[00:00:00.06]
[gentle piano music]

[00:00:12.09]
- [Narrator] In the realm of lore,

[00:00:14.03]
Sonoma Valley earned its
name Valley of the Moon

[00:00:17.05]
from Indigenous tales.

[00:00:20.02]
For the Indigenous peoples
who roamed its expanse,

[00:00:23.02]
the Sonoma Valley was
not merely earth and sky,

[00:00:26.03]
but a realm of profound
spiritual significance

[00:00:29.07]
deemed a sacred sanctuary.

[00:00:32.09]
Once home to the Miwok,
Pomo, and Wappo People,

[00:00:37.02]
stewards of this terrain

[00:00:38.07]
bestowed upon it names steeped
in their cultural tapestry.

[00:00:43.08]
Yet it was the literary
prowess of Jack London,

[00:00:46.08]
the iconic American novelist,
journalist, organic farmer,

[00:00:51.01]
and social activist, who
etched Valley of the Moon

[00:00:54.09]
into the annals of broader consciousness.

[00:00:59.01]
From the majestic redwoods
of Jack London State Park

[00:01:02.06]
to Sugarloaf Ridge's mythic beauty,

[00:01:05.02]
the Valley of the Moon's
serene oak woodlands

[00:01:08.02]
define this historic wine country region.

[00:01:11.07]
And those of us who call this place home

[00:01:14.01]
cherish it like no other.

[00:01:16.02]
[gentle piano music]

[00:01:20.06]
However, a shadow looms over us now,

[00:01:23.02]
and the battle to protect her has begun.

[00:01:27.02]
- [Firefighter] One moment
I need you. Jump home.

[00:01:30.00]
- [Dispatcher] Hi, medical dispatch.

[00:01:31.02]
- [911 Operator] County with a transfer

[00:01:32.01]
from a call from Kenwood.

[00:01:33.01]
- [Dispatcher] Thank you.

[00:01:34.04]
Hello?
- [Caller] Yes. Hello.

[00:01:35.08]
- [Dispatcher] What's the
address of the emergency?

[00:01:37.00]
- [Caller] Smoke.

[00:01:37.08]
- [Dispatcher] Alright,
we have lots of fire.

[00:01:38.07]
We have lots of fire and lots of wind.

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If you see fire near
your building, evacuate.

[00:01:43.08]
- [Caller] We're on Egg Farm Road.

[00:01:45.05]
Do you have any information?

[00:01:46.06]
- [Dispatcher] No ma'am.

[00:01:47.05]
I can't help you, I'm sorry.

[00:01:48.06]
We're getting inundated
with too many fires.

[00:01:50.08]
- [Caller] We have a
90-year-old, we have two...

[00:01:53.01]
- [Dispatcher] Do you need somebody to--

[00:01:54.04]
Do you need somebody to help you evacuate?

[00:01:55.08]
- [Caller] Not me, it's our neighborhood.

[00:01:57.06]
I don't know...

[00:01:58.05]
- [Dispatcher] Okay, ma'am.

[00:01:59.04]
- [Caller] They're elderly.

[00:02:00.02]
- [Dispatcher] Alright,
we'll send what we can.

[00:02:01.08]
We have fire department on the way.

[00:02:03.05]
- [Caller] When you say
fires, is it around?...

[00:02:06.03]
- [Dispatcher] Ma'am, I
need to go. I'm sorry.

[00:02:07.04]
We have fires all over
the county, I need to go.

[00:02:09.06]
- [Caller] And no one's
gonna evacuate or tell us?

[00:02:11.07]
- [Dispatcher] Well, you
need to evacuate yourself.

[00:02:14.00]
Do it now.
- [Caller] Okay-

[00:02:15.04]
- [Dispatcher] We'll let 'em know.

[00:02:16.02]
Thank you, bye.

[00:02:19.07]
[gentle piano music]

[00:02:32.07]
- [Narrator] Recently,
the state of California

[00:02:35.00]
decided to sell the property

[00:02:36.06]
formerly known as the
Sonoma Developmental Center,

[00:02:40.02]
a facility that provided
services to individuals

[00:02:43.02]
with disabilities for nearly a century.

