Locals Mull Impact Of Auto Mall Vote

Visalia - In the biggest land use decision since the Packwood Creek vote, the Visalia city council voted 3 to 2 this week in favor of a plan for a 72 acre auto mall near the intersection of Plaza and 198. The vote comes after a lively four and one half hour debate over the wisdom of the plan that clearly divided both the community and the council.

The vote could reverberate into this fall’s council election in which a number of candidates have said they would oppose the project if elected. If two anti auto mall candidates were elected - it could get interesting, considering the tightness of the vote. “This may not be over,” suggested critic of the plan Greg Collins.

Compromise Site

The site rezoned from an agriculture designation to service commercial use will allow the development of 10 new car dealers on the site north of 198 and west of Plaza Dr. - off Neely.

The site within the city limits “was a compromise site” suggests developer Craig Mangano and came only after some years of wrangling over an appropriate site for an expanded auto mall that appeared to have majority support from the council. In a study session last year the council agreed the Plaza Drive site - outside the more sensitive part of the scenic corridor to the east - might be best if the town was going to have a second auto mall. Even then, Mayor Jesus Gamboa expressed doubt the town needs a second mall since the city founded the Ben Maddox auto mall more than a decade ago.

Mangano says that he was disappointed that two of the council members, Gamboa and Wendy Rudy, opposed this project given the long history of the project. That included a plan the Manganos put forward to place an auto mall on county land at 198 and 99 that the county agreed to move forward on. After that the city came to the Manganos and suggested they wanted to work with them to keep the dealers in the city limits - where the sales tax dollars could be collected.

At the time car dealers suggested that if they didn’t get the site they could live with, within the city limits, they would simply move out of town - in the county along the 99 corridor someplace. Although at the time some dealers toyed with the idea, critics considered the whole episode a bluff. But city council members didn’t want to take any chances.

“The city came to us” to find the right site, says Mangano, suggesting the mall “isn’t a big real estate deal - it’s not a money maker for us.”

Indeed it could be years or even decades to fully develop, agrees Mangano. “The dealers really wanted to have their cars parked right on the freeway but this plan is 175 ft. off 198, not near Highway 99. I would say it has limited visibility,” says Mangano although the site does have regional presence being near the intersection of two major highways and enjoying an interchange location. “Now the dealers have an option they didn’t have before,” says Mangano.

Surroz First

Dealers aren’t busting their door down to get into the new auto mall but Frank Surroz is likely to be the first up with new showrooms for his line of Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep and BMW showroom likely by next June, says Mangano. “Giant Automotive won’t be far behind,” says Mangano. Owner Jack Petty told the Voice recently he plans to relocate his Chevrolet and Cadillac dealerships to the new mall despite the fact his showroom on Ben Maddox is only a few years old. But no new car lines to Visalia - offered as a major reason to open a new site - have signed up for now.

Reaction by other Visalia dealers has ranged from a yawn to opposition to some interest as the new mall is seen as a threat to their planned expansion on the eastside.

Kiss It Goodbye

This week dealer Frank Serpa told the Voice that if Giant moves off Ben Maddox “it puts my south Ben Maddox plans for two new dealership locations on hold. I’d have to kiss the Saturn franchise goodbye” since he would be investing in an area that could be losing value characterized by empty buildings.

Reached 24 hours after the city council vote, Serpa told the Voice he would not invest more on south Ben Maddox other than the showroom now under construction. Part of the deal with Saturn is that Saturn owns the 3 acre site next to Giant and that agreement to allow Serpa to have a franchise is to build there, he says. “Maybe they will change their mind and allow me to build to out at the new auto mall out west,” says Mr. Serpa.

Dealer Don Groppetti spoke at the council’s public hearing this week suggesting there were “discrepancies” in the arguments from the proponents of the new mall. That includes suggesting that Fresno car dealers sell on average more than Visalia dealers. Groppetti says per capita Visalia does better since the average dealer in Fresno serves 30,000 people in a much larger market and an average Visalia dealer serves 9000. He notes support for freeway locations for an auto dealership but said that when he moved his dealership from Shirk and 198 after he bought it from Bookout, his sales went up 30%. Groppetti also reminded the council that Visalia is unlikely to get many of the high end car lines the proponents say we could get because of our demographics and relative low median income.

