Blog #33 The Bypass Is Ruining My Day--and Our Valley

            Anyone remember that faux-’50s cartoon of a woman with hand to forehead, complaining, “A nuclear bomb? That ruins my day!” That’s the Bypass for me, but it’s not funny. For those of us working to stop the Bypass, it threatens to take over whatever peace of mind we’ve established, not to mention our schedules as we squeeze in as many protests, meetings, letter writing, and other actions as possible.
           One great new tool for our protest is this video. Got 11 minutes? Here’s a great little video that someone put together that explains the whole Bypass Drama: “How CalTrans Sold the Willits Bypass” on YouTube. Good visuals and clear explanations!
            Local actions revved up with Earth Week. On April 23 two elderly Willits women, aged 78, were arrested at the Caltrans office for refusing to leave when their concerns were not adequately addressed. A crowd cheered them as they went off to jail.(Photos by Steve Eberhard)              

 On April 28^th, Save Our Little Lake Valley hosted the first educational forum in a series.

The focus was “Wetlands, Wells, and Wickdrains,” with scientific information provided on the impact of how the bypass might affect this precious resource. “Wickdrains” refers to the 55,000 holes 86 feet deep that will be dug into our wetlands to pump out the water. Our generally well-respected sheriff, Tom Allman, was the forum moderator. He lives in the valley not far from where the viaduct will pass by his land, so perhaps he was hoping to have his own concerns addressed.

Audience at the Grange on a Sunday afternoon.
John Ford is second from left in front.

He also brought along John Ford, a venerable rancher neighbor on whose former land the Bypass will cross. Ford, respected in the valley by “tree huggers” and conservatives alike, said that he found Caltrans “dysfunctional” and was wary of what they will do to the valley. Indeed.

Yes, talk about dysfunctional, read the news about the 2300 “banned bolts” that Caltrans installed in the new Bay Bridge (SF Chronicle article, May 9, 2013). Does that make you a little uneasy about driving over the bridge? It will cost them $10 million to repair it (KQED, May 8). But that’s another story. 
And such a dismal record still doesn’t stop The Machine from its well-armed (with a little help from their friends the CHP) and well-financed assault (to the tune of $300 million plus) on Little Lake Valley. Let’s hope their viaduct  won’t fall into the wetlands and cost an extra $20 million to repair, huh?

            No, we are still hoping to stop the Bypass before it gets to that dismal stage, with many plans ahead.

            We are planning another forum, the next one on the economics of the Bypass and how it will affect local businesses in the long run, not to mention the current impact. Many supporters of the Bypass claim it is providing jobs, and so they will do whatever they have to in order to make good money. The forum will ask what ethical considerations should be involved in allowing labor to make good money in the short term at the expense of long-term environmental concerns. (The human species can be so limited, it’s infuriating!)

            Another development was that the local band of Pomo Indians on the Sherwood Rancheria got involved recently with examining the impact of the Bypass construction was disturbing cultural heritage sites. The Ukiah Daily Journal (May 7) reportedby the Tribal Chairman, Michael Fitzgerral:

            "The tribe is aware of, and gravely concerned about, sacred and village sites that, while known to the tribe, have not been properly identified by archaeologists working on this project," says Fitzgerral in a press release. "The project site consists of one of the largest conglomerations of cultural sites, including burials, work areas, village sites, cooking areas, and all the places that one might need to survive and live. The project will cut into these important sacred places and cause irreparable harm if CalTrans proceeds unilaterally with construction prior to the proper analysis of the impact and a mitigation plan of the project on tribal cultural resources in consultation with the tribe."

            Finally, the last two tree sitters flew their coops, but another one has taken to a tree, which you can see on the SOLLV site. We keep hoping for more brave folks to put some kind of dent in the progress of “progress” (as some see the Bypass).

            Beyond the local, Willits residents against the Bypass made two trips

across the state to voice our concerns. One trip took 19 Willits citizens to Sacramento on May 2-3 for several meetings with representatives of Governor Brown and state agencies, including the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Policy Director for Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. We have yet to see how those meetings will pan out for state officials taking into consideration the eloquent voices of local activists.

Protest at State Capitol, photo by Steve Eberhard, Willits News

            Another contingent went to LA on May 6^th-7^th to speak at a meeting of the California Transportation Commission where we hoped to make the case that the remaining funds for the Bypass should not be awarded since they have not been fulfilling their mitigation efforts as promised. However, just on Thursday, we learned that the $30.9 million were awarded afterall. The issues are so complex that I won’t go into the details here, but the link to the Ukiah Daily Journal above gives more details.

            Meanwhile, Caltrans is ready to begin drilling its test pilings, puncturing the heart of our

wetlands.

Photo by Steve Eberhard, Willits News

            Many of us who see the irrationality of this Bypass design feel such deep anxiety and anger that we are up against a tremendous force that will stop at nothing to get its way. I mentioned earlier that I read through the letters of hundreds of Willits citizens written in 2002 (catalogued in the Environmental Impact Report) asking that a four-lane Bypass not be constructed in the valley, yet Caltrans responded consistently that their plan is the only way to fulfill the purpose and need of a Bypass. They were and are not interested in what Willits wants; Caltrans only seeks to fulfill its dream of an interregional traffic flow that requires this 4-lane behemoth—even though so much of Highway 101 is only 2 lanes, including parts of the route from Hopland to Ukiah and the highway that leaves 101 north of Willits. It makes no sense.
            In all ways we continue to speak out. You can see testimony at the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors (click for link) from back in March, including yours truly at this site, pleading for a sensible approach to this problem.
            Other organizing efforts continue. One new member of SOLLV has created a chilling image of the Little Lake Valley with a superimposed viaduct on it to give us a sense of what the future will look like. If we raise the money, we can put it on a billboard for the Willits community and its supporters to see what the future will look like.
            While we think about the long-term struggle here, many like me grapple with how to balance this hugely inconvenient attack on our valley, the time and energy it takes to fight the Bypass as designed without $300 million at our disposal, while keeping track of our jobs, our families, our peace of mind. This urban woman who went back to the land in order to grapple with the more solitary struggles that arise in a life on the land is now relinquishing those dreams and back to the struggle that urban folks know too well (as do rural folks)—how to face monstrous forces of injustice that threaten to literally steamroll a cement road over one’s dreams of beauty and peace.