WEBVTT

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Here we are with the most
productive farmland in

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the world and we\'re painting it
over as fast as we possibly can.

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How many more subdivisions how much
more sprawl how much more traffic

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will we experience in the San Joaquin
Valley and how many fields will be lost.

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Why don\'t we say the best farm
ground for farming and put

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houses on some of that ground that can\'t be
farmed and yet is not habitat area either.

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We should think about this
before we destroy one

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of the last great agricultural
areas in the world.

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We do have the ability to say no

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The Central Valley has just been an
amazing wealth of Agricultural Resource.

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And first of all it\'s the soil these
deep well-drained sands and sandy loams.

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Then we\'ve got the water from
Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers.

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Once we put water on that soil in

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this heat and that dry season
that we have all summer long.

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Then we\'ve got a perfect situation
for growing just about anything.

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This is a region roughly
400 miles north south

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which is undoubtedly the
world\'s most productive

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Farmland region no other
place in the world.

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Can you grow as many different
kinds of agricultural commodities.

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The Valley now produces

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more than 250 different crops generating
about half of America\'s fruits nuts and

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vegetables more walnuts almonds tomatoes

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grapes peaches and melons are grown
here than anywhere else in the world.

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But the Central Valley is also the heartland
of America\'s most populous state and

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the regions relentless population growth is

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rapidly consuming the
richest farmland on earth.

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The conflict between sprawl and agriculture
is being played out across America

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But nowhere on a greater scale than in
the Central Valley the type of ground

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we have here I like it because it\'s up
around that I can plant anything on.

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We have the river close by where we have
water around out here is good for beans.

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And tomatoes.

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Rapidly sugar beets also alfalfa The
walnut orchard that was here it\'s gone.

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Some of these artists were
apricot and they\'re gone

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From here Clara way and see the trays
over there and way that way here.

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So we\'re losing ground every day.

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And anybody that wants to stay five
minutes Tracy. And I have a hard time.

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The agricultural industry in the
Central Valley has a lot to answer

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for including environmental degradation
and the exploitation of farm labor.

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But the fact remains that the valley is

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the nation\'s primary source
of fruits and vegetables

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Kid living in the Central Valley used
to just ride my bicycle for hours.

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And it was just all farmland.

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That sense of freedom was something
that I found really incredible.

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And I know my child won\'t feel
that same ability to just take

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off as the urban sprawl
fills in the open fields.

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There is a sense of that freedom.

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That is that is being lost.

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And so my photographs have
tried to in some ways educate.

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Most people don\'t realize that the
Central Valley is where we get our food.

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And by destroying this landscape
we\'re really hurting ourselves

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While the Central Valley is a wonderful
place to grow fruits and vegetables.

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It\'s agriculturally rich and dynamic.

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It\'s changing and it\'s changing due to
urbanization and its change that will

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eventually undermine agriculture
400 miles long and 50 miles wide.

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The Great Central Valley is comprised of

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the Sacramento and San
Joaquin Valleys which today

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contain about 6 million acres
of irrigated farmland.

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In the 990s the valley gained

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almost a million new residents due largely to
spillover from the San Francisco Bay Area.

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And to a lesser extent Los Angeles.

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Many of these new arrivals have come
to the Valley in search of homes.

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They can afford. But a majority still commute
into the states coastal Job Centers.

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The soaring demand for housing is
setting the stage for a collision of

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enormous magnitude and towns
like Tracy or at the epicenter.

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Growth will occur in the
State of California.

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More children will be born every day.

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And their housing needs
need to be accommodated

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bad public policies in the high job
growth areas are pushing housing demand.

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Indeed exporting housing
demand to the Central Valley.

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What you would buy 4250

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or 300 thousand and Tracy would cost you
750 thousand or up in the Bay Area.

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So that\'s the push on

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the Central Valley and Tracy in particular
we happen to be the first one over the hill.

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The lifestyle being sought
by these commuters is

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spacious family friendly and car
centered and American dream

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complete with shopping malls
soccer fields and ample parking.

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But building this dream requires the sacrifice
of vast tracts of prime farmland. Most

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New housing consumers prefer a
detached single-family home

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with a front yard in a backyard in
probably two side yards we get out

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our colouring pencils and we we we
make pretty colors on the map where

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the shopping mall is going
to be and where the

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school side\'s going to be and
where the houses are going to be.

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And then you look out to
the edges of that map.

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And typically it\'s always white.

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And that\'s the way that
most planners look at

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agricultural land is just land
that\'s available for development.

