Friday, Jun. 26, 2009
Mayor to Congress: Don't ignore Los Banos
Tommy Jones testified in favor of 'economic disaster' bill
By Corey Pride / cpride@losbanosenterprise.com
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ReprintOn Friday Mayor Tommy Jones testified in front of Congress to try to get federal dollars to assist with the economic problems Los Baños is facing.
"I thought it went well," Jones said. "I had people from both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, telling me they understood and will try to help."
But you never know if they are going to give you some money until they do it, he said.
The 90-minute hearing touched briefly on a proposal by Reps. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, and Jim Costa, D-Fresno, to create new "economic disaster" zones. The newly designated area would be eligible for additional federal assistance, including funds provided through the existing Community Development Block Grant program.
Cardoza invited Jones to speak at the hearing.
In his speech to Congress, Jones recounted the city's 21 percent unemployment rate and 55 percent drop in property tax revenues during the past year. One out of five Los Baños homes has been caught up in foreclosure.
Jones also attempted to capture the attention of the legislators by drawing comparisons to Hurricane Katrina.
"Our community, our county, tends to be overlooked," Jones told the House Financial Services Committee. "The economic disaster declaration is a tool for cities like Los Baños who on the surface may appear healthy, but in realty are suffering from an economic crisis as disastrous as Hurricane Katrina."
Monday Jones explained to the Enterprise why he chose to use the tactic.
"I wanted them to realize when you see a disaster on TV you get a picture of it. Our financial crisis is just as devastating but there's no picture," Jones said. "(But) with the foreclosures, if you're homeless, you're homeless. What difference does it make?"
The committee's chairman, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., acknowledged that residents of Los Baños and the larger San Joaquin Valley are facing worse circumstances than many other parts of the country. Frank pledged to try to help.
The current community block grant program funnels upwards of $5 billion annually to communities nationwide. A $787 billion economic stimulus bill, approved in February over Republican opposition, included a $1 billion boost for the current block grant program.
Although the new economic disaster bill's details remain a work in progress, Costa and Cardoza suggest increasing the overall block grant funding and setting some of it aside for the designated zones.
Unemployment, foreclosure rates and other criteria would be used to select the economic disaster zones. The bill itself may not be introduced for several weeks.
Cardoza told the Enterprise that getting help for the economic situation in the San Joaquin Valley is as tough of a battle as he's had to deal with at any level of government.
"Our problems aren't unique, they are uniquely more severe," Cardoza said, adding that many other Congress people have constituents facing the same issues and they are trying to get assistance for them as well.
Cardoza could not put a timeline on when action may be taken on his bill. He said it depends on the level of opposition it faces.
"They say it will take an act of Congress because it's hard, well, this is an act of Congress," he said.
Fewer than one-fifth of the committee's 69 members attended, but there were enough present to suggest some of the legislative hurdles still ahead.
Jones said he was not discouraged by the turnout. Jones said he was informed that the "key players" attended the hearing.
Reporter Michael Doyle of the Merced Sun-Star Washington Bureau contributed to this story.