“New Eden” says it all. Who would
have believed that in the span of two decades the San
Joaquin Valley could mature into a region with clean air, a diverse
economy, a strong agricultural industry, and a highly educated workforce?
All the components of an enviable quality of life are here.
In this story, it's the summer of 2025, and Graciela Rodriguez, the new mayor of Fresno, is giving her inauguration address explaining how the progress the Valley has made over the past two decades occurred.
INAUGURATION DAY
It’s June 22, 2025 and the conclusion of a special mayoral
election brings us to the courtyard outside Fresno City Hall in
downtown Fresno.
Fresno County Supervisor Peter Pappas is concluding
his opening  introduction for the newly elected mayor of Fresno,
now California’s 3rd largest city. Given this impressive political
base, observers are already speculating on the new Mayor’s
gubernatorial prospects.
“. . . and without more ado, it is my distinct
honor and privilege to introduce my good friend and the new Mayor
of the Best Little City in U.S.A., Graciela Rodriguez!”
“Thank you. Muchas gracias . . . gracias
. . . thank you . . . For your applause and for your support. I
am humbled and recognized I would not be on this podium today if
it were not for you . . . and the history we share not just as a
city, but as a Valley.”
“Today, as I stand here, it is clearer than
ever to me today that this should be a day of celebration for your
achievements. As we stand here in the bright sunshine of the present,
it’s so easy to forget the past, and the hard work that’s
led up to today. So let me take a moment to remind us.
IT WASN’T EASY
“How many of you remember how hard life was
back at the turn of the century? How many of you remember how quiet
our voices were? So few of our parents had jobs outside of agriculture
or low-paying services.
But there were some. There were some who
overcame prejudice, who bucked the stereotype of the poor, uneducated
Mexican immigrant. There were some who stayed in school and got
their education and started businesses. It wasn’t easy.
“It certainly wasn’t easy during the
long three years of drought which decimated crippled crop production
to levels unseen in more than two generations”.
“It wasn’t easy when unemployment shot
up to depression levels.”
“You remember Congress voted billions in
relief, but with a twist. Do you remember how they said that half
the money had to be channeled into diversifying the Valley economy?
“With all due credit to the President, he
said he didn’t want to throw good money after bad and watch
taxpayers money get blown away in the next drought.
MEETING THE CHALLENGE WITH EDUCATION
“Yes, we had help, but we rose to the challenge.
Many of you and many of your parents found your voices. You marched
on Sacramento and you demanded improvements in education, from pre-school
programs to better primary schools and middle schools and high schools,
to new branches of the University of California system.
“Fresno’s, the Valley’s -- California’s
entire system of public education needed a major makeover and, with
your insistence, it happened.
 “We changed the way teachers were recruited
and trained so we could meet students ‘where they were.’
We got rid of tenure so that incompetent teachers couldn’t
keep their jobs forever. We even brought in specialists from Monterrey
Tech to show us a student-centered, service-oriented curriculum
that spoke to Mexican-Americans.
“It took time to educate a new generation
of sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters of Mexico
on American soil . . . but when it came time to build a diversified
economy in the San Joaquin Valley, a new generation of highly educated
workers was ready to meet the challenge, Mexican-Americans, African-Americans,
Central Americans, South Americans, and Anglos as well, some who
stayed put, and others who chose to come here because of the growing
opportunities this region has to offer.
“As you know, we didn’t stop doing
agriculture . . . but we did it differently, with more biotechnology
and less water. We didn’t stop using water; but we found it
in new places, from ice-bergs, from careful use and conservation,
from de-salination, and from fog. We didn’t stop using energy,
but we learned how to depend less on oil and gas and more on hydrogen
and wind and solar.
VALUE ADDED JOBS AND SKILLS
“We got smart and efficient and very profitable.
Our jobs were no longer low-tech, low-pay, and low-value-added.
Instead we learned how to farm in ways that are now setting a new
standard for the rest of the world.
“But high-tech farming was just the half
of it. With the benefit of an increasingly skilled workforce, and
the support of a booming California economy that needed a place
to grow, the non-agricultural half of the San Joaquin Valley became
a newer, better blend of Southern California and Silicon Valley.
Seeded with venture capital looking for new places to go, and fertilized
by a work force that was well educated and ready to go, the Central
Valley took off.
“Growth was a challenge. It had to be managed.
We didn’t want the traffic congestion that had become so bad
in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. We didn’t want the air pollution.
So we invested in public transportation: high-speed rail, light
rail, and regional airports.
REGIONAL CITIES
We created “regional cities” that avoided
the traditional inequities of rich suburbs and poor downtowns. We
linked the centers and the peripheries and improved living standards
for all.
“We learned from the mistakes made by our
neighbors on the coast. We didn’t remake our Valley in their
image. We built our Valley in our own image, one that borrows from
the best of our Mexican heritage and grafts it to the best of California.
Our hybrid culture and economy is vibrant and strong.
“We now have the leading fuel-cell car manufacturing
facility in the world, a major reason why we’ve been able
to clean up our air. Kicking the hydrocarbon habit started at home,
by getting the gas guzzlers off our own roads. From Tulare to Taft,
our universities boast the most advanced programs for research into
agricultural biotechnology.
“Who would have believed that the number
of new movies coming out of the Universal Español studio
in Visalia is fast approaching the number coming out of Burbank.
Our trade with Mexico and the rest of Latin America is robust and
well balanced.
“And still we have not abandoned the strong
agricultural heritage that brought so many of our parents here in
the first place. Still we have the best combination of soil, seasons
and sunshine anywhere in the world, but now we have learned how
to steward this valuable resource by practicing sustainable agriculture.
ISN'T IT AMAZING?
“Isn’t it amazing what a little education
will do? But it was more than just little education, wasn’t
it? We rebuilt the schools, and then the schools rebuilt us, and
then we rebuilt the Valley. It’s a pretty good story we can
tell our children today. And now they have the opportunity to build
lives to hand on to their children.
“In closing, over my term, I will be guided
by the sense of purpose, principles and judgment you have demonstrated
day after day to improve both Fresno and the Valley. This office
is an honor. And I will give it my all. Thank you so very much.”
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