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Jim Rhodes

Glendora, California
Land Use Activist
Mt. Baldy Group

When native Ohioan Jim Rhodes moved to Glendora, California, in 1961, the San Gabriel Mountains foothill town had barely 20,000 residents. The population has since more than doubled.

"My original involvement with the Sierra Club was recreational," he says. "When my children got old enough to go hiking I started meeting like-minded people, several of whom were involved with the Angeles Chapter."

A retired engineer and president of a technical instrument/electronics firm, Rhodes watched as development inched ever-further into the San Gabriels. When in 2000 a developer proposed to build 145 houses in and near a local canyon -- "a beautiful place, home to the endangered California Gnatcatcher" -- he decided to speak out against the scale of the project.

"I got involved with a local homeowners' association, gave time and money, wrote articles, and spoke several times before the city council and planning commission. We rallied citizens against it, and lo and behold, city hall turned it down, saying the developer could build 20 homes, not 145. The developer took the issue to court, but lost." Rhodes was also involved in an effort to make another canyon development conform to city codes, but "we were shot down by creative rule interpretation in city hall."

Working with a city committee, Rhodes helped draft new planning regulations he'd like to see incorporated into Glendora's general plan. "If our report was used at the permitting level," he says, "there would be foliage screening of new homes, limits on the steepness of slope that can be developed, and it would help close developer loopholes."

A self-described "Eisenhower Republican," Rhodes laments that both major political parties are so beholden to special interests.

Published: May 30, 2007