WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:04.759 I want to talk about a really important bit of California environmental law and why 2 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:12.359 I think it's stupid and harmful. And that law is called SEQUA. Now, 3 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:20.320 any of you who are involved in construction or building projects, especially the 4 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:28.079 housing developments things of that sort, will know a little bit about SEQUA. 5 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:36.640 SEQUA CEQA is the California Environmental Quality Act. It was a law that was 6 00:00:36.679 --> 00:00:42.719 passed in California in nineteen seventy and other another one of the incredibly liberal things 7 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:45.880 that Ronald Reagan did when he was governor of California. In addition to legalizing 8 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:54.079 abortion, he also passed SEQUA. And what SEQUA does is it basically I 9 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:59.479 think when it was passed in nineteen seventy, people did not envision Clearly, 10 00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:06.480 people didn't envision the way in which it would be used today. So what's 11 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:11.840 the issue. Well, if a real estate developers building a project and it's 12 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:19.159 going to adversely impact the environment, who has standing to sue? It? 13 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:23.760 All has to do with much of it, anyway, has to do with 14 00:01:23.079 --> 00:01:30.040 standing to sue. Standing is a really important legal doctrin. It's basically it's 15 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:34.920 basically the question of who is allowed to file a lawsuit over some harm that 16 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:46.920 has happened or some actionable event. In most cases, standing is fairly obvious. 17 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:52.239 If someone crashes again, I always use the car crash example. So 18 00:01:52.359 --> 00:02:00.519 someone crashes a car into agent I'll use our intrepid producer here at Power Talk, 19 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:04.519 Agent Squires. If someone crashes a car into Agent Squire's house, I 20 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:07.800 will feel really bad for him. I will feel really upset on his behalf. 21 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:12.280 But I can't sue the guy who crashed into his car. I can't 22 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:16.000 sue him. If I file a law suit, I go in front of 23 00:02:16.039 --> 00:02:19.719 the judge and the judge says, why are you suing? Why should I 24 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:22.719 not dismiss this case because you don't have standing to sue. I would say, 25 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:25.680 well, Judge, I was really upset when this guy crashed into my 26 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:31.400 friend, Agent Squire's house. And the judge would look at me and say, 27 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:36.400 well, you being upset, that's not enough for standing. So to 28 00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:40.520 have standing, you have to show some kind of actionable harm that happened to 29 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:46.960 you, physical harm, economic harm, et cetera. It has to be 30 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:52.159 some sort of tangible harm that impacts you. So me being upset on behalf 31 00:02:52.199 --> 00:02:54.400 of my friend, No, I'm not allowed to sue. Agent Squire's is 32 00:02:54.439 --> 00:03:00.639 allowed to sue if someone crashes a car into his house. So the doctrine 33 00:03:00.639 --> 00:03:06.319 of standing is basically the doctrine of who has the right to bring this lawsuit? 34 00:03:08.199 --> 00:03:15.080 And this was the issue with environmental concerns that there was a thought, 35 00:03:15.240 --> 00:03:25.400 well, if some real estate developer is harming the environment through his building project, 36 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:31.800 who can speak for the endangered animals who are impacted? Who can file 37 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:38.520 a lawsuit on behalf of the fishies? Unless a real estate project or something 38 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:46.879 is actually directly with a short enough chain of causation impacting some group of actual 39 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:51.960 people, nobody really has standing to file a lawsuit. So you have to 40 00:03:52.000 --> 00:04:00.039 make up some way to challenge. Basically, in order to regulate the environment, 41 00:04:00.039 --> 00:04:03.319 in order to protect the environment, you need to come up with some 42 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:14.719 system to allow someone to bring a lawsuit to stop certain kinds of development if 43 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:20.399 it is unduly harmful to the environment. Now you'd think that this should be 44 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:27.399 in the hands of the public, of some kind of public actor being able 45 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:32.240 to enforce California environmental laws and bring lawsuits to challenge something, or have some 46 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:42.240 process or some sort of environmental review process that sat with the government, So 47 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:49.439 the California EPA or something like that. But no, in our infinite stupidity, 48 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:58.279 we developed SEQUA. Here's a piece about SEQUA from two years ago. 49 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:03.439 This is from the regulatory review the Inequalities of California's Environmental Quality Act, written 50 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:11.560 by Catherine McKean. Lawmakers originally intended this law, the California Environmental Quality Act, 51 00:05:11.560 --> 00:05:14.839 to benefit