• 2015 Legislative Summit

One our city leaders couldn't make this event. Being part of the Wildomar Chamber of Commerce, and Waste Management now having an extra seat at their table, I was invited by Clara Vera to join them. 

The overcast morning started with coffee on the veranda. Imagine the looks on Wildomar city manager Gary Nordquist's face when I thrust out my hand to shake his. I'd just done the same thing the night before at the city council meeting. Same went for Mayor Ben Benoit. 

After checking in I found my table. I was expecting to see Cheri Zamora from the Chamber. Whereas Katie Boothby, also of the Chamber,  was expecting to see Bridgette Moore. Plans change, c'est la vie. ☺

During breakfast there were five speakers that each spent about 10 mins or so discussing their specialties.

The speakers were 23rd District Senator Mike Morrell, County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, State Board of Equalization Diane Harkey, Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin and Executive Director of RCTC Anne Mayer.

Keep in mind that I'm not a partisan, and though I can see reasonable points from some of both side's arguments, I can also see glaring weaknesses. This seemed a lot like I'd picture an RNC breakfast to go. At times, a bit one sided for my liking.

Senator Mike Morrell, 23rd District

"There are two competing ideologies that I see up in Sacramento.  One is the free market, people like me. The second is Progressivism. Our governor calls himself a progressive, as does our Speaker, and the Senate Pro-Tem. And Progressivism means they believe in the expansion of the bureaucratic system. It means socialism lite. They believe the governments should control all things, plan all things, distribute all things and even own all things."

Sorry, but I had to tune out after that bit of extreme partisanship. He can't actually believe that Dems think the government should "own all things"... can he?

Might as well say the Dems also want to sell your first born into slavery and have prima nocta with all new brides too. (I really hate this kind of over the top hyperbole... no matter how dismal the Dems in Sac-to are)

A look at Supervisor Kevin Jeffries as he speaks about challenges in Riverside County.

Supervisor Kevin Jeffries

"I don't say this lightly, the next two years, the next twenty-four months in the county of Riverside is probably going to be one of its toughest times, at least equal too, the great recession we just encountered. Not because of a lack of revenues but because of increased spending on automatic pilot. The county budget is roughly five billion dollars a year. Our challenge is our expenditures are growing faster than our revenues. They're committed mainly to public safety. Every city across this county is encountering this same challenge. The cost of public safety is growing faster than the revenues."

Diane Harkey, State Board of Equalization

"Taxes are the only area of the law where the burden of proof is on the tax payer. The burden of proof is totally on our constituents. So we try and help in our office to meet that burden of proof or the requirement."

(apologies to Diane, but there wasn't much from her time behind the microphone that translated well into blog form)

Michael Hestrin, District Attorney

"I want to give you a little rundown as to what's happening with AB 109, which is realignment, and prop 47 which is another part of realignment, and our overcrowded jails. Let me start with the jails. The jail problem has been growing and it's a problem of mismanagement by the county. We have about 3,000 jail beds in riverside county for a population of almost 2.3 million. To give you some perspective, we have a higher population than San Bernardino County but they have double the bed space. What happened with realignment and why Riverside County was hit harder than almost any other county was that we already had overcrowded jails before realignment happened.

We are approaching the early release of 40,000 inmates in Riverside County. When I say "early release" I'm not talking about people that are waiting for their trial, I'm talking about people that have committed, been arrested, been prosecuted, been sentenced to years in jail and released becuase of the federal mandate to ease overcrowding. Let me give you a sense of where we stand right now on how low the capacity is for the population. Currently, when an individual is convicted of a car theft, considered a low level felony and can only be punished in the local jail [not prison]. Currently, the average time for a car theif —typically they get a two year sentence— They're spending about 10 to 14 days  in our jails."

(personally, I'm not a fan of criminals. Much less habitual offenders. We're going to rue the day that we allowed three strikes to get dismantled.)

Anne Mayer, RCTC

"Congestion and the lack of transportation choices impact us all, and we can't build our way out of it. Unfortunately, for transportation, when it comes to Sacramento and Washington, we're expending all of our efforts just trying to survive. On a local level we are thriving. We are relying on Measure A Sales Tax. Measure A Sales Tax receipts have returned to the pre recession  levels and that's terrific news, however we're at a point where those Measure A dollars are almost the only dollars we have." 

