Page 3 - Sanger Herald 3-21-19 E-edition

Random thoughts Choosing between two almost equally unpleasant outcomes ...
The city has to choose between two equal- ly unpleasant courses of action: 1. Do the bid- ding of the state and face the wrath of Sanger residents who almost unanimously spoke out in opposition to the rezoning at the March 14 planning commission workshop; or 2. Not do the bidding of the state and face the wrath
of the new governor who has proven with
his moratorium on the death penalty that he couldn't care any less about the will of the people in the City of Sanger or the State of California.
What are the "or elses" Sanger faces if it doesn't bow to the demands of the state?
They are scary.
The state could refuse to pass on the
gas taxes cities like Sanger use to maintain streets. It could impose a building mora- torium on Sanger that would halt the long discussed Academy corridor annexation and proposed development by Fowler Packing. It could cut off the flow of Community Development Block Grant money that flows from the state to Sanger and has been used most recently for all those new street lights.
And,thestateisintheprocessofcoming up with even scarier "or elses." It's in the pro- cess of giving itself the right to step in and do thezoningitselfifthecitydoesn'tgetaround to it - and legislators are talking about doing away with those pesky environmental consid- erationsforzoningifthestatewindsupdoing
In my OPINION
A candidate these days is packaged
and marketed much like a commodity
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 2019 EDITORIAL & OPINION
By Dick Sheppard
The City of Sanger is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to dealing with the State of California's demand that
it rezone almost 63 acres somewhere within the city limits to accommodate affordable housing - "or else!"
Dick Sheppard
it.
The consequences of not caving in to state demands could be disastrous for Sanger.
The consequences of carrying out the
demanded high density rezoning for afford- able housing - that obviously means eventual Section 8 apartment complexes in the minds of the majority of 40 or so residents who spoke at the March 14 planning commission meeting - could be disastrous for local politi- cians up for election in November.
Sanger resident Henry Provost sort of summed it up when he told the commission, "You've been handed half a deck of cards and told to play poker."
Cathy Montoya sort of summed up the mood of the majority when she said, "I grew up in a low income area. I went to college and got a career so I could move up, live in a better area. This [rezoning] would take that away from me."
The NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) fear that was repeatedly expressed by speakers - in English and in Spanish - was that the state required high density zoning would eventu- ally bring Section 8 apartments that would bring down property values and bring up crime rates.
It was obvious many of the speakers had locked in on what they believed was going to happen if the zoning takes place and
were either unable or unwilling to process comments from development director Tom Navarro or senior planner David Breletic that didn't reinforce their belief. (Already made up their minds and weren't going to be confused by the facts.)
Itdoesn'tappearfromthelimitednumber of parcels the planning commission has to choose from for rezoning there can be any significantcompromise.Itdoesappearthere are just two equally unpleasant courses of action to choose from.
ReadplanningcommissionerVincent
Wall's guest local commentary on this page for maybe a better understanding of the dif- ficult situation.
•••
Waytogo to high school activities director
Ronnie Scott for organizing the crew that repainted the "S" on Campbell Mountain last Saturday. Waytogotoeveryone-students and adults - who participated in the difficult chore.
You don't even have to wait for a clear day now to see the symbolic S on the mountain
overlooking Sanger.
I hope the city council will soon honor
everyone who was involved.
See the story and photos on page 8A.
•••
Finally, an apology for missing several
events lately because of a flu bug.
I should finally be back to whatever is nor-
mal for me any day now.
Please direct your questions or comments to sangerherald@gmail.com.
GUEST local commentary
Observations from the March 14
planning commission workshop
How difficult is to vote now?
Personally, I never saw it as some kind of ordeal to go down to the local polling place andcastmyballot. Thisentiremessisa political solution to a problem which does not exist. Whyisitthateverytimetheychange the rules it seems to facilitate cheating?
The title The Voters Choice Act sounds innocuousenoughandhasbecomesomething of a standard used by our political class for packaging all these inane political adventures fromSacramentowhichareshoveddownour throats after being “sugar coated” to cover theirtrueintentions. “Nowyouseeme,now youdon't!” Ifyoudoubtthatassertioncheck the titles of Propositions 47 and 57 as well as the recent attempt on the part of voters to repealtheGovernor'sarbitrarygastax. That one was so deceptively worded and titled as to result in the voting public counter intui- tively voting to keep taxing themselves—and that my friend, makes no sense at all.
Ballot Harvesting, which we were told was instituted to “make it easier to vote,” is so bad that it is illegal in much of the United States. We saw the results of ballot harvest- ing, in my opinion, for the first time here in theValleyfollowingourlastelection. Many races had literally been decided by a large number of votes and, yet, when the “harvest- ed”ballotswerecountedmanyofthefirst resultswereturnedontheirears. Onewould not expect 75-80 percent of those votes from late-comersfallingtooneparty!
One of the biggest problems with the afore mentioned ballot harvesting is that there isnochainofcontrol. Ballotsshouldpass directly from the voter's hand to an election official. Thataloneseemstomakethiswhole process subject to legal scrutiny.
