• Wildomar Ranked #6 in the State and #249 Nationally, Really?

I was doing some research on where California cities rank in relation to each other and this popped up. 

Please don't shoot the messenger as you fall on the floor laughing your derriere off. 

Seriously, for those of us who love our hometown of Wildomar, we aren't such homers as to think we're ranked number 6 in the state.

Read below to see what I'm going on about. I'll add some of my own photos of The W in between the words of bestplaces dot net.

Wildomar does have many beautiful settings.

Wildomar, CA is a small city located in Riverside County, California. 

So Far, So Good!

It has a population of 33,120 people according to the most recent census and is a great place to live. Wildomar is ranked highly in terms of livability amongst US cities, coming in at #6 in the state and #249 nationally according to BestPlaces.net.

The city also has a low crime rate and good air quality for its residents. 

No real arguments yet... other than the population number being off by 12%

I'm not even sure where this was located. 

This is where Pinocchio's nose sprouted a bird's nest

Based on their rankings, Wildomar has excellent amenities such as quality healthcare facilities, good schools, plenty of jobs and career opportunities, an abundant supply of housing options, and plenty of entertainment activities and outdoor recreation areas nearby. 

Beautiful skies in Wildomar happen in an endless variety of ways.

Overall, Wildomar is an excellent place to settle down with a high quality of life that makes it an attractive option for potential new residents or visitors alike.

I'm fine with the previous sentence.

Best Places ranks thousands of places to live based on analysis, data, and key statistics from the U.S. Census and our Best Places To Live Expert Insights.

https://www.bestplaces.net/rankings/city/california/wildomar

I'm guessing that this was written by AI, especially if you look at the other rankings where they have Wildomar listed.

The same goes for nearly everything else on the internet too. 

• Better Know a Candidate Karen Ellison

I've been doing "Better Know a Candidate" blogs since 2014 and this year there will be a total of three blogs for District 4. 

If you're already familiar with my style you know that I'm not here to "fact-check" the candidates. This is a conversation and I let the candidates speak, and I also throw in several "fun" questions.

First up will be challenger Karen Ellison, then incumbent Bridgette Moore. The third blog will be opinions about the race as there will be no opinions in this blog.

There is a third candidate on the ballot, but she declined the chance to be in a blog. I'll touch on her candidacy in the opinion blog. 

With that out of the way, let me introduce you to Karen Ellison.

Karen Ellison, candidate for Wildomar City Council, D4.

1) What made you choose Wildomar as your hometown?

I recently got married, I met my husband online, and he's from Temecula. He's lived here since 1976 and he knows all the [local] areas very well, and he knows Wildomar, he went to Elsinore High School. When we got married, we decided we wanted a new place to live and he suggested that we go look in Wildomar. 

Karen and husband Shawn.

It's the greatest city around because there's no traffic, it's really quiet, it has beautiful land, and the neighbors are all really nice. We have a lot of friends that live in the area. We decided to come out and just start looking [for a house] and we found our place. We put an offer in right away and we moved in. We love it. 

How long have you lived in Wildomar?

Almost three years. 

Karen's 17-year-old dog Charlie.

2) What got you interested in running for city council?

Back in the '90s I was a reporter and I covered the Los Angeles city beat and I covered the Mayor's office, the Sheriff's office, and I worked with many of the city council members, the Supervisors, and did a lot of the elections throughout Los Angeles County. I've always been interested in politics and the [various] offices, learning a lot about it. 

When I lived in Orange County I got really involved in our city (Lake Forest). There were a lot of things happening, the city was growing as well. I got involved in helping maintain the city and make some changes for the better of residents. 

One of the examples is there were no red curbs painted in neighborhoods [at corners] when turning and there were no stop signs. The amount of accidents around certain areas were high. I helped 

I helped improve traffic safety in Lake Forest where in some neighborhoods people would park all the way to the corner, making it difficult to see oncoming traffic. I helped get stop signs installed and curbs painted red near the corners. [I] also helped Lake Forest tackle Short Term Rental (Airbnb) issues.

I like the design and the QR code sends you to her website.

3) Tell me about your family.

Pretty much all of my family is from New York. However, many of them reside in the area. Today my parents live in Terramor (55 and older community, in Corona), my brother lives in Murrieta, my uncle and some cousins live in Valley Center, some of my husband's cousins live in Windsong community here in Wildomar, and the rest of my family lives in Nevada. 

