• Wildomar Gets New Bus Shelter

The northern end of Wildomar, better known as Sedco, got a new bus shelter today at the corner of Elberta and Mission Trail.

Getting the shelter in place.

If you're thinking, "I can think of another 20 places in town that could use a shelter," let me give you the hitch involved first.

This whole operation took less than an hour. 

Thanks to the ADA laws, the shelters must have wheelchair access. You're probably thinking, "Sounds good to me, what's the problem?"

Once last look at the shelterless corner.

2020 RTA Chair Bridgette Moore gives the bus shelter a looking over before it's put into place.

RTA's Jim Kneepkins chats with Bridgette Moore.

Well, if you've seen other bus stops in Wildomar, you've noticed that many are just off the side of the road in the dirt. To install a modern bus shelter, there must be proper footings and wheelchair access.

This is one of dozens of examples of our rural bus stops.

That can change the cost but many dozens of thousands of dollars... which makes them cost prohibitive in much of Wildomar.

RTA Chair Bridgette Moore lends a hand to get the shelter installed... or it's a photo-op... you decide. 😁

Anywho, thanks to the tireless efforts of Bridgette Moore (who has been Wildomar's RTA representative for 10 years), 2020's RTA Chair, Wildomar has this new bus shelter.

Next on Bridgette's radar is getting that corner in better shape. 

• All-Inclusive Picnic 2019

Wildomar's first ever All-Inclusive event was a big success with over 50 individuals with special needs and over 100 total attendees!

Listening to Hi Hopes after the meal.
Photo Courtesy Richard Deskin

Dinner was donated by Barons Market, thank you, and the music was performed by the band Hi Hopes. It just so happens that the musicians also have special needs.

To the right you can see the interpreter for the deaf.
Photo Courtesy Bridgette Moore

This keyboardist had it down.
Photo Courtesy Richard Deskin

The drummer didn't miss a beat.
Photo Courtesy Richard Deskin

Many loved the chance to dance in front of the stage.
Photo Courtesy Richard Deskin

Faith Bible Church brought their ice cream truck and handed out many frozen treats to the attendees. 

So many varieties, and all tasty.
Photo Courtesy Bridgette Moore

Also at the park was TapSnap —the fun photo experience, a craft table, and RTA had a booth, along with a bus, that was there to help those that would like a primer on how to ride the bus.

TapSnap gets ready to take a pic of the band. 

Painting rocks... or painting rocks!
Photo Courtesy Bridgette Moore

You can see the RTA bus in the background, and Wildomar city manager Gary Nordquist speaking with councilmember Joseph Morabito.

Photo Courtesy Bridgette Moore

This event couldn't have happened without the passion of city council member Bridgette Moore. For a year or more she's been volunteering with the High Hopes program in Temecula and wanted to bring similar opportunities to Wildomar.

Recreational opportunities should be available to all our residents and the Inclusion Picnic in the Park provided social interaction with their peers. 

After I volunteered for the High Hopes program, it was suggested to have an outdoor picnic event. I proposed the event to our city and obtained sponsorships. The Inclusion Picnic in the Park was so successful that we want to make it annual event!
—Brigette Moore

I hope to see this become an annual event. If you are interested in either participating in this event, know of someone that would enjoy such an event, or would like to be a sponsor of it, please feel free to email the city. 

jmorales@cityofwildomar.org

Part of the obligation when being on city council, being silly at park events.
L to R: Joseph Morabito, Bridgette Moore, Jessie Taylor and Marsha Swanson.

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One man with courage is a majority.
– Dale Carneghie

Wildomar Rap questions Mr. Carneghie's math, but admires his moxy in so stating it.

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.

• Bus Stop Dilemma

UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM OF BLOG

To catch you up to speed on this issue, here's what I know of it. Sometime last year Wildomar Senior Assisted Living asked if the long time bus stop in front of their business could be relocated. Early in January the bus stop was relocated to the corner of Elm and Palomar. 

