• Another loss for Martha Bridges et al

On August 8th it was made known that the 'Martha Bridges et al' lawsuit, against the proposed MSJC Wildomar Campus, lost in the court of appeal when they affirmed the lower court ruling.

Meaning: add another tally to their vast loss column.

For those that aren't sure what this is about, here is a link to a Press Enterprise editorial about it from December of 2015.

Here's a link to a blog I wrote about the editorial the same day.

I started to pull highlights from the document but then realized that was an impossibility. It's 28 pages long, and has over 7,000 words in it, estimated to take more than 35 minutes to read. No thanks, we all have real lives.

For those that would like a taste of the actual findings in the PDF, here are the opening couple of paragraphs before they delved into the "Factual Background" of the case.

This California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)1 case arises from a community college’s decision to buy a plot of vacant land from a regional park district for potential future use as the site of a new campus. Plaintiffs and appellants Martha Bridges and John Burkett (appellants) are residents of Wildomar, the city where the land is located. 

They sued respondent Mt. San Jacinto Community College District (the community college, or the college) alleging it violated CEQA by failing to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) before executing a purchase agreement for the property. Appellants also allege the community college violated CEQA by failing to adopt local CEQA implementing guidelines.

The trial court dismissed the action in its entirety, and we affirm. As we explain, appellants did not exhaust their administrative remedies before filing this suit and have not demonstrated they were excused from doing so. And, even if the exhaustion doctrine did not bar appellants’ suit, we would affirm the court’s ruling because both of their CEQA claims lack merit. 


As to their first cause of action, CEQA does not require the college to complete an EIR before signing a purchase agreement, especially under these circumstances, where the agreement itself requires the college to complete an EIR before the sale can be finalized. As to their second cause of action, the college is exempt from formally adopting local implementing guidelines because it uses the guidelines of another California agency.

Sorry, but I don't have a link to the PDF. If you'd like the complete 28 page report, ask the city to send you a copy.

My three favorite parts of the findings were as follows:

• From page 2

The trial court dismissed the action in its entirety, and we affirm. As we explain, appellants did not exhaust their administrative remedies before filing this suit and have not demonstrated they were excused from doing so. And, even if the exhaustion doctrine did not bar appellants’ suit, we would affirm the court’s ruling because both of their CEQA claims lack merit. 

• From page 28

We conclude the second cause of action lacks merit and affirm the trial court’s dismissal.

• From page 28 (last thing before the three judges' names)

DISPOSITION
We affirm the judgment and award costs to respondents.
 

Does that mean what I hope it means? 

Could it be that they'll actually have to pay something out of their own pockets? 

Heck, they've only delayed the start of the project by many, many years... what's it to them if it's not opened in time for your kids to attend that campus?

No biggie. Just the actions of a community activist, looking out for what's best for the rest of us... just "following her heart." LOL

Yep, pretty much like Ken Mayes declared back in June in the comment section of a Wildomar Rap blog...  

"I for one thank Ms. Martha Bridges for her diligence in ensuring wildomar stays on the right course. I consider her a friends[sic] an[sic] confidant, even a comrade if you wish. Just like a local suffragette of old, the one and only Margaret Collier (the MAR in wildomar), Ms. Bridges follows her heart." 

The unmitigated gall to make such a comparison. But, that's what makes Kenneth, Kenneth.

If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to request that Wildomar's most infamous litigant stay out of the news for a few months... my keyboard needs a rest.

•          •          •

In the world’s broad field of battle, 
   In the bivouac of Life, 
Be not like dumb, driven cattle! 
   Be a hero in the strife! 
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 
excerpt from A Psalm of Life

Wildomar Rap is the antidote if you've been caught up with the dumb, driven cattle. Be it in the broad field of battle, the bivouac of life or the pages of Nextdoor.

• MSJC Update: City Council Meeting Feb 2016

Lot's of news came from the February 10th City Council meeting, and I think it makes most sense to break into two blogs.

First bit of news, was a MSJC (Mount San Jacinto College Wildomar Campus) update.
Dr. Roger Schultz, president/superintendent of MJSC, gave a 7 minute presentation to the council about the project's current standing. Local resident Gary Andre jumped up to be the ring card girl, holding the poster up for the council, and the audience, to more easily see it.

Here are the highlights from the presentation 

• $44,000,000 of $295,000,000, in Measure AA Bonds, were earmarked for the Wildomar campus.
• Lawsuit filed in 2014 against MSJC.
• Judge ruled in favor of MSJC Dec 2015.
• An appeal of the court's decision has been made.
• Next step is the EIR process.
• To be built out over many decades.
• MSJC was named in the top 150 community colleges in the country out of 1100 in the nation.
• MSJC has been recognized as the fastest grown community college in the state.
• Women's basketball team is ranked first.
• Recently added an engineering program.

Let's talk about the highlighted portion in the above list.

Link to December blog about this topic.

