Okay, I know people are upset about Ceres getting another car wash – this time Quick Quack on Hatch Road – but Planning Commissioner Gary Condit was out of his lane when he suggested he couldn’t support the lot merger and site plan to allow it to happen.

In taking political swipes at the council as he runs for a council seat, Condit suggested the council lacked leadership and wanted to defer the application to the council to weigh a possible moratorium on additional car washes.

Technically, the city has no right denying a car wash since it’s a permitted use within the Community Commercial zone. Quick Quack saw that a new car wash is copacetic with zoning and went to the expense of hiring an architect for plans and filing an application with fees.

Calling for Quick Quack’s application to be put on hold to defer to the council for a possible pre-emptive moratorium after the fact is not only unfair but opens the city to a lawsuit. Fortunately the Planning Commission approved it 3-1.

City Attorney Nubia Goldstein said the commission can only legally deny a project based on technical requirements and “not based off of general opposition to the specific type of project.” In other words, just because you don’t like a certain business – in this instance another car wash – the city cannot deny it without making four significant findings of exception. It would not have been possible to make those findings.

As another example, if someone had a bias against a certain business – let’s say a chicken restaurant like the mayor did – the city can’t say, “Nope, you can’t build another chicken restaurant but you can build a pancake house or a steak house on this property.”

Ceres isn’t the only city dealing with an abundance of car washes. According to National Public Radio, the explosion in car wash locations is driven by high profitability, the rise of subscription-based models, and private equity investment. These businesses offer consistent recurring revenue with low labor costs and high convenience. The industry has pivoted from infrequent washes to a “membership” model, encouraging consumers to wash cars more frequently.

Companies rely on subscription models (like $20/month for unlimited washes) that generate huge, predictable recurring revenue, even though many users wash their cars more often than they would if paying per visit.

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My brother living in Hawaii texted me last week with this message: “I saw on CNN the mayor of Ceres doctored up a photo via AI he took of an area he got cleaned up. Do you know him?

I replied that of course I know the mayor and he replied, “Well, he’s on national news as a liar. He didn’t sound intelligent enough to be mayor.”

We told everyone that Bret Durossette was qualified for the job back in 2020 and Lopez was an empty suit but ya’ll didn’t listen. The only reason Lopez prevailed for re-election is due to two opponents splitting the vote.

The AI photo thing was an unnecessary shooting himself in the foot.

The last time Ceres got this kind of widespread ridicule was in 1995 when columnist Dave Berry mentioned the three Carroll Fowler Elementary School janitors blowing up a closet trying to exterminate a gopher by freeze drying it as someone lit up a cigarette.

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I was privileged to witness the two northern lions removed from the Seventh Street Bridge on April 15. The concrete lions were moved for the first time since their placement in 1917.

It’s also been sad watching the historic bridge being broken apart by large excavators.

You may track the progress of the bridge demolition and bridge replacement by going online. A live webcam offering four views may be found at 7thstreetbridge.org/bridge-cameras/

It will be interesting to see how they will dismantle the bridge sections over the Tuolumne River without affecting water or wildlife.

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How is it that California has the highest gas tax in the nation – a tax that is supposed to fix roads and bridges – and yet it now tanks as the second highest of all 50 states in terms of worst roads?

According to the LendingTree in its report that came out this month, California has 27 percent of its roads in poor condition, or specifically 4,962 of 18,409 road miles evaluated. That’s up six percent from the 21 percent in 2019 making it the third largest jump in poor roads in the country. Oh, by the way, Gavin Newsom became governor on Jan. 7, 2019.

A piece in Cal Matters by Dan Walters in December 2020 noted: “Overlaying the political and roadway maps reveals that in general, the bluer states — those that favored Biden — also tend to have the roughest roads while motorists in pro-Trump red states generally have smoother pavement beneath their tires.

“Coincidence? Perhaps, but the data may also say something about political priorities.”

