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Showing posts with label Central Valley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Central Valley. Show all posts
Monday, August 30, 2021
Sunday, February 16, 2020
New high-speed rail plan keeps pushing toward Merced, Bakersfield
The Joke is on us
Newsom never cancelled the Bullet Train
(Fresno Bee) - With construction under way on 119 miles of its route through the central and southern San Joaquin Valley, the California High-Speed Rail Authority continued Wednesday to try to make the case for completing development of an electrified bullet-train line between Merced and Bakersfield as an interim step toward connecting the Valley to San Jose.
The agency released a draft version of its 2020 business plan, a document it is required to submit to the California Legislature every other year. It highlights the authority’s determination to expand the current construction boundaries – from north of Madera to north of Bakersfield – by about 52 miles total into downtown Merced and downtown Bakersfield.
Wednesday’s release of the draft plan marks the start of a two-month public comment period before a final version is adopted by the rail authority’s board of directors.
Merced-to-Bakersfield is being promoted by the rail authority to be its first operational segment by 2028-2029. Between its three current construction contracts and the one it plalns to make later this year for installation of tracks and electrical systems, the agency expects to spend a total of $12.4 billion. Extending the line from 119 miles to 171 is expected to add another $4.8 billion to the costs in the Valley, including an estimated $700 million to buy the line’s first electric trains.
“We’re moving. I mean, this is happening, and the 2020 business plan should really reflect the fact that this transformation is well underway,” said Brian Kelly, the rail authority’s CEO.
“Our budget is sufficient enough to advance the mission the voters gave us when they passed Proposition 1A and to continue to make important investments in all three regions of the state,” Kelly wrote in a letter introducing the business plan. Thus far, in addition to work in the Valley, Kelly said the authority has committed about $2.9 billion to rail and infrastructure improvements on the San Francisco Peninsula and in the Los Angeles Basin to pave the way for a statewide bullet-train line connecting the Bay Area and Southern California.
Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, was not impressed by the report. “The 2020 business plan is yet another make-believe document, like all the others before it.,” said Patterson, who has long been critical of the rail authority’s efforts. “The project is falling apart, and the costs continue to climb.
“The Authority continues to hope billions will magically appear, while the fight to siphon off Central Valley dollars for Southern California rages on,” Patterson added. “It’s become a pathetic fight for the scraps of a failing project.”
Read More . . . .
Monday, June 10, 2019
High-Speed Rail took land and did not pay
Corruptus in Extremis
(L.A. Times) - John Diepersloot squinted under a bright Central Valley sun, pointing to the damage to his fruit orchard that came with the California bullet train.
He lost 70 acres of prime land. Rail contractors left mounds of rubble along his neat rows. Irrigation hoses are askew. A sophisticated canopy system for a kiwi field, supported by massive steel cables, was torn down.
But what really irritates Diepersloot is the $250,000 that he paid out of his own pocket for relocating wells, removing trees, building a road and other expenses.
“I am out a quarter-million bucks on infrastructure, and they haven’t paid a dime for a year,” he said. “I don’t have that kind of money.”
Up and down the San Joaquin Valley, farmers have similar stories. The state can take land with a so-called order of possession by the Superior Court while it haggles over the price.
But farmers often face out-of-pocket costs for lost production, road replacement, repositioning of irrigation systems and other expenses, which the state agrees to pay before the final settlement.
Those payments and even some payments for land have stretched out to three years. State officials have offered endless excuses for not paying, the farmers say.
Eminent domain, the legal process by which government takes private land, is complicated enough, particularly in California with a maze of agencies involved. But the rail authority’s constantly changing plans, thin state staff and reliance on outside attorneys have made it more difficult, some say.
“They are bogged down,” said Mark Wasser, an eminent domain attorney in Sacramento who has represented more than 70 farmers and other businesses losing land to the rail project. “I would draw an analogy to Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.”
Read More . . . .
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Democrat doesn’t know where he lives
Liar, Liar Pants on Fire
Democrat takes a tax break in Maryland as his principal residence but claims he lives in California.
