County Still Struggling To Fix Leaky Windows

LAFCO Faces Controversial Decisions

Visalia - The county agency that regulates city boundary expansions has two hot potato issues this coming week including both Tulare and Visalia. Tulare’s application seeks to expand their so-called sphere of influence - the first step as city looks to annex lands into the city limits. Next Wednesday, January 10th, the Local Agency Formation Commission will take up the Tulare application that includes adding the Tagus area to Tulare’s sphere allowing eventual annexation and Visalia’s big 680 acre annexation of the Shannon Ranch on the city’s north side.

Regarding the Tulare plan, LAFCO is allowing much of Tulare’s sphere application while opposing some additional acreage. The county’s top planner, George Finney, says the staff is opposing Tulare’s Tagus application because it conflicts with the fact that the City of Visalia’s urban area boundary adopted years ago. “Until Visalia and Tulare can come to some agreement for one or the other to withdraw - I don’t see how we can approve the expansion of the sphere,” he says. Instead, he will suggest to Tulare that they go back to the Board of Supervisors to amend the county general plan, that would get Tagus within the Tulare urban sphere. LAFCO staff is also opposing expansion of the sphere into where COS wants to build their new Tulare campus until COS does a full EIR. In addition, the staff report suggests denying over 1000 acres of farm land east of the Farm Show that Tulare wanted added to their sphere. “We allowed 113 acres to come into expanding the Farm Show and Fairgrounds to the area, “but the rest of the acreage is just farm land,” he suggests.

Regarding the Visalia application for Shannon Ranch, it appears political support is building for LAFCO to approve the plan. Still, Finney says they are awaiting Department of Conservation comment on Visalia’s claim that they can in fact cancel a Williamson contract on the lands within one mile of the city limits as they claim.

Aside from the Dept. of Conservation issue, political support for the project is building that could be resolved by next week’s meeting.

“I think it will get approval,” agrees Visalia mayor Don Landers and incoming board chair for the Tulare County Board of Supervisors, Bill Maze.

County staff has had questions on the size of the annexation, impact on ag land and the fact that the annexation is not surrounded on all sides by city jurisdiction. But the city has worked to ease those questions.

Regarding the issue of taking ag land out of production - the land is planted to walnuts at the north edge of the city just south of the St. Johns - the city protested the ag preserve status of most of the lands that are within a mile of the city boundary. That allows the ag preserve to be canceled, the city maintains.

The city’s 2020 growth plan identifies the lands as being within its first tier - (10 year) urban boundaries allowing them to make the argument that the big “planned community” was not “leap frog development” but part of the city’s long term general plan adopted as far back as 1991. In addition the Shannon’s offered a 380 acre ag conservation easement on part of the project on lands north of the river that the Shannon’s own as additional mitigation measures to put this piece into urban development.

On the issue of the county’s residential island - Birdland - some 400 homes between the project and the City of Visalia, mayor Don Landers says there well may be “good reasons to roundoff the city” in that area to provide continuous services. “We may offer the homeowners there to come into the city,” he suggests allowing them to hook up to sewer, for example. “We already service there by cooperative agreement,” he says and the county would gain by relinquishing some responsibility there,” he notes.

The city had a big stake in the Shannon Ranch in part because the city already bought 80 acres of the land for its new regional sports park under design right now. City officials have been impressed with a plan going into the Shannon Ranch would be the biggest planned development in the city since the Northeast Specific Plan.

Visalia argues that the planned development would follow the long term land use plan of not developing north of the river, using streets and sewer and water systems that run east/west already and in filling the northside of the city, a long term goal of the planners.

“I think we convinced them it was in the best interest of everyone,” says Basil Perch who works with the builder of the project, Westlands Development.

Northside supporters are pleased that the new development will be coming to the area likely bringing new commercial development on the northern gateway to the community.

