Congressman McNerney views Lodi sites

Congressman Jerry McNerney toured the site of a possible solar power installation, and then visited the Lodi Lake Park Nature Area for a up-close threat of the eroding riverbank near Pigs Lake on Tuesday.

McNerney hiked from the Nature Area parking lot to the far end of the park, viewing the failing Mokelumne River embankment. If the remaining 16 feet fails, most of the Nature Area would be inundated by up to 5 feet of water. In the opinion of an engineering firm, the bank may last five years, but certainly won't survive another decade without repair. That assessment is a year old.

The City of Lodi has applied to the State of California for nearly $2 million of Proposition 84 bond money. The State, however, has notified grant applicants such as Lodi that it is indefinitely postponing the sale of Prop 84 bonds needed to come up with the statewide $40 million pool that would go to river parkway or urban stream projects.

Earlier this year, the Lodi City Council named the Pigs Lake embankment repair its No. 1 priority among projects submitted to a county group that visited Washington, D.C., on a lobbying trip.