• Are You The Next Member of the Wildomar City Council?

This year three of the five seats are up and will be on the ballot. 

One seat for sure will be getting a new face, district 1, the seat that 2022 Mayor Ben Benoit has held since 2010. 

Which district are you in?

He is running for a county wide seat, Controller/Auditor, and cannot be on the ballot for two races at the same time. 

That leaves his seat wide open 

I've heard that one person from district 1 has made an appointment with the city clerk to "pull papers" as it's now. That's when you get a chance to stick your toe a little deeper into the exciting waters of local politics.

Here is a link to the districts map; see which one you're in.

The other two seats that are up are district 3 and 5. That's Joseph Morabito (me) and recently appointed Ashlee DePhillippo. 

I have it on good authority that both Joseph Morabito (me) and Ashlee DePhillippo are planning on running for another term.

In my case, a second term. In Ashlee's case this will be her first election run.

► My thoughts on seeking reelection

I've enjoyed my four years on council and would be honored to be elected for another four years, but as I've said since day one of my campaign back in 2018, "It's not about me, it's about the voters."

I know that sounds a bit corny or contrived, but it's not, it's true. I don't have an agenda, other than to provide clear and timely communication from the city to the residents. 

I only want your vote if you believe that I've done a good job representing you. If you are ready for new representation I fully respect that. It's your choice, and you will owe no one (especially not me) an explanation as to why or how you voted.

If you would like to support my bid for reelection, please comment. To be fair, if you're sick of me and ready for new representation, it's fair to let me know that too. 

I've heard that someone in District 3 has made an appointment to get their nomination papers. That's how it should be. Those on council want to be elected in, we really don't want to just walk into it, even if that's an easier path. 

The idea is for Wildomar, and in my case District 3, to have solid representation. 

That'll be up to the voters to determine in November. In the meantime, I'm still willing to do "Better Know a Candidate" blogs on all the candidates, and that goes for any challengers against me... even if that's a bit awkward. 😅  

I'm also happy to meet with all the candidates or just the ones from District 3 for a meet and greet, or a debate that's opened to the voters. 

If you're interested in running for any of the seats, even mine, you need to make an appointment with the city clerk. Those appointments start on July 18th and run through (I believe) the second week of August (the 12th). But double check on that, I may be mistaken. 

Please check below to see if you meet the qualifications to run.

From the city's website

Election Information

The City of Wildomar consolidates its election with the Riverside County Registrar of Voters who provides the voter registration, ballot materials, polling places and other activities. The City Clerk serves as the local Election's Officer and is responsible for issuing and receiving Nomination Papers, accepting City Measures and for the publication of all legal notices.  

City’s General Municipal Election Schedule

The City of Wildomar is a General Law City governed by a five-member City Council. Members of the City Council are elected by district for a four-year term. Pursuant to California Elections Code Sections 1301(b), 1000 and 10403.5, beginning in November of 2010 and every even-numbered year thereafter, the City’s general municipal election shall be consolidated with the statewide general election held on the second Tuesday following the first Monday in November. (Ord. 08-15 § 2)

District Election Schedule

Councilmembers shall be elected in Council Districts 2 and 4 beginning at the General Municipal Election in November, 2016, and every four years thereafter. 

Council Members shall be elected from Council Districts 1, 3, and 5 beginning at the General Municipal Election in November, 2018, and every four years thereafter. (Ord. 118 § 2, 2016)

Candidate Qualification

- Must be 18 years of age.
- Must be a Citizen of the United States.
- Must live in, and be a registered voter in, the district in which he or she seeks election at the time nomination papers are issued, pursuant to California Government Code Section 34882 and Elections Code Section 10227. Termination of residency in a district by a Councilmember shall create an immediate vacancy for that Council district unless a substitute residence within the district is established within 30 days after the termination of residency.

For specific questions, contact:
City Clerk - Janet Morales
Phone: 951-677-7751 x 210
Email: jmorales@cityofwildomar.org     

• Ask Wildomar Rap: What's Up With The Different Color Street Signs?

As you have most likely noticed, the old green street signs are being updated to blue. 

I've been asked 'why are they no longer green?' 

Have you wondered about the different color schemes found on some signs?

That's an easy answer, green is the color of county signs, and now that we're a city, and the old signs are at the end of their lifespan, we're updating them to the new city design.

This is the second reversed sign that I've seen in town. Have you seen others?

The new signs are blue and white, but, if you've been paying close attention, you've noticed that once in a while there's a sign that has the colors reversed; white and blue.

I bet that you're wondering what that's about...

The blue signs are for public streets that the city maintains. 

The white signs are for private streets that the city does not maintain.  

The nuance is the private streets may be public but they are not maintained by the city. This dynamic is something inherited from the county. 

