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| Written by PI Web | |
| Saturday, 20 October 2007 | |
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West Park not helpful EDITOR, Susan Reyburn’s letter to the editor in support of West Park, which appeared in the Oct. 13 edition of the Irrigator, is full of inaccuracies. The West Park plan would create a giant parking lot in the middle of Crows Landing for the Port of Oakland and will result in the creation of low-paying jobs. Those employed at West Park would not be able to afford homes in Patterson, where prices are driven by Bay Area wages. West Park jobs would be filled by employees living in outlying areas, such as Merced and Atwater. Ms. Reyburn also complains about the long commutes endured by those working in the Bay Area. People who commute to the Bay Area should have known what they were getting into when they purchased homes in Patterson. West Park’s plan for the Crows Landing airfield is the wrong plan. It covers 4,800 acres, three times the size of the county’s airfield and three times larger than what the county asked for in its request. This plan would pave over thousands of acres of prime farmland and create traffic problems on the West Side. It would also stretch our scarce water resources even further. The plan would also send thousands of trains through Patterson, disrupting downtown and splitting the east and west sides of the town. West Park would also destroy the West Side’s agricultural heritage, something Ms. Reyburn apparently knows nothing about. The fact that the Port of Oakland has not committed to apply for funding for this project should be the final nail in its coffin. It simply isn’t feasible, and county taxpayers could end up picking up part of the cost of this project. As Ms. Reyburn’s letter clearly illustrates, as soon as the mantra of jobs is used, there are people who will blindly follow anything that is presented to them. What we really desperately need for our children is a place that provides a healthy environment and economic opportunity and preserves the Central Valley’s unique character. We need to protect the West Side’s agricultural heritage. West Park’s plan does not achieve any of this. Robert Smith, Patterson
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