Modesto Gives Itself a Black Eye in the New York Times
By Emerson Drake 
Thanks to the Modesto City Council and the Chamber of Commerce Modesto has received more bad notoriety. Every time we end up on another negative list, worst to retire to, worst places to live, worst places to breathe, and well, you remember them since they just keep coming. To hear the Council and Chamber tell/spin it it’s never our fault but outsiders keep picking on us.
This time it’s well deserved, and maybe, just maybe, we came out looking better than we deserve. We, Modesto citizens and voters, brought this upon ourselves by not standing up to the City Council en masse and saying “enough is enough.” The citizens of Modesto, on the large part, have been sitting back and allowing Salida and Wood Colony residents to fight our battles for us and it’s time we took over and straightened the Council and Chamber out. Here is the link to the article:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/15/us/rural-spot-settled-by-religious-group-in-california-fears-a-citys-encroachment.html?_r=0
We should be ashamed of ourselves for not going down to the Council meeting in numbers that would dwarf our outlying neighbors, (Salida and Wood Colony).
Jenny Kenoyer was just speaking the unvarnished truth when she said referring to Wood Colony that ” They can’t even vote for me”. Cold sounding as it was it should have resonated in the hearts of Modesto voters as a plaintive cry for help for those who can’t help themselves. Jenny needed guidance and since the voters didn’t provide it the lackeys from the Chamber, including City manager Greg Nyhoff, stepped forward to label Wood Colony residents as anachronisms and being out of step with modern times. The Chamber reps have been preaching from the rooftops that paving over Wood Colony is inevitable so we might as well get started.
Greg Nyhoff, Dave Cogdill, Bill Zoslocki and Cecil Russell have been reminding everyone who will listen that they don’t have to pay attention to Salida representatives and that the furor over Wood Colony will pass in time. And why do they keep saying this? Because the German Brethren will seldom speak in public let alone vote on any level and Salida’s residents, like those in Wood Colony, can’t vote in Modesto elections. Mayor Marsh has gone so far as to gerrymander the proposed border to purposely exclude a major portion of Wood Colony’s voters.
A Modesto resident named John Walker has provided the most visible push-back to date. He has initiated a petition to recall Dave Cogdill and we wish him well. Interestingly, when he announced his efforts at the last City Council meeting, Cogdill played the ‘hurt’ card. He said he was willing to talk with Mr. Walker but wasn’t going to change his mind. So basically he was going to talk at John and not to him. From our point of view, when your elected representative feels different from his constituents, he/she needs to be replaced.
Eye On Modesto 