Bill Hocker | Feb 5, 2016

NVR 2/3/16: Pedroza's fundraising dwarfs supervisorial field

The purpose of this site has been to advocate for an end to the continuing urban development of Napa County in the belief that all development projects threaten, in the words of the Napa County General Plan vision statement, the "agricultural lands and rural character that we treasure" here.

The heavy-hitter donor list of Sup. Pedroza's campaign is a rogue's gallery of the individuals planning to profit off further development. Several have projects currently in the planning pipeline that will eventually have to be approved by the Supes. Though it seems a conflict of interest, it is hardly unusual that people with large business interests would finance the campaigns of politicians that will decide the fate of their future projects. Still, we keep hoping for some level of integrity in governmental service.

Mr. Pedroza, not yet 30, is already a polished and personable politician who will, no doubt, follow in the footsteps of his predecessor in seeking good faith compromises with development opponents that allow the development to go forward. But the magnitude of his contributions states the reality. He is the developer's candidate, and we must expect that the rate of development that has brought traffic congestion, affordable housing/local business loss, deforestation and resource depletion, and a rural landscape now littered with building projects is unlikely to be lessened under his supervision. The status-quo urbanization will continue and the rural character that we treasure will, in time, be gone. He will have numerous opportunities in the coming months to prove this assessment wrong and I very much hope he does so.

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