The red arrow indicates the location of the bus stop.

The concerns of those that live nearby are multiple. 

First, the buses have been going down the smaller streets (Maple and Illinois). You might be asking, "What's the big deal with that?" 

Those are NOT city streets. 

The city doesn't maintain them (there are quite a few streets like that throughout Wildomar). Any maintenance is paid for directly by the homeowners, and the streets aren't in tip top shape to begin with. Also, the safety of the neighborhood kids was mentioned more than once.

A look at the newly painted red curb, that removes about 80% of it from parking cars.

Second, the red curb (bus zone) was far longer than one would think it should be. By changing the color of the curb to red, it's made the customers of the store either park across the street or risk a ticket by parking in the red (yes, this is Wildomar, and we only have one cop and all that, but the point still stands). Also, the vendors that supply the corner store face the same thing. 

With that established, local resident Sandy Gibbs didn't let much time go by before she started emailing city councilmember Bridgette Moore about her concerns. She also took to posting on a couple of the local facebook pages.

Brian Gibbs looks on as his wife Sandy hands a copy of a signed petition to Jim Kneepkens (off camera) of RTA.

Though councilmember Moore was working on this from the outset, Sandy didn't hesitate long before putting together a petition that her neighbors signed outlining their views on the new bus stop location.

A busy location for a community meeting, but it worked well and gave a chance for the officials to see exactly what the neighbor's were talking about.

Before the informal meeting got started, I had a chance to ask Sandy for her thoughts on the matter. She showed me a time stamped image of an RTA bus using Maple that very day, even though the drivers have been told not to use them before.

Part of the printout that Sandy Gibbs handed to Councilmember Moore.

The meeting was in the vacant lot on the northwest corner of Elm and Palomar. It was attended by a dozen of the neighbors, and in addition to Councilmember Moore, Assistant City Manager Dan York was there as was Jim Kneepkens of RTA.

From left to right, Jeff (I didn't get his surname) Dan York, Bridgette Moore, Jim Kneepkens, Brian Gibbs.

It started with Councilmember Moore giving a brief background as to why the bus stop was moved, and also why their streets aren't maintained by the city. 

Brief background: Parts of Wildomar were built way back when, and the area in question is the original part of town that hearkens back to the beginning, more than 100 years ago. The streets weren't built to modern standards and the county never accepted them as official streets. When Wildomar became a city 10 years ago, they followed suit and didn't accept them as fully dedicated streets either.

It's an interesting concept how they aren't public streets and they aren't private streets either. There is a way to have those become part of the city street scheme, where they would take over maintenance, but that would require an increase in property taxes... and I'm not sure how that actually works if all the residents aren't on board with the idea.

It was asked by Bridgette Moore (and later Jim Kneepkens) if RTA could wait to move the stop until May, since they've just printed up the schedules, and they would be doing so again in May.

The words were scarcely out of her mouth before one of the residents emphatically replied, "No! No it's not ok. You asked, and I answered. No, it's not ok, that's way too long." (The same resident later threatened to park her car in the street, so that the buses couldn't pass, if necessary.)

Councilmember Moore wanted to make sure that the bus riders weren't going to be getting outdated info from printed materials that weren't accurate, and wanted to avoid the needless costs of reprinting guides that will be updated in a few months.

Brian Gibbs offered, "Can't you put a sign on there (the bus stop in question) saying the stop [has been] moved across the street?"

There is a bus stop in front of the post office that runs the same route, about a stone's throw away.

A convergence of three buses were all stopped at the same time while the meeting was going on. There were quite a few riders that got on and off them.

At that, Jim Kneepkens jumped in.

I'm taking blame for what my drivers are doing. I apologize and it will stop tomorrow. We will get out of your neighborhood as soon as we can. We'd like till May, but if you need us out earlier, we can make that happen. 

— Jim Kneepkens, RTA

Though one person wanted the changes sooner, "Tomorrow's good".

Mr. Kneepkens responded that he's going to notify his customers, since they depend on RTA, before any changes are made.

