• Volkswalking

Coming up on Saturday June 6th, from 8:00am to noon, there will be a big event at Marna O'Brien Park. It's part ribbon cutting for the Murrieta Creek Regional Trail, part Community Health & Fitness Fair, part Bicycle Safety Event and part Volkswalk.

Do you know what Volkswalk is?

I had a chance to ask Kathy Bundy, local outdoor enthusiast, about Volkswalk.

 WR:   Volkswalk? [asked while administering the dog head tilt]
 KB:   "Volkswalk" is a difficult word to say. It's a German word and it means "people walk". It's open to everybody. Anybody can do it.

 WR:  What kind of walks are there?
 KB:  Most of the walks will specify the course so you'll know if you can walk with your dog, or if it's stroller or wheelchair friendly. The walk [the course] is prearranged ahead of time. You go your own pace. If you want to jog it, you can jog it. If you want to walk it —you walk it. If you want to go slow and smell the roses and take pictures, you can do that. There are no set rules. The main focus is for you to have fun along with some fitness and fellowship.

 WR:  Tell us about the local club.
 KB:  We're very fortunate to have a local club, it's out of the Corona/Riverside area. We're called the Low Desert Roadrunners. We were organized in 1985. We were the fifth club for California. Volksporting has been in the United States for 39 years. Our servicemen brought it over here [when they returned from duty]. The servicemen knew this sport as volksmarches, but in the USA volksmarches wouldn't sound very good. Someone would think we're protesting something.

We are not just walks, though in California we mostly do walks. In other states, and countries, they do volksskiing, volksbiking, volkscanoeing, most any type of sport. My passion is to promote this sport and I'm hoping to get the biking events back [locally]. I have someone working on the bike trails. You can do it for free, or if you want to keep track with a little passport/booklet we keep track of our kilometers at our events and we get hatpins and different rewards from our head office in Texas.

 WR:  Tell me about the event on June 6th.
 KB:  June 6th is a four-city Volkswalk that I'm doing with the [official opening] of the Murrieta Creek Trail. This is a project that I've been privileged to be part of with the four cities, the National parks and the Sierra Club. For almost three years we've had meetings every month, sometimes smaller groups of us got together, to organize this wonderful event.

The Murrieta Creek Trail may not look like much of anything to some people right now, but it's an interim trail and Wildomar has a very beautiful section McVicker to Clinton Keith and you're welcome to give me a call (951-218-3755) and I'll take you for a walk even if you don't do it on June 6th.

 WR:  Where will you be on June 6th?
 KB:  I'll be stationed at Marna O'Brien park. My booth will not only be Volkssport but it's also the Sierra Club's booth. We have a different kind of passport [for the event]. If you're adventurous enough to go to all four staging areas (Temecula, Murrieta, Wildomar and Lake Elsinore) you get a memento of the day. It's a little passport that gets stamped at each location. You also get your name entered into a drawing, this is something the Sierra Club is doing.

A Volkswalk and a Sierra Club event is not usually on the same day. This is exceptional [situation] for me because I belong to both organizations.

 WR:  What happens if you get all four stamps for the passport?
 KB:  The way the passport is you tear off a little section that has your name and other info on it and it's entered into a drawing. I'm not sure what the prizes are at this point, it's something the Sierra Club has [in mind]. The first 25 people that come in the morning, at each staging area, will get a really nice Sierra Club water bottle.

 WR:  I remember that last year you did a 100 walk challenge.
 KB:  Through Volkswalking there're many different challenges. They have a Centurion Challenge, and my aunt was turning 100 years old, I thought I'm going to do a walk for every year she's been alive. The challenge was to do 100 Volkswalks in the year. Most were 10ks (about 6 miles), but others were 5k (about 3 miles) and you can choose the distances and go at your own pace.

I started the challenge in March. I still had to complete the 100 walks within the calendar year, not just the next 12 months. My last walk was going to be in Banning [on December 31st], but we had that snowstorm and couldn't get there. I ended up walking around the perimeter of the Santa Rosa Plateau [to get my miles in.]

 WR:  I know that people can participate for free, but if they want to be full members, how much is that, and how much are typical events?
 KB:  A new walker packet is $5 with coupons for first three walks/events free. In the packet they receive two record keepers. One for distance and the other for events. All events get a sanction stamp number. After the three coupons walks cost $3.