(I'm just glad that I don't use the freeways much. The one thing you'll be able to count on is that the freeways will always be a bear for the rest of our natural work lifetimes. Better to just live in your car at work, and visit the family on weekends ☺)

There were cards on the table for people to submit questions. After hearing Kevin Jeffrie's remarks about the cost of public safety I scratched out a question. 

Emcee Gene Wunderlich chose mine toward the end of the event, and he directed it to Supervisor Jeffries. 

"while we love our police and fire fighters, when are we going to tell their unions that enough is enough, to both their salary increases and their bloated retirement packages?" What do you tell our cities moving forward?

Supervisor Jeffries

"To be brutally honest, more bad news. Welcome to California. Riverside County budget, the general fund, is now committing, I think, 65% to public safety. It was in the fifties not too many years ago. While the cities are feeling significant pain for the cost of contracts with the county, the county has the same thing. 

For the near future, pretty much all the public safety —pretty much all of the unions— come up next year, 2016, for contract renegotiation[s]. It's not a time I look forward to being on the board of supervisors, but it is a possibility that we have to try and convince our employees that we're in for a very tough time for several years and we need to hold the line and minimize any increases. That is going to be some of the toughest negotiations the board has had since my arrival."

After the summit, I approached the Supervisor and what I got from him is that this is going to take a long time to sort out. I'm guessing the better part of a generation, if not longer. I'm pro cop (and fireman), and I think they deserve good pay and benes. I just don't see how the constant escalation of costs can be paid for without some serious give on their end.

Two last notes 

• I saw Lake Elsinore council member Brian Tisdale and told him I'd been following the saga of how their city picked up the dropped ball (AKA Komen Race for the Cure) that Temecula had tossed to the side. He reminded me that his city doesn't cave to pressure and though the vote had been 3-2, that was more about paying for it, but they all supported having the race in their town. We also touched on how there is a volunteer connection with his wife and Komen, but I knew that was always a non issue.

• Last, I had a chance to shake the hand of DA Mike Hestrin. If only he knew the hours of joy his candidacy gave me during the Spring of 2014 as my character, Rae Anne Resident was constantly endorsing him over at Patch before they changed their comment section and banned "her".

Rae Anne and Cliff owned Patch last year, and I'm sure that Sister Matha misses her most of all.

  •      •      • 

The doctor must have put my pacemaker in wrong. Every time my husband kisses me, the garage door goes up.  —Minnie Pearl

A Wildomar Rap, in parochial school, is when a nun displays such quickness and force with a yard stick, that the epidermis jumps off your knuckles just to avoid contact.

• City Council Meeting October 2015

It was a fairly long meeting since it was actually 2 meetings in 1, starting an hour earlier.

The first meeting was billed as a Study Session with both the city council and planning commission at the dais. It dealt with frequent requests to change the general plan, usually from lower density housing to higher density housing. The key area being discussed tonight was on the east side of the freeway on Baxter.

A look at the council members and the planning commissioners.
Bob Cashman didn't come to this meeting since his property is too close to the area in question.

A developer would like to develop a large percentage of the area that fronts the road, but to make it feasible he can't keep the lots at an acre. There are new laws (newish anyway) that don't allow septic tanks on properties that are less than 2.5 acres, and since there isn't sewer already in the area, the only way to make it practical is to jam more houses into smaller areas.

If you know me, you've heard me poo-poo the idea that Wildomar is "rural". However, that side of the freeway IS rural and I'm glad that the council and commission seemed to put up a slow sign, if not a stop sign, to just turning that area into more tract housing.

You can see the "Spaghetti" in the lower left corner. AKA Windsong Valley.

Had to love council member Tim Walker's description of "spaghetti" when describing subdivisions. It used to be "cookie cutter houses" now it's "spaghetti" because on a map, the streets make more of a design than empty land.

There was a call from some that if this area was going to be rezoned, then the entire general plan should be redone. Har Har... that's only about a $2,000,000 dollar hit. Even to do a mini general plan for the area in the above map is estimated to cost between two and three hundred thousand dollars.

Now the Planning Department will take what they learned from tonight's meeting and will incorporate it into how they do business.