people and the planet, but in the fifty years since California's 52 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:19.800 adoption of SEQUA, its environmental review requirements may have also been used by non 53 00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:28.120 environmental groups to fight sustainable and equitable development. Increasingly, some critics insist that 54 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:32.319 reforms are needed to restore SEQUA to its original intent. So what SEQUA does 55 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:40.800 is basically, Okay, we have these California environmental standards, laws, etc. 56 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:46.959 Who's enforcing it. Well, we're not having the government enforce it. 57 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:54.160 It's not just the EPA enforcing it. We allow private actors to enforce California 58 00:05:54.240 --> 00:06:01.759 law by filing lawsuits against a construction project, business undertaking a construction project, 59 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:16.720 Individual, private persons, or private organizations. The Sierra Club can file a 60 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:28.040 lawsuit against a construction company to say this construction job is violating environmental law on 61 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:31.160 this in this way. But it's not just limited to environmental groups. It's 62 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:44.160 not just limited to private persons. Anyone can do it. So one of 63 00:06:44.240 --> 00:06:55.120 the things that's happening is that you have basically like non disinterested parties businesses trying 64 00:06:55.160 --> 00:07:00.079 to stop certain kinds of development projects in ways that seem self interested towards their 65 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:05.480 bottom line. It's not all just I mean, look and no environmental lawyer 66 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:10.079 is doing this without an interest for his bottom line. But it's not just 67 00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:18.639 nonprofit organizations following these lawsuits. As Catherine McKean writes in this piece in the 68 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:29.199 Regulatory Review, she says lawmakers originally intended this law to benefit people in the 69 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:32.600 planet, and in the fifty years since its adoption, its environmental review requirements 70 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:41.720 may have also been used by non environmental groups to fight sustainable and equitable development. 71 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:47.160 So non environmental groups are using this to block real estate projects that they 72 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:55.480 don't like, and in fact, the statute has been used to do things 73 00:07:55.519 --> 00:08:01.360 that are are just flat out super harmful, maybe even for the environment. 74 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:09.279 It's been used to fight the construction of homeless shelters, to block denser urban 75 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:13.839 housing. Okay, many of you have heard the phrase nimby not in my 76 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:18.439 backyard. So this is the tendency that people who already have homes in a 77 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:22.720 certain area, they don't want a bunch of new housing to be constructed, 78 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:28.319 and especially they don't want high density housing apartment complexes because they think, well, 79 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:33.240 apartment complexes bring more crime, they bring people with lower socioeconomic bracket, 80 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.559 and this will lower the value of my home. But in the meantime, 81 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:43.360 California desperately needs more housing. So sequa, this enlightened lefty thing has been 82 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:50.799 used to stop this very urgently needed thing of more middle and lower middle class 83 00:08:50.840 --> 00:08:56.799 housing. It's been used to delay solar projects, to challenge public transit proposals. 84 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:05.519 It even barred the enrollment of over three thousand new students at UC Berkeley 85 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:15.639 in twenty twenty two. And so basically California does this in a lot of 86 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:20.559 respects where California just sort of takes the posture of we're not just going to 87 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:31.000 have the state enforce a given body of law. This is also the case, 88 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:35.159 by the way, with labor law, employment law. We're not just 89 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:39.279 going to have the state enforce it. We're also going to encourage private individuals 90 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:43.720 to enforce it. Okay, California has this in a particular way with labor 91 00:09:43.799 --> 00:09:54.679 law as well, but basically the idea that California is almost outsourcing its environmental 92 00:09:54.799 --> 00:10:01.600 law enforcement to private actors suing and without any sort of clear sense of like 93 00:10:01.720 --> 00:10:07.320 the motives of these people who might be suing, and whether the outcomes they're 94 00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:13.840 pushing for or in any way are are really drastically harmful to some other purpose. 