If you're interested in walking locally, or in the greater SoCal area, send Kathy a message or give her a call (951) 218-3755. Better yet, come on down to Marna O'Brien park on June 6th and speak to her in person.

My tag line is I Walk to live and Live to walk.
— Kathy Bundy

Link for local Volkswalk Meet-Up group

Link for Low Desert Roadrunners      Link for California Volkssport Association

Even those of you in mortal fear of Walmart can still enjoy this event despite the fact that they are a major sponsor.

4

 I D E A     T I M E 

Plan on coming out early and picking up a breakfast burrito prepared by

Boy Scout Troop 332. A good way to support a local youth organization 

and get some food in the ol' tum-tum at the same time. ☺

•      •      • 

"25 cents to go through this thing? Eh, we'll walk first!"
 — Bugs Bunny to the toll taker at the Panama Canal, 8 Ball Bunny, 1950

Wildomar Rap did not walk five miles, barefoot in the snow, up hill BOTH WAYS to school. Though one time my brother and I did walk nearly seven miles home from Jr High, on the side of a major road (Highland Ave), in the September afternoon heat of Fontucky. All the while trying remember the route to our new house, in an adjacent city, after our ride failed to materialize.. >:(

• Coffee with a Cop and Transportation NOW

Today in Wildomar there were a few things going on. Over at the westside Starbucks was Coffee With a Cop. An informal meet up with several officers, including Wildomar's Chief Leonard Hollingsworth, and interested members of the public.

It was a good chance to meet some of our law enforcement officers. I'd say that between 9:00 and 11:00 there were about 20 people that stopped by, including our 2015 Mayor, Ben Benoit. It was good to meet more of my fellow Wildomartinis (or Wildomatians if you prefer).

Wildomar Chief, Captain Hollingsworth (middle left) Listens to the concerns of the residents.

It was just a chance for some casual conversation. No speeches, just officers listening to concerns from the residents.

Joseph Morabito (me, center right) speaking with  Lieutenant Leonard Purvis. In the middle is Mayor Ben Benoit.

The next Neighborhood Watch meeting is Thursday June 11th at the council chambers. If you would like to be informed of such events as Coffee With a Cop, be sure to join the city's Stay Connected email blast by clicking here.

•       •       •

Also on the list of things to do was go to a Southwest Transportation NOW meeting at the Wildomar Library. There was an interesting slideshow presentation by Sierra Club member Pam Nelson regarding the coming Murrieta Creek  Regional Trail.

Mark you calendars for Saturday June 6th. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony at Marna O'Brien Park heralding the official opening of the MCRT (Murrieta Creek  Regional Trail). Also that same day will be a bicycle safety event and a Volkswalk too. (Keep an eye out for a coming blog about Volkswalk)

Be sure to check out the official trail website for more details by clicking this link SCSMG.

•       •       •

Daryl Hickman and Nichole Dailey were speaking about the coming roundabouts in Lake Elsinore at Railroad Canyon. I remember hearing about that more than a year ago and didn't think it was possible, but the way the talk was going, this looks like it's coming. Though Lake Elsinore is out of my purview, I'll have to ask for more details next time I see them.

•       •       •

Kristen Huyck, of Supervisor Kevin Jeffries' office, mentioned that Grand Avenue will be under construction for the next 60 plus days. It will be getting repaved and widened a bit. There won't be any additional travel lanes, but there I was hearing about some right hand turn pockets in key areas. If you use Ortega Highway, you should anticipate delays of up to 15 mins during this time period.

•       •       •

Deni Horne, of Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez's office, spoke about ACA 4 as a bill to keep an eye on. It's a Constitutional Amendment that threatens the strength of Prop 13. Read more about it here. In short, it's trying to reduce the 67% needed today to raise taxes to just 55%.

•       •       •

Last on the list of interesting tidbits was AB 278. It deals with district-based municipal elections in cities with more than 100,000 people. I'm sure there's at least one Dub-Marian (another name for Wildomarian) that is giddy about the idea of district based voting (hint hint, nudge nudge, say no more), but from reading the bill, and hearing the talk about it, it is going to be Gerrymandering on Roids by the time it's implemented.

Check out this language and see if your stomach doesn't turn a bit

5) Requires a city that is establishing districts pursuant to this bill to ensure that all of the following criteria are satisfied in preparing the boundaries of the districts for the city council:

   a)   The boundaries are drawn to ensure fair and effective representation of all city residents including racial,  ethnic, and language minorities;

Bobby Swann, Wildomar Planning Commissioner and Secretary for Transportation NOW, mentioned that Wildomar's build out is just over 50,000. That's when it was suggested that 100,000 would be the opening salvo, that could then be followed up with lower population numbers in following years.