Groppetti has recently offered to buy 11 acres across from Giant Automotive on Ben Maddox to relocate his Honda dealership and perhaps an additional line with Mr. Serpa also offering to buy another 5 acres next to it for some future use.

But that plan is very much up in the air, say a couple of city council members since “promises were made to neighbors to the east of the land that no more auto dealers would be allowed in.” This after a dealer was allowed across the street.

If council were to reject his plan Groppetti would have to start over to find a site on the eastside to expand. “We made a mistake making the eastside auto mall too small,” says council member Bob Link. “Now where can they go?”

Tulare Bound?

The apparent one two punch for Serpa and Groppetti is that opening the door for a new west 198 auto mall and city reluctance to allow the auto mall on Ben Maddox to continue to move south of 198 leaves the future of investment on the eastside in doubt. This comes as dealers push to increase sales tax dollars by bringing in new car lines and building new showrooms - something that appears to be underway on Ben Maddox, at least until now.

Groppetti says he was “surprised” to hear Don Landers comment about the promises to neighbors reminding council that “they also made a promise to dealers” that new car dealers would be clustered at the eastside mall, he says.

Regarding Lander’s claim that the neighbors would rise up in opposition to the new Groppetti dealership plan, Groppetti says he plans to work with neighbors to meet their concerns and minimize any impacts such a dealership would have. “Maybe there won’t be a big crowd coming like they think,” he says. If the council turns him down even after he has met their concerns, Groppetti, taking a page out of the game plan others have used, says he “just might take his Honda dealership to Tulare.” He owns a dealership there already.

Razzari Ford who helped lead the charge a few years ago to find a new freeway location has made no commitment to the new auto mall. “We’re going to watch to see where the chips fall,” says general manager Larry Reemtsen. “Right now we’re happy downtown.” Reemtsen says now that the approval of the project is done “the question becomes who is going to go? We don’t want to go if there is just one or two dealers - you want a mall not one-eighth of a mall.”

The effect on smaller auto service suppliers clustered in the Ben Maddox area became an issue with a number of speakers claiming the repairs and aftermarket suppliers like Madman Muffler, for example, were against it claiming it would hurt business. One commenter said there was already some 43 vacant spots downtown and this would make it worse.

But equally persuaded that this plan was the way to go were a number of speakers like businessman Scott Collins who said the new mall would reduce “leakage of shopping dollars.” Mike Lane a civil engineer who noted that the corner of 198 and Plaza “is fully urbanized” with development at most of the quadrants, zoning for a business research park nearby and the industrial park to the north. He noted the city has installed heavy sewer capacity along Plaza Dr. for development at the corners.

The 72 acre site near the industrial park is zoned farming and some neighbors who like that way came to the meeting to suggest it would be hard to keep farming nearby with the development that is planned.

Airport Issue

City planning commissioner Ken Oplinger disagreed with some speakers that this project was being rushed to judgement noting that “this just didn’t pop up on the radar screen” but has been in the planning and negotiation stage for years. He disagreed with a number of speakers over the issue of airport safety saying that a small portion of the parking lot at the auto mall would be in the horizontal zone near the airport “What city doesn’t have a parking lot next to the airport,” he asked.

Members of both the city and county airport commissions objected to the plan at the hearing noting that emergency landings into the auto mall in the future could be a possibility.

One theme repeated at the hearing was the need by the city for more sales tax dollars to bolster public safety. Members of both the police and fire fighters unions spoke in favor of the plan echoed by former chief Bruce McDermott who says the police department needs an additional 30 officers and extra money in the general fund can also support the arts and the city parks, he noted.

But former mayor Greg Collins who lead the charge against the project, said it was unfair to put the members of the public in the position of having to support public safety or not since everyone supports public safety. He says it was bad policy to have public safety involved in a land-use decision. Collins presented a petition signed by 1500 residents against the project.

