Ag Jobs Immigration Bill Fails
California- A bill backed by a coalition of agribusiness and labor groups here in the valley, conservative Republicans and unabashed liberals like Ted Kennedy, did not have the horsepower to muster the 60 votes this week in the US Senate to push their carefully crafted measure - the Ag Jobs Immigration Bill forward.
It did get the support of 53 senators.
Instead, the Senate blocked passage of the bill under rules adopted by consent that would require the measure to get 60 votes to be attached to an existing spending bill needed to fund the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The measure would set out a pathway toward full citizenship for farm workers already in this country illegally - perhaps as many as half a million people - a small portion of the total illegal population in the US.
Locally the issues is a big one because many of the people living here illegally would likely be eligible. Tulare County, for one, has seen a huge wave of illegal immigrants pour into the area in the past decade - many living in the smaller farm worker towns and camps in rural areas here.
To qualify, the farm worker would have to show he had worked in farming for at least 100 days during an 18 month period before the end of last year. The worker would have to continue to work in agriculture to move to the next step as an eventual permanent resident. After a three year period, he could bring in his family.
Critics of the plan came from two camps. Some simply don’t like the idea of attaching the bill to a military funding measure. Others say the Ag Jobs bill was just another amnesty plan that would lead to more illegal immigration. That seemed to be the tack of Senator Dianne Feinstein who voted against Ag Jobs. California’s other Senator, Barbara Boxer, supported it.
But proponent Manuel Cunha of the Fresno based Nisei Farmers League who personally helped craft the terms of the plan was heartened by the fact the bill got 53 votes - more than a straight majority. The bill’s author, Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, “promises to bring Ag Jobs to the floor as soon as a few months” to stand on its own, says Cunha.
Proponents say for the first time in many years they have been working on this bill, they finally got it on the Senate floor for debate. Liberal Ron Wyden of Oregon said that “this coalition has legs.”
Cunha had been lobbying for the bill side by side with long time union rival Arturo Rodriguez, president of the UFW, suggesting that the ag industry would wither without an adequate labor supply - an argument ironically the UFW used to scoff at.
In the raisins for example, high costs and poor prices have prompted raisin farmers to pull many of their vines or convert them to the much less labor intensive dried on the vine variety. The upshot - in coming years the raisin industry won’t need the hoards of temporary workers it needed a few years ago.
The UFW clearly looking out for its workers - sought a key feature in the bill that would allow illegal farm workers who already live here to “earn” legalization pointing to the hard work these people do every day toiling in our fields.
Cunha and farm groups have suggested they need the laborers but no longer want their workforce to be illegal where they could eventually face financial penalties being pushed by some lawmakers in Washington.
Further, the bill would allow the ag industry to bring in temporary guest workers from Mexico if a shortage could be shown.
But, Ag Jobs, like all immigration bills right now are under intense scrutiny by the US public that has arguably signaled they want less immigration - not an increase. They also appear to oppose any measure that smacks of “amnesty.”
There is an estimated 10 to 11 million illegal immigrants living in the US. Immigrant gangs crime reports like 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide are illegal aliens in Los Angeles - drug traffic reports - like the Mexican Mafia in Sequoia Park for one - and the high cost the state must absorb to take care of the families of indigent immigrants, their schooling, health care and the rest - all weigh in. News media reports of the Minutemen who patrol the Arizona border have all galvanized public interest in the issue.
So for now the Ag Jobs bill has gone down, but the proponents suggest it will be back for consideration soon, perhaps with some help from Bush himself who has said he would support some kind of guest worker plan. “No immigration plan has gotten this far,” says the UFW’s Arturo Rodriguez after the 53-45 Senate vote.
County Fairs
Could Get Their Independence
Bill
Passage Could Speed Tulare Fair Relocation To AgriCenter
California- A bill pending in the California legislature would convert the 54 state fairs into public corporations instead of quasi-state entities. The bill is supported by the fairs’ association - California Fairs Alliance and Governor Schwarzenegger.
“For us - we call it emancipation,” says Tulare County’s Fair executive director Candace Patterson. “For years the fair has been the subject of so much red tape on decision making and they seem to treat us more like the Dept. of Corrections.”
Patterson says independence would give the fair more flexibility in planning its future if the issue of who owns the fairgrounds becomes clearer & if the bill passes.
The pending bill comes just as the Tulare City Council has given approval to a freeway interchange at Commercial Blvd. near the Agri Center. That will set in motion several related developments.
