plans to widen Highway 33, upgrade Interstate 5 interchanges and monitor traffic on rural roads. By contrast, most questions at the Grayson meeting centered on how people could get jobs building the facility or working there when it’s complete. “When projects like this come along … very often few people in the area get the jobs,” Grayson resident John Mataka said. At one point, West Park representative Cathy Hallinan asked if there were any questions for the traffic and infrastructure consultants. A brief moment of silence passed before someone in the audience asked more questions about jobs. “Unlike other industrial projects in the Central Valley that are about distribution, we will bring multiple industries to one spot to create a diverse job base,” West Park developer Gerry Kamilos said. The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors has given Kamilos until April to create plans for the development of the county-owned air base. As part of that process, the board required West Park to conduct community meetings before its Aug. 28 meeting.
While the planning process is still in early stages, Kamilos shared some details during the presentations. The railroad would carry goods from the Port of Oakland into the Central Valley, while Central Valley growers could use it as a cheaper way to export agricultural products, Kamilos said. The 4,800-acre project would dwarf other business parks in the area — including the West Patterson Business Park. The epic size is what will keep the Central Valley competitive in a global market and create jobs for a surging population, Kamilos said. Along with the trains, there’d be a slew of other facilities. West Park has proposed setting aside land for health care offices, aviation industries, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, agricultural industries, manufacturing and a job-training center. West Park representatives often referred to the job-training center when attendees asked about employment opportunities, and Kamilos said he has a track record of hiring Central Valley firms to do construction on his projects. “It’s not, ‘Here’s a degree, good luck,’” project representative Mike Lynch said. “It’s ‘Here’s a degree, and there are guys right there looking for those skills.’” Though questions about jobs were the most common, folks at the Grayson meeting also raised environmental concerns. When Mataka asked how much pollution the project would create, Kamilos responded that trains would help cut back on pollution by keeping trucks off the Altamont Pass, west of Tracy. He said the steep incline through the pass is often where trucks cause the most pollution. “We need to change how we do our transportation if we want to see an increase in air quality,” Kamilos said. Mataka also asked Kamilos whether trains could be used to ship Bay Area garbage and perhaps hazardous waste to the Central Valley, earning audience applause. The developer assured the crowd garbage trains did not fit in with his project. “I’m not going to allow that,” Kamilos said. “If there was a proposal to ship trash, hazardous waste, sewage, etc., there is no way I’d be doing this project. Employers want a safe environment. Running trash and sewage is not conducive to a safe environment.” After the Grayson meeting, West Park representatives took their message to other parts of the county, with meetings Monday in Ceres, Tuesday in Modesto and this evening in Turlock. The final meeting this week will be Thursday in Oakdale, but because so many West Siders were interested, two more meetings will be scheduled for early September. “We’re looking forward to establishing dialogue, not only here today … but over many years,” Kamilos said.
To reach John Saiz at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Comments
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The article also doesn't mention that the first job at the project probably won't be for 4 or 5 years.