Collins suggested to increase revenues, support the 1/4 cent sales tax override that is likely to be proposed for next March’s ballot in Visalia. That would bring in an extra $4 million. The car dealers bring in an annual $1.7 million to the city.

Rejecting Farmland Argument

One speaker noted that the free enterprise system allows private development to pay for police and fire without burdening the tax payer. The same gentleman decried complaints that this plan would pave over farmland saying that “everyone in this room is living on land that was once farmland.”

Council member Wendy Rudy came out swinging when it was suggested that if you were for public safety, you had to be for the new auto mall. “I feel like this (staff presentation) is slanted.” Rather than help pay for more police, Rudy says the project could add to duties of both police and fire.

Rudy, who will step down from office November 17, sounded a theme heard by critics through the night - that growth in the city of Visalia was simply “out of control” and that allowing this development miles out of the city center would be growth inducing.

In the end the logic of the “magic” of a freeway accessible auto mall made enough sense to three council members to pass muster.

Don Landers, himself a pilot, rejected any potential safety problem the mall might present, rejecting the notion this was any kind of leap frog development, and cited the general plan emphasis on fostering high quality retail developments with high standards.

Bob Link reminded the crowd that years ago “people worried that allowing the Visalia Fair Mall past Walnut would destroy downtown.” But it didn’t. Council member Phil Cox suggested he will vote for the project “for my family” using them as an example of making more opportunities for people in Visalia in the future.

“The 2020 plan got trampled and the intent of the public got trampled,” Collins says. “Those that invested in the Ben Maddox area are now getting trampled too.”

Now What?

The site of the new auto mall will set in motion at least one new opportunity on Mooney when Surroz leaves his rented dealership site next year. What happens to the Giant dealership on Ben Maddox remains a mystery although Petty has implied he has some options up his sleeve.

The vote to allow the development of the Plaza and 198 interchange set the stage for the rest of the corridor - what kind of vision does the city have for that - one speaker asked. That will be the next big question. “We have a committee that Jesus Gamboa and I serve on that will report back to you soon,” says council member Link.

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Walmart Files Visalia Plan

Visalia - The nation’s number one retailer has filed formal plans to build a new store on the southwest corner of Demaree and Caldwell with the city this week. The plan will be heard at a city site plan hearing Wednesday, August 20.

The filing comes after a community meeting in July appeared to divide community residents who attended. “We had 22 comment cards and 11 were favorable and 11 were not,” says broker Laura Walheim of Zeeb Commercial who is representing the sellers of the 29 acres.

Walheim says the company would like to be open by spring of next year with a new 149,549 sq. ft. store, although Walmart has plans and wants approval for a superstore that could be expanded to 216,464.

A superstore sells groceries alongside with its general merchandise offerings. Walheim says the plan to sell groceries awaits a Walmart distribution system in California to be set up and is some years away.

“For now it will be a regular Walmart,” she says.

Walheim says as a result of the meeting with the neighbors, Walmart has:
• added landscaping along Chinowth
• dropped plans for a gas station on the site
• moved all truck traffic off Chinowth
• reduced lighting on the center to less than the street lighting.

Walheim says that after the site plan process Walmart will apply for a change to the specific plan adopted in 1999 for the center that allowed only 125,000 sq. ft. to be under one roof despite the fact the center is approved to build up to 312,000 sq. ft. “They want to build just 216 thousand eventually,” says Walheim, meaning the center would actually produce “less trips” - less car traffic and pollution - than is allowed. “Our EIR will show that.” She says the company plans to do a full environmental impact report likely paralleling the application for a change in the specific plan. That matter could be heard by the city’s planning commission this fall and then on to city council.

Some believe the coming of the big discount store to the neighborhood would actually decrease property values, but Walheim points to a study reported in Reedley a few years ago by Visalia based Hopper Co. show no loss of value.

This promises to be another controversial session reminiscent of the lively exchange this week at the Visalia city council meeting over the auto mall.

Walheim, who has been given some latitude in explaining the project locally by Walmart, says the company does not plan to close their east 198 store when they open the new southwest store.

“The company seeks a Walmart for a population of about 35,000,” she says, more like a neighborhood outlet. “They are making too much money at that Noble Ave. store.”