I have a stepdaughter and a stepson. My stepdaughter just moved to Miramar with her fiancé, they're getting married later this month —He's in the Marines. 

Karen's family.

4) It takes a certain desire to serve the community as an elected official, what is your past community involvement?

As I said, I've been very involved in covering city councils, and the Mayor's office [...] other political offices as a reporter. I was also involved in my own community when I lived in Lake Forest. 

I was able to get a good education on understanding how things work and what the city council has say in and what they don't. I became really involved in learning and asking questions so I could help our neighbors. That's how I got involved in the community and I want to do more.

5) How long have you considered running for this seat?

I think I considered running for this seat for almost a year now. I am new to Wildomar. Like I said, I've only been here almost three years and coming in as somebody who is looking at things really fresh I see a lot of things that are just being neglected around the city. That haven't been paid attention to. And I just don't know why it's not getting attention. 

One of the examples is the roads here. I want to call out specifically Bundy, from the 15 freeway to Mission Trail. It's the most disastrous street I've ever seen in my life, and for it to be a main thoroughfare into Wildomar it's very upsetting and frustrating that it hasn't been addressed. 

Karen went on to specify Mission Trail and Corydon as unsafe roads at night "You cannot even see the road". 

I want to help to get roads updated and improved so we have a safer way to travel [...] as well as bikers (cyclists) and walkers. 

6) You're at the dentist's office with ten minutes to kill, and your smartphone is NOT getting a signal (gasp!). Which magazine do you reach for: The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, Vanity Faire, People, Newsweek, Popular Mechanics, or Highlights?

With only 10 mins, I think I'm going to reach for People. 

7) What is your day job? 

My day job is a communications consultant. I help a lot of tech companies, as well as a lot of startup companies, build their communication, marketing and media plans to grow their business. Whether it's product launches or it's helping executives with their thought leadership. 

I've worked with Amazon, Johnson & Johnson Vision, and other leading tech companies as well as construction businesses and design businesses. 

Currently, I'm working with a consumer product that's just getting launched called BunzzUp and I've been taking a lot of AI courses as well. I'm leveraging AI technology to build content such as logos and social media posts. 

8) What's your understanding of the job of city council members and/or what your job would be after you're elected?

I believe the job of a city council member should be is an advocate for the residents that they support. They should be listening to the residents, hearing their concerns, as well as hearing the things they love about the city. 

City Council Members should be the people that are helping

residents resolve issues. 

I believe City Council members should be helping setting up meetings for residents,  helping find other key stakeholders to help, and attending meetings to resolve issues. They should be involved throughout the process since they are representatives of the residents. Council members should be the ones helping to resolve the issues of the residents. 

Point blank, that's the main goal of a city council member. That's what I believe, being an advocate for the residents.

9) What’s a nice relaxing afternoon for your family?

It's probably heading to a friend's house and enjoying the pool in the summertime. During the wintertime, we love playing games. We have a shuffleboard table at our house, and we love playing cornhole. We love any activity where we're not in front of a screen. We are also big football fans and we do have a lot of football parties. We play fantasy football with our whole family and it gets very competitive. We all have different teams that we love so it [makes for] a really fun season. 

10) Being on city council can be very time-consuming. When elected will your schedule allow for you to be "all in"?

Absolutely. I would not be running if I wasn't going to be all in. Like I said, my main role is to be an advocate for the residents and I will do whatever needs to happen to get our residents to a point where they're happy with —solving their problems or finding a resolution. I'm all in —whatever needs to happen I'm going to be there. 

11) When you get a break in the action, how do you unwind/hobbies?

We love going to the lake. We usually head out to the river in Laughlin and Havasu. We have a boat so we enjoy —just really unwinding, disconnecting, getting out on the lake. We try to go almost every other weekend in the summertime.

During the fall and the winter seasons, we enjoy football with our family and enjoying lots of party games. Anything to really disconnect. I think that you need to have balance in your life and if you can get away from the everyday stresses it makes you a more balanced person. 

12) What are your top three concerns for Wildomar?

We talked about road improvements. Obviously, that's a big passionate one, that's the one I noticed the very first time I ever drove into Wildomar. 

Two, is the low and no-income housing, slash "the homeless shelter" going in right smack in the middle of our communities. I feel that they're really great ideas, I just think that they're in the wrong locations and not set up for success for the residents that live there. 