Via Fresno Bee:
TJ Cox “made an honest mistake” when he marked a second home in Maryland as his principal residence, the Fresno Democrat’s campaign said Tuesday.Spokesmen for the campaign last week claimed the principal residence declaration was the result of an error by the state. The campaign then characterized it as Cox’s mistake after The Bee provided it with a notarized public document showing Cox had initialed and signed a section saying the home was his primary residence.Cox, a Democrat who owns several businesses in the central San Joaquin Valley, is running against Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, for California’s 21st Congressional District seat.The Bee previously reported that Cox owned a three-bedroom, four-bathroom house in Bethesda, Maryland – a Washington, D.C., suburb – and claimed the nearly $1 million home as a principal residence. Cox also claimed a Fresno home as his principal residence, and federal tax laws do not allow an individual to claim more than one.Campaign spokesman Phillip Vander Klay said Tuesday that, after The Bee brought the issue to his attention, Cox contacted the state of Maryland and Montgomery County, where his home is located, to change his residency status. He also is willing to refund the $692 tax credit he received from the county as a result of the error, Vander Klay added.State property records show the home is no longer classified as Cox’s principal residence.When asked why Cox did not notice the error in 2017, when he collected the tax credit, Vander Klay said: “It was an honest mistake that he filled out the principal residence not knowing the legal definitions. His family was living there.”
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | David Valadao (incumbent) | 75,126 | 56.7 | |
| Democratic | Emilio Huerta | 57,282 | 43.3 | |
| Total votes | 132,408 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
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| 21st Congressional District |
Monday, April 30, 2018
Breaking the Democrat Super-Majority in Sacramento
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| Republican Councilman Justin Mendes is the son of Portuguese dairy farmers. His family started dairying in the 1930s and his father was a 3rd generation dairyman. |
Can the pathetic GOP get its act together?
- The Central Valley is ground zero to blocking the Leftist Democrats from having total control.
- If the GOP rolls over and plays dead again the sky will be the limit for Leftist tax increases.
(Bakersfield Californian) - The race between 32nd District Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, and Republican Justin Mendes will be decided in November.
But their round-one face off in June will provide a critical clue about whether the Hanford Councilman and political staffer has a chance to unseat the three-term Salas.
A little political education will help here.
In the heavily Democratic 32nd District, which includes all of Kings County and the rural, Latino communities in western Kern County, Republican voters historically head to the polls at a much higher rate then Democrats.
That effect is much more dramatic in gubernatorial election years — like this one — that are scheduled halfway between Presidential elections.
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| 32nd Assembly District 48% Democrat, 26% GOP, 26% independent and small political parties. |
The Republican voting advantage is even more pronounced in primary elections like the one coming up in a little more than one month.
In other words, the June 5 primary is the absolute best time for Mendes, a staffer for Republican Congressman David Valadao, to out-poll Salas in a district where Democrats have a 22.5 percent registration advantage over the GOP.
If Mendes can’t do that, then things look bleak for him in November when more Latino and Democratic voters are expected to turn out to the polls.
But Cal State Bakersfield Political Science Professor Mark Martinez said Kings County, Mendes’ home turf, is still the key to the race.
“The battlefield there is going to be Kings County,” he said. “If Rudy can maintain 35 to 40 percent in Kings he should win this thing. He’ll probably have to pull 40 percent.”
That isn’t an easy task for most Kern County Democrats.
Kings County is heavily Republican and its voters are exceptionally active.
Martinez points to a list of Democrats who’ve been “clobbered” in Kings County — and subsequently have lost races in Democratic stronghold districts that mirror nearly all of the 32nd District.
Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez lost a State Senate election to Republican Andy Vidak in 2013.
Amanda Renteria, running for Congress against Valadao in 2014, got only 23 percent in Kings County
Emilio Huerta lost against Valadao there in 2016 with 29 percent of the vote.
Salas has topped 40 percent in Kings County in every election.
And he’s won each time.
But he hasn’t run against an opponent with roots in King’s County’s ag-powered political family.
Mendes, who worked campaigns for Valadao and, like his boss, is the son of Portugese Dairy farmers, has obviously seen the template for winning.