Originally, we were told that absentee bal- lots or “vote by mail” would “make it easier for everyone to vote” but, considering the bumbling DMV registering thousands of illegalstovotethosesameabsenteesarean open invitation to election fraud and cheat- ing. Thesimplestsolutionwouldbetoreturn totheoldsystemwhereeveryonewentto vote in person at their local precinct—with proper identification—unless they applied for an absentee with sufficient documentation. However,thatisn'tgoingtohappen. Wewill continue to have thousands of ballots floating aroundtobevotedbyHeavenonlyknows who.
Everything has become so ridiculous that it is politically unacceptable to ask voters to produce identification to indicate they are whotheyclaimtobe. Hell,wecan'tevenask people if they are citizens!
“Motor Voter” was a dumb idea which was designed to be administered through the Department of Motor Vehicles but it was implemented to “make it easier to vote.”
SANGER HERALD(USPS 418- 340) is published weekly every Thursday for $25 per year for Fresno County residents and $29.50 per year for residents outside the county and $3150 per year for residents outside the state, non cancelable Periodicals postage paid at Sanger, CA and at additional mailing of ces
Postmaster: Send address changes to the Sanger Herald, 740 N, Sanger, CA 93657
By Fred Hall
Thanks to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors signing on to The Voters Choice Act, elec- tions in Fresno County will taking on an entirely new look and we're being told it makes it easier for people to vote.
Fred Hall
Anyone beginning to see a pattern here? Anyone wondering why I am so cynical about seeing any intelligent changes to a corrupt system? The DMV is incapable of handling its current assignment of tags, titles and driv- ers licenses. Why on earth would any right- thinking person have decided it was a good idea to give them increased responsibilities?
Fresno County had 200 polling places. Under the auspices of this new plan, 150 of those will be closing. That, in and of itself, will pretty much lock the voting plan into place since there will be so few places where one can vote in person anywhere in the coun- ty.
Most right-thinking Americans see voting asadutyandresponsibilityontheirpartto elect other patriotic Americans who will rep- resent their causes and needs in maintaining astrongfreecountry. Thatconceptseemsto have been hijacked by a professional political class whose main goal is the assumption of poweranditsmaintenance. Therearetimes when simply living in today's modern new high-tech world isn't easy. I don't believe that theintentofourForefatherswastomake voting an easy, simple matter.
Truth is that time and effort must be investedinmakingeducatedchoiceswhen selecting those individuals who hold such sway over our daily lives.
It takes effort to separate truth from lies and obfuscation when analyzing records of those asking for your vote. We've seen too many of them run as one version of who they are then when elected, change completely.
No, voting was never intended to get easi- er and easier!
When I look at today's political campaigns, I see the hands of Madison Avenue and Hollywood more than I see anything to do withgoodgovernance. Acandidateismuch akintoaproductpackagedasattractivelyas possible and marketed as one would market acommodity. Charisma,personality,attrac- tiveness and acceptability to the general public are key criteria in a party selecting its candidates. Perhapsweshouldhavecasting calls in Hollywood instead of primaries!
Thelastcoupleofweekswe'vepontificat- ed over the damage we believe the current education system is exacting on our children. One can even extend that by looking at the recent moral crisis over the way wealthy children are preferentially being admitted to tieronecolleges. Onecouldalmostpredict that someone from the Democrat party would notbefarbehind,callingfor16-yearoldchil- drenbeinggiventherighttovote. Themore diluted the standards become involving this basic right the more it expands the opportu- nity for enterprising politicos to cheat!
Webelieveourpoliticiansaresoheavily invested in this process, they will do little to cleantheirownhouse. Please,stop“making it easier to vote!”
But, as always, that's only one man's opin- ion.
In addition to the Sanger Herald, Publisher Fred Hall oversees two other Mid Valley Publishing newspapers - Reedley Exponent, and Dinuba Sentinel. He can be contacted by phone at (559) 638-2244 or by email at fred@ midvalleypublishing.com.
By Vincent Wall
I would like to thank all of you who have written or called the planning depart- ment, and those of you who showed up at the planning commission meeting last Thursday, March 14.
I value your input and
feedback as we go through
the process of rezoning. Based on the public comments at the meeting I believe the follow- ing points need to be addressed.
One issue that came us is that some may not know how one becomes a planning com- missioner. I, myself, saw an advertisement for the position in the Sanger Herald. I then went to the City’s website and filled out an application. I was then interviewed by the mayor and appointed to the commission by the city council.
We, planning commissioners, are just
like everyone else. We live in Sanger, have families, kids, jobs, and live paycheck to paycheck. We are equally worried about our home value, crime, traffic, schools, quality of life and the future for our kids.
I myself have been married close to ten years, have three boys, work from home as a patent examiner and live around the corner from my in-laws. There was nothing “special” about me, I simply applied.
I understand that our decisions on the commission have an effect upon the people of Sanger, which includes myself and my fam- ily.
I chose to be a planning commissioner in order to participate, have a say in how our City grows and to try my best for Sanger and its people.
Another issue that came up is that people seem to believe the negative effects of not doing the rezoning are just scare tactics, and no one wants to hear about the State suing Huntington Beach.
It is not a scare tactic and let me explain. The state’s lawsuit against Huntington Beach for failure to rezone for affordable housing is a test case. If the state wins, and forces Hun- tington Beach to comply, the state will then take this verdict to every city in the state that is not complying and force them to comply. They will probably start at bigger cities, and
Vincent Wall
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