95 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:16.399 And that's the thing that I think these environmental wackos refuse to acknowledge, 96 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.360 is that there has to be a give and take. Yes, any construction 97 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:28.240 project is going to have some kind of adverse environmental impact, and it's probably 98 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:31.639 also worth it. It's probably worthwhile given that human beings are part of this 99 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:37.960 environment in which we live. It's probably a good thing to build more houses 100 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:41.759 so that in every house in California doesn't cost five hundred thousand, six hundred 101 00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:45.799 thousand dollars. So maybe there's a twenty three year old in this state who 102 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:54.039 could maybe somehow buy a house without being a millionaire first. But no, 103 00:10:54.559 --> 00:11:01.120 I think these liberals, these liberal environmental groups are supported by and maybe even 104 00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:09.159 staffed by ultra elite, wealthy people who already have their eight hundred thousand San 105 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:13.039 Francisco house, eight hundred thousand dollars San Francisco house, and they basically just 106 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:16.840 do not care if another thing ever gets built. And not just houses, 107 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:24.279 but also the infrastructure, the infrastructure needed to sustain houses, you know, 108 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:30.000 stuff like water, stuff like reservoirs, stuff like dams, stuff like you 109 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:35.919 know, it's you know, building up the agricultural sector. They don't care 110 00:11:35.960 --> 00:11:43.320 about any of it. They have this environmental vision where human beings are not 111 00:11:43.559 --> 00:11:52.480 front and center and if anything, are a little more than harmful interlopers. 112 00:11:54.240 --> 00:11:56.840 Now, when we return, I want to talk about how SEQUA is being 113 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:01.360 used to try to block the building of a new redis that even Gavin Newsom 114 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:05.600 wants to build. That's next on the John Girardi Show. SEQUA, the 115 00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:13.559 California Environmental Quality Act, is basically this cudgel that environmental wackos use to prevent 116 00:12:13.720 --> 00:12:18.200 any new thing from being built or developed in California. It's a major reason 117 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:24.799 why construction in California is so expensive, because basically you're afraid as a developer 118 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:30.360 that some jerk can just swoop in from the outside and file a lawsuit to 119 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:37.799 stop your project on some kind of specious environmental grounds, and sequa is kind 120 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:43.559 of this remarkable thing because it's a big, massive exception to the traditional American 121 00:12:43.639 --> 00:12:50.960 legal doctrine around standing. Who is allowed to sue someone who has standing? 122 00:12:52.039 --> 00:12:56.399 As I gave the example, if someone crashes a car into agent Squire's house, 123 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:58.440 I don't have the right to sue. I might be really mad, 124 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:05.000 i might be really upset, but I'm not allowed to sue. Only Agent 125 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:09.320 Squires can sue, or you know, if he passes away, then the 126 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:16.480 heirs of his estate or whatever. But I'm not allowed to sue. I 127 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:20.519 don't have the standing to sue, even if I'm like really upset, because 128 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:24.200 I haven't suffered the harm. They didn't crash into my house. My property 129 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:30.120 wasn't damaged. I haven't suffered in a physical harm. I haven't suffered some 130 00:13:30.200 --> 00:13:33.759 kind of economic harm. I'm just upset for my friend, and that's not 131 00:13:35.080 --> 00:13:39.480 enough to give me standing to sue. What is happening with environmental law in 132 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:46.879 California is that for years, harms to the environment are able to be vindicated 133 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:56.440 in court by private entities filing lawsuits who are not themselves directly impacted by a 134 00:13:56.559 --> 00:14:07.799 thing. Okay, basically that we've created a right of action, a right 135 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:15.720 to sue, private cause of action that is extended to people who are not 136 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:22.399 directly harmed by a given building project, real estate project, et cetera. 137 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:33.360 Here's a good example. California environmental groups appeal court ruling in favor of plan 138 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:37.759 to build a new reservoir. This is looks like this is a Sacramento be 139 00:14:37.879 --> 00:14:45.879 thing. Maybe it's a Fresno b thing. By Ari Plachta. A coalition 140 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:50.799 of environmental groups appeal to court rejection of their challenge to California's plan to build 141 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:56.519 sites reservoir in a valley north of Sacramento, its first major new major reservoir 142 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:01.600 in decades. They argue the project would harm and here's why. They argue 143 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:09.480 the project would harm Sacramento River ecosystems and threaten imperiled fish species. The groups 144 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:15.360 include the Center for Biological Diversity, the Sierra Club, Friends of the River, 145 00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:20.039 California Sport Fishing Protection Alliance, California Water Impact Network, and Save California 146 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:24.919 Salmon for the Sake of the Delta community and the fish and wildlife already struggling 147 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:28.399 in this sensitive ecosystem. I hope the