Visalia
Rotary Members Prove
It Is Better To Give
Visalia - Visalia’s three Rotary International civic groups - some 400 members strong - have teamed this holiday season to “make a difference “not just internationally, but locally,” says Nina Clancy, president of the County Center Rotary Club. Rotary International is well known for its herculean effort to eradicate polio through world wide vaccinations.
Incredibly, with funding from Rotarians across the globe that effort has protected more than two billion children from this paralyzing disease that once ravaged most of the world.
Another international effort that will help people just across our border is the joint effort in concert with the Wheelchair Foundation to buy wheelchairs for children, teens and adults who have no mobility because of any cause. In the next few weeks the Visalia Rotary club expect to be able to announce that enough funds have been collected locally to buy a carton load of 240 wheelchairs and deliver them to needy recipients in Mexico. “We hope to deliver them personally,” says Nina as member of all three foundations are expected to travel south of the border to give the gift of movement. “I think it will be a tremendous feeling to look people right in the eyes,” says Clancy.
Indeed that feeling has caught on.
If Rotarians are helping people across the border, they are having an impact right here at home. Each Rotary club gives money to FoodLink the local food pantry and “that money feeds our neighbors,” says Clancy.
Rotarians are everywhere trying to make this place better - from Downtown Visalia member Andy Balerud’s effort to build a new Children’s Library, Downtown member Gary Geiger’s project to build a handicapped Miracle League ball park in Visalia - it’s nearly there. Or Mike Tharps group doing habitat restoration and Kaweah Oaks Preserve.
Harold Rollin of the Visalia Breakfast Rotary club says his club has been contributing to the effort to fight polio thus far raising some $8,000 for the polio eradication campaign and $6800 in a related program.
Many Rotarians were out there at “Make a difference day” in late October in Visalia where they helped plant trees at El Diamente (purchased by the club) and in Goshen where members helped clear a bike trail and plant trees along a route near the old railroad tracks - a bike and pedestrian trail in a part of Goshen in need of greenery. “We were side by side with youth and families from Goshen,” says Nina Clancy.
A new subcommittee headed by Amy Pack at Downtown Rotary plans to help the Heart Program plant gardens at schools across town and the board of the downtown group promised funding this past month to upgrade Rotary Theater, says Downtown president Eric Shannon. Shannon presides over many meetings generally ribbing the 200 plus members of the downtown club into digging a little deeper in their pockets. “The money is what we use to do all the good things that Rotary does,” reminds Eric.
Still more projects, Rotarians Bruce McDermott and Tony Salierno raised money to match a City of Visalia grant to build a new fountain water-feature at Garden and Main St. to dress up downtown in honor of former Rotarian Rita Hill who died in that tragic car accident.
Rita’s name carries on with scholarships for students to Cal Poly and her influence is strong enough to mean Cal Poly will soon have a college campus in Tulare County.
Now Rotarians led by Phil Hornburg are working to get CalTrans to widen Highway 41 to improve the narrow busy highway to the coast where Rita passed away.
You may forget but it was the Rotarians who some years ago outraged by the shooting death of Kelly Scott, helped organize the effort to build a new juvenile hall facility and get Measure J in Tulare County passed.
Russian dairy farmers are expected to arrive in January and stay at Rotarians homes and plan to visit the Farmshow while they are here.
County Center Rotarians helps sponsor a counselor for the new home youth drop-in center - Youth Vision that just got underway.
Indeed everywhere you look local Rotarians are offering of their time and money and the gift for them is feeling connected to the community. “It is a two way street,” says Clancy.
Feeling connected is easy at the downtown club with a number of two and three generation members who have been a part of the organization at the same time. The club dates from 1921. Unlike the trend seen across the nation with a decline in civic involvement, Rotarians in Visalia prove the opposite - it’s better to be involved and it’s better to give. Count them out of the “me generation.”
What could be a portend of an El Niño year blew into the central valley in early November (7, 8, and 9th) likely setting a 24 hour rain record in the Sierra where it deposited 8 inches of rain in a 24 hour period at Giant Forest in Sequoia Park. The warm “pineapple express” storm laid down rain below the 8000-9000 ft. level depending on location.
The three day total on the upper Kaweah drainage was above 14 inches, says Bruce George watermaster on the Kaweah - more than the average yearly rainfall in Visalia.
“It goes to show you that just about anything is possible” when it comes to rainfall. George says the Tule River area got even more - some 16 inches at Quaking Aspen - only half of which remained as snow.
