Author Archives: Zachary Johnson

“Terminator” returning to State Fair?

By Zachary Johnson | Published: February 16, 2010 | 0 Comments
The county’s Board of Supervisors today officially declared the San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation would be the county’s official representative at the 2010 California State Fair. Which means the organization will build the county’s fair exhibit. Last year’s exhibit drew a lot of attention. It contained a 15-foot sculpture of a red-eyed robot that bore a [...]
Posted in Supervisors, Uncategorized, Water | 0 Comments

Response to VA rejection

By Zachary Johnson | Published: February 9, 2010 | 0 Comments
At the end of January, San Joaquin County found out the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs had rejected two proposals to build a new medical facility and nursing home by San Joaquin General Hosptial in French Camp. The county sent this letter to Veterans Secretary Eric Shinseki. It refutes the VA’s rejection letters, which cited lack [...]
Posted in Veterans | 0 Comments

CD11 Republican Candidates

By Zachary Johnson | Published: January 15, 2010 | 0 Comments
Not every photograph taken at an event makes it into the paper the next day. Not by a long shot. At an event like Monday’s candidate forum hosted by the South San Joaquin Republicans, it would be difficult to include a closeup shot of each of the six candidates and still have room for much else [...]
Posted in CD11 | 0 Comments

Collection of commissions and committees and a broad bundle of boards

By Zachary Johnson | Published: January 12, 2010 | 0 Comments
A supervisor’s meeting duties don’t begin and end at in Board Chambers every Tuesday. Just how many panels the individual members belong to becomes apparent whenever the annual list of assignments is released. This year, supervisors were placed on a total of 48 boards, commissions and committees. Water is the raison d’être for 10 of them. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 0 Comments

We’re Number 13!

By Zachary Johnson | Published: December 8, 2009 | 0 Comments
The foreclosure rate in San Joaquin County puts it 13th among the 3,143 counties in the nation. Pretty dismal, but better than No. 1. It’s one of the statistics in the report in an agenda item approved by the board today to designate the county as a “Recovery Zone.” Among the state’s 58 counties, San Joaquin ranks [...]
Posted in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Housing | 0 Comments

Working together

By Zachary Johnson | Published: December 8, 2009 | 0 Comments
Both county and labor officials have said they need to work together to weather the economic storm ravaging state and local budgets. The sentiment is repeated in a letter Service Employees International Union Local 1021 sent to County Administrator Manuel Lopez. In the letter, the union also notes “it is not a time for excessive alarmist [...]
Posted in Budget, SEIU | 0 Comments

DA’s Office on Villapudua

By Zachary Johnson | Published: November 23, 2009 | 0 Comments
From a letter sent by Chief Deputy District Attorney Scott A. Fichtner to the county elections office. “The relevent question … becomes: Was Carllos Villapudua a registered voter of District One, and was he living in District One, thirty days prior to March 7, 2008? Our investigation has determined ‘Yes.’” March 7, 2008 was the filing deadline for [...]
Posted in Foster, Villapudua | 0 Comments

Residence ruling

By Zachary Johnson | Published: November 20, 2009 | 0 Comments
A judge ruled in favor of Supervisor Carlos Villapudua, filed a motion to end a lawsuit filed by former political rival Beverly Foster challenging the legitimacy of his election. Here’s a link to a copy of San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Lesley Holland’s ruling.
Posted in Elections, Foster, Villapudua | 0 Comments

Delta bloc on canal bill

By Zachary Johnson | Published: November 2, 2009 | 0 Comments
The the five Delta counties agreed to support a bill introduced by Alyson Huber, D-El Dorado Hills, that the Legislature would have to vote to approve a peripheral canal before one is built. It was coauthored by two other local lawmakers: Lois Wolk, D-Davis, and Bill Berryhill, R-Ceres. Here’s a letter to Huber signed by supervisors [...]
Posted in Delta | 0 Comments

Spot heard round the world (or at least in Orlando)

By Zachary Johnson | Published: October 30, 2009 | 0 Comments
An RTD radio ad recently got a top award from a gathering of transit agencies from around the country in Orlando. There, the American Public Transportation Association awarded the AdWheel Grand Award for Electronic Media to a spot RTD ran to notify riders about a fare increase, according a press release from RTD. RTD has about [...]
Posted in RTD, Transportation | 0 Comments