And he’s developed a classic middle-of-the-road campaign narrative for the Central Valley, giving his support to immigration reform and calling for DACA to be left in place and Dreamers to have a place in the U.S.
“We’re talking about hard-working individuals who work long hours and send money back to their families and pay taxes,” Mendes said. “What gets in the way of immigration reform are the extremes grabbing the microphone. We need the labor here. Unfortunately the sanctuary state law is forcing ICE to look for the bad guys among the good guys.”
He bashed Salas for voting in support of the sanctuary state bill.
And Menedes is calling for red meat Republican changes like reform of the California Environmental Quality Act, cuts to anti-business regulation and construction of more water storage projects.
He’s even issued a critique of the California High Speed Rail project.
“The budget overruns, the lack of oversight. My children (age 1 and 4) will probably never ride it,” Mendes said.
Still, he said, he will be able to operate effectively in the deep blue halls of Democrat-dominated Sacramento by reaching across the aisle.
“They will most likely lose the supermajority (in the Legislature) and they will need somebody to talk to,” Mendes said of Democracts. “I’m not going up there to be hyper-partisan.”
But Salas knows his district and opposes high speed rail, co-authored the 2014 water bond and took a political hit for voting against his party on California’s new road improvement tax.
The tax hits the poor people in the 32nd Assembly harder than it does other people because it snaps up more of their paycheck.
“They’re not always happy with me because I’m a strong, independent voice,” Salas said of his party leadership and Governor Jerry Brown.
There was tremendous pressure to vote for the bill, he said, but he stood his ground.
It cost him a chairmanship seat on a top committee.
“I was punished,” he said. “But I have no regrets.”
Salas acknowledged the challenge from Mendes, but said he’s not focused on his opponent. His focus is on serving the district.
What he’s done, he said, has given him inroads with Republicans in the 32nd District.
“I’ll walk up to a Republican house and they’ll say, “Rudy, you’re the only Democrat we’ll vote for.”
The only stance he’s taken that could cost him with Republicans is his vote for California’s Sanctuary State bill, a decision he said he stands by.
The bill restricts the type of criminals that state law enforcement agencies can transfer to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
But it doesn’t, as Republicans like to claim, stop local law enforcement from transferring people with serious, dangerous convictions to ICE, Salas said.
But the impact of ICE raids to the communities he represents has been significant.
“ICE coming into our communities has stirred up a lot of emotions,” he said.
People are avoiding going out in public and businesses are suffering from the loss of revenue.
But Salas said it is critical to protect the workers who play a major part in California’s robust economy.
Salas said he hopes the voters of the 32nd District will look at his record and return him to office.
“I’ve been a proven, strong, independent voice for the Valley,” he said.
Mendes is hoping voters will look for a new voice to support.
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Stockton to pay men not to shoot each other?
(KCRA) - Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs condemned the violence in the city over the weekend and is considering a couple different ways to combat crime, including one that pays people not to commit crimes.
There were four homicides in Stockton between Monday and Wednesday night, bringing the total number of killings in the city to more than 24.
Tubbs released a statement Wednesday night after the string of violence.
"All life is sacred and even one homicide is too many ... overall, crime continues to trend downward but we must remain vigilant," Tubbs said.
The city is exploring a couple options in the hopes of curbing the number of violent crimes in the city.
The first option is out of Detroit called Project Greenlight. In this situation, live cameras would be set up inside and outside of businesses in Stockton, and the cameras would be monitored in real-time from the police headquarters.
The second option is more controversial out of the Bay Area. Richmond's Advance Peace uses taxpayer dollars to pay men with firearm history to not shoot guns.
In exchange, the men can participate in adult fellowship, mentorships and job opportunity programs.
Read More . . . .
Thursday, March 9, 2017
This picture shows how much California is sinking
A Land of Crazy People
- We keep building more water using homes, businesses and farms thinking water will "magically" appear on command.
(CNBC) - This picture from NASA's Earth Observatory shows how much land in California's Central Valley is sinking, due primarily to the drawing of groundwater during periods of drought.
