• Meet Mitchell The Local Tree Hacker or Caveat Emptor

Ever have one of those times you'd like a Mulligan in real life?

It really started the night before when some tree hackers were using a chain saw at 8:00pm across the street from me. We all know —or should know, that leaf blowers (and the use of other noisy equipment) are to be confined between the hours from 7:00am to 7:00pm.

Several years ago there was a worker using a loud cement mixer in the cul-de-sac where I live at 8:45pm one Summer night. I went out there and politely asked him to stop... which he did... though my neighbors were a little bent about it. Sorry, but your lack of planning isn't reason enough why I should have to listen to your broken down equipment after hours.

So, back to this story... I chose to ignore that our dinner music was going to be the dulcet tones of a Husqvarna. Sometimes it's better to just grin and bear it rather than open up a can of worms. Then, 6:40am the next morning rolls around and lo and behold if I don't hear the Chainsaw Sonata again. 

That was it... time to pretend I'm a bad ass and start flailing my arms around like one of those fan powered signs. The action was happening across the street from me and as I neared the sidewalk I let loose with one of those fingers-in-the-mouth whistles that probably woke up more of my neighbors than the chainsaw had.

My guess is that I looked like the blue one.

They looked over and I pointed to my wrist (where a watch might be strapped). The first guy was apologetic and they cut the noise. So I headed back to my house but that's when the big guy thought he'd try and get tough with me.

"What's your name?" he demands of me as we then met in the middle of the street.

It's at this point that I started to hear The Twilight Zone theme kick in...

"My name? What the hell is your name?" I barked back in disbelief.

"Mitchell" he responded. To which I told him, "My name is Joseph."
The saber rattling was at full tilt at this point.

He asked, "Where is it written that I can't start until 7:00am?"

"In the city code," I said and walked away.

Once inside I told my lovely wife Grace the story as I was searching the city code webpage for the precise wording... but alas I could NOT find it. Hey city of Wildomar, how about adding a key word search to the entire city website, but especially to the code section.

I must have "Sucker" emblazoned across my dome.

Well, after about half an hour I was thinking twice about whether those guys might retaliate or not (they knew where I lived and I had no idea who they were). So I went over and apologized for being a grouch in the morning. Mitchell apologized for his end of it and all was good. We were bros now. Then he said, "It would really be good if we could trim your olive trees too."

I love my olive trees. First they are a screen that provides us privacy in the backyard. Second, I actually use the olives.

Still, Mrs. Wildomar Rap has long wanted the trees and vegetation to be cut back so I asked for a price. He was going to shape the trees, cut back the vines from the fence and even shape the tree in the front for $300. So we agreed to the job.

He then asked for a $40 advance so he and his compatriot could get breakfast and they were low on cash yada, yada, yada sob story.

Being a chump I agreed and handed him money... though I  didn't know his last name, didn't have his business card, didn't have a phone number, and his truck had no writing on it either.

The guy did leave some of his tools in my yard as a ersatz show of good faith. He said he'd be back right after breakfast... which turned out to be after 5:00pm at the end of the day.

After they returned I went out to tell them how I wanted the trees. Again I ignored the flashing lights and blaring sirens that were going off in my head, telling me to nix the deal, when the guy told me, "We've got it boss."

It's as if I was The Manchurian Homeowner, and 'boss' was the code word that made me turn glassy eyed and walk away like a robot.

It had been one of those days and I didn't want to be there as they were working so I took my dog and went to the levee for a long walk. While there I saw a company called Quixotic Studios setting up to do a commercial shoot for USAA.

A view of the the two mile mark of my walk on the levee that was allowing me to think of things not tree related.

When I got back, they were gone and were about half finished. When they finally returned they wanted to start working again... in the dark and after the 7:00 pm noise curfew.

I was in one of those weenie moods and refused to leave my computer room. I have no excuses it just happened, but that left Grace to hang out to dry dealing with them. They wanted payment in full, though they weren't done and had done a shoddy job of it. She flatly refused.

