#32 Why We Can't Wait Any Longer

Crow in his tree in Willits; photo Steve Eberhard

"Crow" is sitting in a tree now, the lastest of seven tree sitters who have taken to Willits' tree tops in hopes of stalling CalTrans and the California Highway Patrol in their work to deforest and drain. More information here.

I asked a Willits friend recently if he was following the news on the Bypass. He blasted me, “I’ve been following it for 25 years? Have you? I don’t see why everyone’s so upset and taking action now when we’ve all known the bypass was coming.” I hear reports of this complaint all over town in the newspaper, at information tables in front of stores, by neighbors, in churches.

This criticism of the anti-bypass movement reminds me of the conflict over global warming: Some of us have been alert to the consequences of global warming for three decades now, despite all the nay-sayers, but in another thirty years, the human-made threats to our environment will be obvious even to those who want to blame volcanoes for the extreme weather, the melting of glaciers, the desertification of once green areas, droughts that destroy agriculture and access to drinking water, and the flooding of low-lying islands and coasts, just to name a few effects. I for one will have no satisfaction in saying, “We told you so.”

Global warming deniers typically see any form of regulation that preserves the environment as 1)impinging on their (God-given) right and pleasure to do what they want when they want, and 2) a threat to financial profits derived from activities that negatively impact the environment. Some of us are more oriented toward the benefits for future generations to enjoy this planet with the same relative comforts as we have. (It's the struggle of paradigms: Adam Smith's self-interest vs. altruism.)



Little Lake Valley wetlands, photo by Steve Eberhard

And so it is with the Willits Bypass deniers. Most of us didn’t know what the danger to the local wetlands and other consequences of the Bypass were, much less how eminent they were. “Oh, the fate of the Bypass is being debated in court. The Bypass will never happen.” I heard that just last fall. But others of us have realized the threats and come to our senses. 

 

Ellen and David Drell are two Willits community environmental activists who have been involved in the anti-Bypass movement for nearly 25 years. They were among the original litigants in a court case against the bypass on behalf of the Willits Environmental Center, the Farm Bureau, the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Environmental Information Protection Center. David Drell’s letter in the Ukiah Journal of June 2012 is at this link, for those interested in more of the history of this Bypass conflict from his perspective.

Sometime in the early summer of 2012, the litigants requested to impose a preliminary injunction against CalTrans, an effort that would prevent them from going forward in their construction. The request for injunction was denied in the late summer. The case was immediately appealed, to be decided in June of 2013. But in the meantime, CalTrans decided that they could proceed with construction. And thus they scheduled cutting down trees in January before migratory birds would nest in them.

 

Warbler in her tree, photo from S.F. Gate

Those more alert to the pending doom of the forest and wetlands jumped into action, and a woman calling herself Warbler took to one of the finest trees in January in order to prevent the chainsaws from taking down the regal entryway to Willits. Her action made more of us wake up and think.

 

Other local residents have been raising their voices consistently over decades, the voices now getting louder. Freddie Long, a Willits resident and CPA, wrote a letter in June 2012 pointing out problems with the impending bypass construction (see her attached letter below). Will Parrish wrote an excellent article in January, putting the bypass construction in perspective of other mega-projects that have dominated small communities historically. (Click to connect to Will's letter here.)

Most recently, a young woman from Willits admitted she, like many of us, had been "distracted," but she is making up for her past ignorance with a hunger strike since April 3. She explains why:

         “I am 27 years old and have lived in Mendocino county for 25 of those years. Like many distracted locals, I was uninformed of the bypass plans until early this year, and I am disgusted by what I have seen unfold. The blatant disregard for the land, logic, and the law is a microcosm of the ignorance and destruction ravaging the planet. The Willits bypass isn’t about helpin’ out a little town with traffic issues, it’s about corporate greed and hidden agendas. There are sensible alternatives to these ridiculous plans, such as simply re-striping Main Street, which CalTrans transformed into a chaotic mess 20 years ago. We can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to this madness.”

         (More about her story can be found at this Save Our Little Lake Valley website.)   