Already the city is looking at controlling the intersection of Riggin and 63 and River Way and 63 to insure safe access into the big project and its sports park. Landers says the city is hoping it can soon link Riggin to St. Johns Parkway to relieve east/west traffic off of Houston Ave. - the only through street right now.

The project plans a mixed use of clustered development with “villages” of dense housing, bike paths and open space between and commercial nodes on the corners spreading from Highway 63 clear to Demaree. 554 acres of the project will be developed to new single family homes. There will also be a 10 acre school site, 60 acres of commercial office and 35 acres of multi family. Modoc Ditch winds its way through the project offering chances for a continuous bike and pedestrian path to link the development.

LAFCO officials say it is possible the Shannon Ranch issue could be put off because they don’t yet have the word from the state Department of Conservation. In addition, they are expecting a marathon meeting over the Tulare plan that has many components.

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20 Bed Private Hospital Planned

Visalia - Led by surgeon Dr. Jim Billys, some 19 local physicians are looking to join up with principals of the Fresno Surgery Center to site and build a new 20 bed hospital in Visalia. Visalia Surgical Hospital will be modeled after the Fresno center offering only elective surgery to area patients, like orthopedic, urologic and gynecologic procedures to otherwise healthy people.

Dr. Billys says the Visalia group “approached Fresno Surgery because we thought it was the best model around.”

The hospital would feature private rooms with a huge nursing ratio and appointments that resemble a “first class hotel” than the traditional hospital, says Fresno Surgery Center Vice President David Thoene. “The suites will be family oriented” allowing overnight stays on a sofa bed, for example.

Thoene confirms his organization would be an equity investor in the project as they have done in Thousand Oaks. “We’re looking to replicate the FSC model across the nation,” he says.

If the Visalia partners agree, the new hospital will likely sit on 4 acres be a two story, 40,000 sq. ft. complex that could cost on the order of $15 million. “We’d be looking at an employment base of 130 to 150 people,” he says.

Fresno Surgery Center was founded in 1984 and built its current site in 1989. They see about 6000 patients a year. Thoene says private surgery hospitals “are the coming thing” across the US since 70% of surgical procedures are carried out on healthy patients who elect to have the surgery. He likens the trend to more outpatient services being performed these days and notes that now there are two such out-patient surgical centers in Visalia. Thoene says a “market study of the area shows the Visalia area is growing and the caliber of the physicians is extremely high.”

“We think another hospital will help draw more physicians and medical firms to the area as well as patients to a city that is already a magnet for high quality medical service.”

Dr. Billys says the hospital will offer patients a “choice” for the first time reversing a trend of hospital closings in the area. “We’ve been working on the idea for about 4 years,” says Dr. Billys, an orthopedic surgeon with Orthopaedic Associates.

“Our first choice was to partner with Kaweah Delta but long negotiations did not work out.” Now Kaweah Delta has opposed the plan for the hospital saying it would divert revenue from the big district hospital that is struggling to offset low reimbursements it receives on MediCal, Medicare and HMO contracts.

But Thoene points out that “Kaweah Delta is a large company with a 3/4 billion collectible revenue. We will be a rather small player.” Billys says, physicians that will practice at the new hospital “will still support Kaweah Delta and its ER” and have no plans to compete with Kaweah Delta on their highly regarded heart care program that has gained the hospital national recognition.

“Also I think competition is good, it brings out the best in providing services to the consumer,” says Billys. Since it doesn’t have an Emergency room and does not accept sick patients, Thoene says it unlikely the hospital will get lots of MediCal patients although the hospital will accept all common health plans including MediCal. Billys says in a few months they plan to present the idea for the hospital formally to the Visalia City Council who may have to make a zoning decision on the piece of property the partners are looking at. Mayor Don Landers recently got a letter from the group, he confirms.

Dr. Billys recently bought 9 acres at Roeben and 198 but he says the hospital would not target that location which would require an annexation into the city. Instead sources say the hospital is looking at the northwest corner of Demaree and Goshen at a site across from Demaree Square office complex. That was the site coveted by a mini-storage company most recently but was turned down by the city council in part because of objections by the Demaree Square professionals. A second site is under consideration as well.

