• City Council Meeting Special Meeting October 2022

There were three items on the agenda and though there were no department reports, presentations, or recognitions the meeting still lasted longer than two hours. 

It was an all-meat-and-potatoes type of meeting starting with the key item right out of the gate: Entering into a new agreement with CR&R to serve the entire city of Wildomar instead of just the west side of the freeway.

Part of the presentation.

You may be asking, "Why do this?" Or, if you're an east sider, you might be thinking something along the lines of, "But I love Waste Management and I don't want to switch!"

This began outside of the city's reach. It was two private companies making a deal between themselves that would end up with one waste hauler in Wildomar instead of two.

From there, with the original terms of the contract(s) changed, there was the opening to redo the contract(s) and bring them up to city standards, eliminating another vestige from Wildomar's unincorporated county days.

The 115-page contract was negotiated by William Schoen of R3 Consulting Group and Eric Vail who is a member of the law firm that represents Wildomar. 

Much of what's included in the contract deals with compliance with many different state laws that have made trash collection much more expensive for everyone, starting with the individual ratepayers. 

The options were either to approve the contract that had been negotiated, or not approve it which would have meant keeping the existing situation (two separate, and unequal, contracts). The agreement between the two waste haulers was contingent upon the approval of the item. 

The first factor mentioned by Eric Vail was stability

"These are big, complex agreements; they go on for a long time. They go on for a long time to achieve stability. Not only in rates, but in service and in the term. There is a lot of infrastructure that needs to be provided over the term to provide quality waste management services. It's a longer term than the agreement is currently, at least it looks like that. It's not really, because you have an evergreen term right now which lasts forever."

  —Eric Vail

For me, and most people that I spoke with, the twenty-year contract was the big sticking point. So I did a lot of research into this, capped off by speaking with Assemblyman Kelly Seyarto about his knowledge of the subject. 

He has been in Sacramento for a couple of sessions now, seeing one bill after another that adds more and more unfunded mandates to the populace as Sacramento continues to tilt towards the windmills of the impossible: a pristine world.

He was also part of Murrieta's city council that came to a twenty-two-year agreement with their waste haulers a few years back. 

I encourage you to listen to the first part of the video below if you'd like the details as they were shared with the council. Jumping to the end of the argument of a twenty-year contract, they are part of our brave new world in California and we are by no means trailblazers for others.

To put a twenty-year contract into perspective, the previous ten-year evergreen contract had no end to it. 

The city is now fourteen years old, to get out of the contract and put the services out to bid would have taken ten more years... meaning that the ten-year contract would have minimally been a twenty-four-year contract had we opted to pull that trigger and look for a new service provider. 

Baseball analogy time 

A contract between a city and a waste hauler isn't like a contract between the California Angels of Anaheim signing an over-the-hill star (Albert Pujols) to ten-year contract.

Quality was the guiding light for the negotiators

Mr. Vail added, "How do we insure quality in your solid waste handling services?" 

Here are some checks and balances that were not part of the previous agreement.

No immediate rate increase (those occur in July, and that will not change).

Rate stabilization

Previously, the waste haulers would get a yearly CPI (Consumer Price Index) increase in July. There was no cap. In the new agreement, there is a range between 2% and 8%... that's even if the inflation rate was 15%-25%. To add to that protection of wild spikes, it takes three-year averages of the CPI so that there aren't wild swings.

My estimation is that it'll basically be the same rate one way or the other after a given ten-year period, just without a roller coaster effect if the economy gets moody.

These are all terrific things that our negotiating team got included in the contract. Skip to the 15-minute mark of the video to hear about these provisions and how valuable they are to us. 

I'm not going to go over each and every point, the video can speak for itself, and much better than I'd be able to recap. I can say that those five items in the graphic above are immeasurable improvements from what we had. 

From 2 to 3 bulky item pick-ups a year

Each scheduled pick-up can have up to four items, that's a total of twelve bulky items per year. The big bonus here is that if you choose, you can have all twelve bulky items picked up on one scheduled visit. I hope we don't keep seeing old furniture on the sidewalks.

This has been on the sidewalk near my house since before the rains a couple of weeks ago. Hey homeowner, your generous offer of a free chair hasn't captured anyone's fancy... time to call it in, please.

