I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's despite the doom and gloom in the news. Celebrations seemed subdued this season compared to most years...not as many brightly lit decorated houses, no big holiday parties for employees at businesses that used to go all out at Christmas, people getting a pink slip instead of a bonus from their employers. Reality is setting in after a decade of living high off credit cards, inflated salaries and bloated home prices. It had to end sometime. The housing crash seemed like such a surprise to everyone. Didn't anyone think it was crazy to have homes in Manteca and Lathrop selling for over half a million dollars when the average salary in Manteca is $36K and the median household income is less than $50K? California, as usual, is facing huge budget deficits at the state and local levels and there's talk of raising taxes and fees everywhere.
I heard on the radio that Governor Schwarzenegger wants to help California's economy by lifting some onerous restrictions that make doing business in the state almost impossible. We see examples of just how "business unfriendly" California is everyday in our own back yards. In Manteca, a small used car dealership is fighting against the city's mandate that the owner plant 10% of his property with trees and other landscaping. The issue was appealed at Tuesday's Manteca City Council Meeting and the council decided not to take any action yet. A few months ago, another business owner had his dreams of a custom hand-car wash dashed because neighbors and the council just didn't like it or the location and he was denied a permit.
In Lathrop, Councilman Sonny Dhaliwal is saying NO to Gordon Trucking's proposal to build a new logistics center on Harlan Road. He claims there are too many trucks in Lathrop now and why should they give sewer capacity to them when they could bring in two Country Kitchen restaurants instead. Huh? He doesn't want Lathrop to turn into "Truck Town." Does this sound like reasonable decision-making? How is turning away a company like Gordon Trucking helping Lathrop? What do you think employees at restaurants make? Minimum wage if they're lucky. For all the big talk about bringing in "jobs" that Lathrop and Manteca do, the jobs they're really talking about bringing in are retail and service jobs that don't pay high wages but fill the cities' coffers with sales tax revenue.
Until government leaders get their heads out of their asses and realize that they are not helping their communities by concentrating on retail businesses and restaurants, places like Manteca and Lathrop will continue to be bedroom communities where folks have to commute over the hill for decent paying jobs...unless of course they have a government job.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Jackie,
ReplyDeleteWhy dont you get your head out of you ass and start reporting the facts instead of doing a commentary on news paper articles. Sonny Dhaliwal is fighting for the citizens of lathrop and I support him.
Jackie,
ReplyDeleteHave you driven down Harlan Rd lately? It takes 10 minutes to get across by following all of the truck traffic, not to mention the wear and tear the road takes on car tires. The trucks on that road have damaged the road so badly that you can't drive down without worrying that something in your car might come loose. You want them to bring in a trucking company that's not going to fix the road, or bring any jobs to our city. I was present at the meeting where this was discussed, obviously you weren't or you would have heard their representative say that there wouldn't be any new jobs, they would be bringing in their employees from Modesto. You also would have heard about the issue with the ISU's for sewer, and how there's no point giving so many sewer units away to one company only.
Have you talked to Sonny Dhaliwal ever??? He is the most approachable and kind-hearted council member we have in lathrop, even if he disagrees with you, he'll take his time to explain his side then listen to yours. Why don't you worry about what's going on in Manteca, and stop butting your head in here. If you like Gordon Trucking so much, than you can bring it to Manteca. Maybe the city of Lathrop should give some of those ISU's to you, since you're so full of it!!!
What's he "fighting?" Us? Them? Who? To protect the vested interests from competition? Who cares if YOU need a job or if YOU want to work or if YOU want prosperity. There's already "too many" here -- so go away!
ReplyDeleteTrying to "protect" one group sounds great to that group. Dhaliwal may have the finest of intentions but as economist Milton Friedman used to say, intentions don't matter, only the actual effect matters. And the effect of this policy is less freedom and more poverty!
Thanks for the comments. I stand by my position that local governments, Lathrop and Manteca both, should be more concerned about "bringing in" decent paying jobs by allowing businesses that want to build here to build here instead of focusing only on low paying retail and service jobs. As to how many, if any, new jobs Gordon Trucking would bring to Lathrop, it's not clear that only their Modesto employees would work there. And even if they did, those people would spend money in Lathrop. If they are going to "construct" a new terminal, then I assume the city would benefit from construction jobs that it would generate as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the government's job to determine what businesses should be "allowed" to operate in a free market society. That sounds more like the old Soviet Union. Lathrop sits right on I-5 making it a prime location for trucking companies. But Lathrop doesn't need any more trucking companies, they'd rather spend their "ISUs" on retail and restaurants ensuring that Lathrop remains in poverty because the only jobs that will be available are minimum wage.
I wasn't going to jump in on this one......but i couldn't resist! Sonny rejected a loosely prepared staff report that did not address certain issues. Sonny asked some hard questions and it appeared that the Gordon Trucking people were as well unprepared to answer the councils questions. There was no rendering of what type of transfer station that was being proposed and with some of Ms.Salcedos questions of this being a fueling station or not.
ReplyDeleteThis matter could have and should have been dealt with in city hall with the community development dept prior to acquisition and subsequent planning of a transfer station to be relocated. Two other council members voted to reject that issue for Gordon trucking.........Why does Sonny get singled out?.....He was the only one asking any hard questions !!!
Dan Mac Neilage