Thu, May 25 2006

This week is full and crowded—and so will our neighborhood be, too soon...

There's a lot going on locally this week, but I've been busy getting a new issue of the Review ready, so comments may be unintentionally terse—except in the case of the case of the Watsonville City Council's adoption of Vista 2030. My comments will be intentional. Those who gain from this action will be those who will line their pockets with the proceeds from the development. It's a very bad plan, and someday those who are helping to put it into place will see that. Unfortunately, they will already have lost valuable area resources and talent, as many residents move away to other areas with more opportunities for professional careers and leave Watsonville to become a low-income, high-density bedroom community with few jobs to offer except in stores, restaurants and a few service businesses. When the city planners elected to think of housing more than jobs, they lost their chance to use larger land tracts to attract employers who could raise the quality of life in the area with wages and career advancements. And I can't help by wonder how many of those who profit from the development will actually opt to live in one of those substandard, low-income, cookie-cutter houses that will be positioned so closely together that one can hear the neighbors shower and flush. Very few of them, I'd venture to guess.

On a much happier note, our 42nd Annual Watsonville Fly-In and Air Show is this weekend. Here in the Buena Vista neighborhood they buzz our back yards and rattle our windows as they salute the military and rescue heroes of the air. Cheers to them. I hope the pilots use that crosswind runway (which some might call a toothache) every chance they get, to rattle the back molars of the ones responsible for foisting their General Plan off on us and ruining the unique character of the Buena Vista neighborhood.

posted at: 12:31 | category: /Politics | link to this entry