true environmental harms of this reservoir will 148 00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:33.919 be taken seriously, said John Boose, Senior council at the Center for Biological 149 00:15:33.960 --> 00:15:37.039 Diversity. There are still numerous hurdles before the site's reservoir, and that's because 150 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:43.600 the state's strong environmental laws demand a thorough review for potentially damaging projects. In 151 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:48.799 a May ruling, a Yolo County Superior Court judge cited against advocates and determined 152 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.000 that the project's environmental review was sufficient. Governor Gavin nuws Some celebrated the decision, 153 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:56.759 saying the projects had cleared a major hurdle. He had sought to speed 154 00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:00.639 the California Environmental Quality Act process through an Infrastructure Streamline ning law that requires courts 155 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:07.000 to decide on environmental challenges within two hundred and seventy days when feasible. California 156 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:11.120 needs more water storage and we have no time to waste. Projects like the 157 00:16:11.159 --> 00:16:14.919 site's reservoir will capture rain and snow runoff to supply millions of homes with clean 158 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:18.360 drinking water, Newman Newsom said after the ruling. With a maximum capacity of 159 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:22.679 one point five million acre feet of water, state officials say at its max 160 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:26.720 state officials say, at its maximum, the proposed four point five billion dollar 161 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:30.559 reservoir will store enough water to supply the yearly usage of three million households. 162 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:37.120 To do so, state agencies would inundate nearly fourteen thousand acres of ranch lands 163 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:41.960 in Glen and Caloosa Counties with water diverted from the Sacramento River through a new 164 00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:45.519 system of dams, pipelines, and a bridge. Environmental advocates with the group 165 00:16:45.559 --> 00:16:49.759 Friends of the River and other groups have long opposed the project, voicing concerns 166 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:56.600 that diverting water would harm struggling fish populations and the ailing ecosystem of the Sacramento 167 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:00.799 San Juan River Delta. So the Sacramento River come in from the north, 168 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:03.879 the San Juquin River coming up from the south. They both meet at the 169 00:17:03.879 --> 00:17:07.359 delta. It's the point where the rivers sort of converge and branch off into 170 00:17:07.400 --> 00:17:12.519 a bunch of tiny little branches that flow out into the San Francisco Bay from 171 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:18.640 the delta. Water from the San Francisco from the Sacramento and San Juan rivers 172 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:27.480 then gets pumped south into two major canal waterway systems. The Central Valley System, 173 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:32.319 which was built by the federal government and provides a lot of agricultural water 174 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:36.039 for us in the San Lauquin Valley. And then the California State Water System, 175 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:41.440 which is run by the state and which is largely bringing water to southern 176 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:52.640 California for private individual home use, and liberals are constantly the whole state is 177 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:57.559 sort of like grind grinding to a halt as far as its water provision because 178 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:04.640 of chinook salmon populations, delta smelt, and other kinds of fish in the 179 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:08.880 Delta. So the contention here is, hey, we need more water storage. 180 00:18:11.119 --> 00:18:15.400 Even Gavin Newsom, It's a funny thing about being governor is that at 181 00:18:15.400 --> 00:18:18.400 a certain point the buck stops with you and you just kind of have to 182 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:22.039 be the adult in the room in the way that you don't have to if 183 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:26.640 you're just a state assembly member or a state senator. So there are certain 184 00:18:26.680 --> 00:18:33.440 things like this where Newsom is so compelled by the obvious need of the state 185 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:38.880 that he's actually somewhat being the adult in the room. So even Newsom is 186 00:18:38.920 --> 00:18:45.279 saying, Hey, we really need to build some kind of water storage system, 187 00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:48.960 and we need to streamline the sequel process to get through, Let's get 188 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:56.480 through all the fight. He's not proposing to abolish SEQUA because he knows if 189 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:00.440 he does that all of his environmental lefty supporters will just pitch an absolute fit. 190 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:06.000 But basically what he's saying is, look, can we just have a 191 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:10.319 streamline process where we just get a decision from any judges about sequel challenges within 192 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:14.680 two hundred and seventy days? But just you know, can we at least 193 00:19:14.680 --> 00:19:22.640 just get this done in nine months? And so here's Newsome fighting for this. 194 00:19:22.720 --> 00:19:26.519 But who's opposing it? A bunch of environmental groups who and their claim 195 00:19:26.599 --> 00:19:32.559 is not that any human beings are gonna be harmed by this. I don't 