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Profits shouldn’t trump Rocklin residents
Dear Editor,
Development in Rocklin has been too fast, too much, and ill planned. With its unique array of natural and cultural resources, Clover Valley is very much worth saving from Rocklin’s “just-pave-it” disease.
Yes, legal action has been filed (not one, but two lawsuits). Yes, Clover Valley’s rare concentration of diverse natural and cultural resources must be preserved for generations to come. Yes, the public was deceived by the developers and the city with regard to Measure H, so much so that many who voted for the egregious development still don’t get it. Yes, not one of the owner/developers, nor any of their campaign spokespersons, lives in Rocklin.
Private property rights? Why don’t people say what they mean: “Private PROFIT rights” in which no government should ever play a hand? Only Rocklin guarantees outrageous profits to developers’ speculative land ventures and hides behind the myth of “reasonable” rate of return. What about the rights of families and neighborhood home owners to not have perils or noise from 14,000 additional cars on Park Drive? What about pollutants that will run off into Clover Valley Creek that helps feed the entire Dry Creek watershed that children play in (with salmon and steelhead declining precipitously)? What about reduced air quality with clean air being a right that belongs to all of us? Should Rocklin’s values support private profit over the necessities of life?
Incestuous developer/city council relationships have produced greedy back room deals, but Save Clover Valley supporters are not obligated to accept any of them. If ever there was a group protecting community rights and values, it’s the grassroots groups who continue the fight to save Clover Valley.
Rocklin will face serious future economic problems (that could lead to bankruptcy) because of poor planning “deals.” The egregious Clover Valley development is just one more nail in the city’s ugly coffin. The lack of vision and good-ol’-boy mentality that drags Rocklin through the muck will not rest until it destroys its last jewel, Clover Valley. However, it won’t happen if more than 7,000 voting citizens have anything to say about it.
Randall Cleveland
Rocklin
Reader disagrees with Hanley’s endorsement
Dear Editor,
I agree with everything Kevin Hanley wrote in his op-ed, “Why McClintock?” (Sentinel, March 14, 2008) – except the endorsement. Tom’s a great and principled fiscal conservative. But there are lots of those who have traveled the path to Washington. Doug Ose is one of them, and presents us with reliable experience and some seniority. The problem with Tom is, he appears to be grasping on this one — miles away from his home turf, he looks every bit the desperate, stay-in-office opportunist instead of the statesman. By all means please run, Tom, but for a seat in southern California.
Joe Irvin
Newcastle
Moffat’s column was right on development
Dear Editor,
Gary Moffat’s March 14 column in the Sentinel, “Ye Who Oppose Development Abandon All Hope in Auburn,” is right on. He could have added the Auburn Bluffs project that was rubber stamped on Feb. 25. The only bright spots were courtesy of Lisa Worthington, Keith Nesbitt and the Vintage Oaks members.
Auburn development is run by “flat-land minded” people. Auburn needs Hillside and View Ordinances. In the end, the developer’s $58,000 “gift to the city” carried the day.
Robert Knepp
Auburn
Thanks to Sentinel for concert promotion
Dear Editor,
First, I thank you once again for promoting our successful Applegate jazz fundraiser from the very beginning. Your March 7 edition was so wonderful having Jimmy’s picture on the front as a teaser for the inside info was more than we had expected. You truly have a community newspaper in The Sentinel.
Anne Price
Applegate
Hanley a mouthpiece for Tom McClintock
Dear Editor,
McClintock advance man Kevin Hanley opened his March 14 column in the Sentinel endorsing Tom McClintock for the 4th Congressional District seat by telling us his man is unlike other pols that “put their self-interest and re-election above the national interest.” But how else are we to describe an opportunistic carpetbagger from Ventura, who knows nothing about the 4th District and likely cares less?
This move is strictly about furthering the career and fortunes of McClintock, a southern California rightwing ideologue who is termed out of the state legislature and desperately seeking a soft place to land. Otherwise, this man Hanley lauds as courageous will finally have to get out of the taxpayers’ pockets and find a real job in a failing national economy that the Republicans have run off a cliff.
Now that would be a real act of courage.
Will Stockwin
Colfax
YOUR VIEWS – The SENTINEL encourages the free distribution of ideas and information regarding our community. We strive to be a neutral forum for the discussion of issues of public interest. Letters are due Monday at noon for the following Friday issue and are limited to 300 words or less and must be signed. Please include your name, address and phone number. All letters to the editor become the property of Sentinel Communications, Inc., and we reserve the right to print them in condensed form and to edit them for libel and factual error.
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