My name is Neil Pople, and I am running for Placer County Democratic Central Committee.

Placer County is renowned for its stunning physical beauty. Stretching from the suburbs of Northeastern Sacramento to the shores of Lake Tahoe, we enjoy a bounty of natural resource. But the leadership in this county is severely lacking, and we risk losing that bounty to over-development and suburban sprawl. With an increasing middle-class squeeze, an out-of-control housing crisis & the ever-looming threat of the Auburn Dam putting this region in real peril, it seems like now is the best time to step in and do my part to help keep Placer County the Jewel of California.

I am running for the 4th District DCC because I have a problem with the way things have been moving in this area. As a resident of Roseville, I have seen first-hand how out-of-control and poorly-planned development has changed the landscape of the place I grew up in. The field I rode my dirt bike in as a kid is now a mall. The scenic drive to visit my grandpa in Lincoln is now just an unremarkable trip down Highway 65 thanks to the dozens of commercial buildings that have closed the gaps between Rocklin, Lincoln and Roseville. I’ve seen the same things happening in towns like Loomis and Granite Bay-towns that have seen their identities and natural beauty stripped away in the subdivisions and retail parks.

We need a voice in Placer County that is willing to stand up to conservative extremist County Supervisors like Kirk Uhler and Bruce Kranz, who see Placer County as the next Los Angeles. We need a person to speak up when Assemblyman Ted Gaines tries to push outgoing Congressman John Doolittle’s agenda of corruption and cronyism on us. In short, we need to send the message that this county belongs to all of us, not just special interests and private developers.

I am inspired by the leadership of Placer County’s Democrats. They have fought long and hard against the blatant political fiefdom that Congressman Doolittle has built over the last twenty years. But the next generation of county residents, my generation, has to bring a new agenda for not only Placer County, but for California and the rest of America. It is time to pass the torch of leadership to a new crop of Democrats.

We all want some basic fundamental rights: the right to clean air & water, the right to have easy access to education, the right to have safe neighborhoods, the right to enjoy the physical beauty around us. Its not our parents who have a vested interest in changing the status quo. Our future is in OUR hands.

So what can we do about it all?

There’s two options, really. We can stand up and fight for our futures or we can roll over and let our parents and grandparents run things the “old way.”

We need to fight to bring new alternative energy to Placer County. We need to make it a priority to start attracting biofuel development firms to work with the Western Placer Waste Management Authority. We need to push developers to start integrating solar panels into the hundreds of new homes being built across the region in conjunction with the California Energy Commission’s Go Solar California! Project (http://www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov/). The issue of global climate change is not going to go away by simply ignoring it. Making a difference, no matter how small, is still better than turning a blind eye and hoping for the best.

Attracting higher education is pivotal to the future of Placer County and the region. We could be educational leaders in California if we could find the interest to develop this area for more colleges and universities. Not only would local economies benefit from new schools, but the infamous “brain drain” on the region would be reversed. New ideas coming into the area benefits us all, we just need people in leadership who will be willing to speak up on this issue.

We also need to make it a priority to have “smart growth” happen in Placer County. We must have strong environmental ethics as well as an eye on the future economic impact that all the growth has on our neighborhood. If elected, I will be a tireless advocate for implementing policies in the county that preserves open space, farmland, natural beauty and critical environmental areas while making distinctive communities with a strong sense of place.

I have no illusions about the limits a Central Committee member has. The role of a Placer County DCC member is to build the Party and make it strong. But the job is about being a leader and standing up for the land that you love as well. I cannot promise to single-handedly fix all the county’s woes, but I can promise to fight my hardest to build our base so those goals can be achieved. With your help, we can recruit progressive and capable men and women to our city councils, board of supervisors, state assembly & senate, and even restore integrity to our House of Representatives seat.

If you live in Placer County’s 4th Supervisorial District, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I’d be happy to earn your support.

I think this is a significant development in the future of California, both political and otherwise.  According to this report (PDF) from the California Budget Project, job growth in the inland counties of the state grew nearly FIVE TIMES LARGER than job growth in the coastal counties between 1990 and 2005.  In fact, they’ve contributed to more than half of the total job growth in the state, despite having only 1/5 of the jobs currently.  What used to be bedroom communities in the Inland Empire of SoCal, for example, are now very much self-sustaining and thriving, particularly in the western edges of San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

If this trend continues, it could either be very ominous or a great opportunity, depending on your outlook.  On the one hand, it tracks with a pattern of population shift from areas that are reliably Democratic into areas that are reliably Republican.  On the other hand, it represents a demographic shift in those “red” areas, and could lead to opportunities to build a Democratic resurgence inland, as possibly evidenced by Jerry McNerney’s victory in CA-11.

Whatever the case, it’s something that progressives must deal with.  The power bases in LA and SF are only going to retain their power for so long.  Places like Ontario and Auburn are goin to have more and more importance, and it’s time RIGHT NOW to ensure that there’s some Democratic infrastructure in place to identify and engage people in those areas who share progressive views.  Take Back Red California is an organization of Democratic activists trying to do just that, but more attention must be paid.  This is a generational shift, and it will only grow and grow.

I hope to see more of our friends from the inland counties here in the coming months.