• Let's Talk Pot or Ballot Measures to Legalize

I had started this blog when local municipalities in California were under the gun to create, or enhance, ordinances pertaining to medical marijuana.

There had been an artificial deadline of March 1st in which cities had to act, or face having the state issue one size fits all regs. However, Sacramento did manage to pass legislation, and the governor signed it into law, removing that deadline.

Instead of this coming to the council in February's agenda, it's not anticipated to come back until sometime in 2017, depending on the outcome of anticipated statewide ballot measures this November. It wouldn't be prudent to create an ordinance that would likely have to be changed in a few months.

California Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Initiative (2016). 

Link to Ballotopia's recap of the initiative

A month ago, when I started this blog, this topic came up on facebook when it was tentatively going to be on the February city council agenda.

When I jumped into the fray, my question of, "Would you rather the black market control it, or have it regulated and taxed?" was ignored and the straw man question of "what is your expertise on marijuana?" was asked instead.

I get miffed when people jump over my fair questions and then ask their own, but I'm not afraid of questions, so I answered. "I have never experimented with Mary Jane in my entire life, that's my 'expertise.' Now answer my question about the black market vs. having it regulated and taxed."

It was worse than pulling teeth to get an answer to my question. It kept being deflected by comments like, "If we allow it in, people won't be able to take their kids out in public."

I love me some hyperbole, but that is flat out ridiculous. Like it or not, pot is already being used everywhere, including Wildomar. By trying to ban it does nothing but force people to get what they already are going to use, elsewhere.

Just recently I was reading in the Press Enterprise how "Desert Hot Springs has become the 'Silicon Valley' of [pot] cultivation."

  Link to article

It seems that their city council could read the handwriting on the wall back in 2014, and instead of getting into a tug of war with reality, they chose to ride the bull instead of get gored by it. 

Also, their city had been cash strapped too, like Wildomar, and faced bankruptcy more than once. Sounds like one of those beggars can't be choosers moments to me, and they acted on it.

That kind of forward thinking reminds me of how the Wildomar City Council approached the threatening letter that has led us to adopting district based council elections, over the much preferred 'At Large' method we'd been using. 

Swift and decisive action when faced with the inevitable.

It's far better to see what's coming your way, and making the best of it, than pretending you can hold back the tide like crazy old King Canute.

Want to talk about a joke? 
Look at the headline in a recent Valley News edition.

(read the story at this link)

Just to see how feckless such ordinances are, if you were to skip over a section, and a page, you would have found this advertisement. For all the angst over trying to keep out such businesses, they aren't shy about advertising.

This is one of those hot button issues that seems to have stark lines drawn with people in one camp or the other. 

I'm a self styled pragmatist/realist, and I've never been a fan of feel good-do nothing measures that accomplish little more than making the backers feel good about themselves, as reality goes on just as it had the day before they got involved. 

I don't have to be an advocate of something to know enough to not interfere in the personal decisions of law abiding people. 

There are a lot of things that I think should be banned... like McDonald's and their insidious Happy Meals being peddled to children. 

(Just in case your sarcasm meeting is on the fritz, the Mickey Dees comment was mostly tongue in cheek)

I don't have to be a user of marijuana to know it's best to allow adults to make that choice for themselves.

There are myriads of legal things that people can, and do, abuse. 

Be they as simple as beer, wine and liquor... to countless types prescription meds... all the way down to over the counter cough syrups, caffeine pills or sleeping pills.

No one is advocating for the legalization, or decriminalization, of real narcotics here, but face it, marijuana is more akin to booze, not heroin or LSD.

Where prescription meds like Oxycontin, Vicodin, Xanax, Adderall, Percocet, Ambien and too many more to list, are far closer to heroin and morphine... yet sit in many people's medicine cabinets waiting to be abused.

When Wildomar had a recent visit from Congressman Ken Calvert this topic was brought up. 

He actually seemed to be pining away for a president that would "enforce the [drug] laws" when it came to marijuana.

"Now there's going to be an initiative on the ballot. I'm going to oppose it... do everything I can to defeat it."