Whether Kaweah Delta will formally oppose the project in council chambers remains to be seen although administrator Tom Johnson has spoken out to the council about the prospect of the private hospital siphoning off health care dollars.

How soon? Look for city approval process to start within a few months and building plans that need a long term state approval process could mean the hospital is not open for 2 to 3 years.

Billys says Orthopaedic Associates is separately looking into “move out of downtown” within a few years because it’s out of room, he says. The 9 acres off 198 is likely a new location. As to what happens the old building it has been a possible acquisition target by Kaweah Delta to expand downtown.

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Power Failure

Like a nasty flu bug, energy prices led by oil and gasoline that began rising 18 months ago have now spread to electricity, natural gas and to farm fuels, diesel and propane, causing huge spikes, some shortages, brownouts and the promise of big time pain.

This new energy crisis comes as the US economy hit the skids this summer after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates 6 times over roughly the same period. Paying double for fuel pushed everyone’s cost higher prompting higher transportation and shipping rates. To slow this oil led inflation the Fed stepped hard - some say too hard - on the brakes.

At deadline this week, the Federal Reserve surprised everyone by lowering interest rates a full half point suggesting the government’s chief financial regulator recognized the nation’s economy was in a tailspin in part caused by this energy shock.

As the “R” word creeps into the average persons vocabulary again it’s hard not to mention energy prices in the same breath. If the harm to Tulare County consumers is that the large poor population here is going to have trouble this year staying warm or keeping the lights on, the harm to the economy is that the energy crunch is affecting ag producers and especially processors - in the end, jobs.

In California where we pride ourselves on being first, a deregulation policy and pure greed appears to have magnified the price volatility for electricity and natural gas. Energy prices helped fuel the past three US economic down turns and even led up the Gulf War of 1990-91.

This week the governor of California joined a lawsuit against FERC, the federal agency in charge of energy rates, for not halting the “price gouging by wholesale power producers” who charged utilities over $1500 per megawatt hour in recent months when the same power cost $30 per megawatt hour this spring.

Part of the equation in California is that there has been stepped up demand for both natural gas and electricity. Energy Secretary Richardson called the high prices “the downside to the booming economy.” Energy use over the past year rose 14% and electricity use in California grew 13%.

What boom? Olive Growers Council’s Aden Hester says speciality growers in California are getting killed by higher costs and low prices due in part to the US trade policy. “There’s something haywire when the rest of the US economy is going up and ag is declining.”

For the local farm economy it amounts to planning on higher costs - on the backs of farmers who across the board are facing lower prices for their crops. On top of energy costs, as of January 1, their labor just went up too.

Just how volatile are energy prices and how does it affect us?

Consider butter maker California Dairies who has plants in Tipton, Fresno and Los Banos. CEO Gary Korsmeier says natural gas used in the drying and processing of butter and powder has gone up by a factor of five since this time last year and more than doubled between October and November - up $1.5 million! It is a financial hit they can’t pass on.

But they will try. This week the farmer’s group, Western United Dairymen, petitioned the California Dept. of Agriculture for an emergency 2 cents a gallon increase in milk because of skyrocketing energy prices.

Pecan farmer Brian Blain says his natural gas cost doubled in the past two months. The company uses large quantities of natural gas to dry walnuts and pecans. “We tried to switch to propane but found those prices had increased even more,” says Blain.

Fresno farmer Paul Bettencourt points out that when he started farming in 1981 the price of cotton was 60-70 cents - about what they get today. Meanwhile, fuel and water costs, which include pumping costs, are way up. Cotton growers too have joined the chorus due to natural gas charges this winter used in the drying process.

“I put the blame on Sacramento,” says Visalia Co-op Gin manager Larry Gallian who has seen natural gas go up from 30 cents a therm to $3 a therm and expects his Edison bill to double once the rate freeze is lifted.

