Opinions of growth in our county come from many sides. The developers see mainly their own financial gain and many residents would like to close the gate. Somewhere in between lays the reality. What is happening now in our county is a fascinating study of retail growth outpacing residential growth. The recent influx of big box stores requiring many people to staff them has created a glut of service-level jobs without enough people to staff them.
It is no secret that the new big box store Lowe’s cannot find enough qualified help. They have jobs open and no one to fill them. A reliable source has told this writer that the new Safeway cannot staff their store with enough people either. Staples has resorted to “headhunting” in other local stores to find help. Jack in the Box has actually closed its doors many times because they did not have enough people to run it. McDonald’s brings people in from the valley to work in their restaurant.
Now, let’s add the proposed Target, Home Depot, Costco and Office Depot into the mix and one has to slap their forehead and say, “what are they thinking??!!” Obviously it is the developers who are not thinking since they don’t have to care about the aftermath of what they build. However, the corporate retailers who are proposing their stores and most importantly, the city and county government officials, had better give this crisis a lot of thought. Amador County is already over-retailed and this is just the beginning.
None of this information is intended to be an endorsement for more residential growth. In fact, if you read the spin that the developers put on both Jackson Hills and Gold Rush Ranch, they emphasize that their housing encourages “empty nesters” and retirees which minimizes school impacts. Thus, no younger adults would be available to fill these positions anyway. Sorry, but unless you are in top management, retail wages will not make the payments on a $2,500 mortgage. So where will these jobs come from? Calaveras County? More from the Valley? Some perhaps as many already do. This means even more impact on the roads as hundreds travel daily through Jackson and 88 to these retail centers. This impact would be in addtion to roads already overburdened and becoming more dangerous by the month.
While some officials may rub their hands together in anticipation of growth, prosperity, taxes, etc. the real future holds traffic congestion and loss of our rural identity. It is time for the cities and counties to put a moratorium on this piecemeal yet rampant growth. It is not coordinated. It is not conducive in virtually any way to our area. Most importantly the sum of its parts will create a community that will become one of the myriad of faceless, nameless, me-too, “anytowns” that exist all over the state and the country.
