We need smarter development
The saying goes “That a farmer’s last crop is a subdivision."
We plant cement and housing on some of the world’s most fertile soil without regard for future generations. Meanwhile, the coastal range around the San Joaquin Delta sits dry and lightly used. A hundred years from now, maybe 200, the time will come when our future generations will be getting all of their food from overseas, leaving China and Mexico to control our food sources.
We are currently paving over our country’s food basket. It is criminal and being done piecemeal with little regard for the future. Housing and service businesses can be placed in a manner that doesn’t use the land that provides 20 percent of our nation’s food. If people don’t want to farm they can sell their land to another farmer.
Let developers improve the east side of Lodi with affordable housing in an area that needs to be redone providing housing in an area that sorely needs it.
We are letting real estate developers get rich building housing at the expense of our future food supply. We are allowing them to pack decision-making committees determining land-use.
It’s time we look at housing and real estate developers controlling land-use policy. The same goes for Stockton and the rest of the communities in the Central Valley. It will soon be one large megalopolis down Highway 99 and I-5. It’s time to stop. STEVE J ORDAN
Lodi
Let your voice be heard on rate increases
The City of Lodi is holding a public hearing on March 20, 2019 for the five-year authorization of automatic annual rate increases as prescribed under Prop 218.
If you do not want to authorize this increase you must vote no! It requires a majority no vote to stop this authorization or it will automatically pass as a yes vote.
Then the city can increase your rates at least 3 percent annually or at their discretion lower based upon the ENR (cost of living) rating if it is less and the citizens complain in large enough numbers to stop or lower the increase. So whether you are the property owner or a renter and paying your utility bill, you should have received in the mail a notice with the envelope marked PROPOSED UTILITY RATE INCREASE.
Please mark the date of receipt on your envelope as it is important to note. The city is required to have this notice in your possession at least 45 days in advance of the hearing date. I received my notice Feb. 6 which is less than the required 45-day notice of hearing. The reason this may be important, the city may be required to reissue a new hearing date and notice to honor the 45-day notice requirement.
If you did not receive your notice by Feb. 4 (counting it as day 1) you were not notified 45 days of the hearing. You should email the Lodi City Manager and City Council expressing the late arrival date of your notice and complain they are not within the requirements of Prop 218.
Most of all, you should follow the instructions as noted in this notice and fill out either a YES or NO vote on this rate increase vote and get it into the city before March 20 for it to count. Included in this rate notice is a penalty rate increase for water usage during drought years. Not yet sure this is legal. To be determined. MIKE LUSK
Lodi
City of Lodi responds to Lusk
At the Feb. 6 council meeting you stated that the City had failed to timely notice the upcoming Prop 218 hearing because notices were not received by members of the public at least 45 days in advance of the hearing. That information is incorrect. Article XIII D, Section 6, subdivision (a)(2) of the California Constitution requires the local government to provide notice at least 45 days before holding a hearing at which the proposed fee or charge will be considered. The 45-day period is calculated in the same manner as periods of time are calculated in civil actions under California Civil Code Section 12, such that the date of mailing is excluded, and the day of the hearing is included in the calculation (see Dahms v. Downtown Pomona (2009) 174 Cal.App. 4th 708, 714-715). The City sent the required Proposition 218 notice on Feb. 1 noticing the March 20 hearing, 47 days prior to the hearing in compliance with the requirements of Article XIII D. JANICE D. MAGDICH
Lodi City Attorney