196 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:37.880 know. Maybe they can make some claim that some fishermen might possibly downstream be 197 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:45.359 harmed by this, but like that's the thing. Environmental law is so different 198 00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:51.440 from everything else. Like if we were just using normal doctrines of standing, 199 00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:55.400 I don't know that these groups would have any ability to be in this courtroom 200 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:56.160 at all. The judge would ask them, well, how are you, 201 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:03.319 why are you filing this lawsuit? How we're how would you be harmed by 202 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:07.920 this dam And they'd say, well, we wouldn't be harmed, your honor, 203 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:11.240 but we think all these fishies would certainly be harmed, and the judge 204 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:15.839 would say, well, you're not a fish and you don't have any right 205 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:18.559 to the fish, and they're not your property or something that are being harmed. 206 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:22.559 So I'm sorry, but I'm dismissing your lawsuit for on the grounds of 207 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:26.000 lack of standing. Get out of my courtroom. That's how it would operate 208 00:20:26.839 --> 00:20:38.759 in a normal universe. And so here you have the state government saying the 209 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:42.640 state government, which Gavin Newsom represents, Okay, the state is saying, 210 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:52.039 we, you know, California environmental law is our task to enforce. We 211 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:57.160 did the environmental review for this thing. We think it's fine, we think 212 00:20:57.200 --> 00:21:03.440 we should build it. They've already done it. But because of SEQUA, 213 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:12.960 the California Environmental Quality Act, it allows private people to interject themselves and try 214 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:21.559 for and for private individuals who don't have any direct stake necessarily in the outcome 215 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:25.279 here. It's no, there's no direct harm that they are facing. They 216 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:32.319 are allowed to try to sue to, in their eyes, enforce California environmental 217 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:37.960 law when because they think that the state hasn't enforced their own laws well enough. 218 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:44.640 So here's the State of California trying to build this law. Its own 219 00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:49.559 environmental agencies have done the environmental impact studies, they think it's fine. But 220 00:21:49.720 --> 00:21:56.599 no, you have private people coming into sue on top of it to try 221 00:21:56.599 --> 00:22:06.720 to stop this and gumming up this whole project. And that's the absurdity of 222 00:22:06.759 --> 00:22:11.680 California's environmental law. I guess I understand the idea of, hey, someone 223 00:22:11.720 --> 00:22:15.319 needs to be able to, in a sense, speak for the fishies. 224 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:22.799 Someone needs to be able to represent the interest of the environment against businesses, 225 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:26.599 construction projects, et cetera. Well, let the California EPA do that. 226 00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:30.119 Why do we let private groups like the Sierra Club? And how does the 227 00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:33.759 Sierra Club make its money. It makes its money by being active and doing 228 00:22:33.799 --> 00:22:37.319 stuff. If they just say, ah, we decided not to file a 229 00:22:37.400 --> 00:22:40.200 lawsuit about the site's reservoir because yeah, well, let's stay of California said 230 00:22:40.200 --> 00:22:41.480 it was fine. How does that look to their donors. I mean, 231 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:49.720 they're they're they are incentivized to file file more lawsuits for stuff. So yeah, 232 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:59.839 California environmental law is insane and it's stopping even a water storage project that 233 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:04.480 is so sensible. Even Gavin Newsom wants to get it done. When we 234 00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:11.400 return the major construction projects that are going to be necessitated by the high speed 235 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:18.359 rail and how it is going to jank things up for years to come. 236 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:22.119 That is next on the John Girardi Show. All right, folks, let's 237 00:23:22.119 --> 00:23:27.559 talk about eminent domain and eminent domain seizures. What does that mean. Well, 238 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:37.839 the federal government and state governments all have processes for the government to take 239 00:23:38.359 --> 00:23:48.799 your land for the sake of some kind of public project. That's right. 240 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:51.720 The government has the right to take your land for the sake of some public 241 00:23:51.759 --> 00:23:56.599 project. Now they need to pay you for the land. They need to 242 00:23:56.599 --> 00:24:02.279 pay you the fair market value of the land, but they have the right 243 00:24:02.279 --> 00:24:04.039 to do it. Classic example is, all right, we got a road 244 00:24:06.680 --> 00:24:08.319 one way going east, one way going west. We want to expand it 245 00:24:08.359 --> 00:24:12.200 to two lanes going east, two lanes going west. So two lanes to 246 00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:17.279 four lanes. Well, if you do that, you're gonna have to take 247 00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:26.839 a chunk out of missus Smith and mister White and mister Gray's front yards. 