The last regularly scheduled city council meeting of 2017 didn't have any surprises, but will be known for having beaten back Stonehenge of Wildomar... I'll highlight that where it came up in the meeting. PRESENTATIONS 1. Holiday Decorating Winners
A montage of the three category winners.
1) Griswold Category: 25011 Cinnabar Court 2) Traditional Category: 35690 Woshka Lane 3) Judge's Recognition: 21504 Coral Rock Lane Plug those addresses into your GPS and be sure to drive by and take a look. There are quite a few spectacular displays throughout Wildomar to be seen this year. Don't miss them.2. Stan Smith Planning Commissioner Plaque It's hard to believe that it's already been four months since all around good guy Stan Smith passed away. The city presented his son, Kevin Smith, with a plaque for recognition of his contributions to the city of Wildomar. 3. Five Year Employee Pin – Matt Bassi Matt Bassi hits a milestone with Wildomar and is presented with a five year pin.
4. Miss City of Wildomar Jessie Taylor spoke to the crowd as Mayor Walker looked on. Her ultimate goal is to compete for Miss America. PUBLIC COMMENTS (non agenda items) • George Taylor spoke about the worsening conditions of Bundy Canyon. That is one horrible road. • Glenn Copple thanked the council on behalf of the youth of Wildomar. • Scott Scharpen (sp?) pastor at Rock Valley church and a ministry called gomobileforlife that offers free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to women. • Ken Mayes spoke for 6 minutes (with donated time from Martha Bridges). He talked about the dismal condition of the city's current website.
WR Notes:
The website issue has been ongoing for quite awhile.
There is a blog from March of 2016 that quotes Janet Morales as saying they hoped the new website would have been completed last December.
Just like the live streaming, the city website is something that should have been given more importance from the get go. I'm sure there are a ton of reasons why the city's website has been so poorly run over the years, but none that couldn't easily be refuted. Sorry city fellers, but them is the facts.
Much of the second half of Ken's comments were directed at Wildomar Rap... but of course not by name. Normally I'd just ignore this, but this is too fun to let go by the way side. He seemed to take umbrage with my assessment of Kathleen Hamblin's outrageous claims,at the most recent planning commission meeting, that the city was trying to somehow keep the populace in the dark about the inner workings of the city by not live streaming of meetings. Seriously? Do you think that the city council is the yard duty, and that you quoting things to them is supposed to get me sent to time out or something? His quotes and misquotes only proved the original point I made. They bent the truth (commonly known as lying) to make a point. They were called out on it, and then didn't like being exposed. Bummer man.
Part of the accusation was that I'd never even spoken to Kathleen before. Probably not. However, when her new bestie is Martha "Park Slayer" Bridges (sitting side by side and chatting throughout the meeting) connecting the dots is child's play.
Who doesn't love to play dot-to-dot?
Kathleen, if you'd like to talk sometime, let's do it. I'll be at the Breakfast With Santa event this Saturday, and would enjoy saying hello to you. Heck, the city council and many of the staffers will be there too.
More WR Notes:
My favorite part of his diatribe was when he said that Wildomar Rap used "Gestapo tactics". Let's do the math here. I go to city meetings and city events and I write about what I saw... from my perspective. (This has NEVER been a secret) I have a facebook page that allows comments, and I answer nearly all of them. Same for this blog. I allow comments, and I respond to nearly every single one of them. "Gestapo tactics" is childish, and typical of what a worn out intellect comes up with when faced with a different point of view.