George says the sudden downpour filled the puddle that typically characterizes Terminus Dam this time of year with water levels at about 9000 acre feet - coming to life over a two day period growing the lake to the 41,000 acre feet level - still well below its 141,000 acre feet capacity. Clearly an impressive show that nevertheless doesn’t rival the December 6, 1966 event that filled the lake in one day.
The inflow on the Kaweah was some 30,000 cubic feet per second during this storm. That compares to a January 1997 storm that brought the inflow to 65,000 cfs.
If rain totals were impressive below 8500 ft., the snow totals were amazing as well with one Fresno County Sierra site at the 9000 ft. elevation totaling 82 inches of snow.
But the warmth of this storm meant that buckets of water came barreling down on the General’s Highway blocking culverts - flooding the road with 3 to 4 ft. of water and washing away some road beds and actually closing Sequoia Park for two days. The Park’s chief interpreter, Bill Tweed estimates the cost of road repair could reach $500,000.
“Since the late 60s this is the biggest rain event in any single day resulting in some astounding numbers,” says Tweed - particularly unlikely because of the early November date.
In Three Rivers the boulders were rumbling as the rain rushed down the mountain with Three Rivers itself recording some 7 inches. Much of the valley floor did not get inundated with Visalia’s rain gauge still sitting below 2 inches - above average for this time of year nevertheless.
Around the county some 21 power polls caught on fire with damage near $50,000. The other impact on the county has been since the rain event with a weeks worth of heavy fog starting its winter run early.
The storm wrecked havoc in the south county as well with mudslides and debris fields reported washed away from the barren hills imparted by the McNally fire. Some mountain roads were closed.
A Hanford based National Weather Station spokesman told the Voice that the strength of the storm surprised them although they realized before the storm hit California that the movement of the jet stream was catching the tail end of the tropical hurricane Huko adding to its moisture content.
Conservation District general manager Bruce George says Farwell Gap at the top of the Kaweah drainage got about one quarter of its total snowpack average of the year.
Local officials agreed that without Terminus Dam in place this storm would have run through the streets of Visalia. But as it was, the empty dam soaked it up without any release.
“It worked just exactly like it was supposed to,” says Phil Deffenbaugh, US Corp of Engineers manager at Lake Kaweah. The corp has been busy since releasing the unexpected water to get back to the 9000 acre feet level with water being sunk across the Kaweah basin in recharge basins and even some going to late irrigation of crop land.
Deffenbaugh is overseeing the raising of the dam’s spillway this winter resulting in adding another 40,000 acre feet of capacity to the dam by December of 2003. Work is underway at Horse Creek Bridge as we go to press - expect some days over the next few months as the bridge work gets underway. Some materials for construction will be dredged from the lake, says Deffenbaugh.
The dam expansion will mean “better flood protection, the ability to store more water resulting in additional beneficial water downstream, a large recreation pool in summer and longer summer recreation.”
The corps wants to drain the dam to prepare for the unexpected. But forecasters are predicting this will be an El Niño year although a weaker event than the 97-98 El Niño that hammered much of the state. However, the climate models show the southern tier of the US from central California down to southern California to be wetter than usual. But who would have thought however, that the deluge would come in one 24 hour period?
Ironically, the November 6th front page story in the Valley Voice included a decision of a recent UC Santa Cruz study that suggested more warm storms and reduced snowpack in coming years.
Massive State Hospital Rising in West Valley
Coalinga - Amassive 1.2 million sq. ft. mental health hospital funded by the State of California is now under construction near Coalinga. Valued at more than $300 million, the project promises to transform this small westside community with the prospect of some 2000 jobs on site and another 1700 spinoff jobs as a result of its economic activity. So says Coalinga’s economic development coordinator Dennis Watt who cites the average wage at the secure facility - $37,000 - good pay for the San Joaquin Valley.
Construction workers are mobilizing this week since the state “gave us the authority to proceed November 4th,” says Watt.
The project doesn’t just mean a big boost to Coalinga two years from now when it opens, but in coming weeks and until it is completed there will be 600 to 800 construction workers on the job on the 320 acre project.
“There is a scramble for housing” in this town of 16,200 says Watt, although a housing developer has already committed to begin construction on a new 100 unit housing subdivision.
“There will be lots of commuters and even workers sleeping in their cars,” believes Watt.
Indeed, the impact of the new hospital will be felt far beyond Coalinga as probably 80% of its workforce commutes to the I-5 community to work each day. “I can see plenty of these professionals living in Kings and Tulare counties,” says Kings supervisors Tony Oliveira. “Many highly paid medical staff.” The facility plans to employ some 800 psychiatric technicians, nearly 100 psychologists, 63 psychiatrists, and over 400 registered nurses along with a full complement of support staff.
