Modesto Chamber Double-Crosses Pathway to SPRAWL Supporters
By Emerson Drake
In recent weeks the Modesto Chamber of Commerce has been going around to a variety of civic organizations
attempting to drum up support for its dubious Pathways to Jobs plan which should be more accurately named Pathway to SPRAWL because of the housing the Chamber plans on building houses instead of business parks. The Chamber has visited the Latino Community Roundtable (LCR), the King Kennedy Community Center Board, and even had a discussion with Frank Johnson, President of the local NAACP. Now while I might and will question how wide spread the support is in these various organizations, the Chamber uses their endorsements when speaking to the Modesto City Council and the Stanislaus Board of Supervisors to claim some in the community support their plan.
After talking with many members of these organizations one topic reverberates consistently, and that’s the unrelenting belief of a need for more police officers in their respective neighborhoods. I’ve also talked with and interviewed many of the council candidates and they too expressed the over arching concern of the people they’ve talked with for the need for more police officers.
Now that the Modesto Chamber has their endorsements for the carrot on a stick, “JOBS” , and their Pathway to SPRAWL, the Chamber has pulled the old switcheroo.
On Tuesday night at the Modesto City Council meeting the Chamber’s head lobbyist, Cecil Russell, announced very
Hetaera urinating in a chamber pot. Tondo from an Attic red-figure kylix. Antikensammlung Berlin, 3757. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
plainly the Chamber would not be supporting the proposed “sales tax” initiative which according to Modesto City Manager could add 60 to 80 more police officers. No real surprise there considering the Chamber is afraid if Modesto’s sales tax gets approved this year the voters won’t approve the County road tax in November of 2014 and they feel the road tax is a necessary link for their proposal.
The Modesto Chamber says NO to more Police Officers for Modesto
BUT now the Chambers representatives, George Petrulakis and Janice Keating and others are actively seeking groups and individuals to undercut community support to DEFEAT the sales tax proposal. Now that the Chamber has the endorsements of LCR, NAACP and the King Kennedy Board they are seeking to remove, what these groups feel is the number one concern, SAFETY in their neighborhoods. How many more drive-bys shootings and children being stabbed and killed over cell phones are we going to endure just to support the greed of the members of the Modesto Chamber of Commerce?
Why should lobbyist Cecil Russell care, he lives in a gated community safe and far away from much of Modesto’s crime. Will these organizations rethink their endorsements? Or will they continue to follow along like lemmings to the slaughter?
Eye On Modesto 
we don’t need more houses we need industry and we don’t want anymore TAX”S clean up the Mess you have made of Modesto “CITY COUNCIL” we need to get these Clowns out of Office while we still have a town so far we have hundreds of homes that have been foreclosed, because, of the City approving housing for the Bay Area residents who have come, went and left a huge mess in the housing market plummeting to an all time low it’s trying to make a comeback amidst vacant homes that have recently become Victims of over valued home prices, our market has been set back to the 1970’s and they are still not happy! NO! it’s that simple we don’t need more low income housing to bring in more low income housing for the Mungs(Asians) and Mexican gangs to have all out gang war’s in our neighborhoods!” leave us to hell alone!” put them in your gated communities and see how your home prices will take it!, let them shoot up your houses we already hear gunshots all night we have had our fill of the crap! CITY OF MODESTO, STOP PUSHING YOUR UNDESIREABLES INTO OUR NEIGHBORHOODS’, WE DON’T WANT TO LIVE IN THE AIRPORT DISTRICT! WE DID NOT BUY THERE! , stop doing stupid stuff like putting “THE NEW FIRE DEPARTMENT IN OUR RESIDENTUAL NEIGHBORHOOD!” there’s a 4 lane road in front of it and A 2 LANE RESIDENTUAL on the other side of it and that’s the one they are using to RUN DOWN ALL THE TIME, WE HEAR FIRE TRUCKS ALL DAY LONG,EVERY EVENING AND NIGHT! WHERE’S OUR PEACE AND QUIET? WE NO LONGER HAVE ANY! one a block away where it should have been in the first place it’s two 4 lane roads, but nooo! we don’t want to bother the Dutch Hollow residents do we? it’s better to have it on Carver and Pelandale = “2” congested Lanes, with houses facing the street on both sides, 3 stop signs, “NUMERIOUS other SIDE STREETS” plus a park for kids before you get to, #4 stop on Carver and Stanford ) “4” plus” stops verses Prescott and Pelandale = 2 stops” if you count the one on that corner is four lanes it has apartments, hardly any driveways facing Prescott and they fenced and backed the houses to it so do the math and know they didn’t have Community Harmony or our Safety in mind, they didn’t care about the Taxpayers they just did us dirty as they are doing now behind the backs of Taxpayers and Residents sneaking around and putting threw a plan to annex more housing and allow more building of houses we don’t need. fill the ones we have! do the math people lets vote them out!