5-16-09

 
5-16-09
Merced Sun-Star
UC Merced student project recounts history of campus...DANIELLE GAINES. The Modesto Bee contributed to this report.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/474/v-print/story/849158.html
Every UC Merced graduate will receive a diploma today, but they will also walk away from stage with something very special: a hot-off-the-press copy of the "The Fair Shrimp Chronicles."
The book, researched, organized and written by 11 writing and honors history students, describes the 10th UC campus' founding and college life for the first students.
History professor Gregg Herken supervised the year-long project.
More than 100 campus and community leaders gathered on campus Friday evening at a launch party for the book.
Many of those in the crowd had been interviewed by the student authors.
Among them was Chancellor Steve Kang, who was presented the first autographed copy of the book.
Other copies were embargoed, Herken said, until the chancellor received his.
"I am happy the students had the opportunity to work on such a unique project," Kang said. "I think this is a great basis for their future career development."
Kang added that he was taken by Herken's own unique story.
Herken was a pioneering student at UC Santa Cruz when it was founded 40 years ago and has embraced the opportunity to be a founding professor at UC Merced.
At UC Santa Cruz, founding students there published "Solomon's House" in 1970, which was used as the basis for the "Chronicles."
"I decided I wanted to look for a similar group of pioneering students to write a similar pioneering book," Herken said.
One tale in the book describes the trials of finding a location for the university. The site selection committee looked at 86 spots across the Central Valley; one team even posed as bird watchers -- carrying binoculars and guidebooks -- to avoid detection.
Renata Santillan was one of the authors. She remembered fondly the day members from the site selection committee told of the bird-watching disguise.
"They had a lot of great stories -- adventures really -- throughout the Valley," the 21-year-old cognitive science major said. "It really warmed my heart to know how hard people worked."
A key source for the book -- and UC Merced's existence -- was Chris Adams.
Adams was the first campus planner for the UC Merced campus.
He first became involved with planning in 1988, when the university president first discussed possible sites for a new campus.
"We were obliged to be absolutely objective," about each potential site, Adams said. "We were very careful not to be advocates."
But near the very end, when there were only a few possibilities left, he admits that he personally favored UC Merced.
"It was much more positive and encouraging here in Merced," Adams said.
He has visited campus just about twice a year since the decision was finalized.
From a quick skim of the pages, "they have got that sense of the spirit that was behind our efforts," he said.
Adams will read the book fully on Sunday, after the commencement hubbub has subsided.
Other parts of the book are lighter and more anecdotal.
Sidebars tell about student pranks, living in the dorms, taking classes in the library, navigating the tule fog and debating over the school mascot -- originally a marmot.
A grant from the Spencer Foundation of $12,000 will cover the cost of printing the books so the entire Class of 2009 can have it for free.
At the campus bookstore, it is for sale for $11.95. Proceeds will go to a writing program on campus and a fund to build a student center.
The title of the book refers to the endangered crustaceans found in nearby vernal pools, forcing the university to delay construction and shift the campus a mile away from its original site. The fairy shrimp has become something of an underground mascot at the campus, represented officially by the native bobcat.
The paperback is less than a dozen chapters and focuses on anecdotal storytelling. Chapters start with "Where Is Merced?" and end with "Merced 2.0."
At the launch party, student author Kim Wilder read the final chapter of the book to a captive audience.
What began as a dream a quarter century ago, had become reality for the honored guests.
As she concluded with a familiar phrase to those in the UC system, a resounding applause rose from the crowd.
What did Wilder read? This article -- unlike UC Merced's promising future -- is a cliffhanger.
The UC Merced campus was built on a golf course, Merced Hills, that had been developed
UC has been 20 years in making
Local group lobbied for years, and free land helped….Carol Reiter
A6 Saturday, May 16, 2009  COMMENCEMENT  Merced Sun-Star, Merced, Calif.
Lee Boese was worried that Merced would become a warehouse town.
Bob Rucker wanted to give local kids a chance to go to a local university, with scholarships paid for.
And the University of California Regents looked favorably on the free land offered by the Virginia Smith Trust, a charitable trust that provided college scholarships to Merced-area high school
students.
UC Merced has come a long way since 1988, when a new University of California campus in the San Joaquin Valley was a dream of the UC Regents.
More than 80 sites were studied when the idea of a Valley campus began to look like a reality. Those sites were narrowed down to three, including land in eastern Merced County, near Lake Yosemite.
And in 1995, that land was chosen to be the newest UC campus.
“I got involved when I was 29,” said 44-year old Boese, a Merced dentist. “I was worried about Merced becoming a Safeway packing plant, that the community would never have any jobs of good pay.”
Boese watched students grow up and leave the area, because there were no jobs. “There needed to be a tenth UC, an it deserved to be in the Central Valley,” Boese said
Along with other local UC boosters, Boese worked hard to convince the UC Regents that Merced would be a good place to put a UC. The offer of free land helped, but then a tiny life form almost derailed the town’s dream of being home to a university.
“I was in a room with Fish and Game and the UC folks when the word came down that they had found fairy shrimp,” Boese said. “And to us, the dream of a UC wasn’t going to happen, or it was going to cost a tremendous amount of money.”
But a lot of hard work and perserverance, and the use of an existing golf course instead of more sensitive habitat, helped bring the UC to fruition.
Rucker, chief of staff for state Sen. Richard Monteith between 1996 and 2002, is a fifth-generation Merced County resident.
Rucker thought a UC in Merced would revive the community, especially the kids of the Valley. He worked hard politically, along with other local politicians, to push Merced as the site of the new campus.
 By 1997, UC Merced had established a regional office at Merced College. In 1998 the university joined the Merced County Board of Supervisors, the Virginia and Cyril Smith Trusts, the city of Merced and the Merced Irrigation District to begin a planning process for the University Community.
In 1999, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey was appointed as founding chancellor of UC Merced.
In January 2002, the environmental impact report on the UC as approved.
The campus celebrated its official grand opening and the arrival of the first class of undergraduate students on Sept. 5, 2005.
Despite the fact that the UC was originally supposed to be built on a bigger site, and it could have cost substantially less to build, Rucker is tickled with having a UC in Merced.
“I think it’s all been worth it,” he said.
First Lady's visit a boon for struggling city...SCOTT JASON
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/474/v-print/story/849154.html
The president isn't the only one with an economic stimulus plan.
First lady Michelle Obama's commencement speech at UC Merced this afternoon has seen businesses report bottom-line boosts caused by the visitors pouring into town.
Packed hotels are sending people 25 minutes north to Turlock and south to Chowchilla. Car washes have shined SUVs for special commencement guests. One restaurant is baking Obama's favorite dishes.
The bash at the university and downtown should generate $1.1 million for local businesses, city leaders estimate. The figure is based on a tourism revenue formula that included conservative figures for the number of out-of-town people arriving for the weekend.
More valuable than money, many residents think, will be the national exposure to thrust Merced above its reputation as the epicenter of foreclosure and unemployment.
For once, there's a national story in Merced that isn't rooted in despair or tragedy.
Short of helicoptering onto the campus, it's likely Obama will see or otherwise get a sense of some of the economic devastation. Unemployment rates and empty homes, chronicled by The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, can't be dressed up.
So university officials, city leaders and residents are hoping the city shines bright, overshadowing outsiders' earlier misconceptions. After all, there's not much in the near future that will top a visit by the first lady.
"I hope that people would take the time to give our city a chance," Bob's Car Wash co-owner Veronica Mora said. "The word in the past is that we're a ghost town, but we're alive. I think (her visit) will make a difference."
The 15th Street business earlier in the week washed three SUVs that will carry special guests to the university. It's seen a four-fold increase in business, Mora said, with 40 cars passing through some days.
Seven miles north, campus leaders have been busy preparing for the 12,000 people set to converge on the 104-acre campus today. Row after row of white chairs face south toward the stage, large enough to hold a rock band.
Behind the stage is a golden brown backdrop of seemingly endless grassy rangeland. Metal detectors, at a cost of about $5,000, were lined along Scholars Lane. The commencement budget swelled from $100,000 to $700,000 once Obama accepted the invite.
The campus smells of freshly plowed dirt. Crews have built some makeshift roads and dug holes for more trees. International flags snap in the wind.
Downtown, the curbs sport fresh coats of red and green paint. The hedges and trees are neatly trimmed. A banner hangs across G Street with the Cap&Town festival logo -- the Merced Theatre tower with a mortarboard on top.
Toni Fiorenza, owner of the 18th Street cafe that bears her name, began researching Obama's favorite recipes after the visit was announced in March.
She found the first lady's shortbread recipe, a traditional take with dried fruit and nuts added for a twist.
Fiorenza baked the cookies and mixed together the president's tuna salad recipe for one of the VIP tents she's catering on the off-chance that Obama might be snacking before or after the graduation.
"You want to make them feel comfortable," said Fiorenza, who had to pass a background check for the gig.
She renamed the cafe entrees to reflect the event. Eaters can sink their teeth into a Bobcat Burger or nibble on the Chancellor Chicken Pesto.
Like others, Fiorenza said the visit is an chance to redeem the city's image. "The name Merced will be on people's lips," she said. "I think it will put Merced in a whole new light."
Councilman Jim Sanders, who said he's been surviving on caffeine and adrenaline, spent Friday putting the finishing touches on a three-minute DVD about the Cap&Town festival.