Gallian believes SCE “will sock it to businesses and layoff consumers because that’s where the votes are.” Indeed word of a citizen ballot initiative is already serious.

Flower producers say they are cutting back production of greenhouse grown plants this winter because they can’t afford the gas.

The upshot of this crisis - less work. Trends warning that the family farm will soon be gone anyway, can lead to a despair in our farmbelt, including water woes.

“Already we’ve had the driest November and December on record,” says Water Agency director Dick Moss, “and now growers face higher pumping costs this spring.” “We’re looking at a 60% runoff on the Kings River,” says Jack Sinor, assistant GM at the Kings River Conservation District. “Hydro power can’t be much help right now,” says Sinor. The local agency manages Pine Flat dam and would like to acquire the PG&E power plant there.

Jeff Boese, president of the California League of Food Processors, says their industry is looking at a 35% increase in energy costs - a $150 million increase for its 75 members - many in the vegetable processing business. “It’s very hard to pass on the extra costs given that virtually every commodity in the state is in surplus,” says Boese. “We’re totally dependent on electricity and natural gas to produce food in California.” Boese says they would like to turn on their stand-by diesel generator but that the air board won’t allow it.

Some say natural gas is the big story.

Nationwide, the cost of natural gas has skyrocketed two years ago from about $1 per MMB to $8.50 in December 2000. In California natural gas prices have been up to four times higher than the national average because so much natural gas is used as fuel to make electricity. The high demand for natural gas comes in part because hydro electric power plants are running at a low volume - no rain. Meanwhile, a California Energy Commission report suggests a break in a pipeline from Texas into the state helped slow the flow of gas. The Energy Commission says residential gas bills this winter will be double what they were last year. In California PG&E says to expect a $125 gas bill if your bill last year was $50.

Meanwhile, oil prices went from an average of $17 a barrel in 1999 to a high of about $38 a barrel last September until falling to about $27 a barrel in December. The average for 2000 was about $29 a barrel, the highest since 1983 - that also being a recession year. The news from OPEC this week is that they want higher prices and plans to reduce output. That is bad news for the US who imports more oil than it produces.

This winter motorists are enjoying lower unleaded prices down from nearly $2 this summer to about $1.60. “But farmers are still waiting for diesel fuel to follow unleaded down,” says Dick Moss. California’s farmers use more than 1.5 million gallons of diesel a day during the peak harvest months.

Now that demand is way down, you’d expect diesel prices to have fallen, but no. The price for diesel around Tulare County today runs over $1.80 at local stations, down only a little from $2 a gallon this summer. Farmers say fuel can account for as much as 40% of operating costs during the harvest.

As high as all the petroleum based products are for the economy, it’s electricity in California that has the whole state buzzing.

Since deregulation was signed into law in 1996 by a Republican administration, with the approval of the Democrats and cheerleading by the state’s private utilities, they were allowed to charge consumers for the cost of their formerly regulated plants allowing them to recoup an estimated $18 billion. Some of that went to shareholders, but congressman Dean Florez suggests some of that should have been stock piled for a rainy day by the companies. The utilities point out that they needed to pay off debt and buy out some power plants that had been locked in with high rates. The utilities did sell off most of their California generating plants for which they were paid and now those plant owners are coming back to bite them.

Since this summer the state utilities have bought electricity from these “merchant power sellers” paying 500 times the price they paid earlier this summer accumulating a $9 billion debt they could not pass on to rate payers. Now both PG&E and Southern California Edison says in federal and state filings that they will soon go bankrupt if they can’t get a rate increase. PG&E says they will run out of cash by February and that a number of sellers would no longer give the utility credit fearing they won’t be paid.

For governmental regulators the concern will be - does that mean the lights will go out? At deadline this week, the private utilities’ hopes for a 30% rate increase were shot down by the California PUC offering a temporary reprieve of 9%. Both utilities responded with disappointment and Wall Street drove the stocks down. So whose fault is this?