☼

In the actual city council meeting it started with a presentation. A certificate of appreciation for Vantage Oncology.

Vantage Oncology

In the consent calendar there were a couple of agenda items that council member Bob Casman wanted to discuss. It was about Community Facilities Districts (CEDs). This is a bit wonky, but in the end I agreed with him.

The gist of the argument was that new housing developments will be saddled with two taxes, that aren't allowed to be called taxes, but are still money you owe the government or you face the wrath of big brother if you try and skip out on them.

Some CFDs allow for much needed infrastructure to be paid for over many years, sort of like a bond. Sometimes they come off the books, and sometimes they just take up permanent residence on your tax bill.

Part of these special taxes are to pay for police. On the surface it sounds great. Make the new people pay their fair share you may be saying... but is their share fair?

I don't know how it's fair when a tax is subject to going up every year, that most of the rest of us don't pay, to pay for something we all need (the police and fire services).

There are good arguments on the CFD side, but I can't get past a few islands of development paying many hundreds of dollars a year more than I pay in Windsong Valley. Even their property taxes will be dwarfing mine. Hey, don't get me wrong, I love having someone else foot the bill... it just isn't right.

Council Member Marsha Swanson made a good point when she said that the fees and taxes aren't hidden, and those that buy into such developments will know fully what they will be paying. True enough. Looks as though my house just got a little more valuable by doing nothing more than getting a day older.

The next thing on the agenda worth mentioning was item 2.4
This is about the much needed Lateral C-1 storm drain. There has been one holdout for months. It's gotten to the point that the city has started eminent domain proceedings. Most of the deal has been worked out to acquire the needed land to complete the job, but something has made the property owner dig in his heels.

Mayor Ben Benoit has offered to speak to the owner in efforts to avoid the legal action. Let's hope that works, otherwise the project will be pushed back at least another five months. There will be a special council meeting in two weeks to finish dealing with this issue.

Now for the big news, the news you've all been waiting for. How we, the people of Wildomar, got soaked for $120,000.

Bet that got your attention. I'll give you a brief recap, but I've included the 7:35 min video so you can take it all in yourselves.

We authored a document, that the state mandates cities have, called The Housing Element. After much wrangling, we got ours in on time and APPROVED by the state (a major pat on the back moment).

However, the disgruntled misfits that make up Alliance for Intelligent Planning (pronounced APEs) thought they knew better than the professionals at the state level and so they sued.

They lost on all parts of their suit, but one. Where the judge told the city they should tighten up the wording in one part of the document. For that, the city is now paying the apes 120 large. Well, the money is going to their attorneys, where it goes from there... nobody knows.

Listen to the video to see why we are smiling (through gritted teeth) to pay them that money instead of potentially squandering $400K with further fruitless litigation.

Council Member comments on the item.

Bob Cashman

I think we'll have to pay this.

Tim Walker

This was a hard nut to swallow. Knowing fiscally we couldn't afford to keep going farther and farther into this (fighting the lawsuit). These are the things that nobody else gets to see, unfortunately, with the closed sessions items when we deal with all the stuff like this. So you don't know what the sweat and the tears were [like] in the room to have to come to these conclusions to end up paying extortion money. As far as I'm concerned it's extortion.

What really bothered me with this whole situation is that the judge says, "You just need to prop up this little section, just a little bit more with a little bit better language." 

Is that worth $120,000?

Marsha Swanson

This was one of the hardest decisions we've ever had to make. When you think of one or two people can cost the city $120,000 when we desperately need every penny, every dime that we have. 

Bridgette Moore

This doesn't change anything. Our 700 page plan was approved by the state. We did nothing wrong, this does not change anything but we have to do it (pay the settlement).

(To the city manager Gary Nordquist) Who's the signer on their side?

(Nordquist's response) [former Wildomar Council Member] Cheryl Ade.

Ben Benoit

This is one of those times that you have to hold your nose and move forward.

But if that doesn't make you want to go out and give the nearest ape a bear hug, the question was asked, "How much did we spend on that lawsuit?"

City Attorney Thomas Jex sheepishly replied, "In the neighborhood of $70 to $80,000."

So, because a former city council member can't get over the fact that she got bounced off the council at the electorate's earliest opportunity (2010), the residents of Wildomar are going to have to tighten our belts to absorb this mindless, but necessary expenditure.