Now, three months into the renewed protests, many actions, discussion, and communication have been flying around the valley. Letters in the local Willits News are filling the editorial pages. Crowds of 30 or 50 or 100 show up at board meetings and rallies to learn, speak, and show opposition. A small town so rapidly mobilizing indicates the spirit of the place and the new urgency of the threat.

Mural of the Little Lake Valley Watershed by Rosamond Crowder, located on Main St across from the PO

 And it’s not easy to get informed about all the details involved: the history of the proposed Bypass from the perspective of CalTrans; the history of the local opposition; the science of the wetlands; the impact of the drilling of wickdrains on the wetlands, local wells, and aquifer; the contribution to global warming during construction with the thousands of trucks traveling back and forth through the valley to haul wood, rock, cement—this last item is bitterly ironic in a community where the pro-Bypass folks say we need the Bypass to prevent having traffic pollution coming through town. The letters from David, Freddie, and Will each touch on some of the many details relating to these problems, both historical and current, with this Bypass.

With so much to learn, it’s far easier not to know and to take a simple stance: “The Bypass will make it easier for me to breathe when the traffic goes around the town,” as one person told me. Another said, “The Bypass will make it easier for me to get to the dentist so I don’t have to wait for ten minutes in traffic.”

But one key problem of the traffic is from the Bottleneck (described in Blog #31), where, going into town, 4 lanes become 3. The Bottleneck was created in 1994, seemingly to squeeze more pro-Bypass sentiment into being, but CalTrans is planning to “restripe” that area and reduce the squeeze in 2014. So odd! If that project will take a pittance of the $300 million planned for the whole Bypass traffic conundrum, why not just restripe now and see how much that alleviates the problem. And if I can figure that out, why can’t the brilliant Army Corps of Engineers and the engineers working for CalTrans. Kinda makes you wonder, huh?

Meanwhile, we're spending $300 million for the Bypass in a state that is broke and subject to sequestered funds, which reduces the quality of our public services, so why spend this money on a huge cement structure we don’t need? (And we know, of course, construction will end up being far more than that the projected $300 million, as anyone who’s done any renovation or construction knows.) The alternative routes could be worked out and implemented if the political will existed, which is what those of us in the movement are pressing for, before the valley is irrevocably destroyed.

So some of us just can’t wait around and allow CalTrans to proceed with its plan when we do not trust this huge leviathan to have the best interests of local citizens in mind. We don't want to have to say, "We told you so."

 

In fact, I interviewed CalTrans spokesman, Phil Frisbie, about the Bypass, to get the CalTrans perspective. I asked him why the alternative route, a two-lane truck route along the unused railroad, was not accepted. He said that the federal monies that CalTrans needed would not come if the Bypass were only two lanes. I countered, “But the community only wants and needs two lanes. Are you saying that CalTrans is only building the Bypass in order to get federal money without caring about what Willits wants?”

He replied that this project is NOT about what Willits wants, but about the larger regional needs. In effect, to serve the through traffic of those 8000 cars and trucks a day heading north.

Makes you wonder why those cars and trucks are so important and the people living here are not.

 

Letter from Freddie Long to the Willits Community

Why the “Half-Freeway”?

            I enthusiastically support the lawsuit against Caltrans, et.al. and here is why.  I will borrow a description of Caltrans (paraphrased) that I heard recently.  “There are two Caltrans.  One is the ‘Local’ Caltrans – those hard-working employees we see repairing the roads, cutting the brush, spreading sand on roads when they are icy, etc.  The second is ‘Corporate’ Caltrans.” 

            “Corporate” Caltrans is determined to construct an elevated bypass I call the “Half-Freeway” because it is one half of a 4-lane freeway that will take a long, long time to build and will be nearly useless to Willits residents for local travel needs.  I don’t think that most Willits citizens understand the full extent of what this project will bring about in the short term and in the long term.  Allow me to elaborate:

·         The two-lane bypass is to be built across our valley as if it were a 4-lane freeway, erected on 1,600 piles driven as deep as 100 feet into the ground.  Pile driving is extremely noisy. Each pile will take up to 2,210 strikes with decibel levels of 187 – 220.  The equivalent of a jet taking off is 140 decibels.   See charts: http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOfSoundPressureLevels.htm  & http://www.controlnoise.com/decibel-chart/ .  This noisy pile driving will go on for upward of three years from early morning to late evening (7am – 7pm is the CA standard). How will this affect local life? What will happen to our tourism industry?  (Much of the above technical information came from The Environmental Impact Statement.)

