Patterson Irrigator

The PCCP West Park public outreach push at times resembled a rock band on the road, but instead of transporting guitars and amps from gig to gig, the women and men of West Park hauled slideshows and drawings.

“We’ve never done (outreach) to this degree,” West Park developer Gerry Kamilos said.
Fueling the public relations blitz is a proposed 7.5-square-mile industrial center at the former U.S. Navy airfield about 5.5 miles southeast of Patterson. The massive scope of the project will allow the Central Valley to stay competitive in the global marketplace, developers argue.

On the other hand, local activists say the project will forever change the West Side’s way and quality of life.

West Park wrapped up the initial West Side portion of their tour today, with a Spanish-language meeting in Grayson. However, another Patterson workshop is slated for early September because of high demand, and West Park has promised a Spanish-language meeting in Crows Landing sometime in the future.

In addition to three Patterson workshops and the Grayson meeting, there were meetings in Crows Landing and Newman this week. Next week’s meetings will be in Modesto, Turlock, Oakdale, Riverbank and Ceres.

Kamilos questioned

After an hour-long presentation by project spokeswoman Cathy Hallinan, attendees at each meeting asked Kamilos questions and commented on the project.

Common concerns at the meetings included traffic, air quality, water and loss of agricultural land.

“Jobs don’t do a bit of good without anything to eat,” said Frank Durao, who attended Wednesday’s meeting in Patterson.

Crows Landing resident John Schuler asked Kamilos on Thursday whether he would want to move into town right next to his proposed industrial park. Kamilos did not directly answer the question, but responded by talking about the inevitability of growth in the Central Valley.

Though many answers to people’s questions were unknown at the moment, Kamilos said they would be known once technical studies are complete. 

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