Back in December the Press Enterprise wrote a scathing editorial about the "serial litigants" that are behind this legal action. Please read it for yourself to get a feel for what dispassionate and unbiased people think of the players involved.

Link to the Press Enterprise editorial.

I particularly enjoyed the final paragraph of the editorial:

Such an unequivocal ruling by the trial judge ought to persuade Ms. Bridges and Mr. Burkett from taking their legal challenge against the county and the community college district any further. But we suspect that the plaintiffs cannot help but to continue their dubious litigation until the bitter end. 
—PE Editorial Writer, December 17, 2015

Just as I had predicted three days earlier than the PE editorial:
Now let's hope that the message sinks in, and that she doesn't look to delay the building of the college again. However, if Las Vegas laid odds on such things, I'd be betting that she has already worded her appeal and typed it up in triplicate. 
—Wildomar Rap, December 14, 2015

Looks as if the "community activist" is still trying to joust with the big boys. Doggedly tone deaf to be sure.

In round one, MSJC crushed the local perpetual plaintiff... but apparently she's smarter than everyone else in the state. Including the voters, the legal experts, the judge and the editorial writers of the Press Enterprise.

If you listen closely to the words of Dr. Roger Schlutz in the above video, you can hear that he still only speaks of Wildomar as a potential place for the new campus in this area. 

His words, "This is all conceptual, if this is the potential site," found at the the 4:15 mark in the video are a bit disconcerting. Can this project actually be taken away from Wildomar because of the actions of one person? 

Well, that's what has happened with the forced move to council districts... all because of the actions of one person. Whoever he or she was.

•        •        •

We think of the hostage as someone who's being held at gunpoint by some desperate terrorist, or demented criminal. Yet, so many of us are held hostage by things that are deep inside ourselves. We are held hostage by fear, ignorance and hatred.

— EG Marshall, CBSRMT 1979

Wildomar Rap reminds you: that El Niño is real, even if it never actually materializes. Let's all go wash our cars just to dare The Little Boy to come and rain on them.

• Press Enterprise Takes Swing At "Local Activist" In Editoral

There I was, having my usual breakfast of champions (espresso, a wedge of dark chocolate and the Press Enterprise → hard copy no less), when what do I see in their opinion section?

Wildomar being discussed at the top of the page. 

The topic was the Martha Bridges sue crew and their recent "unequivocal" loss in Riverside County Superior Court, in regards to her quixotic battle against higher education in Wildomar.

Link to the Press Enterprise editorial.

Her contention, in the voter pamphlet against Measure AA, was all about money, and what a hardship it would be to the residents as they would be obligated to pay $26 a year (based on property values of $200k).

Here is a link to the online version of the ballot arguments. 

Rarely has a list of more dubious names
been all seen in the same list.

The Press Enterprise editorial writer basically called her a liar with this statement.

Indeed, the Prima Facie evidence that her true motive was the lawsuit she filed last month, along with fellow serial litigant and co-plaintiff John Burkett, challenging the district's proposed purchase of 80 acres of land owned by the county in southern Wildomar.

Here is a link to the 2014 blog that covered the city council meeting where Measure AA was discussed. 

The editorial writers seemed to be channeling their inner Wildomar Rap as they concluded the editorial with these choice words.

Such an unequivocal ruling by the judge ought to persuade Ms. Bridges and Mr. Burkett from taking their legal challenge against the county and the community college district any further. But we suspect that the plaintiffs cannot help but to continue their dubious litigation until the bitter end.

Wildomar Rap summed it up this way days earlier: 

Now let's hope that the message sinks in, and that she doesn't look to delay the building of the college again. However, if Las Vegas laid odds on such things, I'd be betting that she has already worded her appeal and typed it up in triplicate.

Reads the same to me. 

Link to previous blog on this topic.

Another look at my "Mean Spirited" editorial cartoon of
the outcome of Ms. Bridges battle against MSJC.

I'm still looking for someone to lay odds on this. I smell the makings of an office pool. It'll be more fun than March Madness.

Some people around town have suggested that Wildomar Rap is beating a dead horse when it comes to this topic (people frivolously suing the city). If the horse was dead, I wouldn't be bothering with it.

I've been told that I'm being vindictive, mean and engaging in character assassination by posting the truth about what our city has had to deal with from a small group of geriatric malcontents. I'm fine with such silly suggestions, now toss those same fatuous accusations at the Press Enterprise editorial department too... M'kay?

•      •      • 

And come he slow, or come he fast,

It is but death who comes at last. 

― Sir Walter Scott

Wildomar Rap tip of the day: 
once you get a bad reputation, the only way to fix it is to STOP doing the things that got you there in the first place.

• College Lands Haymaker on Activist's Glass Jaw

Wildomar's self appointed activist in chief got laughed out of court again. She wouldn't even give a comment about her recent drubbing to the paper of record (The Press Enterprise).

Who can blame her. As long as she stays safely swaddled in her cocoon of make believe, she'll be able to maintain the equilibrium that tells her she is doing the lord's work as the city's watchdog. Seeking to help the citizens as she slowly looks to bleed the anemic city coffers even dryer.