When Wildomar first voted to become a city, I voted against it but was glad to see that we had districts at first. Years later the downside of districts in small cities, like Wildomar, was explained to me. On the one hand you get representation from each area.

So, for example, that would have meant that Israel Leija would now be a council member from The Farm, while two out of three from the group of council members that includes Marsha Swanson, Tim Walker and Ben Benoit would have to go, since (at the time of the election) they all would have been in the same basic district.

On the other hand, if you have a concern you have five people that are working for you. If it's district based, you have your guy, and that's it.

If AB 278 becomes law, it'll be another disaster in the name of multiculturalism, which only divides us instead of uniting us as a people.

•      •      • 

Heaven knows what seeming nonsense may not tomorrow be demonstrated truth. — Alfred North Whitehead

Wildomar Rap is still on the fence when it comes to which is better: Java with a constable or Sandwiches with board members. Looks like more research is in order. ☺ 

• Memorial Day 2015

It was beautifully overcast morning this Memorial Day as Wildomar Cemetery was the site of Faith Baptist Church's program to honor those that gave their lives for our freedom, and living veterans too.

The service started a little after 10:00am and lasted about an hour. It included patriotic music, the raising of the flag, the pledge of allegiance, poems of reflection, honoring the dead —including Eric Seaman who died on a mission of mercy in Nepal, and showing respect for the veterans that made it back.

A look at some of the veterans that were on hand.

I've never been to such an event before, and it's a shame that such important moments of reflection aren't more universally appreciated —by actual attendance (lip service is easy). My grandfather was in the Korean War, and I never actually thought to ask him about his service. I wish I could ask him today, but he died in 1999 at the tender age of 66 of a heart attack.

I bumped into Planning Commission Chairman (or Chairperson if you must) Veronica Langworthy just as I was taking some pictures of the two Korean War vets (in the light blue windbreakers). I was telling her about my grandfather, and she told me that her father had served in Korea too. I wonder if she could tell that I was having a difficult time holding it together at that moment?

↓ Here is a short video montage that captured the day from my perspective ↓

It was a great morning and very inspiring to be all that I can be, but I found something that didn't sit right with me. During a rousing 10 minute speech by Bruce Goddard, that was intended to well the hearts of the listener with pride, several times it turned to ideological politics where "The Liberal" was bashed repeatedly.

(Hit the 7:20 mark of the video to hit the first of the remarks in question. Also @ 8:20 and 8:30.)

Here is where I lose some "friends". Let me reestablish, once again, that I am neither Republican nor Democrat. Not a Liberal and not a Conservative. Though I didn't vote for Bush 43, he was my president and I didn't tolerate the Code Pinkies that tried to disparage him. Likewise, though I voted against Obama, I'm PROUD to call him MY president too.

Sorry, but the only thing worse than a Liberal is a Conservative — BOTH sides stink, and I find it disgusting to suggest that people that do not share your political leanings should have their patriotism challenged. Please keep your petty politics to yourself when we are honoring our war dead next time.

This is where I'd like to thank all those, even the liberals and the even conservatives, that fought on behalf of our nation. I can only imagine what you went through. In much the same way a life long blind person tries to imagine a sunset... yet fails. Try as we might, I'm sure that our best guesses aren't even close to what it was like in battle.

•      •      • 

“People say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Truth is, you knew what you had, you just never thought you’d lose it.” — Elite Daily

We at Wildomar Rap fondly remember mistaking "tangle" with "tango" when being reprimanded by grandpa Carter. I never understood why he wanted to dance instead of punish... silly me ☺.

• Taste of Italy Fund Raiser

Tonight the Wildomar Historical Society teamed up with the VFW's Women's Auxillary to host a Fund Raiser.

There were about 40 people in attendance to enjoy the very tasty homemade sauce of Rae Vallefuoco.

Pretty good deal even if it were not a fundraiser.

Kristan Lloyd telling the attendees about the future Wildomar Heritage Museum.

•   •   •

A look at one of the three displays.

•   •   •

In addition Italian music, food and drink, there were a few drawings. Dawn Schultz won the 50-50 prize but chose to donate it back to the causes.

The causes being the Wildomar Historical Society and the VFW's Christmas Baskets.

