• Community Meeting 20 Acre Park Near Anne Sullivan

Brief recap of the recent community meeting regarding the recently acquired 20-acre parkland that is south and east of Anne Sullivan Preschool.

IF YOU'RE A MEMBER OF THE WILDOMAR CITY COUNCIL, THE BROWN ACT DEMANDS YOU CLICK OUT NOW. SORRY, IT'S THE LAW.

I don't know how to say this without sounding corny, so I'll just risk coming off as a cornball anyway. (lol)

Last night's meeting made me very proud to be a member of this community. 

It had pertinent and thorough information from the presenters, important and compelling questions from the participants, passion and compassion from the attendees, along with good decorum overall... people let people speak, even without the aid of a microphone, and staff listened and took notes. 

There was hardly any shushing at all 😄

To sum it up, I saw a lot of respect for the process and the individuals that make up our community of Wildomar.

Thank you to the lovely and gracious staff of Anne Sullivan Preschool for their kindness and hospitality in hosting this important and timely community meeting.

I streamed the meeting online from my city council Facebook page. (links below)

There was a hitch when I thought that it wasn't recording sound and I switched phones. That created a gap of about a minute between the two segments of video... which lasted for a total of two hours. It's amazing that my phone still had 24% at the end of it. 

As the elected representative of this area, I had two key takeaways

First, the proposed park entrance off Gierson needs to begin where it's currently a dead end, not at the end of a new turnaround as was seen in the concept drawings. Meaning, that's where the gate needs to be located. 

It would be a problem waiting to happen to push the end of Gierson without a gate that can be locked when the park is closed. 

We can't create a beautiful new park and also create an after-hours hangout and the same time. This is an easy problem to nip in the bud. 

Another concern that I heard was regarding the entrance(s).

In case anyone was wondering, those who live on Gierson, that were in attendance, are PRO park, they're just passionate about doing it right the first time.

Their concerns are potentially having but one entrance for a park that's sure to be popular in a city of 37,000, not to mention those from other parts of the region that would like a mini-version of the Santa Rosa Plateau to enjoy.

The most expedient way to open the park would be to start with the entrance off of Gierson, but, out of fairness for all (the nearby neighbors, and people from other parts of the city), both entrances need to come online at the same time.

We can be creative if need be, I have confidence in our staff to figure this out.

There were many good points made about issues regarding this and other future parks throughout the city. The thing we need to remember is that parks cost a lot of money to create. Even basic, passive parks, like the one we're speaking of here. 

Wildomar has had two completely-designed parks already approved that have been waiting for funding for many years now. 

One is a 27-acre park near Ronald Reagan Elementary, and the other is an 11-acre park near David A Brown Middle School. 

The vacant property to the south of DABMS

The vacant property to the south of DABMS

link to a page on the city website with further information about the 11-acre sportspark. LINK

The vacant property that wraps around RRE

link to a page on the city website with further information about the 11-acre LINK 

Below are the links to the live stream videos. 

I apologize if you don't have Facebook, but that was the only way I knew to be able to livestream the meeting.

Last thing, how to pay for it? 

Toward the end of the meeting, it was suggested to review item 3.2 from the December 2023 city council meeting to see various ways to fund the parks, in whole or in part.

Here's a link to the item from the December 2023 meeting going over different options to fund the parks. If this issue is important to you, even if that means you're against it, please take the time to get the information firsthand by watching it.

I'm still learning how to embed the new video format that the city has, so please follow the link... it's really easy.

Once you're on the page scroll to item 3.2 City of Wildomar New Parks Improvement Options and click it.

Link to city page with video of December 2023 meeting video

There will be a parks subcommittee meeting and a city council meeting where this will be discussed and further shaped. It's not too late for you to send in your views, either pro or con, to the city. 

Use this email and ask that it also be forwarded to the subcommittee members. 

wildomarpw@cityofwildomar.org

If you'd like to chat about city matters, let's set something up. Email is the best way to begin.

jmorabito@cityofwildomar.org

• New Butterfly Garden Planted

A great story that's worth sharing with the community. It involves volunteers (both local and regional), community spirit, and butterflies!

I've been low on time recently, so I asked Bridgette Moore if she'd send over some photos and do a brief write-up so that the story can be shared with the community.  

The idea came from when you and I met with the Butterfly ladies last year. 

I kept that in the back of my mind. 

