Task force takes aim at poverty
San Joaquin is sometimes the odd county out when federal funds are allocated. But it could get a boost in fighting poverty if President Bush takes kindly to a request for help.
A task force that for six years has tackled poverty, pollution and federal government neglect in California’s San Joaquin Valley will ask President Bush in November to extend its work to San Joaquin County, according to a draft report released earlier this week.
The federal government spent $4,228 per person in San Joaquin County in 2003 — 40 percent less than the rest of the U.S. and 10 percent less than the valley average, according to a December Congressional Research Service report.
Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Tracy, has represented most of San Joaquin County for 14 years, the rest of which is represented by Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced. Pombo and Cardoza were among four valley congressmen who, on Sept. 29, asked Bush to include San Joaquin County with seven other valley counties already covered by the Federal Interagency Task Force for the Economic Development of the San Joaquin Valley.
Pombo’s opponent in the Nov. 7 election criticized the congressman for taking so long in trying to add San Joaquin County to the task force.
“It’s interesting that he would do that a month before the election,” said Democrat Jerry McNerney, who said he would focus on bringing more federal money to the county if he wins the election.
“I would have people in my staff that would watch expenditures on highways, on levees and on social programs and so on to make sure that we get our share.
“We need money here to work on the levees; we need money here for transportation — federal money. I think (Pombo) has been derelict in his duty, in that we haven’t had that.”
A congressional spokesman declined over two days to arrange a Tracy Press interview with Pombo for this story, saying that he was unavailable.
“Working with this task force is something that all the members of the region have certainly done,” Pombo aide Lucas Frances said. “It started out its focus in regions where the need was greatest, and if there’s a proposal to expand it further than that, then I’m sure everyone will be in favor of supporting it to alleviate poverty in the region.”
Frances pointed to a long list of federally funded projects in the county in 2005 and 2006, including $7.5 million for the San Joaquin Area Flood Control Agency and $5.8 million for an interchange at Lammers Road and Interstate 205, as evidence that Pombo had been “very active in bringing grants and funding to the district.”
Mike Lynch from the nonprofit Great Valley Center said he was concerned about the amount of money the federal government spends in the valley.
“We always have a struggle in California on the per capita return on investment,” he said, pointing to federal funding rules that penalize fast-growing states.
People living in San Joaquin County get less than three quarters of the average Californian’s share of federal funding spent on them.
Task force coordinator Rollie Smith from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the task force’s lead agency, said his department pushed in 1999 for the task force to represent a broader area than had been proposed.
“When they ran it by us from the White House, we said we would really like to have (Kern and Stanislaus) counties included, so we didn’t push for San Joaquin at that time,” said Smith, who said he hopes the county will soon be included because it “really is a part of the Central Valley — even though it leans toward the Bay Area, it has a lot of the same statistics” regarding poverty as the rest of the valley.
Members of the task force are drawn from federal agencies, with HUD reporting that it helps people from more than 20 valley jurisdictions meet housing costs. The Economic Development Administration shelled out more than $4 million a year in grants in 2005 and 2006 to boost local economies, and the Environmental Protection Agency has spent nearly $1 million a year cleaning the valley’s air and water. Many of the agencies’ projects also covered San Joaquin County.
San Joaquin County’s poverty rate is lower than in six of the other seven counties in the valley, with 14.6 percent of people here living below the poverty line in 2005, compared with a valley average of 18.5 percent. The California average is 13.3 percent.
Tracy’s poverty rate is 6.6 percent.
The bureau’s threshold of poverty in 2005 was an annual income of less than $9,974 for a single individual. Families of two adults and three children fell below the poverty line when household income was less than $23,308.
The county’s poverty rate dropped three percentage points between 2000 and 2005, following a California- and valley-wide downward trend. The national poverty rate increased by nearly a full percentage point over the same five-year period to 13.3 percent, according to census data.
John Soliz, who manages employment and economic development for San Joaquin County, said it would be easier for the county to work with other parts of the valley if it is covered by the task force.
“The recommendation is to include San Joaquin County because we’re part of the Central Valley region,” Soliz said. “We have ties to Sacramento and Silicon Valley, but the bottom line is that we’re still an agriculturally based economy.”
The valley, which stretches 250 miles south from Stockton to Bakersfield, is home to some of the most agriculturally productive counties in the U.S.
San Joaquin County is already part of a similar state-run program, the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley.
n To reach reporter John Upton, call 830-4274 or e-mail