• Kathleen Hamblin talked about the need for live streaming of city meetings. • Mason Ballard showed off his festive sports coat and talked about his wife Lisa being elevated to president of Wildomar Little League. • Miss Miller sang for the council before getting into a diatribe against Christmas. I actually agree with many of her points about it. Her part starts at the 15 minute mark of the video. 3.1 Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez Update on State Issues I've included the video of the good assemblywoman for those that would like to hear her assessment of things at the state level. There were about 2000 bills signed into law this year. As a non partisan myself, that has plenty of reasons to strongly dislike BOTH parties (especially the further out on the fringes one travels) I was stunned once I heard about Bill AB 1448 (Elderly Parole Program). It will allow convicted felons, that are at least 60 years old and have served 25 years, to be up for early release, no matter what crime it was that they committed. This is what happens when we have one party rule for decades... Hey Liberal, are you really that enamored with convicted felons that you want them running around the community instead of behind bars? Shameful! 3.4 Temporary Storage of Brown House Cornerstones at Marna O’Brien
Park Here's the skinny on this. The Wildomar Historical Society wanted to store some old stones (purported to have been from a local quarry) at Marna O'Brien park. City Manager dubbed the collection of stones as "Stonehenge". The moniker was picked up by both Mayor Walker and Councilmember Nigg during the discussion. The area selected is across from the wheelchair swing (also known as the Freedom Swing). It seemed like a slam dunk, until the council started discussing it. It also didn't help their cause (WHS- Wildomar Historical Society) to be a complete no show at the meeting. This item, like many other agenda items dealing with the Brown Houseover the years, took FAR TOO LONG, but ended up getting voted down anyway. At first it appeared that it would get tabled until more information came in, but the Mayor made a good point when he said, "Let me ask you this, who want's it in the park?" Marsha Swanson said, "I just think what we're seeing there is not pretty. If there's something they (WHS) really want there, they could show us how they could put it together there and what kind of plaque they're going to put up [...] or take them somewhere else." Dustin Nigg made the motion to deny, but that led to more discussion. Which led back to the Mayor's first point about wanting it in the park or not. It was a 5-0 vote to deny. I don't understand why members of the Wildomar Historical Society don't just have them moved to one, or more, of their own rural properties. It made no sense to have a temporary pile of rocks at the park, even if the WHS was paying liability insurance on them. As the discussion mentioned, "temporary" in connection to the Brown House can become a decade in a blink of an eye. 3.5 Mayor and Mayor Pro-Tem 2018 This was a quick item. Mayor Walker nominated Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit for mayor and was voted in 5-0. I was surprised when Dustin Nigg then nominated Marsha Swanson to be Mayor Pro-Tem... all along I anticipated that spot to be going to him. My guess is that it'll be his (if he wants it) this time next year. 2018 being an election year, makes me think that Marsha Swanson will be running again since she took the mantle of Pro-Tem here. Just a guess, but can see it coming to fruition.
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Don't be so humble - you are not that great. – Golda Meir The conundrum continues since Wildomar Rapis neither humble nor great.
Several interesting things came out of this meeting, including news about the Brown House coming down, two new members of the Measure Z Oversight Committee, and possible higher taxes coming to our city in the future. (Yeah, I bet you love that last one the most.) Before any of that, there were three "presentations" before the meeting proper got underway. The first was a Storm Water presentation dealing with the Santa Margarita Water Quality Improvement Plan.
Hint, Wildomar is within the Santa Margarita Watershed. It can be divided into nine distinct hydrological areas. If you want the details, click the link.
It's an attempt to clean the water beyond what we've managed to do over the last 40 to 50 years. I'm sure it's being done with good intentions. I'm trying to remember where the path paved with good intentions often leads... Not sure about you, but I've never met a person that is in favor of polluted water. However, I have encountered many that would be happy to see modern life get turned on its head in an unrealistic attempt to return the environment to a pre-human pristine condition.
My takeaway from this is that you need to be ready to see your costs of living go up... what's new, right?
One of the many slides seen during the presentation.
Recent legislation (SB 231) signed by Governor Brown changes the definition of Storm Water, and the bottom line to that is that YOU WILL BE HOSED over it. (bad pun intended)
The key phrases and quotes from presenter Richard Boone were:
• Cost-sharing (for costs that didn't exist yesteryear)
• Establishes enforceable goals and milestones and compliance penalties if goals and milestones aren't met.
• As the science evolves. (Yea, more unsettle science that we're going to spend money on)
•"Finally, I think it's inevitable that the cost of compliance will likely increase."
I'm sure we all can afford "inevitable increases" to pay for such lofty pursuits... but I have to wonder if there will ever be a limit to such endeavors?
Police Department Update
Captain Daniel Anne spoke for about 4 minutes, giving an update with 3rd quarter crime stats. The video is below.
Fire Department Update
The stats from the Fire Department update were
• 288 Emergency Calls, of which 70% were medical calls.
There was also a recap of the Wildomar Fire. It was made known that the name of the fire wasn't due to the close proximity to the city, but since it started at the Wildomar Off Road Park.
Gotta love government [over] efficiency. The incident is still "under investigation" though it has been clear from the start that it came about from a motorcycle accident.