The $30,000 event began Friday evening and will continue through tonight.
The DVD will be played in the shuttles taking people to and from the university in hopes of drawing them downtown after the ceremony. Besides advertising the festival, the city is seizing the moment to educate families about Merced's sense of community and history.
All the parents will be able to see the city first-hand and decide whether it's as troubled as they thought, he said. "It's a little oasis in the Valley," he said. "(Visitors) notice the tree-lined streets."
The city's been working to boost its reputation since it first was incorporated. "We saw how quick it turned around during the credit crunch and foreclosure mess," Sanders said.
With the exposure, of course, comes risk. Many longtime residents will remember President Jimmy Carter's town hall meeting at Merced College in 1980 that had the town abuzz. On air, ABC news reporter Sam Donaldson quipped that Merced was a dusty little town on the road to somewhere else.
That barb still sticks with Sanders, who thinks Donaldson wouldn't have said it if he'd spent more time here. The visit by Obama and scores of national media reps is a chance to begin repairing the last few years of damage, he said.
"We can earn a reputation as a place to come and not a place to leave," he said. "That's in response to Mr. Donaldson."
Care for shortbread?
Mike Tharp: Mercedians welcome first lady
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/115/v-print/story/849164.html
Howdy, Mrs. Obama.
Welcome to Merced County.
We're mighty glad you're here. Thank you for making us part of a schedule that sometimes must seem as busy as the bees that pollinate our almond trees every spring.
You do us honor by coming to speak to our first four-year class to graduate from UC Merced. No doubt your old Harvard prof, Charles Ogletree, Jr., who grew up in South Merced, has told you some about us. As have your trail-blazers and scene-setters.
They couldn't tell you all about us, though. So here are a few facts and yarns that may help you get to know us a little better.
We Mercedians look a lot like America -- we're brown, white, black, yellow and Other -- the same colors as most towns and cities across the land. A few of us are rich, some of us are middle class (lower and upper) and too many of us are poor -- around one out of five in our county of 255,000. About the same ratio don't have jobs nowadays -- 20 percent unemployment.
Still, we're all seeking a better life for ourselves and an even better world for our kids and grandkids.
One side of us you'll notice, Mrs. Obama, however short your stay: we're proud folks. And we don't put on airs. Who you see is what you get with most Mercedians. L.A., San Francisco, Sacramento -- they've all got good people, too. But any of us who've lived in those places, before calling this county home, are struck hard and fast by how down-to-earth most Mercedians are.
One reason is that our main livelihood hereabouts is literally down-to-earth. We're farmers -- almonds, hay, tomatoes, sweet potatoes -- and ranchers -- dairy and beef. More than a few of us are transplanted Okies and Arkies, part of John Steinbeck's migrant tribe.
That's one reason we're so easy to trust. A Mercedian looks you in the eye, Mrs. Obama, shakes your hand with a grip that even your Lara Croft muscles would consider firm, and you can take what he or she says to the bank. One, we hope, that hasn't needed your husband's bailout money.
If Chicago is the City of Big Shoulders, Merced County is the Land of Big Mustaches. Gaze into the crowd at the men in the graduation audience. You'll see some proud papas and uncles and brothers who look as if they just rode out of Dodge in 1880.
Our women you'll like. No shrinking poppies (our local flower). They'll tell you just what's on their minds, with all the manners they were brought up to display. It'd be neat if you met Carolyn Goings. She's retired now, spends the winter as a snowbird in Surprise, Ariz. But in February she drove four days round-trip from Arizona to Merced to attend a meeting about a new railroad underpass to be built near her home. She wanted her voice heard.
And like today's second-most famous multiracial figure in America, Tiger Woods, we've got a lot of folks who've colored outside the lines. Our Hmong and Lao, for instance, drifted here after fighting for America in the Secret War in Indochina. They've intermarried. Hope you get to say hello to Sam Malaythong, who owns Sam (no apostrophe -- there's a story why that he delights in telling diners) Café, and who's donated money and spicy noodles to many UC Merced student groups. There isn't a Thai restaurant inside the Beltway that serves better food.
We've also got Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Sikh and Croatian hyphenated Americans. Our sheriff is one of the latter.
Like the ones in San Pedro, L.A.'s port town, he resembles the high school football coach there who was once described: "He'd give you the shirt off his back -- then tell you how to wear it."
And, of course, Latinos make up more than half our population. Wish you could meet Juan Diaz, who reopened our hallowed Hangar Café at the Merced Airport a few months back. This column wrote that he's "one reason Merced will make it" because his bilingual, bicultural hard work makes our community better.
Another cool guy you'd enjoy spending time with, Mrs. Obama, is Robert Chad, who uses solar fuel cells on his farm. Last fall he showed a group of Mercedians how they were cutting his energy costs. He told one of them he also had installed a solar dryer behind the barn. It took a second for the penny to drop, but within days the guy writing this column had also strung clotheslines under his patio roof.
We're proud of our 4-H and FFA kids who show their cows and lambs and goats and pigs at our fairs. We're proud of our sky pilots, like Herb Opalek, an ecumenical minister who runs our Rescue Mission and has redeemed hundreds of homeless off our streets. We're proud of our high school and Merced College sports teams and coaches who, more often than not, turn out true scholar-athletes.
Lot of veterans here too, Mrs. Obama. Our Nov. 11 parade showcases their service. So we're deeply proud of the Mercedians who made the ultimate sacrifice in a war started before your husband became president: Army PFC Karina Lau, 20. Marine Lance Cpl. Travis Layfield, 19. Army Cpl. Cesar Granados, 21. Marine Cpl. Josh Pickard, 20. Army Sgt. Frank Gasper, 25. Army Pvt. Janelle King, 23.
And we can't help but brag -- it ain't braggin' if you can back it up -- about the Sun-Star's coverage of our community. At a time when newspapers are viewed as dinosaurs, we've won more journalism awards in the past two years than we ever have. One of our reporters right now is on her second tour in Baghdad. Our mantra in the newsroom and to our corporate parent McClatchy up Highway 99 is, "We're too small to fail!"
Most politicians don't much like or trust the press, but relax: we at the Sun-Star try to be the conscience of our community. We try to find what Watergate's Carl Bernstein called "the best obtainable version of the truth."
Ask your aides, Mrs. Obama, to pick up today's newspaper and our special eight-page Sunday special tomorrow about your visit to our commencement. You'll see the proof of what we deliver to our audience: local news nobody else can come close to matching.
Our Web site, www.mercedsunstar.com, offers even more evidence, especially our groundplowing series, "Sowing Hope," about the UC Merced med school. Our Valley needs that school, so we took a risk on a new joint venture. We were the first newspaper in America to partner with the new Center for California Health Care Journalism, linked to both the USC Annenberg School and the California HealthCare Foundation. Here you go: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/sowinghope/
Problems? Sure. Besides joblessness and poverty, we must deal with gangs, drugs, dropouts, and fractured families. Again, Mrs. Obama, we're like most American communities. No amount of funnel cake at the fair or "Gateway to Yosemite" gloss can cure those.
Our highest unemployment rate ever came after Castle AFB was closed in 1995. Over the last year, we've also lost County Bank and Gottschalks, two capitalist enterprises that personified every priority in giving back to us that your husband preached as a community organizer in Chicago.
But we're trying, ma'am. We've got some effective elected officials and bureaucrats, but our main agents of change come from within our own ranks. Lot of volunteers in Merced County. Lots of people who step up and do more than sign a check.
We may well be the most volunteer-driven community in the state. Our service organizations take specific constructive steps to improve lives much different from their own. Rotary gives dozens of scholarships to high-schoolers for college. The Lions collect eyeglasses and send them all over the world. Kiwanis founded Kiddieland, a neat park with rides that Malia and Sasha would enjoy. First dog Bo would like how active our local animal lovers are in rescuing all kinds of critters.
So before your wheels-up back to the Beltway, Mrs. Obama -- may we now call you "Michelle"? -- we hope that you carry home with you a sense of us as Mercedians. We're the people your husband ran to represent, Michelle. We want you to know that we're worth your efforts.
And even in only a few hours, we want you to feel our humanity, our decency, our honesty, our hope. We're all Mercedians, Michelle.
And we'd like to make you an honorary member of our community.
Again, much obliged for coming.
We hope to see you again.
You can bring your husband and daughters too.
They can go to Kiddieland.
We can get him a good pickup hoops game.
And tell him he doesn't need to grow a mustache.
An old friend's open letter to Michelle Obama
Charles J. Ogletree, Jr is the executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School and served as a senior adviser to Barack Obama during his campaign for the presidency. He is most recently the author of “When Law Fails: Making Sense of Miscarriages of Justice,” published by NYU Press (2009).
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/177/v-print/story/849168.html
Dear first lady Michelle Obama:
Welcome to Merced. On behalf of the entire community, we want to thank you for graciously accepting our invitation to speak at the commencement for the inaugural graduating class of 2009 at the University of California, Merced.
As you know, I grew up here and attended public schools through high school.
As a native Mercedian, I was thrilled that the new UC Merced campus opened four years ago. Today, I’m thrilled beyond belief that you honor us by agreeing to give the commencement address for the 2009 UC Merced graduating class.
