Letter To Modesto Bee Editor - 3/8/10

Article Title: Arch checklist: No, no, no, no

Are we in Stanislaus County better off now than we were in 1999? The answer is "no." The Modesto theme of "Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health" can be used as a checklist to evaluate.

Water: Many complex, unresolved issues put water management in a state of crisis. Why? Lack of leadership and vision, partisan politics with extreme positions, coupled with climate change and drought.

Wealth: Not in Stanislaus County. Why? Lack of leadership and vision to shape a healthy economy, partisan politics with extreme positions, obnoxious greed of the rich and powerful pursuing misguided development, and of course the subprime housing scam that gave way to massive foreclosures.

Health: Not in the valley. Why? Lack of leadership and vision to create a healthy valley environment and partisan politics with extreme positions leave us with a valley with inadequate health care, poor nutrition and unhealthy air and water quality.

Contentment: No, not when the above three are in crisis. A recently released survey ranks Modesto as 161 out of the 162 cities surveyed. Wow!

Also, looking back over 10 years, I find that the county and city of Modesto have been dominated by Republicans. Maybe it's time for new ideas.

FRANK PLOOF

Salida