Good old Google Maps... not too long from now these green signs will all be relegated to the ash heap of Google memories. 

When will the changeover be complete?

The changeover program isn't a front-burner issue and is being done in segments as the budget allows. If your street hasn't been done yet, it will be in time. 

UPDATED:
I was asked why the Wildomar Trail signs are brown... I knew that I should have included that. 

The idea was to have the Wildomar Trail roadsigns stand out and give an old-timey feel.

Before.

After.

If you have questions for Wildomar Rap, I'll see if I can answer them. The question is how to contact me???  

Facebook is the best method... though I have an email that I don't check that often wildomarrap@gmail.com for those that have wisely avoided social media.

•                •                •

  

"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop." 

– Ovid

Wildomar Rap is doubtful of a bountiful crop, but has indeed been resting.

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.

• Volunteer Group of the Year: Wildomar Beautification Volunteers PART 2

You may be thinking, "Hey, wait a minute, wasn't this already covered?"

Joseph Morabito, Dan Gonse, Jerry Orchard, Ann White, Jim Webster, Debi Southerland, Keith Johnson, Nancy Linton, Sandi Fandrick, Bridgette Moore and Ashlee Dephillippo.

Yes, but no. The previous blog announced the news, this blog has some pictures of the day and an 8 minute video from the Board of Supervisors meeting where the non Wildomar portions were edited out. 

We invite you to come out and join us in making Wildomar beautiful. You don't have to become a regular, even once would be great. If you'd like to follow along with what the group is doing, use this link to get to the Facebook page.

Use this link for previously published info about Wildomar Beautification Volunteers.

Outside the County Building along with the volunteers of the year from other districts in Riverside County. 

From L to R: Wildomar Mayor Ben Benoit, Councilwomen Ashlee Dephillippo and Bridgette Moore, Mayor Pro-Tem Joseph Morabito with the mic, Supervisors Kevin Jefferies, Jeff Hewitt, Karen Spiegel and V. Manuel Perez.

Group shot of all the groups honored.

Wildomar Beautification Volunteers taking up the whole front row.

Can you name these people? Hint, they've been named up above. 😁

If you can't see the video above, you can use this link.

The Wildomar Beautification Volunteers have many, many members. Some are more active than others. There were several very active members that weren't able to make it to this meeting, I don't want to name them here, because invariably I'd leave out a name or two... but we know who you are. 😊

• Volunteer Group of the Year: Wildomar Beautification Volunteers

In the most recent issue of Supervisor Kevin Jeffries' newsletter he announced that Wildomar Beautification Volunteers were selected as this year's Volunteer Organization of the Year, and last of the original Wildomar city council members, Bridgette Moore, was selected as Volunteer of the Year.

The group will be honored at the April 26th Board of Supervisors Meeting.

Early on a Saturday morning, getting ready to beautify Wildomar.

Link to Supervisor Jeffries' Newsletter

If the font is too small to read on the image, here it is again. 😁

Supervisor Jeffries has selected the Wildomar Beautification Volunteers as the First District Volunteer Organization of the Year. 

In July 2020, Wildomar Councilwoman Bridgette Moore asked Mayor Pro Tem Joseph Morabito if he would accompany her on a litter pick up. They quickly saw that once a month would not make a dent so they planned for every week. Residents started joining in and a movement was started! The residents have created this wonderful group and have about 20 dedicated volunteers that are out in the community consistently. 

In 2022, they started picking up litter everyday. In addition, they have adopted 4 miles of the I15 freeway within the City. 

Their totals for 2021: Hours 1, 323 hours Bags 1,352

Bridgette spends countless hours out in the community cleaning and organizing daily events, supplies, and encouraging others to get involved in the community. 

Thank you Bridgette for all you do in the community. 

Bridgette and members of the Wildomar Beautification Volunteers will be honored at the April 26th Board Meeting during our Volunteers of the Year Presentation.

Link to September 2020 Blog About The Group

Bridgette has always been kind enough to include me (Joseph Morabito) as one of the founders of WBV. 

Yes I was there, much like the McDonald's brothers were there at the start of McDonald's, but it was Ray Kroc that made it a household name, and it's Bridgette Moore that breathed life into Wildomar Beautification Volunteers.

Ok, here's the reverse angle of the story... before Covid hit, there were a couple of residents that had been picking up litter on their own, most notably was Kathy Bundy and Jerry Orchard. I'm aware of a couple of others that regularly picked up litter, but they had been flying below my radar at that time.

In early 2020 a couple of friends and I went and picked up a couple of bags of trash at what used to be the Baxter/Central curve. I wrote a blog about it, but it didn't become a regular thing by any means. 

Then in the Summer of 2020, after a lot of chatter on Facebook about trash on our roadways, Bridgette asked if I'd join her in picking up litter in town, I said, "Sure." 