If you live in Wildomar, you are a customer of CR&R, so just be a good neighbor and schedule a pick-up. 

These are big plusses.

That was the end of Eric Vail's presentation. It was followed up by CR&R's Alex Braicovich. He fielded questions, including many that I'd gotten from residents.

Most of the new customers will remain with the same day of service they've always had. There are about 1500 customers that were formerly with Waste Management that will be transitioned to a new day... Thursday is what was mentioned during the meeting.

Please take a look at the video to see how the meeting went, then go to Facebook and post comments if you still feel the urge.

The second major item on the agenda was street sweeping 

In short, those that are already getting street sweeping will continue to do so. The council instructed staff to research the cost to have street sweeping throughout the city.

Street sweeping goes a long way to keeping us in compliance with various clean runoff water requirements and helps keep the storm drains clean too.

Though I want street sweeping, and have heard many complaints since my neighborhood doesn't have street sweeping, I know that nice things cost money, and I'm curious as to the cost. 

I'm hoping that it won't be unaffordable for the residents, making it DOA in my view... I anticipate that staff will come back with that answer sometime next year and then the council will vote on it.

Imagine the Herculean task that a self-stylized elected employee would be up against trying to personally reach out to all the 2000 homes, which includes about 4500 voters, to ask them how to vote on it. An elected official would have to have the powers of Santa Claus to be able to pull off such a feat. 

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Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

– Abe Lincoln

Wildomar Rap reminds you that cropping your enemies out of other people's photos is also a good solution and you can then skip the pretense of being friends. 

This blog was produced for viewing on a desktop or a laptop. Though it's been optimized for smartphones, the formatting can look odd on a smartphone or if you get this delivered through email (such as missing video links). Link to proper format.

• City Council Meeting August 2019

The meeting started with presentations. The first was by EVMWD and how they're going to jack up the rates by another 3.2%.

Red arrow is the previous bill, the green arrow is the new and improved, king size bill.

Reality is, it's all but a done deal. There is a provision (which is nothing more than Sacramento based false hope) known as Prop 218. The theory is, if 50% of the ratepayers protest, then the rate increase will be halted. 

Remember, 50% is referring to EVMWD ratepayers.

Pro Tip: There is only ONE ratepayer per household. 

That means if you're married, it's a waste of time to send in separate letters from both spouses. 

To me, Prop 218 is an exercise in futility. Please don't mishear me, I encourage you to participate in the process and send in your protest letter, but just keep in mind that there won't even be 1% that write in, much less 50%.

Police Quarterly Update (10:45 mark of video)
key takeaway is that with the new approach to trespassing and panhandling the arrests have gone up over the last couple of months.

An average of 45-50 calls for service per day.

Also, in July, the first month of our motorcycle officer, 270 citations were written out... were you one of them?

It was said that "a lot" of the citations were issued to non Wildomar residents.

There was also a Fire Department update and a Library Update (easy to find in the video below).

At the 18:10 mark of the video Councilmember Bridgette Moore asks about weed abatement in the city. There is no image, but the audio is worth listening to. 

We discussed that today, we had a meeting [with staff] and had a lot of good talking points. I think there is definitely some options through the State Fire Marshal office, Cal Fire, and State and Riverside County, and of course your code enforcement. I think next year we'll have a multi pronged/faceted attack on it. It's not horrible, but with the amount of rain we had [this past season] we had more than normal grass growth and weeds. Also community outreach, as far as letting the public know "Hey, it's time to cut your weeds." This year was just one of those years.  

  —Wildomar Battalion Chief John Crater

The fifth presentation was for the city's finance department. 

Mayor Marsha Swanson with Finance Director James Riley and Finance Manager Robert Howell.
Government Finance Officers Association Certificate of Achievement Award.

2.1 Store America GPA/Zone Change
(This item begins around the 40:30 mark of the video below)

This has been wending its way through planning and city council for awhile now. It's an item that is still active, so I'm only comfortable giving a very brief overview.

This is about an older storage place, formerly Wildomar Storage, on Mission Trail. The new owners desire to remodel the whole place. Problem is, it's in the wrong zone according to the general plan.

