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| Written by Pi Editorial Staff | |
| Saturday, 17 November 2007 | |
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Still looking for logic with West Park Impassioned pleas from newcomer West Side residents at Wednesday’s Stanislaus Council of Governments policy board meeting reveal the need for more jobs in the area. Indeed, development of Crows Landing’s former naval airfield for job development is potentially a good idea. However, simple logic at this point indicates that PCCP West Park’s plans, as stated, are not the solution. West Park is negotiating with Stanislaus County to build a 4,800-acre industrial park at the Crows Landing Air Facility, including a short-haul rail link to the Port of Oakland. The project’s massive footprint is three times the size of the airfield — three times the size the county initially requested. So far, it appears to be a project with unknown customer interest, the need for a subsidy, massive opposition from West Side cities and no active support from its supposed partner, the Port of Oakland. That’s not to mention potential negative environmental and traffic impacts on the West Side and the loss of prime farmland. As for potential clients, the logic for West Park seems to be, “If you build it, they will come.” But will they? Most of the interest from the project so far seems to be coming from Fresno County and areas south. An intermodal station that could serve their needs could be built on existing tracks in that area without any need for goods to be shipped to Crows Landing at all. West Park representatives have said in the past that nearby counties would overmatch project costs that Stanislaus County did not pay, given that the county has said it will not use its own money for the project. However, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency the Bay Area, has expressed severe doubts about the project’s viability and has offered no support for West Park’s proposal. Meanwhile, the San Joaquin Council of Governments has not taken a position on the project at all. It’s not exactly the overwhelming regional endorsement that West Park promised everyone at local workshops earlier this year. It also should be noted this is not a high-tech industrial park. Though some white-collar jobs will exist, wages at West Park will likely be lower than at comparable jobs in the Bay Area. Will companies there pay enough to allow employees to afford a home on the West Side? That has yet to be determined. Even Supervisor Bill O’Brien, who voted Wednesday to seek bond funding for West Park’s project, said he was not convinced he could support the project itself. Meanwhile, county Chief Executive Officer Rick Robinson hammered home the point that the board was to vote on whether to seek bond funding for the rail link, not to debate the merits of the project itself. But it’s impossible to separate the developer from the short-haul concept. The $52 million the county is requesting is the projected cost of West Park’s first phase, not some generic rail project. In addition, West Park is the only firm among past potential developers that has required short-haul rail in its proposal for the air facility. Local residents did a fine job Wednesday in logically stating their cases against the project without sounding like a bunch of fear-mongering fanatics. Hopefully, the state agencies handing out the bond money will use similar logic when deciding how that money should be distributed. Kudos to PHS sports teams The passion of the Patterson High School soccer team could be seen in their tears this week, following the Tigers’ 1-0 loss to Livingston on Monday. The defeat might be difficult to swallow for the local soccer squad, but hopefully Patterson’s players will look back and see this season for what it was — a proud moment in PHS history. It’s truly been a dramatic year for PHS soccer. That includes the Tigers’ 2-1 victory over Livingston on Oct. 24, marked by the presence of coach Greg Hartsell and assistant coach Alfredo Virgen, who had both just come back from hospital stays. Over the years, the team has gradually turned around the image of local soccer, from a sport that not too many people care about to one that draws large crowds at Patterson Community Stadium. Kudos should go to the team for its amazing efforts. And the soccer team is not the only group that deserves accolades. For the second year in a row, the varsity football team has managed to make the section playoffs, and a couple of cross country runners competed in the Sac-Joaquin Section meet last weekend, with freshman Jack Relva taking third among individuals running without a five-member team. Though there has much been said recently about Patterson’s problems, the hard-working students and staff show there is also much to be proud of.
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