I also have a plan I’m currently seeking input on to consider a homeless center that would support Wildomar, Elsinore, Murrieta, Menifee, and Temecula that would include services such as food bank, clothes, health and mental services, living conditions, employee services that would help make these residents more successful and get out of the situation they are in.

And then another one of my concerns or "things that I'm going to be fighting for" are more resident rights to things that are happening in the community like the shelters and the low/no income [projects]. 

I believe that we should be able to have a say when there are businesses like homeless shelters going in our community that's actually physically going to affect our life. I want to work on writing bills with our Senator and State Assembly (which I have requests out to) to help ensure these properties are run efficiently, safely, and legally.

13) Currently each council member appoints a planning commissioner. What's your approach to future growth and how heavily would that factor in when choosing a commissioner?

I think that a planning commissioner needs to be really involved in the city. I think that they need to

have the best interest for the residents and to be able to talk to the residents on what they want and, what they don't want. 

I think a planning commissioner should agree to aligning to our mission statement to bring the right businesses into our community with managed growth in mind and being an advocate as well. That's what is important to me.

14) How do you envision your community outreach if elected? 

Communications is one of the most important things. I think that you need to be present and you need to be available at all times. You need to be available to the residents and attending as many city meetings as possible. You need to continue to be advocating. I do what I call "Wildomar Walks" where every weekend I go to a different community within our district and I let people know where I'm going to be and I invite them to walk and get out in fresh air and be healthy, have conversations. That's something I'm going to continue to do so that people know where I'm going to be and find out what's going on in their neighborhood. 

We also need to have a better communication outreach program and start promoting a newsletter, or an email [because] people don't even know where to go to sign up for a [city] email. I think we need to do an overhaul of the website and have a community bulletin area where we can post stuff and our community can also post things that are happening or what they're doing in the community. 

15) SoCal is close to many areas, are you more of a beach, mountain, or desert person?

I'm a water girl, so anything to do with water, whether it's the lake or the ocean, that's where I'm at. 

16) Why are you the best candidate for the job?

Well, I feel like I'm the best candidate for the job because I have a lot of skillsets that would enable me to step into the position and start advocating for people right away. 

I understand what the issues are in the communities in District 4, I have them all listed out on my website, and I'm learning more every day that I need to add. I feel that my communications background, working with CEOs of leading tech companies —building strategies, talking to the media, asking questions as a reporter, answering difficult questions.

Being a public relations professional as I've been for the last thirty years, I have a lot of skillsets that would enable me to step into the role and start advocating right away. I also have the skills to compromise and negotiate so that both parties are happy and walk away [feeling] that they got what they really needed. 

17) If you could speak directly to the Wildomar voters, and tell them why they should vote for you, what would you tell them?

I think they should consider voting for me because when I say that I want to be an advocate for them I truly believe that. I believe that if you're on city council you need to be advocating for your residents every day. 

I need to be talking to you, finding out what is bothering you, what are you loving about the district, so I can continue to help resolve or continue doing what is loved. I think that is the number one —NUMBER ONE thing over anything else that is done on city council is being there for the residents.

Below are links to Karen's campaign cites. 

https://www.instagram.com/ellison4wildomarcitycouncil/

https://www.facebook.com/EllisonforWildomarCityCouncil

https://ellisonforwildomarcitycouncil.com/

List of Karen's endorsements as of September 13, 2024.

Wildomar Rap notes

Both candidates were given a copy of the unpublished blog more than a week before publication so that we could smooth out any wording in the answers above, or transcription errors. 

Karen helped with several edits to the original, but none of the answers changed during the process, they were just made more succinct and clear.

Link to blog of incumbent Bridgette Moore

Link to blog of challenger Veronica Langworthy

Link to opinion blog on this race

• California City News Run Amok: 002 When A City Fights The State

I'm dialed into city-level news from all over the state, and sometimes the nation. I'm reprinting parts of a recent story here.

I'm sharing this story from Elk Grove as a reminder of what happens when a city tries to go toe to toe with the state. Even if they are a well-off city with a population nearing 200,000.

According to the story, Elk Grove is only paying $150,000 of the state's legal expenses. I can guarantee that their own legal fees are going to be at least double that. 

In the last six years, there have been several projects in Wildomar where the state has completely removed local control. Where the city had no say whatsoever in approval or denial... or even to have such projects meet similar conditions of approval that other projects must fulfill. 

