4/27/09

The Honorable Tom McClintock
4230 Douglas Blvd. Suite 200
Granite Bay, CA 95746

April 23, 2009

Re: Systemic Resource Analysis of the Western Slope of the Central High Sierra

Dear Tom,

It has been said that “failing to plan is planning to fail”. The Western Slope of the Central High Sierra is an incredibly resource rich region facing daunting challenges. What will the Western Slope look like in 30 years?

A group of dedicated citizens from Placer and Nevada counties have been meeting to discuss these issues and have formed the Western Slope Community Group in order to begin an informal process of brainstorming solutions. Our belief is that addressed in isolation these issues will be difficult, if not impossible, to solve. The traditional “silo” method of planning will not work in this world of competing and often contradictory interest groups, agendas, and limited resources. However, exciting inter-dependencies are possible when we begin to apply “systems analysis” to the challenges of our region. We have identified several critical issues that we believe merit immediate focus.

The issues and challenges facing our region include economic development, fire safety and timber management, Forest Service management challenges, Necessary Small School funding, educational resources, water quality, hydroelectric utilization, recreation access, oxygen production and carbon sequestration, PG&E land divestiture program, agricultural needs, development patterns and land use issues. All of these issues will impact the future on the Western Slope for generations to come. We have been having a series of discussions with a wide variety of different organizations including environmental, business groups, farmers, timber concerns, foster care providers, social justice advocates, builders, arts organizations, anti-development coalitions, river restoration groups, land trusts, and lots of everyday folks, and a rare opportunity for consensus and collaboration seems tantalizingly close at hand.

The initial program that the group is focusing on we call “Fostering Industry”. Following the model of Pride Industries (a company based in Roseville, CA who creates job training and employment opportunities for the handicapped) WSCG begin to envision a self-sustaining “MBA” program for post-foster care youth that engages and mentors them in business management and in the economic opportunities of the Western Slope. Just some of the opportunities for business enterprises on the Western Slope include sustainable logging, recreation tourism, conventions and retreats, snowplay/snowpark, guided recreation, and construction and development – not to mention and all the trades and occupations needed to support these industries.

We have initiated conversations with Sierra College about getting involved in a degree program where “on the job training” is combined with classroom instruction in addition to specialized programs in non-violent communication and life skills. Chef Jeff the former crack dealer, now Executive Chef of the Cafe Bellagio in Las Vegas, has said that the hardest thing he had to do during his transition to “going legit” was learning how to smile. A professional environment where these youth have a boss who's job description includes teaching these “soft” skills, so necessary for success, is exciting and promising. Add the fact that the program would generate revenue from various sources including earned income, education grants, scholarships, and transitional assistance funds, and there is a real chance to provide hope and promise to these kids desperately in need of a break.

One of the most underutilized resources in our community is the under-served post-foster care youth. This is an extremely vulnerable population that is as likely to be unemployed than to graduate high school, and 84% became parents themselves within 18 months of leaving foster care. Studies have proved how this population can thrive if giving proper attention and guidance.

We seek to fundamentally rethink development and community planning comprehensively and systemically. Part of what we want to pursue is radical efficiencies in the use of natural resources for all development projects. The first Industrial Revolution was about the efficient use of labor, the next will be the efficient use of natural resources. If we can design communities to use a small fraction of the resources of older style developments, then as resource costs and challenges increase these new communities will be richer and more sustainable.

The visionary financier Alfred Lee Loomis created the research and development facility, Tuxedo Park, that developed a working radar system in a time frame that no one thought possible and defeated the Nazi U-Boat menace in the Atlantic, thus turning the tide of WW-II. Our country needs a Tuxedo Park today for resource efficient, and carbon free technologies. With the “blank slate” that is the Western Slope serving as a working laboratory in conjunction with the great Universities' of this State providing the intellectual muscle, the Western Slope has a chance to become a “Silicon Valley” for resource efficient technology – with all of the associated businesses that would flock to the area just to be close to the best thinking in this rapidly growing sector of our economy.

Although the Western Slope Community Group is interested in doing good, we actively seek to do well too. One of the systemic ideas at the core of the group is the concept of Incorporated Democracy. Our goal is to create a central company to drive this development that is “high tech” in its organizational structure. Using the best thinking in organizational and group behavior we will utilize the theories of “judgment aggregation” and the “Jury Theorum” of the Marquis de Condorcet; the “Puzzle Theory” of UC Santa Cruz professor Elliot Aronson (that shows how to design organizations to forge culturally and socio-economically diverse groups into effective teams); the biological principals of the “Evolution of Cooperation” and “reciprocal altruism”; as well as, the “genius” of American style democracy, with checks and balances on power, branches of governance, strong, accountable, elected leadership, all mixed with a health cynicism for centralized power. The goal of all of this is the creation of a strong, profitable corporation that has a broad distribution of benefits for the community that invests their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to build it. We call this company the Nisenan Valley Group and its first project is the building of an event and retreat facility at Shinneyboo Creek Cabin Resort.

This “community of capitalists” will take on the general social challenge of post-foster care youth, but at the same time will be fully engaged in creating the wealth needed to address the quality of life issues of its population including: health care; education; saving for retirement; managing the environment for abundance; nurturing art and culture; community and spirituality; and the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

The core beliefs of the group are centered around the historically conservative values of this great nation – self-sufficiency, small government, low taxation, local control, and self reliance as the only sustainable building blocks to a healthy and free nation.

These challenging times require inter-dependent, systemic thinking and we ask you, the Honorable Congressman Thomas McClintock, to use the power of your mighty office to help us.


With Hope and Determination,

Representative of the Western Slope Community Group