Modesto’s Future is Being Decided Will Your Voice be Heard? Modesto’s General Plan Amendment
By Emerson Drake
On August 19 the Modesto Planning Commission will be meeting to formulate proposals to give to the Modesto City Council.
Stop Sign (Photo credit: SP8254)
The discussion encompasses much more than just the Chamber of Commerce’s Pathway to SPRAWL. It designates areas inside the city where businesses will be allowed preferential treatment over homes, and Homes are already there.
The plan also designates the way they intend for people to live. The transportation plan has a life of its own. But rather than going on we think it’s more important for EVERYONE to look it over for themselves. So here is the plan as it stands now with out including the Chamber of Commerce’s proposed changes.
Yours, Mine, Our futures are being plotted by this plan and to date very few of us have come out to the meeting to be heard. No matter what your views are, if more people don’t show up to discuss the plan ALL of the suggestions made by average citizens (you and me, all of us) will be ignored. The City Council does this regularly in order to support the SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS (like the Modesto Chamber of Commerce) that have controlled Modesto for the past thirty years.
It’s important for everyone to participate in the ongoing conversation. Please be part of helping to decided our future. Read the proposal, think it through, and come out and speak your mind. Thanks
Eye On Modesto 
The “General Plan Amendment” by City Planners is a huge “city wide” re-development project of building more housing and business buildings. This development is using one of the state’s mandates to reduce greenhouse gases by building close (compact) high density housing to commercial centers so that people will use their cars less. This is called a sustainable city. What is important for Modesto residents to realize is State law SB 375 is only ONE OPTION in which California cities and counties must reduce greenhouse gases by 5% by the year 2020. Why isn’t our local government agencies helping residents understand all of the other ways so that our beautiful rural town is not destroyed and forced into HIGH DENSITY LIVING? Read the above PLAN as indicated and you will see that OUR government intends to destroy our middle class neighborhoods with low income housing. See section entitle “neighborhoods”. Residents need to speak out against this at the August 19 Planning Commission meeting at 6pm at 1010 10th street, basement level. Otherwise your quality of life is soon to be taken from you.