That includes the re-hiring of a consultant firm who did a preliminary layout of future buildings in the Agri Center funded by the Agri Center, the fair and Reign Cow Horse Association a few years ago.
Now consultant to the Agri Center Lynn Dredge says the consultants - Bullock Smith have been invited back to further study development opinions that take the footprint of the new interchange came into the picture.
This time the fair won’t take a direct financial stake in the consultants work, says Patterson, although the fair is “still interested” in possible relocation to the Agri Center sometime in the future “if it makes sense to our board.”
The Reign Cow Horse Association was looking at a large horse arena to be part of the Agri Center’s long range master plan. But the private organization has since backed off from an active interest, says Dredge.
The latest round of study will be paid for by the Agri Center.
Patterson says for the fair the possibility they could sell the 55 acres at their current site, estimated in phase one of Bullock Smith study at $5.6 million depending on zoning would make a big difference in whether the fair could move. Of course that figure was a rough one done several years ago before the current real estate boom.
She says the land in the middle of town could be planned to houses or industrial use as options. She says she has heard of at least some interest from next door neighbor Land O’Lakes, for example.
Lynn Dredge says he hopes CalTrans will allow a near term improvement at the new interchange - allow offramps at the surface level off 99 into adjacent land paid for by local sources. He says a rough estimate might be $1 million to pay for this interim step to get better access to both sides of 99 to tie into Commercial and Laspina for example. That would involve some development plan at the offramps with a developer who wants to site a highway commercial type project including a hotel. Dredge says the project was about to secure a $1 million grant from the federal government through Devin Nunes’ office and could lobby for funds through TCAG for the interim steps at Commercial Ave.
Dredge says the potential passage of state legislation to give to fair more flexibility could heat up talks of the relocation of the fair to the Agri Center again. The issue was on the table while Davis was still governor appeared to bog down with state funding troubles. While the state is not flush with cash an independent fair could sell their existing site and use the funds to buy into a new site with the Agri Center who share many common goals and facility needs.
Patterson says the fair is on track for its September event September 14-18 and looks to improve on a 6% increase in attendance seen last year one change in the works - free day for seniors on Friday all day long.
Compost/Sewer Sludge Picture Muddies
Tulare County - Proposed tightened regulations, growing opposition to imported sewer sludge and a new bill carried by Kern County Senator Dean Florez threaten to shut down existing and new compost and biosludge operations in the central valley as well as derail co-composting projects like the big Westlake Farms biosolids/green waste project in Kings County.
The Valley Air Board is considering staff supported proposed regulation requiring outside green waste in composting operations that take everything from lawn clippings to orchard prunings and turn them into compost— be enclosed. “With what we get for this waste material that’s just not economical,” says owner Kent Kaulfuss of Wood Industries of Visalia.
The potential closing down of composting operations like Wood Industries and Tulare County Compost would be a big hit on city and county efforts to meet recycling goals in the state, he says.
Green waste can account for as much as a quarter of the county’s waste that would otherwise go to the landfills.
Jeff Monaco solid waste manager for the county say any closure of green waste operations in Tulare County would be “disastrous” for the county and the cities. “This seems like a classic case of two agencies working at cross purposes with each other” with the State Integrated Water Management Board demanding the counties and cities divert and recycle their waste and the air board demanding compost operators reduce their emissions. Assembly Bill (AB) 939, California Integrated Waste Management Act, mandated that cities and counties achieve a total waste diversion of 25% by 1995 and 50% by 2000; composting is one of the waste diversion options.
Staff at the air board hopes to adopt new rules this year and encapsulation would cut 90% of VOCs to meet air goals. The district says there are four biosolid compost facilities in the valley, one co-composting facility and 39 green waste composting facilities including three in Tulare County and two in Kings.
Kaulfuss says there are ways to lessen volatile organic compound emissions without forcing composters to build a building to enclose them.
Farm advocate Manual Cunha says he expects the air board to rethink the compost enclosing proposal suggesting “maybe it’s time for some of the staff at the Valley Air District to take a vacation.” After the staff report was made recently members of the Integrated Waste Board also complained about the plan.
Settlement?
In Kings County a large composting facility is being planned on Westlake Farms property that includes 325,000 tons per year of biosolids and 200,000 tons of green waste imported from LA County. The project is tied up in litigation on its way to the 5th District Court of Appeal with complaints by two entities.
