Published in edited form in the Foothills Sun-Gazette, April 24, 2013
It's been a rocky two weeks. After shenanigans pulled at the April 9th Lindsay City Council meeting regarding Dollar General's "withdrawal," while we supposedly celebrated our agricultural heritage in the Orange Blossom Festival and the fragrance of orange blossoms wafted through town, I was tracking what actually happened. All we really know is that the developer cancelled escrow on the Citrus Exchange site and the building is not now scheduled for demolition.
When people heard the building had been saved, ideas about its future flew in like a flock of crows. Everything from an orange museum to a family crisis center has been proposed. When I didn't automatically applaud, people asked "Well, what do YOU think it should be?" Waiting for an answer to arrive, I tried words like "community resource center" and "non-profit meeting place." Then it came: what I want to create there is The Center for the Dream that Dreamed Jefferson.
That's not a name that would really light up the skies. The idea is one that came in a sentence 20 years ago as I prepared a presentation for the 1993 California Studies conference describing the work of Paul Taylor, a professor of economics at UC Berkeley whom one scholar had described as "the last Jeffersonian." Jefferson was an agrarian, and luckily scholars since 1993 have discovered that agrarians still exist and are working in the widening cracks of our decrepit economy. Twenty years ago I was maintaining that Paul wasn't the last, and no one ever would be because what moved him, like what moved Thomas Jefferson, was bigger than any one person. What I was maintaining was that both men were responding to the drum beat of a different Drummer, who is not going to stop drumming.
I described the dream as the dream of human equality that formed this country, equality made possible by democracy. What Taylor and Jefferson both recognized was that democracy is maintainable only so long as the country's resources are evenly distributed. Both men understood that land is the primary resource, and both worked for widespread land ownership for the greatest number of people because they both saw it was in the country's interest as well as the people's.
Jefferson's dream was partial: he didn't see that, in scoring the Louisiana Purchase for Americans to settle, they would be displacing Native Americans from their land. Taylor's dream was partial: he didn't see that developing irrigation supplies for small farmers would drown out valleys, destroy salmon runs and drive off antelope from desert lands that never should have been farmed in the first place. But the dream that dreamed Taylor and Jefferson wasn't partial: it was inclusive, universal. They were cooperating, doing their part as best they could, and they both left enormous legacies we don't yet know how to appreciate.
My part was to look again at the way landownership patterns influence the development of small towns, updating a research project conducted by one of Taylor's students, Walter Goldschmidt, who later became professor of anthropology at UCLA. What I found was that the pattern holds: towns that grow amidst a larger number of smaller-scale farms are healthier economically, socially, culturally and politically than towns that grow amidst larger-scale farms operated by a few. It's the night-and-day difference between the east and west sides of our Valley that we all observe but fail to interpret because the economic power of the large landholders - "the big boys," as Paul called them - has put blindfolds on our thinking, gag orders on our mouths.
What I want to create in the old Exchange building, that historic site of cooperative effort which maintained a viable place in the market for small citrus growers for fifty years and thus enriched this town beyond its own awareness, is a place where we can take the blindfolds off and look at what matters. I want to create a place where the gag orders can be left at the door and we can begin to speak about solutions. In that elegant, artfully-crafted building of light and sound I want to create a place where you can still hear that drum beat - so more of us can begin to do our part.
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Trudy Wischemann is a dreamer who has often been accused of being merely nostalgic. You can send her your dreams of restoring Lindsay or any small town % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a message below!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Begging the Question
"Why did they want to tear down that beautiful building?" a lovely woman asked me at the bank last week, one of our stalwart members of Lindsay, speaking of the Citrus Exchange building we'd just saved. I hadn't been totally sure of the answer until Tuesday night's council meeting. "They wanted a parking lot, new curbs and gutters, and a bulbout," I told her, still in disbelief.
The agenda for the council meeting was more placid than usual. Councilwoman Kimball was absent on a trip to Washington DC with TCAG, so no controversial items were considered. The withdrawal of the Dollar General proposal was tucked into the consent calendar along with the minutes of the last meeting, the request by El Quinto Sol to use Sweet Brier Plaza April 27th for their Dia del Nino event, and the mayor's proclamation opening Orange Blossom Week.
I had questioned my attorney why the council would need to approve Dollar General's withdrawal; on the surface it seemed a moot point. He thought it had something to do with limiting the time period in which that proposal could come back to the council without re-doing the environmental documents. So I let the question drop and prepared to simply witness the formality with dignity and gratitude.
Surprisingly, Danny Salinas asked to have that item removed from the consent calendar, wanting more discussion. "I'd like to get a little more insight on what happened. Bill?"
