Blame an endangered fly that has stunted development in much of Colton, Rialto and Fontana.

The broken and splitting road, which runs between Riverside Drive and Pepper Avenue, slices through Delhi Sands flower-loving fly habitat. Since it is federally protected land, the area can't be developed, City Manager Daryl Parrish said.

The road hasn't been improved since before Parrish joined the city in 1991.

[The city of] Colton can plug potholes, and does, but there is little incentive to repave the aging road, he said.

That was likely what caused a missed vacation for Jason Cox, whose motorcycle trailer hit a pothole in September and shot a wheel off its axle.

"I heard 'Boom!' and saw sparks flying and my wheel pass me,' Cox said. "When I pulled over, I saw two other cars pulled over because of potholes.'

Cox pushed his trailer onto the sand dunes that edge Slover and called a tow truck. The rest of the weekend was spent at home in Colton. Days later, he filed a claim against the city that seeks $776 in damages.

The day before Cox's accident, another Slover motorist said she hit a pothole and busted two of her $300 low-profile rims and blew out a tire. Franchelle Bolden, 26, of Rialto filed a $1,200 claim.

The claims have not been resolved.

"There have been all kinds of discussions about Slover -- even closing it -- ... (to) let the dunes cover it and the fly live there,' Parrish said last week.

"We've patched some potholes and cleaned trash,' he said, "but there is no development there, so there is really no financial mechanism to improve the road.'

Additionally, Parrish added, the city can't widen the road or put in street lights without a lengthy battle with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Delhi fly's guardian.

"Just putting in street lights might disturb the fly,' a frustrated Parrish said.

The area's only benefit to the city, Parrish said, is its role as "a poster child' for the blight -- discarded mattresses, tires and televisions -- which he attributes to the federal protections for the fly.

The city has been lobbying for years for the fly to lose its endangered-species classification.

But there is no end in sight.

For now, Parrish recommends drivers should stay off Slover, which hundreds of people take every weekday afternoon to get to Pepper Avenue, and avoid the congested Riverside Drive freeway on-ramp.

"The road is just terrible,' Cox said, "but I would rather take it than sit in 20 minutes of traffic on Riverside Avenue.'

Copyright 2004, Los Angeles Newspaper Group

http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~2541800,00.html

 

Additional researched information:

 

Oregon society protects insects

 

(Note: Language Deception words and phrases have been underlined to make them easier to spot.)

September 2, 2003

By Andrew Kramer

Associated Press

Scott Hoffman Black founded a rain forest action group in college in the 1980s, fought to return wolves to Idaho in the 1990s and saved an old-growth forest in California in 2000.

Now he has turned his attention to bugs.

Black is director of Xerces, a society that takes creepy crawlies seriously. Xerces is dedicated to the conservation of invertebrates, from butterflies and beetles to squids and slugs. It is the only such group in the country, though some other groups focus more narrowly on butterflies.

Based in Portland, Oregon, with 5,400 members in all 50 states, the society aims to expand the 62 species of clams, 21 snails, 44 insects, 12 spiders and 18 crustaceans protected under the Endangered Species Act.

The group takes its name from the first species of butterfly known to have gone extinct from human activity, the Xerces blue; its habitat became the city of San Francisco.

The society doesn't argue for protection for all bugs, particularly in the case of disease-bearing insects. But it has opposed some chemical spraying to kill mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus.

"We're not out to stop the health department from trying to save people if there really is a threat" of West Nile virus, Black said. "We're not saying that mosquitoes are more important than people. We would never say that. We would never tell that to the families of people with West Nile."

But spraying can endanger other insects as well as birds and fish. The rare Schaus swallowtail and Miami blue butterflies that live near swamps in the Southeast have suffered from West Nile spraying, Black said.

Defending bugs can be tough, and it generates little of the sympathy that attaches to campaigns for Northwest salmon or bald eagles.

In a bitter standoff, Xerces has argued for protection for the only fly ever to make the Endangered Species List, the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly.

"For a fly, it's pretty darn[ed] attractive," said Mace Vaughn, the society's staff entomologist.

But it's still a fly, and a lot of people want to swat it, especially city officials in Colton, California.

The pin-sized, orange and brown fly [has been used to stop] a $10 million project to build baseball fields for the town of about 50,000 east of Los Angeles, and halted construction of a freeway interchange. The projects would have infringed on the fly's sand dune habitat.

City Council members took to carrying fly swatters to meetings to symbolize their protest. They are lobbying to take the fly off the endangered list.

"I wouldn't mind at all if this species just ceased to exist. Not at all," City Manager Daryl Parrish said. "This fly has cost us a lot of opportunity and money."

But conservation is not just for eagles and grizzly bears, Black said.

Congress reaffirmed that insects can be listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1984, with some restrictions.

The law did not extend protection to pest insects, such as crop-munching locusts, or to subspecies and populations distinct to certain geographic areas.

Copyright 2003, AzCentral.com

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0902savethebugs02.html

Daryl Parrish
City Manager, Colton
650 N La Cadena Drive
Colton, CA 92324
909-370-5051
dparrish@ci.colton.ca.us

http://www.ci.colton.ca.us/

Source: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/profiles/Juris/JurContacts.asp?RG=C&JURID=94&JUR=Colton

=====

Six Flies Could Cost Town $35 Million in Tax [Revenues Lost]

 

April 17, 2003

By National Center for Public Policy Research

CNSNews.com Information Services


(Editor's Note: The following is the 28th of 100 stories regarding government regulation from the book Shattered Dreams, written by the National Center for Public Policy Research. CNSNews.com will publish an additional story each day.)

The Delhi Sands flower-loving fly was officially listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS or USFWS) in 1993.

Since then, the fly has caused problems with several southern California construction projects. Recently, the construction of a $12 million sports complex was put on hold after the discovery of a half-dozen of the protected insects.

The FWS is now in the midst of a study of the Delhi Sand Dunes to determine the exact habitat of the endangered fly. So far -- besides the construction of the sports complex that is indefinitely on hold -- appearances of the fly have caused delays and changes in the construction of a school, a wing to a hospital and sewer and flood-control projects in Colton, California.

Regarding the habitat of the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly and its relationship with mankind, FWS, official Jane Hendron told The Washington Times that "it's not a question of specific numbers" of the flies found near construction sites. "What we are dealing with in the case of this particular species is a dramatic reduction of what was once its historic habitat."

Colton Town Manager Daryl Parrish is concerned that an expected $35 million in taxes will be lost if the developer of the sports complex pulls out of the project.

He's also concerned that designated habitat that is now illegally used as a dumping ground will never be rehabilitated. Parrish said: "It's very frustrating to us. This particular project provides economic and recreation opportunities to this community. Not only that, but the proposed property is very, very blighted with dirt, weeds and trash."

Source: The Washington Times


Copyright 2003, National Center for Public Policy Research http://www.nationalcenter.org

http://www.conservativenews.org/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200304%5CNAT

20030417a.html