By Carlos Ortiz

Over the decades, I have volunteered in my community and, for the last 15 years, worked as a Spanish radio host at Qué Buena 105.7 FM and other media outlets. In my roles as a radio host, farm worker advocate, and community member of Arvin, my mission has always been the same: to be a voice for the people in this region who are often not given a voice by our society. 

Thousands of farm workers in the Central Valley rise before dawn every day to tend to the crops that feed our state and our country. Farm workers face many challenges, and Granite Construction Company is adding to that long list of hardships. The well-being of farm workers and their families in Arvin and Lamont has consistently been put at risk by the dangerous misuse of Valpredo Road by Granite Construction drivers from the Solari Aggregate mining plant.

Due to the heavy trucks hauling aggregate from the Solari Aggregate mining plant, residents and growers in the Arvin area are continually placed at risk by Granite Construction and their subcontractors. The rural Valpredo Road is surrounded by homes, fields, and schools. It was never intended to carry heavy construction trucks at high speeds. Yet, time and again, we’ve seen these trucks plow down the narrow stretch, kicking up dust, cracking pavement, and putting our workers in danger. 

They tell me that they feel like their lives don’t matter. This should not be the case. Their safety should be protected by loc the County of Kern through appropriate restrictions on Granite and their contractors. This issue directly affects our lives, health, and safety when these mining trucks continually speed recklessly down these rural roads that they are not authorized to use.

Granite Construction has a choice. They could listen to the community and honor agreements to limit truck use on Valpredo Road. Instead, they have chosen to go against residents, farm workers, and farmers, continually endangering our neighborhoods. It should not take a lawsuit for a major company to do the right thing or for our voices to be heard. We need stronger protection for our rural communities in Kern County. 

For me, this isn’t just about policy, I have heard stories from local workers and residents. Our community has done its part in voicing our growing concern for corporations not being held accountable.  Now it is time for local leaders to do their part. Safety regulations must be enforced, and Granite Construction must be held accountable for their actions. 

Farm workers have a right to be heard and to have secure working conditions. We deserve a future where farm workers and their families are not treated as invisible, but rather with the dignity they deserve. I urge residents to take up this call for advocacy for the protection of our farm workers from this brazen disregard for basic human rights. After all these years, measures must be implemented to prevent this continual risk to our lives by the misconduct of Granite Company’s drivers and its subcontractors. 

Carlos Ortiz is a longtime Spanish radio host and advocate for farmworkers and immigrant families in the Arvin and Lamont area.