Public Comments
• Michael Ghoslin from Lakeview Chapel discussed wanting to have a pro-life mobile clinic operate from his church's parking lot "from time to time". • Bob Cashman discussed his concerns over the former Wildomar Chamber of Commerce merging with Murrieta's Chamber of commerce. • Miss Miller lamented that the presentation about Storm Water wasn't aimed at halting all development in the area. She also proposed that people meet at the corner of Malaga and Mission Trail, Saturday evening (November 11th) at 5:00pm to discuss "several hundred more houses" at Summerly in Lake Elsinore, and the increased traffic it will bring. • Ken Mayes brought up the issue of live streaming city meetings. Then he went into LaLa Land again by implying that the city council and staffers actively seek to keep public participation to a minimum, "The time of shutting out the local citizens from the decision making process needs to come to an end." Hey Mayes, we get it. What you're really saying is that you want the electeds, and the paid professionals, to turn it over to you and your fellow incompetent Wildomar Warriors. Sorry, but until you seek office, and get elected, your copious amounts of reading things on the internet don't make you qualified to run this city.
Hey City people... it's time to call his bluff and put in the live streaming.
My money says he couldn't be kept away from his bi-monthly chance to finger wag... even if he had twice the injuries that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul sustained the other day.
• Patrick Ellis spoke about the newly merged Murrieta/Wildomar Chamber of commerce. • Lindsay [Night-zee-who] (as it was pronounced by city clerk Debbie Lee) discussed her concerns about a (yet to be officially proposed) shopping center on Clinton Keith near Stable Lanes Rd, and the types of shops that she has heard might be coming. (sounds interesting... I'd love to hear what she's heard). • Laura Girard of Sycamore Academy invited the council to a couple of the school's upcoming events. Public Comments on Consent Calendar • Ken Mayes used his time, and an additional 3 mins donated to him, to rail against Items 1.4, 1.6, 1.7 and 1.8. 1.6, the deal with the Historical Society, which will allow them to store bits of the old Brown House (once it's demolished) really bothered him. 1.7 is where the American Cancer Society has asked to hold their yearly Relay for Life at Marna O'Brien park since the high school is no longer an option with the installation of their new turf on the football field. He obviously misread the agenda from the parks subcommittee meeting where it said — Fiscal Impact: Costs of approximately $5000, to mean a gift to the organization.
From the recent parks subcommittee agenda. Yellow highlight and red check mark are my additions.
1.8 Partnership with Rotary Club for Annual BBQ He lamented that "at least three of the city council members" are classed as "club leaders" in the Rotary Club of Wildomar. Let me interrupt here. It's not "at least" it's just three. If you have difficulty in counting on one hand, that should be the first indication that other parts of your reasoning skills are equally as suspect. He suggested that the council members in question (Ben Benoit, Marsha Swanson and Bridgette Moore) recuse themselves from that item. Interesting point, but I'm 100% certain that the City Attorney Thomas Jex has that covered. Thing is, these wannabe legal scholars that haunt Wildomar won't hear for a minute that they are indeed clueless on the matters. They take obtuseness to seldom seen levels. He then hinted at possible legal action when he said, "Public officials can face potential legal liability, including taxpayer lawsuits, criminal penalties and the loss of public confidence" This really was the Ken Mayes show last night. Most of which was the same inane lashing out against the city that he's become renown for. Hey Mayes, it's time that you put your legal prowess to the test. Put up or shut up. Get that lawsuit ready, filed and served or sit back down... you're boring the rest of us.
From the recent parks subcommittee agenda. Yellow highlight and red check mark are my additions.
I'm including the video of his comments on items 1.7 and 1.8 which also has commentary from Thomas Jex, Bridgette Moore and Mayor Tim Walker included. Had to love it that he has a problem with an annual event that clearly states there is NO FISCAL IMPACT on the community.
• George Cambero spoke on Item 1.6 Brown House Storage Agreement. The big news I got from this is that dismantling of the Brown House will begin in two to three weeks. 2.1 Zone Change This was gone over in a recent planning commission meeting. It deals with a 1.73 acre parcel that is on Clinton Keith, across from the shopping center that has Barons in it.
Pretty basic, it's looking to get the zoning map to agree with the general plan land use map. It passed unanimously.
2.2 Urgency Ordinance Extension
This dealt with the temporary moratorium pertaining to marijuana cultivation and manufacturing in town.