"Under federal law, this (marijuana) is illegal. Unfortunately this administration refuses to enforce federal laws."

"I would say this, the folks that are putting money up to build these big warehouses out in Desert Hot Springs to grow this stuff, it is against federal law. Federal law has not changed, and people that are involved in this — if we get a president that will uphold federal law, and you've got RICO statutes, I mean there's going to be a case to Jesus... coming very soon."

— Congressman Ken Calvert, while visiting Wildomar City Council, 2016.

(link to video with his comments about this topic)

Can you imagine going backward in time and seeking to recriminalize this drug? 

He spoke of RICO laws when referencing the cultivation of marijuana in Desert Hot Springs.

Based on the above quotes, he must really not be happy with things like in the following event discussed in the Press Enterprise.

(link to story about Cannabis Cup at National Orange Show Events Center)

What needs to happen is for our congress to get off its partisan asses (both parties) and work together on this issue... not to mention many others others too.

Prohibition of marijuana has been an excruciating failure, much as the attempted prohibition of alcohol was in the 1920's. At least that debacle only lasted less than two decades, whereas the reefer madness in the USA has been going on for nearly 80 years.

I'm sure that you have opinions, and this issue isn't going away anytime soon. Feel free to post opinions on this blog, and I'll most likely not delete them if they stay within the bounds of decency.

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Last minute addition

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Here's the most recent, above the fold, front page story from the Press Enterprise by Jeff Horseman. LINK

This issue is only going to be taking up more pages in the press (or the blogosphere) and airtime on TV and radio from now till November. Might as well get up to speed with what's coming our way.

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Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.  — Adam Smith

Buy one edition of Wildomar Rap for the price of two, and receive a second edition of Wildomar Rap absolutely free!

• Wildomar Business Spotlight

What's worse than having soapy water bubble up in your toilet? 

How about some icky water coming up in the tubs?

(yes, I actually used the word "icky" and you would have too if you'd seen it)

There's nothing quite like a plumbing problem to start your day. 

It wasn't anywhere near the urgency of coming home to a flooded living room, that happened to us couple of years ago, but it's still not something you can ignore.

My lovely wife took the magnet off the fridge we'd had there for the last several years, and told me to call.

I'd heard good things about Wildomar Plumbing & Drain, but hadn't ever dealt directly with them (the times they'd been to the house in the past, Mrs. Wildomar Rap took care of it). 

I waited until about 7:30am to call, even though the card says 24 hrs 7 days a week, no need to overreact here. ☺

The call was answered by Jeannie Hall, and I described the problem. I figured it was going to be a basic house call with a fixed price, and I was right. 

The estimate was $99, but while on the phone I gave the toilets a test flush, and unlike earlier, they functioned normally. 

Assuming that the clog had cleared itself, and wanting to keep my $99, I told her that 'I wanted to do a test load of laundry first' and that I'd call back.

All was going well, and why wouldn't it be? Filling the washer wasn't the problem, it was when the washer drained that the problem would manifest itself.

I made it to about 8:10am, thinking of various ways to spend my new found $99, when I heard a gurgling sound coming from the hall bathroom. 

So I called Wildomar Plumbing & Drain again, but my call went straight to voice mail. It's not so easy to answer the phone when you're working with your hands. 

Being Mr. Impatient, I waited a whole 20 mins before making another call, but it went straight to voice mail again. I apologized for calling twice and said that I'd wait for their call.

I might have waited as much as another half an hour, then the phone rang. It was the friendly voice of Jeannie Hall and she said they could be to the house in about half an hour.

I knew where the drain access in the garage was, so I moved the car and got it ready for action.

Drain plug in the garage.

Jeannie and Doug arrived promptly and got right to work. They popped the drain plug and immediately diagnosed the problem. 

A massive hair ball, about the size of a squirrel, that had gotten hung up at a juncture in the pipes.

What I really liked about their service, in addition to their cheerful dispositions, was how they wanted to educate me on how to deal with a similar issue the next time.

Doug also described some of the piping peculiarities in my neighborhood. 

