My normal routine for the last few years has been to work on my writing in the morning on men’s issues such as male stress, irritable male syndrome, male menopause, male depression, and relationships. In the afternoon I generally see clients. But lately I’ve been on the front-lines confronting police who are protecting the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) efforts to build a freeway through our valley. I’ve joined with others who are opposing this bypass.
My wife and I moved to Willits from the San Francisco bay area in 1991 because we wanted to live in a small town where there was a sense of community and people lived more in balance with nature. Moving here was the best decision of our lives and we’re here to stay. But the peace and prosperity of our community is being threatened by the proposed freeway that would devastate the valley which is the heart and soul of Willits.
I still remember reading about the area in the Mendocino County visitor’s guide. “Willits nestles in the bucolic Little Lake Valley in the mountains of California’s Coast Range. Travelers literally cannot miss Willits; US 101, the County’s main inland artery, runs right through town. It stops being a highway long enough to become Main Street (encountering the first traffic light north of the Golden Gate Bridge) and gives the traveler a close look at this quaint western town.”
We loved the fact that the highway comes through our town. It brings the world to us. My office is right on Main Street and I enjoy the hustle-bustle of a vibrant community.
For decades the Federal Highway Administration and the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) have been pursuing a freeway bypass on Highway 101 around the town of Willits. For decades the townsfolk have been suggesting simpler, less costly, and less destructive alternatives.
I would much rather get back to my regular routine, but sometimes we have to stand up and put our bodies on the line in support of the land. Author Sam Keen captured this for me when he said, “The new human vocation is to heal the earth.
- We can only heal what we love.
- We can only love what we know.
- We can only know what we touch.”
If you want to learn more about our efforts go here: http://www.savelittlelakevalley.org/
What part of your world needs protecting?
I drive through Willits at least once a year for the past 10 years on my way to Laytonville, for the Kate Wolf Festival. Every time, there is a long line of slow moving stop-and-go traffic right through downtown. I have wondered why they did not have a highway by-pass around town for the safety and convenience of the residents and also to expedite passage for the people just passing through. It reminds me of the town nearby to me, Sebastopol where 2 major county highways go through the heart of downtown and the traffic is awful. I know that businesses want the traffic but surely there is a better way of moving traffic, especially with the increased numbers of people coming up the highway. I understand they have been working on the Willits by-pass idea for many years. Did locals not have input, and were concerns not mitigated? I had decided after the third year of dealing with the inconvenience of the traffic in Willits that I would not shop there, considering that the greed of the Willits business community is holding hostage the smooth flow of traffic, which annoyed the hell out of me. Is there no route through or around Willits? I just read Bob Whitney’s article in the Ukiah Daily Journal, and I understand some concerns. Are people opposed to any route, or just the chosen one? Change happens. People should chose the best way and go with it.
You’re right, the Kate Wolf festival is one of the events each year where traffic backs up in Willits. I live north of Willits and I can tell you that most of the traffic is local. We’re not opposed to a bypass. Most of us would prefer to have truck traffic diverted around the downtown and we’re happy to have people who don’t want to stop in Willits to have an easier way around. In fact, there have been a number of proposals that would accomplish this without damaging the environment. One rather simple solution would be to re-stripe 101 coming from the South towards Highway 20 so people could turn left and go to the Coast. Another solution would be a two line bypass road beside the railroad tracks which would allow traffic to get around Willits and take pressure off Main Street. We’re just opposed to the solution that Caltrans is offering that will not relief traffic (since 75% of it is local), where there are only two off ramps with a stop sign coming into town which will slow traffic even more. We do need to adapt to the changes in the world. One of them is that we are facing climate changes and lack of land to grow food. We don’t want to waste this needed land by having a freeway that won’t solve the problems of traffic congestion. Thanks for your comments. I hope this clarifies why I’m opposed to the present bypass plan, but not to a workable alternative.
Good luck in your efforts to endorse common sense to CalsTrans whose well-meaning engineers sit in offices counting beans instead of Being on the road.
Good luck with this. Why are the ‘powers that be’ often intent on a sledge hammer solution instead of more elegant, less destructive and less costly solutions? We have a similar situation here http://savekapiti.co.nz/
Janet, thanks for the support. People do get caught up in old patterns of fear and think that old solutions can make our current problems go away. Here there may have been a time when it made sense to have big freeways going everywhere (though after visiting New Zealand, I think that nice two lane roads do fine in the modern world), but now with shortages of land to grow food and increasing fuel prices and decreasing need for lots of driving, we need to preserve what we have.