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Subsequently, the state
engaged a developer

[00:02:48.09]
to formulate a plan for the site.

[00:02:52.03]
Their proposal?

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To transform a rural
community into urban sprawl.

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The development plan includes allocating

[00:03:00.06]
approximately 180 acres
of what's commonly known

[00:03:04.08]
as the SDC campus to
accommodate a luxury resort

[00:03:09.04]
with hundreds of upscale homes.

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In essence, this proposal
amounts to dropping a small city

[00:03:16.01]
into a wildlife sanctuary and
rural region of Sonoma Valley.

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[gentle piano music]

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- The Sonoma supervisors approved a plan

[00:03:28.05]
that would have put 650
homes on this property,

[00:03:33.09]
and then the developer
comes back and says,

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"Well, that 650's not enough.

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I can't make enough money
if we only allow 650."

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So he's now proposing as
many as a thousand homes

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and a high-end resort hotel,

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and turning it into a tourist attraction

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for people that could afford them.

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It could not be in a worse location.

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It ruins a pristine, beautiful valley.

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[gentle piano music]

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- [Judith] So if there
was a fire, Elizabeth,

[00:04:08.03]
and we had all these developments
and that many more cars,

[00:04:12.07]
what's your concern?

[00:04:14.01]
- Oh, I would be utterly panicked.

[00:04:16.06]
I don't know what I would do.

[00:04:18.04]
Knowing that the stories that I've seen

[00:04:20.06]
and the deaths that occurred in Paradise,

[00:04:23.04]
I mean people would die,
there's no question,

[00:04:26.05]
if a fire replicated
anything close to 2017.

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Our land was ablaze.

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Our beautiful home was,
it just vanished.

[00:04:36.03]
I mean, we looked at the result

[00:04:37.08]
after we got back to our property

[00:04:40.00]
and it was nothing but ash.

[00:04:41.02]
It must have gone in five seconds.

[00:04:43.01]
So people will die, for sure.

[00:04:46.08]
Everything's unconscionable.

[00:04:48.06]
- [Judith] About this.
- Yeah.

[00:04:50.06]
- It has to do with climate change.

[00:04:51.06]
It has to do with water filtration,

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it has to do with water
setbacks from the creeks.

[00:04:55.03]
It has to do with wildlife.

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It has to do with fire
and fire evacuation.

[00:04:59.07]
All of these things are related
to developing this property.

[00:05:06.03]
- To me, Sonoma Development
Center is a gorgeous spot.

[00:05:11.00]
It's beautiful, but it's
an incredible resource

[00:05:13.09]
for all of Sonoma Valley.

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It is state land, it's our land.

[00:05:18.07]
It doesn't belong to a developer.

[00:05:21.00]
It belongs to all the
people of Sonoma Valley.

[00:05:23.06]
And the whole notion that
we should give it away

[00:05:26.04]
to some developer to make
money was just anathema to me.

[00:05:30.05]
Once it's gone, it's gone forever.

[00:05:33.00]
The state would never buy that land back

[00:05:35.02]
and turn it into a park.

[00:05:36.06]
It's gone.

[00:05:38.02]
The people who actually
came up with the plan

[00:05:41.03]
also then wrote the
environmental impact report.

[00:05:44.01]
The people who are experts in this,

[00:05:46.09]
many of them use the phrase,

[00:05:49.00]
"This environmental impact report

[00:05:51.02]
looks like it was written in
order to bring on a lawsuit."

[00:05:54.05]
It's so badly done.

[00:05:57.01]
They're required by law

[00:05:58.04]
to address the various
complaints and issues

[00:06:01.07]
that local people bring up as
part of the review process.

[00:06:05.00]
Came back with the final
environmental impact report,

[00:06:08.04]
there were thousands of pages, literally,

[00:06:10.07]
where they're answering
questions and issues.

[00:06:13.04]
In the vast bulk of those
cases the answer was,

[00:06:16.02]
"We've looked at it and
don't think it's a problem."