A look at the new and improved building design.

The applicant has been working with staff to alleviate the issue of "losing retail zoning" in the General Plan by working with the city to help replace the 3.5 acres in another part of the city.  

For a more complete understanding of this, please refer to the video.

Fun personal note: 

I'm still getting the hang of how an official meeting is run where "motions" and "seconds" are part of nearly every item. After throwing in my two cents, Councilmember Ben Benoit gave me one of those time to take off the training wheels looks, and encouraged me make the motion for Item 2.1.

In my haste I made a broad motion to approve 2.1... without taking into account that there were two different options to choose from. Our city attorney reminded me that there were two possibilities, but in the end I finally figured it out and made the proper motion. ☺

That bit of levity starts at the 46:10 mark of the video.

2.2 Waste Management Rate Increase

It's not my intention of giving this item short shrift, but there is somewhat of an anticlimactic feel to this since we just did the CR&R rate hike a couple of short months ago. The reason why this wasn't taken care of all at once is that the city has two different waste hauler contracts. 

The eastside of the freeway is serviced by WM, and the westside is taken care of by CR&R, and the contracts don't coincide on the same dates. 

The rates will be going up more (but not higher) than they did for the CR&R customers because it's not just a simple rate increase in many cases. Many areas that WM services don't currently have complete, three can per week, service that is common in the rest of the city.

In those cases, there will be the usual increase that is tied to the consumer price index, but then an additional increase, to cover the cost of parity, for others... especially those that live in the more established parts of The Farm.

Now both sides of the freeway will be getting the same service at the same rates

One public speaker spoke about the rates going from about $20 per month to roughly $28 per month. That is a big difference to absorb all at once. This was addressed by Councilmember Ben Benoit.

"This has come forward after a very long process, a bit of a difficult process, but in the last [...] couple of months, Waste Management has been working very well with us. There were lot's of different issues, probably one of the first franchise subcommittee meetings we had here we had people coming in with certain issues, especially with the green waste bins. 

I'm happy to see that we're finally fixing that issue. I know it's a burden but, Calrecycle would tell us, as a city, if we didn't have green waste bins across our city that they would start fining us up to $10K or $15K per day. [...] They overlooked it for a few years, and the last year or two we said, "We're working on it, so please don't fine us yet." 

If we were to deny this today, and not get those green waste bins out, we would be on the hook, from the state, and having to pay that. 

I know that this is not easy, and it's not something we want to ever do, to burden our residents, but the state requires this stuff. I guess my warning is, is this might not be the end of it unfortunately. 

I'm hearing that we might be seeing other rate increases because of that (recycling demands put on by the state), but for starters we've got to make sure that the city isn't going to start getting fined."

- Councilmember Ben Benoit

3.1 Mandatory Spay, Neuter and Microchipping 
(1:02:30 mark in the video)
This wasn't a controversial item. It was voted in 4-0 (Councilmember Dustin Nigg not in attendance). I've always had my pets altered, and for most family pets there is no useful purpose to keep intact animals. 

There are exemptions for hobby breeders, but for the vast majority of pet owners, it's time to take overpopulation of dogs and cats seriously.

Link to county page

The statistic of "less than 20% of pet owners license their animals" was suggested by public speaker, Kenny Mayes. 

Though I fully support altering pets, and cheerfully voted to have it be the rule in Wildomar, if an overwhelming percentage of people aren't bothered with licensing their pets, I see this to be a feel good measure only, as a similar percentage of scofflaws will undoubtedly be running afoul of this too.

I asked about enforcement and essentially there won't be any proactive enforcement. Think of it like the seatbelt law. Something that will be "enforced" when other issues come to light first. 

The fines for lack of compliance are $50, $150 and $250 for 1st offense, 2nd offense and 3rd offense... but they will work with people that are in the process of complying.

3.3 Palomar/Clinton Keith (1:26:45 mark in the video)
This item discussed additional sidewalks and bike lanes to complete some connectivity on Palomar and Clinton Keith.

This is in reference to grant money from RCTC (Riverside County Transportation Commission) that is specifically for these types of projects. 

