This letter was contributed by Greg Cotten and Lizabeth Morell, Friends of Juristac cofounders. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent BenitoLink or other affiliated contributors. Lea este artÃculo en español aquÃ.
In response to the Betabel developer’s letter and Tribal Chairman Lopez’s response
         From Friends of Juristac
               March 5th, 2025
Dear fellow community members,
The vision of the McDowell family to honor their son is beautiful and moving. Unfortunately, we believe they have chosen the wrong site. Betabel is in the outermost eastern portion of Juristac, the most important cultural grounds of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.
It also is at the confluence of two critical waterways, the Pajaro and San Benito Rivers. Betabel is an immensely sensitive environmental area located on a 100 year floodplain. This development will inevitably create many long-term environmental issues, particularly with the changing climate.
Assembly Bill 52 requires consultation with Indigenous tribes during the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) process in any development planning application. These legal protocols simply were not followed for both environmental and cultural issues and thus failed to properly account for the project’s breadth of destructive impacts. As a result, in a historic move, the Attorney General of California intervened on behalf of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. https://sanbenito.com/ca-attorney-general-intervenes-in-amah-mutsun-lawsuit/
We are a broad coalition of community members committed to stopping injustice and development on Indigenous sacred ground and environmentally sensitive areas. Valuing Indigenous knowledge and culture is fundamental to repairing our relationship with the people whose historical territory we live in. This cannot occur when projects like this cause such harm.
We have faith that the strength of the McDowell family’s vision to honor their son will lead them to choose a different site, one that will benefit the entire community through their reconciliation with the Tribe.
It is past time to address the injustices in our community. Protecting Betabel will provide a healthy future for all of San Benito County, not by perpetuating domination and abuse, but by honoring and listening to those that have lived on this land for more than 10,000 years.
Respectfully,
Greg Cotten and Lizabeth Morell
Friends of Juristac cofounders
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