Partly to blame are the independent power producers who sell utilities up to 40% of their power requirement but have clearly gouged the utilities who will now gouge the rate payers.

Power plant owners and traders have staged “an enormous transfer of wealth,” said Jason Zeller, an attorney with the PUC’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates, and “they’re trying to push it as long as they can.”

“This is the kind of thing that nations have gone to war over. This is a phenomenal amount of money,” he said.

Zeller argued that utilities, which long have had the legal right to condemn property to make way for power lines or other energy needs, should use their power of eminent domain to take over the power plants now charging such high wholesale rates.

The California Public Utilities Commission, the legislature and the Governor will have some say over just how much of the $9 billion the public will be asked to eat and how much the utilities will have to absorb. This week both private utilities asked the public be sent 100% of the bill. But Governor Davis in conversation with the utilities has suggested he would favor a more modest 10% increase in rates.

In the legislature, meeting this week in an emergency session, some are calling for a state takeover of some of the power plants or get stock options in the utilities in exchange for bailing out the utilities. Some consumers have complained that the utilities fashioned deregulation allowing them to be paid for the “stranded costs”, their power plant investments. Rate payers are continuing to pay these costs on their monthly bills.

Some say that clearly there is a supply problem in the state. California’s appetite for electricity is goring led by a computer dominated economy and DSL installation - a power source that is always on and every other tool and device we use that is plugged in (I don’t know about you, but we’ve got two computers and five TVs in our house). While the economy of the state led by technology use has surged, no new power plant has been permitted for 10 years, points out Assemblyman Mike Briggs. In the past year there has been a score of plants proposed and in the permit process.

Speeding of construction of new power plants appears to be one direction the state is taking. In nearby Kern County a number of oil related natural gas fired cogeneration plants are on the drawing board promising that they will be in production probably within 2 years. This week a 250 mega wind energy farm was proposed in Tehachapi to add to the large wind farm capacity already there.

One problem this company said they would solve - lack of connecting lines to power grid that were keeping more wind farms from locating here.

One clear indication all this bad news is getting government attention, both Democrats and Republicans appear to be ready this week to support a tax cut. The Fed lowered interest rates this week. And the argument over whether this pickle is the result of too much government or not enough government oversight will heat up.

L.A. Times editor Robert Scheer subscribes to the idea that deregulation in California has been a failure of unbridled capitalism. Now they are demanding an enormous rate increase or they will file bankruptcy. These are the same utilities that for years promised California sharply lower energy prices, he writes. The bright spot in California energy are in places like Los Angeles where a municipality held onto its power plant and continues to supply relatively cheap electricity.

But farmer Tokkie Elliot says the current energy picture in the state has been guided largely by environmental interests and Democrats who have refused to allow new dams and power plants to be constructed over the past few years. “We approved deregulation in California and now we have to live with it.”

There is an argument to be made that boosting supply of both electricity and natural gas in California would be the right thing to do along with conservation.

Regarding natural gas, industry sources say the government has put lots of natural gas resources off limits on both coasts and especially the Gulf of Mexico. President Bush might move in this direction. Natural gas supplies for California will only need to grow more with most of the new electricity generating megawatts coming on line to be fueled by natural gas. Also all new homes are using it to heat and buses and car fleets use it since it is a clean burning fuel. Demand for natural gas is expected to keep climbing - up 45% - in the next two decades.

In California high natural gas prices are based in part on the fact we have to import all but 13% of our supply. PG&E says the PUC is to blame in part because they discourage them from investing in more gas storage space or investing in pipeline capacity rights. On the other hand, a few years ago a competitor, Mojave Gas, was planning to bring in a second major pipeline in the San Joaquin valley but it was PG&E that lobbied hard against the company - an affiliate of El Paso Natural Gas from getting the permits to come in.