248 00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:32.279 Okay, you have to take a chunk out of it. So the government 249 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:34.480 has to go to you know, mister Smith and mister White and miss Gray 250 00:24:34.799 --> 00:24:38.079 whatever whoever their names are, has to go to them and say, hey, 251 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:42.160 we're taking a chunk of your front yard. We are going to pay 252 00:24:42.200 --> 00:24:47.400 you this amount because we did a fair market assessment. Blah blah blah blah 253 00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:49.279 blah. We think your house is worth this much. We think this chunk 254 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:55.000 of your land is worth this much, so we're going to take it. 255 00:24:55.680 --> 00:25:00.480 But here's money for this. But if mister White feels that that valuation is 256 00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:08.440 not is incorrect, under values his property, he can go to court and 257 00:25:08.519 --> 00:25:12.799 say, hey, I am challenging this. I think i'm my land is 258 00:25:12.839 --> 00:25:15.400 worth more. And you know, they go through the legal process and maybe 259 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:22.240 they have a settlement, whatever happens. But that's what eminent domain is. 260 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:26.000 Okay, it involves you have to and and California has had to do this 261 00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:33.400 with the high speed rail project. I have no idea how and as difficult 262 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:37.359 and expensive as eminent domain seizures of people's property is, you know, when 263 00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:44.599 you're cutting across a corner of some farmers field out in Madera County, I 264 00:25:44.680 --> 00:25:51.240 cannot imagine how much more expensive and more difficult it's going to be once we 265 00:25:51.279 --> 00:25:56.599 start trying to do eminent domain seizures in big American cities. Well, that 266 00:25:56.759 --> 00:26:00.960 is pretty much what the City of Fresno is going to start getting into. 267 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:04.640 So piece in Thresno b by Tim Shehan. Construction on major changes to a 268 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:08.359 central Fresno railroad crossing won't begin for about two years, but the city is 269 00:26:08.400 --> 00:26:14.240 already turning to the court system to acquire some of the needed property through eminent 270 00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:18.200 domain. Over the past few months, the Fresno City Council has adopted five 271 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:22.759 resolutions officially declaring that particular pieces of land are needed for the one hundred and 272 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:30.400 fifty million dollar project to rebuild the intersection of Blackstone and McKinley Avenues at the 273 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:36.759 BNSF railway tracks. The streets are each to be lowered by as much as 274 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:45.559 twenty five feet to funnel traffic beneath the existing railroad tracks. So basically the 275 00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:51.200 railroad tracks are going to stay flat. Right now, they have like railroad 276 00:26:51.240 --> 00:26:55.160 crossings at that intersection, and you know the big arm that goes down ding 277 00:26:55.240 --> 00:27:00.160 ding ding ding, and then the train goes by. So instead we're just 278 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:06.200 gonna have We're gonna make that intersection into basically like an underpass. So you've 279 00:27:06.200 --> 00:27:11.599 got to sink that section of road twenty five feet down. That's a lot 280 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:22.480 and so cars will be able just to drive underneath it. Now. Among 281 00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:27.240 the businesses on the targeted properties are the Carl's Junior fast food restaurant at the 282 00:27:27.279 --> 00:27:33.400 northwest corner of Blackstone and McKinley, the Dutch Bros. Coffee in a shopping 283 00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:38.759 center on the northeast corner of the intersection. There's Dutch Bros. Over there, 284 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:47.559 a ceramics business, an autobody shop, and an auto smog shop. 285 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:55.119 All right, so how will eminent domain affect the Fresno Railroad project? Eminent 286 00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:57.240 domain or condemnation, is a legal process in which a government agency can go 287 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:00.359 to court to acquire property for a public project when the agency and the property 288 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:06.160 owner cannot agree on price or terms. Okay, the first step is adoption. 289 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:11.400 The start of the eminent domain process doesn't mean that negotiations on any of 290 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:15.079 the properties are beyond repair. The city is willing to continue negotiations with the 291 00:28:15.079 --> 00:28:17.839 property owners, but in order to maintain the project's schedule, this step in 292 00:28:17.880 --> 00:28:21.680 determining the necessity of the parcel is critical, said Nancy Bruno, a supervising 293 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:29.119 real estate agent with the city's Capital Projects Department. Now the Blackstone McKinley construction 294 00:28:29.240 --> 00:28:33.799 timeline. And by all of this, I mean presumably, I don't think 295 00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:41.880 this is the high speed rail system specifically. Okay, this is a basf 296 00:28:41.079 --> 00:28:48.720 existing rail line, but this is all part and parcel of this effort to 297 00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:56.440 pour tons of money into downtown revitalization that seemingly is all centered around rail, 298 00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:03.079 around the high