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Flatland in the Central Valley allows you
to build many more units to the acre

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Then you would have in areas
in which it\'s hilly of

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course the problem being without a lot of those
flatlands your agriculturally productive.

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Those of us who live in cities say
the agricultural land is open space.

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We ought to be able to see it as
productive agricultural land for

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all of its resource
significance to the state

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When the settlers came to
the valley they settle

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along the creeks and rivers because
they had a perennial source of water.

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Also the best and deepest soils.

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We built up our cities as farm centers

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around these really productive
agricultural regions.

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Now as cities have expanded
the threat really is

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apparent that we could lose our
best soils and our best farmland.

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As we see these cities grow

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The population of the Central
Valley is expected to triple over

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the next 40 years and agriculture
faces and uncertain future.

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If current trends continue
about a quarter of

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the valleys best farmland
will be developed by 2040.

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Local farmers like Paul winger are watching
the march of development with great concern.

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I still live on a 100 acres here that my
grandfather bought when he first came here.

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When we get to live in the
house and he built in 1912

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But I have three sons and want
to be involved in agriculture.

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And we have to make sure
that people who make

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a living farming especially as we get
into more sustainable practices.

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You\'re using compost and you\'re
doing things that\'s going to have

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long-term benefits and it\'s expensive.

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And the only way you can
do that is and know

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that you\'re going to have
the use of that land.

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I mean they\'re gonna be
able to farm without

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urban infringement and all of
those problems that go with it.

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Alma thirty three thousand and thirty
eight thousand thirty three thirty three.

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Most farmers aren\'t really
able to make much of

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a living based on the amount of
money that\'s paid for produce.

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It\'s more realistic economically for people

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to sell their land to
development than to farm it

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When their neighbor cells for $30 thousand
an acre and if they are in a planned path

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for development then their values
will begin to go up as well.

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And it\'s very difficult to
resist that temptation.

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But if we plunk down a 40
acre subdivision right in

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the middle of this that\'s just
surrounded by nothing but agriculture.

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Well it threatens everybody on all
four sides because those people are

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calling up about the sprain and
they\'re complaining about the dust.

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And so if we have urban encroachment is

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extending out and fingers pool that
threatens all to farming around it.

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Although farmers may espouse the
fact that they truly love farming

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Loved his lifestyle and
what to continue to do it.

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No farmer is going to walk for
my $50 thousand an acre offer.

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We have the next generation of farmers
coming out there would like to buy

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land but they cannot compete
with the speculators.

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And I think that\'s very tenuous
situation to be in agriculture

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where no longer is it the
production from the land.

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That is the product that the
land itself is the product.

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In the valley land sold for
development is worth ten

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times as much as that same
land is worth for farming.

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The future consequences of this imbalance
or the subject of considerable debate

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I think the challenge for the region and
really for all of California is how

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to learn from the development
patterns in Los Angeles at

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Santa Clara County and
Orange County and how

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to take those lessons and
avoid repeating them in

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this region the decisions we make today
will determine what if not our children\'s.

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Certainly our grandchildren experience in
this state and by then it\'ll be too late

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You\'re not going to put back the
cherry trees were santa say now is.

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If you go up in an airplane at night
used to be the cities were separated.

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And now if you fly over the valley
at night you see the lights are

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connecting in there pretty soon
going to be one long sprawl.

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There\'s a complete lack of planning that\'s
allowing stuff like this to happen.

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And I think our real problem
here is that we\'re building

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unregulated and just vast numbers of housing
tract on some of the richest soils honor.

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Those that want to stir up emotions

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And say that Central Valley\'s being paved
over just need to look at the math.

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The math shows again a than agriculture
in this state is doing fine.

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The amount of land is
being lost to urban age.

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Urbanization is miniscule may become more and
more efficient on the land that we have.

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But even with technology today and we
use a lot of technology in agriculture.

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There\'s going to be that critical
point where we can no longer

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continue to produce more food and
fibre on diminishing landmass.

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It\'s never going to be about the
last acres of farmland here.

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It\'s about the tipping point
will Agriculture get to

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a point where they don\'t feel confident and
their own future and begin to sell out

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Or will the cities decide
that agriculture is

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important and that they
have to in fact learn

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how to grow and accommodate growth and

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economic development without
destroying agriculture.

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Mark Connolly is a fourth generation
rancher in the hills of Tracy

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and an activist in town he\'s sorry
to see Tracy abandoned farming.

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But he\'s also concerned
that Tracy\'s focus on

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new housing will harm its
economic well-being.