California announces settlement resolving Elk Grove’s housing project denial

• By Tom Joyce | The Center Square contributor
 
• Sep 9, 2024

“We can’t solve California’s homelessness crisis without creating new housing and supportive services," Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement. "Elk Grove is not immune to this challenge, and the city’s decision to block these efforts — wasting valuable time and resources — is especially shameful. We expect Elk Grove to follow the law — continued refusal will not be tolerated.”

The state filed the lawsuit when Elk Grove denied a 67-unit supportive housing project for failing to meet the city's zoning standards, even though the city previously approved a similar project for market-rate housing.

"The project would have been located in Elk Grove’s historic district, a high-resource area critical to the state’s goal of providing communities of opportunity for people of all incomes," a release said. "The project would have provided off-site and on-site services to assist residents in maintaining housing and maximizing their ability to live and work in the community."

California sued Elk Grove in May 2023 for violating state laws, including Senate Bill 35 and the Housing Accountability Act, along with fair housing laws like the Nondiscrimination in Land Use Law and the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing statute.

Elk Grove eventually reached a separate settlement agreement with the development to move the project to a different area of the city. However, the city's reason for denying the project was still illegal, created needless delays for people seeking housing, and caused a preventable year-long legal battle, the release said.

Elk Grove agreed to be subjected to reporting requirements that monitor its future compliance with California housing law as a part of this settlement. It must also identify more locations for low-income housing development and pay the state $150,000 in legal costs.

“This settlement reflects what I’ve said all along: California’s housing laws are not optional. Local governments that violate our laws to deny affordable housing opportunities to Californians will be held accountable,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said. “While I am pleased that this is now behind us and that Elk Grove ultimately approved even more homes for those most in need, the city’s refusal to do the right thing over and over again cannot be swept under the rug. These are not ordinary times. Millions of Californians are struggling to keep a roof over their heads or lack housing altogether. Every local government therefore has both a legal and moral responsibility to help us meet the moment. If other cities believe they are exempt from that task, Governor Newsom, HCD Director Velasquez, and I will continue reminding those cities that they are in the wrong.”

Gustavo Velasquez, Director of HCD, said the settlement will help the state provide its people with more sufficient housing.

“This is a victory in the state’s efforts to expand the availability of much-needed supportive housing, consistent with California’s strong legacy upholding fair housing rights for people with disabilities and for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness,” Velasquez said. “We are resolute to see that every community in our state affirmatively furthers fair housing and expands integrative communities of opportunities. Our team will work with the City of Elk Grove to ensure this settlement is the first step in a lasting commitment to housing residents in need.”

Before the lawsuit was filed, HCD issued a Notice of Violation in October 2022. It warned the city that denying the Oak Rose Apartments would violate state law.

Attorney General Bonta sent the city letter on March 16, 2023, urging it to reverse its unlawful denial of the Oak Rose Apartments to avoid legal consequences.

One can view the settlement agreement here.

Originally published on thecentersquare.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

• City Council Meeting September 2024 Preview

While reading the agenda for the September 11, 2024 City Council Meeting I thought I'd draw your attention to one of the Department Reports.

Code Enforcement Homeless Outreach update followed by The Regional Homeless Alliance/Baker Tilly Presentation given by Susan Price Presented By: Raul Berroteran, Code Enforcement Department 

Due to legal restrictions, I won't add any commentary. I'm just trying to get information out to the public so they (you) can stay informed. Below are the slides for the coming meeting, there are more than twenty. 

If you have questions after looking over the slides, please email them to your city council member, or you can email me at my city council address jmorabito@cityofwildomar.org.

Wildomar's Code Enforcement and Homeless Outreach Team

My apologies for this one. I can see that it's difficult to read.

The city council meeting for this agenda item will be September 11, 2024. Here's a link to the full agenda. 

https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/cityofwildomar/fd56826f2f310ef38ba5cac64f73b59f0.pdf

• City Council Meeting August 2024

The meeting started with the recognition of several people who helped put out a fire between the freeway and the shopping center with Pappa G's and The Corporate Room. 

Back row is Mayor Pro-Tem Ashlee DePhillippo, Councilmen Dustin Nigg, Joseph Morabito, and Carlos Marquez. Front row is Mayor Bridgette Moore, Dan Gonse, Richard Pearce, Rachel, and Marie.

Next was the quarterly police report. Here's a sample slide from the 10-slide presentation. 