What makes this an amazing event is that we have had so many reasons to celebrate this year, and your words will inspire us to even higher levels. We recognize that 2009 is the year your husband and my friend, Barack Obama, became the first African-American president in the history of this country.
It was a great achievement with enormous amounts of effort from Americans across the country. We were not divided by ideological, race, age and gender differences. It is also the year we celebrated the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, one of President Obama’s favorite presidents. In addition, we celebrated the 80th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a person who paved the way for all of us. When I think about the progress we have made as a country, I am constantly reminded that Dr. King would have been 80 on Jan. 15, and that he has been dead longer than he lived. It is a reminder of how precious his 39 years of commitment were to this country, and yet how much we have continued to focus on his goals -- reducing the equality gap between the haves and have-nots.
I have no doubt that he’s looking down from heaven smiling with great joy seeing Barack Obama, you, Malia and Sasha in the White House.
I know how important legacies are to you.
Indeed, the work you have done as a brilliant student at Princeton University and Harvard Law School, as a legal aid attorney for poor clients as part of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau and as a lawyer in Chicago are just a few examples of how you have continued your parents’ legacy of struggle and progress.
They gave you and your brother Craig the room to learn and grow. You both have been blessed with enormous opportunities and have used them to make communities better and to open up avenues to success for those who follow you.
Merced is an amazing community. I remember in the early days having to adjust to the challenges of limited opportunity and wondering what would lie ahead. And yet I recall, through my interest in reading, my thirst for knowledge and my deep belief of the role God played in my life, I knew anything was possible as long as I remained faithful to my pursuit of higher goals. As I look back on Merced now, I do so with mixed emotions.
While it is wonderful that there is the great University of California, Merced, with its inspired student body graduating today, it is also sobering to see the level of suffering across this city, state and nation as a result of our sagging economy and declining employment opportunities.
If time permitted, I would have taken you to one of my favorite places growing up as a child — the Merced County Fairgrounds. While I would regale you with stories of the wonderful carnival rides, cotton candy, and the sense of patriotism and camaraderie, it would be remiss of me to not share with you the troubling history of this same location being used during World War II to confine nearly 5,000 Japanese-American citizens after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
I would conclude my brief tour by stating that we have learned the lessons of history and are in a position to make sure that events that occurred in the last century are unimaginable and unthinkable in this one.
With your limited time here, you obviously will not be able to visit and see, both the hard work done by Mecedians as well as the difficulties we face as a community. I remember the robust efforts to construct new homes in 2005 during the early days of the new university, and now look at the vacant lots, foreclosures, and unemployment lines that continue to grow every day.
I remember with great nostalgia spending afternoons during the school year and on weekends during the summer at the local library, reading books that would satisfy my thirst for knowledge and imagining the possibilities that might exist for a young black boy from the south side of Merced.
I am now stuck with the stark reality that the libraries are open fewer hours, and that so many young people find themselves incarcerated in juvenile detention facilities or in the local jails. Success is palpable in terms of the number of students going to college, but the staggering economy has created disappointing signs.
I think about all the mentors during my life, and those in your lifetime, who have influenced us to think of education as a key to success. Finding those mentors and making them available to underrepresented communities is a difficult task, and I hope that your presence here might stimulate both the difficult discussion and the concrete efforts necessary to address the needs of the community.
You will certainly note during your time here that Merced is not the same as the south side of Chicago. Yet I clearly recognize that growing up on the south side of Chicago had to make you wonder if you would ever be where you are today. As you recently stated: “Nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African- American first lady. I was not raised with wealth or resources or any social standing to speak of. I was raised on the South Side of Chicago -- that’s the real part of Chicago.”
Ironically, growing up on the south side of Merced gave me the same doubts and fears, and like you I am grateful that I was able to overcome my humble beginnings. Though both are proud communities with a heritage of success and hard work, they also represent two different faces of America.
As you think back on your formative days as a young child attending public school in Chicago and I think of my time in public school in Merced, we each had the nurturing and support to take us a long way.
As we look back now, we can see that both communities have to deal with unacceptable increases in violence, high levels of dropouts from public school and joblessness that is outright painful to observe.
As we think of the safe havens in our commun- ity where we could play, read and have fun, those zones are less available in the 21st century than they were in the last. It is a stark reminder of how many people are losing the opportunity to succeed and how many challenges there are going forward.
As you reflect upon your time at Princeton University and I reflect on my time at Stanford University, we assumed with great optimism that generations of people like us from communities like ours would also join the ranks of those attending the great colleges and universities of this country. While we both can point to some success among those whom we mentored and followed us to these great academic institutions, it is also a sobering reminder that in the year 2009, far too many of those who we have encountered in our lifetime have been unable to pursue these prestigious paths of endless opportunity.
The great benefit of your visit to my hometown today is that you will stimulate people in ways that seemed unimaginable. I am convinced that it is not only the wonderful graduates, their parents and relatives who will gain from your visit here, but also the countless young people, attending elementary, middle and high school who will remember this day as an important moment in Merced’s history.
They will know that Mrs. Michelle Obama, the first lady of the United States, deeply cares about them and wants to encourage them to succeed. Your message of hope and opportunity will inspire many in my home town and for that, I am eternally grateful.
Sincerely,
Charles J. Ogletree, Jr
Our View: Graduation really about the students
First lady can expect a warm -- no, make that hot -- reception when she speaks this afternoon.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/v-print/story/849150.html
Today's the day that has been four years in the making -- graduation day for the Pioneer Class of UC Merced.
It is important because the four long years of hard work is over and these 517 graduates are finally going out into the world to make a difference.
This is the class that had the audacity -- to borrow a phrase from the president -- and ingenuity with its "Dear Michelle" campaign, including 900 handwritten Valentines, and a "Dear Michelle" page on Facebook to persuade the first lady to be their commencement speaker. Their enthusiasm paid off; the first lady's office said she was touched by the students' campaign.
Mrs. Obama will get a warm welcome today from the students, the families and the community. She will also get a warm welcome from the Valley sun, as temperatures are expected to be 102 today.
The University of California campus here in Merced has been a longtime dream for us who call the Valley home.
Today's commencement ceremony is a landmark for a campus that many of the state's most powerful politicians didn't want to build. One even called it the "biggest boondoggle ever."
But the Valley overcame the resistance and the campus finally opened in 2005.
The first lady's appearance has made this a high-profile event, and that should help the campus recruit future students. But today is not about the first lady's speech. Very few of us even recall our commencement speakers. But Mrs. Obama's speech should stand out.
The graduates and their families are to be commended for taking a chance on a new university, and then following through by finishing their rigorous course work amid the campus' growing pains.
Coming to a new campus can be daunting but it can also be a lot of fun. The campus now has 100 clubs to serve the student body of about 2,700.
UC Merced officials say the students have cultivated a "culture of social responsibility and civic engagement."
Some of their successes have been highlighted over the last two weeks in a series of profiles on the front page of the Sun-Star by reporter Danielle Gaines.
Not too bad for a campus that wasn't even completed when the these graduates arrived for their first classes.
But the makeshift classrooms are gone, and state-of-the-art academic buildings and laboratories have taken their place.
Now UC Merced will be on the national stage for a day, thanks to the first lady's appearance.
The $700,000 the university is spending on the commencement ceremony because of the Obama appearance should be put aside for no, and not detract from this special graduation day.
The Valley has embraced the 10th UC. It holds great promise for the Valley. It is in the process of creating a medical school that will graduate doctors to serve here in the Valley where we have too few physicians.
The campus also has a special mission to address the higher-education needs of the Valley.
The university is also connecting with the region's environment through the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, and is developing its Biomedical Sciences Research Institute and Energy Research Institute.
Future UC Merced students will thank members of the Class of 2009 for the role they played in establishing this university.
We thank them, too.
Modesto Bee
Merced's Challenge...Leslie Albrecht
http://www.modbee.com/local/v-print/story/705591.html
MERCED — Main Street's sidewalks are swept, downtown trees are festooned with lights, decorative banners sway in the breeze. Merced is ready to shine for first lady Michelle Obama's visit today. But leaders hope Obama and other officials get a glimpse of Merced's darker realities, too.
This city of about 80,000 residents is walking a fine line during this historic visit. Leaders want visitors to leave with happy memories of a town that's not well-known outside the Central Valley. But they also want to bring attention — and the money that comes with it — to the long list of ills that plague Merced: a foreclosure epidemic among the worst in the nation, chronic poverty and an unemployment rate climbing past 20 percent.
"It's the old adage about how you need to paint the picture, but there's also a story to be told," said
Development Manager Frank Quintero. "We'll put our best foot forward to paint that picture, but the story to be told is, we need help from the federal government."
As many as 25,000 people are expected to visit Merced for the commencement of the University of California at Merced's first four-year class, where Obama will speak at 1:30 p.m. The city is celebrating the event — easily the most high-profile in a generation — with a two-day Cap&Town Festival. Obama's speech will be broadcast on a Jumbotron downtown. People can sample local restaurant food and compete in "Guitar Hero" contests.
A boost for local economy
To ready for the logistical challenge of that many guests, officials sent letters to grocery stores, gas stations and restaurants, warning that shelves should be well-stocked, gas storage tanks full and kitchens ready to serve.