Fast forward, Sandra Tordoff (she used to work at Wildomar Chamber) invited me to a Lunch and Learn at Pacific Mobile Structures on 8/23/23. 

I spoke about the Wildomar Beautification Volunteers and the importance of volunteering and giving back.

 

Here's a look at the mid-point of the project.

On 9/28/23, Sandra contacted me and explained that Pacific Mobile Structures has a program where they pay their employees 8 hours a year to volunteer and their volunteer day was Tuesday, 11/7/23 and she asked if we had a project. 

I remember seeing a planter area in the Elks Lodge parking lot that only had weeds and WBV had cleaned it a few times already. 

So, I asked the Elks Lodge if we could we put a Monarch Butterfly Garden in that area and they agreed. We only have about 30 days to plan this project. 

I met Margaret Meyncke and Caren Hanson at the Elks Lodge and they got me in touch with Landscape Architect Laurie Levine. Laurie has previously done work with Wildomar. 

Laurie donated her time, designed a garden, and gave us a plant list. We contacted Curby’s Nursery and then Dan, Richard and I picked up the plants on 11/4/23. 

WBV had work days prior to the 11/7 planting to prep the area.

 

On 11/7, about 25 employees from Pacific Mobile Structures planted plants, laid irrigation lines, and placed mulch into the garden.

 

The garden will take till about summer to grow and then it will attract caterpillars. 

Laurie mentioned that the caterpillars will eat the leaves so don’t be alarmed if the plant looks dead.

It will survive the hot summer months.

The plants are small compared to the smiles of the volunteers, but before we know it, this area will be alive with plants and butterflies. 

Wildomar Rap opinion time

I look forward to seeing how this turns out. Which gets me to thinking... I have some yard areas that could use this type of attention. I don't need volunteers, but a plan to go get some local plants that can withstand our Summers even if I forget to water them for all of July. 

I found this link with ideas for our area.
https://www.finegardening.com/article/growing-a-butterfly-garden-in-southern-california

I can think of several other areas in town (small areas at both Marna O'Brien Park and Windsong Park) that these would make for a nice edition.

Sponsors:

Pacific Mobile Structures Riverside

Life Tree Service

Lake Elsinore/Wildomar Elks Lodge #2591

Wildomar Beautification Volunteers

Sandra Tordoff

Laurie Levine

• National Day of Cleanup 2023

On Saturday, September 16th, Wildomar saw 120 volunteers gather at the Elks Lodge to participate in this year's National Clean Up Day.

Some of the happy faces.

Then after some delicious Montague Brothers coffee, and Pam's Donuts, they went into the heart of City Council District 1, Represented by Carlos Marquez, and proceeded to pull out 110 bags of trash and debris, which filled up two donated roll-offs by CR&R, which weighed in at over 3.5 tons over about three hours time.

This group of eight volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints really put in a lot of work, for many hours. 

Impressive before and after shots. This is the north side of Sedco Blvd.

Before and after of the median on Sedco Blvd.

I'd like to take a moment to give credit where credit is due. Wildomar's longest-standing champion, Bridgette Moore. The average resident doesn't know why our city has less trash in it, including graffiti and illegal signs, and though it's a team effort to be sure, without a bonafide leader none of this could be possible.

Bridgette Moore as she's addressing the volunteers. 

She has such amazing grit and determination about her, she is the very definition of what an old-school Wildomarian (Wildomartini in my dictionary) is all about. Only when she decides to hang up her spurs will some in the community recognize the unfillable shoes she leaves for a rookie to try and fill.

This was about two hours into the clean-up event. She wasn't at the Elks Lodge looking over paperwork, she was out working, and it's never easy work. Whether it be litter pick up, or tackling tumbleweeds.

Ok, enough gilding the lily, but seriously, Wildomar is such a different place than it would have been had she not seen a need and tackled it head-on more than twenty years ago. Thank you for all you've done, and all you continue to do!

Here are a few more photos to round out this blog.

Gotta love the new paint for this trailer.

This trailer can carry anything.

The volunteers pulled a lot of large items off the streets.

• Community Profile: Chateau Couveau

I always love being able to share a hidden treasure with the rest of Wildomar. If you use Palomar you may have seen this sign before. 

Very inviting sign as seen from Palomar.

Wondering what was beyond the sign I stopped and chatted with owner Cynthia Couveau. I asked her about the idea of having a field full of lavender.

