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Wednesday, May. 06, 2009

Stimulus puzzles Stanislaus County board

Supervisors accept $8.8M in job training funds, aren't sure what good it will do

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Why spend $8.8 million training people for jobs that don't exist?

That was the main question asked Tuesday by Stanislaus County supervisors, who essentially rolled their eyes, shrugged and accepted federal stimulus money anyway.

"The federal government is just throwing money at anything," groused Jim DeMartini, chairman of the Board of Supervisors.

In another move, the board majority kept on track the vision of a huge business park in Crows Landing despite strident objections by a West Side group and DeMartini, who represents that area.

DeMartini, a longtime Republican Party leader, calculated that the Obama administration's stimulus funding amounts to $4,000 for each of the 942 low-income youths ages 14 to 24 for whom the Stanislaus Alliance Worknet expects to find summer jobs. Employers in the public, private and nonprofit sectors have been lined up.

The Alliance Worknet also will train 119 low-income adults at more than $14,000 each and retrain 243 other jobless adults at more than $13,000 each, according to DeMartini's figures.

The calculations don't include overhead and administrative costs, Supervisor Bill O'Brien noted.

"Would you rather send the money back?" O'Brien asked DeMartini. Both ultimately joined in a unanimous vote to keep the cash.

All the supervisors are registered Republicans except Jeff Grover, who left the party in 1994. He remains unaffiliated with any party but has used Republican campaign consultants and maintains strong ties to GOP officeholders. And Grover was no more impressed with Washington, D.C.'s, largess.

"The community needs to have modest expectations. This doesn't create the jobs," Grover said. "Philosophically, this doesn't match up with anything that makes any sense."

"It's not much more than a leaf-raking project," DeMartini added.

Jeff Rowe, director of the Alliance Worknet, explained that stimulus rules tie his hands on how the money must be spent.

After the meeting, Rowe said he understands the supervisors' concerns and shares some of them but said the programs offer benefits.

The summer jobs program puts paychecks in young people's pockets that will be spent in the local economy. But more important, Rowe said, these will be the first jobs for many of the participants and it will give them the opportunity to learn how to be good workers.

"However you feel about government-subsidized employment, those kids are going to realize some benefits. ... It will help them find that next job that is not subsidized, that real job that is paid for by their employer," Rowe said.

And he said the training and retraining programs will help people find work once the economy recovers.

"A better trained work force will make Stanislaus County a more attractive place for businesses that are looking to relocate," Rowe said.

Still unpopular on West Side

DeMartini had sharp words for West Park, the industrial complex proposed at the 1,528-acre former naval air base in Crows Landing. He called it a "lousy project" that has "no public support and is unwanted and unfeasible.

Although promising thousands of jobs, the idea is loathed by many of his West Side constituents who could be inconvenienced by freight trains running to the Port of Oakland.

The four other supervisors ignored DeMartini's comments and wordlessly approved a revised preliminary redevelopment plan for the complex, and ordered environmental studies. The majority also turned aside a request by WS-PACE.org to postpone the vote.

Tuesday's vote strengthens the county's commitment to Gerry Kamilos' West Park proposal despite no binding development agreement, said Maureen McCorry, representing the West Side-Patterson Alliance for the Community and the Environment. Other opponents include the city of Patterson and the West Side's fire department and health care district.

"This is building momentum for a one-project alternative," McCorry said.

In a letter delivered Tuesday, WS-PACE President Ron Swift said the item was buried on Page 4 of the board's agenda in ordinary type size "indistinguishable from the rest of the agenda." The item technically falls under authority of the county's redevelopment agency, which convenes periodically and is also presided over by supervisors.

"Given the infrequency of these meetings, this is deceptive," Swift wrote.

County Planning Director Kirk Ford said his office ordinarily provides notice when requested. He said he did not know if opponents were notified; later Tuesday, he failed to return The Bee's calls.

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at gstapley@modbee.com or 578-2390.