They finally left being owed $100 and our yard full of lopped off branches, along with many of their tools. They said they'd return on Sunday morning at 7:00am to collect their tools and take away the cuttings. So like a good lemming I waited from about 6:30am until well past 10:00am looking out the window for them to drive up. Just like Linus does, year after year, waiting for The Great Pumpkin to arrive.

I know that Mitchell will come... I just know it.

Oh wait... I left out a key piece of the story. On Saturday morning we happened to notice some damage to our fence. It seems that Mitchell was in such a hurry that he opted for the chainsaw to do basic pruning of vines. You see, I usually prune those with a hedge trimmer and have never had a single problem with damaging my fence... but what fun is there in doing it that wimpy way?

When you use a chainsaw against a cedar fence, the fence loses every time. Over 60 planks were marred. Many with very deep marks which makes you wonder how he didn't know what he was doing. A neighbor of mine said he could understand nicking one or two by mistake, but this was ridiculous.

I've heard that "Chicks dig scars" but I'm not sure if they "dig" them when they are all over a fence.

Mitchell was a no-show all day Sunday and I thought that maybe he was going to come early on Monday... I mean, doesn't he need his tools for other jobs? However Monday morning came and went... and his tools were still on my front porch at the end of the day.

Grace thinks they'd rather just leave their tools behind rather than have to deal with the cost of repairing the fence. I did a quick test and those boards are regularly priced at $2.25 apiece from The Home Depot. At 60 damaged boards, that's $135 before tax, delivery or labor. To have the damage repaired probably would be several hundred dollars.

Some scars go more than 3/8ths of in inch deep into the wood.

Either way, let me suggest this to all of you... when you hear those inner voices telling you that something is awry, LISTEN!

Ruffles aren't the only thing with ridges after Mitchell gets through with your trees.

Caveat Emptor — Buyer Beware

That means you dummy!!!

Also, I suggest that you do a video contract with such workers. Have them look at your video camera and repeat back what the job is. If they don't want to go on video, then they are pulling on the church bells in your head trying to wake you up.

At this point we simply want him to come back and get his tools. He's not going to get the balance, but I also know it would be a waste of time to pursue someone, that is proven to be a flake, for the damages. To show there are no hard feelings, I even made him a commercial to promote his business. Check out the short video below.


In my earlier life I made my money from such humble work as cleaning houses. I worked for one family for 25 years. I was never flaky and was always where I said I'd be and I never ruined people's possessions. On the rare occasion that I did break something, I always brought it to them or left it out on the counter with a note. I always figured that everyone had the same work ethic, but have been learning that such a thing isn't as common as I'd thought it was.

Live and learn.

What would you do in a similar situation?

==================================

Update

==================================

The day after I uploaded this blog, at about 2:00pm, Mitchell came back to "finish" the job. I was out on a Wildomar Multi-Purpose Trail Bike Ride when he showed up. When I returned I could hear a shouting match going on between Grace and him. 

Grace had her video camera rolling when I got onto the scene, and mine was already rolling by the time I could jump in. I'll save you the boring details. In short, he told me that he was going to take me to small claims court for the $100. I told him that I look forward to it. That I'll be bringing all the pictures of the damage too.

He did suggest that he could try and fix the fence, but I told him no, that his work here is over. I truly don't understand it when people insist on maintaining a position that is clearly in the wrong. He couldn't understand why we would be upset about the damage to the fence... not too mention the poor quality of work or that he didn't show up for days. Again, you get what you pay for, and I payed for this headache.

•         •         •

Don't talk to me about contracts, Wonka, I use them myself. They're strictly for suckers. 

—Sam Beauregarde, Willy Wonka 1971

Wildomar Rap prefers pigs in a blanket over pigs in a poke.

• A Tour of Animal Friends of the Valleys

Animal Friends of the Valleys (AFV) opened in Wildomar in 2010. Before that it was known as LEAF (Lake Elsinore Animal Friends) which was established back in 1987.

The monument sign that is clearly visible from Mission Trail.

Though I had driven by it countless times, it wasn't until just this year that I actually decided to take a look inside. Nothing like I'd ever seen before. Very clean with many volunteers about the place. Very orderly.

