Patterson Irrigator

By Jonathan Partridge, Patterson Irrigator

A group driven to defeat a 4,800-acre industrial project at the Crows Landing Air Facility on Tuesday called for strategy, membership drives and a bit of ire among its members.

Ron Swift, president of West Side-Patterson Alliance for Community Environment, summed up his feelings with the acronym GALA — “Getting a Little Angry,” and said opponents need stamina to fight the developer.

“What are our chances of success? This is going to be a long battle, folks,” Swift said. “I don’t know. We’re certainly the major underdog.”

About 50 people, mostly from Patterson and Crows Landing, showed up to Patterson City Hall during the alliance’s second meeting.

County officials are taking a little more than a year to negotiate with West Park, which plans to turn the 1,527-acre former U.S. Navy airfield between Patterson and Crows Landing into a business park and distribution hub for the Port of Oakland. A rail line would connect it with the Oakland port, allowing trainloads of containers to be shipped to Crows Landing. Stanislaus County supervisors will vote April 8 on whether to go with West Park’s proposal.

Group members suggested lobbying county supervisors and state and federal leaders and reaching out to residents in other parts of the county.

WS-PACE Vice President Claude Delphia said the group already had a plan to reach federal leaders, but would not give further details, saying he did not want to give away the group’s secret strategy.

Leaders say their group is gaining momentum, with 119 members signed up, and a total of 150 to 160 when including anonymous members and spouses. Still, Swift said they likely will need to get thousands of people to publicly oppose the project if they want to make an impact.

He announced he had heard that another local group was forming to support West Park’s proposal. West Park consultant Mike Lynch said by phone this week some local project supporters have said they wanted to form a group, but he was not sure if that had happened yet.

Swift said he was glad to hear of the group and he would be happy to know who his group’s opposition is.

Several audience members and board members alike discussed community workshops this week hosted by West Park developer Gerry Kamilos, saying they did not feel they were getting straight answers from the developer. The county is requiring the public workshops, which will be offered in several other cities on the east side of the county next week.

“I think those meetings are really about measuring public support and opposition,” critic Ed Maring said.
West Park representatives said Thursday that information about the project has changed because the project is evolving.

Swift asked for attendees to volunteer to show up to some of the workshops next week to gauge what people in other cities are saying about the project.

He also asked for people to pass out alliance membership forms and petitions against the West Park proposal among family and friends.

Patterson resident Fritz Schali encouraged group members to focus their energy on the county supervisors, making sure to invite them to their meetings and to educate them on West Side concerns.

“We’re talking to the wrong end of the horse,” Schali said. “We need to talk to the right end of the horse.”

Alliance leaders noted that some supervisors terms would be up in June 2008, and they hoped to turn the Crows Landing project into a campaign issue if Kamilos’ project faced delays and supervisors had not approved the project by then.

“(Supervisors Dick Monteith and Jeff Grover) are possibly our two archenemies,” Delphia said.
Attendees worry about increased train traffic and potential air quality issues.

Crows Landing resident Debbie Lucas said she had been involved in law enforcement in Modesto for several years, and train traffic regularly caused problems there during emergencies.

“(Kamilos) is basically treating us like we don’t matter,” she said after the meeting.

A poster attached to the podium reminded attendees that others have fought Kamilos’ proposals in the past.

It contained a portrait of oak trees and dried apricots, emblazoned with the words “Oaks and Cots — Common Threat. Common Cause.” The “oaks” portion of the poster referenced oak trees in the Sacramento-area community of Rancho Murieta, where some residents have opposed one of Kamilos’ housing developments.

Rancho Murieta community activist Candy Chand spoke at the alliance’s first public meeting in June, saying opposition to a project there had taken years of toil and was an ongoing effort.

Swift believes West Park opponents also face a difficult battle, but he encouraged attendees to get in the trenches.

“It’s time to take a stand, and it’s time to get a little bit angry,” Swift said. “And I hope you will.”

Comments (3)

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Get Angry at what? What's your position?
written by J T , August 18, 2007

Define your purpose/mission and maybe you would get more support. You have not made a valid aurgument other than a vauge reference to air quality and rail traffic? Prove how this would be true and real for the people of Patterson. A few trains pa*sing through the city is not equal to the "sky is falling". Hundreds of new jobs may be created next door would that not help Patterson and the surrounding area more than not having anything there at all? I'm sorry, it just sounds like you have a hidden agenda yourself i.e. your group is being pushed by a political behind the scene interest; or your group is really affraid of progress and/or change. In which case your own Patterson elected officals have began the winds of change starting 5 years ago. Where was your group's rant when Longs and Kohl's came to town on air quality, traffic and oh yeah more truck traffic? I'm not sure of this Kamilos guy's Real Intent either but as an American does not anyone have the right to pursue legitamite business ventures that create jobs?

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FYI - this meeting is airing on Comcast Channel 7 - WSTV
written by Gordon Barbosa , August 20, 2007

The WS-PACE meeting is airing on WSTV Ch. 7 on Sundays at 5:00 pm.

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written by Claude , August 22, 2007

Mr. JT,



Our mission, or our concerns, are pretty well defined on our Website at www.ws-pace.org. In particular we don’t believe the short haul rail concept is suitable for the Crows Landing development and will cause major negative impacts on Patterson and it’s residents. We want to stop the short haul railroad use.



As for our agenda, it’s pretty straight forward and there is no need to hide any aspect of our effort which includes a great deal of research and seakig answers re the project.



If you knew the history of those of us behind WS-PACE.org, you would clearly understand that we don’t need, or have any other political force behind us. Most of us have been politically active in our own right, many of us serving in local elected or appointed positions. Many of us don’t even usually agree politically, but in this case we are unified in the potential damage Kamilos project could do to our community.



Some of us won’t even be around if his project should ever be completed, so we are working to defeat something for future generations of Pattersonites and the West Side as a whole.



The West Park Kamilos development is a project outside the jurisdiction of the Patterson city government. So it’s effect on Patterson would be entirely different than developing our own industrial and commercial acreage.



At the same time, the impact of West Park in forcing housing development in Patterson would be enormous and unprecedented. Why create jobs and then have to build houses for the workers when there is already a deficit. Besides that, most of the jobs would be for people outside the West Side area and people would have to travel here across country roads to get to their jobs.



If you really want answers to your questions, perhaps you need to do some more investigating rather than just speculating as to what the answers are. You can talk to any one of us any time you want. We hold public meetings with no reservations or limit in attendance.

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