Merced's 1,000 hotel rooms are expected to be 80 percent full. Visitor spending could pump $1.1 million into the local economy, Quintero said. The event's impact already has been felt in small ways, said city spokesman Mike Conway. A downtown restaurant has 125 bookings for tonight. Usually it seats 40. A carwash got a job detailing three cars in the first lady's motorcade, Conway said.
Officials also are looking for the Obama visit to produce less easily measured outcomes.
With media outlets — including Geraldo Rivera, Newsweek and the BBC — descending on Merced, Quintero sees a chance to "rebrand" Merced as "a university community."
"Right now our brand is, a community to stay away from, that has a high number of foreclosures, high unemployment, a city that's doom and gloom," Quintero said. "I think this will shed some light that we're not the city that the press has made us out to be."
The up-and-coming university town is the image the city looked forward to when UC Merced opened in fall 2005. Excitement around the campus fueled a real estate bubble that pushed home prices to an all-time high. Developers got busy, pulling a record number of building permits the year the campus opened.
The city seemed poised for prosperity. A year after the campus opened, unemployment sank to 6.7 percent, the lowest level in decades.
The good times didn't last. The bottom fell out of the real estate market. Foreclosures filled neighborhoods with dark windows and brown yards. Building screeched to a halt. Half-finished houses were left to bleach in the sun.
UC Merced was dogged by its own problems. Expected enrollment numbers failed to materialize (some 450 students are eligible to participate in this year's ceremony). Delays in federal permits stalled the school's expansion plans.
Officials will get a welcome break from the steady stream of bad headlines this weekend.
"Hopefully, it will be an opportunity for the city to be seen in a positive light instead of being at the top of a lot of the bad lists that we seem to be making regularly," said City Councilman John Carlisle. (A 2007 book rating the desirability of America's cities ranked Merced at No. 370 out of 373 places nationwide; Modesto finished last.)
Doing some 'show and tell'
Carlisle and others say Obama's visit could bring more results than positive press. Like, say, a new road project or two, said City Councilman Bill Spriggs.
Spriggs said the event will give local leaders a chance to do some "show and tell" with state and federal officials who rarely, if ever, visit Merced. He and other officials make annual pilgrimages to Washington, D.C., and Sacramento to plead for funding for highway improvements and other projects. The group is lucky if its gets a 15-minute sit-down in U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office, Spriggs said. The meeting is the one chance to show the senator, or her staff, a list of projects Merced needs federal funding to build.
This weekend, Feinstein and others will see firsthand where projects like the long-planned Campus Parkway — a roadway to connect Highway 99 to the campus — could be built, Spriggs said. Officials such as Feinstein have been invited to all the UC Merced graduations, but usually don't show up, said university spokeswoman Tonya Luiz.
Spriggs said having so many influential officials in Merced will be invaluable. "You can't replicate that," he said. "You can't just go to Sacramento and sit in a hearing room and say we've got a campus with kids. This lets them see those kids."
Merced officials have long complained that the region has all the despair of Appalachia, but none of the name recognition. Carlisle said Merced has been ignored by federal programs, including the current stimulus package. He's hoping Obama will "get an earful" about local and state problems when she's in the handshake line at commencement.
Although it's not likely, Carlisle said he'd like Obama to drive through Bellevue Ranch, a vast complex of subdivisions two miles west of campus. Some sections are blighted with half-built neighborhoods, abandoned when developers left town.
"In reality, those are things she can't really do anything about directly, but she definitely has indirect influence," Carlisle said. "And once you've been somewhere, even if it's an in-and-out trip, it's a little bit easier to empathize with the folks there."
He added, "Hopefully we'll make a positive impression, but at the same time let her see what's going on out here. I certainly wouldn't want to gloss over the reality when we have a rare opportunity to get the ear of someone that influential."
The face of foreclosure
Real estate agent Andy Krotik, a former Atwater City Council member, said he's hoping the visit will highlight the impact of the foreclosure crisis on rural communities. Officials don't realize the toll foreclosures have taken in smaller communities, he said. That's why Merced County was "left out" of a housing bill Congress passed last fall, he said.
"I didn't vote for this woman's husband, but I'm glad she's coming," Krotik said. "Because I want her husband to know the devastation that's going on in our community."
As for the sunny headlines the visit will bring, Krotik said those don't mean much to him.
Three weeks ago, a fellow real estate professional called Krotik in a panic, he said. Merced had been featured on a "Good Morning America" segment about foreclosures. Krotik's friend said, "We need to do something. We need to get a group together and get some positive press." Krotik told him to relax. "I said, no, as along as they're talking about us, it's good."
Fresno Bee
5 congressmen won't be at UC Merced ceremony...John Ellis
http://www.fresnobee.com/564/v-print/story/1408607.html
Five of six San Joaquin Valley congressmen are skipping today's high-profile graduation ceremony at the University of California at Merced -- including one who was a driving force in the school's birth.
All were invited to the event, which features first lady Michelle Obama as speaker. But four say they have other commitments.
A fifth, Visalia Republican Devin Nunes, says he is skipping the ceremony because he is unhappy with President Barack Obama and the majority Democrats in Congress.
"The president's wife is coming to the Valley, and just five miles away you have tens of thousands of people out of work because of the policies of the Democrat Party," he said. "I'm not going to go there and make nice."
He's not the only Valley congressman unhappy with the Obama administration's response to the Valley's water problems and other related local issues. But most insist that politics is playing no role in their absence.
Among those who say they have other commitments is Merced Democrat Dennis Cardoza, who chaired a select committee and authored key legislation related to the campus when he was in the state Legislature. UC Merced also lies within his congressional district.
Cardoza spokesman Mike Jensen said his boss is not making a political statement. Jensen said Cardoza was asked to be part of the graduation program several months ago, but had to decline for "personal and professional reasons" that he declined to detail.
Mariposa Republican George Radanovich "tries to get out [to California] two weekends a month and that's a weekend he's not scheduled to be there," said chief of staff Ted Maness. "We haven't made any special effort to avoid it."
Bret Rumbeck, a spokesman for Fresno Democrat Jim Costa, said Congress has votes scheduled on Friday, so Costa won't be able to attend. And even if those votes are canceled and Costa does come back home, he has events he must attend on the Valley's west side.
Bakersfield Republican Kevin McCarthy said he has an art competition scheduled.
Only Pleasanton Democrat Jerry McNerney, whose East Bay-centered district spills over into the northern San Joaquin Valley, will attend, according to his spokeswoman.
One political expert said the congressmen who are skipping the school's first commencement ceremony were being rude.
"It's bad manners, it's bad form and it's an insult to the community," said Lawrence Giventer, a professor of politics and public administration at California State University, Stanislaus.
"It is very customary for local congressional representatives to attend the commencement exercises of universities that are within their congressional district or near to their congressional district," Giventer said.
Giventer said politicians need to remember the event is about the graduates, their families and the community. In such events, you set aside politics, and if you have a personal commitment, you cancel it.
Tom Holyoke, an assistant professor of political science at California State University, Fresno, said Cardoza in particular should attend.
Many Valley farmers and officials were unhappy with the federal government's response to the region's water shortages, especially after little came from a recent Valley visit by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.
But if the region's congressmen -- Nunes excepted -- are trying to send a message, Holyoke said, they should at least say as much.
Said Holyoke: "It's hard to interpret [it] as anything other than a slight against the first lady and UC Merced."
UC Merced hopes Obama will help boost image...Cyndee Fontana
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/v-print/story/1408605.html
Turns out you can put a price on good will -- and it's about $700,000 for the University of California at Merced.
That's how much the UC's youngest campus expects to spend on today's commencement. The six-figure budget is more tied to the marquee speaker -- first lady Michelle Obama -- than the 500 or so graduates from its pioneer class, which includes students who entered as freshmen when the campus opened in 2005.
The university had been planning a ceremony in the campus quad for about 2,500 people that would cost around $100,000. Obama's appearance means an expected crowd of up to 25,000, only half of whom can even fit on campus.
The city of Merced is holding a street fair and festival and will broadcast the first lady's speech on big screens around town.
The event has "an entirely different dimension now," said Janet Young, associate chancellor and chief of staff at UC Merced.
University officials answer criticism about the commencement cost by saying they believe the event will lure new friends and potential donors, boost campus visibility and spawn positive national and worldwide publicity.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for this campus and the region," Young said. "The investment in providing a very high quality event will undoubtedly benefit the campus" for many years.
But with UC's student fees scheduled to rise more than 9% next year, some wonder whether those now-intangible benefits will be worth the expense.
"They let it get out of hand," said Bob Gilman of Clovis, one of many Valley residents questioning the cost in today's bleak economic climate.
"A business doesn't survive like that -- when you get in a hole, you have to stop digging," he said.
Campus officials offer several arguments for the expense. Among them: A graduation generating such public interest should be as open and accessible as possible, they say. Interest shot up when students, through their "Dear Michelle" campaign, persuaded Obama to speak -- one of only two graduation speeches now scheduled for the first lady.
The positive publicity is another. Young said she thinks the event will build good will and translate into "publicity you could not buy" for both the campus and the region.
Officials are working to "grow the image" of UC Merced for the campus, its students and the area, she said. The national and international spotlight on UC Merced may put the region on the map for new business and help cultivate new donors who could help with the university's ongoing development.
So far, the campus has raised more than $150,000 in sponsorships toward covering the $700,000 price tag. Officials continue to mine for more money and are working with the UC president's office on other strategies.