Here's where local resident Jeff (he didn't offer his last name) tossed out something that seemed quite reasonable, "We've got to allow them to have the process, but please, please, for my children's sake, please don't run those buses through Maple anymore."

In the end, it was agreed that the stop will be moved, and that until that's done, the buses will no longer be using the undedicated roads to get to the existing stop.  

As long as the residents had the ear of the locals, they asked several more questions ranging from the streets, graffiti, flooding, and even last year's big sensation — the Camelia Townhouse Project and zoning. 

They should have been reading Wildomar Rap all along and at least that question could have been skipped. ☺

I asked Sandy Gibbs if she was pleased with the outcome of the meeting, and she sure seemed to be. Even before this blog could be finished she'd already posted an update at facebook about it.

Observation time: 

I saw Wildomar city officials, and one from RTA, come to an offbeat location, as the sun was disappearing, to speak to the residents. This meeting lasted about 45 minutes and throughout it all the officials listened, and responded. Even to all the other issues that were introduced.

I don't know. Maybe this is something that happens everywhere else. Maybe LA's Mayor Gil Garcetti meets with a dozen residents too. LOL

Seriously, a big thank you to Bridgette Moore, Dan York (who gave many detailed answers to questions, and invited them all to City Hall on Valentine's day - it being a regularly scheduled city council meeting and all...☺), and to Jim Kneepkens for caring about the community.

What I'd like to see, even if only a dozen or so people show up, is to have townhall meetings in such "offbeat" places as this. Be it at the park, a Starbucks (or the new Bean at the Barn), or an open field, each of the city council members should be doing this once a year, and the Mayor could be doing it twice a year.

The public comment portion of the city council meetings is fine, but how much more grand it would be to have less formal opportunities to speak to the electeds, and some of the higher ranking city staffers. Sure, I know that you're very approachable at city events (which there are many), but others don't know it, and sometimes you're needed in several different directions at once (all five of you, though one of you more than the other four ☺).

If nobody shows up to your townhall meeting (which is an even bet most of the time) then at least you put in the effort.

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U P D A T E

As of February 11th, the bus stop in question had been removed and the red curb painted over. 

Photo courtesy of Sandy Gibbs.

A look at the new location for the bus stop, across from the Jolie Day Spa.

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"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality."
– Ayn Rand

Wildomar Rap avoids the consequences of avoiding the consequences by eschewing the consequences instead.

• New Bus Shelter

Wildomar recently got two additional bus shelters in town. 

One in front of the library, and the other in front of Falcon Square (which is where Weichert Realtors, and Boost Mobile is).

To mark the occasion, there was a ribbon cutting at the library. A few words were spoken by 2017 RTA Chair Linda Krupa, then Wildomar's own Bridgette Moore, and followed up by RTA CEO Larry Rubio.

It was a little dicey trying to get this shot, as car were speeding by. This was taken from across the street by Grace Morabito and Christopher Yepez. Councilmember Bridgette Moore is wielding the scissors, and in the crowd is also councilmember Marsha Swanson, RTA Chair Linda Krupa, Librarian Melina Velasquez, EVMWD board member George Cambero and few more dignitaries.

That boosts the total up to five bus shelters in town. The rest of the bus stops in the area are lucky to have a bench. (Though more benches have been added recently.)

In order to get such a shelter, the area first must meet all the requirements set out by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). 

I asked RTA CEO Larry Rubio how much it cost to put in such a shelter, and he told me that without adding in improvements (see photo below) they run about $10,000 each.

Awhile back, I heard one estimate at a T-NOW meeting, that after going through a typical lengthy permitting process, the costs can approach $50,000 if the site wasn't already in compliance. Gotta love our bureaucracy. 

To accommodate the fencing and the shelter, the slab had to be extended by several feet.
That contributes to the costs going beyond the entry level figure of $10K.

These shelters are solar powered, and have lights that go on after dark. The lights, which aren't obtrusively bright, stay on during the entire night.