Walmart has been talking about building a new Porterville store and new Hanford store but Walheim says she has been assured the company would keep their existing stores in those towns open as well.

Wherever they plan projects, Walmart tend to be a lightening rod for people who fear the busy retailer will flood the local streets with shoppers attracting panhandlers and generally intensify urban impacts in what has been a quieter part of town.

But when the city approved the new Home Depot store some years ago they set the stage for more busy retailers to come there. A few years ago Costco sought to move there but was thwarted by a tide of community opposition and fear by the city. Also fighting the Walmart supercenters is the union that represents grocery clerk workers who have filed suit in a number of cases against new stores.

Now with the focus on increasing sales tax dollars at city hall the city council will have the final say on the project.

A new Walmart of that size can generate an extra $500,000 annually of city sales tax revenues - one reason why city councils tend to approve the development despite opposition.

Reflecting a growing mood in the community over the city’s expansion, council member Wendy Rudy commenting this week on the proposed west 198 auto mall said that the town was experiencing “massive growth and it just seems out of control.” Rapid subdivision activity and Mooney retail growth seem to be fueling the feeling. Rudy herself held out her asthma inhaler this week suggesting while the city needs the sales tax dollars, “we still need to breathe.” Rudy herself is moving to the Oregon coast, she recently announced.

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1995-2000
More Folks Left County Than Moved In

Tulare County - Tulare County mirrored the state of California in the later half of the 1990s with more people packing up than moving in. The US Census recently released a series of reports on migration within the US including a county by county report that shows 34,413 individuals moved into Tulare County between 1995 to 2000, but 51,250 moved out to other US counties.

Statewide a net loss of 755,000 people left the state in the same period - the first time out-migration has been higher than in-migration. The total who left the state was actually 1.44 million. Californians favorite new homes were Arizona and Nevada.

During the same five year period that Tulare County saw more than 51,000 exit the area and a net loss of nearly 17,000 - our population increased from about 312,000 to 347,500 - a net gain of 34,500.

Clearly it wasn’t because people were moving here from other US counties. The increase came from immigration outside the US and more births vs deaths. The state Department of Finance tracks legal immigration into the state. Their figures show nearly 6900 legally immigrated to Tulare County during the same five year period, mostly from south of the border.

While Latinos tend to be the average legal immigrant they are often the ones leaving both California and Tulare County for other locations where jobs are more plentiful. The period 1995 through 2000 was not a prosperous one for Tulare County. In recent years an organized effort to MOVE welfare recipient families in Tulare County that has met with some success having relocated around 1000 people during its operation, now in jeopardy of losing most of its funding.

Not counted in the numbers is the number of illegal immigrants who live in the state and Tulare County. But a snapshot of just one year - 2000 -proves interesting. The Census Bureau says 1038 new immigrants came to Tulare County and 1186 adjusted their status from illegal to legal per the 1986 Immigration Reform law. In other words, as many adjusted their status as arrived here legally.

Of this one year total - 2224 - 1921 were from Mexico, says the Census Bureau.

The US Census Bureau estimates that as of 2000, California alien resident population was 2.2 million - about the same number that legally immigrated to the state between 1993 and 2002.

Inflows of new residents into Tulare County show a pattern of movement from the Southland with fewer from the Bay Area. LA area counties contributed 7386 new residents from 95-2000 while the Bay Area counties sent 2241. Clearly, our tie to the LA basin is stronger.

Fresno County sent 5151 and over 3000 moved here from Kern. Some 1800 relocated here from Kings County.

Regarding outflows or residents, Maricopa County received some 800 Tulare County residents during the five year period while Fresno received 6,155 - the largest recipient. Some 363 Tulare County residents - largely Asian - moved to Ramsery County Minnesota and 123 to a nearby county. Over 1500 residents relocated to Nevada and over 600 went to North Carolina and a similar amount headed north to the state of Washington. Over 1500 left Tulare County for San Luis Obispo during the same period - a popular retirement destination.