[00:06:19.06]
And the terminology for that
is it's self-mitigating,

[00:06:23.00]
meaning, "Maybe we'll figure
it out when we build."

[00:06:25.09]
[gentle orchestral music]

[00:06:29.04]
- The compounding factors is

[00:06:30.08]
the county is proving
multiple large developments

[00:06:35.01]
with no cumulative impact analysis.

[00:06:37.01]
So, the SDC is only one.

[00:06:39.06]
We have the Hanna Housing Development,

[00:06:41.08]
we have the Kenwood Inn
with the new hotel, Elnoka.

[00:06:45.01]
There's a number of additional projects

[00:06:47.07]
that are being planned.

[00:06:49.02]
The county is also denying expenditures

[00:06:52.06]
to improve the roads that
we rely on for evacuation,

[00:06:57.01]
and they're using big data traffic model

[00:07:00.01]
that two consulting firms
showed substantial evidence

[00:07:04.04]
that that traffic model

[00:07:06.04]
significantly underestimates
the number of vehicles

[00:07:10.03]
that will be on these evacuation routes.

[00:07:13.08]
- If I have a restaurant,
and I chain the doors shut

[00:07:17.06]
where people can't get out,
I'll be held criminally liable.

[00:07:22.00]
What's the difference about
building a bunch of homes

[00:07:24.07]
and giving you one way out?

[00:07:26.04]
It ain't the smartest plan in the book.

[00:07:29.03]
- [Narrator] The chosen
developer's proposal

[00:07:31.04]
includes the erection
of 400,000 square feet

[00:07:34.03]
of commercial space adorned
with a luxury resort hotel

[00:07:38.01]
and conference center
alongside a sprawling array

[00:07:41.05]
of 930 residential units.

[00:07:45.07]
However, a mere fraction, only 12%,

[00:07:48.08]
are earmarked for affordable housing.

[00:07:52.01]
- Developers build houses to make money.

[00:07:55.02]
They're not in the business
of creating affordable units.

[00:07:58.04]
The affordable units they have to create

[00:08:00.03]
are mandated by law.

[00:08:01.07]
Luxury units account for 85, 90,

[00:08:05.02]
95% of the housing productions
actually would be built.

[00:08:08.09]
And that's not affordable

[00:08:10.05]
to the person that makes $50,000 a year

[00:08:12.09]
or $70,000 or even $150,000.

[00:08:17.08]
- [Narrator] Central to our concern

[00:08:19.04]
is the proposed location
of this urban monolith

[00:08:22.07]
and its opulent lodgings,

[00:08:24.08]
strategically placed at the crossroads

[00:08:27.00]
of a vital wildlife corridor.

[00:08:30.09]
This corridor, a lifeline
for the migration of animals

[00:08:34.04]
to the Mayacamas Mountains,

[00:08:36.03]
stands imperiled by the development.

[00:08:38.06]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:08:41.07]
Its disruption not only endangers

[00:08:43.09]
the delicate balance
of our native habitat,

[00:08:46.06]
but also fractures the intricate web

[00:08:48.09]
of the valley's ecosystem,

[00:08:51.00]
interrupting natural mating patterns

[00:08:53.04]
and endangering biodiversity.

[00:08:55.06]
[music continues]

[00:08:58.05]
- The county is not in
compliance with the law.

[00:09:01.03]
They're not in compliance
with the environmental laws,

[00:09:05.07]
the land use laws,

[00:09:07.02]
and even the state laws
around fire safe evacuations.

[00:09:12.02]
By law, under the state
environmental laws,

[00:09:16.03]
the county must look at
these known projects.

[00:09:20.05]
The county knows that these
projects are in the pipeline

[00:09:23.09]
and do a cumulative impact analysis.

[00:09:26.04]
Well, if the current
residents and tourists

[00:09:31.04]
can't get out on these
over-capacity roads,

[00:09:35.06]
how are the people from the
SDC plus Hanna, plus Kenwood,

[00:09:41.04]
how are we going to accommodate them?