·         Because the noise from pile driving will kill the fish in near-by streams, Caltrans is required find the fish and TEMPORARILY relocate them to some area safe from this noise (info from the Biological Opinion from NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service). [We are already seeing how CalTrans does not live up to its mitigation requirements.] 

·         It is estimated that trucks will make 100,000 round trips from Oil Well Hill to deliver close to 1.3 million cubic yards of earth.  Note that the noise created by trucking alone is rated at 70-90 decibels.  With the completion of the 2-lane “Half-Freeway” will take 4-5 years, if not more, that is a long time to endure the noise, dust and other inconveniences.

·         A 2-lane elevated bypass is unsafe.  In early negotiations Caltrans was unwilling to consider a 2-lane, ground level bypass as “unsafe.”  Now they want us to believe that THEIR elevated bypass is just fine.  I, for one, question this assertion by Caltrans.  In the event of an accident where would the collision vehicles go? Off the edge of a raised viaduct the height of a three story building?  How will the emergency vehicles get access to victims of the crash?  If the shoulder area is blocked or traffic is backed up , how will emergency vehicles gain access?

·         The cost will be $300 million for this “Half-Freeway.” Proponents of the Caltrans bypass point out that the state has already allocated the funds. What about cost over-runs – where will the additionally needed funds come from? Already over $33 million has been diverted to Caltrans for the bypass from county coffers that were originally designated for COUNTY roadwork, and Caltrans has recently asked for an additional $2 million from our county discretionary funds.  We will surely continue to be asked to share in cost over-runs when we really need money for county and city road projects.   

·         Of the 14 or more bids received by CalTrans for the “Half-Freeway” all but one bid came from outside Mendocino County.   Granite Construction out of Ukiah does plan to bid on the job but will be competing with mega-contracting companies from all over the country.  The low turnout of local bids defies Caltrans claims about creating lots of local jobs, but is that a surprise?  I’d bet that local contractors are not willing to even try to outbid these big companies? 

·         This project has never really been about local traffic abatement.  CalTrans claims that when the new Half-Freeway is up and in use local traffic will diminish because locals will go to the north or south of town to access the bypass and then get off at the south or north end of town.  Ask yourself how often you are going to go an extra two miles out of your way to do this. 

·         Another BIG disappointment is that the “Half-Freeway” offers no direct connection to highway 20 and no second access road for the large Brooktrails community.  Traffic coming from the north would be expected to travel past Willits to the Walker Road exit and then double back.  Right!

There is another solution.  I hope that the lawsuit will bring about an end to the ELEVATED bypass as currently designed by CalTrans.  Why not a GROUND LEVEL, two-lane highway? 

·      Constructing a ground level highway would cost less than half the amount needed for the “Half-Freeway.”  We could use some of these funds for other much needed road repairs and improvements.  Main Street -- still the responsibility of Caltrans -- could use a lot of improving!

·      The greatest cost of the “Half-Freeway” is from constructing it in a wetland. If the highway were not in the floodway, it would not require a viaduct and no pile driving. If it were not in the wetland, it would not require extensive mitigation.

·      No pile driving would be necessary for a ground level highway and it would be ready for use MUCH sooner and with less disruption, noise, and chaos than building the elevated bypass.

·      A ground level highway could have intersection access where major roads cross it thus making it accessible to local traffic, including emergency vehicles.
 

I do understand that this is an extremely volatile and polarizing issue in our community and sincerely hope we can find some “common ground” moving forward.  I have chosen not to address the many environmental aspects of this issue – others will speak to that complex and important aspect.  I will point out that a year or two ago the city of Willits  was presented with a petition signed by 90% of the local businesses AGAINST the proposed bypass but, strangely, the majority of the city council members continue to support the bypass as currently designed. 
 

Yes, we have a big traffic dilemma here in Willits, but please ask yourself if the currently designed Caltrans “Half-Freeway” is the right way to fix it.
 

Freddie Long, Willits resident