Ready, Zigler replied "The developer pulled the project because the developer was concerned about litigation. The scope of the project was such that they couldn't afford to litigate." My mind did a back-flip. If it had gone to court, it would have been the City of Lindsay trying to defend Zigler's environmental documents, not Dollar General. If we had proven their inadequacy, which we were prepared to do, it would have been the City of Lindsay who paid, because Zigler had not included any indemnification clauses in the conditions on the project. We were grateful to not have to put that burden on the taxpayers, ourselves, for a staff still out of control.
Zigler continued: "As a result of that, if the City of Lindsay wants a pedestrian-friendly bulbed intersection, the citizens will have to pay for it." Another backflip: when did we ever ask for a bulbout anywhere? "If the City wants an additional parking lot, the citizens will have to pay." The list went on. "If the City wants street improvements on North Mirage, the citizens will pay for that. If the City wants improved curbs, gutters and landscaping on Hermosa, the citizens will pay for that."
I was stunned. We have not been begging for any of those things. The only things we have been begging for are to have our streets fixed and our city government re-opened so it is responsive to its citizens, and so far our desires have been unmet.
Zigler noted that the developer was going to pay for all these things, as well as architectural features masking the metal building's true structure, then concluded "So that's the result of this project being withdrawn. I'd be happy to answer any questions."
The only question Bill Zigler will not be happy to answer is "Who says we need these projects?" It's not the citizens, so who is it?
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Trudy Wischemann is an ex-patriot planner who loves small towns for their authenticity. You can send her your ideas about who wants these projects % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below!
The agenda for the council meeting was more placid than usual. Councilwoman Kimball was absent on a trip to Washington DC with TCAG, so no controversial items were considered. The withdrawal of the Dollar General proposal was tucked into the consent calendar along with the minutes of the last meeting, the request by El Quinto Sol to use Sweet Brier Plaza April 27th for their Dia del Nino event, and the mayor's proclamation opening Orange Blossom Week.
I had questioned my attorney why the council would need to approve Dollar General's withdrawal; on the surface it seemed a moot point. He thought it had something to do with limiting the time period in which that proposal could come back to the council without re-doing the environmental documents. So I let the question drop and prepared to simply witness the formality with dignity and gratitude.
Surprisingly, Danny Salinas asked to have that item removed from the consent calendar, wanting more discussion. "I'd like to get a little more insight on what happened. Bill?"
Ready, Zigler replied "The developer pulled the project because the developer was concerned about litigation. The scope of the project was such that they couldn't afford to litigate." My mind did a back-flip. If it had gone to court, it would have been the City of Lindsay trying to defend Zigler's environmental documents, not Dollar General. If we had proven their inadequacy, which we were prepared to do, it would have been the City of Lindsay who paid, because Zigler had not included any indemnification clauses in the conditions on the project. We were grateful to not have to put that burden on the taxpayers, ourselves, for a staff still out of control.
Zigler continued: "As a result of that, if the City of Lindsay wants a pedestrian-friendly bulbed intersection, the citizens will have to pay for it." Another backflip: when did we ever ask for a bulbout anywhere? "If the City wants an additional parking lot, the citizens will have to pay." The list went on. "If the City wants street improvements on North Mirage, the citizens will pay for that. If the City wants improved curbs, gutters and landscaping on Hermosa, the citizens will pay for that."
I was stunned. We have not been begging for any of those things. The only things we have been begging for are to have our streets fixed and our city government re-opened so it is responsive to its citizens, and so far our desires have been unmet.
Zigler noted that the developer was going to pay for all these things, as well as architectural features masking the metal building's true structure, then concluded "So that's the result of this project being withdrawn. I'd be happy to answer any questions."
The only question Bill Zigler will not be happy to answer is "Who says we need these projects?" It's not the citizens, so who is it?
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Trudy Wischemann is an ex-patriot planner who loves small towns for their authenticity. You can send her your ideas about who wants these projects % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Dollar General's Silver Linings
Published in slightly edited form April 10, 2013 in The Foothills Sun-Gazette
The fight is over, at least momentarily: Embree Group has withdrawn its proposal to construct a Dollar General in downtown Lindsay. Now I can organize the papers on my desk and glean the lessons learned from their pages for whatever lies ahead.
And many things do. If we learned anything from this, it's the need for a planning commission. Our planning staff, which we also learned is half invisible, has had its way far too long. My immediate task is to bring that part to light so we can move ahead with plans that meet the needs of the population, not the city planner's glorification.
We learned that we need a component in our general plan that speaks for historic preservation. Exeter adopted one last year, which could serve as a model for one for Lindsay. This isn't rocket science: it's understanding the qualities that make a small town environment special and preserving them rather than bulldozing and paving them over.