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The issue and Tracy is do we pave over
that farmland to provide stucco houses or

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do we provide some kind of an economic
infrastructure jobs tax base for years to come

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We were established here
about 1872 started out as

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a sheep operation and then change to a
livestock operations just cows in the forties.

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And in the background you can see
Tracy moving closer and closer.

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We have advantages that a lot of valley
towns don\'t have our proximity to

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the Bay Area is a tremendous advantage but
we\'ve squandered it for the most part.

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If we don\'t slow growth and trace
eat now what we\'re going to

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have is a 100% uh commuter
community no economic

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base and we will have
destroyed all of the farmland

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for a purpose that is not
economically feasible.

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We\'ve just turned to
residential housing and follow

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the philosophy that if we
pave over farmland built

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Twenty five hundred square foot
stucco houses that jobs will follow.

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And I think that\'s a foolish philosophy
in a region of high unemployment and low

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incomes all sides in the
valley are eager for

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real economic growth for new
industries and better paying jobs.

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But such gains have been elusive.

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And Tracy We\'re working on a
program called Tracey gateway.

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We hope to be the first in San
Joaquin County to accommodate

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high-tech R and D class a office space.

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We\'re even looking at and are hopeful
that we will see a reverse commute.

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As a number of these companies relocate

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In the near future developers come in and
talk jobs jobs jobs and everybody wants jobs.

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We have a lot of houses
here we need more industry.

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So you\'ll have people kinda
say we wanna put it in

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an industrial park or a commercial Park.

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And once it gets rezone from
agriculture into commercial

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industrial then the developers
and the engineers come in

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and say you know what we\'d
really like to provide

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the jobs but it\'s going to be 30 years to

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realize the full build-out we just can\'t wait
that long we\'d like to switch to houses.

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And with the right input into

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the city councils they can usually
get that zoning change to houses.

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And now you\'ve just
exacerbated your problem.

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And yet they\'ll turn right back around the
next time and do the same thing again

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With the region\'s future hanging in

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the balance local jurisdictions have

00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.629
almost total control over land
use in their communities.

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Efforts at regional
planning have so far been

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stymied as local governments
compete for growth

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What we\'ve got in the valley are
about 90 different individual cities

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that are making their own land
use decisions and all growing.

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Without looking at the
whole regional picture

00:16:55.400 --> 00:16:58.728
of agricultural production
every city and county

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views it as its own manifest destiny to get
bigger to have more economic activity.

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After all of the tax rate tax reforms and

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the shift of property tax by the
state away from local governments.

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A generating revenue has become
the major focus of a lot of

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local governments that way the tax
structure is set up at this point.

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Cities have no incentive to create jobs

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They put them all in the mall generates sales
tax and them all says we just need people.

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We don\'t care what they have schools.

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We don\'t know how crowded the roads are.

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We don\'t care how much
farmland we pave over.

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We need people to buy things
at the mall to generate

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the sales tax to support
the local government.

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That\'s the direct argument that they made.

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If you don\'t continue to grow at
this rate and get to a 160 thousand.

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You will destroy them all.

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And that translates into
kiss the sales tax dollars.

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Goodbye. The valleys unchecked growth has

00:17:52.370 --> 00:17:56.419
triggered a search for solutions
worried about their quality of life

00:17:56.420 --> 00:18:00.874
Some Valley residents are turning to
ballot initiatives to curb local growth.

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Measure T here in Tracey
would cut new housing in

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half the impacts that are being caused by
this increased growth mean that every citizen

00:18:08.840 --> 00:18:10.759
of the city of Tracy is paying

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a silent tax to the developers
when you sit in your car for

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four hours a day you are subsidizing

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developers because there aren\'t jobs
here and you have to be on the street.

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The growth that doesn\'t occur in Tracy
is going to happen in the county all

00:18:23.900 --> 00:18:27.334
around us because this is where the
people from the Bay Area wanna live.

00:18:27.335 --> 00:18:32.644
650 thousand jobs are going to be created and
the Bay area over in the next ten years.

00:18:32.645 --> 00:18:34.729
Those people have to live somewhere.

00:18:34.730 --> 00:18:36.649
And if they\'re not living
and Tracy city limits are

00:18:36.650 --> 00:18:38.734
going to be living in the
county all around us

00:18:38.735 --> 00:18:41.509
Measure teeth slows the
rate of residential growth.

00:18:41.510 --> 00:18:43.969
We have provided the message
that that needs to be

00:18:43.970 --> 00:18:47.524
done in a substantive and
in a meaningful way.

00:18:47.525 --> 00:18:50.689
I urge all of you to vote
yes on measure team.

