An interesting psychology test starts with two random lottery
tickets. The tester then gives the test subject either one. He then
offers a few dollars if the subject will trade the ticket they just
received for the other one; most of the time they refuse. Why? Both
tickets have an equal chance of winning and if they trade, they
would get some money too.
An interesting psychology test starts with two random lottery tickets. The tester then gives the test subject either one. He then offers a few dollars if the subject will trade the ticket they just received for the other one; most of the time they refuse. Why? Both tickets have an equal chance of winning and if they trade, they would get some money too.
It turns out that most people will go a long way to prevent the regret of making a serious mistake like trading away a winning lottery ticket. This emotion is called, “anticipated regret.” Researchers believe that the anxiety caused by anticipated regret is actually a more powerful emotion than actual regret.
This anticipated regret is the only reason I can come up with that five of the seven candidates who ran for the San Benito County Board of Supervisors stated in advance of the election that they would vote no on the El Rancho San Benito project. I’m especially disappointed in the image cast by Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz who said the development could turn Hollister into ghost town. In my opinion, he is sadly mistaken.
Like it or not, development and growth are coming to San Bento County – if you don’t believe me just look around. The key question is, do we have the courage to manage and control it for the good or are we going to reject that opportunity just so we can say, “It’s not my fault,” if things go wrong? It’s a strange world where so many politicians advertise their leadership, but then go out of their way to play it safe. Hollister’s ugly sprawl and the crowding of the county’s buildable areas show exactly what happens when unplanned communities are put together piecemeal; it was the way of the past, it is not the way of the future. The way of the future is exactly what El Rancho San Benito offers. It is a planned community of varied design, it has diversified housing options including a large degree of affordability, a balance of incomes, a senior housing component, a commercial center and critically, the chance to bring in corporate campuses and those good paying jobs that are so hard to find.
Is the project perfect? No, but it’s light-years ahead of all the other reasonable alternatives. There is no perfect project, but identifying specific problems and working for a fix is why we pay our political entities. I hope our elected officials will become thoroughly familiar with the proposal, and then they should identify their specific objections – based on analysis, not fear of competition or political changes – weigh everything and work to get any serious problems solved.
Do those opposing the project out of hand really believe they will have more control over a patchwork of individual developments whose economic viability is always in question? We are now living with what a series of county boards and city councils have approved to date – a city and county with uncontrolled sprawl, low-income housing problems and a thirty percent vacancy rate downtown.
El Rancho San Benito will bring the county millions in disposable income and many of its inhabitants will be working here and coming to the county seat to do government business at places like the new courthouse, the county office building and the DMV. We might lose a little business to their retail, but if we are smart, we will give customers what they want and make a lot more than we lose. We are not currently generating the income we need to prosper and just surviving is not a strategy for a better life.
It’s time for the citizens of Hollister and San Benito County who are isolationists to leave their nests. We must overcome our anticipated regret and tell our elected representatives not to fear the future, but to control it for the common good.