Westlake owner Ceil Howe says rather than wait for final word from the court of appeal that could be many months away, “We’ve been in settlement discussions with the Center For Race Poverty and the Environment” - one of the entities suing over the project. In addition, he says, he is trying to work out a settlement with the other Kings County group represented by attorney Richard Harriman. “If he would ever return our phone calls.”
Harriman says he has been in settlement discussions with Westlake’s attorney working on an agreement to set aside some land for wetland development and pushing for the trucks who will bring the sludge from LA to use clean burning alternative fuels. They are also seeking funds to train local people as part of the deal.
It could be a sludge backlash in Kern County that has muddied the picture even more. Kern County officials have agreed in recent days that would seek to ban Southern California cities from shipping sewage into the county forcing LA County to ship elsewhere.
LA County already has spent $33 million to buy and improve the Kern County farm that accepts the sludge near Taft. A Kern County ban would mean LA County could not use the land. This month not only did the Kern Board of Supervisors call for a complete ban but the county Grand Jury seconded the idea citing concerns over Kern’s big underground water bank owned by the Kern County Water Agency.
That water may some day be shipped to Metropolitan Water District for drinking water but if it was found to be contaminated with say heavy metals - it would be worth far less.
The uproar has Shafter Democrat Dean Florez put forth a bill (SB-926) that would not allow any importation of sewer sludge over county lines in the state as of January 2006 unless you were grandfathered in.
The controversy in Kern County may be spilling over to Kings County and may explain why settlement discussions are in progress over the big Westlake project.
Local officials support the Westlake project largely because of the employment - 130 full time jobs - it will bring and the opportunity to recycle lots of valley green waste that will no longer be able to be burned due to new air regulations. The enclosed co-composting facility would meet the new staff supported air guidelines.
The Kings County Superior Court ruled in favor of the Westlake project last November 5. But the appeals has meant the project will have to wait unless there is settlement.
River Restoration Case On Fast Track
Tulare County - What has been dragging on for 17 years will now speed to the fast lane as U.S. Judge Lawrence Karlton decided earlier this month to bring the crucial lawsuit over the future of the San Joaquin River to trial as soon as February of next year. “This case must be complete by May 2006,” said Karlton “we’re going to do it.”
The judge asked both sides in the case - the environmental group NRDC and other on one side and the US Government and Friant Water Users Authority or the other - to speed their filings so the case can begin and set April 28 for a hearing for both sides to discuss the case going forward.
Judge Karlton denied a motion by FWUA to allow an immediate appeal of the judge’s August ruling that found the United States Bureau of Reclamation liable for not complying with flow requirements under state law below Friant Dam.
NRDC has pressed the government to release enough water to allow the restoration of a historic fishery - what was a salmon fishery in the river. Environmentalists blame the dam for the loss of the fishery.
It is expected that Karlton in the course of the trial will decide how much it would take to do such a salmon fishery restoration. Friant Water Users Authority are the federal contractors representing farmers who depend on water for farms and cities mostly south of the dam. About half the water comes to Tulare County.
Members of the FWUA board civil engineer Dennis Keller says NRDC has momentum going into the trial phase since the judge has shown already he agrees with their side. But the water contractors appear to have their own advantage including support of both state and federal legislative bodies and administrations. A new Valley Water coalition group has raised political awareness of the issue in Sacramento and two bills are pending in the Senate to try to implement a legislative fix that could take the wind out of Karlton’s sails. Recently a hearing by Assembly member Parra set the stage for legislation that could be introduced in the Assembly as well.
An example of what could be introduced in the state legislature is clarification of just what the state law is on maintenance of fisheries for example. Friant claims for example they release enough water for the existing fishery below Friant. Another example the state could pass a law laying out the terms of restoration on the river.
Karlton has indicated he may decide if the US violated the endangered species act and may rule soon on that.
Farmers and cities like Orange Cove, Lindsay and Fresno who get drinking water from Friant all fear restoration would take a big chunk of water to the fishery would hurt the local economy.
Speculation has been that he could order a release of water down the river requiring an immediate appeal.
However, an appeal of the case to the Supreme Court is likely whichever side wins, suggests Keller.
It could still be many years before we know the outcome. However, Keller notes what could be called the chilling effect of these negative rulings on land values, new investment and bank lending within the Friant district over the future of the huge eastside region. “That may be the biggest effect of this short term.”