We thought that we'd pick up from McVicar to Grand and all the way to Clinton Keith. We were rookies then and had no idea how much time it actually took to pick up trash. We barely made it to Grand and back to the creek before we ran out of time.

We realized that once a month wasn't going to do anything, so we upped it to every other week, and then weekly. I remember the first time that other people joined in. I believe that it was Ann White and another person.

I was pretty regular with picking up trash on a weekly basis until the weather changed in December and it was barely light outside at our start time (great excuses, right? 😅). I went MIA until late January, and when I returned about eight weeks later, I saw how there were many new volunteers ready to make Wildomar beautiful. 

This is where things really changed. I was concerned that we couldn't keep up the pace of weekly, and was trying to lobby for twice a month or even monthly. I'm glad that Bridgette didn't listen to that and now the group has a couple of dozen regular members, all with great personalities and stories of their own, plus many others that come now and then. 

Not only is it a weekly thing now, there are some in the group that go out several times during the week, and the impact of all the volunteer hours really shows as Wildomar roadways continue to look better and better.

Thank you Bridgette Moore for having the tenacity and sticktoitiveness to take this from its humble beginnings to the point that you can take a week or two off and the group won't skip a beat. 

If you'd like to join the Wildomar Beautification Volunteers (even just one time), please reach out to either Bridgette or Joseph... but mostly Bridgette. ☺

Here's a link to the group's facebook page if you'd just like to take a look at what we do. 

 

• Wildomar Conversations: 4 Keith Johnson

Meet Keith Johnson. 

Keith Johnson at his place of employment, The Anchor.

He went into the Army at age 19. He spent fourteen years in the California Army National Guard with a rank of Sgt E5. He was discharged in 2016 and then opted to pursue a musical career in a band in the Lake Elsinore area. 

Things didn't work out as he'd planned, and within six months of that move he found himself homeless. He'd lost his place to live, his car, his family photos and records... he was on the streets of Lake Elsinore.

In 2018 he attempted a 90 day course of rehab, but only made it about 55 days before he headed back out to the street. It was about a year later that he first encountered SWAG. That occured at the lake bottom in Lake Elsinore. 

Three different looks of Keith; then, then and now.

It was around that time that local law enforcement changed their approach to homelessness and started arresting people for warrants, paraphernalia, trespassing, and other things that go unchecked in places like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Keith was arrested for trespassing multiple times and paraphernalia. Each time that happened SWAG was there to offer help. They knew who he was and had taken his information multiple times. Eventually, after six years of being homeless, he walked to The Anchor seeking help on his own. 

Click to read more about The Anchor

Keith has now had a year away from the streets 

He has goals and desires. He was able to reach this level by saying "yes" to help. Something he wasn't ready for earlier, but with persistence from the community partners of SWAG, RSO and code enforcement, he took that big first step and is well on his way to being an asset to the community. 

Please take a look at the interview with Wildomar Councilwoman Bridgette Moore to get a more complete picture. Note: the original video ran more than 20 minutes. I pared it down to a little over 10 minutes. 

I know that Keith credits Gloria Strippling and Ashlee Dephillippo for their help, but also the entire "SWAG tribe" as he referred them, in his success.

Though homeless individuals need food along with things like clean socks, clothes and even fresh shoes fairly regularly, it's counterproductive to hand them cash. Cash generally is used for one thing: Drugs or alcohol. 

If you're so moved as to want to donate money, seriously consider what it's going to be used for and seek out a trusted local organization, such as SWAG, to give the money to instead. This is where the well worn phrase comes into play, give a hand up, not a hand out.

What homeless people, or addicts, need the most is to know that there are people that sincerely care and CAN help. Not just clothes and food.

— Keith Johnson

Joseph Morabito and Keith Johnson.
Even with my super foofy hair, I'm still much shorter than Keith.

Below is a video regarding The Anchor. 

As an aside, "Say Yes" is a recently proposed campaign in the quest to assist chronic homeless people in getting off the streets put forth by Lake Elsinore City Councilwoman Natasha Johnson. 

• Press Release: Suspect Arrested in Connection to Multiple Burglaries

RSO press release regarding an arrest made using FLOCK to help solve a burglary series to several of our local businesses on Clinton Keith. 

Details from the press release:

K’John Henry Sands

Between the dates of February 14 -16, of 2022, multiple after hours business burglaries occurred, within the cities of Lake Elsinore, Wildomar and Temecula. The Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station -Special Enforcement Team (SET) assumed the investigation.

During the extensive investigation, K’John Henry Sands, 21-years-old, resident of Compton, was identified as the suspect in the burglaries. March 10, 2022, The Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station SET, arrested Sands and booked him into Cois Byrd Detention Center for numerous burglary related charges.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Investigator Mills at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station (951) 245-3300.

