Potrero vs. Blackwater USA
Sat Mar 17, 2007 at 10:11:42 AM PDT
I doubt most have heard of Potrero, to be honest, I hadn't either until recently, and it's only about twenty miles away from me. It's a small, rural community east of San Diego. You can see what it looks like from space here. It's not exactly an urban metropolis, the population is only 978, and about a quarter of those people live below the poverty level. Just another tiny rural community in Southern California, it could be anywhere in America really, but it's not. In fact, fate has placed Potrero in a terrible place.
Not that the mountains of southern California are a bad place, not at all. It's a beautiful location, not too far from there are where some of my fondest childhood memories happened. No, it's that Potrero is located where Blackwater USA wants to build Blackwater West, their West Coast "training" facility. So, what does Blackwater do? Do they go to the people of this town and talk to them about it, or do they find themselves a nice, slimy, corrupt Congressman to help grease the wheels, and get the county's board behind it, even getting them to promise ramrodding the environmental review? Considering the county has promised to push through that environmental review in 20 to 22 months, instead of the normal 45 months, it's pretty obvious. The county had approved the plan even before any town meetings were held.
It's not as if Blackwater even attempted to approach this honestly. From the San Diego Reader, Don Bauder writes:
Last July, Blackwater hired as a lobbyist Nikki Clay, a longtime cheerleader for corporate welfare (Chargers, Padres) and former president of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. Blackwater brought on the developer-friendly environmental firm of Mooney, Jones & Stokes, along with other companies to make up their project team. The team quickly snuggled up to the County, which was not playing hard to get.
Don is one of the only people in the media to look into this deal, the local big paper here in San Diego, the Tribune, hasn't covered it at all.
For a little more on the facility:
Blackwater wants to build an 824-acre training facility three miles north of Potrero. It will have 15 shooting ranges, an armory for storing ammunition, a course on which moving vehicles will be strafed with paintballs, a helicopter pad, several buildings, and other military accoutrements. But Potrero's oft-stated community goal is to "maintain the existing rural lifestyle by continuing the existing pattern of residential and agricultural uses on large 40-acre lots" alongside "generally undeveloped meadows, open spaces, and hillsides."
Does that sound like something that belongs half in the Cleveland National Forest, and half in an agricultural preserve to you? Granted, the half in the national forest is on privately owned land, but the land is still in the forest. The citizens of Potrero certainly don't want it, they shitcanned a proposed offroad park previously, and that wouldn't have been even half the headache a mercenary camp will be.
Oh yeah, the Congressman mentioned earlier, it seems Blackwater got none other than Presidential candidate Duncan Hunter to help them out in their efforts. Surprise surprise, the guy who never met a defense contractor whose ass he didn't want to lick. Something tells me there's a lot of bribery going on. As a further example of the corruption going on, I give you this:
The Potrero public didn't hear about the project until October 12. But before that, technical studies were "well underway," according to records on file with the County. Clay said she was communicating regularly with the supervisor's office and the office of military powerhouse Congressman Duncan Hunter, even though Potrero is not in his district. Potrero's supervisor is Dianne Jacob. The Blackwater project team proudly noted that although Jacob "has historically required secondary access," in this case "she will be in favor of only requiring primary access." After the 2003 fires, Jacob emphasized that some fire personnel couldn't get to some homes because there was no secondary road access. (Wallar says a supervisor would not make such a decision, although the board of supervisors will ultimately decide on the overall project.) On October 3, a bureaucrat and Blackwater team member visited the site to do a formal wetlands delineation. Groundwater details were worked out with two departments.
This whole thing is fucked, and it's Republicans doing the fucking, as usual. The people of Potrero are being fucked, the environment is being fucked, they've even managed to find a way to fuck firefighters, and they've managed to do it under the radar to this point. But hopefully that will change. On March 25th, those in the San Diego area who would like to confront a Blackwater rep will have their opportunity to do so. The East County Democratic Club will be showing "Iraq For Sale" at the Rancho San Diego Library. After the film, a representative from Blackwater USA will be there to take questions. Won't that be fun? Included below is the address, phone number, even how to find it on a Thomas Brothers map. I encourage all who are able to attend.
Rancho San Diego Library
11555 Via Rancho San Diego
El Cajon, CA 92020
Phone: 619-660-5370
Thomas Guide Grid: [1272-A4]
Update: Just thought I'd mention that this is in the 51st Congressional District, whose representative is Bob Filner, a Democrat. Would be good to see where he stands on this one.
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