This is allowing the council until December of next year to come up with ordinances regarding legal marijuana in town. City Attorney Thomas Jex explained it, then Ken Mayes and Miss Miller weighed in. There was the briefest of council discussions and it was voted on. This will play big next year, and I wonder if there will be any voter backlash when it comes time to vote for city council members in districts 1, 3 and 5 over it? Time will tell. 3.1 Preliepp Apartments GPIP This was also gone over in the blog covering the September Planning Commission meeting (click this link if you want more details). Since this item is all but DOA after four of the council members gave their opinions on it, there is no sense in wasting too much time detailing it.
This graphic shows where there are already 1600 apartments in 1800 foot radius of the site. Either already built, or already approved.
Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit recused himself since he works in the apartment industry. Marsha Swanson was interested in hearing more about their specifics, she stated that she's "on the fence right now". Dustin Nigg gave a very direct opinion, "I would recommend not to waste your money." He later came back and explained his views on it, but that didn't change his bottom line. Bridgette Moore started off by saying she was with Marsha. Adding that she was unsure "if we need any more apartments." Suggested they research what just happened with the Camelia project, which was "zoning conformance" and not a general plan amendment. Mayor Tim Walker said he was "not for this" for two reasons. First was having all the apartments in one area, and that it doesn't conform to the general plan. He made another good point about the value of business park areas and how few we have in town. 3.2 Establishment of Community Facilities District This was about being business friendly to small developers, allowing them to defer parts of their Development Impact Fees. For those that apply to be part of this, they'll have to meet certain criteria, and will be paying interest on the balance. It's a ten year program, that could last as long as twenty years. How's that? you ask. Since the "loans" are up to ten years long, if a qualified applicant comes in at the 119th month (there are 120 months in 10 years) of the program, they'd have up to ten years to pay it off. Which would mean the program's ultimate sunset could be as many as twenty years, though it's only for ten. There is no one size fits all for this as each project would be judged on their own merits. If you'd like to hear the presentation given by Assistant City Manager Dan York, and the comments associated with it, watch the video. Ken Mayes spoke on this. (about the 7:15 mark of the video) My notes said, "Ken Mayes makes another idiotic statement." So I went back to the video to see what it was, and I was right... another (in an endless line of) idiotic statements. "This is nothing more than a way for staff to hide the incompetence of this city, and the greed of developers [ready] to take advantage of this incompetence. In a mad rush to build out this city many mistakes are being made that will speed the process of the destruction of this community." If you've ever wondered why I hammer this guy for being a nutter... this would qualify as one of a baker's dozen Exhibit A's he's amassed in the last four years that I've been around.
3.3 Community Interest Polling This one is probably the most important thing that came from the meeting. It's real easy to suggest that the purpose of such a polling company is to find out how much tax can be raised on us. So many times residents will complain about a lack of one thing or another in town (be it police coverage, poor road conditions, etc), and I'm quick to remind them that we can have anything in town that we want. It only takes money. Usually I get a wrinkled nose response when I ask if they'd be willing to have their taxes double to pay for such things. Yeah, me neither. Part of the reason why I moved to Wildomar was that the taxes were low. Yes, compared to some of our neighboring communities it can be the wild west out here... but I signed up for that when I bought my house back in 2001. Still, there is a large influx of new residents since that time, and it's the will of the majority that rules the day (or it damn well better be). Polling seeks to find what the people want. I like the way Marsha Swanson put it.
• This is so important to do. We have a handful of people that come out every month here and we know how they feel. We know what they want, what they don't want, but that's only a few people. We're a town of 35,000 people, and we can't call them all. • I get complaints all of the time about homeless and drugs. Are we willing to pay higher taxes to have more police on the street to get rid of it... [or] are we not? • I am not for higher taxes, period. But, we may have some people here that it's important to. It's not my choice, it's the people that live here, their choice. • She looked right at Ken Mayes and said,"I think finding out what they feel about cannabis, what they feel about higher taxes, and hearing about how they really feel [is a good thing]. Not just from Kenny, I like that he comes and tells us what he feels, but I want to hear from everybody. Not everybody can come to this meeting and not everybody would watch it live stream. I'll tell ya, I wouldn't sit at home and watch this — no way."