Wearing mustaches was encouraged.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

There is another event coming from the Wildomar Historical Society.

I'm hoping to get a chance to do a more complete blog about the Wildomar Historical Society shortly.
In the meantime here are a few links to the Historical Society's facebook page and coming event.
https://www.facebook.com/WildomarHistoricalSociety
https://www.facebook.com/WhereintheWorldisWildomar

←•→

Remember that there will be a ceremony at Wildomar Cemetery at 10:00am on Memorial Day (May 25, 2015). A great chance to pay your respects to those that have died while protecting our nation.

•       •       •

The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again.— George Miller

Wildomar Rap is closer to a Johnny on the spot rather than a Johnny come lately and definitely not a Johnny one note, but not being named John puts a wrinkle into it no matter how you slice it.

• Governor Brown Relents... a little

Somewhat breaking news about, what seems to be, Wildomar's age-old fight with the governor over our missing VLF funds (About $1.8 million dollars per year).

It was a delight to see this from State Senator Roth's facebook page:

At the same time, I happened to see a Yahoo News article about Brown looking for a record budget.

Brown talking about record $115.3Billion budget. Click to read the story.

I responded to Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore's FaceBook post, saying I hoped that it could include the arrears too.

That's when  Mayor Ben Benoit posted a few details about it on FaceBook.

It looks like the money is just going to Riverside County to pay off our bondage to them from when we became a city.

My reply was this:

So it's good news... like we just won the lottery!!! 

Problem is we didn't win the grand prize, we only had a scratcher that was worth about $1000.

Still it's better than the repeated kicking in the family jewels that'd we'd been getting from him, so I'm sticking with my claim that we won the lottery here.

Thanks to all those that have kept this fight going until we got some kind of settlement.

•      •      • 

I was going to buy a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, and then I thought: What the hell good would that do?

— Ronnie Shakes

We at Wildomar Rap always value a token gesture over a sharp stick in the eye. 

• City Council Meeting May 2015

Tonight's meeting was started off with a moment of reflection for missing Marine Eric Seaman. A crewman on a USMC helicopter that disappeared while carrying out humanitarian duties in Nepal.

Presentations
• Comments from a county representative about Mental Health month —May 2015.
• Library update and how they are getting close to getting their Chess Club up and going.
• Fire Chief Joel Vela reminded the council that 2003 and 2007 were the most devastating fire seasons in the past and that this year is looking to be as bad or worse. He said, "Pay no attention to the rains" as he reminded all in attendance that they will not remove the looming fire danger.

Public Comments that are on Non Agenda items

• Darrell Ruff  Spoke of a six month long bureaucratic nightmare dealing with AFV and a nuisance animal.
• Miss Miller brought her hymnal and sang. I thought it was LAME! But I uploaded the video if you want to see her asking for the police to "escort her out". If you want the full sized video, click trough to the youtube location. I don't want to give her anymore free press than she earns.

• Ron Borgeson spoke of a threat he received over traffic issues and how difficult it's been to get police attention on the matter. He later had a chance to chat directly with Chief Leonard Hollingsworth about the situation.
• Ken Mayes was talking about things I couldn't decipher. Here's what I jotted down before my brain melted: Central Committee of the Politburo in conjunction with the Standing Committee has, after indoctrination by the Secretary General, and vigorous polling of the heavily censored facebook chapters of the regime...

Come on Kenny, every time you make good points something like this is waiting to remove all your credibility. I'd have posted the video, but there was too much chatter in the audience that interfered with a clean audio for it.

←♥→

The consent calender is where items that are considered routine are bundled together and voted on as a package. The only item I found of interest was 1.13. This is where we got two new commissioners for the Measure Z oversight committee: Doug Ames and Sheila Urlaub.

Item 3.1 was bumped to the front of the agenda
It was a report by EVMWD regarding the recent executive orders by Governor Brown (order B-29-15) regarding water conservation. Water conservation is a pressing issue, and I have plans of a blog dedicated to it. So I won't get into the specifics here.

2.1 Development Impact Fee Update
Since Council Member Bob Cashman was out with a bad wing (he had rotator cuff surgery) the council elected to continue this to the June 10th meeting. The gist of it is that our building fees are lower than all the surrounding areas and it's been long overdue to raise them. It's a double edged sword to be sure. No one likes fees, but we need the fees to live in a modern community... and you might as well face it folks. The days of Wildomar being wide open is long since past.