Of course there is always the possibility of a settlement in the case, perhaps encouraged by the Schwarzenegger administration which has friends on both sides of the issue.
High Real Estate Prices Driving Bessy Out Of LA
Report Details Southland Dairy Exodus
California- The annual California Dairy Statistics Report for 2004 is out and highlights a long term trend of an exodus of dairies from the southern part of the state and relocation mostly to the central valley. The report notes that in the past four years, San Bernardino and Riverside counties have lost 77 dairies while during the same period some 75 dairies have opened for business mostly in the central valley. Just in the past year the survey finds 34 dairies left the two Southland counties.
“We’re really starting to feel it,” says CEO of California Dairies, Gary Korsmeier in Artesia as more dairymen who supply milk to southland processing plants are pulling up stakes. The price of real estate and continued pressure over pollution issues have combined to create what appears to be a stampede out of what had been rural dairy areas east of Los Angeles.
From 2003 to 2004 Tulare County gained 11 new dairies and Kings County 10.
Tulare, Merced, Stanislaus, Kings and San Bernardino account for two thirds of the state milk production with Tulare itself accounting for 26% and Kings at 9%. That’s up from a few years ago. In 1999 Tulare County accounted for 23% of the state’s milk supply.
The annual report suggested dairymen had a good year by in large in 2004 with average prices of $14.60 per hundredweight paid to them. That’s up 29% from 2003.
That will help make 2004 a record year for milk money in the 2004 Tulare County Crop Report set to be released in the next few days.
Tulare production of milk in 2004 was 9.2 billion lbs., more than double any other county. But that was up under 1% from 2003 reflecting perhaps a slowdown in the growth of milk production here.
Helping to slow growth in Tulare County is continued difficulty in getting permits for new dairies. A program to retire cows funded by the industry and a reduced use of rBST that stimulates production may be factors.
The report notes that milk cows grew from 437,476 in 2003 to 442,853 in 2004 as the average dairy size actually fell to 1326 for the first time. Kern County dairies are the largest by average with a herd size of 2375.
Kings County milk production increased in 2004 - up more than 6% as its dairy permitting process has been streamlined. The county gained over 9000 cows last year.
Kern County was the big gainer in 2004 on volume basis up a whopping 27% to 2.5 billion lbs. of milk produced. Kern experienced a growth of 23,000 more cows last year with the siting of several very large dairies relocated and expanded from the southland.
If Tulare County milk volumes aren’t increasing at the pace they once did - today we have just about doubled the milk volume in the past ten years since 1995 - some welcome a leveling off of the pace. Still growth is happening here with three dairy projects going through the permitting process right now.
The growth of the dairy industry in Tulare County has been phenomenal by any measure from production of 1.9 billion lbs in 1982 to 9.2 billion in 2004 - a nearly five fold increase in the past 22 years.
Contrast the growth of the milk supply in Tulare County over this two decade plus period at an eye popping 500% to the more modest growth of the county’s number two farm crop - citrus, up about 35% in acreage over the same period.
In 2004 the value of Tulare County’s number one crop, milk, is likely to be about $1.38 billion dollars - at least three times the value of oranges. But in 1983 milk and citrus each recorded about a $250 million value. Citrus grew nominally in value but while you weren’t looking, Tulare County was just swimming in milk.
Most dairies are shipping their milk through one of the major co-ops including Land O’Lakes, California Dairies and Dairy Farmers of America.
About half the milk goes to some variety of cheese with mozzarella being the biggest. Two of the world’s largest cheese plants have been built in recent years - one in Tulare and the other in Lemoore.
Part of the equation in milk is that since the early 80s Tulare County has more than 3 times the milk cows that reside here. But there’s more to it than that. Through genetics, research on feed rations and improved cow comfort practices, dairymen are able to coax Bessy to produce an average of 21,400 lbs of milk per cow last year up from an average of 8900 lbs in 1940 and 16,304 in 1980. The increase has leveled off in the past few years suggesting dairymen had pressed Bessy about as far as she wanted to go toward becoming a virtual milking machine.
UC Veterinarian Dr. Jim Cullor says the milk cow hasn’t yet reached her limits and compares her to an athlete. He says there still is room to grow production per cow and theorizes dairymen right now might be making a business decision not to push either the cows or the worker at this any harder.
California Dairies Korsmeier has said the cooperative is looking at another dairy processing plant in the central valley in the future that will be the home for some of this new milk coming into the valley in the next few years.