From the house to the junction was all smooth plastic, and from the junction to the street was also smooth plastic, but that the junction itself was made of metal and at the its age (house built in 1989) it was corroded and things commonly can get hung up there.

While Doug was finishing up the job, I settled up the bill with Jeannie. Much to my delight, she told me that the charge wasn't going to be as high as the original estimate. 

It was after that, that I asked them if it was ok for me to take their picture and use it in a blog. 

Doug and Jeannie Hall in front of their new truck.

I told them that I'd only heard good things about them from my wife, and also on social media, and that now I know first hand.

As they were leaving Jeannie made sure I had an updated fridge magnet.

Here's the link to their website

Link to their FaceBook page

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Acting is not an important job in the scheme of things. Plumbing is.

— Spencer Tracy

Wildomar Rap laughs in the face of El Niño, and double dog dares it to rain in SoCal. At the current rate, we'd be lucky to hit the normal yearly average. 

• Sycamore Academy Science Showcase 2016

On Thursday February 25th Sycamore Academy held it's 7th annual Science Showcase.  

The campus was teeming with students, parents and faculty from 4:30pm till 6:00pm. 

With a student body of some 500 kids, 350 in 2nd and higher, there were wall to wall exhibits in every room.

Participation is mandatory for all the students from 2nd through 8th grade at the school. Kindergarten and 1st grade do class projects.

The various categories that students have to choose from include:

• Traditional Experiments
• Technology
• Inventions
• Life Science
• Behavior Science

Mr. Woodard poses with his student, Michael Collier, in front of Michael's project. 

I asked what "MC" stood for in the title of the project, and his father said, "Michael Collier," with a beaming smile of pride on his face. 

Makes sense. ☺

Many students were around 2nd and 3rd grade teacher, Stephanie Lucas and the red bearded dragon she had on display... literally!

I had to get a shot of this project that discussed the amount of sugar in typical Starbucks drinks. When I get my Venti, I never add sugar.

Many thanks to the Assistant Principal, Jeff Morabito, for giving me a tour of the classrooms and projects.

What a great opportunities modern kids have to learn in such a hands on environment. Such a contrast to the "new math" they tried to teach us back in the '70s.

=====================

I've changed the font size in this blog. 

Any opinions?

Easier to read or too big? 

Keep it or change it back and why?

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In my day, we didn't have all these fancy-schmansy video games. We had only one game. It was called "STARE AT THE SUN!" And we would stare until our eyes got all blood-shot and bugged out. And we liked it! We loved it! 

— Grumpy Old Man (Dana Carvey, SNL)

Wildomar Rap reminds you: Stealing fizzing lifting drinks, bumping into the ceiling —which will have to then be washed and sterilized, will get you on Wonka's naughty list. Best just follow the rules from the get go.

• District Conversion Update 7: Map Chosen

The meeting lasted about an hour and a half, which included a recess of about 15 minutes. It started much the way the previous meeting did, with the council at the dais, then moving to the audience to hear a presentation by demographer Douglas Johnson.

Before the meeting Planning Commissioner Veronica Langworthy chats with Planning Director Matt Bassi and fellow commissioner Stan Smith (far right) and Maria Walker, about the draft maps on display at the back of the room.

The public comments were down to four this meeting

• George Taylor spoke of the pros and cons of the various maps, and provided some levity when he used the term "violently opposed" instead of "vehemently opposed." We all knew what he meant, but it was still fodder for banter, and he took it all in stride. (quick link to that remark)
• John Lloyd who spoke about how all the efforts of the desegregation era seem to be getting undone now. 
• Veronica Langworthy mentioned several discrepancies that she'd found in the data, and Douglas Johnson answered later. 
• Joseph Morabito (that's me) asked how the new districts would affect how planning commissioners are chosen, which was also answered (they aren't affected).

The council seemed to be favoring Draft Map A, but didn't like a few areas that split neighborhoods. The problem in our small city is that with every adjustment here, requires another adjustment there.