Though there was a presentation, and a few speakers on this, since it's being continued, makes since to save the write up about it until then. From the looks of it, my guess is that the final vote will be 3-2 but not sure in which way.

I marked down Council Members Bridgette Moore and Marsha Swanson as potential YES votes and Tim Walker as a NO vote. I couldn't really tell which way Mayor Ben Benoit was going to vote, and Cashman wasn't there for me to gauge.

If it passes, the fees will jump considerably for building houses here.

2.2 and 2.3 almost seemed like they should have been added to the consent calender. They both passed 4-0 and without much ado. 2.2 was about about street lighting zones and 2.3 was about cell towers (which you read about in my blog covering the Planning Commission meeting last week)

3.2 and 3.4 were also business as usual. The former was about the Special Events calender and the latter was about the 3rd quarter budget report. Both passed without debate.

3.3 Street Name Consistency
This was interesting to me. This is where we're going to get a new main road that starts at Grand, heads east, crossing Palomar and the freeway, hangs a right on Porras, heading south onto George and end up on "Shopping Center" while winding up at City Hall.

Follow Wildomar Trail to Wildomar City Hall.

When I first heard about renaming those streets to Wildomar Trail I liked the idea. I still like the idea. What I'm not a big fan of is the price tag for the name conversion. The price to upgrade those signs will be in the neighborhood of $35K. 

The rest of 3.3 deals with streets that got bisected when the freeway was put in back in the 20th century (funny to hear it put that way isn't it?).  The fact that many streets are on both sides of the freeway, yet are not actually one road, has caused many problems over the years. It's also not good for the emergency services when trying to figure out which Orange, or Waite St they might be being called to.

The cost for the entire street naming project is nearly $220K. It's not something that is being fast tracked, and it is to be phased in over time. 

I'm not too sure about that number in red.

I liked the part of the agenda packet that included the blurb about the city branding being valued at $100K. But that part of the powerpoint had a mind of its own and flew by. Luckily I'd already seen it at home and made a few notes. The claim was that the value of some of the signage was $5000 a month while the Cal-Trans signs were valued at $100,000 a month —a MONTH Louie! 

Come on, that's flat out silly, and why I suggested from the podium that "If it's worth $100K per month, we should sell off the naming rights to Coca-Cola for  $1.2 Million a year."

After the meeting was over, I was told that I had the numbers wrong. That the $100K wasn't monthly. Well, I'm just quoting from the agenda I got from the email. Take a look below... I love it when I'm right. ☺

I told you that the claim was 'per month.' ☺

Part of 3.3 was adopting a standard street sign design. Below are some of the options. The first two are from the city, the third one was a hybrid that I put together. Though, honestly, I prefer the standard county green with ALL CAPS that my street already has. Each street sign is $200 where as the signal signs cost $900 a piece... installed.

This was the topic of a recent Press Enterprise article (click the link). It caused a flurry of action on the local Wildomar FaceBook page. Mostly due to misleading reporting. The story there is all about Wildomar Trail, but the writer gives the full price of the Street Name Consistency plan ($218K) instead of the price tag for Wildomar Trail alone ($36K).

City Manager Report

The only thing of note was that at the recent community clean up, that the Ronald Reagan Elementary location filled more than 30 bins. Due to the heavy influx of users at this event, they will be factoring in more participation in the future and having crews on call if needed.

•      •      • 

A torn rotator cuff is a cancer for a pitcher and if a pitcher gets a badly torn one, he has to face the facts, it's all over baby. — Don Drysdale

Wildomar Rap wishes Councilman Bob Cashman a speedy recovery and hopes he doesn't need Tommy John Surgery next. 

• Community BBQ and Clean Up

For a cloudy morning in May, a lot was going on in Wildomar.

Ace Hardware all decked out for a community barbecue.

•

Over at Ace Hardware they were having a community barbecue with free food for those that stopped by. Included were hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, chips and salsa, flautas donated by Los Reyes, and cookies.

One person was remarking to me how generously filled the flautas were with chicken. Very good stuff, especially with some of their salsa on top.

The event was also a chance to donate to the Wildomar Chamber's restoration project. They're looking to put a fresh coat of paint on the Chamber building, which is basically an old house, and to get new furnishings for it too.

Here is a look at the line up at the Ronald Reagan Elementary location as of 12:30pm.

