FLASHREPORT

I spent last night on the web, doing some research for a forthcoming column on how the left abuses the California Environmental Quality Act to promote an ardent anti-progress agenda.  After an hour of browsing the web, I discovered a reason to feel very bad for Mary Kimball, Jeb Burton, Leroy Bertolero, Jeff Merwin, Don Winters, Richard Reed, and Keith Williams.  Who are these seven people, you might ask?  Why do I feel bad for them?  I will tell you now that it really has nothing directly to do with CEQA, but with the fact that they are all victims of a CEQA abuser.

Let me back up just a little bit, and say that in reading about CEQA, I came upon this column from FR friend Lew Uhler of the National Tax Limitation Committee in the Sacramento Business Journal.  In it, Lew specifically references a situation over in Yolo County of which I have been aware, but haven't written about before.  A reputable company, Clark Pacific, is trying to build a cement plant in Woodland on the site of a former sugar plant.  The plan got all of its requisite approvals from local government, and was issued a green light to proceed.  That's when a neighbor filed suit against the construction, citing concerns under CEQA.  In the balance - 250 new jobs, and I suppose a lot of cement.

This neighbor happens to be a local enviro-activist by the name of Brenda Cedarblade, who becomes a fascinating case study of how one local NIMBY (Not In My BackYard) can use lawsuits, threats of lawsuits and bullying to abuse the property rights of those around her.  This gal, Cedarblade, is such a piece of work that there is an entire blog about her, and how eccentric she is...

Which actually brings me to the delicious irony that has me writing this column, and why I feel bad for the seven individuals I mention above.  You see, those lucky seven are the current members of the Yolo County Planning Commission.  You see, the CEQA-abusing, conspiracy-theory spouting, NIMBY activist Cedarblade, it turns out, has some hypocrisy of her own going on - it seems that on her ranch, the Historic Nelson Ranch, she went off and built a rather sizable nearly 40,000 foot enclosed riding arena structure on her facility for which she had no valid building permit!  Tomorrow, the Planning Commission is, in essence, being asked ask by the county staff to give her a pass, and to let them (the county planning department staff) "work with" Cedarblade to resolve the matter.

There is nothing more that irks me than supposedly ideological, principled individuals who turn out, in the end, to by hypocrites.  Again, this is a woman who has and continues to use and abuse the CEQA process to stop others from making use of their property (after those people have jumped through all of the hoops -- more hoops than virtually any FR reader would say they need to).   It is abundantly clear that her motivations are not for some ideological cause, but are rather for selfish reasons and political gratification.  When it comes to her own property and compliance with the law, she is not only ignored the same CEQA laws, but has been building structures on her ranch in blatant violation of her conditional use permit (again, the egregiousness here is that she spends so much time nickpicking others for these kinds of violations). 

Of course, the other cadre of eco-nuts in Yolo County have been fairly quiet about this behavior from "one of their own" exposing an even larger pattern of setting a different level of standards for their "friends" -- I wonder how they would all react if Cederblade, instead of building an illegal riding arena, had constructed an illegal 30,000 foot Target or Best Buy?  I think you know the answer.

I spent a long time on the Planning Commission in my hometown, and I have seen how this works.  You get a high-maintenance citizen who intimidates the staff people and tries to have their way with them, and the staff people "kick it" to the commission to deal with.  Well, to the Lucky Seven (their new nickname), I say that you should stand up for your staff, stand up for the victims of her enviro-terror using CEQA as an excuse to file lawsuit, and make her rip out the riding arena (as well as other illegally constructed structures).  Yes, you may have to endure a long winded speech from her to your commission.  But then the Commission Members can look back at her, and one or more can say, "Ms. Cedarblade, following the strict letter of the law seems to be important to you, in your efforts to constrain the freedom of those around you.  It seems only appropriate that you also be required to comply with the laws that govern the legal use of your land."

If the Lucky Seven are willing to do the right thing in this instance, well then perhaps in some small way, they are playing a role in saying that we are all willing to fight back against those that would abuse the legal system for their own narrow agenda.

And if you are in the greater Woodland area tomorrow -- you should grab some coffee and head over to the meeting, and encourage the Commission members to stand up to Cedarblade's hypocritical behavior.  Frankly, it might be amusing to be on hand.  I'm in Sacramento today, and I may be here through tomorrow.  If so, I think I may head over myself...