Thanks to city manager Gary Norquist's steady hand on the rudder, we can pay this "extortion" (council member Walker's word) and still not have to dip into our reserves as many things will be cut back or pushed to another year.

Kind of funny to think of Ken Mayes' lament during the public comments that public record searches aren't being turned around fast enough... and he suggested we hire someone dedicated to that task.

Why am I thinking that my house would be safe if I were to bet it against a box of day old donuts that Kenny didn't participate in the failed letter writing campaign seeking our $2M per year back from the governor's clutches? I love unintended irony.

Information straight out of the agenda.

The Lawsuit and Settlement

After approving the Housing Element Update, the State Department of Housing and

Community Development certified it as in compliance with State Housing Law.

Thereafter, the City was sued by a group known as the Alliance for Intelligent Planning

who challenged the environmental analysis in the City’s EIR. After over a year of

litigation, a judge ruled that only one section of the 750 page EIR needed to be revised.

The judge ruled in the City’s favor on the remaining sections such as traffic, noise,

health risk, greenhouse gas and project alternatives.

While the City may not agree with this ruling, the City has entered into a settlement

agreement as a means to end the on-going legal costs and uncertainty of appealing the

decision.

Under the terms of the settlement, the City has agreed to:

1. Hold hearings on minor modifications to Chapter 17.305 – Mixed Use Overlay

District

2. Hold hearings on certain zoning and land use designation changes to the Baxter

Village project which are identical to the changes being requested by the

developer

3. Payment of $120,000 to the law firm representing the Alliance for Intelligent

Planning.

It is important to note that this payment is not a monetary award to pay for any alleged

damages. State law regarding the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

requires payment to the attorney in order to settle.

Benefits of Settlement

Entering into a settlement agreement does not mean the City did anything wrong.

CEQA law is technical, complex and unclear in many areas. The City believes that it

complied with CEQA law in all respects, but also understands that continuing the

litigation by appealing is both extremely costly and uncertain due to the unclear nature

of the law in this area.

Therefore, complying with the above terms is a better use of City resources than

potentially paying $400,000 or more to continue down the unclear path of litigation.

The best use of City resources is to end this litigation through settlement and use the

funds saved for more worthwhile and needed City projects.

By agreeing to this settlement, the City keeps its entire Housing Element project in tact

as well as the EIR. Importantly, the City will be able to remain in the 8 year cycle which

means it will not have to spend funds to update its Housing Element until 2021. Not

settling may have caused the City to have to update its Housing Element again in only 4

short years from the approval date – in 2017. Doing another update so quickly would

have cost additional time and expense.

Therefore, staff recommends that the City Council allocate the necessary funds to make

the payments required under the terms of the settlement.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Allocation of $120,000

This came at the end of the meeting and I found it to be a head scratcher.
3.5 Planning Commissioner Appointment

I figured this was a slam dunk (good thing I didn't wager my house against an opened can of warm Coors Light or I'd be sleeping in my VW Bug about now). Seriously, why would there be any debate about appointing John Llyod to the Planning Commission?

But there was.

Council Member Marsha Swanson, invoked a quote from local fussbudget Shelia Urlaub, from the special meeting dealing with the sudden vacancy on the commission, where she urged the council not rush to fill the vacancy.

Seemed like a reasonable suggestion, and if a guy like Israel Leija had been the only guy to put his name forward, I can see why it would be met with a big eye roll (no offense Izzy).

Let's all remember that the post is supposed to be filled by an interested member of the community. This isn't a professional position. We have pros in Wildomar, and they make pretty good money as planners. Their names include Matt Bassi, Alfredo Garcia, Mark Teague and I'm sure there are others but my memory is only what it is. The planning commission is made up of everyday people that are willing to put the time in.

Baseball Analogy Time
If you're keeping score at home, Bridgette lead off by nominating Mr. Lloyd, we'll call that a four pitch walk. Followed by Marsha who hit into a fielder's choice, but Bob Cashman laced a single in the five/six hole, when he strongly voiced his support of the applicant. However, Tim Walker promptly agreed with Marsha that we needed more time and more candidates (let's call that a dribbler back to the pitcher with the runners advancing).