00:18:50.690 --> 00:18:56.404
And I guess this concludes
our forum for the evening.

00:18:56.405 --> 00:18:58.789
I\'d like to thank everyone
for coming out tonight and

00:18:58.790 --> 00:19:01.849
taking your own time getting
involved in our community.

00:19:01.850 --> 00:19:05.074
When we moved here Tracy was just under

00:19:05.075 --> 00:19:08.614
50 thousand and we thought that was
a good size for our community.

00:19:08.615 --> 00:19:11.659
And of course we knew
Tracey would grow you know

00:19:11.660 --> 00:19:14.089
every place growth you know our work with

00:19:14.090 --> 00:19:16.684
measure t started because they were
talking about up and the girls.

00:19:16.685 --> 00:19:20.884
I mean we\'re already at four
times the state average

00:19:20.885 --> 00:19:23.764
And they were talking about
increasing it further.

00:19:23.765 --> 00:19:27.529
In this campaign the city council and

00:19:27.530 --> 00:19:31.924
the mayor have worked in
concert with the developers.

00:19:31.925 --> 00:19:36.814
There\'s so much money to
be made that the farms and

00:19:36.815 --> 00:19:39.049
people\'s wishes about what
kind of community they want to

00:19:39.050 --> 00:19:42.420
live in is just gonna get
rolled over by the money.

00:19:50.710 --> 00:19:54.859
The immediate demands of
housing and economic growth

00:19:54.860 --> 00:19:58.624
have so far seized top priority
in the Central Valley.

00:19:58.625 --> 00:20:01.174
But other values are also at stake

00:20:01.175 --> 00:20:06.439
Open space a connection to the land and
the need to protect agriculture for

00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:12.724
future generations who will ensure
that these values are considered.

00:20:12.725 --> 00:20:18.589
Historically when local
decision-makers are unable to

00:20:18.590 --> 00:20:21.049
deal with resource questions
that are of importance to

00:20:21.050 --> 00:20:24.124
the state then the voters of
this state have stepped in.

00:20:24.125 --> 00:20:26.269
And that\'s why you\'ve had
the coastal commission.

00:20:26.270 --> 00:20:27.529
That\'s why you have things like

00:20:27.530 --> 00:20:31.144
the Endangered Species Act or the
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

00:20:31.145 --> 00:20:34.354
People have said these are
resources that are too important.

00:20:34.355 --> 00:20:38.059
To be left totally to
local decision makers.

00:20:38.060 --> 00:20:43.309
What does it take politically to bring
about significant policy change

00:20:43.310 --> 00:20:48.574
in the area of farmland protection open space
protection and smart growth development.

00:20:48.575 --> 00:20:51.109
We can\'t rely just on the people.

00:20:51.110 --> 00:20:52.639
We elect a public office.

00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.629
If we still want our communities to
control their own destinies through

00:20:56.630 --> 00:21:01.324
their own political institutions y then
citizens are going to have to take action.

00:21:01.325 --> 00:21:04.099
In Madeira just north of Fresno.

00:21:04.100 --> 00:21:08.554
Some concerned farmers are taking matters
into their own hands by creating

00:21:08.555 --> 00:21:14.989
an agricultural conservation easement
funded by state federal or private sources.

00:21:14.990 --> 00:21:19.429
Ease men\'s pay farmers to keep their
land and agricultural production

00:21:19.430 --> 00:21:22.759
Thereby forming a barrier to urban growth.

00:21:22.760 --> 00:21:25.879
I got a call from a woman who
said that a neighbor of hers

00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:29.554
was annex eat his branch
into the city of Madeira and

00:21:29.555 --> 00:21:34.879
what could they do to stop it and so
I said not much you can do here but

00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:40.279
you can get the neighbors together and start
a petition the neighbor heard about that.

00:21:40.280 --> 00:21:43.909
And we met in he said if we
can come up with something

00:21:43.910 --> 00:21:47.974
that provides an market-based
alternative deciding for development.

00:21:47.975 --> 00:21:52.069
That he\'d be willing to keep this
land and agriculture production.

00:21:52.070 --> 00:21:55.999
We\'ve started the process of having
meetings with all the neighbors and we had

00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:58.519
everybody can contiguous block of

00:21:58.520 --> 00:22:02.269
land from western foreign service
all the way to how a road.

00:22:02.270 --> 00:22:05.329
I think what we\'ll start today
it\'s probably this first page

00:22:05.330 --> 00:22:07.954
that I just kinda go through
funding commitments.