Young said that the campus won't use state dollars to pay the tab. Less than 20% of the UC system's $18 billion operating budget comes from the state of California.
The commencement cost may be high in part because UC Merced has fewer on-campus amenities. The university has only a handful of buildings and doesn't have a large indoor arena or stadium.
The campus will spend more than $100,000 on rentals and other ceremony expenses, such as chairs, signs and interpreters. Security is budgeted at $100,000 and transportation -- shuttling in guests from off-campus parking lots -- also will cost about $100,000.
The big ticket item is the $300,000 audio-visual system to broadcast the ceremony and provide an electronic feed for the news media.
Campus officials say they don't believe the budget is out of line for such a momentous event.
Other universities also make sizable investments in commencement, even without such star speakers. California State University, Fresno, for example, will spend about $130,000 on 10 commencement events on campus. The main commencement will cost about $80,000 to $85,000.
Officials agree that having a prominent speaker such as the first lady or President Barack Obama means changing plans.
The president spoke this week at Arizona State University and will speak Sunday at the University of Notre Dame commencement. Neither university could provide a cost estimate for commencement.
Sharon Keeler, spokeswoman for Arizona State, said the university swapped venues to accommodate a larger crowd -- moving from the on-campus arena to Sun Devil Stadium.
"We didn't want to leave anyone out," she said.
Authorities estimated the crowd at close to 70,000. Commencement usually draws about 12,000 people, she said.
Report slams Madera Co. water care...Chris Collins 
http://www.fresnobee.com/updates/v-print/story/1407949.html
The Madera County grand jury issued a report today that says the Board of Supervisors, acting as the county's flood control board, hasn't done enough to maintain rivers, streams, canals and flood plains.
The report says the county missed a deadline in March 2008 to implement a corrective plan required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As a consequence, residents' flood insurance rates could double, according to Ray Beach, the county's top planning and development official.
Because of the lack of waterway maintenance and the issuance of new FEMA maps, the grand jury found, many county residents will be living in a designated flood plain for the first time ever.
Federal Agency Put On Notice for Failure to Regulate Delta Power Plants...Coalition for a Sustainable Delta...Press Release 
http://www.fresnobee.com/556/v-print/story/1407614.html
Major Adverse Impact on Delta smelt and critical Delta estuary BAKERSFIELD, Calif., May 15 /PRNewswire/ The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta and the Kern County Water Agency (KCWA) today filed a Notice of Intent (NOI) to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for ongoing violations of the Endangered Species Act. The violations stem from the ongoing failure of the Corps to regulate two electrical generating power plants located in Contra Costa and Pittsburg, California. The plants' operations are known to kill significant numbers of delta smelt and other listed species and have a significant adverse impact on the estuary.
"The Corps has clearly failed to fulfill their obligations under the Endangered Species Act to take measures to protect the delta smelt and other threatened and endangered species," said Michael Boccadoro, spokesperson for the Coalition. "At a time when water deliveries to farms and residents are being severely curtailed by federal agencies and the courts, we cannot allow federal regulators to turn a blind-eye to a significant factor in the demise of the Delta and its fisheries."
The Corps has continually failed to ensure required conservation measures are being implemented to minimize and mitigate the take of listed species by the two power plants. Although the power plants are only operating at a fraction of their full capacity, recent monitoring data and analysis of that data show that they are having significant, adverse impacts on protected fish species particularly the threatened delta smelt and state- listed longfin smelt. In fact, in light of the precipitous decline of the delta smelt population, the level of take at the power plants may be jeopardizing the species. Operation of the power plants also results in destruction of critical habitat needed to sustain the species.
The power plants are owned and operated by Mirant Delta LLC and are located in the heart of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). During operation, the power plants use antiquated and controversial once-through cooling systems that take large volumes of Delta water and then discharge the heated water back into the estuary. A recent study shows that delta smelt and longfin smelt are present throughout the year in the vicinity of the power plants, with juveniles of both species present during months of heaviest pumping activity and therefore vulnerable to being destroyed. Extrapolation from Mirant's own limited monitoring data indicates that in 2008 the power plants may have taken as many as 150,000 delta smelt.
"Unless and until we address these other factors that impact the Delta, California residents, businesses and farms will continue to suffer from unnecessary water supply restrictions that are costing tens of thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars," said Jim Beck, Kern County Water Agency General Manager. "It is imperative for federal and State regulators and the courts to immediately broaden the remedies and address this and other stressors on the Delta and its native fishes before our economy is further devastated."
In addition to today's Notice of Intent, the Coalition has previously sent a Notice of Intent to Sue Mirant Delta LLC over operations of its power plants.
For more information, or to obtain a copy of the NOI and Cramer Fish Sciences Analysis of the Mirant Monitoring Program, visit www.sustainabledelta.com
The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta is an ad hoc group of water users who depend on the delta for a large portion of their water supplies. The Coalition is dedicated to protecting the delta and is committed to promoting a strategy to ensure its sustainability.
    Coalition for a Sustainable Delta         Kern County Water Agency
    Contact:                                  Contact:
    Michael Boccadoro                         Jeanne Varga
    (916) 441-7685                            (661) 549-4520
    (916) 600-4383
SOURCE Coalition for a Sustainable Delta
Calif. biologists must reconsider protecting pika...The Associated Press
http://www.fresnobee.com/384/v-print/story/1408379.html
FRESNO, Calif. A San Francisco Superior Court judge says state biologists must reconsider whether the mountain-dwelling American pika should be protected under the California Endangered Species Act.
Researchers have found shrinking populations of pika, a relative of the rabbit, in the Sierra Nevada range, as well as in Nevada and Utah. They say global warming is the main cause.
Judge Peter Busch said Friday that the California Fish and Game Commission used the wrong legal standard when they rejected the Center for Biological Diversity's petition for listing last June. The commission now has to reconsider whether the 6-inch-long rodent should be protected as a threatened species.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it was launching an in-depth review of the pika, which lives in 10 western states.
Farmland values rise despite crop troubles...Robert Rodriguez
http://www.fresnobee.com/business/v-print/story/1408535.html
Despite a weak economy, shortages of water and tighter lending requirements, the value of agricultural land in the central San Joaquin Valley remains fairly stable.
But that doesn't mean 2008 wasn't a rough year for farmers. Prices for many crops plummeted last year.
Still, interest in almonds, pistachios and grapes remained fairly strong when compared with other commodities grown in the Valley, according to an annual survey of land values prepared by the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers.
"Almonds is still one of the best things out there," said Kirk Sagouspe, an appraiser with Correia-Xavier Inc. "And if you have a good orchard with high yields, you are still making money."
Strong interest helped keep the price of Fresno County almond land at $9,000 to $15,000 an acre, the same value it had the previous year and above the $5,000 to $9,000 in 2003.
The land survey also found that as the number of almond orchards for sale continues to shrink, buyers are looking at land in areas not known for almond production.
Demand remains high for pistachios as the supply of available acreage becomes limited.
The per-acre price for pistachio land in Fresno County is $8,000 to $15,000 -- the same range as the previous year. In Kern County, the value of pistachio land is higher, ranging from $15,000 to $24,000, up from $13,000 to $16,000 in 2005.
Grape acreage has enjoyed a slight upward trend in land values, especially for wine grapes in Fresno and Madera counties.
Both of those regions produce grapes used in the value-priced wine category. But some vineyards also were purchased solely for the land, according to the survey.
The per-acre price for wine-grape land in Fresno County rose to between $9,000 and $11,000 in 2008. The previous year, the range was $8,000 to $10,000. In Madera County, the increase was higher: The range was $9,000 to $11,000 in 2008, compared with $6,500 to $9,000 in 2007.
Expected to continue struggling are the dairy and tree-fruit industries.
Allan Barros, chair of the society's land-values survey, said the sale of dairies has slowed as the industry copes with low prices.
"And if the market does not come back, you might see some bargain sales," Barros said. "There are people out there with money who are sitting and waiting to see what happens."
Farmers also are interested in buying tree-fruit acres, but not for the trees. Appraisers say some tree-fruit farms are being bought to grow mandarin citrus.
"We have seen a lot of market activity in the last four to six months," Sagouspe said. "But unlike the past when we saw buyers fighting over the type of property, now, in most cases, the buyers could care less about what is on the land."
Value for tree-fruit land in Fresno has remained stable, selling for $9,000 to $14,000 an acre, but Barros said there is a potential for values to drop.
"The tree-fruit industry itself is going through a contraction, and that could have an impact on values this year," Barros said.
Stockton Record
S.J. home affordability on the rise
Average income needed to buy falls to $57,000...The Record
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090516/A_BIZ/905160314
Tumbling home prices may be bad news for homeowners and lenders that hold mortgages on properties worth far less than the outstanding loan balances.
But it is also good news for prospective home buyers, because it means a drop in the income needed to buy a home. Nowhere in the country is that change more dramatic than in San Joaquin County and other areas of Central California, according to the Center for Housing Policy, the research arm of the National Housing Conference.
Based on a median home price of $175,000 in 2008 versus $348,000 the year before, the annual income needed to buy that home fell by 50 percent, to just under $57,000, from more than $114,000 in 2007, the center said this week.
