Published in Tulare County's Foothills Sun-Gazette Oct. 23, 2013
"So, we're going to lose what we were trying to save....," Lindsay Councilman Danny Salinas essentially said the first time he heard city planner Bill Zigler's endorsement of the new Highway 65 realignment plan.
The new plan proposed by Caltrans is in response to the City's opposition to the old one, which would have hampered access to the motel and the handful of businesses on the northeast corner of Hermosa and the highway. The old realignment would have begun to veer westward from that intersection. In the new plan, the westward veering will start at Lindmore on the south edge of town and bypass Lindsay completely.
Danny was stating what anyone with eyes could see: that those businesses would now lose the highly-important visibility factor of being along the highway, far more important than a tricky driveway entry. What he didn't say is that now every business in the Olivewood Shopping Center on the south side of Hermosa is also at risk, not to mention those businesses along Fremont Trail on the west side of the highway, some of which will be sliced like a pie by the new route. Last, and certainly not least in my mind, is the loss of acres of farmland and the farmability of 20-30 groves of oranges that now will be dissected. Those farms are businesses, too.
As I sat there listening to Mr. Zigler's advocacy for the new route, I felt incredulous, and sick. I thought I was one brick shy of a load when we took on the Dollar General project, and now here was one even more damaging to the community. We had just filed the lawsuit against the Dollar General II proposal, wanting the City to evaluate the economic impacts on businesses before going forward with the project, as well as to study the potential traffic problems at the roundabout. Those impacts would be small compared to this.
"What can he be thinking?" my mind quizzed, when suddenly the answer came out of his mouth. "It's a great opportunity for developing new highway commercial businesses," he said knowingly, not acknowledging the potential loss of our current highway businesses. Then I saw it: it's land development driving this thing, not community development. That's what was behind the Dollar General project, too.
For the moment, the threat to our existing businesses from Dollar General is gone: Embree Group has pulled out of the project. One of my biggest concerns for the community was the potential for losing Rite-Aid, whose product lines most closely resemble Dollar General's. Rite-Aid has been our only pharmacy since the Monge's retired and closed Redwood. The thought of all those people currently dependent on Rite-Aid for their prescriptions having to drive to Exeter or Porterville especially during flu season (talk about leaking retail sales!) made my head swim. Fortunately, a new pharmacy opened last month in the Redwood building, so by Grace there may be another option should Rite-Aid throw in the towel.
As I said in the public comment period at the Oct. 8th Council meeting, this re-realignment of Highway 65 was initiated by the City. Caltrans proposed the new route in response to the formal letter signed by Mayor Padilla and approved in the consent calendar at the July 9th meeting. If the City initiated it, the City can take it back.
At the Oct. 8th meeting, many of the council members expressed concern about the possible impacts of this new route, including Mayor Padilla and Pam Kimball. Now is the time for this community's residents, from town and countryside alike, to contact the Council members about these plans, before the city's staff and Caltrans set our future in concrete.
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Trudy Wischemann is a community researcher and writer who thinks this plan is a couple bricks shy. You can send her your evaluations % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below.
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