[00:09:47.00]
The worst case scenario might be

[00:09:49.00]
if a fire came over Sonoma Mountain.

[00:09:52.05]
That area has not burned
in many, many years.

[00:09:56.09]
And if a very fast moving fire

[00:09:59.07]
comes into the Sonoma Development Center--

[00:10:03.02]
It's a small city

[00:10:05.04]
that we're talking about plopping

[00:10:06.07]
in the middle of a rural
area right next to a mountain

[00:10:10.05]
and beautiful open space.

[00:10:13.00]
That fire moving so fast

[00:10:16.01]
could overwhelm the community

[00:10:17.08]
before they have a chance to get out.

[00:10:20.07]
- I've been coming up to
Sonoma since the '60s.

[00:10:24.02]
Even my dad, he was a San
Francisco firefighter,

[00:10:26.00]
come up years ago for the 1963 fire,

[00:10:28.07]
which was on that side of the valley.

[00:10:30.00]
And since then, I know for a fact

[00:10:32.01]
it's been hit with sudden oak disease.

[00:10:34.00]
So, there's a lot of dead
and dying trees up there.

[00:10:37.07]
- I really dove into the draft EIR

[00:10:40.04]
for the Springs Specific Plan,

[00:10:42.05]
which had evacuation issues
and challenges within it.

[00:10:46.05]
I also got to read the SDC report, so.

[00:10:49.07]
- [Judith] And what did you think of them?

[00:10:52.05]
- I think it's a joke.

[00:10:54.01]
It's not...it's not real.

[00:10:56.01]
- [Judith] Why?

[00:10:57.09]
Because, it's gonna take
more than a minute and a half

[00:11:00.08]
or two minutes to evacuate people.

[00:11:03.09]
The evacuation study, or in
different documents you read,

[00:11:07.08]
they encourage people
to take just one car.

[00:11:11.08]
Well, that's not the reality.

[00:11:13.01]
When somebody's fleeing a fire

[00:11:15.04]
and wondering if their
home's gonna be there

[00:11:17.05]
when they get back,

[00:11:20.00]
they take as many cars as they can

[00:11:22.05]
'cause that's maybe
all they're gonna have.

[00:11:25.04]
It's not uncommon to have
maybe one of those vehicles

[00:11:28.07]
with just a quarter tank of gas,

[00:11:30.03]
which is problematic when
you're sitting in traffic

[00:11:32.00]
for hours on end.

[00:11:33.05]
Sonoma has six ways in
and out of this valley.

[00:11:36.09]
And that day, in 2017,

[00:11:40.05]
five of those six routes were on fire.

[00:11:42.09]
[gentle piano music]

[00:11:47.02]
- You're asking for disaster,
putting all those in.

[00:11:49.07]
As it is now,

[00:11:51.02]
trying to get people
outta here in just the

[00:11:53.04]
neighborhoods that are
around here now is huge.

[00:11:56.04]
And now you're gonna add
all these more people.

[00:12:00.05]
Again, I mean, you wouldn't
do it in a building.

[00:12:02.07]
You look at any of these buildings here

[00:12:04.00]
or any building you go into.

[00:12:05.04]
I do inspections,

[00:12:06.09]
and every building has an
occupancy load on that building.

[00:12:11.06]
You would think they
would have occupancy loads

[00:12:13.01]
for neighborhoods.

[00:12:14.02]
[gentle piano music]
[wind gusting]

[00:12:17.05]
- A good portion of the
people who died in Paradise,

[00:12:21.00]
the 87 people who died, over
80% were over the age of 65.

[00:12:26.02]
So they either could not
get out of their home,

[00:12:29.03]
or they were found on their property.

[00:12:32.03]
So, they may have been a younger person

[00:12:34.09]
who stayed home to defend their house.

[00:12:37.05]
And then, as we know,

[00:12:39.01]
10 or more were killed in their vehicles

[00:12:42.04]
trying to race ahead of the fire.

[00:12:45.09]
Now we have the same kind of
situation in Sonoma County.

