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Greetings Board members!

First and foremost, thank you for supporting strong San Joaquin
Valley targets in 2010! In the last 3+ years there have been many
local struggles throughout the Central Valley to achieve the goals
set forth by ARB.  The Valley has a tremendous challenge when it
comes to air pollution given our geography and breadth of our
emissions inventory.  Being a pass-through region of the state also
adds to our struggle.  But, the gravity of the problem is exactly
why we need strong leadership from you, our State leaders.  More
than 20% of our children are diagnosed with asthma, allergies and
other respiratory disease.  This winter has been a powerful
reminder of how our environment makes us sick on a daily basis.  

As a Merced County resident, I was particularly shocked by the
decision of our local MPO to abide by our “status quo” pattern of
land use (ie sprawl) especially after having participated in the
public process where local residents overwhelmingly supported a
scenario that was in line with the San Joaquin Blueprint.  This
scenario would have at least that demonstrated a willingness to
work with regional partners to achieve a unified goal despite not
attaining SB 375 targets.

Please continue to stand strong for the people in the San Joaquin
Valley, especially the residents of Merced.  Please know that there
are people who live here that do care about achieving these targets
and do not want to live in the only area of the state out of
compliance with this law.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Mary-Michal Rawling
Merced Resident and former City Council Member (2009-2013)