That left it up to the clean up hitter Ben "The BenBino" Benoit.

I talked to two people that were very interested, they came in and got applications, but didn't turn them in. I don't know what more we can do to get out the word that we're looking for a planning commissioner and John Llyod has stepped up.  —Mayor Ben Benoit

I'll call that a Luis Gonzalez broken-bat Series-winning bloop single over a drawn-in shortstop Derek Jeter. Not off the wall, but enough to give the home team a 3-2 win.

Now that I'm done with the baseball analogy, I can say this. I thought the council discussion about only having two applicants was spot on. However, when it was clear that this vote was going to be a yes, I was dumbstruck that there were actually two nay votes.

In all seriousness (and returning to the baseball analogy for a sec), John Lloyd may not be Clayton Kershaw or Madison Bumgarner but he sure is a Don Sutton and a Wildomar Hall of Famer. This one will remain a head scratcher to me. 

  •      •      • 

Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he's losing; nobody wants you to quit when you're ahead.  —Jackie Robinson

In Wildomar Rap's five part series on what does 'Thrown Under The Bus' mean, he reminds you that publishing quotes about people that sue the city is NOT an example of the idiomatic phrase in question.

• Relay For Life 2015

After months of preparation, and many captain's meetings, the 2015 Relay for Life event was held. The location was in the picturesque setting of Canyon Hills Middle School, just off Lost Road in Lake Elsinore's back country, and the day was to be a hot one. According to the Press Enterprise it hit 97 degrees.

It started early on Saturday morning with an opening ceremony, which included a couple of inspirational speeches, including one where a long time survivor revealed that she had recently been re-diagnosed with cancer, a very sobering moment.

Next was a Survivors Breakfast hosted by Annie's Cafe.

Wildomar Mayor Ben Benoit, getting a nice suntan as he dishes up meals alongside Jan Vyse (Annie).

Once the survivors had eaten their fill, they opened it up to the rest of the participants for five dollars a plate. It's hard to beat that price for an Annie's Breakfast, and all the proceeds were donated to the event.

Then there was an opening lap that was led by the cancer survivors in attendance. They were easily distinguishable by the purple shirts they wore. The group was being videotaped by a low flying drone as it made its first circuit around the track.

The first lap is walked by cancer survivors. They were easily distinguishable by the purple shirts they wore.

The event went all through the day and into the evening which featured the Luminaria slideshow followed by a lap around the track in the dark. Lit only by white lunch sacks, that had been decorated with the names of loved ones that have battled cancer, and illuminated by glow sticks.

An example of a Luminaria.

Very moving to see images of people that have passed on during the slide show. Including those that passed this year, like honorary poster person Tom Thomas, and local long time teacher (with a past in the NBA) Dave Meyers (who'd just passed away the day before of cancer.)

Also in the slide show were those that have survived bouts of cancer, which gave the assembled crowd reason to cheer.

The event ended with a closing ceremony around 9:00am Sunday.

Closing ceremonies with the various event leaders on stage.

The participant that put the most miles on his/her tennies was Ryan Kelman of Lake Elsinore. He walked a total of 32.2 miles over the 24 hour event. Not counting sleep time and other breaks, that's an average of about 5.3 laps per hour... EVERY HOUR for 24 hours. Well done!

I got some stats from event chair Chrissy Rohlmeier, resident of The Farm.

There were a total of 15 teams that participated this year out of the 22 that signed up (down from the 30 that participated last year).

The top team was Taxing for a Cure and they raised $4120.

The total for the event was $20,355, though that number will rise as the last of the tallies are tabulated. Wildomar Walkers raised $1208. Troop 2011 (sorry, I don't know their nickname) raised $963, Donald Graham Elementary raised $200 and I couldn't decipher how much the VFW raised. Note to self, make better notes.

Kathy Bundy, Bridgette Moore, Dan York and Ben Benoit at the Wildomar Walkers booth on Saturday Morning.

This event has a heavy Wildomar footprint (Wildomar Walkers, Troop 2011, DGE and the VFW) and some of the teams were mentioning it would be a nice move to have the event relocated to Elsinore High School. Not so much for the sake of the participants, but to get more foot traffic to enhance the fund raising opportunities. Canyon Hills Middle School is in a very nice setting, but it's well off the beaten path and there simply is very little opportunity for drive by visitors.