Something I myself learned was the value of asking for help. My whole life I've been help-impaired: I don't know how to ask for it and don't know what to do when help arrives. But that shifted for me these last two months, and it started with Steve Slagle, one of my former mini-storage customers who cares for people's lawns and the Lindsay United Methodist Church.
Steve was standing outside the church one Sunday morning in his suit and tie when I drove by, trying to track the truck routes Dollar General's semi's might use. Robin Mattos, my attorney's dynamite research arm, had discovered that the Exchange building's architect had also designed a church in Lindsay, but not which one. So I pulled over, jumped out and asked Steve if he knew who designed that beautiful, Spanish-style church right next to city hall. He said no, but knew there were plans in the basement he might be able to find. By 9:45 Monday morning he had the answer: yes, it was Wm. W. Ache, in October 1954.* From that moment on, I knew we could demolish the city's finding of "no historical significance," and hopefully prevent the demolition of the Exchange building.
In response, the developers offered to move off the Exchange building site and develop on Elmwood where a parking lot had been planned. That was fine with me until it became clear they were going to demolish Ed's Auto (now M&J's) for their parking lot. After talking with Miguel about what would happen to his business if that occurred, I was distraught. It felt like Sophie's Choice: which child do you turn over to the Nazi's for their incinerators, your son or your daughter? So I prayed, stopped talking with people who thought it was a reasonable deal, and prayed some more. Good Friday the answer arrived, and it was "No." Neither my attorney nor I knew what the developers would do.
Gracias a Dios, they backed out. Now there's work to do creating a new life for the Exchange Building, protecting the life already in full-swing at Miguel's, and continuing the effort to make this city's staff accountable and transparent. But for one moment more, I'm celebrating the silver linings that came part-and-parcel with the Dollar General project: reconnection with members of this community who know and care about it, and the fresh and jubilant reminder of the role of faith.
*Mr. Ache had designed the Exchange building in 1933 as well as the Sierra Citrus packinghouse on Tulare Road that same year, which, with its domed roof, was very innovative at the time.
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Trudy Wischemann is a formerly faithless person who is rebuilding her ideas of community. You can send your silver lining stories to her % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below!
The fight is over, at least momentarily: Embree Group has withdrawn its proposal to construct a Dollar General in downtown Lindsay. Now I can organize the papers on my desk and glean the lessons learned from their pages for whatever lies ahead.
And many things do. If we learned anything from this, it's the need for a planning commission. Our planning staff, which we also learned is half invisible, has had its way far too long. My immediate task is to bring that part to light so we can move ahead with plans that meet the needs of the population, not the city planner's glorification.
We learned that we need a component in our general plan that speaks for historic preservation. Exeter adopted one last year, which could serve as a model for one for Lindsay. This isn't rocket science: it's understanding the qualities that make a small town environment special and preserving them rather than bulldozing and paving them over.
Something I myself learned was the value of asking for help. My whole life I've been help-impaired: I don't know how to ask for it and don't know what to do when help arrives. But that shifted for me these last two months, and it started with Steve Slagle, one of my former mini-storage customers who cares for people's lawns and the Lindsay United Methodist Church.
Steve was standing outside the church one Sunday morning in his suit and tie when I drove by, trying to track the truck routes Dollar General's semi's might use. Robin Mattos, my attorney's dynamite research arm, had discovered that the Exchange building's architect had also designed a church in Lindsay, but not which one. So I pulled over, jumped out and asked Steve if he knew who designed that beautiful, Spanish-style church right next to city hall. He said no, but knew there were plans in the basement he might be able to find. By 9:45 Monday morning he had the answer: yes, it was Wm. W. Ache, in October 1954.* From that moment on, I knew we could demolish the city's finding of "no historical significance," and hopefully prevent the demolition of the Exchange building.
In response, the developers offered to move off the Exchange building site and develop on Elmwood where a parking lot had been planned. That was fine with me until it became clear they were going to demolish Ed's Auto (now M&J's) for their parking lot. After talking with Miguel about what would happen to his business if that occurred, I was distraught. It felt like Sophie's Choice: which child do you turn over to the Nazi's for their incinerators, your son or your daughter? So I prayed, stopped talking with people who thought it was a reasonable deal, and prayed some more. Good Friday the answer arrived, and it was "No." Neither my attorney nor I knew what the developers would do.
Gracias a Dios, they backed out. Now there's work to do creating a new life for the Exchange Building, protecting the life already in full-swing at Miguel's, and continuing the effort to make this city's staff accountable and transparent. But for one moment more, I'm celebrating the silver linings that came part-and-parcel with the Dollar General project: reconnection with members of this community who know and care about it, and the fresh and jubilant reminder of the role of faith.