Heavy rains have fallen on many parts of the state this winter, but the image above is a reminder of the lingering effects of drought, even in wetter times.
As the legend at the bottom of the picture suggests, the yellowest areas are those with the greatest degree of subsidence (the term for sinking land) and the bluest areas are those with the least.
As might be expected, the largest degree of subsidence occurred in southern California where the drought struck the hardest. In some places, the land sunk by nearly 30 feet.
California's Department of Water Resources commissioned NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to collect and analyze satellite data during the state's most recent drought, resulting in an initial report in 2015, and subsequent updates. The most recent shows land continued to sink since 2015, at a rate of as much as 2 feet per year in the worst spots.
"The rates of San Joaquin Valley subsidence documented since 2014 by NASA are troubling and unsustainable," DWR Director William Croyle is quoted saying in a recent post from NASA Earth Observatory. "Subsidence has long plagued certain regions of California. But the current rates jeopardize infrastructure serving millions of people. Groundwater pumping now puts at risk the very system that brings water to the San Joaquin Valley. The situation is untenable."
One of the problems that stems from the sinking land is that it fills in the underground gaps where groundwater collects when rain occurs, reducing storage capacity.
NASA also notes that state and federal water agencies have spent an estimated $100 million on related repairs since the 1960s.
The state passed its first-ever regulations around the pumping of groundwater in 2014.
Read More . . . .  |
| That sinking feeling The sign reads, " San Joaquin Valley California Subsidence, 3M 1925 - 1977." The Central Valley has been sinking from over pumping for a century. (Water California.org) |
Monday, January 9, 2017
Is your hospital trying to kill you?
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| Using an "A" to "F" grading system Hospital safety grade.org publishes the safety scores for hospitals in California. |
14 Hospitals penalized by California Department of Public Health
(Los Angeles Daily News) - More than a dozen California hospitals, including two in the San Fernando Valley, were fined nearly $1 million in penalties by the state’s health department for everything from failing to prevent patient deaths to causing serious injury during surgery.
Pacifica Hospital of the Valley, in Sun Valley, faces a $75,000 penalty because the facility failed to maintain exit alarms that could have prevented a patient from leaving his room and jumping from the roof to his death in 2013, according to an inspection report conducted by the California Department of Public Health. The fine was the hospital’s second “immediate jeopardy” administrative penalty.
State health inspectors said in their report a patient who was agitated was able to leave his room. He then “entered the stairwell and gained access to the roof top through the unlocked door (door alarm was not functioning), dropped from the roof top landing onto the patio concrete below causing his death.”
Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys was penalized $50,000 by state officials because a patient sustained burns on her right earlobe, right lower neck and right chest wall during a surgery in which a laser was used in a highly oxygenated room.
Requests for statements from officials at Valley Presbyterian and Pacifica Hospital went unanswered Friday.
Meanwhile, Garfield Medical Center in Monterey Park also faces a $50,000 fine for “failing to ensure the health and safety of a patient when it did not follow procedures for safe distribution and administration of medication,” according to a statement issued by the department.
The penalty comes as a result of an incident at the hospital in November 2012 in which a nurse administered the incorrect medication to a pregnant mother. As a result, the baby’s heartbeat slowed abnormally, and the mother was forced to deliver via an emergency cesarean-section procedure.
The mistake put the unborn baby at risk for bleeding in the eye, irregular heartbeat, seizures and slow heartbeat, according to a department report.
Read More . . . . 
San Francisco Bay Area
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| Hospital safety grade.org |
Sacramento Area
Central Valley Area
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Los Angeles Area
Inland Empire Area
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| Hospital safety grade.org |
Orange County Area
San Diego Area
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Spanish-language ad back Democrat in Central Valley race
(Los Angeles Times) - A new Spanish-language ad in the 21st Congressional District race focuses on Emilio Huerta's family connection to the district, repeatedly mentioning his mother, labor rights icon Dolores Huerta.
The ad refers to Huerta's opponent, Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's "comrade." Valadao announced months ago he would not vote for Trump.
The Central Valley district is 71% Latino and Democrats have targeted it as a potential pick-up opportunity in the fall.