The lobbying group FAIR estimates on its web site that Tulare County’s population was growing between 1990-99 with an excess of 4200 more births than deaths, a net international migration 3145 and a net loss of domestically born people of about 890 a year. The Census Bureau estimates that as of 2000 there were 83,124 foreign born residents of Tulare County or 22.6%.

Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS), a non-profit corporation based in Santa Barbara, reports the findings of its new two-part research on the reasons for the state’s accelerating growth.

Among the findings:

• Total Fertility Rate for the state has reached replacement level at 2.1 and virtually all population growth in California is due to direct immigration and births to immigrants.

• Using official state figures alone, demographer Dr. Leon Bouvier concluded that immigration was responsible directly and indirectly for 98 percent of California’s increasing population, a trend that continued through 2002. Direct immigration was responsible for about 57 percent of California’s growth in the decade 1990-2000, and the rest came from births to foreign-born women.

• Combining state and federal sources, and independent research, Dick Schneider found that 100 percent of California’s growth was the result of immigration and immigrant births, and that migration from other states was no longer a factor in California’s present size. He found the contribution of immigration was actually larger than reported by the State of California, because the Census Bureau admitted undercounts of both legal and illegal immigrants.

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Ralph Moore:
Petals & Poetry

Visalia - This guy really loves his work. “Each day I wake up and can’t wait to get out to the greenhouse,” says 96 year old Ralph Moore - one of the world’s most recognized rose breeders. Ralph lives a quiet life in the city of Visalia holding forth at Sequoia Nursery - Moore’s Miniature Roses.

As a botanist and innovator he has developed nearly 400 varieties of plants that continues to this day. But his love of roses has now spilled over into verse. For the past decade he’s blossomed into a poet.

As of a few weeks ago he is a published poet. What does Ralph write poetry about? You guessed it - roses. “I like to write about nature,” in general he says, but roses are his favorite.

He can be anywhere when a poem comes to him and he scribbles one out on any given day. “I never know when I’m going to get an idea.”

Ralph’s new book is “Thoughts of Roses” published by his daughter Eleanor Bergthold and her husband Roland of Fresno and printed right here at Jostens in Visalia. The hardback book full of color pictures of roses is now available at Link’s, Togni Branch and Valhalla in downtown Visalia, or by mail order.

The blending of poetry with color pictures of Moore’s own hybrid roses led to the book when Moore Miniature Roses general manager Carolyn Supinger dried some roses in a flower press and they ended up as book markers with Ralph’s poems on the back. Today there are over 10,000 such bookmarks that have been given out to the general public each with a real dried flower on it.

The book is illustrated by pictures of the same flowers. The colorful book has 58 poems and the flowers are cross-referenced by type.

Born in Visalia in 1907 Ralph’s grandparents came to the Visalia area in 1852 - the same year this town was founded.

Since he was a teen in high school, he has been developing and naming flowers, often after everyday people in Visalia whose names have now been echoed around the world. Most have been developed at the six acre Sequoia Nursery where he works everyday.

One rose he named for the town of Yettem - which means Garden of Eden in Armenian - for the town’s 75th anniversary. He named a rose St. Mary in honor of the landmark church there. He says he has named a flower for Cal Poly.

Before she died, Moore surprised famed Visalia historian Annie Mitchell with a rose named after her.

Like legendary botanist Luther Burbank who transformed California’s fruit industry, Ralph has transformed the miniature rose industry. “I actually met Luther Burbank when I was a kid,” says Moore, before he died in 1929. Burbank was a plant breeder, like Moore, who developed the blight resistant potatoes that helped stave off hunger in Ireland and the Santa Rosa plum. Like Burbank, Moore is a tireless innovator as can be seen from his work - he loves what he creates.

You can see both the poetry and the petals at Ralph’s nursery at 2519 E. Noble Ave., in Visalia.

One time I asked Ralph about why grape farmers always plant roses at the end of their rows - because the farmers have an eye for roses, for their wife maybe? Moore says there is a more practical reason - roses will show mildew damage early on like a canary in a mine.

Friends are working to honor Moore with a rose garden planted in a city park, says admirer Alan George.

To get a copy of the book mailed to you send a check for $24.52 payable to: Eleanor Moore Bergthold, 9133 N. Stoneridge Lane, Fresno CA 93720.