Animal Friends of the Valleys, located at 33751 Mission Trail, Wildomar

I arranged to have a tour of the facilities with Humane Educator Marisa Charrier and it started at the front. When you walk in, to the left is the Community Cats room. A place where volunteers, and the public, can go in and socialize with some of the cats. I was told that this is a place where volunteers, that are too young to be a full fledged volunteer, can spend some time with animals.

All that they ask is that you sanitize your hands before entering in efforts to reduce the risk of spreading germs that you may have brought in with you.

Here are two catteries with a vestibule in the middle... that prevents an enterprising cat from escaping.

On the right side of the reception area is a store/boutique that is sometimes opened, sometimes not. It depends on if they have trained volunteers on hand.

Then you'll come to an information desk on the left. Take a number and you'll soon be called.

You'll then see a large enclosed room, known as a socialization room, this is where people looking to adopt an animal can spend some time with the dog and interact with it. I was told that you can also bring your dog here to meet the potential new family member.

On the left you see the information desk and straight ahead is the socialization room.

T

Here are some stats from the shelter

In 2014 9152 dogs were taken in, 2557 were from Wildomar. 

• 26% were returned to owners.
• 10% went to rescues
• 10% were "placable" euthenized
• 11% not "placeable" due to illness or aggression were euthenized

Cat stats

• 47% of cats brought in were adopted
• 2% were returned to owners
• 1% to rescues
• 14% feral euthenized
• 12% placable euthenized
• 22% not placable ethenized

The stats are posted every month on their facebook page and the homepage of their website.

We then proceeded to the right and then headed up a corridor where there were holding rooms with usually two dogs in them. Since dogs are pack animals, its considered best to not have them be alone if they can get along with other dogs.

Here are two Chihuahua mixes looking at me through the glass door to their room. Notice the collar colors.
Red/pink is female and blue is for male. If a dog has a yellow collar that signifies the animal is scheduled to go to a rescue.

On the window of the room you'll find a fact sheet about the dog inside. It'll have a picture of the dog, along with as many vital stats as they can determine. Breed, age, whether the animal has been fixed or not. If the animal was brought in by the owner, a list of things including if the dog is an indoor or outdoor dog, if it get's along with other dogs, if it's house broken, and about two dozen other things.

If a dog is brought in as a stray, and has no tags or microchip it is put on hold for 5 days. If the owner brings the dog in it can be adopted out right away (provided that the dog is spayed or neutered). The hold dates are different depending on the situation. For instance, if the animal has tags or is microchipped, the hold is 10 days and jail seizures are 14 days (meaning someone was arrested and we had to take the animal).

Some of the artwork that adorns the walls throughout the shelter.

A little further down the corridor on the right was the Bunny Room. Where abandoned Easter gifts come to live after kids are bored with them. The rabbit cages are cleaned daily by our foster coordinator, Robin Harper, who is part of Lucky Bunny Rescue. When LBR comes in on Saturdays, the bunnies get to spend a longer amount of time outside.

Mr. Bunny was checking me out as much I as was him.

Further down the long hallway we pass more rooms for dogs on the left and rooms on the right for small animals. At the end there is the covered outdoor area for larger dogs. This is where they get exercise. Due to the location of the shelter, on a busy street and in an area with fox tails, they do not permit the dogs to be walked outside.

It was hard to get a good angle of the outdoor play area. It's rather large and has many separate pens.

We continue the tour which has us turning to the right and we pass more rooms for dogs on the one side and the outdoor area on the other. Straight ahead we see a room that appears to be unoccupied. They try to keep a certain amount of space open for emergencies. If a wildfire were to occur in the area, this would be a place to evacuate animals to. They do use it as temporary housing when they are cleaning up.

Next I'm shown a room that resembles a living room. It's a place where people that have brought their old or sick animals to be euthanized spend their final moments with their pets. It has a private entry in the back so you can avoid the general public if you need those services. I was also told that they offer house call service for this service too. I can see how this would be desirable especially if the pet owner is older and the animal is larger.

They all would like to find their forever homes.