"The idea is that it brings peace, it's beautiful, it smells wonderful, and you can do lots of things with it too; essential oils, hydrosols. You can pick it and use it in your homes for culinary, and baking goods, dry it, and use it in sachets, in baths, or in drawers. There are a lot of things."

A good price and a fun activity rolled into one.

The idea came during the Covid lockdowns. The first plantings were done about two years ago, at the end of Spring 2021. They're in the middle of their second bloom which is generally between June and July.

This sign is visible even when lavender picking season is over.

I was trying to guestimate the size of the field and if this had been The Price Is Right I would have lost by overbidding by quite a bit. I had guessed between two and three acres, and all that beauty is confined to a little over half an acre. 

This is a bee haven. The sound of buzzing is everywhere, but they are too busy to bother with you, at least they were too busy to bother with me and I got right up in their space trying to get a picture of them in action for this blog.

They have about 840 plants. They started with about 900 plants, but as Cynthia was pointing out, there's always a little bit of loss in planting. Everything is natural, they don't use pesticides or erbacides.

They hand hoed, hand mowed and hand-cut... except they do have some additional help, but you have to go to the bottom of the blog to see what it is. 😊

Below is a super-short video of a bee doing its pollinating dance among the stalks of lavender.

It's the perfect hobby compared to the rigors of a traditional business. She puts her sign out around her schedule. It can be from around 10am to 5pm, other times from 2pm to 5pm. On her Instagram page, she'll let people know what the hours are that day. 

A look at Cynthia's vendor cart. 

It's located on Palomar, on the dirt portion of Wesely. Pull to the side of Wesely and use the bell that's near their gate if you don't see her out and about. 

Less than 100 yards from the road is a delightful sight of row after row of lavender in bloom. This view is from the bottom of their slope looking towards the west.

Such a great view.

I asked about picking and she let me know that it's $12 to pick a bundle. That goes for either variety, but I don't know if you can mix the bundles as you're picking them. 

She also sells pre-picked dry bundles for $12. 

In the future, they're looking to propagate some of the lavender and offer plants for sale... but that's not this year.

From this angle too.

Cynthia and her husband Josh have been in the community for twenty-six years. 

It's always nice to meet fellow Wildomartinis, (Wildomartians or Wildotuckians works too). Friendly people, we'd all love to have as neighbors, that are the backbone of Wildomar.

The resident weed eaters, two Olde English Southdown Babydoll sheep. 

Be sure to look them up on Instagram. Use this link. 

•                •                •

The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence.

– Norman Vincent Peale

Wildomar Rap would add lavender and NOT reading comments on social media to the list if you're pursuing inner peace. 

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.

• Wildomar Rallies Around Councilman Dustin Nigg's Family Raising Over $19,000

If you were part of the fundraising dinner last Saturday evening at the Wildomar VFW (March 11, 2023) then you saw it firsthand —the display of love and concern for Desiree Nigg, wife of Councilman Dustin Nigg, and her family. 

Desiree Nigg at the fundraising dinner.

As a preface, only a few days into the new year, the Nigg family was hit with devestating news. 

Desiree, the mother of three daughters, veteran of the Marine Corps, was diagnosed with Stage IV Colorectal Cancer. The cancer has unfortunately spread to her right lung and to the lining of her intestines.

The food and the volunteers that were serving it. 

To me, this story deserved much more than a local blog covering it. The Press Enterprise, Valley News and even that thing called The Patch dropped the ball on an obvious winner human interest story to share with their readers. 

This was an awesome demonstration of people wanting to help in any way they could... and they did!

Dustin and Desiree Nigg, in the middle, flanked by friends.

Not wanting much more time to go by I asked Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore, who was the key person behind organizing it (though she had many helpers that made it possible), if she would write a few paragraphs about the fundraiser and I'd put together a Wildomar Rap blog. 

The little flyer that could. With this, the wildfire grew from an event that the organizers were hoping would bring in a couple of thousand dollars, to one that the community jumped on and pushed the totals to well over $19,000.

From Bridgette Moore...

On Saturday March 11th 2023 our community came together in a grand fashion to support councilman Dustin and his wife Desiree Nigg. 

The room was nearly as full as the food was good. 

Desiree has been diagnosed with stage 4 correctal cancer and it has spread to distant organs. On Saturday March 11th over 130 people attended a dinner at the VFW in Wildomar and over $19000 was raised.  