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Construction Underway at COS

By Adam Snider

If you're driving down Mooney Blvd., and happen to see a Klassen Construction Company sign in front of COS, along with steel beams and concrete rising from within the campus, you may wonder why COS can commission brand new buildings, if they were recently compelled to lay-off so many employees, and cancel so many classes. COS will begin the Fall semester with 20 less full-time teachers, 4 less full-time administrators, and several part-time employees now gone, due to budget cuts from the state. So why is COS spending millions of dollars on new buildings, when they should be hiring teachers?

The administration at COS doesn't want to see classes cut any more than we do. The reason they're spending millions of dollars on construction, is that they received millions of dollars specifically for construction. The power to hire teachers is given by the state legislature in the form of COS's general fund. The power of construction is given through state and local revenue bonds.

The people of California passed Prop 47 in November 2002, which funded the modernization and expansion of schools, colleges, and universities in our state. The total amount of $13.05 billion was to be spent on construction only, said the taxpayers when they approved the bond. Other state and local bonds fund construction at COS under the same terms. COS is simply following guidelines for proper expenditure of the new funds.

But what, specifically, is COS going to build? On May 27th, 2003, COS began the construction of a new building that will be known as the Multi-Media Learning Center. It will contain the library, tutorial center, audio/visual department, and several offices. At 54, 000 gross sq. ft, it will be the largest edifice on the main campus, located next to the tennis courts where an old parking lot used to be. The 15 million dollar cost is funded by a lease-revenue bond passed by Governor Davis as one of 11 community college projects that received special funding as part of an economic stimulus plan. The building will be extremely energy efficient, so much so, that Edison Power Company is giving COS a $20,000 energy fee rebate.

To see computer-generated images of the building, (1) go to www.spencerhoskins.com. (2) Click "projects" at the bottom of the page. (3) Select "College of the Sequoias" from the list. (4) Among the images on that page, the Multimedia Learning Center is images 1-3. Construction will be completed August 2004.

A project that will begin shortly after the Multi-Media Center is finished, is the renovation of the current library and its adjacent building into a structure that will contain a new Student Center, and the relocated COS Bookstore and Health Center. The project will take approximately 8 months to complete, and funding will come from a combination of local revenue bond money, and loans.

Last year, COS students voted for an additional fee of five dollars per academic year, proposed by the Associated Student Body, to help finance the Student Center. This money may be used to pay off loans, and for upkeep of the center, which will provide facilities for students such as a study area, lounge, club meeting rooms, and entertainment. The upstairs portion of the building adjacent to the current library, now the library Periodicals Room, will be renovated into 7 new classrooms and 9 new offices, and will house the Social Sciences Division.

In February 2005, COS plans to construct a new gymnasium, and renovate the existing gym. Total cost of this project is 7.1 million. Of that figure, planning is already financed and underway, thanks to Prop 47. Construction costs will be financed by a bond to appear on the next ballot, Prop 53. It is expected to pass, but if it doesn't, then the project will sit until such a bond is successful. The new gym will be 30,000 sq. ft., and is located some distance from the current gym, out on the northwest corner of campus. Its scheduled date of completion is December 2006.

In June, 2005, or shortly after the bookstore and Social Sciences department have been relocated, their buildings will be demolished to make way for the new, state of the art, Science Center. Unlike the gymnasium project, funding for the Science Center is already approved, and planning is nearly complete. The 11.5 million dollar project will be entirely funded by money from Prop 47. Images of this 35,000 gross sq. ft. edifice can be seen at www.spencerhoskins.com. Follow the same instructions for viewing the Multi-Media Center, and note that the Science Center is images 5 and 6.

This building will contain 4 large lecture classrooms and 10-12 science labs. It will be highly energy efficient, and contain many modern amenities for the labs. In every way, it is an improvement from the building constructed back in 1940 which presently houses the science labs and lecture rooms.

All these structures are partially or completely funded and planned, but many more projects are proposed. If local revenue bonds that will appear on future ballots pass, then COS may construct a Tulare Center, a new nursing building, administration building, two-story parking lot, and perform a variety of upgrades and modernizations in the coming years.