•      •      • 

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
― Henry David Thoreau

Wildomar Rap is now available in three attractive varieties, including paisley, tartan and bold.

• Great Day of Service 2015

Click link to see the to-do list.

This has been a long time in coming. I first went to a prep meeting back in early Spring, and the original date was for just after school let out for the year, but the timing wasn't right so it was bumped to October. Who would have guessed the the Autumn temps would be in the mid '90s.

Still, the heat didn't deter the volunteers. 125 had preregistered and 120 more signed up the day of, for a total of nearly 250. 

First stop of the day is registration and waiver signing.

Shirts and event themed water bottles for everyone.

Next, pick out your T-Shirt.

It was a well organized event and everyone had their stations and work teams. Among the many volunteers were Wildomar city manager Gary Nordquist, assistant city manager Dan York, Mayor Ben Benoit and Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore.

One of several murals being painted at today's event.

At around 11:30 work was halted and lunch was served. The choice was between several classic sandwiches. I chose the BLT, though they also had PBnJ, and Tuna Fish Salad. I think there was another option, but I didn't choose it, so I also don't remember it. ☺

Among those that spoke during lunch included Tom Pilkington, WE principal Michael Hoffman, Ben Benoit, Bridgette Moore and LEUSD Board Member Stan Crippen.

There was a lot of prepwork, two weeks ago we started here on a Saturday [on the murals]. There's one special lady that has been working and working (this is where the crowd started to cheer for April Watkins and finally coaxed her into going to the front) And it's not just April, it's April and her husband her children. So if you get the team of Tom [Pilkington] and April on your side, this is the amazing day that you get. Thank you so much. (and then she hugged April)

— Bridgette Moore

Mayor Ben Benoit pulled a split shift today. In the morning he was serving breakfast along with the cast from Annie's over at the Relay for Life event at Canyon Hills Middle School, and in the afternoon was serving sandwiches at WE. 

There really were just too many pictures to choose from so let me invite you to watch this three plus minute long video to give you more of a flavor of the day. You'll have to pardon one or two blurry shots... the joys of using a smart phone as a camera.

I asked event organizer, Tom Pilkington, for a recap of the day.

Today was the Great Day of Service. The United Methodist Churches got together with Wildomar Elementary School, the PTA, the staff and the Board of Education (LEUSD) and we completed several projects, we raised $16,000, had about 245 volunteers come out, and we have transformed Wildomar Elementary School with seven murals, a map of the united states [on the blacktop play area], we put up bulletin boards around the campus. We have painted walls and buildings and barns. We're still going to do one more thing, which is installing a 1500 foot running track for the kids, around their playground. We're delighted to be able to do this, showing the hands and feet of Jesus Christ working in the community.

— Tom Pilkington

The track had to be postponed to a time when the kids wouldn't be present, and the company that is contracted doesn't work on Saturdays... so, it'll be done over the Thanksgiving break.

What I enjoyed about the day was that you didn't have to be a member of the church, I'm not, to feel like part of the team. In fact, outside of opening and closing prayers, the only way you might know it was being sponsored by the Methodist Church, or any other church for that matter, is that everyone was courteous to each other. 

•      •      • 

A bottle of water, a tuna fish sandwich, a red shirt and thou...
― Omar Khayyam [had he been in Wildomar today]

Wildomar Rap is pleased to announce free vocabulary lessons for all those that don't know what the idiom "thrown under the bus" means.

• State of the City 2015

Tonight was the State of the City presentation by Mayor Ben Benoit.

It started around 5:30PM, though many people were already there by 5:15. There was food provided by Los Reyes Mexican Restaurant, pizza by Pie Nation and chicken skewers by Old Market Grill for those that attended.

Alfredo Garcia looks on as Lake Elsinore Mayor Pro-Tem Brian Tisdale (left) waits for an enchilada. 

Many local dignitaries were on hand. Including State Senator Jeff Stone, Assembly Woman Melissa Melendez, County Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, representatives from Lake Elsinore and Temecula, and a host of others.

Chief of Wildomar Police Leonard Hollingsworth, Electra Demos of The Assistance League,
Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore and another person from The Assistance League whose name I didn't get.