Korsmeier also says the co-op is concerned about increasing volumes of milk coming in the state in recent years. The report says imports of milk in California totaled 1.34 billion lbs in 2004, up from just 0.58 billion lbs in 2000. Korsmeier says some this milk is sold far cheaper than California milk and is looking to close a loophole that allows this milk to undersell California dairies. gotten this far,” says the UFW’s Arturo Rodriguez after the 53-45 Senate vote.
City/Church Face Off Next Month In Court
Visalia - City of Visalia vs. Restoration Church will be heading to court next month over the issue of the city's right to acquire by eminent domain a downtown Visalia theater. The theater on Main St. is used by a popular children's theater group, The Enchanted Playhouse.
But Restoration Church sought to buy the theater for its church meetings and had the property in escrow when the city stepped in to claim the property last year.
While the city says they wanted to preserve the place as a children's theater, the church insists their constitutional rights were violated under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The church notes that the Playhouse had every chance to buy the property, but didn't.
The church has been able to secure the legal services of a high-powered group, the Pacific Legal Foundation that specializes in religious freedom cases.
Attorney for the city, Alex Peltzer, was in court this week to hear a judge's ruling on how the trial would move forward. It is scheduled to be heard May 23. Peltzer says in a preliminary ruling as the newspaper goes to press, that the city was unsuccessful in getting the case thrown out with Judge O'Hara, indicating he wanted the case tried on its merits in May.
But the city did succeed in getting the judge to rule that Restoration could not force depositions from nearly 15 persons they wanted to call in the case including all city council members, top staff and members of the Playhouse board. "We didn't think it was relevant to get all these people to say what they were thinking" about the issue and the judge agreed, says Peltzer - at least in the preliminary ruling announced prior to Wednesday's April 20th court hearing.
The city claims it has the right to take by eminent domain property that they need uses for a public purpose and that a downtown children's theater fits the bill. But Restoration argued that the city acted just to keep the church out. The case is expected to be heard by Judge O'Hara who will decide if religious rights trump the city's "right to take."
What's New
The county and city will open Woodland St. at Mineral King to improve traffic flow in and out of the county civic center. This week the two entities agreed to share the cost of installing new traffic signals at Woodland and Mineral King and at Woodland and Burrel. Cost to the city, $590,000. Cost to the county, $250,000.
Medical marijuana gets Visalia's tolerance. The city council voted this week to pass an emergency ordinance to regulate distribution of medical marijuana and a permanent ordinance that allows cultivation within the city limits of medical marijuana. A group is asking Kaweah Delta to allow the use in a room in the hospital for cancer patients. Voters approved the use in the passage of Prop. 215 and the state legislature agreed.
The Visalia city council approved a plan this week that may mean more flights out of the Visalia airport in the future besides daily flight to Las Vegas, already in the works beginning early this summer. Some 15 airports representing smaller cities have hired a consultant to help grow in-state air service through a joint effort. The California Airports Coalition will apply for $300,000 in Small Community Grant funding to perform a market study of the smaller airport that could link flights north and south. The City of Visalia is kicking in $70,000 to promote the effort. A preliminary report says airlines are phasing out smaller prop planes that have served smaller communities. In addition, all the counties in these secondary markets have higher average fares leading to a decline in the number of people who catch the flights. The action plan by the group would be to connect the smaller cities to LA, SF and Sacramento where they could link with major carriers. The final study on the idea is not expected to be completed until the end of 2006. Given a north-south pattern a commuter plane could hop from Eureka to Santa Rosa to Stockton to Visalia to LA, for example, or South Lake Tahoe to Modesto to Monterey to Santa Maria to Oxnard - all member communities in the coalition. Putting the stops together the group hopes to attract air carriers which will be encouraged by the potential passenger revenue such a joint approach might offer and just might benefit people in rural areas across the state.
Scenic Could Do Sequoia? That's the discussion between Visalia and a new airline company that will fly Visalia to Las Vegas regularly starting early this summer. The company flies over the Grand Canyon and Bryce from Las Vegas taking tourists on "scenic" flights for a few hours. "They have great connections in the Asian market," says mayor Bob Link suggesting the company may bring in tourists to come to Sequoia and Kings Canyon from Las Vegas. There is even the possibility of a flyover like they do in other parks. The city is already working on a shuttle service from Visalia for tourists that will start summer of 06. Link says criticism of the city negotiating with the Las Vegas airline doesn't take into account the fact Visalia passengers would have no other choice but "no service" if the city did not come to terms on the FAA subsidy to this airline. Visalia passengers only other option would be to spend hours just to catch a plane from Fresno to reach other hubs.