When the conversation turned to Prop 64, and local cannabis sales and manufacture, Mayor Tim Walker made an interesting observation about federal law and how the city council members have all sworn to uphold the constitution and it's laws. If you jump to about the 13:45 mark of the video, you'll see a bit of heat start to generate on the dais. Primarily between Tim Walker and Ben Benoit. Tim Walker is dead set against marijuana on all fronts by the way I read it, and it being (wrongly) classified as a Schedule 1 drug (like heroin) is just a convenient cover the way I see it. Ben Benoit on the other hand, based on what I've seen him argue from the dais when this topic has come up a few times, seems to take more of the libertarian stance on it. Leaving the decision of use to the law abiding adult in question. I can't be certain where he stands on the issues of sales and manufacture in town. At one point, after discussing federal law and states rights, Benoit said to Walker, "I encourage you to look that up, talk about that, and I would respectfully ask that you not say that we're (the city council) violating our oath when we sit up here and look at this ordinance that has been passed by the state of California and the California voters." The subcommittee that will be addressing which questions to ask the public will be comprised of Marsha Swanson and Ben Benoit. Last on the agenda was appointment of two new members for the Measure Z Oversight Committee. Three people applied, and two people were chosen. Scott Rux and Shelley Hitchcock. Thanks for stepping up and helping the community. Funny thing though, Ken Mayes was able to raise the bar for "what the hell was that" comments with one on this topic. He bemoaned the "apathy" in a town of 35,000 people when only three applications were submitted for the Measure Z committee, and only one was submitted for the Planning Commission seat the month earlier. I have a confession to make. It's all my fault. You see, me and my stupid camera have given a front row seat to all that care to watch, and they've seen the rigmarole they'd have to put up with from guys like you Ken. Had I not started uploading videos of city meetings, there would be a line from here to Cucamonga of eager volunteers looking to be in the lime light of a Planning Commission seat or a coveted Measure Z position. Still, that leaves one important question unanswered from you Ken... what are you waiting for? When are you going to shut your trap and apply for one of the positions you think should have more applicants? Most people that want to help out their communities don't really want to have to run a gauntlet of bored and angry old people to get there.
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In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. – Martin Luther King Jr. Wildomar Rapreminds those of you without any friends, you don't need to worry about the above quote.
In today's Special April First Edition of Wildomar Rap, we'll get a look behind who blew up the Brown House. I was given some top secret video of what happened in the middle of the night. Hmmm... I worded that oddly. I left out a comma somewhere. I was trying to say that the video was secretly delivered in the middle of the night... whew! Apparently some vandals from the local Star Trek-Star Wars Alliance club known as TrekWarriors thought "what better send off for that old dump than to see if the tower could be sent to the moon like a rocket." I learned that they'd been working for weeks, perfecting the ersatz rocket fuel which, according to the notes that were left on my doorstep, was made from vinegar, baking soda a soupçon of lemon juice, and regular rocket fuel they bought from the local NASA surplus store.
But, as I was about to upload that shocking video you just saw, which depicted the demise of Wildomar's most beloved landmark, I heard another knock on the door. Lo and behold there was another video tape (or was it a DVD) that had even more shocking footage of the Brown House being destroyed. The images are simply unbelievable.
I don't know what to make of it folks, the brown house has been blown to pieces, and we have many conflicting reports about it. One way or another, let's hope that old ramshackle eyesore will rest in pieces —errrr.... I mean, peace forever more.
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"Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever." – Charles Lamb 1775-1834
Q: What do you get when you cross video effects, the first of April and a local blog? A: Wildomar Rap's April Fools Edition.
An unexpectedly long meeting that didn't really have any earth shaking decisions coming out of it. PRESENTATIONS 1. Swearing in of new police chief Daniel Anne. A five minute video is included below, which includes some remarks from the new chief.
2. Wildomar Soccer – Wildomar U12 Champions. They went undefeated in the final tournament, beating their unnamed nemesis along the way.
.3. Wildomar Elementary School's Mr. Hoffman gave a detailed power point presentation about the school, its teachers and students. 4. Elsinore High School Academic Decathlon Team was recognized for taking first place in the recent event. Click this link to read Press Enterprise article about it.