The California Energy Commission last month published a draft report pointing out that California faces not just a high price problem, but a reliability problem. Governor Davis says in the report that the power crisis “threatens the safety, health and well being” of Californians - it’s a genuine emergency.

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Record Number Served On Christmas Eve

Visalia - Visalia Emergency Aid Council kept with a 70 year tradition by serving a record 1,173 families (5,606 individuals) and their children with a holiday food basket and toys for the kids on Christmas Eve.

Although the distribution did not start until 10 a.m., families started lining up at midnight, and by 5:30 a.m., the line was wrapped around and down the street in anticipation for Santa’s arrival on a fire engine escorted by the Harley Owner’s Group. When asked why they were in line so early for the distribution, the response for Maria Albarron, the first family in line was, “I can’t give my children more than this, it’s the only way I can provide them with Christmas gifts, my children want a Christmas too.” All other responses were much the same.

This year has broken all records in families with children served. 1,173 families and over 4,000 children were given food baskets and toys. Last year we were able to give to over 1000 families, but this year we had an over abundance of community spirit and generosity that allowed VEAC to continue signing up families for VEAC’s Annual Christmas Eve Food Basket and Toy Distribution. Visalia Emergency Aid Council is committed to helping families with children in basic needs such as food, clothing and emergency shelter, over the past 12 months VEAC has helped over 13,000 of Visalia’s neediest families.

The organization’s success and effectiveness in helping so many families is rooted primarily in the generosity of our community. We receive tax deductible monetary donations from individuals, businesses and corporations locally along with gently used furniture, miscellaneous items and clothes that stock two thrift stores. We also receive donations of cars, boats and campers.

Make your New Year’s Resolution to Help

How can you help? • Donate your gently used furniture • Appliances (working or not) • Miscellaneous items • Volunteer at VEAC • Tax Deductible tax donations Call Sylvia Riordon at 732-0101 for information.

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Y2K: Year In Review

• Dairy processing jobs blossom while new dairy permits were stalled over environmental lawsuits.

• Two big plants broke ground this past year. In Lemoore, Leprino began a second cheese plant and in Tulare, Harris Construction began work on the new Land O’Lakes, Mitsui cheese and whey plant. The two big processing plants will require another 12 million lbs. a day of milk to supply them. Late in the year Land O’Lakes joined a partnership with the current owner of Real Fresh to run that plant in Visalia. In Tulare a plan to site a specialty cheese plant is close to reality. The dairy processing plants bringing in hundreds of new jobs.

• Legal challenges by an environmental group, the Center for Race Poverty and the Environment, virtually tied up new dairy permit expansion for the entire year in the south San Joaquin valley prompting the JG Boswell company to scrap plans for 4 big dairies. In Tulare County the group sued the County and late this year a draft EIR was submitted to the County that will be processed in February for a new dairy wanting to expand. That dairy permit using the new EIR will likely be challenged by the center setting the stage for a court showdown by mid year. In Kern County the big Borba dairy has a court date in February with the same environmental group plus the Sierra Club. The environmental groups object to dairy expansion plans they say have adverse impacts on the environment, particularly air emissions. Dairy operators say they can’t afford to do a lot more than they already are doing about the issue and claim cars do more environmental damage than cows.

• Potential expansion of the food processing industry in the central valley is helping to gain state, federal and private funds to upgrade the rail line from Visalia to Huron beginning in March of 2001. Other food processing expansion happening in the Kings County tomato fields and two new processing plants.

• Tulare’s U.S. Cold Storage plans a 60 acre industrial park on the former General Foods property in Tulare with the big food company building on some 12 acres themselves.

Visalia Industrial Park Expands

The Visalia-based Allen Group became an even bigger player in the Visalia Industrial Park purchasing and expanding on the 360 acre Hayes property and developing their current 144 acre (the former Jacuzzi) property into Mid State 99 Industrial Park. On one piece of the former Hayes property they stepped aside while JoAnn stores acquired some 80 acres for the new 600,000 sq. ft. warehouse - now nearly complete. The Allen Group built the new building at Goshen and Plaza as Fresno-based Diversified Development completed one of their new warehouses planned for Plaza Dr. That company has plans for 60 acres along Plaza as the street is widened to 4 lanes.