The demographer has to keep to census blocks as they currently exist, and not just draw the lines wherever they choose to. As you can see in the image below, the reason why the neighborhood (in pink) was being split, is that's where the census block was drawn long ago. This became known as the "Cashew Fix" and the line was moved to accommodate the entire pink area.

The census takers drew the line right down the middle of Cashew Street. 

Before the council had a chance to vote on a particular map, Councilmember Ben Benoit asked for a ten minute break. During that time he got with the demographer and experimented with moving a few blocks here and there.

In the end, they came up with a map dubbed Draft Map A+. Which was then voted in unanimously.

A proper map will be available online at the city's website in a day or two.

Several odd notches were eliminated, and a neighborhood at the top of this map, (near Crooked Arrow Drive) that had been slated for District 2 was brought into District 1. Also, the new neighborhoods that are off of Clinton Keith and Stable Lanes were included with the rest of Windsong Valley that is found in District 3.

Here are the councilmember's districts

• 1  Ben Benoit
• 2  Bob Cashman
• 3  Tim Walker
• 4  Bridgette Moore
• 5  Marsha Swanson

If you watch the video, you can hear the reasons why some neighborhoods had to be split. Especially the one called The Ridge just east of Ronald Reagan Elementary. It has to do with the census lines, and they will be redrawn in 2020, when our districts will be updated to reflect whatever the realities are at that time.

Next time this comes up will be at the regularly scheduled city council meeting in March where Draft Map A+ will be formally adopted. There is still a small chance that a few minor tweaks could be made to the map, but that didn't seem like a reality based on what I gathered at the meeting.

•        •        •

Two proud men can't ride one donkey. 
— English Proverb

Wildomar Rap reminds you to: Shake, shake, shake (horns go here) shake, shake, shake (more horns go here) shake your booty, shake your boooooty.

• Special Council Meeting: Ken Calvert 2016

This is the third such special meeting I've attended starting back in 2014. They're all about the same, but well worth going to if you have an open spot on your calendar.

Congressman Calvert, Ben Benoit, Bridgette Moore, Tim Walker, Marsha Swanson and Gary Nordquist.

Generally, the councilmembers ask questions of the congressman, and he tries to tell them what they want to hear, though most things are well beyond his doing. Or they just discuss things that are happening in the area and they chat about that.

Often the items are out of his hands. Either the concerns are state or local issues, or because there really isn't much wiggle room for a congressman to intervene in everyday matters here. 

Some of the issues I noted, that are all in the video of the complete meeting, include the following list.

•  Public Comment by George Taylor about Wildomar being forced into districts for council elections.

•  Councilmember Benoit brought up the increased crime stats. Including mail theft.

•  Mayor Moore asked about the potential for "per mile" tax over the existing gas tax.

•  Mayor Pro-Tem Walker discussed California's Bullet Train to Nowhere, aka the Browndoggle.

•  Councilmember Swanson discussed Wildomar's missing VLF funds, local control (or the lack thereof), council districting.

•  City Manager Gary Nordquist spoke about Community Development Block Grants (CDBGs).

•  Mayor Moore: federal safety grants.

•  Mayor Pro-Tem Walker: Prop 47 and if there is any federal help to alleviate the jail overcrowding.

•  Discussion about drugs and whether their use is a "victim-less crime" or not.

•  Sanctuary cities.

•  Mayor Moore: $120K fees for the Murrieta Creek and Santa Margarita watershed permits (a yearly fee that wasn't configured into the incorporation of the city).

•  Street light conversion to LEDs and if there are federal programs that could help with the costs.

•  Medical marijuana was discussed. (jump link to that part of the video). Also about having it reclassified as a prescription drug. 

The marijuana discussion was emblematic of how dysfunctional Washington DC truly has become. I don't care if it's from the left or the right,  I don't want your nanny state.

Quote of the day.
Speaking on crime and and jail overcrowding.

"Incarceration does work. People incarcerated don't commit crimes."

— Congressman Ken Calvert

The video is of the complete meeting, save an opening public comment by resident Rick Steel. It was about the help that Councilmember Swanson gave to him and he wanted to thank her. 