speed rail system, and here an updating the existing rail stuff 299 00:29:03.119 --> 00:29:06.480 that is going. You know, the high speed rail is going to be 300 00:29:06.519 --> 00:29:15.319 flowing right alongside the normal rail, and gosh, I just feel like this 301 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:19.160 is gonna be an absolute money pit to very little public benefit. I feel 302 00:29:19.240 --> 00:29:25.839 like all this downtown revitalization that is centered around the idea we're going to have 303 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:30.480 this high speed rail station downtown and people are gonna come there and we'll have 304 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:37.359 businesses around there, and I just don't think anyone is going to use it. 305 00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:41.000 It would be one thing if the high speed rail project was really gonna 306 00:29:41.000 --> 00:29:47.240 go from La to San Francisco and Fresno was a hub in that, but 307 00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:52.440 for now it's not. For now, it's merced to Bakersfield, and I 308 00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:56.599 just don't know how many people in Fresno are really realistically going to use it 309 00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:00.559 when you can just get in your car and hop on the nine and just 310 00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:06.200 get there as opposed to getting to the station forty minutes early, paying whatever 311 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:08.119 you have to pay for for a ticket, get on the train. Train 312 00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:11.640 has to probably make a couple of stops, So it's not like it's gonna 313 00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:15.440 be blindingly fast. You get to Bakersfield, and then what do you do. 314 00:30:15.960 --> 00:30:19.000 Hopefully wherever you need to go is walking distance from the train station, 315 00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:22.119 or you just need to take an uber or rent a car or something. 316 00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:29.119 I just don't think it's gonna be very practical. And I think, I 317 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:33.880 mean, this is due to decisions that were made, and you know, 318 00:30:33.759 --> 00:30:37.119 it's not like Jerry Dyer came up with this plan. He sort of inherited 319 00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.519 this plan. I think he's making the best of it that he can. 320 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:45.559 But like, I just don't think this is a good idea. So here's 321 00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:53.799 what just this one project, Blackstone and McKinley. It's a big time intersection, 322 00:30:56.440 --> 00:31:00.240 big time intersection. Right, it's very close to You've got San Joaque 323 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:06.319 Memorial High School very close by. You've got Fresno City College very close spy. 324 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:14.640 Blackstone and McKinley is a really big intersection. Here's how this is going 325 00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:23.200 to gum things up and is right alongside the forty one. The grade separation 326 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:27.720 of the rail crossing at Blackstone and McKinley has been a priority traffic project for 327 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:32.880 years for pedestrian vehicle safety and traffic flow on two of the city's major thoroughfares. 328 00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:36.559 The city reports that four people have died in either train versus pedestrian or 329 00:31:36.599 --> 00:31:40.279 train versus vehicle collisions near the intersection over the past ten years. Dozens of 330 00:31:40.279 --> 00:31:44.720 trains, both BNSF freight trains and Amtrak passenger trains passed through the intersection each 331 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:48.279 day, creating an average delay for drivers of nearly three minutes for each train. 332 00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:52.279 Acquiring all the properties needed for the grade separation is expected to run through 333 00:31:52.359 --> 00:31:55.680 the summer of twenty twenty five. Okay, so it's going to take them 334 00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:00.960 through summer. It's going to take them another year to get all the properties. 335 00:32:00.839 --> 00:32:05.680 Engineering designs are expected to be completed by mid to late twenty twenty five, 336 00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:10.000 and construction is slated to commens in the spring of twenty twenty six. 337 00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:22.480 And continue into the spring of twenty twenty nine, so Blackstone and McKinley will 338 00:32:22.519 --> 00:32:30.119 be gummed up from twenty twenty six to twenty twenty nine. It's likely that 339 00:32:30.200 --> 00:32:35.599 several dozen properties will be at least partially affected by changes in street elevation for 340 00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:39.559 the two roads and the retaining walls needed to shore up the embankments, effectively 341 00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:45.119 cutting off street access to the sites. In the case of Dutch Bros, 342 00:32:45.160 --> 00:32:49.240 The popular coffee business, City traffic engineer Alex Gonzalez told the city council in 343 00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:52.160 June thirteen that retaining walls along McKinley Avenue and a new driveway into the small 344 00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:58.440 shopping center will render inaccessible the exit for the existing drive through lane. The 345 00:32:58.440 --> 00:33:01.799 owners of at least six properties near the Blackstone McKinley intersection have agreed to terms 346 00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:07.079 to sell their land to the city. Those include a quintet of houses south 347 00:33:07.079 --> 00:33:09.440 of McKinley at Glen Avenue and Calavera Street, and the owner of a one 348 00:33:09.440 --> 00:33:13.839 point three to seven acre commercial property that is home to several businesses on the 349 00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:16.480 west side of Blackstone Avenue, just north of the Carls Junior Restaurant. Those 350 00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:21.240 six purchase agreements add up to a total of more than four point seven million 351 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:24.400 dollars. The city has already spent four point seven million dollars to acquire all 352 00:33:24.400 --> 00:33:30.920 the properties that are going to be impacted by this thing. So for three 353 00:33:30.160 --> 00:33:38.759 years, this intersection, which again Blackstone and McKinley, Like Fresno City College 354 00:33:38.960 --> 00:33:45.000 is just west of there, Samwakei Memorial High School is just east of there. 