For the details of this particular case, please read the Michael Williams' article in the PE.

So this time her windmill of choice is Mount San Jacinto College.

Hey Lady, they aren't Li'l W'mar, with a sparse bank account. In case you've been Rip Van Winkling it lately, last year they got a cash infusion of $295,000,000 from the Proposition AA bonds. They aren't going to be blinking because you try to pull another dead rabbit out of your hat.

Round 1 goes to MSJC, as the Wicked Witch of Wildomar gets crushed.

Now let's all remember who this "activist" is.

She's the one that crusaded to keep the parks closed in the past and also the same one that publicly spoke against the Girl Scouts, and their cookie program, at the Patch website, for "training girls to do multi-tiered marketing of poor quality products using aggression, intimidation and overly emotional tactics to do fundraising."

(If you haven't read her remarks in full, I suggest you hit this link and take them all in for yourselves. They are original screen captures of a conversation at Patch in 2014.)

From the PE article:

In their suit filed in November, Bridges and Burkett contended an analysis of the property should have been done in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act before the two agencies entered into the agreement. Also, the suit alleged the district failed to adopt procedures required by CEQA.

In his Dec. 4 decision, [Judge] Riemer denied both contentions. With the regard to the first, Riemer observed that the pact calls for the county to sell the property to the district contingent upon the latter having environmental clearance to use the property.

In the agreement, “the District did this and more,” Riemer wrote. “Rather than merely condition its use of the property as a campus on CEQA compliance, it conditioned its acquisition of the property on such compliance.”

It's just good to see that The Sue Crew keeps getting a steady diet of knuckle sandwiches, courtesy of the same court system they thought they could use as a cudgel against the young city of Wildomar.

Now let's hope that the message sinks in, and that she doesn't look to delay the building of the college again. However, if Las Vegas laid odds on such things, I'd be betting that she has already worded her appeal and typed it up in triplicate.

•      •      • 

Almira Gulch, just because you own half the county doesn't mean that you have the power to run the rest of us. For twenty-three years, I've been dying to tell you what I thought of you! And now... well, being a Christian woman, I can't say it! 

― Auntie Em

Wildomar Rap reminds you: piss and vinegar aren't things that seventy year old women are supposed to be made of.

• Mt. San Jacinto College Update

Carol Toone and Teri Safranek were guest speakers, on behalf of Mt. San Jacinto College, at the recent Wildomar Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

As we all know, Measure AA passed last year which was a bond measure for $295 million to benefit Mt. San Jacinto Community College.

In case you were unaware, there is already a new MSJC campus site in Wildomar, on Clinton Keith, in the works. Take a look at the images below to get a feel for it.

You can see that this areal photo is quite old. I don't see Ronald Reagan Elementary School in it. 

This one is so old that City Hall wasn't built yet, and neither was Stater Bros.
That's how long this has been in the works.

The presentation included a take off on BINGO called FOCUS. It was touting various studies they offer and benefits that come with them.

Most of us know that having a college campus in the area will open many doors for Wildomar and we're eager to see it progress to completion.

When it came time for questions, my hand shot up and I asked:

What are some of the remaining hurdles or obstacles before you guys can put the first shovel in the ground? 

As Teri and Carol were about to answer, Kristen Huyck of Supervisor Kevin Jeffires' office had an answer.

I'm with the county of Riverside, in Supervisor Kevin Jeffries' office, we're working with the college district. From my understanding there is a lawsuit regarding the draft EIR. The college district knew it, as well as the county, so when the property was sold, there was actually money imbedded into the sale, about $300K, knowing that this was going to happen.

It shouldn't hold it up too much, other than just typical litigation... but it is moving forward and with Measure AA going through they have funding too, so it'll [be] coming to fruition very soon.

The city should be seeing some applications for development around that area too... it is moving forward.

George Taylor, long time resident out at The Farm, asked: Is the prognosis good?

To which Huyck replied.

Yes. It's looking pretty positive. It [the litigation] was all anticipated, so it's nothing surprising. 

Hey, it's Wildomar... so if there hadn't been some Ambulance Chaser... or maybe we should upgrade that to K-Rat/Gnat Catcher/Fairy Shrimp Chaser in this case... that would be the surprise.

After the breakfast I asked Huyck what the name of the litigants were, but she didn't have that info. I was given an email at the college for my inquiry, if I get that info, I'll post the update.

In the meantime, isn't it just grand that instead of getting this campus up and running, that MSJC anticipates the litigation process to take up to three years?

Thank you self appointed community activists... it's not like the time and money could be better used elsewhere.

•      •      • 

The sins that you do, two by two... you pay for one by one. —Rudyard Kipling

If Wildomar Rap were to open a gourmet restaurant, I wonder if Gnat Catcher Under Glass would be more popular than the K-Rat Pâté or the Fairy Shrimp in a red wine reduction?