The presentation started with Boy Scout Troop 332 leading the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Followed by the singing of the national anthem by City Clerk Debbie Lee.

Brandon Benline and Debbie Lee go over specifics of the opening ceremonies.

Mayor Ben Benoit spoke for a little less than half an hour about the current state of Wildomar.

A key thing to take away from it is that we're not in debt, something many other cities can't claim.

He highlighted many coming projects, including Mount San Jacinto College (currently battling predictable litigation).

He also reminded us about the recent veto by Governor Brown of SB 25 that would have stopped diverting nearly $2,000,000 a year away from the city. A fight that will continue until it's returned.

 Part of Wildomar's A-Team, from L-R; Gary Nordquist, Leonard Hollingsworth, Thomas Jex, Dan York, Debbie Lee,
 Bridgette Moore, Ben Benoit, Marsha Swanson, Janet Morales, and Tim Walker. 

City Council Members: Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moor, Mayor Ben Benoit, Tim Walker and Marsha Swanson.

A suggestion for next time. Let's work in a ringmaster of sorts that will corral people into photo ops. Someone that will be able to get people lined up for photos. It would have been great to get more posed pictures with those that attended.

I was very surprised that Council Member Bob Cashman was a no show. Though he never comes to city events, outside of the Bell Ringing (he's usually the MC for that one), I thought this would be different.

Thing is, at a recent city council meeting he went out of his way to say that he was now retired, and that he'd be able to spend more time concentrating on Wildomar. I guess he's waiting for a special occasion or something.

Sort of like on a classic Simpson's where Bart got Marge some perfume for her birthday and he asked her why she didn't put any on. Her response was, "I'm waiting for a special occasion."

With Bart's retort being, "what's more of a special occasion than your birthday?" 

Bringing it back to Wildomar, what's more special than the State of the City address?

Temecula City Council Member Maryann Edwards happened to be sitting next to me during the Mayor's presentation and afterward quipped after seeing Bob Cashman's name on the screen, "I don't know Bob Cashman, I haven't seen him at any event."

I smiled and said, "Yeah, he doesn't bother coming to city events."

•      •      • 

Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude.  
― Anne Frank

Wildomar Rap missed out on Pie Nation's pizza, but was happy to have a plate of Los Reyes' food... and yes, the whole enchilada was great.

• Daniel Torres to the Rescue!

Daniel Torres is Wildomar's go to parks guy, and once alerted to the deteriorated condition of the recently installed bulletin boards at Windsong and Heritage Parks, he put them on his to do list, and hammered them out in no time flat.

Here's an image I sent to Mayor Pro-Tem Bridgette Moore just a few days ago,
showing the condition of the cork squares used for pinning announcements.

Here's is a look at the before and after once Daniel was on the job.

Looks a million times better now.

The bulletin board over at Regency Heritage Park was also in need of repair.

The bulletin boards were part of an Eagle Project. Initially the scout opted for several cork squares instead of one piece. Now we can see that between the pins, the Sun and the the moisture, this cork will probably need replacing at least every other year.

They sure look sharp now. If you have a community message you want to share... a garage sale perhaps, remember to use the bulletin boards, that's what they're there for.

So remember, if you see something that is amiss at one of the parks or other place that the city has jurisdiction over, instead of complaining about it, report it. This is OUR city, and the more sets of eyes we have out there, the better we can keep on top of things. The city employees, or City Council members for that matter, aren't mind readers. ☺

Thanks Daniel, job well done!

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Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment. ― Will Rogers

Wildomar Rap thinks three legged races are best left to those born with three legs..

• Coffee With Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez October 2015

Today there was a community coffee for Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez at Las Palmas restaurant in Lake Elsinore. There was a small crowd of about 30 or so people, that enjoyed breakfast and coffee as we listened to our elected official go over some of the things still pending in Sacramento.

She mentioned:
• AB 74, which deals with Highway 74 coming under local control. It's awaiting the governor's signature.
• AB 545, requires an individual who is a repeated domestic abuser to remain in custody for no less than 48 hours. This is awaiting the governor's signature.
• AB 950, this will allow an individual the right to transfer their firearm(s) to a Federal Firearm Licensee if they are forced to surrender their firearms due to a restraining order. Goes into effect January 1, 2016.