There is another covered outdoor area for dogs to get some exercise. This one has a courtyard feel as there are several rooms  that line the left and right of it. In each room there are four or five stalls which holds one or two dogs (depending on size and temperament).

There are two of these large covered enclosures next to each other and each one is divided in two.

This area also has the feral cats. They have a process of taming the cats so that they can have a chance to be adopted. Often there are cats that are simply very frightened and appear to be feral at first blush.

This is a look at the Night Drop, where people will turn in strays after hours. It remains locked during hours of operation.

On the left you see the Night Drop from the outside, or the right you get a look at the inside.

Until I saw this, I had no idea how it worked. I didn't realize that they have several private pens that lock after you place the animal in it. Makes sense... can you imagine the chaos if the Night Drop had all the strays, both cats and dogs, put into one common area?

Here you see the Night Drop and the Surrender area that is operated during business hours.

This part of the tour had us entering through the doors marked Surrender. Inside there are people that come to get licensing or microchipping.

Which lead us back to the reception area/information desk where we'd begun. I then got a look at the offices and a courtyard that is also visible from the Bunny Room. Very nice. There is also the room where classes are held and an outside lunch area. Overall the shelter is a very large place, I was told it's the size of half a football field.

There was mention of a Kid's Camp in the Spring and the Summer. It helps educate the kids as to proper pet care while they are busy with various activities and projects. I asked about the cost and it's $60 and it's Monday-Friday for three hours a day. The age range is from 5 to 8 and 9 to 12. It's best to contact AFV for current details.

Animal Friends of the Valleys is not a No Kill shelter. Right on the front door of the Surrender area it has a sign that clearly states: This is not a no kill shelter, by turning in your pet there is a high likelihood that your pet will be euthanized.

I was given some official stats. In 2014 10% of the animals were euthanized. In 1996 the percentage was 53%. The goal is to get to the zero percentage mark, but that will take a community effort.

Commentary

Everybody has their own opinion on the issue of euthanizing animals at shelters. It's pretty short sighted to blame the shelter that did NOT cause the problem of pet overpopulation for the need to euthanize. 100% of the problem comes from irresponsible pet owners and puppy mills/back yard breeders. AFV has to deal with the fallout of people that refuse to alter their pets, and those that don't understand that puppies grow up fast and if they aren't trained they can ruin your house or yard... so they then dump them off to be another person's problem.

If you'd like to see AFV become a No Kill shelter then I suggest that you get active and see if you can spread the word about getting pets altered. It's always better to treat the cause and not the symptoms.

Also AFV takes all the animals brought to them, where rescues can be choosy. So before you tout a "no kill" rescue, understand that doesn't mean they take all animals that come there way. Many rescues will cherry pick out the most desired animals so that way if one needs to be put down, it doesn't go on their record. AFV doesn't have the luxury of turning away animals because they are "too full".

AFV gladly accepts donations, as it's a non profit organization. Be it cash or pet food. Please call for how to donate.

Here are some links to AFV

951-674-0618

Link to the AFV Official Website

AVF FaceBook Page

Side Note

The topic of Animal Friends of the Valleys is multifaceted. This blog is NOT about any of the politically motivated unsubstantiated rumors that got into the Press Enterprise last year, or that were brought up at various Lake Elsinore city council meetings. This blog is also not going to touch on the amount of money that the city of Wildomar pays to be part of it, or if the deal was a good one or not. That can be in a separate blog that isn't dealing with the day to day functions of our local animal shelter.

☺     ☺    ☺

Better the last smile than the first grin.

Wildomar Rap is neither clairvoyant nor claire de lune.

• Neighborhood Watch Meeting

Wildomar had it's first neighborhood watch meeting, it was in the city council chambers. Well, there have been other such meeting in the past, just not in Wildomar. Past meetings had been held at the Sheriff's station in Lake Elsinore. The room was more than 90% full.

Jim Brown has been volunteering for this program the last nine years and called the meeting to order and introduced Officers Salcedo, Baca, Coates and Vega.

From left to right. Officer Coates, Officer Vega, Jim Brown, Officer Baca, Officer Salcedo.

