(c) by Mark Dempsey
Last Wednesday evening some members of the Sierra Club interviewed the candidates -- Rich Desmond and Gregg Fishman -- who are vying to replace retiring Sacramento Supervisor Sue Peters. Desmond is the choice of Sacramento's land speculators and Supervisor Peters.
Peters herself was one of the deciding votes allowing Elk Grove to expand by about a thousand acres, despite the presence of at least a thousand acres of unbuilt infill there. The land speculators will make a fortune on that expansion, and Peters has been their dependable friend.
Previously, Desmond worked for the Highway Patrol's liason with the state, and has the polite bearing of a military man who is also politically savvy. He repeatedly told us he was interested in collaboration, even with his opponents. He said he wanted to work with Sierra Club to make sure any proposed development was "sustainable."
By the talk that followed his mention of "sustainable," I understood Desmond plans to entertain outlying, edge-city development as long as it mitigates any wildlife habitat impacts. He also said that transit must be part of any proposed development he supports. The region's designed-to-fail transit would have only the tiniest impact on greenhouse gases emitted in the lengthened commutes edge-city developments require, but that's the kind of head fake local government gives the population as it shovels massive profits to the land speculators.
The speculators profit by buying outlying agricultural land cheap, and selling it to builders once they have the entitlements to develop. But there's nothing "sustainable" about outlying development, especially since the region has 20 years worth of undeveloped infill. Meanwhile, infill is only half as expensive to maintain as sprawl. Despite their protestations of limited County budgets, that fact seldom appears public officials' deliberations when it might impact land speculators' profits.
Neither candidate committed to a public policy that would tax the speculators' profits--something that would put a stop to the "sustainability" and transit distractions, and to most outlying development. Unfortunately, this appears to be the best we can do.
I told Desmond that we will need radical changes to remedy the County's problems, and he answered that he would promote gradual change instead. But I doubt we'll get a choice like "gradual vs. radical" A virus pandemic and riots are what we have now, and we can expect more non-gradual crises that only public policy can address.
Candidate Gregg Fishman, a former Sacramento Bee police-beat journalist and currently a board member for SMUD, has been dealing with environmental issues for some time now, and has in-depth knowledge of the County's plan to anticipate the climate catastrophe barreling down the track toward us. That plan has not yet been adopted, but Fishman says he is committed to putting it back on the local government agenda.
What climate catastrophe? This:
In fairness, the fires pictured here did all occur, just not all at once. Nevertheless, the image of an entire continent on fire is concerning. Nothing says the State of California couldn't look like that, too. After all, the ironically-named town of Paradise burned to the ground because of a climate-induced drought very much like the one in Australia. Fires like these do not indicate "gradual" is how nature has decided to go, and nature always has the last word.
Citizens are currently frustrated with empty government promises to remedy these crises. I've attended meetings where the frustration made the crowd so angry that the Supervisors retreated out of sight rather than continue to sit in the same room with them.
In any case, Sierra Club decided to endorse Fishman, if only because he has not been funded by the land speculators. Meanwhile, this race may be too close to call. Fishman's vote count during the primary was roughly half of Demings. Three other candates who did not survive the primary got enough votes to make up the difference...but would they all endorse Fishman? And if they did, would their voters show up to elect him?
Good questions!
Mark, two minor points. Matt Ceccato and Tiffany Mock-Goeman have endorsed me int eh race--both were primary candidates. and, I never worked for the Bee. I was a reporter and anchor at KFBK Radio and KGO Radio for many years. I have also worked for the California State Association of Counties for many years!
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