Watt says he believes some people will transfer their employment from the other state hospital nearby - at Atascadero over the mountain and commute from the coast.
Big government projects, like prisons, looking for the wide open spaces and a central location including LNAS Lemoore itself are helping to boost housing subdivision activity and stabilize the seasonal economy anywhere within commute range.
The 1500 bed state hospital will offer state-of-the-art treatment for repeat sexual offenders.
While Coalinga may boast of over 16,000 population - 5000 of those are incarcerated at nearby Pleasant Valley prison - right across from the new state hospital site east of Coalinga. Security guards from the Pleasant Valley will also guard the new hospital. Nearby Avenal prison is also a larger employer for Coalinga where some 11% of its workforce lives.
Getting the ball rolling on job training for these positions, West Hills College is already graduating its first set of students as psychiatric technicians this year expected to graduate 500 to help provide at least some of the workforce from the area for this huge state project. Watt says jobs for all skill levels for local people should be available - good news at a time when unemployment in the valley continues to persist like the fog.
Most famous for being on shaky ground this economic jolt is welcome news in Coalinga.
Civic Center Project Coming Back To Council
Downtown Group Promotes City/County Campus
Visalia - Plans to build a new City of Visalia Civic Center in east Downtown are back on the front burner with a presentation to the council December 2, says assistant city manager Carol Cairns. “Quad will be returning with a proposal to take the study to the next phase,” says Cairns.
Last year Quad Consultants’ Harry Tow presented alternative sites and costs to the council for a new city complex with some rough prices attached but now the city has purchased acreage east of Burke to Ben Maddox and is in the final negotiations to buy much of the remainder of the Union Pacific railroad. Cairns says the Quad study will “hone in on some alternative sites and firm up costs.”
Meanwhile a Downtown Visalia PBID group met in a half day retreat to discuss how Downtown might grow in the future. Tops on the list of priorities - build a new Civic Center in combination with the County in a unified government campus near Downtown, says Downtown Visalians and Alliance executive director Kelly Hauert.
A group of some 22 Downtown Visalia leaders met in mid November to envision the development of Downtown Visalia in the future. The first thing they did says businessman Don Sharp - was take digital cameras out on walks around the area and photograph what they didn’t like and did like about the blocks around Downtown. Not surprisingly, says Sharp, there were more pictures of what they didn’t like.
Most significant about the half day event, the group ranked as the top priority to building of a new multi government civic center somewhere near Downtown that would likely include both the city and the county. Attending the retreat was both Visalia city manager Steve Salomon and county administrator Janet Hogan. Since the county has offices in Downtown, they are also members of the Property Based Improvement District (PBID) that pays taxes to improve Downtown.
Hogan noted that such a joint use facility is in Modesto - a multi story government center.
Such a complex has been the talking stages - albeit early stage - says both Salomon and Hogan since the county-owned old courthouse block is likely to be vacated in coming years at Court and Center - perhaps sold to the city. The city has been in lengthy negotiations with Union Pacific Railroad over lands east of Downtown in the Burke/Oak St. area. Currently the city has funded a Phase 2 investigation of any possible contamination on some 24 acres that may be purchased.
The group had as its second priority earmarking of a site for a major retailer like a Barnes and Noble anchored complex in Downtown - where should it be? The group picked the Razzari Ford block at Garden and Main. Of course, that would require Razzari Ford find another location to sell cars, something they have been considering for the past 20 years.
Hauert says the group listed their other priorities including:
• Assembling parcels for a larger retail site
• Work to preserve a larger parcel in the downtown area
• Consider expanding the PBID boundaries east to Santa Fe
• Work to continue concentric growth in town.
Hauert says she noted that the group’s choice for the combined government campus was “near to the core area” rather than out on Ben Maddox. That issue has been a source of some discussion at city council where an apparent majority appears to favor a site in the Burke/Oak St. area while others are calling for a Santa Fe campus.
Regarding a joint government facility, Cairns says that “the more government agencies you can group together there’s a cost saving benefit and improved public access.”
The group also heard about a plan by the city to solicit building owners Downtown to apply for renovation of the building to add second story housing. A November 8th letter from the city to property owners is going out to building owners suggesting they look at a study compiled on the feasibility of such a project that can have tax advantages. Bob Nance - city redevelopment director - is leading the effort, call 713-4511.
The city is also interested in new housing projects for Downtown along with renovation projects.