There was a power point presentation dealing with local gangs and drugs. 

A couple of tidbits about tagging I thought I'd pass along:

• If you suspect that your child might be mixed up in a "tagging crew" check their notebooks. Often they will practice their tags by way of doodling. They may even tag the underside of the brim of their hats. 
• If witnessed call police dispatch and notify the city.

A look at the 4 neighborhood watch zones in W'mar

The meeting was opened to all, but it was intended for existing block captains. So, from my perspective, it felt a little like showing up in mid November to a class that started back in September. 

After the meeting, which lasted an hour, I went up to officer Salcedo and told him I was expecting some more basic information, things like "How not to be the next George Zimmerman." 

He reminded me that it had been intended for block captains but they also have meetings where the basics are covered too. 

In the end the key bit of info I took away from the meeting was:

"Do not put yourself in harms way!"

Keeping your cars locked and valuables out of sight is important. Though some cars will still be broken into, many low level criminals are happy to just break into unlocked cars. Keeping the doors to your homes locked and your garage door down when unattended helps too.

Use the Non-Emergency number 951-776-1099 to report suspicious activity and NOT the emergency 911 number. If you see something out of place, they want you to call and report it. The example that was given was a skateboarder at 3:00 in the morning. Something you know that is out of place and is causing you concern.

A website to visit is the National Neighborhood Watch site. (Click this link)

This sign in Windsong Valley has been battling
the Sun as much as it has been battling crime.

We've had several Neighborhood Watch signs in our neighborhood since we moved to Wildomar back in 2001. Thing is, other than on a local facebook page last year, I'd never actually heard about any meetings or how it worked.

In the long run you have to remember that this is supposed to be the neighborhood watching itself. So it's unrealistic to expect the city or the police to be the spearheads in such an operation. It's up to those of us on the front lines to put the effort in.

If we don't care, why should anyone else?

The next meeting is scheduled for June 11, 2015. Best way to keep up with knowing when meetings such as this are happening, is to sign up for email alerts from the city's website. (Click this link)

Also mentioned was something called the Nextdoor App that helps keep neighbors in the loop for things going on in their neighborhood. I signed up, but since I still cling to my flip phone, I'll have to access it with my laptop. Take a look at it and see if it makes since for you to create an account. If you have facebook, then it's pretty easy to use that as a gateway to sign in there.

•      •      • 

We live in a world that has narrowed into a neighborhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood. — Lyndon Johnson

Wildomar Rap tip of the day... sardines straight from the can are actually pretty good, and yes, that includes the whole ones too. 

• Rotary BBQ 2015

Don't tell me that you missed the big BBQ at Marna O'Brien Park. If you did... don't worry, there will be another one next year.

I'm starting to sound like a broken record here, but truly —What a great day for all Wildomartinis that attended (or Wildomartians, or WildOmarians if you prefer).

You can see the number of ticket stubs as of 2:00pm.

There were people of all ages in attendance and there is no real way to guess how many attended until after they count all the entry tickets, but the line to get in didn't go away until after 3:00pm. At 2:00pm  some of the vendors had actually sold out of food.

Once the lines started, they never went away... unless the food did. There were people all over the fenced off portion of the park, and the city had their own area that often had several staffers on hand, and they were also giving out barbecued pork ribs and chicken. In addition to the wet wipes they had too.

I had no idea how to open these... I was trying to
rip them apart like you would a food item.

If you'd like to get a sense of the day's event, take a look at this brief slideshow below.

 
There were 43 BBQ teams. There were five different categories of meat types they competed in. If memory serves that included chicken, pork, beef, brisket... the winners are mentioned below.

What most of those in attendance didn't see was the judging that was taking place in a tent that was in a secluded spot. These folks take this competition seriously, and if you were to wander into the tent by mistake, I hear that you'd be tackled by several secret service agents... or at least asked to leave in a stern tone delivered with one eyebrow up.

This was the first city wide event that I saw all five of our city council members at.