355 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:51.480 You get off the I mean, just envision this, how would you 356 00:33:51.519 --> 00:33:53.920 get to Fresno City College. Well, probably for a lot of people, 357 00:33:54.039 --> 00:33:59.480 depending on where they are. You get on the forty one, you get 358 00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:08.800 off at mcare, you go west on Blackstone to Fresno City. Blackstone and 359 00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:15.079 McKinley is gonna be a nightmare for the next three years for well, not 360 00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:19.719 for the next three years, from twenty twenty six through twenty twenty nine. 361 00:34:20.360 --> 00:34:28.559 That's gonna be a huge, huge nightmare. That's just gonna be an absolute 362 00:34:28.679 --> 00:34:32.639 zoo And I guess, I guess, I just don't. I'm not sure 363 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:37.800 if I see the benefit there. I mean, yeah, the end project 364 00:34:37.880 --> 00:34:42.639 looks very beautiful and very nice, and they have this beautiful, colorful map, 365 00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:47.480 you know, showing how lovely it's going to look when it's all done. 366 00:34:49.159 --> 00:34:52.559 I mean, yeah, I've been at that intersection when a train is 367 00:34:52.599 --> 00:34:55.559 going by and think, oh my gosh. Of course, now the train 368 00:34:55.639 --> 00:35:00.920 is coming by, and it does it does hold up traffic. And obviously 369 00:35:01.239 --> 00:35:07.159 it's terrible that anyone dies at a railroad crossing. I guess though, I'm 370 00:35:07.599 --> 00:35:15.360 just the city just seems to be making a lot of decisions around trains, 371 00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:23.199 and I really wonder if that is necessary wise, and we're going to have 372 00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:27.599 I mean, if you think this construction project is going to be bad, 373 00:35:27.639 --> 00:35:30.039 just I mean, all of the construction that's happening is going to keep happening 374 00:35:30.079 --> 00:35:32.280 in downtown Presno. And by the way, they say it's going to take 375 00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:37.559 three years, tack on at least another six months for that. So we're 376 00:35:37.599 --> 00:35:43.280 talking twenty twenty six, quite possibly through twenty thirty when we return. I 377 00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:46.199 want to talk a little bit about this June teenth thing, which is today 378 00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:54.519 next on the John Durardy Show. Today is June teenth, and I remember, 379 00:35:54.639 --> 00:36:00.199 like many of you, hearing about this and being I'm told that this 380 00:36:00.440 --> 00:36:05.400 was obviously a thing, that this is a thing that African Americans have been 381 00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:07.320 celebrating for forever, And what do you mean, You've never heard of it? 382 00:36:08.280 --> 00:36:15.119 And I have a sense that most Americans had never. If you had 383 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:19.280 asked them in say twenty fifteen, what Juneteenth was, ninety nine percent of 384 00:36:19.280 --> 00:36:22.360 Americans or a huge majority of Americans would have told you. I have no 385 00:36:22.400 --> 00:36:30.039 idea what this is. The thing in itself doesn't seem like it's anything bad. 386 00:36:30.119 --> 00:36:40.079 This is a day in which African slaves in Texas learned that they were 387 00:36:40.159 --> 00:36:46.360 free and that slavery was abolished, and so it's a commemoration of the emancipation 388 00:36:47.000 --> 00:36:52.440 of African American slaves, but seemingly done in a way that is distinct from 389 00:36:52.440 --> 00:37:00.280 the date of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. I have nothing, again the inherent idea, 390 00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:07.000 but it is curious that this has been pushed so, particularly by people 391 00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:16.519 on the left right now, and I suspect that the reason for the push 392 00:37:17.320 --> 00:37:24.760 is to build up more of the so called anti racist narrative, the anti 393 00:37:24.840 --> 00:37:30.920 racist narrative being no, no, no, anti racism is not equality for 394 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:38.079 all. It's promoting effective discrimination on behalf of black people and against white people. 395 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:43.880 Past discrimination can only be countered by current day discrimination the other way. 396 00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:49.239 That's that's the thesis of the quote anti racist. Ebram can can be kind 397 00:37:49.239 --> 00:37:52.679 of school of thought. And I have a sense that, given a lot 398 00:37:52.719 --> 00:37:57.239 of the sloganing by some of these left wing Black Lives matters folks, is 399 00:37:57.320 --> 00:38:00.679 Juneteenth is our Independence Day? I think it's it's deliberately picked because it's near 400 00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:07.239 the fourth of July, and the idea is to set up dueling quote independence 401 00:38:07.320 --> 00:38:10.239 days, and that I don't like. I think that it's an attempt to 402 00:38:10.320 --> 00:38:15.519 further divide America on the grounds of race, and that is a thing I 403 00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:17.760 very much dislike. That'll do it for John gj Alady Show. See next 404 00:38:17.760 --> 00:38:19.440 time on Power Talk.