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The San Joaquin Awaits a Plan

Gov. Gray Davis’ idea of holding a San Joaquin Valley economic summit was not exactly novel, and when he established a task force to expedite the creation of a University of California campus at the valley city of Merced, he dubbed the outfit “Red Team,” adopted from the squads his Republican predecessor, Pete Wilson, used to lure new industry to the state.

Well, the valley always has been a trouble spot for Democrats. Davis narrowly carried Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties in 1998 but lost five others. Still, considerable benefits could flow from Davis’ economic summit last Tuesday in Fresno, where he announced that the new Merced campus will open in 2004 rather than 2005, called for a $30-million investment in the struggling biomass industry, which turns agricultural waste into energy, and proposed improvements to the California 99 Freeway linking the major valley cities.

The region’s population is booming, in part because of residential and commercial spillover from the San Francisco Bay Area and similar movements from Southern California into Kern County. But the valley has yet to share the economic prosperity of the late 1990s. The 300-mile-long basin produces about half the state’s $30-billion farm production, but its income of $18,658 per capita is 20% less than the statewide average. The area is plagued by double-digit unemployment.

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With justification, valley leaders complain they have lagged behind more politically connected regions in receiving economic benefits from state government. The 99 Freeway has not changed substantially in 30 years and is clogged with heavy trucks. Residents are concerned that population growth will eat up prime farmland but do little to broaden the economic base.

Davis says the UC campus at Merced will be a powerful engine of growth for the valley. Just how powerful is difficult to predict and will depend on the continued economic health of the state. There is no doubt, however, that the campus will become a magnet for development.

More important than how quickly the campus is built is how well it is built, along with the adjacent development. The state, Merced and Merced County can create a national example of good planning and growth management. Or the region could evolve helter-skelter and become just another dreary series of housing tracts, malls and distressed town centers.

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Davis shuns talk of land use planning emanating from Sacramento, but the state has a special responsibility in the Merced region. What happens there could set the pattern for growth and development in the San Joaquin Valley for the next generation. If it is to be done right, the state administration must be an active partner and be willing to make some bold decisions.

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