To most it was just a great opportunity to get out in some great Wildomar Spring air, hang out with family and or friends, taste a lot of good food, listen to a very good band and stroll around seeing what some of the vendors had on display. But to the BBQ teams, it was go time. Funny thing is, most of the competitors weren't there to serve food to the public, just to cook their backsides off in attempts to win one of the top prizes.

There was a total of $12,500 in prize money. 

1st Place Chicken: Thank the Lard BBQ and Mossy Rock BBQ tied
1st place Pork Ribs: Simply Marvelous BBQ.
1st place Pork: Left Coast Q
1st Place Brisket:  Left Coast Q
1st Place Beef Ribs: Porketeers

Overall Winners: Left Coast Q 

_________________________________

The Wildomar Historical Society had a booth, and a raffle as a fund raiser. The prize, a Weber BBQ, a wagon to carry it in, bag of mesquite charcoal and a basket with other BBQ things in it. Gotta love irony... the winner of this was a neighbor of mine, Kevin Sax... who happens to be a vegetarian. But hey, veges are good barbecued too.

Funny thing about BBQs and me. I'm from California and I really don't like authentic Midwest BBQ. Sorry, I'll take regular old grilled steak, or maybe some fajitas, over BBQ about 100 out of 100 times. I was glad to find several others that also weren't fans of pulled pork either.

The only near casualty I heard about was one reveler that had one too many... well, I was told it was more like several too many, (though he wasn't actually seen at the beer/wine window) which leads one to assume he brought his own... but he was persuaded to leave without incident, though that was mostly due to the good nature of those near him. Had he been at a Raider game instead of a Wildomar event, he'd probably be MIA from what I'd heard.

•      •      • 

I know people that could serve me canned tuna and saltine crackers and have me feel more at home at their table than some people who can cook circles around me. The more you try to impress people, generally the less you do. — Alton Brown

Wildomar Rap tip of the day... remember it's easier to apply sunscreen before a sunburn than aloe vera after it's too late. 

• Sycamore Academy Groundbreaking

A beautiful morning for a groundbreaking

In total there were a little more than 30 people at the groundbreaking for Sycamore Academy's new campus. Among the people in attendance were the Mayor of Wildomar Ben Benoit, City Manager Gary Nordquist, City Planning Director Matt Bassi, Planning Commissioner Bobby Swann and City Clerk Debbie Lee.

Rounding out the A-Listers were the builder, the architect and keystone of it all, Barbara Hale - Director/Principal, who gave a brief speech before the ceremonial first shovel of dirt. Though the project had actually been started on Monday of this week.

Mayor Benoit speaking to the assembled gathering while Barbara Hale watches from off to his left (our right).

In this pic you see City Manager third from the left, and the City Planning Director is to the right of him.

Barbara Hale is 6th from the left (no hardhat) and the builder is 3rd from the right. (those are all that I can identify). 

Now the race is on. The goal is to have this school ready for this Fall's school year. It's going to be tight, but Hamel Construction has experience with building schools in the area and they are primed for the challenge of getting this project completed in the small window between now and September.

I had a chance to ask Grant Hamel of Hamel Construction a couple of questions about the time frame

It's going to be a fast pace. So hopefully things go well and we don't run into too many obstacles and we're going to give it our best shot.

When do you anticipate that you'll be putting the foundation in?

The foundation is about 30-45 days from now. We have to get water and sewer onsite; a lot of infrastructure. That's the thing, there is so much that goes underground that isn't seen. Once we get through that you start to see change everyday, but for now it's just moving dirt and digging holes.

This deep pit isn't for any olympic sized swimming pools... just getting the grading right.

Stay tuned for periodic updates as to the progress of this project.

Oh, and a hearty thank you for the refreshments. That was the first time I'd had coffee from a box... and it was delicious. After three cups I'm pretty much fueled up for the rest of the day too. ☺

•      •      • 

As we all know, it's easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it's also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we're not so sure about. — John Cleese

Here is a Wildomar Rap tip of the day... remember to get your free cup of coffee every time you go into the bank. That is if your bank is Chase located in the Stater Bros center. 

• City Council Meeting April 2015

Let's go down the agenda of this quick meeting, it finished by about 8:00pm.