At this point she threw it open to questions from the group.

Honestly, I heard a lot of talk from the crowd that really can't be dealt with by Sacramento, even if we had a fistful of Billion Dollar Bills. Things like, the general decay of the current generation. How the young generation doesn't have respect for their elders, etc.

Melendez handled such topics with adroitness and aplomb, but in the end, such things are not actually subject to legislation. We can't pass laws demanding parents actually be good parents... though the thought is nice.

Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez speaking to locals at Las Palmas restaurant in Lake Elsinore.

I did love it when one person mentioned that the societal decline could be traced back to violent video games, which received nods and applause... except from me. That's just flat out silly.

I steered the conversation back to legislation and asked the Assemblywoman her thoughts on SB 25 (SB 25 was the bill that would have helped Wildomar out by returning $1.9 Million per year to us).

Wildomar Rap:

Bringing it back to legislation, maybe you can talk about SB 25 which was going to help Wildomar. I don't know if it's even worth trying anymore with the current governor. 

Melissa Melendez:

SB25 was a bill where they took away the [portion of the] Vehicle Licensing Fees that went back to the cities. Wildomar was one city, and Menifee as well,  where when they calculated their budget, they calculated that money in with the other money they were supposed to be getting.

Then the state, in 2011, took that money away, and so there went Wildomar's budget. There has been a bill three years in a row, my entire time in the legislature, they have done a bill to give that funding back, because it was promised to these cities.

The cities didn't do anything wrong, they played by the rules, but the state took it (VLF funds) away. Three years in a row I helped with this bill and three years in a row the governor has vetoed it.

Now I will tell you, and I don't mind saying this out in public, that I had a conversation with governor Brown a couple of months ago. We were at dinner, not just he and I it was a group of people ((which led to some laughter among the attendees)). But it just so happened that he was sitting right across from me... I got the lucky seat.

So I said to him, "Governor Brown, we have this bill coming up which will really helps two cities in my district [by] giving back their vehicle licensing fees. They were pretty hard hit, what are your thoughts on that?"

And he paused for a minute, and he looked at me in his Jerry Brown way, and he said, "What was the percentage of votes I got in Riverside County?" 
((The assembled let out a protracted gasp at that))

He actually said that to me. 

I was stunned, I said, "uhhh... Well... you know, it was probably higher in some other areas of the state." 

And he replied, "I think it was about 22 maybe 23%, so I'm not really motivated."

So that bill is never going to pass (be signed into law), ever.

One guy, that logged the most speaking time from the floor, chimed in towards the end with a quote from Plato:
"One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors"
 ...and then asked, "Do you consider yourself a career politician, and if so will you be running for governor?"

To which the Assemblywoman chuckled and said, "Oh good lord no!"

She then went on to explain that the political climate in California will most likely preclude any republican from being elected as governor for the foreseeable future.

A shot from earlier this year.

Melissa Melendez:

I can't imagine I'd ever run for Governor. Only because this state, I don't think is going to see a republican Governor for a very long time.  I don't think I am (After some hesitation choosing the right wording) "moderate" enough for enough Democrats to put me in office. I have my certain principles and I'm not going to change. I'm not crazy off to the right off the cliff, but I think for California, because we are a very liberal state, I can't see it happening. 

After the coffee session had ended I chatted for a moment with the Assemblywoman, reminding her that I lean Libertarian and she probably knows where the divisions lie between that and a traditional conservative like her.

She had pushed for audits of Planned Parenthood, and she must have known such a thing was a nonstarter in Sacramento. I asked her about the point of pursuing something that had no chance of advancing and I liked her candid answer, which I really knew all along, but needed reminding.

I'll be honest with you, sometimes as an elected you have to fall on your sword for your district because it's something they want you to fight for. Even if they know you're going to lose, by god they want you to fight for it. 

If you ever get a chance to speak with Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez take it. She's very personable and genuinely is interested in her district and her constituents.

Here is the Assemblywoman's contact info:

assemblymember.melendez@assembly.ca.gov

Local (951) 894-1232

Sacramento (916) 319-2067

 link to previous blog: Coffee With Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez

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The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.        
—  Socrates

Wildomar Rap wants to remind you that the more things change, the more you sound like a broken record when think the current generation stinks more than your own.