In The News
Boxer pledges support for new Pajaro River levee
Senator holds short press conference in Watsonville
Tuesday August 04, 2009
By Register-Pajaronian
source: http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=7533&page=72
The Register-Pajaronian, August 4, 2009
http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=7533&page=72
Boxer pledges support for new Pajaro River levee
Senator holds short press conference in Watsonville
By JON CHOWN OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
Published: August 4th, 2009, Register-Pajaronian, Page 1
Jon Chown Register-Pajaronian
Sen. Barbara Boxer was in Watsonville on Saturday to pledge her support for a new Pajaro Valley River levee while announcing the inclusion of $425,000 in the Senate Energy and Water appropriations bill passed last week on an 85-9 vote.
"We absolutely need to make this project a national priority," Boxer said. "As you point out, this is a bread basket."
It was Boxer's first official visit to Watsonville and it was quick. After meeting with a host of local politicians and holding a press conference in the Community Room on the top floor of the Civic Plaza building , Boxer walked to the end of the adjoining sixthlevel parking lot and looked out over the river. In the hour or so she visited, Boxer watched a short movie of the 1995 flood that caused more than $95 million in damage and covered more than 3,300 acres of agricultural land. The entire town of Pajaro had to be evacuated and hundreds of families were displaced.
Supervisors Tony Campos and Ellen Pirie talked about the valley's importance to the nation's agriculture, state Assemblymember Anna Cabellero talked about the $5 million in funding the levee project received from the state on Tuesday , and Watsonville city councilmembers were on hand to support the points made.
"We need to get going on it," Campos said. "The county lost a $50 million lawsuit the last time the levee broke. Plus, there's the possibility of crops being destroyed and soil being contaminated by a flood, further damaging the economy."
"Our community is economically disadvantaged and we don't have the resources to do what needs to be done," Councilmember Luis Alejo said.
"I hear in your voices the importance of moving quickly," Boxer said. "There's a lot at stake and I know that."
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have passed their own versions of the Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which now will go to a committee before a final version is passed by both houses and sent to President Barack Obama to be signed into law, likely late this year.
The $425,000 will be spent on a draft environmental impact report and design plans.
"We're moving in the right direction," Cabellero said. "We just need to get to $200 million."