That meant San Joaquin County saw the third most dramatic change in home buying power among 199 U.S. metropolitan areas, behind only Merced County, where the income needed to buy a median-priced abode ($42,000 a year for a $130,000 home) fell by nearly 54 percent, and Monterey/Salinas, where the income level fell 53 percent (to less than $80,000 for a $245,000 home).
Stanislaus County was fourth in the change of income needed to buy a home, down 47 percent, to less than $52,000 a year, for a $160,000 dwelling.
According to the center, an elementary school teacher earned on average $52,090 a year, nearly enough to buy the median priced San Joaquin County home last year. A registered nurse, at $64,000 a year, easily qualified.
The center's analysts said the annual income needed to qualify for a mortgage was calculated using the average prevailing interest rate, assumed a 10 percent down payment and the application of private mortgage insurance, and included payment of principal, interest, taxes and insurance.
The center's report was similar to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index issued earlier this year.
Among the 222 metro areas considered by the index, San Joaquin County ranked about midway in affordability, at 118th, with anyone earning the median income of $61,300 able to afford 66 percent of the homes for sale in the fourth-quarter 2008.
That was a dramatic improvement from the same period of 2007, when the region ranked 198th nationally and residents earning the median income of $60,300 could afford less than 17 percent of homes on the market
San Francisco Chronicle
A day of firsts for UC Merced...Editorial
 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/16/ED4O17KLHD.DTL&type=printable
Nine hundred hand-addressed Valentine cards. Five hundred and thirty-seven members of the "Dear Michelle Campaign" on Facebook. One YouTube video.
The first graduating class from UC Merced knows something about persistence.
After all, they showed up at UC Merced when the campus had more cows than majors, more pasture than professors. They developed the campus' student organizations and learned how to pursue what they needed. That spirit served them well when they set their hearts on getting a commencement speaker with a high profile: first lady Michelle Obama.
Their quest to secure her attendance was high-tech, low-tech and all heart. Touched by their efforts, Obama agreed to give her sole university commencement address at Merced. Whatever her message to the students may be, it can't be more inspiring than the example they've already shown.
After all, it takes a special kind of student to enroll at a new college - and an even more special one to stick with a muddy, rural campus that was constantly under construction. Though UC Merced started out with the priceless brand of the country's best public university system, it didn't have much more than that. Classroom buildings weren't ready when the graduating students arrived; no one knew what a degree from an untested campus would be worth. Many students transferred in search of better sports programs or a more "cosmopolitan" atmosphere.
Big challenges remain for both the campus and the students. The Merced region, in the San Joaquin Valley, has one of California's highest rates of foreclosure. That may be one of the reasons behind a drop in freshman applications this year - UC Merced has the highest percentages of low-income and first-generation college students in the entire UC system. And UC Merced's first graduating class will be entering the worst employment market in a generation.
But if anyone has the ability to overcome tough circumstances, it's the students who will be getting their degrees at Merced today. Maybe the campus still has to make a name for itself - to erect all its buildings, fill all its teaching positions and establish its endowment. But there's no doubt that its first graduating class has created a wonderful model for the students to come.
New way to save salmon in the delta...Kelly Zito
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/16/MNJQ17KLQF.DTL&type=printable
During their sprint to the sea this spring, baby salmon on the San Joaquin River tried to elude not only hungry bass and sharp rocks, but a wall of sound, strobe lights and bubbles.
The underwater show is the state's latest attempt to save the fabled species from being sucked into giant pumps at the heart of the state water system.
The $1 million project, introduced Friday by the state Department of Water Resources, also could aid the threatened delta smelt, another species whose rapid decline has alarmed ecologists and policymakers and highlighted the state's deteriorating water system.
"We're trying to figure out a better way to protect salmon ... and keep them in the main stem of the San Joaquin River," Jerry Johns, deputy director of the state agency, told reporters Friday.
Johns, with about a dozen other state and federal officials and project subcontractors, stood at the confluence of the San Joaquin River - second-longest in the state - and Old River near the town of Lathrop.
Behind them, a 350-foot-long row of bobbing red buoys marked the spot where a trestle carrying air-bubble tubes, speakers and lights had been lowered into the 10-foot-deep water about a month ago.
For the past four weeks, more than 900 tagged juvenile chinook salmon have been released about 15 miles south on the San Joaquin. As the fish encountered the light flashes, bubbles and noise - a constant hum from high to low frequencies - 79 percent of them angled north and remained on the San Joaquin.
That's an important number because the San Joaquin River has proved far less harmful to the fish than Old River, where they are more vulnerable to predators, water diversions for farmland and particularly the giant pumps near Tracy that send water from the southern Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to 25 million Californians.
Researchers said the equipment does no physical harm to salmon or other species and has been used successfully in projects in the Great Lakes and in England.
Still, UC Davis wildlife expert Peter Moyle said nonphysical barriers are best used over short periods because the fish may become desensitized to the light and sound show over time.
With the project completed, the equipment will be removed by the end of the month. Officials hope to declare the experiment a success and continue the project next spring.
During previous spring migrations, the state agency installed a rock barrier at the confluence but that impeded water flows in Old River and harmed the native delta smelt species, a federal judge found in 2007.
Concerns about the delta smelt - a key indicator of the health of the delta ecosystem - prompted steep reductions in the amount of water pumped through the region, forcing rationing around the state and billions of dollars in losses to agriculture.
Using the curtain of bubbles, Department of Water Resources officials hope they can improve the fortunes of both species.
In theory, the system could be adjusted to divert the smelt and other threatened fish away from pumps or other hazards, officials said. In turn, healthy fish populations could help reduce tensions between environmentalists and the water agencies that serve urban and rural customers.
But those who make their living fishing say the state must make sweeping changes - stricter conservation, water recycling and converting seawater into drinking water - to resuscitate fish species and repair the fragile ecosystem they rely on.
"The state is willing to bring out this gee-whiz technology, but the key is having adequate water flows," said Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations.
Chinook hatch in rivers and streams. Also known as king, spring or tyee salmon, they pass through San Francisco Bay and roam the Pacific Ocean as far away as Alaska before returning three years later to spawn where they were born - usually in the Sacramento River and its tributaries.
This year, for the second time in a row, the National Marine Fisheries Service banned commercial salmon fishing off California and much of Oregon. The action came after just 66,286 chinook salmon returned to the river system last year, the lowest number on record.
Studies blame a sparse food supply in the warming ocean, poor river conditions and dams.
"We've always looked at California's rivers and the delta as plumbing, not as living ecosystems - and that's a big part of the problem," Grader said. "If we can get away from this engineering-think ... we can start doing some better planning."
To save salmon, Calif officials try spa-like combo...TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/15/state/n145316D20.DTL&type=printable
Fresno, Calif. (AP) -- In a state where the Legislature once created a self-esteem task force, no one should be surprised that the elements of a good hot tub soak are being tested to keep migrating salmon on track.
A fish-irritating curtain of sound, lights and bubbles across the Old River, where a wrong left turn could mean being sucked into giant irrigation pumps, aims to keep juvenile Chinook smolts in the San Joaquin River on their springtime swim to the Pacific.
"People are going to hear about this and think, 'Boy those Californians really love their animals, they've installed jacuzzis for fish,'" said Mark Holderman, an engineer with the Department of Water Resources.
The spa combination is the latest of countless measures designed to save the endangered fish that migrate through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in the state's agricultural heartland.
For years, legal battles have been waged between farm water users and those representing the interests of the species whose existence have become threatened as demands on the Delta have increased.
It turns out that what was good for the dwindling Chinook — a rock dam that blocked the Old River nearly every spring since 1992 — was bad for the Delta Smelt, a tiny fish federal scientists say is on the brink of extinction.
The smelt's decline has prompted recent cutbacks in pumping from the freshwater estuary, pushing its needs ahead of Chinook and leaving state officials scrambling to find what's good for both of them.
"There's a battle between smelt and salmon as to who gets the attention," Holderman said. "Right now it's the smelt."
The rock barrier created problems for the smelt by causing more water to flow into downstream connectors, which "acted like bathtub drains" sucking smelt close to the giant pumps that push Delta water into surface canals for delivery across the state.
A biological opinion issued in December to protect the smelt left the state looking for a way to save this year's run of salmon, now in year two of a commercial fishing ban.
"To fix the problems that have occurred because of changes man has made in the Delta requires engineering solutions," said Holderman, the project manager. "Sometimes you fix one problem and you have to go fix another because of the problems it created."
California looked for answers in Denver, where scientists with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have been performing light-and-sound lab tests on fish to keep them from dying in dam intake valves. Biologist Mark Bowman found that a wall of bubbles, combined with strobe lights and just the right low-frequency, bone-jarring bass notes worked best to divert Chinook smolts.
"It turns out the same sound that irritates me when someone pulls up next to me at a stoplight is the same sound that irritates the fish," Holderman said.
Preliminary studies on tagged smolt show that 80 percent of the fish flee the barrier, not as good as the 100 percent the DWR stopped with the 120-yard rock wall, culverts and nets, but worth exploring, say biologists.
Without a barrier, about half of the fish turn at the Old River, roughly equal to its share of the flow.
At $1 million, the electronic barrier is twice as expensive as building and removing a rock wall every year, but officials believe the costs will come down if the installation is permanent.
Holderman said there also are dangerous salmon detours along the Sacramento River, such as the Georgiana Slough near Rio Vista, where the department would like to install similar walls of sound, bubbles and light if the season's tests end well.