A fun aside is that my nephew, Jake Morabito EHS grad and valedictorian 2011, works for congressman Darrell Issa's DC office. Whenever I get to play that card, I do. 

Once the meeting had concluded I spoke to some of Calvert's staffers. I told them about Jake and they remembered him for two reasons. First, that he was hired while still finishing his final semester of college and that Issa's office hired him out from under them. They were looking to land him too.

Pretty cool when people from the east coast know a family member of yours from his good reputation.

Ben Benoit, Bridgette Moore, Ken Calvert, Marsha Swanson, Tim Walker.

Now for a bit of comic relief. 

Let's take a look at some recent silliness that appeared below a Facebook post alerting people to the City Council's Meeting with Congressman Calvert. 

Names have been changed to protect the innocent. 

It gets old reading the same BS from the same people. It's as if they go out of their way to sound like fools. Seriously, let's do the math here. 

•  First, no one attends these meetings and they aren't covered by any media outlet... unless you count this blog. Case in point, there were no more than half a dozen members of the public in attendance.

•  Second, Ken Calvert is in what's known as, a safe seat. This is a rather conservative district and unless some bombshell were to drop on Calvert, he has no reason to fear being voted out. He trounced his 2014 opponent 66% to 34%.

•  Third, if it's just a chance to "cook up issues for reelection" then why did they bother with this "dog and pony show" in a non election year... 2015 to be specific?

(link to last year's blog)

•  Fourth, now that we're so lucky as to have districts in Wildomar, Bridgette Moore is also in a safe seat. Only a fool of biblical proportions would actually run against such a well liked and dedicated councilmember as she.

As for councilmember Bob Cashman, he didn't even attend... (so much for cooking up issues and public appearances for his reelection.)

There goes that campaigning for reelection theory.

That makes it 0 for 3 for him attending this yearly meeting.

•  Fifth, it's pretty ironic when people that love to have the city staff running around like bees late to the sting-a-thon, with constant requests for documents and even repeated legal actions —that had been repudiated in court no less, then feign umbrage at the forty-five minutes spent by some of the city staff to attend such a meeting. 

•        •        •

If the Party could thrust its hand into the past and say of this or that event, it never happened — that, surely, was more terrifying than mere torture and death? 
— Winston Smith, 1984 (George Orwell)

Wildomar Rap reminds you: that a spoonful of medicine helps the sugar go down.

• District Conversion Update 6: Discussion of Draft Maps

The key bit of business at the February 10th city council meeting was the hour long portion dealing with the implementation of council districts in Wildomar.

A look at Mayor Bridgette Moore as she snaps a shot of Douglas Johnson during his presentation.

I've included the entire video. There are a couple of cuts where there was no action due to the council joining the audience and then returning to the dais.

Also, I have superimposed some of the maps that Mr. Johnson is referring too so that you can better grasp what he's discussing. Still, this isn't a professional video, so there are times where unavoidable camera shaking is present.
This part of the agenda, 2.4 Proposed Voting by Districts Boundary Maps, started with the City Manager, Gary Nordquist, reading a statement about the purpose of the public hearing. After which Mayor Bridgette Moore directed the council to join the audience for Douglass Johnson's presentation.

Mr. Johnson spent about 20 minutes discussing the three draft maps he'd prepared. The criteria/goals involved and what the reason for several [apparent] anomalies in the draft maps were due to.

He also discussed the interactive map on the city's website. Both for those wanting to look at what's there, and for those that want to build their own district maps for submission.

Link to city's website with the maps

After Mr. Johnson's presentation was over, the residents had a chance to speak.

• Ken Mayes complained about the process (jump to the 20:55 mark of the video). You have to love this quote from him:

Public meeting, as an agenda item, within a public meeting [[I think he meant regular city council meeting]] is plain wrong. With only three public meetings being offered, no matter how distasteful the subject is to some, the very least the citizens deserve a meeting uncluttered by all the other nonsense.

Did that guy really just say such a thing? "Cluttered up by all the other nonsense"???