Presentations

• Park Enhancement Project (PEP)- Regency Heritage Park

Seniors and other student volunteers spent four Saturdays in a row, for a total of 185 hours on this project. They raised over $500 and received over 85 donated plants. The students planted 185 new plants, transplanted 150 plants, and removed 1800sf of weeds.

A picture of the PEP volunteers along with some of the sponsors.

• Donate Life California
This was in reference to the pink dot on the driver's license organ donation program. There will be an event on Sunday April 25th, at Cal State Fullerton called 13th Annual Run Walk.

•Neighborhood Watch
There is a neighborhood watch meeting at the council chambers April 14th. Spread the word, the past meetings had been in Lake Elsinore, so show some community support by attending.

•Fire Department Update
During the first quarter of the year there were 777 emergency calls, which projects to be over 3000 for the year. 75% of those were medical in nature. Be proactive, make sure to abate all weeds, especially if you live in a high fire part of the city.

Public Comments (items not on the agenda)

•Kenny Mayes speaking about street sweeping, park security camera rules.
•Johnny Patty spoke about the day laborers that set up camp on Palomar south of Clinton Keith. That he'd like something done about their illegal parking that is a traffic hazard.
•George Cambero, one of our EVMWD directors, wanted to tell the public that if you have concerns, phone calls are the preferred method of getting hold of him over FaceBook messages. His number is (951) 285-9789 and he'll take your calls on anything water related... except billing.

3.1 Measure Z New Appointees
This item was pushed to the next meeting on May 13, 2015.

3.2 Parks Master Plan
It started off with Bob Cashman having to exclude himself from this item since his home is too close to one of the parks.

The audience enjoyed the way he phrased it:
"I'm going to have to excuse myself from this because of a ruling... concerning my property and its proximity to one of the parks. Now why that prohibits me from doing the whole Parks Plan I don't know but that's what they ruled. Since they ruled that way in writing, I'm going to pay attention to it." The crowd was amused. ☺

This was the final vote on the Parks Master Plan.
Here is a link to one of the blogs about the Parks Master Plan workshop from last year.

It's a very ambitious plan. To properly study this plan it would be worth a 5 unit class.

Assistant City Manager Dan York has been doing a great job putting this together, and after tonight's 4-0-1 vote, he'll now start to chase after the money to start funding it.

On the right you see the parks we have today. On the left you see the additional proposed parks over 30 years.

Want the basic numbers?

Are you sitting down?

At today's costs, to fully implement the Parks Master Plan would be about $74,000,000. My basic math skills tell me that 74 million divided by 33 thousand residents, is only $2242.42 per person.

Just tell me where you want me to send the check.

Dan York stated that there are a whole lot of strategies to get funding and financing; local, federal, state and private.

There were two Public Comments of this topic.
•Kenny Mayes discussing the lack of public interest in the whole process.
•John Lloyd said how he was very, very impressed with the plan. "I don't think the price is something you're going to enjoy dealing with, but it's not something that's going to go away either. You'll have to get really, really creative, but if we can pull it off, that's an excellent park plan."

Council comments on the Parks Master Plan.

• Bridgette Moore "This document is so exciting. I can't believe this is something we can actually have one day. What it will mean to Wildomar, our community our house values."

• Marsha Swanson "This document is a dream come true. We may not be able to afford it today... and maybe it is a big dream and you know they say, Build it and they will come. This plan is absolutely great. I want to thank staff for the time and the energy, thinking outside of the box, different ways to put this together. You hear this amount of money and you go, Where are we going to get that, that's more than our budget for the whole city? but we thought of ways, and I think that's super."

• Tim Walker "It's very detailed. This is a good guideline of things we can do in the future. Now we just need to get the funding. Need to still keep our commercial coming in and help pay for a lot of things we want to do here. It's quality of life, quality of life, and quality of life. That's all it is in Wildomar, it's all about that. Good job guys [city staff] it was awesome."

• Ben Benoit "Ditto. Dan, great job. You and the team put a lot of work into this."

I'd love to see such developments for Wildomar, but I'm a "show me the money" kind of guy. If you build it, then I'll believe it. Especially in this town. Let's hope Dan York can work some of his magic here.

