Mother Nature Decides
This is the month when the rains are supposed to be raising the green grass above last year’s dry residue. Warm days with lots of sunshine interspersed with cooler rainy days are the perfect prescription for a good grass year. A good grass year means that the rancher will not have to sell any cows other than ones who are old, and may be able to keep some of the heifer calves to replace those cows eventually when they reach breeding age. If it’s a really good grass year, we might need to buy some new cows, thereby increasing our financial viability by having more calves next year to sell. It all depends on Mother Nature.
For farmers, the rains will hopefully be enough to start the germination of their crops and lessen the need for irrigation. It is a time of great hope for farmers and ranchers; it is a time that determines, to a large extent, what the plans will be for the rest of the year. It is a time where decisions are made that impact many people other than themselves. Decisions about crops, what will or will not be grown, affect those who raise the seed or plants as well as those who sell the product and those who eat it. Decisions about equipment; whether to buy new, sell the old or repair it, affect those in all phases of the farm equipment business. The relevance of this discussion about the decisions of farmers and ranchers is to demonstrate in a small way the interrelatedness of those people in the community around them. All of us, whatever our daily life entails, have impacts on the others around us in the Valley.
Fifty years ago, when the Valley was primarily agricultural, there were no gyms, no physical fitness groups, and no exotic coffee shops. Most people worked in very physical jobs from sunup to sundown and did not need any more physical effort other than their daily job entailed. The big social event was the daily trip to the post office, where one could visit neighbors in the middle of the street, each in their pickup, without someone blasting you with their car horn. The first time I saw a jogger in the Valley was on a trip to town in the ranch foreman’s pickup. A man, by then Valley standards, scantily clad, was running down the side of Hwy 246 by the airport. We thought maybe he had car trouble and was running to town for help when I remembered seeing joggers in the city. I relayed this information to the foreman who was thoroughly perplexed as to why a person would need to do such a thing. As I thought about the incident later, I realized that the Valley was beginning to change, that there were now people living here who did not do physical work. Such changes bring sometimes subtle but often profound differences in the way we live our lives.
Changes in the Valley
It is changes like these that are occurring all over the Valley and there are some very fundamental decisions that we, as residents, need to come to grips with very soon. For example, what rights do existing businesses have when new uses are being proposed for adjacent properties which threaten the existence of the current business? Such a situation exists today in the proposed 16 sports fields located next to a horse facility that has been the Schmatz family business for some time. These two enterprises next door to each other are clearly incompatible and although the Valley certainly needs more sports fields, is this location the best one available? Are we to sacrifice some of the most fertile remaining agricultural land to a somewhat urban use, that being a “sports complex” as opposed to a couple of open fields used for sporting events? Why has the Valley NOT heard anything about this project until now? Please read a more detailed description of this proposal on page 20, and please register your opinion on this, either at the Planning Commission hearing on March 7 or by letter or email to your representatives (see page 20 for hearing address and contact information). Please be assured that this type of conflict has been happening for some time here and is not going away. For example, some years ago a farmer who raised alfalfa for his cows had to stop raising the alfalfa as he had for many years because his new neighbor decided to put in a vineyard next door. There are certain chemicals used on alfalfa to control weevils that one cannot use if there is a vineyard within a mile, because that chemical interferes with the development of the vine. So whose rights are being violated? The person who has been raising the alfalfa or the new neighbor who wants to raise grapes? What is the answer?
Squeezed Between Two Governments
There are big changes that have been occurring for a number of years now in the sovereign land of the Chumash, which have brought an incredible positive difference in their ability to provide a good life for themselves. This is a wonderful occurrence which I am sure most, if not all, of the other residents of the Valley applaud. Because this self-governing group of people are physically located within the boundaries of Santa Barbara County, some interesting and complicated issues arise.
Back when there was no casino and hotel, no one paid much attention to the impacts of the tribe. Everyone went about their business as though nothing new was happening. However, when the casino, huge parking lot and hotel were built, residents began to take notice of the numbers of cars that started coming into the Valley, day and night. They became alarmed when the busloads began arriving, day and night. As the traffic began to build (up to 30,000 a day on the weekends), the crime began to escalate in ways and locations previously unheard of, and numbers of destitute people wandering the highways began to increase. People in the Valley began to call their representatives to find out what they were going to do about this. Well, so far, not much.