Part of the expansion brought federal funds to help realign the Betty Drive in Goshen with the Visalia Industrial Park in the next 18 months. In January a meat company that has been eyeing plans for a new processing plant in Visalia for the past year will propose a 55 acre Goshen site to the Goshen CSD. If completed the plant would employ some 200. In 2001 plans for a new masterplan for the industrial park are in the works. The 2,500 acres available in Visalia’s Industrial Park is the largest in the Valley.

Well over 1 million sq. ft. of new industrial space was added in the park in the year 2000 fueled by Visalia’s central location in the state and the presence of the UPS hub here.

Cigna Expansion

Visalia’s Cigna office moved to their new location in mid 2000, also bringing their work force to over 1000. They purchased land from the city for the new state-of-the-art call center here. By December the company said they had exercised an option on another 3 acres and would build an additional 50,000 sq. ft. building on the existing 133,000 sq. ft. complex. They said the new building would allow expansion of 500 more jobs. Meanwhile, Wausau Insurance is no longer a player in Visalia. A second 100 seat call center was announced in town in the fall, run by Financial Credit Network for Voice Stream Wireless and located in the old Wausau building now owned by the County.

Water: Opponents Halt Canal Lining

A multi year battle between Tulare Irrigation District and opponents of their plan to line the earthen canal with concrete were detailed through the year. By year’s end it was clear the opponents had shot down plans to line the canal over this winter. Among other things, the opponents dug up court testimony by a former TID general manager that the canal may be, at least in part, a natural channel and that TID has no jurisdiction over the big oak trees that line the bed. There is debate whether Fish and Game will require TID get a streambed alteration permit from the agency if they decide to move forward on what they say is a necessary water conservation plan. Opponents fear loss of natural water seepage and harm to the oaks.

In other water news covered this past year, Friant Water Users and L.A.’s Metropolitan Water District moved closer to a plan to jointly expand Millerton Lake in exchange for Delta water. MET wants higher quality San Joaquin River water. In the meantime, Friant and the Dept. of Interior worked on new contracts to supply long term water.

Health: More Patients - Less Money - Fewer Docs

Lindsay Hospital closed this past year while Kaweah Delta hospital was hit with an influx of poor patients to its doors. Low reimbursement from health plans and a decrease in hospital care in surrounding towns pushed KDDH to look for ways to expand health care where it could make money, cancer care, heart surgery while it lobbied the federal government, state and county to increase health care dollars to hospitals and physicians. Staff shortages and the hospital’s long term plans were detailed. By year end the hospital appeared to be leaning toward a long term future in downtown.

Tulare District got what it sought all year from the county - the same health care dollars for indigent care that other hospitals in the county get.

Dinuba’s Alta Hospital was bailed out by the City of Dinuba late in the year giving it time to reorganize and get in the black.

By year’s end all hospitals in the county were mandated to provide managed care under a state plan for the county’s MediCal population.

County Court Mold Issue

A huge brouhaha over a toxic mold problem at the county courthouse resulting in about half the courthouse’s employees filing workman’s compensation claims saying they fell sick while working at the facility. The county court operations were impacted for months even as a local judge brought suit against the county over this issue. The court case continues. Meanwhile, repairs to the building including the west wing are underway for leaky windows. (See this issue)

Downtown Visalia

The city’s core district got more parking lots, new businesses and new entryway signs and banners this year. Plans for a $3 million transit center on Oak were presented late in the year. Giant Automotive moved its GM dealership out of east Main to Ben Maddox completing a $5 million dealership south of 198. Efforts to add second story residential units in downtown are underway led by downtown property owner and merchant Lloyd Mosley.