[00:12:50.02]
This is what happened
during the Glass Fire.

[00:12:52.03]
The orderly evacuation plan
that Sonoma County has in place

[00:12:57.06]
assumed that they would be able to say,

[00:12:59.06]
"Okay, it's time for zone two to evacuate.

[00:13:02.06]
Now let's get zone three
heading on down the highway."

[00:13:06.08]
And the fire was moving so fast

[00:13:10.05]
that there was only an hour.

[00:13:12.07]
The fire was on people's doorsteps,

[00:13:15.08]
and so everybody evacuated
at the same time.

[00:13:19.05]
And Highway 12 and Highway 121 and 116

[00:13:23.03]
were basically in gridlock.

[00:13:25.01]
It was a parking lot.

[00:13:27.03]
It's a miracle nobody was killed.

[00:13:31.08]
- [Narrator] The proposed development

[00:13:33.01]
poses a significant risk to
our community's infrastructure.

[00:13:37.06]
Water remains an ongoing critical issue,

[00:13:40.05]
as does traffic on our already
narrow two-lane rural roads.

[00:13:45.06]
And the SDC development

[00:13:47.03]
is projected to increase traffic
by an alarming 40 to 70%.

[00:13:52.00]
[tense instrumental music]

[00:13:53.08]
A contentious environmental impact report,

[00:13:56.06]
rife with omissions, regarding
critical environmental

[00:14:00.01]
and safety concerns is
paving the way for peril

[00:14:03.05]
and the degradation of our
community's quality of life.

[00:14:09.01]
The rampant development of
this delicate pastoral valley

[00:14:13.01]
threatens irreversible consequences

[00:14:15.05]
and potentially catastrophic outcomes.

[00:14:20.00]
- The wildlife corridor is
a huge wildlife corridor.

[00:14:24.04]
It extends from the ocean all the way east

[00:14:28.01]
to the land around Lake Berryessa.

[00:14:32.08]
It's huge.

[00:14:34.07]
Thousands of species go back and forth.

[00:14:36.07]
But it all comes down to
a tiny little pinch point

[00:14:39.03]
of about a mile to two miles

[00:14:41.03]
in the Sonoma Developmental Center.

[00:14:43.09]
And while this center was in use

[00:14:47.05]
there were no fences.

[00:14:49.00]
At night, the lights were basically out.

[00:14:51.03]
It was very porous for
animals to go through

[00:14:53.05]
even though there was actually
a lot of people there,

[00:14:56.01]
but no one was out at night,

[00:14:57.02]
in general the lights were off.

[00:14:59.04]
Now there's gonna be lights, fences, pets,

[00:15:05.05]
noise all night.

[00:15:08.00]
It's just killing that wildlife corridor.

[00:15:10.00]
That was basically ignored, also.

[00:15:12.04]
[somber instrumental music]

[00:15:16.07]
- Before this land was
stolen from the Coast Miwok,

[00:15:21.07]
most of Sonoma Valley

[00:15:24.08]
would have been wetlands.

[00:15:26.09]
The creeks all meandered,

[00:15:28.04]
and there were beavers damning them up.

[00:15:30.03]
We didn't have these
narrow creeks with steep,

[00:15:35.03]
incised sides that go relatively straight.

[00:15:37.06]
The creeks went this way and that way

[00:15:38.09]
and then it was a beaver dam,

[00:15:40.02]
and then eventually another beaver dam

[00:15:42.09]
and another beaver dam.

[00:15:44.05]
You still have at the very
bottom of Sonoma Creek watershed,

[00:15:48.07]
there are still the saltwater wetlands.

[00:15:52.00]
But almost all of the
freshwater wetlands are gone,

[00:15:56.01]
except on this property.

[00:15:57.06]
[gentle instrumental music]

[00:16:02.02]
In California state parks,

[00:16:04.00]
they don't allow dogs
on most of the trails

[00:16:06.08]
because studies have shown

[00:16:08.06]
just a couple of dogs coming through

[00:16:10.07]
makes the trail smell like predators,

[00:16:14.01]
and that affects the behavior
of much of the wildlife.

