Measure P: Let the children decide | Napa Valley Register

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Measure P: Let the children decide

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Comment

Dear editor, Measure P is on the November ballot. It extends Measure J for 50 years. I am pleased to be a member of the “older generation.” We older folks assume to know what is best for the future generations.

My generation went through the Great Depression, World War II and subsequent wars. We have lived through trying times. It certainly gives us the wisdom to guide future generations. We know what is best.

In a Sept. 6 Napa Valley Register article, Volker Eisele is quoted: “Eisele said that while Measure J does not expire for 12 years, now is the time to extend it. We still have an atmosphere here of a commitment to land protection, he said, noting that ‘older generation is slowly disappearing.’ He said with the passage of time and with growth bringing new citizens to American Canyon, it is important to teach again the lessons of the last 40 years. ‘Napa’s legacy is just too important to be voted on by three people on a Tuesday morning,’ he said.”

The Save Measure J Committee has put out a flyer with the lead statement, “Protect Napa’s Legacy.”

If the authors of Measure P believe that their names will be etched into the Parthenon of Napa legacy, I have some news for you. Georges de Latour, Beringer, Kornel, Mondavi, and Martini are great names that built the Napa Valley wine industry. The heirs do not even own their family name or family business. Just recently the Napa Valley icons of the 1970s, Chateau Montelena Winery and Stags Leap Winery, were sold to international corporations.

If you believe succeeding generations of citizens cannot be trusted, and the “older generation” has all the wisdom to set the policies for the future, by all means follow the course outlined by the proponents of Proposition P.

However, if you haven’t instilled into your children your cherished values while you are alive, after your “disappearance” it is rather late. If you believe Napa’s legacy is its children and future generations, then it is best to allow them to make decisions that best fit their own circumstances. If your “legacy” is “I raised my children to believe in doing what is best for the future,” then 12 years down the road they can make the decision that best fits the needs of Napa County.

Ken Manfree / Napa

5 comment(s)

robert wrote on Oct 12, 2008 5:13 AM:

" I agree. Vote NO on P! "

vocal-de-local wrote on Oct 12, 2008 11:44 AM:

" Here's the problem with that logic: If we don't "regulate" our growth and preserve valuable agricultural lands (grapes can be replaced with protein foods btw), the wolves out there will quickly devour our valuable food producing lands and cover them with concrete, asphalt and wooden structures as long as it's more profitable to do so. I'm not as concerned about who owns the land as much as I am about the mindset of our planners and supervisors at the time. If we don't take a stance on protecting our agricultural lands now (agricultural assets are every bit as valuable as the energy which powers the delivery machine) then the flexibility of providing locally grown food may be gone forever.

I don't expect that a ten year old child today will have much appreciation for that fact until they are in their thirties facing a world of food prices so high due to energy and transportation costs, that they can hardly afford to feed their family. We owe it to future generations, to protect them from the high profit seeking wolves. We shouldn't carry an attitude of "I got mine so who cares about the future." I don't think for a moment that our children won't be appreciative of this type of foresight. "

bimgroup wrote on Oct 12, 2008 2:13 PM:

" Ken

It's called planning ahead!! What as waste of ink.

MB "

musikluvr wrote on Oct 12, 2008 5:08 PM:

" Something is fishy here if they want us to renew Measure J 12 years early. I don't trust this "hurry up and vote now" and I'm voting no. "

Paddy wrote on Oct 12, 2008 10:31 PM:

" Proposition P is too important to allow it to linger. The wolves are knocking on the door and CA ag land is becoming endangered. Vote to conserve what is left now, not later. It only makes sense. "

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