Yolo County and the Region
(Delivered in a speech by Dave Rosenberg in July 2002)
Yolo County traces its roots back to 1850 and takes great pride in being one
of California's original counties. That history has shaped our present direction
and our future path in Yolo County.
The history of Yolo County has placed us squarely between two great urban centers. We are the counties in the middle. To our west is the burgeoning bay area. To our east is Sacramento, one of the nation's fastest growing regions. Yet Yolo County has always moved forward on its own path and at its own pace. We are well known as a premier agricultural county in California. Some 95 percent of Yolo County is zoned 'agricultural' and we are proud of it. With all the pressures from the east and the west, Yolo County continues to preserve our farmland. We are the fruit and vegetable basket for the region: growing tomatoes, corn, safflower, so many other commodities and an expanding wine grape market.
We are the home to 175,000 Yolo residents. We are also home to one of the great universities on the planet: the University of California at Davis. The port of Sacramento is located in Yolo County, serving the entire region. Bio-tech and high-tech companies have flocked to Yolo County, primarily Woodland and Davis, in such numbers that we have designated the county a bio-zone. Raley Field and the Rivercats are regional draws. Increasingly, West Sacramento has become the landlord for state offices. The Rumsey band of Wintun Indians, pre-dating the county by about 4,000 years, makes its home in the Capay Valley. All these historical factors affect our present and will shape our future.
Join me in a look at Yolo County today, and a glimpse of Yolo County in the future in the region, both the achievements and the challenges:
- Property tax assessments this year total $10.8 billion, an 8% increase over the prior year. Yolo County government has invested in the infrastructure of the county. We have built a new home for the district attorney, a new facility for our employment and social services department, and a new library in Esparto. We have plans for a new public health building, and new libraries in west Sacramento, Winters, and south Davis. Following a $7.5 million grant from the state, our top building priority - a new juvenile hall - is in preparation for construction.
- Thousands of acres of natural habitat and wetlands have been set aside for enjoyment of future generations. These include protected land in the Yolo Basin and in the Cache Creek nature preserve. At the same time, vast acerages have been preserved for agriculture through farm conservation easements, in partnership with the Yolo land trust. A partnership between the county and our four cities - called 'gaining ground' - has engaged us in active dialogue on joint land use issues in our county. We are also at work to establish a no growth buffer between our two largest cities (Davis and Woodland) to further preserve our farmland resources.
- Our economy is sound. Due in large part to synergy with the university, bio-tech and high-tech businesses are expanding and new ventures are flocking to Yolo County. Yolo County government, too, is sound. We refuse to complain or grumble about what the state may or may not do. We balance our books and we provide the services that county government is charged to provide.
- Of course, after 9-11 our lives did change. In Yolo County we have formed a coalition to respond to potential bio-terrorism, working with public health, fire, law enforcement, emergency responders and medical care providers to ensure a comprehensive response and to protect the health and safety of our residents.
- This year the University of California at Davis will open the Mondavi Center for the arts. This center will be a world-class venue for an eclectic assortment of talent, and will provide this region with an entertainment venue comparable to any in the United States.
- The Rumsey band of Wintun Indians, which operates a tribal casino in the Capay Valley, is planning a major expansion of its casino as well as a 300 room hotel. As you can imagine, this presents opportunities for the tribe, and challenges for the county. But the situation in Yolo County is not unique to this region as El Dorado, Placer and other counties can attest. The relationships between tribal and county governments will, I think, be one of our great challenges in the next decade.
As I look at the six-county region, I see remarkable diversity. Let's be honest. Our counties are unique and quite different from each other. Yet I suggest that this very diversity gives the region its character. Our challenge in the next decade and beyond is to retain our unique qualities as counties, while finding common ground to foster our regional interests. Those common interests include our roadways, railways and rivers, our public transportation systems, the air we all breathe, the regional businesses and jobs which keep our economic engine running. The airport, the port, the university and the state university, the Mondavi Center for the Arts, the Sacramento Convention Center, the Sacramento Kings and the Rivercats, and all the other regional amenities. All these tie us inexorably together.
We are six parts of a common whole. Each part is integral to that whole.
Yolo County is proud to play its own special part in our unique six-county region.