Maybe the biggest story of new downtown was the planting of hundreds of new street trees in the sidewalks this past summer. The new plantings have appeared to stimulate interest in large citywide tree planting efforts now underway.

Tulare’s Ag Expo Plan

Tulare’s hope to build a huge ag expo area along Highway 99 at the Farm Show gained momentum this year as the County Fair, the Reigned Cow Horse Association and the Agri Center board neared completion of a feasibility study to jointly site their facilities in coming years. The new Heritage Complex that includes the International Trade Center opened in the fall even as the county’s new ag building was close to completion. Efforts to agree to plans for south Tulare including the expansion of industrial areas south of Elk Bayou moved forward. On the west side of the freeway plans for a truck stop, a speciality cheese pant and other new developments were highlighted.

Jobs

Job training programs expanded countywide and there were many successful stories told. Stories included efforts to open the new Job Connection office, the MOVE program, La Sierra High School, CSET’s work and Proteus. Towns added jobs but not as fast as the workforce swelled when farm work slowed. In November unemployment in the county was more than 16 % higher than the year before.

On the new job front, Ruiz Foods expanded their cold storage facility in Dinuba completing it in December. Tulare snagged a new container maker who wanted to be here because of the cheese industry. Corcoran got a number of ag related companies and others and expansion of the state’s Regional Center in Porterville continued. On the minus side, Console Foods in Lindsay has remained closed most of this year with only a glimmer of hope they would reopen. The new industry had promised over 1000 jobs at one point.

The ebb and flow of jobs at the former Sierra Pacific blue jeans plant on Santa Fe were followed through the year with closure of the plant followed by new owners who kept the plant open only a few months before closing it again in December. At one time the sewing plant employed 360 workers. Today it stands empty. At deadline this week, Hanford’s Pirelli Tire announced closure with the loss of 850 jobs.

Farm

Most farm commodities had a poor year in Tulare County led by oranges. By the beginning of this season citrus growers were more optimistic even as industry leader, Sunkist, replaced their CEO. Oversupply in grapes and low milk prices for dairy farmers were part of the picture. Cotton farmers are hopeful the decision to expand cotton varieties will mean higher returns for this industry. The closure of the big cooperative, TriValley, shocked the ag industry. Farmers faced new pests including the olive fruit fly and glassy winged sharpshooter - each of which could by an industry killer. Toward the end of the year farmers had a new worry - high power costs and brown outs. The year had its share of stories highlighting the problems with the use of pesticides including farmwork illness, tighter restrictions and concern that some farm chemicals are harming Sierra frogs. Toward the end of the year the UFW announced an end to their long time boycott of grapes. The Voice detailed a new relationship being attempted by the union to work in partnership with growers rather than antagonists in the Bear Creek situation. The Voice detailed new labor organizing by the UFW away from the fields including packing houses, manufacturers and processing plants.

Education

The Voice was first to report that embattled superintendent Linda Gonzales was going to be released in September after a stormy two years in Visalia. Efforts to replace Gonzales are underway now. The school district continues to struggle to get state monies to match bond monies already passed. However, the new high school is underway at Akers and Whitendale.

Other

• Famed Tulare County historian Annie Mitchell died.

• A wildlife preserve was announced on the Tulare/Lindsay highway.

• Retail closures included Home Base - expected in a few months, Wards, closing in coming weeks, Heilig Meyer on Mooney and the Save Mart on Mooney.

• Costco’s plans for a large store and the change in location plans were the object of a number of stories.

• The construction of west 198 and the new development - in the neighborhood of Akers and 198 were detailed.

• The City of Visalia made good on a purchase of an 80 acres sport park on Dinuba Highway.

• A possible partnership between the Park Service and the Mineral King Preservation Society was in the talking stage this past year giving hope to some that the historic cabins in the alpine valley would be saved once a new plan was in place.

• Efforts at both the local cities and the county to invest in a green fleet of cars, trucks and buses moved forward this year.

• Auto dealers hopes of a new west 198 auto mall were first detailed here.