Note to the mayor and staff, that microphone is great for presentations, but lousy for pictures. Allow me to suggest that you have groups larger than 3 stand in front of the dais like in the past. 5. Elsinore High School's new co principals (Robbin Hamilton and Sarah Arredondo) talked for about five minutes about what's going on at their campus. They have a new baseball field, and there will be a ribbon cutting for it March 14th. They will be one of the few schools to have night games. 6. Fire Department Update: The January report had 230 total calls with 90% of those being medical. A double wide mobile home on Paradise Lane burned, displacing one adult. PUBLIC COMMENTS (non agenda items) •George Perez discussed problems on Beecher St (it was impossible to know what he was referring to as he wasn't specific) and Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit offered to meet with him to help. • Joanne Pann-Kydd of the American Cancer Society invited the council and the public to join the Relay for Life event that will be April 1st and 2nd at Elsinore High School. There is also a Bingo fundraiser ($25) that will be at the Elks Lodge on Sunday, February 19th. • Kenny Mayes spoke about government forms needing to be filled out, and how his "services were not needed" when he volunteered for the PIT count (Point In Time, which tries to count the homeless all in the same narrow window of time). I was in the same boat. Went to the same two hour training course he did, leaving my warm home on a stormy day no less, to learn how to interview homeless people and give them a goody bag with clean socks and granola bars, just to be told a couple of days before the count, "thanks, but no thanks," unless I wanted to travel to other parts of the county. Still, I don't share his conspiracy theory that suggests skullduggery was involved.
"Because a city without a pot to piss in, or a window to throw it out of (here comes the olympian leap) somehow has a private group to count the homeless. This smells highly of a conflict of interest, as this private group and the city stand to reap additional federal benefits depending on the count. Do I mistrust this city? Absolutely."
—Kenny Mayes
Come on Kenny, this is part and parcel as to why you're not taken seriously. You come with fair points, at times, but then obfuscate them with laugh out loud foolishness like this.
• Miss Miller, in her "Not My President" shirt, sang again! The tune started out like the old Enjoli perfume commercial, but then went off the rails into her usual incomprehensible caterwauling.
She did sing about Metrolink ♪♫You can connect San Diego to Canada, San Francisco with Peru♫♪.
Sorry, but you couldn't pay me enough to sit on a train from here to Frisco, much less Frisco to Peru. • Andy Morris, President of the Wildomar Rotary Club discussed the clubs assistance with the Water Safety Awareness 5K that will be at Marna O'Brien park on April 29th, and the yearly BBQ event they put on. They are aiming for a July date. • Stephanie Maldonado spoke about issues (syringes in her yard) in her neighborhood, North Ranch Community, that she attributes to a nearby homeless enclave. 1.6 and 1.7 As a reminder, usually agenda items that start with a 1, are not discussed in the open meeting. However, if a member of the council or a member of the public wants to discuss one of the items, they can. Miss Miller exercised her rights, and we sat through three minutes of fingers on a chalkboard. She didn't sing to us this time, but she did look in my general direction because some of the evil developers happened to be sitting behind me. 2.1 Nova Homes Residential Project This passed 5-0 on all five resolutions that it entailed. The funny part (ok, more like the predictably pathetic part) was that there was another last minute letter citing the same "concerns" as before. To get the details on the Nova Homes project use this link to the October 2016 blog discussing it. Nova Homes' CEQA attorney, Charity Shiller, took less than four minutes to calmly and thoroughly debunk the baseless "concerns" found in the last minute letters. Have no fear, Miss Miller is here... she took another four minutes punishing all those with ears about something or another (she had the clock started over after someone thought they'd help her out, handing her a copy of the agenda — that didn't go well, just watch the video to see it yourself). She let us know that "so many people ask me to speak because they can't come in here." She talked through the red light and took 15 seconds to quiet down... eventually she was shushed by the mayor. 3.1 Public Nuisances and Code Enforcement Cost Recovery
This will give the city code enforcement some added teeth to deal with properties that are continually out of compliance. An example is Wildomar's second most famous eyesore that is easily seen from the freeway by countless thousands of people everyday.
This abandoned house on Monte Vista, next to Cornerstone Church, is constantly hit with fresh batches of graffiti. You can also see the ignored citations, many of which blew away in the recent storms, as the remaining ones dance in the breeze.
Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit and Councilmember Bridgette Moore commented on this.