My guess is that less than 3% of all Wildotuckians could tell you where Falcon Square is by name.

I asked Wildomar city council member Bridgette Moore, who also represents the City of Wildomar on the RTA Board of Directors for her thoughts.

“RTA is making good on its commitment to continually improve passenger amenities,” She further added, “This new shelter not only improves the streetscape, but also enhances our customers’ overall travel experience.”

We now have 5 upgraded bus shelters in Wildomar.
The four shelters are located at:

• Palomar & Central

• Wildomar Community Library
• Wildomar Assisted Living Senior Center
• Inland Valley Hospital
• Clinton Keith and George (near Oak Springs Ranch Apartments)

A representative of Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez's office stopped by with a certificate for the occasion.

Hemet mayor Linda Krupa, Wildomar council member Bridgette Moore
and Samantha Stilwell of Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez's office.

Any opinions on where the next such shelter should be located? Suggestions have included: in front of the Elks Lodge; in front of Circle K at the corner of Bundy Canyon and Mission Trail; and near the Rite Aid at the corner of Palomar and Clinton Keith.

As aside, the funding for these bus shelters came from RTA. No Wildomar dollars were used to get them here. 

What local event is complete without some of GoNutz Donuts specialized creations?

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Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.

— William Butler Yates, 1865-1939

Wildomar Rap tip of the day: Wait till the iron is hot to flatten those wrinkles. Also, striking the iron isn't as effective as plugging it in.

• RTA 25¢ All Summer

Calling all parents! 

If your school age child is looking for something different to do this Summer, or you just want them out of the house for a few hours, consider taking an RTA bus trip for just a quarter.

I was at a T-Now meeting (Transportation Now), and spoke to RTA rep Eric Ustation about the program.

I asked who this program is targeted at and he told me, "Students, grade 1 through 12, with a valid student ID, or some proof that you're a student, and you can board any bus that goes anywhere, except for dial-a-ride. Commuter link, fixed route, go to the beach, go to the mall, go wherever we go."

This is valid through September 10th, 2016. 

I know that the world has changed a lot since I was a kid (when riding buses all over town was the norm), and many parents don't seem to give their kids much freedom these days, but if you're not one that has your child perpetually swaddled in bubble wrap, think about sending them off on an adventure for the afternoon. 

It'll be fun, just like it was when we were that age.

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"25 cents to go through this thing? Eh, we'll walk first!"

 — Bugs Bunny to the toll taker at the Panama Canal, 8 Ball Bunny, 1950 

Wildomar Rap reminds you: that all the bubble wrap in the world won't keep your kid from running you through the ringer... at least once.

• Southwest Transportation NOW

Went to an RTA meeting in Murrieta called Southwest Transportation NOW.

Click to see the official webpage for Transportation NOW.

First thing I'll remark on is Murrieta's City Hall. I'd seen it from the road countless times, but this was my first time inside. What a nice place it is and the residents there must be proud of it.

Murrieta City Hall

Back to the meeting at hand.

It was a short meeting chaired by Lake Elsinore City Councilman Daryl Hickman. Gotta love a meeting that is scheduled from 12:00 to 1:00 and all the business gets addressed, a sandwich and salad get eaten, some chatting and visiting go on and you're home by 1:00... which included a quick stop at the bank. At the RTA Roadeo, from a couple of weeks back, he did drive the fastest so it makes sense that his meetings would fly by too.

The interesting part was the Ridership Report. It was announced that the ridership of October 2014 was the highest in the history of RTA at around 962,000.

Falling gas prices, and possible effects on ridership, were discussed. Deni Horne, field representative for Melissa Melendez's office,  reminded people that gas prices will spike at the first of the year due to a hidden gas tax (read the LA Times article on it here).

It was mentioned that even though gas prices have come down, that the economy hasn't really changed and that the costs associated with operating an automobile are still prohibitive to those that use the bus as their way of getting around.