City Managers Report
•Rotary BBQ this Saturday, April 11th from 10am to 4pm. $5 entry fee.
•May 9th, city wide clean up at Ronald Reagan School and Elsinore High School.
•Budget workshop April 16th. 6:30pm at the council chambers.
•Water Conservation meeting with EVWMD
•SB 25, sponsored by State Senator Roth to have our VLF returned. It's making good process, unanimous approval in committee. This time they are trying to get this put into the actual budget as a "control item" which would be veto proof.

Future Agenda Items
Tim Walker would like to streamline the process for people looking to build large garages on their own properties. Today, if the building is over 20'x20' you have to go through several hoops that will add at least $4,000 to your garage. The rest of the council looked to be in agreement that it should be a future agenda item.

One final park note. 

Looks like the new basketball nets have a mind of their own over at Windsong park. Though these hoops are set up for the cloth nets, looks like they tried to escape. The nets aren't torn, just no longer secured by those metal coils. I was told that the nets couldn't be zip tied to the rims because there may be sharp edges and someone could cut themselves which is a liability. Since zip ties are dangerous, how about some good old black tape instead? We've gotta do something to keep them varmints from skedaddling. ☺

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Update

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Good news, it was fixed within a week of this blog being posted.

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The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those with too little. 

— Franklin D. Roosevelt 

Wildomar Rap never attempts to halt the incoming tide, and isn't a fan of battling with windmills either. 

• Planning Commission Meeting April 2015

Tonight's meeting was about 37 mins... new record for shortest meeting that I've been to... and that isn't some half baked April Fools joke either.

There were only two items on the agenda.

2.1 Oak Creek Canyon (minor changes)

This was continued until next month's meeting at the request of the applicant. This was continued from the meeting before because of a couple of comment letters from the usual cranks. 

The other day we did receive a letter from the Water Quality Control Board. In summary basically the Water Quality Control Board has indicated that there is no evidence that the quality of waters within the area have been, or threatens to be, adversely impacted. 

If you remember, the contention was that the spray fields at The Farm were contaminating the soil. They also did an impromptu inspection of the waste water treatment facility, and they concluded that there was no over spray or irrigation runoff into neighboring properties, and they concluded "We do not believe that any further action is warranted."

—Matt Bassi Planning Director

Commissioner Stan Smith on the topic: 

"I find it interesting that the minute that the experts review all the claims [from the cranks] they find that it's nothing but a lot of smoke and mirrors on behalf of the individuals that objected. Essentially what the letter is saying is there isn't a problem over there, contrary to what Mr. Johnson and his group allege, correct Mr. Bassi?"

"That's what the letter states," Bassi replied.

The vote went 5-0 to continue the item until the next meeting.

2.2 Zoning Ordinance Amendment

This was kind of wonkish to me. It was about cell towers, and from what I was hearing, many times they have to approve changes provided they keep a similar footprint. It had to do with regulations that are being imposed by the FCC.

This passed 5-0, and will play no part in any of our lives.

Planning Director's Report

• The Parks Master Plan will be going before the City Council at the next meeting. 
• Re: landscape ordinance, a budget item will be brought forth in July to update the landscape/conservation ordinance that's part of the zoning code.

Assistant City Attorney Report

Two maps that are adjacent to Murrieta Creek, owned by CV Communities, there were public hearings dealing with whether subsequent environmental review was required for these minor changes. We received a favorable ruling in that litigation. The court upheld the city's decision not to 

require additional environmental review.

Commissioner Smith said, "The court supported our position? Good, we're always glad to hear about a win".

And you people ask why would I call that contingent of malcontents cranks... because they earned that distinction over many years of hard work and relentless determination [such as above], that's why.

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The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves. — Cassius, JULIUS CAESAR, William Shakespeare 

If Wildomar Rap wrote recipes, you'd have been treated with one dealing with: fresh picked mustard greens from the backyard, sauteed with onions and garlic in olive oil for nearly an hour (that is one tough weed) then rolled up in a tortilla with mozzarella like a burrito.