From the Board of Supervisors hearing on Feb 13 called by Supervisor Firestone (it is in his district), it appears that there are some serious problems in communication. The County seems reluctant to have serious negotiations with the Tribal Government and the Tribal Government isn’t very respectful of the County Government. Where does that leave the residents of the Valley? From what Mr. Armenta said, he has no interest in discussing anything with us. He claims that comments regarding casino expansion plans by POLO (Preservation of Los Olivos) and POSY (Preservation of Santa Ynez) are rumors, yet that information comes from his own mouth. It makes no sense to deny it. In fact, the denial makes people wonder just what they have to hide; why do they feel the need to be so secretive? There is a website detailing the biggest construction jobs in California that lists the Chumash Museum project as #2 in this area at $42,000,000. This hasn’t been built yet and there is talk on the grapevine that the application for this property (which is being considered for a fee-to trust application by the tribe), may be pulled. As I see it, our elected officials who are paid by our tax dollars to represent us, have an obligation to keep us informed as to what the future holds for us and not to sell off that future for a few trinkets now.
When secret negotiations are held which will have impacts on the residents of the Santa Ynez Valley for the foreseeable future, it makes us into second-class citizens. That is unacceptable. No matter what your vision may be for this Valley, there will be very unmitigatable results of uncontrolled growth of one segment of the population. Certainly this was not the intention of the people of California when they voted to support gaming on reservations.
I have talked about the recent hearings on the Uniform Rules that help to sustain agriculture in the County. What I did not discuss was the regulation by the AQMD (Air Quality Management District) of the air quality of agriculture, the diesel trucks and motors and other equipment that they intend to regulate. It is ironic that they feel the need to control emissions from agriculture and say absolutely nothing about the tens of thousands of additional non-essential vehicles that travel to the Valley for gaming. When agriculture slowly disappears from our Valley, to be replaced by houses, you might wonder if you played a part in that happening or were you voicing your support for the agriculture that, by the way, supplies those splendid vistas that everyone cherishes.
Where Do We Go From Here?
The first thing that absolutely must happen is for all groups involved in this discussion to stop the nasty talk. For the tribal spokesperson to claim all this clamor is based on rumor by rich people with nothing better to do is absurd, considering the fact that tribal members (including her) have considerably more earning power than anyone else in the Valley.
COLAB’s director Andy Caldwell must cease his attack on Valley residents with his less-than-truthful publications. Having been a member of the Board of Directors of COLAB (Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business) for a number of years, a major donor during that time, and recognized by them twice for my positive contributions, when I realized the undue influence the Tribe had on issues, I had to resign. As late as a year ago, I asked Andy when the Valley Plan was being formulated to intervene on behalf of agriculture. He refused to tell me. Two years ago, when I was a Board of Directors member of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association, under the direction of Joe Armendariz, I asked that they look at the tax implications of the Valley situation. They refused; I resigned.
Apparently, there are members of the Board of Supervisors who do not feel that the situation in the Valley is important enough to them, to give it serious consideration. I sincerely hope they don’t find themselves in the same or similar situation where others aren’t interested enough to support them.
This impasse must stop. As it is now, only more bad feelings and misunderstandings will ensue. Can anyone tell me why we cannot behave as adults and talk to one another in a civil tone about our future together? I don’t see any way that we can separate ourselves from each other nor should we want to, so why don’t we start now? I need some reassurance that what I personally have experienced over the last few years will not continue or get worse. We need infrastructure to deal with the local issues now occurring. I don’t want to have to send out my ranch employees repeatedly to paint out graffiti on ranch buildings. I don’t want to have sheriffs in my pastures rounding up kids having drug parties out there. Is there a reason we can’t develop the strategies to deal with these problems? Is there a way to do that when we’re not all working for the same goals? Can you give me one good reason why all residents in the Valley can’t work together?