I would like to thank our dinner sponsors: 

• Angelo's brick oven pizzeria 

• The Hive  

• Bone Cleaner barbecue and catering Chef Kat

For the dessert table our sponsors were Albertsons, Ann White, Deb Robinet, planning commissioner Arrin Banks, Go Nutz Donuts and Robin Adkins.

Had to love Arrin Banks's Bread Pudding with hot rum buttered sauce. 😋

.

The community really supported the raffle prize and silent auction, not to mention the live auction and the 50-50. In total the event raised over the $19,000 for our local family.

Murrieta City Councilwoman Lori Stone did an outstanding job as the auctioneer.

The biggest live auction event of the night was for passes to the Magic Castle for six people. It was amazing to watch the bidding go up from a few hundred dollares to $3500. 

In a remarkably generous gesture, a second set of Magic Castle passes was awarded to the runner up bidder. In total, that brought in $6000 for the Nigg family.

The list of items grew and grew all the way up to the moment that the dinner started. Members of the Wildomar community wanted to help out any way they could. 

Some of the other items for the live auction included a suite of four tickets to the Anaheim Duck's hockey game, Teen Road to Safety donated 8 hours of driving instruction by Temecula driving school, Season Tickets to the Santa Rosa Plateau Concert Series, Colour Parlor, 100 Women Who Care, a limo ride, and Murrieta City Councilwoman Lori Stone donated a lunch with her for 2 people anywhere in Murietta. 

Some of the many donors included Montague Brothers Coffee, a comprehensive facial from Dr. Gloria, IT work from Chris Twining, Apex Plumbing, La Masters of Fine Jewelry, CR&R, and Sandie Fuenty.

There were many volunteers: The VFW, Councilwomen Ashlee DePhillippo (actually her entire family volunteered), Robert Rankin Walker played his guitar and sang songs, Robin Adkins was a volunteer that I relied heavily on, Erin and Ken Hartley from Vitality Zone Fitness were invaluable, I can't forget the Wildomar Beautification Volunteers and their tireless efforts... so many more that I don't mean to leave out also volunteered their time. 

We had so many volunteers and we want to thank them all for helping make this such a memorable and successful event. We love you Desiree, and our thoughts and prayers are with you and your entire family. 

It was a special evening and I was glad to be there. Despite the joyous atmosphere, it wasn't lost on anyone what we were there for. 

Desiree and Dustin know that they were dealt an unwinnable hand. They're trying to keep things in perspective and were obviously touched by the deluge of camaraderie directed toward them.

Desiree and her three daughters.
Sorry Dustin, but they're just cuter than you are. 😁
Or, I couldn't find a pic with all of you in it.

Dustin's mother spoke for a few minutes. She had a difficult time keeping her composure as she spoke about how important Desiree is to her. Her tears were contagious.

There are no magic words here, just that we are hurting from a distance as the Nigg family is doing its best to push through this, up close, in real time, one day after the next. Godspeed.

  

• Illegal Dumping On Camera

What started out as a depository of bags from Wildomar Beautification Volunteers turned into an illegal dump that included 29 big rig tires and part of a cement mixer. In the early evening hours of September 17th, a black pick-up truck was seen backing into the area and dumping off tires.

My guess is that this person lives within half a mile of the illegal dumpsite. They saw an opportunity and came on Saturday evening as the sun was going down, and a lot of the community was at Mariachi Night at Marna O'Brien Park. 

If your neighbor's yard had nearly 30 large tires that are suddenly gone, you know it's he that just cost the Wildomar taxpayers money. 

Each of those tires costs about $30 to recycle, and that's not counting the labor.

Though I don't expect our police to put much time into this, this was reported and now the black truck is on their radar. Remember the FLOCK cameras in town... yeah I bet this guy might like a Mulligan right about now. 

Do you know this truck or driver? Looks like he's got a nice pair of black sweatpants with a wide white stripe down the sides. Pretty distinctive looking.

Thank you, neighbor, anything else you want us to pay for?
To be clear, the tree branches were from the Saturday clean-up.

I asked Wildomar Beautification Volunteers co-founder Councilwoman Bridgette Moore for her take.

The Wildomar Beautification Volunteers are out every day in Wildomar picking up litter, including 4 miles on the freeway, and we leave the filled orange bags for pickup on the next business day. Please do not drop off any items, trash or tires near the orange bags. 