[00:16:18.00]
The wildlife will avoid those areas.

[00:16:20.04]
If you fill an area with people's yards,

[00:16:24.05]
and there are house cats going around

[00:16:26.00]
killing the small wildlife

[00:16:28.02]
and there are dogs running around

[00:16:30.05]
and there are vehicles
running the salamanders over

[00:16:35.02]
and there is light
shining out the windows,

[00:16:37.08]
it has serious ecological effects.

[00:16:41.05]
And the way that we tend to
build is we tend to sprawl.

[00:16:45.05]
These buildings right here

[00:16:47.02]
would be where the hotel is planned,

[00:16:49.08]
and there is a creek right here.

[00:16:53.01]
That creek is a habitat corridor

[00:16:56.01]
that wildlife uses all the time.

[00:16:57.08]
We're talking maybe 50 feet

[00:17:00.02]
between the water and the buildings,

[00:17:03.01]
and that's a bad idea.

[00:17:07.06]
- [Narrator] It is also important to note

[00:17:09.03]
that endangered Chinook salmon

[00:17:11.07]
swim through the SDC
property in Sonoma Creek

[00:17:14.09]
to spawn further upstream at
Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.

[00:17:21.00]
Exacerbating the urban sprawl situation,

[00:17:23.07]
several other out-of-scale
projects are planned

[00:17:26.07]
within a few miles of the SDC.

[00:17:29.04]
The Hanna Development has the
exact same development plan

[00:17:32.04]
as the SDC, including a luxury hotel

[00:17:35.05]
and a massive residential
and commercial project.

[00:17:40.05]
Then there is the Oakmont Elnoka
project, the Kenwood Ranch,

[00:17:44.06]
the Verano Hotel, and the
new housing development

[00:17:47.06]
in Boyes Hot Springs.

[00:17:49.05]
[somber instrumental music]

[00:17:52.09]
These developments will add
thousands of additional cars

[00:17:56.02]
to already overwhelmed rural roads.

[00:18:00.05]
Over the past seven years,

[00:18:02.02]
both state and county authorities

[00:18:04.04]
were required to get community involvement

[00:18:06.08]
in determining the fate of the land.

[00:18:11.02]
In response, thousands of
Sonoma Valley residents

[00:18:14.02]
dedicated themselves
to the lengthy process.

[00:18:19.01]
Through numerous meetings, testimonies,

[00:18:21.01]
and exhaustive work on development plans.

[00:18:23.07]
The community diligently deliberated

[00:18:25.08]
on how the land should be utilized.

[00:18:29.06]
However, it became evident

[00:18:31.00]
that the county's hands
were tied by the mandates,

[00:18:33.07]
and essentially they have no power.

[00:18:37.00]
Counties across the state of California

[00:18:38.09]
are being fined huge penalties

[00:18:41.01]
for not being able to comply

[00:18:42.06]
with the number of units
required by the state mandates.

[00:18:46.07]
- The control is in the developer camp,

[00:18:49.01]
not in the public sphere.

[00:18:51.07]
They actually are writing the legislation.

[00:18:53.06]
They literally write the law

[00:18:55.08]
and hand it to the senator or
the assembly person and say,

[00:18:59.00]
"We'd like for you to pass this."

[00:19:01.01]
You don't understand what's gonna happen

[00:19:02.06]
literally next door to you
until the bulldozer comes

[00:19:05.03]
and porta potty gets put out front.

[00:19:08.02]
- [Narrator] This experience
leads one to infer,

[00:19:11.00]
whether justly or not,

[00:19:12.07]
that the community's
engagement was manipulated

[00:19:14.07]
to prevent or preemptively quash

[00:19:17.07]
any organized public opposition

[00:19:19.08]
to simply selling the land
to the highest bidder.

[00:19:23.00]
Precisely what is occurring.

[00:19:25.00]
[gentle piano music]

[00:19:28.07]
- People in Glen Allen live in Glen Allen

[00:19:31.02]
because Glen Allen is Glen Allen.

