Old Pesticide rides again

Former Merced County Supervisor Mike Bogna, while in office, once demonstrated his solidarity with agribusiness by quaffing a glass of guthion. Although organophosphate pesticides have been banned or highly restricted for a number of years, the good old boys evidently keep a small supply around and Bogna got into it again, before writing this letter.

To begin, Riverside Motorsports Park Promoter John Condren's financial ability to fund the massive autosports complex project the Merced County Board of Supervisors approved ought to have been some part of the deliberation in its approval of the environmental impact on the project. The project required a General Plan amendment, a zone change and an override of the Castle Airport Land Use Commission's designated two-mile noise/safety zone. Bogna's legal theory that the county could be sued for questioning the financial bona fides of the promoter of a $250-million project suggests he may have graduated from guthion to parathion since his last term on the board.

Bogna writes:

Third, one must keep in mind that it's entirely possible this project may never be built. To suggest the board was taken for a ride and that the public will be left "looking like suckers" clearly demonstrates that Mr. Cameron has no understanding of the public policy process.

Mr. Cameron, a sportswriter, can be forgiven for not understanding "the public policy process." He covers events that have rules. The natural allies in any newsroom are the crime reporter and the political reporter, who cover the lawless side of community life.

What Bogna is saying is that the Riverside Motorsports Park may be, as some have suspected from the beginning, a paper project, a fantastic diversion for the purpose of a General Plan amendment, a zoning change, and the airport commission override. In other words, as those who read it suspected, the EIR for this project is also "paper." The next stage of this organophosphate logic is that the lawsuits filed against the paper racetrack's paper EIR are also just paper. And the money to prepare the EIR, the money paid the county staff to work on it, the expense of the two public hearings on the project and the three town hall meetings held on the project -- every hour of county staff time and overtime that was paid for by the public -- plus the money paid for the lawsuits, is all just Monopoly money.

Bogna continues:

Regarding whether or not RMP will be able to come up with the investment necessary to make this project a reality, it simply won't happen unless the money comes.

How can we possibly reply to this remarkable statement? Before approval of the EIR Condren had a project worth a reported $5 million. After the approval, he is reported to have got a $12.5-million loan on it from a Missouri bank. So, the board's approval of the project was worth a possible $7.5 million in capital to Condren (if any of the financial figures involved with this racetrack are accurately reported). Other possibly more reliable sources said he paid less for the property and so, if the loan figure is accurate, has more working capital at hand to pursue whatever course he wishes. But, don't fret. According to our retired pesticide tippler and authority on the ways of government, it's all just paper money, a currency that either comes or it doesn't.

Wasn't Bogna on the board when E. Anne Eisenhower was asked to provide a business plan for the Pegasus project at Castle?

Bogna notes that it is "ironic" that the newspaper endorsed the project and then published some negative background information on promoter John Condren, Alleged Pillager of Nauvoo. Here we go again with Merced irony, a mysterious form of expression to say the least. We feel sure that what Old Pesticide means by "irony" here is that the newspaper got hustled before the project was passed and that some powerful malcontent leaked the dirt on Condren after it was passed.

Bogna concludes:

I learned in my many years of public service that there will always be a group of naysayers suggesting that something will not be of benefit to our county. Fortunately, our country was built on hope and opportunity.

In other words, have Confidence!

Badlands Journal editorial board
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Note:

2-6-07
Sports editor got it wrong...Mike Bogna, Atwater...Letters to the editor

http://www.mercedsunstar.com/opinion/story/13270165p-13903048c.html
Letter to the Editor: Sports editor got it wrong

Editor: As a former two-term Merced County Supervisor, I'm well positioned to comment on the Jan. 31 column written by Sun-Star Sports Editor Steve Cameron titled, "Supervisors: Anyone awake down there?" Not only did Mr. Cameron miss the mark on several accounts, he fails to have a common understanding of what is and what is not taken into consideration as part of decisions made by the Board of Supervisors.
First, Mr. John Condren's alleged background was not a matter related to the environmental impact report. The Board of Supervisors was being asked to either certify or reject RMP's environmental document. This was the sole basis of the decision.

Second, whether one agrees or not, the Board of Supervisors and city councils do not look into the personal backgrounds of project applicants primarily for one reason: should they reject a project based upon such a background check, they could be sued for discrimination.

Third, one must keep in mind that it's entirely possible this project may never be built. To suggest the board was taken for a ride and that the public will be left "looking like suckers" clearly demonstrates that Mr. Cameron has no understanding of the public policy process. Just a few years ago, this same exact land was being developed for a business park. After aspects of the project fell through, the land use was reverted back to agricultural zoning. This could take place again.

Regarding whether or not RMP will be able to come up with the investment necessary to make this project a reality, it simply won't happen unless the money comes. Again, the board can only make a decision based upon the information presented to it including land use concerns, environmental impacts and the merits of the project. Whether RMP can attract the investment is an issue for them to address, not the Merced County Board of Supervisors.

Fourth, and hopefully this is just a result of not fact-checking and nothing more, the vote certifying the project was 3 to 2 and not the four-fifths as suggested in his column. Supervisors Deidre Kelsey and John Pedrozo voted against the project.

Lastly, Mr. Cameron suggested that the Board of Supervisors should have looked into Mr. Condren's background before voting. It's rather ironic that the Sun-Star editorial board endorsed the RMP project prior to any vote of the Board of Supervisors, apparently without doing their own homework and research.

I learned in my many years of public service that there will always be a group of naysayers suggesting that something will not be of benefit to our county. Fortunately, our country was built on hope and opportunity.

Mike Bogna