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| 3 attend Spanish-language planning meeting |
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| Written by John Saiz | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Friday, 27 June 2008 | |
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Presenters outnumbered attendees at Wednesday’s Spanish-language San Joaquin Valley Blueprint workshop. Organizers had hoped to gather West Siders’ opinions on developing the Central Valley. What they got were three people, including Patterson Mayor Becky Campo. The other two attendees left early. “The blueprint process will not be complete without the input from the Hispanic community,” Campo said. The mayor is lobbying for another Spanish-language Patterson meeting, though she said she’s suspect of the motives behind the blueprint. “This whole process is a way to limit municipalities’ land use,” she said. The blueprint is a multicounty effort to create a land-use plan for the San Joaquin Valley. Planning is funded by grants from the California Department of Business, Transportation and Housing and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. Eight counties are participating in the process. Similar workshops have happened in numerous communities. Most have had decent attendance, though some had the same low turnout as Wednesday’s meeting. Compared with a series of meetings last year, all the recent Stanislaus meetings have drawn fewer people, said Lark Downs, senior planner for the Stanislaus Council of Governments. StanCOG is organizing the blueprint process in the county. “Last year, 92 people were at the Turlock meeting,” he said. “This year, there were 25. Downs suspects it is harder to attract people during the summer months. “Attendance overall at these workshops has been pretty poor,” he said. “That’s telling me it’s the time of year.” When StanCOG called a Spanish-language meeting in Patterson in April 2007, about 50 people attended. That time around, organizers had help from local activist Albertina Reynoso, who called hundreds of people and invited them to the workshop. This year, Reynoso had hoped paid organizers would follow her lead. “I didn’t even get a thank-you (last year),” Reynoso said. An English-language meeting Monday in Patterson attracted 27 people, the largest Stanislaus County crowd this year. Attendees picked education and the environment as their top priorities. Results from all the Stanislaus County meetings are expected to be ready by July 31. There is a possibility of another Spanish-language Patterson workshop, Downs said. There are available days, but the extra meeting has not been budgeted. “We’re hoping the attendance at all the workshops will be up,” Downs 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
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