Friday, May 12, 2017

• Brown Signs, Wildomar Funding Restored

After some incredibly shady politicking, Wildomar has it's missing VLF funds restored to the budget. This came as part of some political wrangling/horse trading (commonly known as bribes and corruption outside the halls where legislative sausage is hand crafted to the point absurdity... AKA the real world).
Red arrow points to Wildomar mayor pro-tem Ben Benoit.
It took the passage of an onerous tax increase, on the backs of the driving-public, to get Brown to finally agree to give back Wildomar's money. This will be felt by way of increased gas tax (12 cents per gallon starting in November) and an increase in vehicle licensing (SB1), (including a new fee on electric vehicles of $100 per year, $65 for the rest of us)

The bill barely got enough votes to pass, and Senator Richard Roth, along with 29 year old Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes, traded their votes for a bag full of goodies, which included the purloined VLF funds from four Riverside County cities being rightfully restored (Wildomar, Menifee, Jurupa Valley and Eastvale).

After the signing. You can see a glimpse of Bridgette Moore on the far left.
Brown has long been punishing Riverside County for unfavorable vote totals of the past

It's a well publicized story, direct from the mouth of our state assembly member, Melissa Melendez, that Brown made it clear that his refusal to restore the money, was payback for the way Riverside County voted for him... or should it be said, voted AGAINST him?

Link to blog detailing Melissa Melendez's comments on the topic from 2015.

I asked Councilmember Bridgette Moore, who was in attendance for the event, for her take on the signing. 

"Today is an important day in Wildomar's history as Mayor Pro Tem Ben Benoit, and I were invited to watch Governor Jerry Brown sign Senate Bill 130. Which will annually restore the equivalent revenues lost June 29, 2011 when the Governor signed the bill which took away our Motor Vehicle License Fee Revenue of $1.8 million a year!" — Bridgette Moore
Here you see Ben Benoit shaking Governor Browns hand.
My apologies for the low definition images.

I'm just grateful that they were shared with me.
For those that would like a less opinionated version of this news story, please visit the Sun News and Review story on it at this link.

Below is ABC's clip on the story. Have to love some of the governor's characterizations. "I'm glad I'm going to give you a little more money that you can play with," and, "We're here for a lot of reasons, but mostly because the people of these towns have been neglected too long."
 
Whoa, thanks for the honesty there governor.


Here's just a random thought on the topic

Yes, we're glad to have that money back, so now the city will be able to finally get some breathing room. 

At the same time, $2M million dollars to the city isn't like $2M to you or me. If that money suddenly was in our bank accounts, it would be party city. Not so much when spread out over the needs of 35,000 people in 24 square miles.

But that won't stop the people from forming wish lists a mile long. Come to think of it, I have one to add to the list myself.

How about fixing the white vinyl fencing on Cervera in Windsong Valley... and let's not use the same contractor the next time, that did the Stevie Wonder style fix the last time.
Looks like someone never heard of a fence post level.

Imagine if a person in the private sector did this kind of work, no matter how nice a guy he is he'd never get another job in that town repairing fences. It's time to start demanding higher standards. I know that some people say "I don't wanna be no Orange County." Fine, but I also don't wanna be no Hooterville or Petticoat Junction neither.








•          •          •

"Ya gots to work with what you gots to work with."
– Stevie Wonder 

Wildomar Rap suggests working a little harder with what ya gots to work with all the same.

5 comments:

  1. That fence is supposed to be fixed by CSA 103 Drainage Landscape money. This city collects $22,600 every year to maintain ?. The question mark is for the lack of detail this city currently has on what they are supposed to spend that money on, they have been guessing since day one.
    On the new money I am seeing a large number of people that think Bundy Canyon will be fixed, unfortunately that projects total cost is somewhere around $38,000,000 (that's 38 million dollars).
    Reality says that ain't going to happen.
    City officials will be pressured into returning that money from where they took most of it from, law enforcement and fire. This will make some happy but not most.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll copy and paste my comment from the facebook thread here too:
      ===
      If the Bundy Canyon fix is waiting for li'l ol' Willy Mar to come up with that money its own self, that will never happen. But, the whole point of SB 1 (if you actually believe that money will all be going to roads) is to repair roads.... hmmm.... I did just hear Melissa Melendez on KFI talking about how that money can't go to new roads and lanes, so not sure that can be counted on.

      Then, with the ever increasing costs for fire and police, I wouldn't be surprised to see all of it go to them, and with nary an increase in service to boot.

      Delete
  2. I think before we spend a dime on a cosmetic repair, such as the fence in your blog, we should take care of things of substance. One example would be to buy a dozer so the city can clear out dirt off of well travelled roads. You know the dirt that was washed down from rainstorms 2 months ago? And is as high as the curb? We can talk about re-election asphalting a 50ft (or so) stretch of road another time(Less wear and tear on tires and alignments is so overrated).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love auto fill..re-election? Or maybe Google does Freudian slips...lol

      Delete
    2. I agree that this money shouldn't be used for seemingly frivolous things when there are real needs such as the one you mentioned. I mentioned the fence as an example of what people will be asking for, and also to show a slipshod repair that should have been left undone if it wasn't going to be done properly and with some pride.

      Delete

Let's hear what you have to say... for other inquiries try the email listed under "view my complete profile" but if you want to discuss a blog topic, I'll only do it in this comment section, not by email.