All eyes on the Valley
It was a pleasure talking with incoming Assembly Speaker Karen Bass this week. She was very candid about her need to learn more about the state's water issues and learned a lot during the tour she was given here.
As I think about the periodic reports about the expensive trips abroad our elected officials take to do their jobs better, I have to wonder how many have experienced the Valley tour? It should be a priority for our officials to get eyeballs on the Valley; Gov. Schwarzenegger has certainly found a lot to appreciate here once we got his attention. We are in a very good position to attract the spotlight right now, since the Republican legislative leaders Sen. Dave Cogdill and Assemblymember Mike Villines are from the region. How about a Valley meeting of the Big Five?
We write about this in today's editorial "Getting new speaker to visit here is first step."
Comments
She's the new Speaker and she needs to LEARN more about the state's water issues and she LEARNED A LOT FROM THE BEE PEOPLE while here. What's she been doing with her time in office. Not much it seems. Good Grief!
Posted by: Brian Murray | March 22, 2008 6:34 AM
It is rather stranger that a law maker from Southern California is coming up to the San Joaquin Valley to solve “our” water problems. Southern California is one of the main reasons that the San Joaquin Valley has a water problem. They take all the water they can get, they even buy it from the farmers at higher prices making the farmers rich off of water. If there was a smart politician they would devote all the money that is proposed for the construction of the new dams and build a Desalination plant off the coast in Southern California. Then they would not rely on The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta or the Valley for their water and the farmers can farm food not water. Look at what happened to Owens Valley, the Cadillac Desert as a result of Southern California, so they think that now it is the San Joaquin Valley’s turn to become a desert once again. Where are we going to draw the line? We have not drawn it yet and now there are Valley Water Districts doing the EIR/EIS reports for the Delta and Temperance Flat. You can bet you dollar that there will be incomplete data in the favor for the water districts. When are other people going to stand up and ask: Why is there a Southern Valley Water District doing the study in Sacramento on the Delta Smelt? How long are we going to close an eye in favor of the politicians that are running our environmental future?
Posted by: Sean | March 22, 2008 3:30 PM