• City Council Meeting August 2020

Though there were a few spots where technical difficulties slowed the meeting's progress, everyone that wanted to participate had their opportunity.

Brianna Hayward, Wildomar's new Community Service Officer. Mayor Dustin Nigg looks on from his seat on the dais.

TOP NEWS FROM THE MEETING

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• Meet Wildomar's new CSO: Brianna Hayward
• Bundy Canyon inches closer to construction
• Right of way enhancement program 
• Orange trash bags 
• Future City Council Zoom meetings will have an earlier start time

Meeting Recap

Item 2.1, regarding ADUs (accessory dwelling units) was tabled because of a last moment email. I don't really get it. I saw the email and would love to ask the people behind it something. Hey, are you new to the concept of calendars or something?

Seriously, they seemed to want a minor change added to the language (in my view anyway) so why not deliver the email in a more timely manor? 

This will be coming back to a future city council meeting.

2.2 Covid Update

Here's my recap... Covid is still a thing, and there's no end in sight to the "new normal". For details, please watch the video below.

I remember stating back in March, when we thought that all we had to do was hunker down for two weeks and it would all be over, something like: "Two weeks will go by quickly, just get with the program. By Christmas it'll be a distant memory." 

3.2 Right of Way Enhancement Program

This is an entailed program, and I admitted during the meeting that it would have still been difficult to fully grasp if it would have been a 2 hour seminar.

I invite you to watch the video for all the details that were presented. In the meantime, I'll give it a go of how this will work in theory... at least one arm of it.

Just a sampling of the graphics included in this item.

Let's say you live on a dirt road, but would like more maintenance than your property taxes are currently able to afford, or even a state of the art paved road. 

This program will allow you to go to your neighbors, convince 67% to join in a CFD (Community Facilities District... aka Mello-Roos) which increases your property taxes, and then get your dirt road paved.

Yes, that was over simplified, but that's how I took it.

The same would apply if you live in a subdivision that would like street sweeping, streetlights, a fancy new greenbelt that your old CSA tax no longer supports.

In the end keep this simple formula in mind when considering upgrades to your street or other amenities. You can have anything that you're willing to pay for. What you can't do is expect people from other parts of the city to pay for something that benefits a handful of people in your area.

Bundy Canyon Update

The bids are out and it's anticipated that Bundy Canyon will see construction beginning sometime in the 4th quarter. That's good news. What was a little startling to me was that the construction will be from Cherry Street to Oak Canyon. 

I knew it wasn't going any further east than that mark, but since the part between Cherry and the freeway is under the domain of Caltrans it will be part of a future project.

I must have been sleep walking during the last dozen meetings where this project was mentioned, because this was the first time that I remember hearing that the project didn't go all the way to the on and off ramps.

City Manager Report

It was during this segment of the meeting that a new start time for city council meetings was discussed. Starting at the September city council meeting, the new (temporary) time will be 5:00pm (17:00 to those of us that use the 24 hour clock). 

Orange Trash bags are being ordered so that goodhearted residents can collect litter from the roadsides and then leave the easily identifiable bags on the side of the road for collection that week.

Orange Bags, why that color?

Well, though it may make no difference to you, the bright orange bag is high visibility and easily distinguished from bags that might be illegally dumped on the side of the road. 

BREAKING NEWS: Trash Bag Gate

You know all things are swell in River City when the some of the more strident locals take to grumbling about a new city sponsored trash bag program on social media..

Wildomar Rap opinion time

Look, I can grouse as dismally as the next guy, but it takes someone with Olympian level kvetching skills to find fault in the new orange bag program.

The program was going to come online last Spring and can you take a wild guess as to what got in the way? I'll give you five guesses and the first four don't count.

Now that it's obvious that Sir Covidalot refuses to stand down, things that were "on hold" are being put back online... like the orange bag program.

Though I understand that you could have accomplished it much sooner, we were busy proof reading a form letter email that was never going to be opened in the first place (that's a super inside joke, but I know it's being enjoyed by the three people that get it... LOL).

Then the "Hey, if I still have any street cred left, let me dip it in the boiling acid" coup de grâce that was delivered on social media.

The bags were referred to as "Gucci" bags because there will be a logo on the side. 

That officially displaces the highly revered George Taylor from Wildomar's King of Hyperbole. Let's go down memory lane and watch how he referred to Wildomar as The Fast Food Capital of the World, which he did on many occasions.

It's takes the same thought process to be against the extra pennies per bag to add a city logo (very common practice in 2020) as it took to be against Wildomar hiring an economic development director. 

We get it, you want Wildomar to return to the halcyon days of the 1980s. When all roads were pristine and all greenbelts were actually, well, um... green.

Thing is, Stewie Griffin's time machine is only found in cartoons and we're here now.... in 2020. 

The logo for trash bags distributed by the city.

Here's a nickel's worth of free advice, when you find fault in everything, people begin to tune out. Something I'd consider an unorthodox campaign strategy for someone looking to dethrone an amazingly popular person in an election that is less than three months out.

Non agenda item

For the record, with only one candidate filing to run in District 2 this year, that means you will NOT be seeing any vote for Dustin signs around town.

I wonder if that link still works?

Congrats on your flawless victory, Mr. Mayor. 😀

An in action photo of Wildomar CSO Brianna Hayward.

•                •                •

A series of minor coincidences, mounting to a minor climax; the process of life. Yet, which one of us knows, or can suspect, how the smallest happenstance may shape the pattern of our fate?

– EG Marshall (CBSRMT)

Wildomar Rap is a rather minor series of coincidences and certainly the smallest happenstance recorded in at least the last decade, if not longer.

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