To the community,

My wife moved up to El Dorado County in the 1980s to raise her children in a safe bucolic environment, sending them first to Buckeye School and eventually Ponderosa High School. She bought a lovely little house on 2 acres in Shingle Springs along French Creek Road, which was close to the schools and yet very rural across the street from a cattle ranch. She bought a horse, a lifelong dream. In 2002 I retired and moved up to the foothills from the Bay Area seeking peace and quiet. We met and were married in 2003 and moved in together in her little house in Shingle Springs where I took over the upkeep and maintenance of our little “ranch.” I soon fell in love with El Dorado County.

All was happiness and light until San Stino threatened to destroy all that we had worked for for so many years. We became involved in the Shingle Springs Community Alliance, gathering signatures on the green (Measure O), yellow and purple initiatives, speaking to thousands of people during that time period that felt the same as we did. They all wanted to keep our rural quality of life. We’ve attended countless Board of Supervisors meetings and written countless letters asking them to please represent our interests not those of the developers (Parker Development, Sierra Pacific Industries, Gallo, and Joel Korotkin the San Stino and Dixon Ranch developer). All along we have held out some hope that they are listening to us.

In the run up to last November’s election developer interests and their enablers in county government and the Chamber of Commerce spent over $1,000,000 spreading lies about our Measure O initiative. You remember the No on MNO Campaign? They lied to the voters and spread enough confusion in their minds that of course folks were compelled to vote no on all three of them. Despite all of that, we soldiered on still hoping for a miracle. Most recently a new group calling itself the Alliance for Responsible Planning has come forward spreading more lies for the pro-development community. It is never ending.

For us, the bubble finally burst at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Feb. 24. That is when we finally realized that the county is in bed with the developers too deep and no matter what we do we are probably going to lose. My wife and I are now seriously considering moving out of El Dorado County for good before the value of our property plummets and we cannot afford to leave.

One of the things that broke our hearts was how quickly folks giving testimony were willing to throw us under the bus as long as the high-density development wasn’t slated for their backyards. Well, let me tell you, they’re coming for yours next. Don’t believe me? Watch the first couple of minutes of the following YouTube video where Kirk Bone of Parker Development gleefully compares upgrades to Highway 50 in El Dorado Hills to the Golden State freeway between Los Angeles and Orange County.

If you don’t think it’s coming, you’re more deluded than I was.

We are angry, very, very angry. If you are feeling the same, I suggest you follow the money. To begin with you might want to take a look at the following YouTube videos:

First this one and then this one.

If you want to stay and fight, you might want to join us. Think David and Goliath. We still have two more initiatives (the yellow and the purple) on the 2016 ballot and we need your help. Get involved. Join us online.

Edward Mattson, Shingle Springs