Oh the irony of it all. To the average member of the audience, it's as if he, and Miss Miller, try to outdo each other in hopes of getting Chuck Barris' attention to be contestants on the long defunct Gong Show —every time they go up to the mike. Which is usually at least three times every evening either of them shows up. 

Just to give you a taste of what often goes on for three minutes, several times each meeting, take a look at his ten second contribution from an earlier part of the meeting, that cost us all more than a minute of our lives... but I digress.

• George Taylor read a letter disagreeing with the entire process of converting to districts.
• Andy Morris discussed various lines on the maps. He favored map A.
• Gary Andre let us know that he's a pastor, to read your bibles, that he's had four brain surgeries and we're all the same on the inside. He doesn't like districts, "but we have them. If I were to choose, it'd be 2 or 3," which is equivalent to B and C if you're following the agenda.

From here, city clerk read off the preferences from about half a dozen emails to the council. 

Mr. Johnson spoke again, trying to answer questions posed by the speakers. 

My favorite part of the meeting was when resident Maria Walker asked the following question.

If the community picks one of these, or one that you come up with that meets all of the requirements, will the person, or a person —can they sue? 

—Maria Walker

The question was answered by expert attorney Margurite Leoni by telephone connection.

If the community and council agree that one of these plans is appropriate for the city, and the council enacts it by ordinance, that plan can no longer be challenged under the California Voting Rights Act, and in this case, there would also not be a challenge under the federal voting rights act. 

Let me make clear that there are crazy people out there who sue even when they don't have a basis for a lawsuit. 

So it might be best to say, that if somebody attempted to sue the city, the city would have a very good opportunity to —almost certainly, to get the complaint dismissed very early. 

—Margurite Mary Leoni

The last eight minutes on item 2.4 were the council discussing the issue.  

• Bob Cashman was worried about having an easy drive to service his district and that he favored using the freeway as a dividing line.

"Can I easily drive to the places where the people I want to serve live? And the driving distances are quite a difference because anything on the east side of the freeway is one set of driving pathways, and anything on the west side has another set of pathways. So, I would probably prefer a plan that is divided along the freeway. I think that probably if I lived in Sedco, I would never go on the other side of that hill. So if I'm going to represent an area, I want to represent an area where people have some similarity."  

Bob, Wildomar isn't Los Angeles. You can drive from your house to any point in the city in under ten mins. You're a council member and if such a daunting drive is weighing on you, that may be an indication it's time to pack it in. No offense or anything, just saying out loud what everyone else is thinking.

• Marsha Swanson
"I absolutely do not want the freeway to divide us. I think that's absolutely wrong. We have constituents on both sides [of the freeway] with concerns and I think we need to represent as many different types of people as we can."

• Tim Walker
"All I know is that my horse and buggy will go anywhere in this city (followed by some laughter). I like [map] A, but I can do whatever."

• Ben Benoit
"I've driven this entire city, front to back, and walked almost every neighborhood. I'll go anywhere. With that I get the smallest geographical area in map A, but I think map A, to me, makes the most sense."

• Bridgette Moore
"I'm leaning towards draft A."

A look from the back of the room, which wasn't even half full by the time agenda item 2.4 was addressed.

Last bit of news that came from the meeting is that the same lawyer, sent the same type of letter to San Juan Capistrano, at about the same time as the one he sent to Wildomar. They didn't address it right away, as our council and city attorneys did, and now SJC has had a lawsuit filed against them. It's discussed in the latter part of the video.

As we know, that will not work out well for them. This type of lawsuit has never ended well for a municipality, even when the judgement is favorable for them.

Thanks to our tireless professionals that have saved the people of Wildomar many thousands of dollars over the years, from the repetitive onslaughts by some severely misguided individuals.

Next meeting discussing the conversion to districts will be in two weeks. Wednesday February 24th at 7:00pm. Note the time difference from usual start times.

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Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody . 
— Mark Twain

Wildomar Rap reminds you: Though it feels like mid May out there the last couple of days, I wouldn't go planting any tomatoes until at least the second week of March.