In the announcements part of the agenda, Deni Horne mentioned a Holiday Open House that will be hosted by Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez and County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries at The Links at Summerly, on December 9th from 4pm-7pm.

Even if you just stop by for a moment, it'll be a good chance to meet some of your elected officials.

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Justice without strength is helpless. Strength without justice is tyrannical. So many times, unable to make what is just strong, we have made what is strong just. — Blaise Pascal

Wildomar Rap would love to offer The Daily Jumble... but Wildomar Rap isn't even a daily publication so that would be silly.

• 2014 RTA Roadeo

No, it isn't a misprint. 

It's a portmanteau of Road and Rodeo = Road•e•o... get it?

I had heard that this was going to be happening and that one of our city council members, also a member of the Board of Directors for RTA—Bridgette Moore, was going to be a participant, so I asked if I could tag along.

The day started at 6:30AM, with arrival at the Hemet RTA compound a little after 7:00AM. You'd never know it was November with the 90 degree temps. The first Operator Contestant (Driver for the uninitiated) started off at 8:15AM.

They went through an obstacle course that included tennis balls, sharp turns in both directions, backing up into a narrow pocket between cones—from both angles, finished up by going through two rows of barrels that narrows as you went. The drivers had 7 mins to complete the course with as few errors as possible (knocking cones over, or flattening tennis balls).

As luck would have it, our council member was the last driver slated to get behind the wheel. Perhaps seeing what the other drivers had done first was a help, because she really did well—didn't kill any tennis balls, and knocked over only a smattering of cones. [She did elect NOT to do any of the backing up drills, so he her kill ratio probably would have gone up had she done those.]

I took some video, but buses going slowly around cones doesn't make for the best viewing experience... so I sped up parts of it by about 1000%. The portions of the video that are of the bus, is a compilation of various drivers. The portion from inside the bus was when Bridgette Moore was driving. It was a fun ride, but I can tell that those breaks must have been a bear to get the feel of. At times it felt like I was getting tossed around by a big swell while body surfing. ☺

▼

There was also a tour of the facilities. The compound used to be owned by one of the trash companies and is being readied for RTA (though it looked about 99% there already). Just some office shifting, and moving a call center, and a reception area are left for it to be completed.

I saw where the new driver training classrooms were, a call center, the locker rooms, where they wash and detail the buses. It was an impressive set up. Perhaps once they've got it all up and running they'll let me blog about them and their mission to Riverside County and Wildomar.

Click to enlarge the image.

So, other than watching the various contestants drive, and enjoy some coffee and donuts... later hamburgers and hot dogs, I wanted to know what the Roadeo 2014 was all about. I was pointed in the direction of Rosie Rozatti, operations manager, and she explained it this way.

I'm part of the Southern California Regional Roadeo Committee.

Today we had a competition to narrow down from all the really good drivers we have to one driver and an alternate to compete in international Roadeo competition, which will be in Fort Worth, Texas in May 1-5, 2015.

After today's Roadeo competition the winner, Kyle Jones, he'll go on to compete in our Southern California Regional Roadeo. Which will be the end of April. It'll be held at SunLine Transit.

That's where the various regional roadeo member agencies have one person that competes —one operator. That's just a practice, everybody that has won their local Roadeo, will go on to the international event.

In addition to getting the best score on the course, operators must meet other qualifications too. Including APTA (American Public Transportation Association), attendance, accidents, discipline, they have to have a clean record in those regards for the prior year to be eligible to compete.

Click here to see APTA's page on the Roadeo.

So I then asked, "Some taxpayers might be scratching their heads, and wondering 'why have a Roadeo in the first place?' How would you answer them?"

The Roadeo competition does boost operator morale. We do have a set budget for the Roadeo competition but the majority of the effort is done on a volunteer basis.

Had to love the vintage bus that was on display. It was the first model RTA used back in the '60s.

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If you're alive... LIVE!
—Malcomb Forbes

The last rodeo Wildomar Rap participated in is still slated for sometime in the future... just don't hold your breath.