Tuesday, November 18, 2008

By GERRY KAMILOS

last updated: January 03, 2008 01:30:37 AM

Since February, our West Park team has worked carefully to study our 30-year plan to bring 37,000 jobs to Crows Landing while providing the tax revenue needed for our county to survive.

We have met with more people and discussed our plans at more community meetings than any proposal in memory.

At a recent Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors hearing, more than 20 residents spoke in favor of West Park. A petition with 400 signatures in support of our proposal was submitted.

In addition to working with the community and earning support from around the county, we also have withstood an onslaught of misleading rumors and wild accusations.

Though West Park doesn't include plans for a single home, the first attack ("Crows Landing proposal worries West Siders," July 1, Page B-7) by Claude Delphia's WS-PACE group was that it was a plan for housing. And although our short- haul trains would take two minutes to pass through a rail crossing (24 minutes a day for up to six trains round-trip), WS-PACE has stated that trains would block crossings for hours.

WS-PACE continues to oppose West Park, a jobs-only project, while remaining silent on proposals to build thousands of homes in and around Patterson. Delphia sits on the citizens advisory committee that has recommended a population increase for Patterson from 20,000 to 100,000. (In fairness, he opposed this recommendation.)

We have grown accustomed to unfounded attacks from Delphia's group. Recently, he took his attacks too far.

Monday's Bee included a wild accusation by Delphia ("If Kamilos isn't behind attacks on DeMartini, who is?" Page B-5), suggesting that West Park is somehow responsible for a YouTube video regarding Supervisor Jim DeMartini.

Let's be clear: No member of the West Park team, including me, had anything to do with this video. Delphia and I agree that it is shameful for those responsible for this video to hide behind the anonymity of the Internet. It is also shameful for Delphia to blame others without any evidence or facts.

The Bee rightly has editorialized that the video should be "scorned and ignored." Delphia's baseless insinuation should be treated the same way.

Since the first day I began working on this effort, I have been committed to making a case for West Park on its merits -- and nothing else.

West Park has continued to carry on a dialogue with those who oppose our efforts, including DeMartini. We want to work with everyone in the community to find common ground. It is the only responsible way to move forward in our planning process.

Those who posted the YouTube video should remove it immediately. This type of malicious act diverts focus from the real issues facing Stanislaus County and the facts regarding West Park.

I hope that as I have done, Delphia will rely on facts to make his case in the future -- not baseless accusations that can hurt others' reputations without regard for the truth. I also request that Delphia provide evidence or retract his accusation.

Kamilos is the principal of PCCP West Park, LLC. He also develops properties in San Joaquin and

Sacramento counties.

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