• City Council Meeting October 2017

All meetings should be like this one was. 

Substance without shenanigans. 

As fun and delightful as Miss Miller (and the rest of team Cantankerotti) can be, her absence allowed for an entire productive meeting to start and finish within an hour. That and no front loaded presentations that often take up to 45 minutes. ☺

There was much gone over in the meeting and I'll share the parts that I found most pertinent. 

Public Comments on non agenda items

• Maureen Kennedy told the council about her concerns concerning crime in her area (near Gafford).

I'm going to post the video of her comment to show you what you can expect when you go to a city council meeting looking to give a public comment. It's just good people seeking to help other good people. 

2.1 Allocation of Community Development Block Grant (CDGB) Funds
This is where local non profits come and state their case as to why the city should give them money. The money is given to the city by the feds (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to be specific), to then apply to projects that will help areas of need within the city.

Click link to read more

The bulk of the money ($127K) that the city had to deal with this cycle, is going to a capital improvement project: The Sedco/Mission Trail Sidewalk Construction Project.

The rest of the money (a whopping $20,677 to be exact) was bid upon by four local non profit organizations.

• Assistance League of Temecula Valley asked for $15,000
• HOPE asked for $25,000
• Merit Housing asked for $10,750
• Rancho Damacitas asked for $10,000

In the end, the Assistance League and HOPE each got $9,000, with the remaining $2,677 going to Rancho Damacitas.

Based on the stats, that the Assistance League had helped clothe 123 kids from Wildomar, at $125 per student, has to be the best bargain going. 

Basic arithmetic tells you that the AL spent about $15,000 on Wildomar kids this year as part of their "Operation School Bell" project.

The odd man out — again, was Merit Housing. They are the people behind the Wildomar Senior Assisted Living off of South Pasadena St. 

I was glad to see Councilmember Marsha Swanson lay out why she wasn't in favor of including Merit Housing among the groups getting Wildomar CDBG monies.

"Merit Housing, that runs Merit Housing over there, they're a non profit, but that's not who owns it. That project is owned by a huge company, Merit Housing, I believe, that's what the tax rolls say. Everybody that lives there pays rent. We've asked them over and over to open as a cooling zone for our residents during the Summer —they have to have the air on for their people and they have the room, and we can never seem to get any cooperation, and they don't come here [to ask for the CDBG in person]. To give them money to raise someone's salary, doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

— Councilmember Marsha Swanson

The video of the 25 minute agenda item is below.
 3.1 Professional Services Agreement Re: 27 Acre Park

Suffice to say it's exciting to see the 27 acre future park getting closer to opening... at least in part. 

There will be three community workshops in the coming weeks and months that were billed as being "fun and interactive". 

• November 16 was mentioned as the likely date for the first workshop, but it wasn't set in stone. If you watch the video, you'll hear a bit of wavering about it. If you're signed up for city emails, just keep an eye opened for the official announcement.

• Something termed a "popup workshop" was mentioned, to be held at the yearly Breakfast With Santa event. This year it's slated for 

It's always dicey when city staffers try and give details of future projects. Many times things outside of their control come into play and cause unwanted delays. 

Still, Assistant City Manager Dan York talked about the first likely development for the new park.

"The input that we heard, at least up to this point in time, the community would like to have some amenity right off the bat. Whether it's walking trails, or the like. Our first phase [...] we'll try to get something opened to the public sooner than later; hopefully within the next year or so."

—Assistant City Manager, Dan York

The video below is just seven and a half minutes. If you're interested in the future park site, it's well worth your attention.

3.3 New Planning Commissioner Appointment

As most of the regular readers of Wildomar Rap know, long time Wildomar resident and planning commissioner, Stan Smith died in August. Which left an opening on the Wildomar Planning Commission.

How delightful it was to read in the agenda packet the name, Mason Ballard. He was chosen to finish the term that runs concurrent with Mayor Pro-Tem Ben Benoit.

He's a relative new comer to the area, but he and his family have already laid down roots in the W. They are active in the community and it's good to see such alacrity when it comes to public service. 

Watch the video below of him thanking the City Council for partnering with Wildomar Little League, for the past season's TOC that was held at Marna O'Brien park, to get a taste of his enthusiasm.
The city manager report had a ton of great info in it.
First was a reminder about the State of the City event, which will be next week, October 19th. All are welcomed, but you need to get your FREE tickets ahead of time.

 City of Wildomar's 2017 State of the City 

Below is a graphic from the report that details the beginning and ending dates for three projects that have been in the pipeline for quite awhile.

Watch the video (below) for more details.

• Malaga Park is located on the southeast corner of Mission Trail and Malaga at the city line between Wildomar and Lake Elsinore.

Let's hope that this fence will be coming down when the new Malaga Park is done.

UPDATE: VIDEO NOW INCLUDED

Info about the Bundy Canyon project

begins at the 3:00 mark of the video.

Also mentioned at the meeting were: 

• An Elks Lodge spaghetti dinner fundraiser for shooting victim Chelsea Romo. It'll be October 22nd. Use this link for more information.

• Trunk or Treat at Marna O'Brien park Saturday, October 28th. If you'd like to be one of the "vendors" that pass out candy, contact the city for more information. There is no cost, other than the candy you pass out.

•                •                •

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

– Albert Einstein

Wildomar Rap values success, but has a very different definition of it than most 21st century denizens.