The blue dotted line is the proposed sidewalks. The green dotted line is the proposed bike lanes.

Since I've seen comment after comment that suggests people don't understand the process (that you must spend the money according to the grant) I played Devil's Advocate when I asked our City Engineer, Dan York, the following:

Joseph: Can we spend the RCTC money on something else once they give it to us?

Dan: No, we cannot. These are very specific funds for very a specific use. We could have easily not applied for the it and another city would have won the [grant]. This is only specific for these types of things. This is part of the TDA Act, under Senate Bill 821, these are monies that come out every year, they're very specific to safe routes to school, for pedestrians, for bike paths, so that's really the only things this money could be used for.

Even with that clear as crystal I predict that when construction begins on these projects, Facebook will be flooded with, "But why are you building bike lanes and not fixing my street?"

3.5 Stormwater Drainage System Protection (1:33:00 mark in the video)
This should have been called, City of Wildomar protection from overreaching state agency. 

By the letter of the law you can't even wash your car on your impervious driveway. Actually, that has been verboten for many years now... but who knew? I didn't! 

Don't get the water police angry... you wouldn't like them when they're angry.

You certainly can't wash down your driveways (as if this is still the 1970s), but that also means you can't have your driveway pressure washed if there is going to be any runoff that hits the gutter. 

Those are called "illicit discharges"

Additionally, if you have a pool, you can't drain that without some serious hoop jumping. 

The way I see it, it's another seat belt law/mandatory spay and neuter law/no fireworks law... etc. See the pattern? The law is on the books, but there isn't enforcement. 

I hate those kinds of laws (didn't I already intimate that above?), but that's the kind of crackerjack work we get from unrealistic bureaucrats that are far removed from reality. 

At the same time, if you're producing so much runoff from washing your car, or over watering your lawn, that you can have clothespin regatta races in the gutter all the way down the street... you're doing something wrong. 

That said, the odds that you'll get rung up for washing your car in your driveway are about as remote as the water wasters having gotten a $500 fine during the drought we had. Caveat Emptor.

Could We Have Ignored This?

I asked City Engineer/Public Works Director/Assistant City Manager Dan York what would be the risk of not approving this item.

The answer came back that the city would be out of compliance and we'd be facing fines of $10K per day.

That part picks up at the 1:42:30 mark of the video.

The city will be working on educational material that will be added to the webpage regarding illicit discharges of water in the near future. 

The first three minutes of the video are dead air, please skip ahead.

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To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.
― Albert Camus

Wildomar Rap asks, "What is this 'others' he's talking about?"

This blog was produced for viewing on a desktop or a laptop. Though it's been optimized for smartphones, the formatting can look odd on a smartphone or if you get this delivered through email (such as missing video links). Link to proper format.

• City Council Meeting July 2017

Super short meeting tonight. This one was about 45 minutes total, which included a couple of presentations. 

However, before the meeting was called to order, there was about 15 minutes set aside for Wildomar's 9th birthday. Donuts from Go-Nuts for all.

From left to right,  City Manager Gary Nordquist, Councilmembers Dustin Nigg, Ben Benoit, Bridgette Moore, Planning Commissioner Stan Smith, Marsha Swanson, Mayor Tim Walker and City Clerk Debbie Lee.

Deputy Robert Ochoa was recognized for his quick actions while off duty. He spotted a stolen vehicle that had been reported on social media earlier in the day.

Mayor Tim Walker and Deputy Robert Ochoa.

There is a short video of incoming EHS freshman Iliana Herrera who has already earned some scholarship money.

PUBLIC COMMENTS non agenda items
It was a short meeting, so it's going to be a short recap.
• Murrieta resident Pete Kee spoke about his continued opposition to the Camelia Townhouse Project. Suggesting they bring in more chairs when the item hits the council's agenda and even consider a PA system for an expected overflow crowd.
• Murrieta resident Tim Huizenga also spoke about his opposition to Camelia. 
• Glenn Miller, Senator Jeff Stone representative, congratulated the city on it's 9th year. Said that he and the Senator will attend the birthday celebration at Marna O'Brien park on Saturday.
• Ken Mayes mumbled something about being incompetent and damaged credibility.
• Trudy Curry discussed her continued opposition to the Camelia Townhouse project.
• Kathleen Hamblin added her opposition to high density, "I feel like a lot of the stuff isn't very transparent, as far as the planning goes" and also coined the phrase "suburban crawl".
• Ann Kiggins wanted some action on her neighbor's illegal growing habits.