Here is the English translation of voiceover from the ad from House Majority PAC, a political action committee that supports Democratic House candidates:
"From his mother, he learned that every human being has dignity and deserves respect. The son of Dolores Huerta, Emilio today continues the fight for the rights of farmworkers and working families.
"While Donald Trump insults us, and his comrade Republican Congressman Valadao voted to cut funds for our children’s education, Emilio Huerto continues on our side. For education, jobs and healthcare, Emilio Huerta."
Read More . . . .
| California's 21st congressional district election, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary election | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
| Republican | David Valadao (incumbent) | 28,773 | 63.0 | |
| Democratic | Amanda Renteria | 11,682 | 25.6 | |
| Democratic | John Hernandez | 5,232 | 11.5 | |
| Total votes | 45,687 | 100.0 | ||
| General election | ||||
| Republican | David Valadao (incumbent) | 45,907 | 57.8 | |
| Democratic | Amanda Renteria | 33,470 | 42.2 | |
| Total votes | 79,377 | 100.0 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
Friday, April 8, 2016
GOP blows Central Valley special election
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| Candidates for the vacated 31st Assembly District, Clint Olivier and Joaquin Arambula, cast their votes for the open seat in the special election Tuesday, April 5, 2016. |
If only the GOP stood for something
- You can't win elections by being "Democrat-lite". The GOP could have put a proposition on the November ballot to repeal the bullet train fraud. That would give Republicans a unifying issue to campaign on. But no. Too many GOP big shots are sucking at the bullet train cash cow.
(Fresno Bee) - In the days leading up to the 31st Assembly District’s 2004 election, then-Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield made a prediction: “Someday, this will be our seat.”
That day may never come.
There was a special election Tuesday to fill the unexpired term of Fresno Democrat Henry T. Perea, who resigned a year early to take a job with the pharmaceutical industry, and it appears all but certain that Kingsburg Democrat Joaquin Arambula will win the race. Just before midnight, his main opponent, Fresno Republican Clint Olivier, conceded.
Republicans always like their chances in special elections, which historically have low turnouts. Because of that, the GOP saw this as its best chance to steal the seat away from the rival Democrats, who have held it for 40 years.
With all precincts reporting but some absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted, however, Arambula, an emergency room physician, had 52 percent of the vote to 42 percent for Olivier, a Fresno City Council member. Caruthers Democrat Ted Miller, an engineer and the third person in the race, had 5.7 percent of the vote.
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| 31st Assembly District |
Though Arambula holds a 10-percentage point lead over Olivier, he had to win more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday to avoid a June 7 runoff. Olivier would have to win an almost impossible number of the remaining ballots to force Arambula below that threshold.
“Tomorrow is a new day,” Arambula said. “I’m excited to head to Sacramento and be a representative for the Valley. I truly intend to be a public servant. Someone who listens more than I talk, and I’m excited about the possibilities for where we can go.”
Olivier remained optimistic early in the evening even as initial returns put Arambula well ahead in the race – and above the 50 percent needed to avoid the runoff. As more ballots were counted, Arambula’s lead held, and Olivier eventually conceded after the Fresno County Elections office finished counting for the night.
The election was high-profile and expensive as Republicans pushed hard to put the seat in the GOP column, the same way they had done during a 2013 special election in the 14th state Senate District, which overlaps part of the 31st Assembly District. In that district, Hanford Republican Andy Vidak won in a special election and then held the seat in 2014 for a full term after Bakersfield Democrat Michael Rubio resigned early to take a job with Chevron. Democrats, in the meantime, have always viewed the 31st Assembly seat as theirs. Currently, 47.2 percent of voters are Democrats, 28.5 percent Republican and 19.9 percent are registered with no political party.
“Obviously things didn’t go as we had hoped,” he said. “I’m proud of my campaign team and I’m especially thankful to the thousands of people who voted for change Tuesday.”
Heading into Tuesday’s election, Democrats had posted 19 consecutive wins in the 31st District stretching back to 1976. Now Arambula looks to have made it 20 straight.Read More . . . .
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