"This is something that I'm glad we're finally bringing forward. This is something that helps our code enforcement, it's time we really start cleaning up a lot of [areas]. There've been a lot of times where people would thumb their nose at the city, and it's time we start cleaning up. This helps that, it helps the code enforcement do their job, and I'm all for it." —Ben Benoit
"...and I'm hoping that number one [on the list] is the house that is adjacent to Cornerstone Church, it's such an eyesore." — Bridgette Moore
3.2 Faith Baptist Church Memorial Day Service Event 2017 This was actually handled in the Wildomar Cemetery District portion of the meeting at the end of the evening. This is worthy of it's own blog in the near future. 3.3 Brown House Space at Baxter Village This item took up the most time. For some it's been an emotional issue. How people can get so attached to someone else's ramshackle former home is something I'll never understand. Seriously, have we cured cancer and have nothing better to wile away our time with now? It started with Wildomar Historical Society giving a power point presentation that lasted about four minutes and then they talked to the council for the next ten or so minutes (it's in the video). It's rather long, and includes everything my camera caught (it stopped moments before the vote). Including a kindly old woman from the Lake Elsinore Historical Society speaking on behalf of the WHS. I'm not sure what to make of what I witnessed. It was sad really. I saw a well intentioned person, tackling something that was obviously beyond her grasp, and seemingly not having put in the requisite preparation. Here is a recap of first exchange between WHS spokesperson Kristen Lloyd and the council. It started with councilmember Marsha Swanson asking, "What exactly are you asking the city to do?" Lloyd answered, "Well, it's up for discussion. There were several options and I'd like to actually —what I wanted to hear was what you thought benefits for— and how you can come alongside us." Mayor Pro-Tem Benoit jumped in with, "But you haven't told us what it is you want us to do yet." With a strange emphasis in her voice, Kristen Lloyd followed up with, "No, I haven't. I don't want to tell you to do anything. I want to see what kind of benefits you are[sic] and then (trailing off then talking over councilmember Swanson) If you really want to know, I want you to do the whole thing, but I know that's not an option."
"I'm throwing out a bone [to you] and I'd like to hear [your responses]. I would like pie in the sky, and then we'll go from there." Not long after this George Cambero, president of the WHS, came to Lloyd's aid. He started off by thanking the council and staff for their help, something that really should have been done in the first sentence of the presentation (if only there were Mulligans for such things). Soon however, Kristen Lloyd retook the reins. The next memorable exchange started with councilmember Dustin Nigg making the point, "I can't vote on this, or I can't give you full fledged support for the simple fact that [you haven't been clear] —that's the unknown piece right now. So what would be the conditions to deed it to the city?"
Lloyd replied, "I think this is open for discussion. This is what we're here for."
I couldn't help but think that this may be being played out right in front of me.
• Coucilmember Swanson added, "I'm in complete agreement with Dustin. Until you guys have the property and have a plan, and can tell us dollar wise what you want us to contribute, or how we fit into it... the way this is written here, this is nothing I can vote on or even get my thoughts around completely... I love the idea, but we can't vote on an idea. We need the facts and the dollar amounts and all of that."
I was nearly expecting Kristen Lloyd to say, "You have to pass it to know what's in it".
Benoit added these thoughts before it was opened up for public comments, "I'm just looking at the amount of money, we're talking long term. When we have people come into council and ask for basic services, "can you help us with our roads?" that makes it hard. Especially when we have twenty-seven acres of parkland right up the street that need some basic improvements, like a trail system and a parking lot, and that is twenty-seven acres we could be using. Those are the priorities I see us having." Public Comments • Kenny Mayes had a lucid moment when he expounded on why the city should not be part of this deal. • Joseph Morabito had a lucid moment too... asked how could a city, that can't even afford its own free facebook page, afford this, and that we are still renters and don't own our own city hall. I was against this entanglement. • Kristen West was enthusiastic for the potential of a community center. • Miss Miller put in a speaker slip at the last moment, and it was obvious that she wasn't prepared for the topic. If you haven't had your fill of her for this edition, click this link to jump to the part of the video she's in. Truth be told, maybe it was because the council members were a bit punchy by this time, but she was able to get all of them to laugh a couple of times. Coucilmember Moore said, "I honestly feel that this is out of left field. Did the historical society meet with any of us (as she looked at her co-council members) before tonight?" Benoit answered, "I had a couple of phone calls from Kristen." "When I read the staff report I [thought] where did this come from? Because we've never been told you wanted to give us this land or the property," Moore added.
You'd think that if you really wanted to do something involving parks in Wildomar (which this was about), that you'd go to the key Wildomar leader when it comes to all things parks, namely: Bridgette Moore. In the end, the council agreed to help them store bits and pieces of the Brown House on city land, but had to direct staff to come up with a written agreement before voting on it.
The amount of professional man hours the city has put into the Brown House over the years, through meetings and consultations, is substantial. Especially considering this is a venture between two private entities and the city really doesn't have a direct interest. Let's hope this is it.
CITY MANAGER REPORT
• Bundy Canyon Update This will be in a stand alone blog in a day or two. Interesting information.
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