Eric Mittlestead, head of the facilities department at COS, says that "Educational plans guide construction." For example, if the college intended to expand the nursing program, then they would build accordingly. But at this juncture, while the educational capacity of COS is dwindling, it may seem ironic that new buildings are appearing.

Will those who walk the campus see the structures as increased potential for growth and find in them a bright reminder of better days? -Or will they see unfulfilled expectation and an increase in empty classrooms and vacant offices? In order for these buildings to become "a fine addition to this community college," as President Badrkhan sees them, they must be filled with life. California elections are coming soon. Please choose carefully.

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By Miles Shuper

The abrupt closure of a Sacramento-based mortgage lending company has left hundreds of San Joaquin Valley prospective borrowers, most of them home owners or home buyers, in limbo.

The closure of Capitol Commerce Mortgage, a wholesaler of mortgages, means that many borrowers may not get low interest rates which they sought when interest rates were at their lowest. Some may not now qualify.

Visalia area lenders, brokers and bankers say they are doing everything they can to help borrowers get their loans through other institutions. Most will not get the rates they expected.

Industry experts say many people with loans pending likely were unaware that Capitol Commerce was involved in their loan process. That, sources say, is because Capitol Commerce, which had 15 offices in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Illinois and Florida, acted as a wholesaler which sold its loans in the secondary market after funding them.

The company, which only a few weeks ago had one of the busiest months in its 17-year history, has offices in Fresno and Sacramento. In July, Capitol Commerce funded $3.7 billion in mortgages, according to account executives interviewed soon after last Friday's closure.

Ron McGowan, general manager of Central Valley Mortgage, a long-time Visalia mortgage firm, said his company had several million dollars in pending loans though Capitol Commerce adding that other area lenders possibly including banks, were caught by surprise. McGowan, in fact, found the front door of the Fresno office closed and surrounded by reporters and televison crews last Friday.

He and other brokers and their staffs have been spending this week scrambling in an attempt to retrieve original loan documents from the company and hunting for other sources for borrowing. "Millions of dollars in loans, just here in Visalia, will have to be rerouted and borrowers likely will be missing out in l getting the locked-in low rates they expended ," he said.

"It's important that people realize that the bankers and brokers they are working with are not to blame for the situation. We relied on a company we trusted and had been doing business with for years," he said. He said it is obvious that Capitol Commerce expected low rates to remain when they in fact, took a sudden climb. With a company doing a large volume of loans rapid rates hikes can be devastating. If interest rates rise, the price a mortgage company gets when it sells a loan fall, a company like Capitol Commerce appeals to brokers who seek the lowest possible rates. Last week, conventional mortgages rates averaged 6.6 percent. In early June, the average rate was 5.31 percent, according to an East Coast firm which surveys 2,000 lenders nationwide. Some industry officials blamed the collapse on Capitol Commerce being too aggressive in buying and funding loans and not "hedging" to guard against a sudden rate spike.

An Associated Press story out of San Francisco, quoted one company account executive who learned of the closure when he returned from a business trip to San Diego as sayings, "It's a major shock to me and a lot of other people."

McGowan said employees at the Fresno office have been working hard to collect original loan files and documents and return then to the local brokers. McGowan said area lenders have been "stepping up" to help obtaining loan funding.

He said there is a glimmer of good news in that interest rates are starting to slide back just a little. McGowan thinks the "slide" will continue in upcoming weeks but warns that it is unlikely the interest rates will return anytime soon to the levels of mid-June.

In some cases would-be borrowers who qualified at low interest rates may not qualify to borrow at the higher current rates. Those with loans in the so-called "pipeline" will have to start again.

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The Tulare County Board of Supervisors and the Tulare County Deputy Sheriff's Association have reached a two-year labor agreement that provides sheriff's deputies and sergeants with increased salaries and benefits. In addition, under a pilot program to begin in 2004, deputies will be allowed to contract for their own health benefits plan, separate from the benefits plan covering other county employees.