The other event going on this morning was waste clean up. There were two locations to choose from. The lucky ones went to Elsinore High School, where the reports are that the lines were never long. If you went to the location at Ronald Reagan Elementary School, you probably got held up in a line.

I was asking Municipal Services afficionado Les Champman about it, and he was telling me, that by 10am they had already collected as much as they normally would for a full event for that location.

The prediction was that there was going to be five times as much collected by the time it was over. We'll get a complete accounting at the next city council meeting.

A look into the containers.

Usually the busier side is the west side. Guess a lot of people remembered hearing about that in the past and chose to go to the east side, or it was just dumb luck. I had no waste that needed to be dragged to one of the two locations, but I still wanted to see what was up. So I cruised over to Marna O'Brien Park to see the action. ERRRRRR (insert Game Show Buzzer here)

When I got there at about 11:00ish, there was no sign of anything like a Waste Clean Up event. Later I was clued in that it wasn't at Marna, like the Green Waste event after the snow, but at Elsinore HS. I guess I should start reading my own blogs because I reported that it was to be at EHS just a few days ago.

Funny thing, while at the Ace Hardware BBQ one of the council members was there, and telling me how there were several people complaining on FaceBook that the FREE service, wasn't worth their time. If you're one of those that likes to grumble about free things, perhaps you should shell out some greenbacks next time and don't expect more than you put in.

In reality, if you were to go to the dump, you'd still have to wait in long lines, and you'd have to drive to it first. If you can't be bothered, then hire a service.

STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT FREE STUFF

If you haven't been hearing about such events. I suggest that you sign up for the city's email blasts.

→Here's the link to sign up←

You can also follow the Wildomar of Commerce on FaceBook for regular updates.

→ Here's that link ←

Or you can go to one of the popular Wildomar FaceBook groups by clicking → here.

It was a nice morning, hope to see you at the next event.

It must be because I was wearing my lucky WCoC hat. ☺

I had purchased some raffle tickets and then a couple of hours later I heard my name called... I'd won a bottle of wine... with that bow on it! Looks like Mother's Day is already taken care of (insert winky eye emoticon here) ;)

•       •       •

Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining - it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn't solve any problems. — Zig Ziglar

Wildomar Rap will be back in five mins... if not, read this message again.

• Planning Commission Meeting May 2015

When I first looked at the agenda packet I thought it was going to be a quick meeting with little to it. As it turns out there was some pretty interesting things that came up tonight.

If we go down the agenda we hit Public Comments on non agenda items first.

There was only one, and it was by Kenny Mayes and he touched on the need to implement water restrictions sooner than later, street lighting costs, and the meaning of MUPA.

Item 2.1 Oak Creek Canyon Tentative Tract Map Minor Changes
This has been going round and round since before I started paying attention to city meetings. It's a long boring story about beings that sup on sour grapes, trying to stick their finger in the eye of the citizens of Wildomar for NOT electing them to office (or mistakenly electing them once and then promptly dis-electing them two years later.)

There would be nothing to mention here except that Martha Bridges did make it down to the Council Chambers to read a statement. Check out the video for yourself. I can't figure out what her point was. Best I can figure is that she is a bad winner. She sued the city, and she won... but somehow she isn't satisfied that it wasn't mentioned in tonight's agenda forcefully enough.

"I just want to clarify for the commissioners, exactly what this is. It is a misrepresentation. The City of Wildomar was always the chief respondent, and defendant in my lawsuit."

I don't think she can make it any clearer than that. She has cost the tax payers untold thousands of dollars in time running around and playing fetch, as if we were her lapdog. Thing is, the law allows such running amok of individuals and who's to blame her for being smart enough to choose such sport as a hobby? Until our governor realizes that we the people should not be held hostage by such parasites using CEQA laws in a way they weren't intended, and comes with some type of loser pay all costs —more power to her.

•

Item 2.2 Veizon Cell Tower/Monopine height Variance
It was a 5-0 vote to approve the resolution. As you can see from the pics, there is already an 88 foot tall "monopine" cell tower next to a 50 foot tall tower. The way it stands today, it appears to have been decapitated with someone absconding with the top to use as a Christmas tree. It will be raised by 18 feet and that will give the local areas full service now.

Some suggested that they might as well make the tree the same height as the other one there, instead of having to come back in a few years to do it then. However, it was pointed out that once they get above the obstruction, they don't need to go higher.

This is off of Clinton Keith Road near Murrieta.