Looking to reduce damage to county stream beds, Supervisor Allen Ishida says he is working on an updated ordinance that will strengthen the law against off road vehicles riding around or in our stream beds. "We've had lots of complaints from all over the county,"says Ishida noting the play erodes the walls of the streams.
As Tulare County gets closer to discussion of implementing impact fees to pay for vital public services, Kings County is just about there. They plan to implement a $1500 fee per public safety infrastructure for the county. The fee could be adopted later this year. This week the Kings County Board of Supervisors reviewed a final draft of the plan.
Opponents of Walmart in Hanford in the latest round in Kings County Superior Court last week although attorney for the group, Richard Harriman says they will appeal the matter. Walmart could wait to start their construction on the land they already own or wait many months for a verdict from the appellate level. In Bakersfield in a similar case, Walmart didn't wait but was forced to tear down what they had built after the fact.
COS is fighting for funding from the state for its student health center. Low income students are paying to get care at the center but promised to backfill the college for unreimbursed care. Then they ran short of money and refused to reimburse the county. Over 60% of the students at COS qualify for the exemption.
More disappointment at COS when bids for the new COS gym came back some $2 million over budget. The state funds the project at $5.6 million but he lowest bid was $7.6 million. The new Physical Ed building would be located on the running field - the last open grass on the campus. College blames high material costs for the upwardly mobile bids.
COS was going to have a student acted play - Equis, that features a nude scene. The college cast wasn't going to appear on stage in the buff likely putting on a body suit or the like. But the play's author doesn't want the play to go on unless they appear in the nude. "He can keep his play," says college president Kim Badrkhan. The show has been canceled.
There is a new proposed home for the big WWII Veterans mural - South Mooney Blvd. Property owner Johnny George has offered to donate land in front of the Works property for the mural that would face Mooney. The mural will be lit at night and features a big flag pole with power donated by George as well. Other contractors who will also donate their expertise to put up the mural if the city council approves the location. They are expected to go along. The mural will be 20 ft. back from Mooney likely eliminating any objects from CalTrans who oversees the state highway.
Tulare - Plans for Cartmill Crossing - North, have been filed with the City of Tulare. The 130 acres-plus project includes an 80 acre big box shopping center and a 50 acre plan for new homes. Filing of the plan sets in motion a general plan amendment, zone change and annexation request into the city, says planner Mark Keilty.
"They will be doing an environmental impact report" on the project, says Keilty who will be requesting city approval in initiating the EIR soon.
The project was filed by a partnership who owns land both north and south of the Cartmill interchange on the east side of 99 led by Porterville developer Ben Ennis. They already have filed a plan for an 80 acre commercial center on the south side of Cartmill - land that is in the city limit and zoned for big box commercial.
Also in the neighborhood are plans by the Lagomarsino family to do a 55 acre commercial project on the west side of 99 at Cartmill. Keilty says he expects a request to do an EIR on the project will move forward in the next few weeks as well.
The total commercial uses in and around the Cartmill interchange could mean Tulare is destined to reach 2 million sq. ft. of regional retail uses in coming years, up from about 1 million sq. ft. today, predicts Chamber Economic Development specialist Bob Reynolds.
In other Tulare news, a proposal for more commercial use at Mooney and Prosperity on the southwest corner is expected soon.
In addition, plans to increase the size of the outlet mall by 10 acres are nearing finalization along with an adjacent 17 acre project also north of the existing outlet mall. Both pieces are owned by William Martin who has indicated the 10 and 17 acres are close to being sold.
Visalia - All three city council members whose seats are up this fall will stand for re-election.
The sitting council members, Jesus Gamboa, Don Landers and appointed member Walter Deissler, have all indicated they will file for the November election.
Walter Deissler, who was appointed in January to fill the seat left by Phil Cox's move over to the Board of Supervisors, says his term so far on the council "has opened his eyes on many issues" facing the community. The town's "extreme fast rate of growth" is something he will continue to monitor.
Former mayor of the city, Jesus Gamboa, is running for a third term on the five member council. Gamboa told the Voice that "after 8 years on the council there are lots of projects I've worked on and I'd like to see them completed" including his work on improvements in the norhtside like Dinuba Blvd. and Houston Ave. "I understand we're 90% there on getting entitlements to begin the widening of Houston."
