We're in the middle of our usual election year exercise of candidate interviews, as part of the process of making our recommendations for seats on local government bodies. One interesting -- and very gratifying -- element has emerged: Most of the candidates walking precincts report that voters are voicing strong concerns about the Valley's air quality.
Public safety still rules to roost as the No. 1 campaign issue, as it always has and likely always will with local government.
But just a few years ago, it would have surprised candidates -- and us -- to hear people expressing concerns about air quality.
It's reassuring that the message is sinking in. Creating a greater awareness of air quality issues in the Valley was always the first step toward actually cleaning the air. And if political candidates hear that message from the people whose votes they're seeking, you can bet it will be high on their own agendas. That's good news for us all.
As with the Hippocratic oath, the first order of business for the City should be to "do no [more] harm." I'd like to see the candidates address how the City's planning policies make matters worse by inducing sprawl and its resulting dependency on automobiles.
Having nearly exhausted the developable land to the north, the city is now focusing on turning thousands of acres of farmland to the southeast into suburbs, as if their goal is to connect with Sanger the way the city is connected to Clovis.
Even within the city, poor planning abounds. I work in a new single-story office building in an area surrounded by mostly one and two story office buildings, most only a few years old, with sprawling parking lots and open areas in between. All the offices in this area could easily have been fit into a denser, better planned area using about a quarter of the land currently consumed. Denser development would also encourage more walking and less auto-dependency.
Maybe a lot of the current development is being done according to plans done in the "bad old days," but I'd like to hear some concrete ideas from our mayoral and city council candidates on how they will deal with this pollution-causing sprawl. Those already holding office should explain what they are doing now, and why they aren't doing more.
Amen to that Mike. All of this growth is causing even more bad air quality than ever. They are obviously trying to make us into LA with the crime like theirs as well. When I moved to Sanger almost 16 years ago there was nothing even close and now there are new housing graveyards. Stop the growth now please.
Mike(D) would be most happy if we were all living on top of each other riding around on bicycles.These numbers and un named sources the Bee is always spewing seem suspect at best. If you repeat it long enough I guess a certain portion of the population will buy into it. I think the Indians and Spanish were foolish to settle in Fresno as history has informed us "The Smokey Valley" had bad air back then.Too many campfires?
Since you called me out, Brian, what's your alternative? Do nothing? Just keep on burning more petroleum until it runs out or the Valley air becomes unbreathable (whichever comes first)? Or stick your head in the sand and pretend the scientists are all wrong? Does it matter to you that Valley children have one of the highest rates of athsma in the nation?
And please don't tell me you seriously believe the air quality in the Valley was anything like it is today before European Americans arrived. (And by the way, the Spanish never settled in Fresno.)
...and "Indians" never settled anywhere, they were migratory.