As a reminder, "Community Policing" involves partnerships between law enforcement and community members. Business owners and residents are encouraged to report criminal activity directly to law enforcement by calling Sheriff's Dispatch at (951) 776-1099, or by calling 911 if the matter is an emergency.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

Reporting Deputy: Sergeant Jeff Reese

File # L220470015/16 - WI220470005/13 - TE220470010/12/15/17/0121

Wildomar Rap opinion time

There was some skepticism when it came to the city joining in the FLOCK camera system which is being employed throughout the SWRivCo region. There were concerns dealing with civil liberties.

I'm known to tout my "libertarian leanings" but do not believe our civil liberties cover any semblance of "privacy" when in public places and especially not when real crimes are committed. 

Though I know that our civil liberties are the most important things we have (just look what the government of Canada did to people that were peacefully protesting against a specific set of their actions), I'm not of the all or nothing mindset. Shades of gray do exist, and this is great news that I hope to see repeated over and over in solving crimes... including illegal dumping. 

If you're not sure, please do some investigation before popping off, this is not Big Brother.

Below is a video from November 2021 where Sheriff Chad Bianco discusses FLOCK cameras.

 

• Application For Remainder of District 5 City Council Term

As you know, City Councilwoman Marsha Swanson has submitted her letter of resignation effective April 1, 2022 or when a replacement is sworn in. 

Below is the text from a recent email from the city clerk that shows how to apply to have her seat for the remainder of her term, which typically would go until the first meeting in December.

Link to application page

Direct from the city email:

CITY OF WILDOMAR - CITY COUNCIL NOTICE OF VACANCY IN DISTRICT 5 & APPLICATION PERIOD TO BE CONSIDERED FOR APPOINTMENT TO THE CITY COUNCIL

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of Wildomar is seeking applications for appointment to the City Council to fill a vacancy created when Councilmember Swanson resigned on February 10, 2022. 

The term of this seat is from the date of appointment to December 2022. 

Eligibility requirements to apply: 

1. Must be at least 18 years old. 

2. Must reside in District 5 of the City of Wildomar. 

3. Must be registered to vote at current address at the time the application is submitted. 

The application can be found on the City Clerk’s Department page at www.cityofwildomar.org by downloading the application; OR by emailing/calling the City Clerk at jmorales@cityofwildomar.org or 951-677-7751 x210 to request a copy.

Applications will be reviewed by the ad-hoc subcommittee. 

The top qualified candidates will be selected and invited to interview with the City Council at a Special Council Meeting tentatively scheduled for March 16, 2022 at 6PM. 

The appointment will be made at-large and will be voted upon by the entire City Council in open session. Directly following the vote by the Council, the appointed individual will be sworn in and begin the remainder of the term. 

To Apply: 

1. Complete the City Council Vacancy Application. 

2. Email the Application to jmorales@cityofwildomar.org OR Mail to: City of Wildomar, 23873 Clinton Keith Road Ste. 201, Wildomar, CA 92595 Attn: City Clerk Janet Morales or drop off at City of Wildomar 23873 Clinton Keith Road Ste. 110 Wildomar, CA 92595. 

All applications are due no later than Thursday March 10, 2022 at 5PM. 

Date: February 25, 2022 Janet Morales, City Clerk

Link to city clerk page

Link to application page

This is the original, but it's probably difficult to read, and that's why I included the text version above. 

Wildomar Rap opinion time

I can imagine that some residents may take issue with this part: The top qualified candidates will be selected and invited to interview with the City Council at a Special Council Meeting tentatively scheduled for March 16, 2022 at 6PM. 

There are a few things to keep in mind. 

The subcommittee is looking for someone to fill the seat for the remainder of the term and be willing to put in all the work that comes with the position. 

This is filling a vacancy so that District 5 doesn't go 10 months without representation, and to avoid any potential 2-2 votes on items that may come before the city council between now and then. 

I see no reason to make this a search that lasts any longer than is necessary. 

The type of person that gets this seat, in my estimation, needs to already be plugged into the basics of city matters. 

That would negate the need for holding applications open for 60 or 90 days because they'll already be aware of this opening.

This is not a beauty pageant. Not a popularity contest. Not a permanent situation.

It's not preventing people from putting their names on the ballot for the coming election where the voters will make the choice.

My hope is that we receive several applications from highly motivated residents, that have a history in our city, and also a history of working in the community.

Only one person can be appointed, and they need three votes. 

Whoever it ends up being, if they have thoughts of being there longer than the remainder of the term, they'll need to submit paperwork with their intentions to run as early as July, along with any other candidates.

I have more opinions, but I'm really not at liberty to share them in a blog. I'll be saving them for the night of the special meeting on March 16th.