Remember how Californians voted for SB1 in 2017 to fix roads and bridges by increasing the gas tax? While voters were told it would fix potholes, a lot of gas tax funds are diverted to transit projects, such as bike lanes, sidewalks and public transit systems that cost taxpayers.

One thing is for sure: When promises of better roads is made at the time the state increases the gas tax, the roads get worse. This from Walters in 2020: “The tax increase legislation requires the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to meet certain goals by 2027, including that 98% of the pavement on the state highway system be in good or fair condition and that at least an additional 500 highway bridges get fixed.

“Will Californians actually see better roads, or will deterioration outpace even this big boost in spending? We may know by 2027.”

Well, it’s now 2026 and our roads have worsened by six percent.

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Every election cycle somebody will come up to me asking me my opinion on who are my picks for state office. For what it’s worth, I’ll just put it out there.

While Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco would be great governors, but based on polling Hilton appears to be the GOP’s only chance of getting in the top two slots. So that’s when my vote goes. I like Bianco but this is about playing smart politics.

Here are my other picks: Lieutenant Governor, Gloria Romero; Secretary of State, Donald Wagner; state Controller, Herb W. Morgan; state Treasurer, Jennifer Hawks; state Attorney General, Michael E. Gates; state Insurance Commissioner Stacy A. Korsgaden; Board of Equalization District 1, Shannon Grove; state Superintendent of Schools, Sonja Shaw; state Senate District 4, Marie Alvarado-Gil; District 5 Congress, Tom McClintock; and 13th Congressional District, Kevin Lincoln.

Assemblyman Juan Alanis is unopposed but has been a great representative.

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I find it very suspicious that in 2016 the state Legislature passed the Voter’s Choice Act by reducing choices. (You know how they like attaching opposite titles to legislation and ball measures.) This year 15 counties including Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Clarita counties – where half of the state’s population resides, believes it or not – have reduced the number of voting centers. Orange County went from 1,100 polling places to 116 vote centers. While the voting centers are open for more days, Democrats know 57 percent of those who vote on Election Day are registered Republicans. So what happens when you reach the voting center and see such a long line that you give up and go home with a ballot in hand?

Mail in your ballots and mail them early.

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Over the years I have been impressed by the input offered to the Ceres City Council by John Warren. He is a seasoned and reasoned citizen with much life experience and he offers sage advice. I’ve often told Mr. Warren that he should run for City Council but he rejects the idea every time.

More ideas come from him than the majority of councilmembers. In fact, at the April 27 council meeting Mayor Javier Lopez offered a few budget ideas like contracting out IT services, unfreezing police positions to curb overtime costs, and wondered if a Community Development director should be hired instead of a planning technician. But he told the newly hired interim City Manager Steve Williams that he was hopeful that he could solve the budget dilemma.

Over the weekend John CC’d me on an email to the council with ideas for trimming the budget. He started out saying the city must balance its budget, not borrow another $2.4 million from an already depleted savings account (the General Fund reserves).

Some of his ideas should be explored since he doesn’t have all of the information needed to make a sound decision but employee costs are the largest part of the budget. He tossed out a number of ideas:

• No overtime with a 30-day notice to employees regarding the change in working conditions, just make it happen.
• Consider closing the Pecos Fire Station, saying the city can no longer afford to man that station.
• Get users of the city’s Fire training Station on Service Road to pay for its use. He suggested $1 million annually
• No training of fire saying the contract with the City of Modesto is to provide a certain number of trained firefighters each day.
• Scrutinize of paid subscriptions to organizations needs to be closely looked at and determined if the city should really be paying for these types of things. Outside training and travel costs should be monitored and receive approval by the city manager if necessary. The use of Zoom should always be considered first.

Again, some of his suggestions to cut expenses may not be practical or legal but as least he’s coming up with ideas. He is the model of a great citizen.

This column is the opinion of Jeff Benziger, and does not necessarily represent the opinion of The Ceres Courier or 209 Multimedia Corporation. How do you feel about this? Let Jeff know at jeffb@cerescourier.com