*Mr. Ache had designed the Exchange building in 1933 as well as the Sierra Citrus packinghouse on Tulare Road that same year, which, with its domed roof, was very innovative at the time.
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Trudy Wischemann is a formerly faithless person who is rebuilding her ideas of community. You can send your silver lining stories to her % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below!
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Place Value
"What's the APN number on that property?" my attorney friend asked during a discussion of the Dollar General proposal.
I hesitated as a small explosion occurred inside my brain, left side, a little toward the front. I recognized the signs, like an epileptic who knows a seizure is about to occur, and kept my mouth shut a few moments longer before answering "I'm not sure."
Though I've had these episodes regularly during my life, it wasn't till that moment I realized how much difficulty I have talking about places as property. My friend deals with properties, planners and developers throughout the Central Valley. It's part of his family history as well as central to his career. He meant no offense.
And I don't mean to be quixotic, always tilting at windmills. I recognize the value of property, how having some (or not) totally shapes our lives in this country, both economically and socially, and that it's one of the ways we make home. My little explosions, however, are triggered by the way we fail to recognize the place value of property, which transcends parcel lines and ownership, and derives from community uses over time.
For instance, some of the opposition I heard to the proposed demolition of the Citrus Exchange building was about the loss of that building as a place that represents a moment of community well-being. My friend Sal Natoli, who graduated from LHS in 1966 and hasn't lived here since, said "Not that building - both of my sisters worked there!" Quality work environments matter to us: they confer status, help us integrate with the rest of the community, contribute to our self-worth. Located on the northeast entry to the business district, it stands as a cornerpost for the community's well-being, even though empty, because its contributions live in our memories.
And take Ed's Auto, now M & J's, on the northwest corner. To my mind, the place value there is just as high as the Exchange building, but in an opposite way. Ed Schapansky's career as an auto mechanic contributed to my well-being so often I went into mourning when he retired, turning over his business to Miguel (whom he calls "Magill" in his Okie interpretation of Spanish.) Once a Shell gas station, the traces of that national petroleum chain's designs still showing, Ed's Auto is a monument to one individual's entrepreneurial skills and decades of elbow grease meeting a need for care of auto owners as well as their vehicles. I once saw him change the windshield wipers so tenderly for Wayne Wolf, then very elderly, I almost cried.
Although it's difficult to use CEQA to defend the kind of place values I'm describing, that doesn't mean we have to discount them. It's what distinguishes the small town environment from the urban one, and it's time those contributions are recognized.
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Trudy Wischemann is a writer who has always loved places over properties. You can send her your list of place values % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below!
I hesitated as a small explosion occurred inside my brain, left side, a little toward the front. I recognized the signs, like an epileptic who knows a seizure is about to occur, and kept my mouth shut a few moments longer before answering "I'm not sure."
Though I've had these episodes regularly during my life, it wasn't till that moment I realized how much difficulty I have talking about places as property. My friend deals with properties, planners and developers throughout the Central Valley. It's part of his family history as well as central to his career. He meant no offense.
And I don't mean to be quixotic, always tilting at windmills. I recognize the value of property, how having some (or not) totally shapes our lives in this country, both economically and socially, and that it's one of the ways we make home. My little explosions, however, are triggered by the way we fail to recognize the place value of property, which transcends parcel lines and ownership, and derives from community uses over time.
For instance, some of the opposition I heard to the proposed demolition of the Citrus Exchange building was about the loss of that building as a place that represents a moment of community well-being. My friend Sal Natoli, who graduated from LHS in 1966 and hasn't lived here since, said "Not that building - both of my sisters worked there!" Quality work environments matter to us: they confer status, help us integrate with the rest of the community, contribute to our self-worth. Located on the northeast entry to the business district, it stands as a cornerpost for the community's well-being, even though empty, because its contributions live in our memories.
And take Ed's Auto, now M & J's, on the northwest corner. To my mind, the place value there is just as high as the Exchange building, but in an opposite way. Ed Schapansky's career as an auto mechanic contributed to my well-being so often I went into mourning when he retired, turning over his business to Miguel (whom he calls "Magill" in his Okie interpretation of Spanish.) Once a Shell gas station, the traces of that national petroleum chain's designs still showing, Ed's Auto is a monument to one individual's entrepreneurial skills and decades of elbow grease meeting a need for care of auto owners as well as their vehicles. I once saw him change the windshield wipers so tenderly for Wayne Wolf, then very elderly, I almost cried.
Although it's difficult to use CEQA to defend the kind of place values I'm describing, that doesn't mean we have to discount them. It's what distinguishes the small town environment from the urban one, and it's time those contributions are recognized.
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Trudy Wischemann is a writer who has always loved places over properties. You can send her your list of place values % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below!
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