That was really all to the meeting. There was one more item on the agenda that had to do with Waste Management. 

There was one public speaker and it was shown to her that the issue was between her, the property owner, and Waste Management. Though the council made sure that she left her contact info so that they could follow up later.

Happily one of Waste Management's reps was on hand and the start of a resolution had begun. She had inherited a piece of property that's been vacant. She didn't understand why she was being billed for trash service even if no one was there.

There are a lot of details like that in our lives, that many of us may not be up on... like that there is a General Plan Map and a Zoning Map in every California town. A person's ignorance to such things has no bearing on it being reality or not.

Same here with trash service. Until I started attending city meetings, I'd have also thought like the woman in question, never knowing that trash service is mandated to protect public health.

When you learn new things about what makes your local government tick, which 11 times out 10 such things are mandated by either the state or the county, it's best to say something like, "Ah shucks, I had no idea that the General Plan outranks the Zoning Map," instead of suggesting that the planning commission isn't "transparent".

If it doesn't seem transparent perhaps you're just being a tad opaque at the moment. 

Last on the list was a reminder that there is going to be a big birthday celebration at Marna O'Brien park this Saturday. Stop on by and listen to some great live music. 

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Things are seldom what they seem, Skim milk masquerades as cream.

– W. S. Gilbert, H.M.S. Pinafore

Wildomar Rap wears no mask. This blog has always been about my own entertainment. If anyone has ever expected more from it, I have to blame my good character for their mistake.

• City Council Meeting December 2015

The meeting started with Mayor Benoit asking for a moment of silence for those that were victims of the terrorist attack in San Bernardino.

Presentations
Cat Lara was recognized for her recent Girl Scout Gold Award project. The project was installing recycling cans at Marna O'Brien and Windsong parks. There is a ribbon cutting at Marna O'Brien park at 1pm this Saturday.

Mayor Benoit, Cat Lara, Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore.

Public speakers on non agenda items
• Jonathan Peterson spoke about the problem of a neighbor that smokes so much marijuana on daily basis that the smoke invades his home and gives his wife headaches.

• Kristan Lloyd spoke about Wildomar Historical Society and the Bingo fundraiser to be held at the Elks Lodge on Sunday January 24th.

• Ken Mayes asked for his own moment of silence for all the victims of US foreign policy (to which Miss Miller shouted out "Amen!"). He also mentioned the canceled Measure Z committee meeting and various financial figures he found wanting.

• Miss Miller, sans her usual chapeau, spoke about chemtrails and that she "read an article online about them." She told us that the chemtrails were there so that people can go shopping and that the Rose Parade can go on. She also asked the council to go online and "find people that we can write" then said that "Boxer and Feinstein, that's a dead loss." Hey, looks like there are a few neurons still firing in that frontal lobe of hers after all. Then she went into song and ended by thanking Ken Mayes "for that comment on America's suck ass political policies." (That was just her opening act of the night)

I know that I said I'd never upload another video of her, but who am I to stand in the way of those that find her entertaining. I have to apologize for not being able to share her other time at the podium. The file was corrupt. She said something about a "changing the kazoo to whatever you want to do"... at least that's what I put in my notes.

• 
• John Garrett spoke about lighting issues and glare bombs and asked that there be a public outreach on the city's lighting policies.



• George Taylor thanked Les Chapman and the staff for the efforts in the recent sandbag event.

Usually the consent calendar is voted on as a block. The idea is that the items are routine and only need a rubber stamp. Sometimes a council member, or member of the public, wants to talk about one of those items and so it gets "pulled" and talked about.

That happen on several items.

• Ken Mayes, 1.6 and 1.7, quoted Wildomar Rap quoting Planning Commission Chairman Stan Smith about passive parks almost 2 years ago.