00:22:07.955 --> 00:22:13.774
The total easement value
is $4.2 million and we had

00:22:13.775 --> 00:22:17.089
the Department of
Conservation for 1.7 million

00:22:17.090 --> 00:22:20.629
and then we\'re going to the NRCS
for the other one went seven.

00:22:20.630 --> 00:22:26.749
All that leaves us with the funding
gap of close to $1.2 million.

00:22:26.750 --> 00:22:28.669
You\'re on the edge of town.

00:22:28.670 --> 00:22:32.239
Town encroaches the lands too
valuable to farm anymore.

00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:35.029
The price of commodities goes
down and you\'ve got no option

00:22:35.030 --> 00:22:38.929
other than to sell it for housing.

00:22:38.930 --> 00:22:41.929
What this does is basically
pay you the difference

00:22:41.930 --> 00:22:45.759
between your commercial
value the ANR form value.

00:22:45.760 --> 00:22:50.494
We joined ourselves all of the hip
when we did those virtues itself

00:22:50.495 --> 00:22:55.204
was there\'s never been a growers and
I\'ve never seen agarose get together.

00:22:55.205 --> 00:23:01.219
So it establishes a one
mile perimeter that allows

00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:08.944
for the conservation of 40 thousand
acres behind this one mile perimeter.

00:23:08.945 --> 00:23:11.629
We love play.

00:23:11.630 --> 00:23:13.519
I mean it sounds dumb but we really like.

00:23:13.520 --> 00:23:14.869
But we lie for me.

00:23:14.870 --> 00:23:18.199
We like our property we\'d
like this type of lifestyle.

00:23:18.200 --> 00:23:21.259
And actually I think an awful
lot of farmers are like me

00:23:21.260 --> 00:23:23.554
I just want to be protected.

00:23:23.555 --> 00:23:29.524
Conservation easement and growth caps
like measure T are part of the answer.

00:23:29.525 --> 00:23:33.379
Proposals for urban growth
boundaries for better zoning

00:23:33.380 --> 00:23:38.029
and for incentives to redirect
growth have also been put forward.

00:23:38.030 --> 00:23:41.164
Collectively such strategies
could accommodate

00:23:41.165 --> 00:23:44.344
urban growth while
minimizing farmland laws.

00:23:44.345 --> 00:23:48.499
Ultimately however it will be
up to the public as voters

00:23:48.500 --> 00:23:53.790
and consumers to take action and
determined the valleys future.

00:23:56.230 --> 00:23:59.629
I think the expansiveness
of the Central Valley\'s

00:23:59.630 --> 00:24:03.240
a lot like the expansiveness
of the American West

00:24:03.610 --> 00:24:08.344
I think that that expansiveness has also

00:24:08.345 --> 00:24:13.860
some ways lead to its own demise because
it seems to be there\'s no limits.

00:24:14.350 --> 00:24:16.879
Then we certainly can but

00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:20.820
a row houses in here because there\'s
plenty of other fields around it.

00:24:22.600 --> 00:24:25.924
And I think what\'s changed is the hour.

00:24:25.925 --> 00:24:29.190
At the point where we\'re
beginning to see the limit.

00:24:39.340 --> 00:24:42.574
It\'s just inevitable. That\'s what you hear.

00:24:42.575 --> 00:24:44.704
You just can\'t stop this

00:24:44.705 --> 00:24:49.504
Growth and development juggernaut from
rolling over the entire countryside.

00:24:49.505 --> 00:24:51.079
I don\'t believe that.

00:24:51.080 --> 00:24:54.319
I don\'t think that it is inevitable.

00:24:54.320 --> 00:24:56.299
I think that if we develop

00:24:56.300 --> 00:25:00.394
sound policy and develop the right
kinds of tools and incentives.

00:25:00.395 --> 00:25:03.994
We can have significant urban growth in

00:25:03.995 --> 00:25:09.360
population growth in the San Joaquin Valley
and protect our agricultural resources.

00:25:12.970 --> 00:25:19.099
Urban development is changing the Central
Valley with irreversible consequences for

00:25:19.100 --> 00:25:24.079
agriculture and for our nation\'s
long-term food security land

00:25:24.080 --> 00:25:26.674
lost here won\'t be replaced elsewhere

00:25:26.675 --> 00:25:30.319
Rural America faces similar
development pressures.

00:25:30.320 --> 00:25:32.269
The time to act has come.

00:25:32.270 --> 00:25:36.150
The Valley has arrived at the crossroads.

00:26:08.530 --> 00:26:10.710
Okay