Our View: Setting an itinerary for ‘Realworldville’ in 2016
Resolutions are, in fact, just good intentions. And you don’t need GPS to find the road paved with them. Now that we’ve charted a course for this editorial, The Bee’s editorial board – Publisher Ken Riddick, Editor Joe Kieta, Opinions page editor Mike Dunbar, Vida en el Valle managing editor Olivia Barragan Ruiz and visiting editor Ed Tabacco – offers a few resolutions, in the spirit of a better 2016.
Our editorial board members resolve to vote, but we know it will take some effort. There are two countywide elections and three in Modesto this year. November’s could be epic. We’ll see initiatives for allowing bilingual education, requiring voter approval of certain state projects and even putting condoms on porno actors, to name a few. There are 11 distinct fun-with-weed initiatives in circulation. Oh, and we’re electing a U.S. senator and a president. Our job is to get educated then vote.
To dwell in “Realworldville,” that place County Supervisor Terry Withrow identified when discussing a proposed transportation sales tax. The usually optimistic Withrow feels dedicating a portion of the tax to commuter rail only works in fantasyland. For us, “Realworldville” is a place where smart roads lead to smarter homes with easy access to shopping, services, better jobs and more fun. We hope to take the train to “Realworldville.”
To find a cure for the state’s tunnel vision. Gov. Jerry Brown is fixated on building his twin 40-foot-wide tunnels to carry the Sacramento River under the Delta then south, leaving only the San Joaquin and its tributaries to push back San Francisco Bay’s salty water. We must fight to ensure the Delta is “fixed” using the water that’s always flowed through it, and fight even harder for a fair allocation of water necessary for our jobs and well-being.
To pet a pit bull. They’re cute when they’re living in a secure kennel, or walking muzzled and leashed and not cavorting with other pit bulls. When those conditions aren’t true, pit bulls should be in violation of new county and city laws.
To take a deep breath … and not find ourselves choking on dust, soot or road fumes. The Valley’s air board walks a fine line between improving our air and not stifling business; we applaud its efforts (usually). But we still don’t understand how the air can be worse in Stanislaus County than it is in both Merced and San Joaquin.
Resolutions, dude? Whatever. We don’t want to harsh anyone’s mellow, man, but the cities and county better come up with some plans like quick for regulating medicinal weed. Otherwise, the state gets to do it, and, uh, well, that might make us sick. Got any brownies?
To help the homeless. Homelessness is a statewide epidemic. The silver lining of that sad fact is that people throughout the state are working hard to confront the issue. Inevitably our society will find solutions. In the meantime, we must continue having patience, giving to food banks and shelters and supporting those dedicated to helping people overcome mental illness and drug addiction while providing those in need with a hot meal and a hello.
To pump only enough groundwater to get by. Got that Oakdale? Conserving water, no matter how much it rains, is the new normal.
To listen patiently, without laughing, as Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts explain that it is impossible to separate the costs of selling electricity from the cost of delivering water.
To identify and applaud efforts like those of Joe Duran, of Self-Help Federal Credit Union, to provide more services such as banking, shopping and jobs to disadvantaged communities. Practical solutions pay dividends; we need more of them.
To improve The Bee’s leadership by convening important – and often difficult – community dialogues through coverage, events and our editorial voices. Without an advocate – like the Great Valley Center in its original incarnation – it is essential that we all raise our voices loud enough to carry our concerns into the capitol and beyond the mountains.
This story was originally published December 31, 2015 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Our View: Setting an itinerary for ‘Realworldville’ in 2016."