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Brentwood Press - BrentwoodPress_08.22.08 - Index

August 22, 2008 COMMUNITY breNTwOOdpress.COM | 21A
Memorial from page 1A
corridor. The tragedy helped spawn the
multi-jurisdictional Vasco Road Task Force,
comprised of police, residents (including
Altman) elected officials from Brentwood,
Livermore, Contra Costa and Alameda
counties as well as the State Assembly and
State Senate.
The effort led to the installation of vertical
delineators, a public awareness campaign,
roadside speed indicators, and the establishment
of a designated safety corridor and
double fine zone. Along with stepped-up police
enforcement, the changes dramatically
Delta from page 1A
areas we are looking at. There’s also a lot of gaps. We
have to fill those gaps with additional information,
whether biological, engineering, surveying. We want to
minimize those impacts (to your property) when we get
that data. We are open to your suggestions.”
DWR Deputy Director Jerry Johns provided the
context for the launching of the conservation plan for
the Delta, a body of water that supports about $400 billion
of California’s $1 trillion economy.
“In 2005, the fish agencies said, ‘The fish are not doing
as well as we thought. We are not happy.’ We said
we are not happy as well,” said Johns. “We need to do
something different related to the Endangered Species
Act. It’s the trigger regulating activities in the Delta one
species at a time.
“We need something that’s much more realistic; look
at the Delta, look at the ecosystem and develop a holistic
plan. We recommended that we do a habitat conservation
plan … focusing on the aquatic ecosystem and the
things the fish need to support their habitat.”
One of the biggest determinants in supporting that
improved safety on the 16-mile stretch of
roadway. The most recent fatalities there occurred
in 2006.
In observance of the five-year anniversary
of his mother’s death, Enriquez, along
with some friends, spent a weekend repainting
the white cross and replacing the collection
of plastic sunflowers and other flora at
the site. Just days later, a neighbor driving
home on Vasco Road called Jeff Altman
with some sad news.
“I hadn’t even seen it yet when I got a
phone call from a neighbor who was driving
home and saw that it had been ruined,”
said Altman. “The cross had been pulled out
– the base was cemented in – and the flowers
had been disturbed. I called the sheriff’s
department, not that they will be able to do
anything, but it was very upsetting and hard
to understand why anyone would do that.”
And it is in fact the family’s considerable
efforts to safeguard the roadway that makes
the desecration of the memorial especially
painful.
“The first thing that I thought, of course,
was ‘poor Cameron,’” said Jeff, referring to
the vandalism of the site. “I was upset that
my son had just spent all that time out there
habitat is figuring out the best way to take water from
the Delta. The current system, to avoid sucking fish into
pumps south of Byron, results in a daily fish taxi service
from Byron to Sacramento.
“We do that several times a day – every day,” said
Johns. “Some of the fish like this ride. Some aren’t crazy
about the ride. Some get eaten. And that’s a concern. The
fisheries were designed in the ’40s and ’50s. We have better
technology today.”
A new water conveyance system is needed to better
protect fish, he said. The Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task
Force has recommended a dual conveyance system with
a peripheral canal in order to ensure the quality of the
water heading to central and southern California, even if
there’s a levee failure in the Delta.
“This is not anything that’s rocket science,” said
Johns. “It’s based on the risks. We haven’t had a levee
failure due to earthquake. It is basically a flip of the coin
when we will have an earthquake where we will lose levees
in the next 20 to 30 years. We have got to do something.
And we can do something.”
And that something is the conservation plan, which
fixing it up for his mom. But on a personal
note, we as a family have spent so much time
on legislation to make the road better and
safer, it makes it doubly hard. I know it was
kind of a random thing, but it still makes
you think about humanity and what makes
people do those kinds of things.”
Says Enriquez, if vandals want to destroy
the memorial again, they’ll find it a lot
harder to do.
“No one is going to stop me from rebuilding
it,” said Enriquez. “I am actively going
to make it bigger, stronger and better. I’ll
rebuild it as many times as I have to.”
is expected to be completed in mid-to-late 2010. So far,
there is not a preferred conveyance alternative, whether
an isolated peripheral canal, dual conveyance from both
the north and south Delta or continued conveyance
through the Delta but in an improved system.
David Gutierrez, a DWR director for the FloodSafe
program, said nearly $750 million is planned to be spent
on improving Delta levees, many of which were built 100
years ago and with much cruder materials than today’s
levees.
“There is a potential for risk associated with failure
of those levees, and there always will be,” said Gutierrez.
“We want to understand from the experts exactly how
the levees behave. Hopefully, that will lead to improving
the levees and figuring out the best way to improve these
levees.”
To deal with levee failures and other emergencies,
the DWR is leading the effort to prepare the Delta Emergency
Preparedness Plan, which is scheduled for completion
in mid-2010.
For more information on the Bay Delta Conservation
Plan, go online to www.resources.ca.gov/bdcp.