(use this link to access all 10 slides)

•

Since it was a light agenda I asked to pull three items from the consent calendar. 

For those who aren't familiar with a "consent calendar" here is our disclaimer seen on each agenda.

CONSENT CALENDAR All matters listed under the Consent Calendar are considered routine and will be enacted by one roll call vote. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of the Council, the Public, or Staff request to have specific items removed from the Consent Calendar for separate discussion and/or action.

1.10 Purchase and Sale Agreement for Remainder Parcels on Palomar St.

This has been in the works for quite a while. This will allow the widening of Palomar from Wildomar Trail to a little beyond Gruwell,  and the total purchase price for both parcels is $129,000.

There is no current long-term use envisioned for these properties, but I've heard a few interesting ideas. If you want to hear the whispers, let's go have coffee.

I asked for this to be pulled because I wanted another chance to get the information out to the public about it. 

The widening should be in the wrap-up stages 12 months from now, with it beginning in the first quarter of 2025.

1.12 2024 Holiday Home Decoration Contests 

I asked to hear about this because, much to many people's chagrin, we're just a couple of short weeks away from PSL (Pumpkin Spice Latte) season and the traditional Holiday season too. 

😀🎅😀

Let's see if we can get maximum participation from the community as they decorate their homes for Halloween and Christmas. 

The Community Services Department will be conducting the Spooktacular and Holiday Home Decoration Contest for the 2024 calendar year. The contests are open to all Wildomar Residents. Residents are able to sign up on the City of Wildomar website starting Monday, September 2, 2024. Both home decorating contests will have different decorating categories that residents can choose from to compete for recognition. Staff will create the criteria to judge these entries. 

1.13 National Clean Up Day Event MOU with Wildomar Community & Parks Foundation

I asked for this to be discussed for two reasons. 

First, it's a great community event and the more that the word can get out about it the better. 

The second reason is that some in the community have suggested items are "hidden" in the consent calendar and since Wildomar Community & Parks Foundation is headed by Mayor Bridgette Moore. 

Mayor Pro-Tem Ashlee DePhillippo took the reins during item 1.13 as Mayor Moore excused herself since her nonprofit (Wildomar Community & Parks Foundation) was the subject matter.

BACKGROUND: The City has coordinated with non-profit organizations, community groups, and local agencies to provide events and activities within the city. These partnerships are handled on a case by case basis. The Wildomar Community and Parks Foundation has successfully conducted similar events within the past year. 

DISCUSSION: The Foundation has submitted a Temporary Event Permit Application stating that the event will focus on providing landscape maintenance to right of way along several arterial roads within the City limits. The foundation has requested for the City's partnership on this event. The Wildomar Community and Parks Foundation is subject to fulfilling all Temporary Event Permit requirements, indemnifying the City, and providing the required insurance coverage. 

The extent of the potential City partnership would provide the foundation with CMS boards along sections where clean-up activities are taking place, provide a location for the temporary storage of a 40-yard dumpster for debris accumulated from the event, assist with marketing the event, and the waiving of the Temporary Event Permit Application Fee. 

FISCAL IMPACT: Fiscal impact related to this event partnership would be the cost of $800.00 for additional CMS boards to assist in notifying ongoing traffic of the event. The waiver of the $150.00 Temporary Event Permit Application fee would not be collected. 

This is a great asset for the community as many volunteers converge to help clean up various areas of the city. Last year there were more than 100 volunteers. Please consider making room on your schedule to help, even if in just a minor way on September 21, 2024.

3.1 Purchase of City Vehicles 

There are many things the city has been doing that I've been happy to be a part of. First, would be the purchase of City Hall, but not too far behind it is purchasing our city vehicles instead of leasing them.

Back when it was decided to lease the vehicles in 2001 it was in the middle of Covid and you may remember how difficult it was to purchase new vehicles. By entering a lease agreement it allowed the city to get the vehicles it needed. 

Part of the reason for bailing out on the leasing option is that the minimum number of vehicles went from seven to fifteen. If that was the straw that broke the camel's back, I'm good with it. 

Councilman Marquez had some good comments which included noting "Not only is there a need for these vehicles because of the increase in staff [...] and these additional vehicles are not only going to increase staff productivity, but they're going to increase services."

(Link to slides from the agenda)

•

Use this link to access the agenda and the video. If you haven't tried the new format yet you'll really be happy with how easy it is to navigate the video as it matches up with the agenda.