• George Taylor 1.6 spoke about Bundy Canyon Road

• 1.7 and 1.14 Miss Miller complained that she only had three minutes for two items. Then spoke of atrocities regarding something or another, but I zoned out... even when reviewing the video for this blog. She did get me to laugh when she changed the name of Villa Sienna Apartments to Villain. She then had to have the microphone shut off.

• Kristan Lloyd, 1.9, brought up the Historical Society. Spoke about small treasures/artifacts that may be buried on the old Brown property and hopes the developer will allow a bit of sifting to look for them.

• Gina Castanon, 1.7 and 1.9, didn't like that extensions were on the consent calendar. That the public should be heard before such a vote.



She then looked at me and said, "Some people don't like to hear the history [of Wildomar]."

What is with people that intentionally say such easily disprovable things? Gina, I love hearing the stories about olden times. I had a great breakfast with Stan Smith once and was mesmerized by the history he shared with me.

Listening to stories, has nothing to do with the teller of the stories thinking she is more important than any other person in town. Feel free to just have a normal conversation with me some time. I'm easy to find.

Mayor Benoit responded to Gina Castanon

"As far as the agenda. The items on then agenda tonight are not an approval, but just a receive and file to let us know what the planning commission did. The council's actions tonight are just to be notified that the action has taken place. That's why it's not an agenda item, it's just a receive and file."

Seen in the video above.

Council Member Bob Cashman asked to pull several agenda items. His big concern was that projects approved before we were a city may not be up to snuff. "In nine years things change in a community."

In the end, all the pulled items were passed by a 5-0 vote. Sort of why they were in the consent calendar to begin with.

3.1 Street Light Conversion
Tyler Masters of WRCOG gave a presentation to the council.

In short this is about the city taking over the light poles from the SCE. It appears to be a good long term deal for the city. Saving up to 50% on the cost of lighting.

Unfortunately my video failed on that file so the only thing I can report of the 30 plus minutes is Council member Marsha Swanson's comment. "We aren't buying anything tonight."

This is a just a step in a detailed process, but a step in a good direction. More about this in the future.

3.2 Franchise Agreement with CR&R

FISCAL IMPACT: 
The approval of this Fourth Amendment will not have any fiscal impact on the City. If approved, CR&R will be requesting that the City Council approve a rate increase to compensate CR&R for the additional organic waste recycling services it will be providing. The rate increase will be subject to Proposition 218 notice and hearing requirements. Any such rate increase may impact the City as a customer of CR&R.

This is an interesting item. In short, it's a prelude to a coming raise in the rates we are all going to be paying someday, thanks to the misguided souls up in Sacramento.

It comes down to a state mandate that we have a policy in place (dealing with organic waste) by the first of the year to be in compliance with the state (AB 1826).

This specific agenda item is about businesses in the city that generate 8 cubic yards of  “organic waste” (defined as “food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper waste that is mixed in with food waste”).

However, within five years all businesses that generate over 2 cubic yards will get stung by this.

The real target that Sacramento has in its sites, is the general public. Eventually, every homeowner will be part of this.

I heard the CR&R guys talking about an increase of $2 per month to cover it. Thing is, in my family, we don't put any food waste in the garbage. What the dogs don't eat goes into a compost pile in the backyard. At the end of a year's time it still isn't more than a few gallons.

Marsha Swanson didn't like the vagueness of the language, that made it seem as if she voted for this it would obligate a future yes vote on rate increases.

Her comments begin at the 6:25 mark of the video.

• I'm still a real confused what we're actually voting on. It says "there's no fiscal impact." Yet, you said that there would be in the future by approving this. I've been through [the new CR&R plant] it's beautiful, I think it's a great idea. I don't know that I think it's fair to pass that onto our residents, it is an increase that everyone will be paying. If voting yes on this tonight means I'm saying "yes, we'll look at a fee increase" I can't move forward on this one.

Mayor Benoit and Mayor Pro-Tem Moore had good points, as City Attorney Thomas Jex added needed info in key spots.

There were also many lively comments by Tim Walker.

There are just too many details for me to try and recap. Below is a 36 minute video of the discussion and City Manager Gary Nordquist spells it all out in the first six minutes, followed by council comments and discussion.

