#29 When the Invaders Arrive

Bulldozer hauling away destroyed oaks by HW 101

            Surely it sounds overly dramatic to say, as I did at the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting this morning, that the chain saws cutting down the oak trees and the bulldozers dragging them away feel like an invasion of the Nazi army.             

 

      And yet it’s true.  I’ve often wondered how Jews and their allies felt watching the goose-stepping invaders, knowing that the clop-clop-clop of their boots, along with the ever tightening restrictions of their laws, and the power of their guns and hatred, could only bode horrendous evil.

            So, too, the onslaught of CalTrans, with the power and money that support the bypass, seem to march over the voices of those people with a more reasoned vision for an alternative.

            The Board of Supervisors meeting was called because two of the Board Members, Dan Hamburg and John Pinches, had prepared a letter of support from the Board to CalTrans for the bypass, insisting that the protesters represent a fringe element of the Willits community.

Kim speaking at the Mendocino Board of Supervisors Meeting

            In fact, the Board meeting was packed with community members, 55 of whom spoke in their allotted 3 minute segments to explain why the bypass is a bad idea. ONLY ONE PERSON spoke in favor of the bypass; he was from the Mendocino County Organization of Governments, which had voted to spend $54 million of their money to support the bypass.

            For over three hours, the rest of us who stood up and spoke represented an amazing array of perspectives. We heard about the environmental problems that will result from the construction of the bypass, including the analysis of one author who researches oak trees and reported that over 300 species intersect with oak environments like this one which was being cut down as we spoke.

            We heard about the psychological impacts of this division on the community. Local business people warned of the negative impact on commerce. A 13-year-old girl spoke to the legal violations of a board of supervisors that is not adequately protecting the interests of the people who have elected them.

            Residents of Willits for over two decades revealed the many ways that the community has offered alternatives to the now-initiated bypass, all of which were consistently disregarded in favor of the current plan. They shed light on the history of this conflict, indicating how many of the arguments—even of our supervisor Pinches—can be reduced to a “he said, she said” battle of misrepresentation and lies.

            Many Willits residents complained that the town has been hoodwinked in various ways throughout this process. For example, I learned that the original plan called for a four-lane bypass, allowing for some safety measures should traffic stall along the four-mile viaduct. That plan, however, was deemed to have too much of a negative environmental impact on the wetlands that would be drained to provide its “footprint.” The community thought that theisviaduct plan was dashed. However, a two-lane alternative replaced the four-lane scheme, and because “someone” deemed it was more viable, then the two-lanes were accepted.

Police blocking access to Warbler in her tree

            Notice my use of the passive voice. As I’ve said before, I’m still trying to figure this all out myself. In fact, the gist of my own 3-minute talk was to speak to why so many Willits people are, ONLY NOW, responding in protest to this bypass, for I’ve talked to those both in favor of the bypass and those who have had no opinion who say, “Why are they complaining now? We knew this was going to happen.” But what did we really know? I certainly had no idea.

            To the assembled supervisors and public, I said, “I’ve had property here for 25 years, and over the years, whenever I asked people about what they thought about the bypass, they said, ‘Oh, it’s so controversial, it’ll never happen.’ So people like me remained ignorant and complacent. But when Warbler went up a tree to protest the bypass, she brought attention to the horrors of this plan that we had not known. And we’ve woken up.”

            I believe, however, that the pro-bypass contingent is counting on the rest of us being ignorant. Once those of us start talking to everyone we know about some of the impacts of the bypass, they, too, express surprise. For example, one of the biggest communities within Willits is the Brooktrails neighborhood, which I go through to get to my own little dirt road community at the north end of town. But there will be only two planned off/on ramps for Willits, one at the very south end where Warbler sits in her tree, and another at the complete opposite end of town, far beyond the turn off for Brooktrails. So that means most Brooktrails residents are likely to go all the way through town to get to their turn off, rather than use the bypass anyhow. So what good is the bypass in that situation?

            Similarly, a good 30% of traffic coming into town is heading for Highway 20 to get to the Mendocino coast. They will still come most of the way into town and contribute to the infamous “bottleneck” at the Safeway just before the Highway 20 turn off.

            It’s complicated. And you see, the bypass as instigated does not resolve many of the problems that the Willits community experiences.

            Many speakers at the meeting mentioned the Old Railroad Route, the alternative that would have little impact on the community because it’s already a four-lane “road” for the no-longer used railroad, and it can be used as an alternative route for cars and trucks that do not want to get caught up in Main Street traffic. The estimates for building this route came in at $30 million, compared to the $300 million for the CalTrans route—and realistically speaking, that plan will cost $400 million before the six years of construction are over.

            Why was this community-proposed and supported “railroad route” alternative ignored? I keep asking and find no good responses. I must find out.

            When I left the Board of Supervisors meeting, I came back through the Highway 101 site where Warbler bravely continues to sit in her tree after CalTrans put in a fence and the police started blocking any access to her tree sit. They are waiting for her to get too thirsty and hungry to stay in her tree any longer.

On right, officer leading away arrestee on right

            While I watched, the police arrested four more protestors who got in the way of the chainsaws and bulldozers.

HW 101 south of Willits with police and tree cutting to right

            The website for Save Our Little Lake Valley also has more photos and information:

http://www.savelittlelakevalley.org/

            These are a few photos of the oak grove that will be cut down to pave the bypass.

Oak grove slated for destruction

        

  

 

One person commenting on my blog suggested that we all enjoy the opportunities that modern transportation have provided us by driving on freeways all the time, and so Willits is going to join modern society and enjoy progress with its own bypass. How interesting that San Francisco decided to destroy its 101 bypass, the Embarcadero Freeway, when the city realized that the freeway was destroying its way of life. Surely we pay a price for progress, but this is not the price that so many Willits residents want—and the more they learn, the less they want it, with now 1800 petitions signed to prevent the bypass in a town of 5000.

            Supervisor John Pinches claimed at the meeting that the bypass is now “a done deal.” The protestors continue to believe that Goliath can be stopped, especially as more and more people begin to understand the implications of what the cement viaduct will impose on the valley. Ignorance is no excuse for injustice and stupidity.