New Housing Heads West Of Akers
Visalia - Mangano Homes is planning to break ground on a 38-acre, 76 home subdivision west of Akers and north of Highway 198 - the first major development into what is regarded as Visalia’s Scenic Corridor. The land owned by the Ritchie family is already within the city limits and zoned for single family homes. “We expect to break ground on the first phase after the first of the year,” says developer Andy Mangano who has been active along the corridor developing a site for a new auto mall as well.
The new homes, Tiffany Ranch, will range in price from the $140s to 180s.
The new home subdivision sited north of a 600 ft. conservation strip that runs along freeway 198 clear to Shirk Ave. that is the subject of some debate in the city about its future.
The land west of Akers to Plaza on both sides of the freeway is the subject of a mile wide city study underway regarding its future uses. At issue is the extent of development on what many Visalians consider the town’s signature rural entrance - the so-called scenic corridor - and just what uses and how much development is appropriate.
Recently the city was considering a proposal to buy some of the freeway closer lands for conservation - as set back, parks or creekside open space. In addition a group led by farmer Brian Blain has suggested it would come up that an ag/tourist themed corridor plan that would require more land be earmarked for ag and ag related businesses like wineries or cheese makers. The group is expected to present a plan to the city council in January.
Housing is considered one use likely for those who favor development in at least part of the 2000 acre corridor area - much of which is in the county - not in the city limits. Visalia has suggested it wants to annex these lands to have a direct hand in its future.
But some in the community fear the corridor will be eaten up by development and that developers and property owners will hold sway at the city council chambers.
Just what formula emerges it is clear, there will be new homes heading west north of 198 and soon.
Mangano says plans for the west 198 auto mall are moving forward with an EIR expected to start after the first of the year at the new proposed site west to Plaza Dr. and north of 198 on a 70 acre piece. The proposed site was relocated from a site near Shirk south of 198 in the county. The new site is within the city but zoned for agriculture and will require a general plan amendment.
Mangano says the latest news is that the mall’s first out of town car dealer - a Saturn dealer - has agreed to join the mall. This despite the fact that Saturn owns land on Ben Maddox which they have chosen not to develop.
“The Last DJ”
Art Nugent Radio Show Cancelled
Tulare County - Clear Channel Communications - the nation’s largest owner of radio stations - has cancelled the Art Nugent In The Morning Show - a fixture on company owned AM 1400 from 5 to 9 a.m. every morning. Popular with seniors and long time residents in Kings and Tulare counties the show featured Art and fellow radio host Paul Hendrix as moderators on a music request show with plenty of community talk and news. “It’s just a great program that the community appreciates,” says A&W owner Bob Cary who has joined many other local businesses in support of Nugent’s show with ad dollars. “People are really going to miss it.”
The station is so popular that during the four hours on the air about 90% music they play has been requested by someone calling in. Clear Channel general manager Jeff Negrette says the station will convert to all sports in the morning slot January 1.
The AM station features mostly sports news and talk on a taped basis without local origination. “Every once in a while we to talk to listeners on the phone just to prove they are really live,” says Nugent who started at the station back in the 1950s having come and gone at least four times over the years. Paul Hendrix has been an on air personality on KCOK - now KJUG - dating back to the 1950s as well. “We’re just dinosaurs I guess,” says Art wistfully and “maybe it’s time for us to go.” He says he doesn’t blame Clear Channels for wanting to market the station as all sports all the time. Clear Channel bought the station about five years ago.
In recent weeks Hendrix sat in for Art as he faced complications from surgery that developed into serious pneumonia problems that had him laid up for weeks. This week he was back on the microphone for the first time. “I feel good,” says Nugent.
Nugent takes turns spinning old vinyl recordings and modern CDs from a sizable collection talking regularly with the Hanford Visitor Center, Visalia Unified and Exeter Chamber among others on what’s happening in each town.
The loss of locally produced radio comes the same time as Visalia’s KSLK smooth jazz radio, that was locally owned, converts to out of town buyers that will link with other company-owned Spanish language stations.
The move to all automated operation at radio stations seems to be a theme of a recent Tom Petty song “The Last DJ” - ironically an ode to no other than Clear Channel for what Petty says is their practice of destroying local radio painting a bleak picture of the US music industry. Part of the song lyrics say “there goes the last DJ who plays what he wants to play and says what he wants to say...there goes the last human voice.”
Clear Channel owns more than 240 radio stations and sells air time on 1200 stations around the country. They also own or manage 19 TV stations and are the world’s largest outdoor advertising company.
Clear Channel owns 15 radio stations in the valley and recently purchased CBS TV affiliate in Fresno Channel 47 and Channel 17 in Bakersfield.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
November 20, 2002
