Posted on 02/09/2005 11:34:29 AM PST by NormsRevenge
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - California's vast San Joaquin Valley has long been compared to the nation's Appalachian region for its levels of poverty, unemployment and lack of public funding for roads, schools and health care.
In fact, according to preliminary data from a congressional report released Tuesday, the valley suffered from a higher poverty rate in 2000 than the Appalachian region - 20.5 percent compared to 13.6 percent - yet received 21 percent less federal money per capita.
It's a contradiction valley congressional members say needs to be reconciled.
"We, I think, have always felt for many years that the San Joaquin Valley .... is short changed in the amount of federal funds received compared to other parts of California and other parts of the country," Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, said during a news conference Tuesday.
"Too often the valley has been treated like a step child," Costa added.
The preliminary report, requested by six valley congressional representatives, including Costa, was released a day after President Bush proposed his $2.57 trillion budget.
Per capita federal expenditures for the valley in 2002 - including loans, retirement, disability, grants and wages - were $4,736, more than $2,000 less than the per capita expenditures for the nation, according to the report.
The U.S Census Bureau considers seven of the valley's eight counties - Fresno, Kern, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare - to be metro areas. Kings County is considered rural.
"Metro counties in the United States, on average, receive higher per capita federal expenditure rates than the national rate. This was not the case in the San Joaquin Valley," the report states.
Kern County had the highest per capita expenditures in 2000 at $5,667, followed by Kings County, with the region's second smallest population, at $5,550.
Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, said there needs to be a fair balance of funds both nationally and statewide if the valley is ever to overcome its problems.
"It's a new day in the Central Valley for us ... where we're all fighting together for a common goal, that's fairness," Cardoza said, calling the report the "first bipartisan" effort by valley congressional leaders to work on behalf of the entire region.
The lawmakers stressed the need for federal funds to help make health care more available, deal with air pollution - some of worst in the nation - and enhance infrastructure such as roads and clean water.
One such move was quashed last year when delegates failed to get interstate status for Highway 99, the main north-south corridor slicing through the valley's expanse of farmlands. The move could have helped secure additional federal dollars to widen the roadway.
"If we can do that, it improves air quality by easing the flow of traffic through our communities," said Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, adding that the project will also attract more businesses to the area.
Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, noted that the lawmakers are not asking for additional federal spending, but are simply "advocating for a fair share of the existing funds."
Also involved in the push for more federal funds to the valley are Reps. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, and Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield.
Tim Ransdell, director of the California Institute for Federal Policy Research, said additional federal funding will be hard to come by but this bipartisan effort is a step in the right direction.
"Every member of Congress is pushing for their share of the budget pie ... It's a long, slow, arduous process to seek and win federal dollars," Ransdell said.
"But by getting together and speaking with one voice rather than several, members of Congress from this area are taking a strong step to move federal receipts in a positive direction for their constituents," he added. "The cohesiveness, cooperation and bipartisanship can make great strides, especially if a unified vision is maintained for an extended period of time."
Geee, I thought DiFi and Boxer and the rest of the rabid ones in the California congressional contingent were elected to bring some bacon home, yet they have failed miserably..
Of course, if they really were working for the state's citizenry, they might actually care and practice civility in their dealings with the other party.
As far as those two are concerned, there is nothing in the Central Valley but illegal aliens, meth labs, and Republican farmers...no votes to be bought, so why bother?
Yes, the 20 percent poverty rate just about matches up with the illegal alien percentage of the population. We are importing poverty while subsidizing the Republican farmers' cheap labor.
If I remember correctly this valley is gerrymandered into impotence, being the dog being wagged by University towns and metropolitan Blue areas.
Yeah, but you still can't grow decent grapes out there!
Fine by me. I'm wine-illiterate. Although, I hear that France is good for grapes, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Great wine grapes are grown farther north in Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino counties, to say nothing or Yamhill County in Oregon and the Yakima Valley in Washington. The best table grapes are grown along Lake Erie in upstate New York and northern Ohio.
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