This item was not approved by a 3-2 vote. (Ayes being Benoit and Moore, nays being Swanson, Walker and Cashman.) It'll be coming back to the council shortly.


3.4 Appointment of Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem for 2016
This was mostly ceremonial as the position of mayor is rotated among the various council members. 

Bridgette Moore will be Wildomar's mayor for 2016.

She was nominated by Marsha Swanson, seconded by Tim Walker and received a 5-0 confirmation vote.

Mayor Pro-Tem (or Mayor Pretend as councilman Walker likes to call it) went to Walker. Nominated by Swanson and approved with a 5-0 vote.


2016 is going to be a busy year. There will sure to be many issues of interest coming before the council and it's going to be an election year too. If you care about your community, and have the time available, I hope you get more active in your city.

•      •      • 

It's never too early to learn that the government is a greedy piglet that suckles on the taxpayer's teet until they have sore, chapped nipples

― Ron Swanson

Wildomar Rap tip of the day: If you've got something to say to me, try starting of with, "Hi, how are you?" I'm a sucker for that type of charm.

• Wildomar Egg Hunt 2015

It was a brilliant day for Wildomar's annual Eggstravaganza Egg Hunt at Marna O'Brien park. People started showing up shortly after 8:00AM in anticipation of the first Egg Hunt of the day at 9:00AM for the 0-3 year old children.

In total there were four separate age groups for the kids. 0-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9+. Also, there were two times for each group. If a child missed it the first time round, or were very enterprising looking to score twice, they'd be able to hit the later time.

In total 14,000 plastic eggs were "found". Thanks to the sponsors which included Waste Management who had a truck out on display and  a table with some give-a-ways of their own as they were touting the virtues of recycling to all.

☺

There were donuts, milk, coffee and things along that line available at the snack bar, which was being run by Crew 332 (a coed group that is comprised of Boy Scouts and helpers). Crew 332 also provided a photo booth so that kids could have a picture taken with Peter Rabbit.

There was a Jolly Jumper, Face Painting and a Balloon Artist (you know, they make things like poodles or ninja swords) and the lines never abated for those once they started.

There was also a "wheel chair accessible" egg hunt for children with special needs. Today there was only one child that took advantage of it. I'd heard about this, but couldn't understand how it worked until I saw it for myself. In the video below, you'll see a snippet of this young man, and his parent's, quest for an egg.

Down below is a video that is a combo slide show and live action display of what today was about. You'll see several different age groups running around at top speed (I speed it up over 1000%) looking for eggs.... that are so plentiful that they would be harder to avoid if it were a race from one side to the other and the object was to NOT step on them. You'll see a sped up version of three year old Sunny Watkins have her face painted like a cat, plus a glimpse of all the people that came for part of the day in a couple of panoramic shots like the one directly below.

This looks much better in the video as I pan slowly from left to right. Or you can click on it to enlarge it.

I was asking the city manager Gary Nordquist his guess of the crowd and I think he underestimated it by a lot when he responded 400. Let's do some Wildomar Rap math here. There were 4 age groups times 2 egg hunts. There were easily 100 kids in each age group, and even if 80% repeated the process, that would mean about 500 kids came. I'm guessing that they didn't walk or drive themselves, so even if there were only 100 additional people, that would put it at 600. Still, I'm going to say there were closer to 700 from start to finish.

There were a ton of people that made this happen, but I'm going to single out Janet Morales as the linchpin that brought it all together. Though she'd been planning it for months, as crunch time got to the week leading up to the even, she was sick yet sallied forth and completed the task. Thanks for all the hard work!

If you missed this event, there will be another one next year. Go over to the city's website and sign up to be notified of such things with their "Stay Connected" Service. Click here.

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Peter Cottontail, Bugs Bunny and Roger Rabbit walk into a bar... They order three carrot juices, pay their bar tab then leave. The end. 

Did you seriously think I was going to post a blue joke about those fellas on this blog? Did ya? Come on man, cut me a break... plus, I couldn't come up with a better punchline in the time frame I had so I went the Anti-Joke route.

We at Wildomar Rap prefer pickled eggs made with eggs that were bought a month ago. Seriously, older eggs are easier to peel after they are boiled.