The city provides two free dump days and residents can also call their waste haulers for special pickups. The next cleanup day is 11/5/22 please watch for notices from your local waste hauler.

The actual "Montague Brothers" hard at work to keep their community looking good.

Wildomar's future leaders chipping in making Wildomar a nicer place to live.

It may seem like a small problem, illegal dumping, but there are two options when one is found. 

Clean it up, or leave it there. 

I haven't met too many people that are good with couches, tires, old sinks from a remodel, yard waste, empty liquor bottles, and a myriad of other castoffs that regularly are dumped off by someone that couldn't-care-less-about-their-effects-on-the-other-99%-of-us storing garbage willy-nilly wherever they want. 

Call me Karen if you want to, I'm not phased if you're in the 1% that thinks this is no big deal. 

If this is you, or you know someone that uses this method to lighten their loads, please STOP IT! Seriously, shake yourself and show some civic pride or move out of town. 

There are many reputable junk haulers that service Wildomar, that don't dump their loads on the side of the road. I can think of four or more off the top of my head, so there's no excuse for dumping in the public right of way or on someone else's private property. I don't want to name them here, because I don't want to leave any out, but they regularly advertise in local Facebook groups on Mondays. Seek and ye shall find. 

Left to Right: Joseph Morabito, Public Works man Brad, Dan Gonse, Public Works man Steven and code name Johnny Grove... errr, Jerry Orchard. 😁

A big thank you to Montague Brothers Coffee for bringing over beverages and to Johnny of Pam's Donuts for showing up with a box of donuts. You just gotta love our town. ❤

• Group Effort Puts a Dent In It

Thirty-eight volunteers getting psyched up to do ten years of yard work in two hours. 😁

Donuts (donated by the VFW) and a pep talk before beginning.

Not the best "before" picture as a lot of work had already been done... but still a long way from the final look.

It started when Code Enforcement was called out to check on a property that was in need of some TLC (to put it mildly).

There were volunteers of all ages. 

Code Enforcement approached us (Dan Gonse and Joseph Morabito) after a Coffee with the Mayor event wondering if the Wildomar Beautification Volunteers might be able to lend a hand in a distressed situation.

A bird's eye view from the top of the roll-off dumpster.

From there Councilwoman Bridgette Moore jumped in and got the groundwork laid that saw 30 volunteers meet bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:30am to tackle this daunting task.

It took a few moments to get into the groove, but soon enough the volunteers were working in unison like a determined colony of ants with the same objective: let's get this done before the Sun really heats up. 😁

Mayor Ben Benoit atop the dumpster. Not the easiest job to volunteer for, but there he is... while I'm on this side of the camera and keyboard. 😅

Among the thirty volunteers were four members of the Wildomar city council, and three members of Wildomar's Code Enforcement Team.

I asked Bridgette for a recap of the morning: "Today we have over 30 volunteers helping an elderly veteran in the city of Wildomar. We have our mayor, Ben Benoit here, mayor pro-tem Joseph Morabito and council members Ashlee DePhillippo and Bridgette Moore." 

Look at the difference on that fence line.

"We also have our code enforcement team here. We have Prestige Nutrition. We want to thank our sponsor CR&R for donating the bin. And also Agustin Montesinos for trimming the palm tree."

Imagine all the palm fronds that had to be cut off of that tree.

It was said to be an $1800 job that they donated.

Michelle, of *Prestige Nutrition, and her daughter Ava, along with the other members of her family, were out in force.

*Prestige Nutrition is a new business in town. It's near Go-Nutz Donuts and Altura Credit union. It's veteran owned and they're already looking to be active members of the Wildomar community. 

I'm guessing that people who regularly use that road will be doing double-takes for the next week or two as they pass by it. Out of privacy concerns for the resident, I'm not going to post the address here. 

A candid picture of Bridgette Moore in action. In addition to organizing this, she worked it too. If you look close enough, you'll see a special shoe on her left foot. She had hurt it just a little over a week ago, but didn't let that slow her down where it would have easily sidelined me. 

After tons of debris surrounding this piece of equipment had been removed, it was evident that it wasn't going anywhere. I made a note to myself after seeing this. Clean out the garage and side yard while it can be accommodated with regular trash cans.

In the end, there was still a lot more work to do, but talk about having one heckuva head start. 

Wildomar is taking a more serious approach to code enforcement these days and though you may have been neglecting things for years (or decades) that's not going to be a valid excuse if you get that knock on your door.