Also saying this week that he will seek "a final 4-year term" on the council is Don Landers. "I'm definitely a candidate," says Landers this week. "I hope I can work on circulation issues, the new civic center and continued prosperity downtown," says Landers.
Also filing a notice she will run for a seat is Visalia business person Kathy Kinzle.
Nomination papers are accepted until August 12.
The County's Top Cop
by Tom Wells
Tulare County - If I haven't confused you beyond literary salvation, I've hopefully piqued your interest. So it's time for the payoff. The Tulare County district attorney's office is putting plans in motion to expand its civil remedies program.
District Attorney Phil Cline says Tulare County has had a small number of staff members addressing civil matters for some time. They've worked to address grievances of those victimized by scams, frauds, identity theft , financial elder abuse, etc. And their efforts have always been an adjunct to the office's main goal of stopping the offenders through criminal prosecution.
But a couple of things have changed in recent years. DA Cline points to the rapid growth of cities like Visalia. The greater the number of people in a service area, the larger the number of cases, criminal or civil, there are to deal with. As you may have unfortunately noticed, the sheriff's office and local police departments in the county have been issuing fraud and scam alerts more frequently these days.
The other change came as the result of a statewide proposition passed by California voters last fall. Proposition 64 changed state law to eliminate one of the three categories of lawyers who can bring civil suits against a fraudulent business, organization or individual. Before the new law took effect in January, the state attorney general, district attorneys and individual lawyers acting as private attorneys general could bring such suits on behalf one or more victims. Now, suits through private attorneys general are no more.
Phil Cline says these new limitations on who may file a civil suit against a business or group of individuals , while leveling the playing field and stopping abuses of the old law discovered in southern California, has diverted more such lawsuits from the private sector to the public sector. So it's necessary for his office to gear up for the increased action. And the man he picked to head up that expansion is local attorney Richard Isham.
It doesn't hurt that Cline and Isham are good friends, or that Isham has been coordinating and carrying out the limited number of civil actions taken by the Tulare County District Attorney's Office for several years as an independent contractor. However, the DA says his decision was based on the fact that the husband of Pro-Youth/HEART Executive Director Laurie Isham is one of the finest civil law attorney's he's ever known.
For his part, attorney Isham says he's looking forward to the challenge of turning a small-scale program into a full-blown division within the district attorney's office. Of course, many of the details are still up in the air at this point.
The district attorney says another reason he's decided to expand the civil litigation division is that more and more laws are being put on the books to help government attorneys deal with the aftermath of fraudulent activity. With that increasing arsenal at their disposal, it only makes sense to ramp up the office's efforts in that area–especially with scams, fraud, identity theft, financial abuse of elders and other nefarious activities on the rise in the San Joaquin Valley. Says Cline, as the population of the area has grown, so has the sophistication of those who would defraud the good citizens of Tulare County.
One case in which in civil procedures were used to complement criminal prosecution occurred a few years ago in Visalia. If you recall, there was a sudden spate of what DA Cline refers to as "gypsy" car lots, where people would blow in from out of town, set up a temporary sales lot in the K-Mart /Albertson's parking lot, loose a bunch of people with sign boards and sell used cars on the cheap at what appeared to be great finance rates. Problem one was unfair competition for established car dealers with an investment in their community. And it was the responsibility of the district attorney's office to level the playing field by asking the interlopers to leave.
When that proved unsuccessful, a civil remedy became very important. The DA's office went to a judge, got and injunction against the activity, allowing the fly-by-night car dealers to be shut down legally without the need for criminal prosecution. From the beginning, investigators suspected criminal activity but it would take time to prove it and prosecute the perpetrators. That eventually happened but Cline says using civil law immediately leveled the playing field for other legitimate car dealers and put a stop to the victimization of a clientele.
That illustrates nicely why the use of civil remedies are is so important to Phil Cline. As Tulare County's district attorney, he sees his job as two-fold: punish criminals for their acts through prosecution; and make victims whole through the use of civil law.
It's apparent that all of us in Tulare County will be better off for the new development at the district attorney's office. So when can we expect the bigger, better civil division to be up and running? Says DA Cline with an impish smile on his face ,"When it is." Realistically, the county's top attorney says he plans a preliminary review of progress six months after he and Dick Isham work out the basics. The real review, says Cline will come when the expansion's been in place a year.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
April 20, 2005