[00:19:33.08]
It's a small little town.

[00:19:36.00]
It's got a little bar
and a restaurant there,

[00:19:38.01]
and it's got a little bakery, a store.

[00:19:40.08]
It's rural, it's simple.

[00:19:43.01]
Everyone knows everyone.

[00:19:44.06]
And this is gonna change all that.

[00:19:48.03]
The phrase "follow the money,"

[00:19:50.02]
it applies here a hundred percent.

[00:19:52.08]
These developers are gonna get rich

[00:19:55.00]
and the politicians will follow suit.

[00:19:58.06]
I've never met a poor developer,

[00:20:01.02]
nor have I met a poor politician.

[00:20:03.03]
And they want this project to go through

[00:20:06.09]
even though I think a majority
of the people in this valley,

[00:20:09.09]
or at least a majority
of the people in the area

[00:20:12.04]
that's going to be built in,
don't want this.

[00:20:15.02]
There's a lot of people.

[00:20:16.02]
I'm happy to tell you
that I think more people

[00:20:18.03]
are aware of what the impact will be,

[00:20:21.01]
and they're becoming involved
with trying to stop this.

[00:20:25.08]
You gotta let these politicians know

[00:20:27.06]
that you're going against
the will of the people here.

[00:20:31.04]
Y'know, I was a fireman for a long time.

[00:20:33.09]
You get a fire of the
magnitude we had in the past,

[00:20:37.01]
and the traffic and the egress,

[00:20:39.09]
it's just not gonna happen.

[00:20:42.04]
You're gonna see people die,

[00:20:44.03]
and you're gonna see a lot of homes lost.

[00:20:46.07]
[tense instrumental music]

[00:20:50.09]
- [Narrator] What is important to note

[00:20:52.05]
is that numerous laws exist
to prevent urban sprawl

[00:20:56.01]
encroaching into green
belts and open-space buffers

[00:20:59.03]
between urban centers.

[00:21:01.04]
It's evident that both
the state and county

[00:21:04.03]
are acting in flagrant disregard
of their professed climate

[00:21:08.01]
and environmental commitments.

[00:21:10.02]
[somber instrumental music]
[wind gusting]

[00:21:13.02]
This raises the fundamental question,

[00:21:16.00]
why is public land funded
by taxpayers' money

[00:21:19.09]
being allowed to be privatized

[00:21:22.01]
and commodified without public consent?

[00:21:27.05]
Once upon a time,

[00:21:28.08]
there was a fellow who
happened to see a baby

[00:21:30.09]
going down the river.

[00:21:33.01]
He rescued the little infant
only to see two, three,

[00:21:36.09]
and dozens more going down the river.

[00:21:41.01]
He enlisted the help of
others in his community.

[00:21:44.09]
He made a big net, he built a bridge.

[00:21:49.07]
And finally, a wise man said to him,

[00:21:52.05]
"Why don't you go up the river

[00:21:54.02]
and see who is throwing them in?"

[00:21:57.00]
If you follow the river up
to the development bonanza

[00:22:00.01]
and urban sprawl that is
unfolding in California

[00:22:03.04]
and here in the Valley of the Moon,

[00:22:05.06]
you will find the state of
California's housing mandates

[00:22:08.09]
and high-end developers
whose only objective

[00:22:12.00]
is to maximize profits.

[00:22:16.09]
While these mandates claim to
promote affordable housing,

[00:22:20.02]
the vast majority of these new homes,

[00:22:22.07]
88% or more, are luxury upscale housing,

[00:22:26.07]
and remain far from affordable
for the average citizen.

[00:22:30.06]
In light of these disparities,
it begs the question,

[00:22:33.09]
who truly stands to benefit
from this arrangement?

[00:22:37.00]
[somber instrumental music]

[00:22:45.06]
[gentle piano music]

[00:23:05.03]
[music continues]

[00:23:33.01]
[music continues]

[00:24:02.02]
[gentle piano music]

[00:24:30.07]
[music continues]

[00:24:34.00]