"The Board is pleased that we have a renewed spirit of cooperation with the Deputy Sheriff's Association," said Board Chairman Jim Maples. "In these difficult financial times, the Board has worked hard to financially recognize the contributions of law enforcement, and this agreement represents our continued commitment to public safety."

The Deputy Sheriff's Association's negotiating team put a great deal of effort into constructing our new insurance program," explained Deputy Sheriff's Association President Tom Sigley. "Although the salary increase is just enough to cover a cost of living adjustment, deputies will see a significant savings in their health care premium.

We recognize the financial difficulties the state and county are going through, yet we all need to remember the priority of law enforcement and public safety. The Deputy Sheriff's Association will continue to work to bring the positions we represent into parity with surrounding agencies to further improve retention. We believe that the negotiations leading to this agreement will help our members and the County work together to meet the needs of the citizens of this County."

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to formally adopt the terms of the new labor agreement at the Board's August 19th regular meeting. These terms provide for deputies to receive a raise equal to three percent of their salaries, beginning with employee paychecks to be issued that day, and then another three percent raise beginning in July 2004. Deputies will also receive an increase in their health benefits pay equal to one percent of their pay beginning in January 2004, followed by two percent benefits increase in January 2005.

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Tulare city officials and community members will meet this week with CalTrans representatives to try to convince officials of the need to address the closure of the K St. offramp in south Tulare off Highway 99.

CalTrans engineers found structural problems in the ramp a few weeks ago and then announced that repairs could take as long as ten years.

Former city manager Lynn Dredge says the closure denies access to a key area of south Tulare and "doing nothing is not an option" for CalTrans, he states. Dredge would like CalTrans to consider a proposal brought forward a few years ago to allow development of a midway freeway interchange in the area of AgTac that could be both a short term and long term solution to the access problem for both the west and east side of the Highway 99. The plan to build the midway interchange faced uncertainty because of the nearness to the K St. offramp when it was studied a few years ago. Now that the K St. ramp is history apparently. The old style ramp doesn't meet CalTrans specs in any case.

The closure of the K St. offramp has built up traffic congestion and is making access to both sides of the freeway a problem, says Dredge.

Dredge says options that have been put forward to CalTrans in the past have been to reopen Ave. 200 interchange - a cost that could run as high as $40 million - rebuild the Paige interchange at a cost of $17 million. By contrast, the engineer's estimate for a new midway interchange on virgin land run about $8 million. Furthermore, as to the time factor of rebuilding of either Paige or Ave. 200 it's likely to take at least 4 years on an emergency basis, asserts Dredge. In the case of a new midway interchange using a standard design "we could be underway in 6 months."

Dredge believes the city could some political help it needs to push the measure through but expects CalTrans must have some funds it could budget considering this is an emergency.

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The new Save Mart center at Akers and Goshen will soon sport a Starbucks/Quiznos combination storefront on a pad out front. Plans for the new building have been filed with the city. Developer Craig Mangano has a similar outlet at his Akers and Walnut center.

Things are finally picking up at the Visalia industrial park say real estate brokers with a number of new companies looking us over including a new food processing firm.

Bids are in on the old Target building on Mooney. Target is asking $4 million for the site that will be vacated by October when the big retailer moves down the street. Bids were extended to mid August. Should know in a few weeks who ends up with the building.

Don Orosco is selling the new Mooney Best Buy building who just built it for electronics retailers. The facility is leased for the next 15 years. The asking price for the 30,000 sq. ft. building - $6,310,000 according to an ad in the Wall Street Journal.

The Bush administration is on a fast track to build a new 84-mile power line on the west side of the valley according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. After the blackout that hit the east coast recently, the focus on potential bottlenecks in the grid - like Pathway 15 in central California - has received more attention. The Journal article says that permit work is nearly done to build a new powerline between Coalinga and Los Banos at a cost of $255 million. During the electricity crisis in California consumers paid $300 million during one blackout that hit the state in 2000. The price tag for the recent east coast blackout has been pegged at $4 to 6 billion. The work on the new powerline could be completed next year. This could provide some incentive to the big Duke Avenal power plant now mothballed to come back to life given some economic rebound here, sources say.

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