"We're just trying to get them the shortest route out to the ocean we can," Holderman said.
Contra Costa Times
Danville may strip coast redwoods' protection...Eric Louie, Valley Times

http://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_12380464

DANVILLE — Fast-growing coast redwoods may become a little less welcome in Danville if a new change in the town's tree preservation policy is approved.
The planning commission is looking at a change that would take the trees off a list of 13 species now protected under the policy. The change would mean property owners would have an easier time getting approval to remove one.
"There has to be a way to listen to reasonable requests to remove trees," said Bob Nichols, chairman of the commission.
He said when the ordinance was approved in 1989 and amended in 2001 to add heritage trees to the protection list — which protects all trees when they reach a certain diameter — there weren't quite as many view-blocking, towering trees in the area.
Now, even if the commission thinks a tree should be removed, there are a limited number of conditions under which it can be allowed, he said.
Many of the coast redwoods planted in the last 20 to 30 years are now reaching a large size. But the issue has turned to looking at under what conditions any tree can be removed, said planning commission chairman Bob Nichols.
The policy change, recommended by the town staff, will be taken up by the commission on May 26. One possible revision would be allowing a tree to be removed if another tree, or trees, are planted in its place. The commission will also look at possible fines for nonapproved removals.
Town planner David Crompton said the main focus is on easing the process to remove coast redwoods, but that the commission wanted "common sense" ways that would allow removing other trees for the property's enjoyment. An example would be a tree considered too big for the property, he said.
Among the removals allowed now are trees in bad health that can be a danger and those damaging property. Coast redwoods, which the town council and planning commission have long wanted to remove from the protected species list, have been popular with new development due to their fast growth and evergreen foliage. The trees can reach 70 to 90 feet in height in 20 to 25 years.
In the past 12 months, 33 of the 74 requests received by the town for tree removal permits, were for coast redwoods. Of those, the town denied the request, or the application was withdrawn, for 17 of the trees because the policy did not allow it.
The coast redwood is one of two of the species not native to the area. The trees exist in Northern California, but are generally found closer to the coast.
The coast redwood issue arose when resident Jill Beeman asked to remove one from her neighbor's property. She moved to Danville in 1993 when the tree, technically on their neighbor's property, was small. It now stands more than twice the size of the two-story house of its owners.
The Beemans had their neighbors' permission to remove the tree, but the town rejected the request.
Linda Stolow, who spoke on proposed policy changes at a recent commission meeting, said she fears it would pave the way for removing trees as part of the Danville Veteran's Hall renovation.
"It's nice to keep the tree population growing," she said.
Mercury News
First Lady Michelle Obama to speak at University of California Merced commencement Saturday...Dana Hull
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_12381543?nclick_check=1
MERCED — Since it opened four years ago, the scrappy University of California-Merced has battled for recognition and respect. It's been hard to attract students and faculty to the fledgling Central Valley campus; students who are rejected from other UCs are referred to Merced. The sparsely built school of 2,700 doesn't have ranked sports teams, and there are no "Bobcat" alumni to raise money on its behalf.
Until now.
Thanks to an ultra-atomic campaign by a group of graduating students, First Lady Michelle Obama arrives on campus today as commencement speaker for the pioneering Class of 2009. That feat has vastly elevated the school's status, lit the dusky region with pride, and is filling hotels and restaurants with out-of-towners who usually confuse Merced with the region's other "M" towns, like Modesto and Manteca.
"This is the first step in UC-Merced becoming a prestigious university," said senior Efferman Ezell, a key organizer of "Operation Lady Bird," the code name students used as they waged their successful campaign earlier this spring to land Obama for their commencement speaker. "We have really upped the ante."
Now Ezell and other student leaders squeeze media interviews in between final exams, and the campus is giddy with anticipation. It took contractors three days to set up 12,000 rented white folding chairs and grounds keepers are mulching freshly planted trees. Even expectant jack rabbits are hopping among rows of newly erected port-a-potties. T-shirts that ask "Got Michelle?" are about to go on sale at the bookstore.
"People didn't know about UC-Merced before, and now we're getting all kinds of attention," said a beaming Chancellor Steve Kang, who will announce a campus garden named for Michelle Obama during the ceremony. "It's publicity that we couldn't possibly buy."
FLOTUS
The trip to Merced marks Mrs. Obama's first visit to California as First Lady of the United States and her first commencement speech. She's flying in, meeting with a small group of students, giving a 17-minute oration and flying home in time to put Malia and Sasha to bed.
Word of her choosing Merced in late March made other UC's fume with envy. "Put to Shame By Merced" bleated an editorial in the Daily Cal, the student newspaper at UC-Berkeley. More than 12,000 people are attending a commencement for 500 students. Among the RSVP's: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Congressman Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, Attorney General Jerry Brown, and several state legislators, including Assembly Speaker Karen Bass.
Obama's brief visit is also giving a desperately needed boost to the wider community. Battered by foreclosures and drought, the county of Merced has an unemployment rate of 20.4 percent; forlorn, empty storefronts pocket Main Street.
"This is big time," said Gloria Conlin, 61, a customer at Toni's Courtyard Cafe, a local breakfast haunt. "It's nice to have national prominence for something other than the highest foreclosure rate in the nation."
Excitement galore
Conlin is most amazed by the students. For weeks, they bombarded the White House with handwritten letters and Valentine's Day cards, then orchestrated a YouTube and Facebook campaign. They sent appeals for help to Charles Ogletree, a Merced native and Harvard law professor who mentored both Obamas at Harvard Law School.
"It takes gumption and stick-to-it-ness to even try something like this," said Conlin. "We're all blown away that the students even tried to get the first lady. It speaks volumes about Michelle Obama that she listened to them. I think it will give a lot of kids here hope."
A two-day "Cap & Town" street festival is under way; Obama's commencement speech will be broadcast on Jumbotrons downtown. Some say the First Lady is a one-woman stimulus package; with 25,000 people streaming into town, hotels are booked and restaurants are busy.
"We're ground zero for everything that's gone wrong in this recession," said Frank Quintero, Merced's economic development manager, who expects graduation to generate $1.1 million. "Six or seven quarters of declining retail sales, a 40 percent drop in property taxes, 20.4 percent unemployment, one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country."
This weekend, at least, all that is on the back burner.
Long history
Plans for UC-Merced began in 1988. The University of California wanted its 10th campus to bring intellectual firepower to a fast-growing region of the state. The San Joaquin Valley has traditionally been underserved by higher education; in 2005, according to the U.S. Census, only 14 percent of Merced County residents had a bachelor's degree.
Years of site study, environmental impact reports and delays followed. One proposed location was nixed because it filled with vernal pools containing endangered "fairy shrimp" after the winter rains. And not everyone was happy about a new campus.
"There was a big split in town," recalls Jim Barnett, 61, owner of the Second Time Around used bookstore. "Some people really wanted the university, and some people were very anti-growth."
It was also hard to secure state funding. As California lurched from one budget crisis to the next, some said the new campus should be postponed or canceled. A pink pig with wings hangs in the office of one vice chancellor, a nod to the legislator who told him "You'll get a campus in Merced when pigs fly."
"The only supporters initially were from the Central Valley," said founding chancellor Carol Tomlinson-Keasey. "We had to win over legislators from other areas one by one. It was a long, tedious process."
Big plans ahead
The campus, which finally opened in Sept. 2005, hopes to grow to 25,000 students by 2035. There's a School of Engineering, School of Natural Sciences, and School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts; the next big projects are a management school and medical school. But with just 2,700 students right now, class sizes are small: 20 students or less.
"At first glance, it's like there's nothing here," said junior Paul Diaz of Saratoga. "But that's the beauty of it. If you are innovative and want to start something new, Merced is a great place. It's a new UC, so you have to kind of think outside the box."
Diaz, a world history major, can't believe the transformation taking place.
"We're only four years old. I couldn't imagine why Michelle Obama would want to come here," he said. "But look around. All of the construction is speeding up. This is putting us on the map fast, and now more students will apply to come here. The more students we can get, the faster we can grow."
Los Angeles Times
Michelle Obama's arrival awaited eagerly at UC Merced...Larry Gordon, L.A. Now  
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/05/michelle-obama-commencement-uc-merced.html
MERCED, Calif.  -- Anticipation is high and security is tight this morning at UC Merced as the 4-year-old campus prepares to greet first lady Michelle Obama, who will deliver the commencement speech to its first full graduating class.
More than 12,000 seats and a temporary stage are set up in an outdoor grassy amphitheater area under the hot sun of the San Joaquin Valley for the 1:30 p.m. ceremony.  Police and security guards are circling in cars, on bicycles and on foot as the graduates and their families are arriving to pick up their caps and gowns and greet classmates.
Obama accepted the invitation to address the class after the graduating seniors sent her hundreds of valentines and a video; they also asked for help from California politicians and Obama friends.  Her acceptance surprised UC Merced's administrators and set off a flurry of activity at the 2,700-student school, which is the first new campus in the University of California system in 40 years.
Administrators and students say that Obama's visit, her only commencement speech to a college class this year, will bring much-needed positive attention to a school that has suffered from funding shortages and environmental challenges to its growth.  "Not everybody in the state of California, much less the rest of country, knows where UC Merced is," said Jane Lawrence, vice chancellor for student affairs. The Obama speech, she said, will change that."Everyone from the custodians to the chancellor is excited and working hard," she said. 