Item 2.3 SCE Helipad Conditional Use Permit 
This is one of those things that we're still trying to clean up from the days when we were in the county. This process was started back in 2006 and I can't imagine why it took them this long to get it done. It's basically giving SCE permission to fly helicopters in and out of their Wildomar Service Center.

They say that they'll be flying fewer than half a dozen times a year, unless there is an emergency. There are already plenty of other helicopter flights in our area and the worry of noise is really a silly one. The mention of light pollution was brought up, and the applicant explained how their lighting was all being done according to city code.

The best part of this agenda item is that it was the catalyst for an evening at The Improv at the dais. I cover that more at the end.

Item 2.4 Giant RV Conditional Use Permit

I must have read this one too fast when I first saw it. It wasn't until this agenda item came up and I was watching the staff's presentation that I realized what was coming to Wildomar. This isn't just some local repair shop, this is a dealership. This is going to bring us needed tax dollars as they sell big ticket items. 

As I was watching the powerpoint presentation, I jotted down some notes because I wanted to speak on this. I am in favor of this business coming here. It's an RV Dealer that is well established and will be bringing 15 to 20 permanent jobs with it.

They are going to turn the current dumpy lot into a place that Wildomar can be proud of. As it is, the current metal building, which is to stay, will get fresh paint and the adjacent sports areas —that have always been an eyesore— will be coming out; from the cheap looking netting strung up, to the nuisance signage that is currently there. When Giant RV gets there, they plan on running a first class operation.

The green and the blue areas will be removed.

Some people mentioned a few concerns. Noise, traffic, light pollution.

Noise... from parked RVs? They won't be doing any engine work there. Nothing more intense than a brake job. When it comes to the service department, they are mostly going to be installing upgrades into RVs.

It was stated that they only sell newer used RVs. When they do take a trade of an older "coach" they take it to the auction. This is just not a high volume type of business. It's not a Starbucks that makes it's money $3 at a time. Traffic won't be any different than when the previous business was opened there.

When lighting was mentioned, and the comparison to car lots with bright lights on all night was made, the owner said there will be three security lights along the perimeter, but the lot lights will be out by closing. They don't like watching their profits go to the electric company. They'll have a uniformed guard that patrols the lot on a golf cart.

I went up to the applicants after the meeting to ask them when they were hoping to be opened. Of course they have to go through the city's labyrinth first, but if all goes well, they're hoping to be opened in around two months. Hey Cheri and Katie, I mentioned that he should join the Chamber of Commerce and he even suggested having a mixer there once he gets open. So I've got dibs on the referral. ☺

For full disclosure, just ask anyone that knows me and they'll tell you I'm not an RV guy. I'm just happy to see something like this coming to town.

There won't be any RV's like the one on the left at the Giant RV location in Wildomar...
but I'm guessing they'll still be littering Windsong Valley like they always have.

Item 2.5 Zoning Ordinance Amendment
This was in response to Council Member Walker bringing this up.
(Here's a copy and paste from a previous blog about it)

From the previous City Council Meeting blog

Tim Walker would like to streamline the process for people looking to build large garages on their own properties. Today, if the building is over 20'x20' you have to go through several hoops that will add at least $4,000 to your garage. The rest of the council looked to be in agreement that it should be a future agenda item.

It was voted 5-0 and the Council will deal with it next.

Rounding out the meeting were some announcements.

• Saturday May 9th at Elsinore High School and Ronald Reagan Elementary there will be a clean up day. 
• Saturday May 9th at Ace Hardware there will be a BBQ from 10-2 with proceeds going to the restoration of the Wildomar Chamber of Commerce building. Kid's of all ages are invited.
• May 27th, a Wednesday at noon, at the Library, will be an RTA Now meeting.
• June 6th health and Fitness Fair, also Bicycle Safety Event at Marna O'Brien Park.

Now for a look on the lighter side. Tonight's meeting had Chairman Langworthy lay a few eggs in the joke department. Nothing bad, but nothing too good either. A couple of zingers that missed their mark... at least I'm willing to give her credit for just missing while trying to be funny... a dangerous endeavor when at the dais.

The sound isn't the greatest, but with some titles and with the help of Herb Alpert and his Tijuana Taxi tune, you'll get the drift. Nice thing about Veronica is that she has a sense of humor and will find my sub-juvenile video humorous.

•      •      • 

“Who is rich? He who rejoices in his portion”

—one of my all time favorite quotes

Wildomar Rap never attempts humor that is above sub-juvenile.