Daniel Mufson | Feb 19, 2022

I didn’t inhale. I held my breath. I didn’t own it, but then I did, but now I don’t…

Are you kidding me?! This episode where Pedroza just happens to facilitate the purchase of land adjacent to the Walt Ranch property for his family is too much to bear.

What happened to the concept of public trust by our electees? They are supposed to represent all of us not just their personal interests. I’m feeling so angry, so let-down, so used.

For over six years I have spent hours, if not days, reviewing documents, writing to the Supervisors, meeting with the Supervisors, marching, sign-holding, and then trying to deliver a message in 3 minutes: “Stop the cutting down of 28,000 mature trees on the Walt property in the Atlas Peak/Milliken watershed.”

And all the while the campaign dollars to the supervisors kept rolling in - quite a lot of money for such a small community.

I haven’t been alone on this fight for clean air and watershed open space protections. Rather a sustaining factor has been the comradeship of really smart citizens, now friends, also expending their talents. But while we are all accomplished adults with important messages, those messages have just been disregarded in the face of campaign dollars.

We’re not the only ones who care, but collectively, we haven’t been able to evoke change. We need new candidates with demonstrable support of the environment and support of the concept of the public trust.

All of our efforts to keep the Napa that our predecessors fought to protect when they created the Agricultural Preserve have not been enough to prevent the steady approval of wine visitor centers with restaurants and/or deforestation to add more vineyards.

“We need it to survive” say the big boys.

As citizens, we have not been able to slow this assault, but climate change will. The fabled family vineyards are being swallowed up by alcohol conglomerates.

We need new candidates with demonstrable support of the environment and public benefit. And we certainly don’t want self-serving supervisors running our government. It’s time to resign, Alfredo.

LTE version 2/19/22: Feeling 'angry, let down and used'

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