The city of Merced is in a celebratory mood, too. A street festival is being held in its old downtown, about five miles from campus and 55 miles northwest of Fresno, and two giant video screens are set up there so city residents without tickets to the graduation can watch the ceremonies.
Judge blocks Wal-Mart's supercenter proposal for Yucca Valley
The retailer's analysis of greenhouse gas emissions is inadequate and its economic conclusions flawed, he says. The ruling signals a trend of factoring global warming into development plans...Margot Roosevelt
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-wal-mart16-2009may16,0,3120618,print.story
A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge has rebuffed Wal-Mart's plan for a supercenter in the desert town of Yucca Valley, partly on the grounds that the giant retailer failed to take measures to reduce its impact on global warming.
Environmentalists had been pressuring Wal-Mart to install solar panels to provide electricity for its proposed 184,000-square-foot store. But the retailer contended that the estimated 7,000 metric tons per year of planet-heating greenhouse gases that would result from the store's operation was too insignificant to require such measures under the California Environmental Quality Act.
Judge Barry Plotkin, relying on contrary evidence from state air quality officials, ruled otherwise on Thursday, in a case that signals a growing legal consensus that climate change must be considered by businesses and governments promoting new developments.
"California is in the forefront," said Matthew Vespa, an attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, an Arizona-based advocacy group, which sued Wal-Mart and Yucca Valley. The center also won a case last year against Desert Hot Springs after the city failed to analyze the greenhouse gas emissions that would result from a golf course and 2,600-home development
Activists have had a powerful ally in California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, who has won agreements from San Bernardino County, ConocoPhillips, the Port of Los Angeles, the San Diego Airport Authority, and Cilion, a Kern County ethanol plant, to measure or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
The efforts to account for the effect of land-use on climate change are part of , adopted in December, to slash the state's overall emissions by about 15% by 2020.
Yucca Valley's proposed supercenter is designed to replace an existing 120,000-square-foot store. It would include a large grocery area, which Wal-Mart said would not affect the town's four other grocery stores. Plotkin, however, found the retailer's economic analysis flawed.
The judge also deemed the retailer's analysis of ozone and dust pollution inadequate.
"We're disappointed with this ruling," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Michelle Bradford said. "It delays the opportunity for Yucca Valley residents to enjoy the benefits of cost savings and new opportunities, at a store that is setting new standards for sustainable building."
Bradford declined to say what those standards were. However, Wal-Mart has waged a public campaign to promote its sustainability efforts in recent years.
The judge ordered Yucca Valley officials to examine the feasibility of an "environmentally superior 'green' Wal-Mart supercenter alternative."
"Wal-Mart has pilot projects to put solar on a very small fraction of their stores," Vespa said. "And Wal-Mart has claimed for years their aim is 100% renewable power. But for a project in the California desert, outside Joshua Tree National Park, an ideal location for solar, they bent over backward to avoid it."
Town Manager Andrew Takata said Yucca Valley officials are "disappointed" with the court ruling, but that plans for the new store would proceed, either through an appeal or by revising the environmental impact statement.
In the Owens Valley, resentment again flows with the water
L.A.'s Department of Water and Power is prospecting again for land and water rights in the valley. Unlike past battles, the focus is on real estate locals say is needed for commerce along Highway 395...Louis Sahagun
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dwp-owens16-2009may16,0,6653853,print.story
Reporting from Lone Pine, Calif. — The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is quietly prospecting once again for land and water rights in the Owens Valley, sparking tense disputes among residents over the agency's influence on their economic stability.
Unlike previous battles between Owens Valley residents and the DWP, which focused on the environmental and economic damage caused by L.A.'s pumping of local water supplies, the current campaign seeks to break the agency's grip on land the locals say is needed for commerce, hospitals, parking and affordable housing along a 112-mile stretch of Highway 395 east of the Sierra Nevada.
"Sustainable communities -- that's what they are sucking out of this place along with our water," said Scott Palamar, a photographer who moved to Lone Pine in July after his Malibu home was destroyed by a brush fire in 2007. "The DWP only wants just enough infrastructure to support its own operations. Beyond that, they don't seem to care."
The trouble started when a local real estate broker learned that the DWP, which already owns 25% of the Owens Valley floor, plans to buy 100 acres of privately held stream-side property just west of Independence, the Inyo County seat, for an estimated $4 million to $5 million.
On May 6, a group of Owens Valley residents sent a petition to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Council urging them to force the DWP to compensate for the loss of this private land by releasing an equal amount of its own holdings elsewhere.
"They are creating a net loss of private land in Inyo County and destroying our towns in the process," said Jenifer Castaneda, a Lone Pine real estate broker and community activist who helped write the petition. "If they are going to take what little available private land there is left in the valley out of circulation, they should make an equal amount of land available in communities that are struggling to survive."
"I understand their sentiments" and "I'm open to having conversations" about releasing property, DWP General Manger David Nahai said in an interview.
But he also pointed out that three years of drought, cutbacks in state water allocations and rationing and its $500-million dust-mitigation project at Owens Lake have left the agency trying to cope with "a seriously overburdened water supply."
The DWP already receives water from the 100-acre parcel it is attempting to purchase. By acquiring ownership of the land and its water rights, the agency would maintain permanent, uninterrupted access to the water and prevent other parties from tapping it for development or selling it elsewhere.
In the meantime, the communities of Olancha, Lone Pine, Independence and Big Pine continue to deteriorate, with most of their developable land controlled by the DWP.
In Independence, a town of 500, the sole grocery store recently closed because its customer base had dwindled. About 15 miles south in downtown Lone Pine, the DWP last summer demolished several buildings it owned on a single block, leaving behind three gravel-covered lots locals have dubbed "the missing teeth of Main Street."
"That lot was an auto parts store. That one nearby was a beauty shop, and that one over there used to be a Radio Shack," Castaneda said on a recent weekday, pointing to the empty parcels. "Now, people are wondering: What is the critical mass needed to sustain this community?"
Twelve years ago, the DWP agreed to relinquish 75 acres in the Owens Valley for residential and commercial uses, and the county amended its general plan to ensure that land exchanges did not result in a net loss of tax base or revenues.
So far, however, only a handful of lots from those 75 acres have changed hands because the DWP tends to set minimum bids far above market value.
Nahai acknowledged the problem: "We are right now reappraising the 75 acres with a goal of bringing them to market soon in a successful auction."
The Owens Valley has been a colony of sorts since the early 1900s, when L.A. began pumping so much water via the Los Angeles aqueduct system that it was all but impossible for the region's early farmers and ranchers to make a living -- a scandal dramatized in the classic 1974 film "Chinatown."
Owens Valley residents and the DWP have been at odds ever since over the effects of L.A.'s water use on the landscape. But the dissension flared anew when Palamar and Castaneda revealed the agency's offer on 100 acres at Oak Creek owned by Alan Bell of Woodland Hills and his brother, Robert Bell of Bishop.
The two DWP critics were publicly chastised by an Inyo County supervisor for disclosing details of the transaction.
Some of Robert Bell's neighbors say he should subdivide the property to increase its value. Others argue the DWP is offering too little for it.
Robert Bell, who was a construction worker for the DWP until he won a $9-million lottery jackpot in 1988, declined to comment on the land or his decision to sell it, citing confidentiality agreements. "I can talk about it later," he said. "Not right now."
County officials and residents say the DWP also has expressed interest in acquiring an 80-acre site with water rights in Big Pine, as well as at least one parcel with water rights adjacent to the Bell brothers' property.
The last time the DWP bought a chunk of land larger than 100 acres with water rights was in 1986, a department spokesman said.
Three weeks ago, Nahai said he visited a group of Owens Valley cattle ranchers who receive significant DWP water allotments, "to talk with them about our dire water situation."
The last time the DWP curtailed water allotments for valley ranching and agriculture was during the drought of 1991.
Some residents view Castaneda and Palamar and dozens of others who signed their petition as heroes for daring to take their case to the Inyo County Board of Supervisors and Los Angeles City Hall.
Said Inyo County Supervisor Marty Fortney, who operates a camping and fishing resort on land leased from the DWP: "If they can get DWP off the stick to release some of its land at a reasonable price, then more power to them."
"But forcing the DWP to do anything around here is like trying to squeeze a bull through a window -- probably ain't going to happen," he said with a smile. "In this country, the DWP is God, and it makes the rules."
Castaneda agreed -- to a point.
"If people don't speak up," she said, "there won't be any businesses or livelihoods left to fight for."
Edison drops plan for power line in Arizona...Bloomberg News
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-edison16-2009may16,0,2215716,print.story
Edison International said it wouldn't pursue regulatory approvals for the Arizona portion of a power line that has drawn opposition from state regulators.
Edison said its Southern California Edison subsidiary would go forward with the California portion of the line, part of a $774-million project that was proposed in part to help bring solar power into the state. The transmission line will instead get power from California renewable and fossil-fuel power projects.
Arizona regulators rejected the project in 2007, calling it a "230-mile extension cord." Edison made initial filings with federal regulators for a potential override of Arizona's objections. The company said it was also dropping its efforts before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The Rosemead-based company cited reduced electricity demand in California as well as future renewable power supplies in the state as among the "primary changes" since the line was proposed in 2005.