Measure R To Fund Key Corridors
Sales Tax Passage Gives Local Projects Better Chance For Fed/State Grant Money

Northside Retail Projects Moving Forward

Visalia - Craig Mangano’s Oakwest shopping center at Demaree and Riggin got unanimous approval this past week from planning commission and will move on to the city council November 20. The center, anchored by Lowes, also has a letter of intent from Walgreens, says Mangano, and interest from several restaurants. A Starbucks will be part of the mix as well. Mangano says the project could break ground in March and stores could be open by October of next year. One parcel earmarked for a grocery store will likely wait until a grocer is willing to locate there, says Mangano, given the fact other nearby grocery stores may be opening. That includes the Joe Gong center on Dinuba Highway at Ferguson where the new Food 4 Less is well underway. The center is expected to feature other brand name retailers as well.

Also this past month, developer Donohue Schriber filed their site plan review for a toe in 40 acre shopping center at Riggin and Dinuba Highway anchored by Target and Home Depot. Donohue Schriber’s Dave Mossman told the Voice the company is considering an offer from Pacific Union Homes to buy 20 acres adjacent the proposed center that would put the center perhaps to 50 acres leaving some of the land facing the sports park in residential use.

Sources say Donohue Schriber may be gaining interest from Target to build a Super Target at the site, selling groceries along with traditional goods. The center is likely to have virtually all retailers who have stores on Mooney in Visalia who want second locations in a center that could expand Visalia’s trade area to be convenient to northern Tulare County and southern Fresno County.

Between the three centers there is about 100 acres of big retail looking to build north of Houston Ave., something many people thought would never happen in Visalia. The growth of residential rooftops on the northern tier of town and the construction of roadways connecting the rest of the city are given credit to the new interest by the national retail firms.

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Visalian Battles Dental Disease Epidemic

by Richard Houts

Visalia - Both young and old are facing an epidemic of dental disease in the state of California and in Tulare County. The Oakland based non-profit Dental Health Foundation (DHF) recently released its report, “Mommy, It Hurts to Chew” The California Smile Survey 2006, that said “Dental disease and not obesity or asthma or childhood diabetes is by far the number one health problem for our children, affecting as many as two-thirds of the State's elementary school children by the time they reach third grade.” Meanwhile, the California Task Force on Oral Health and Aging has stated that “75% of seniors in California nursing homes with chipped teeth, infected gums, decaying teeth, and poorly fitted dentures are not being treated for these serious dental problems.” This can have serious consequences since pathogens from oral infections can be aspirated into the lungs and result in pneumonia which can actually result in the death of an elderly person.

California's Dental Hygienists have long been aware of this growing healthcare crisis since their role is to attempt to prevent such health conditions. Their professional organization, the California Dental Hygienist Association (CDHA) serves to promote the oral health of the general public, increase access to oral health care for under served populations, and promote the professional growth and interests of its members. Susan McLearan, RDHAP, MS, a long time Tulare County resident and registered dental hygienist in alternative practice who happens to be this year's President of the statewide California Dental Hygienists Association (CDHA), said “The dental health care crisis is not only with children, but with senior citizens who in the later days of their lives experience a reduced quality of life due to limited access to reconstructive and additional preventative services.”

Susan also said that California law originally required dental hygienists to do their work in a dental office under the direct supervision of a dentist. This limited the dental hygienists' ability to do outreach to severely underserved groups of people. So, for the past 30 years dental hygienists have been working toward getting the laws changed to allow them to operate their own independent practices, accountable to their own state board. With this autonomy and flexibility, they could go directly to where the underserved clients are located such as in schools, nursing homes, rural medical clinics, hospitals, and other hard to reach sites by way of mobile units. Such outreach would allow them to apply more prevention services to at risk children, seniors and others in need and also ensure that such people are referred to dentists for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. Susan described a need for the widespread, ongoing use of mobile dental care vehicles such as in the “Apple Tree” programs in Minnesota, Ohio, and the Carolinas. She said that the University of Southern California mobile dental unit periodically comes to Tulare County in conjunction with Kaweah Delta Hospital, but it is a rather expensive venture for KDDH to sponsor and therefore would be difficult to maintain on an ongoing basis.

Toward the dental hygienists goals for more autonomy and flexibility, the CDHA sponsored two bills during the current Legislative session, AB 1334 and SB 1472, and were partly successful with one and unsuccessful with the other. The dental hygienists also asked the Legislature and Governor to implement the findings of the DHF report that describes the serious condition of oral health in this state.

The DHF report said, “Dental disease is the hidden epidemic of California's school children, with tooth decay remaining a significant problem, especially among children. The oral health of California's children is substantially worse than national objectives and most of the other states surveyed do better than California against this epidemic. Of 25 states surveyed, only Arkansas ranked below California in kids' dental health. Kids with severe dental decay and pain can't concentrate, miss school days, and get poor grades. Many California children are strangers to the dentist's chair. By the third grade, over 70% of California children have a history of tooth decay; at any given moment; 28%, amounting to some 750,000 of elementary school children have untreated tooth decay; and some 4% or approximately 138,000 children, are sitting in the classroom needing urgent dental care as they suffer pain or infection such as abscesses. Poor children and children of color are much more likely to have tooth decay and suffer the consequences of untreated disease. About one-third of low-income children have untreated decay compared to about one-fifth of higher income children. Nearly 40% of children with no insurance had untreated decay compared with 21% of children with private insurance. Latino children have the highest risk for dental health problems. Seventy-two percent of Latino children surveyed had experienced decay, 30% needed treatment, and fully 26% had rampant decay (caries on seven or more teeth) nearly twice the rates of non-Hispanic white children surveyed.”

DHF Chair, Dave Perry, DDS said in the report: “Often the kids can't even tell you they are in pain their teeth have hurt for so long, they think it's normal. They don't know that eating shouldn't hurt. Severe tooth decay can make children sick. Kids with tooth decay are prone to repeated infections in their ears, their sinuses, and other parts of their bodies, because their infected teeth are continually pouring pathogens into their systems. And even their physicians can fail to notice where the infection ultimately is coming from. Many parents think it is normal for some baby teeth to fall out long before the adult teeth push them out. Parents often let their infants and toddlers sleep with baby bottles in their mouths, often with juice or even soda in the bottle, leading to severe tooth decay. But these first teeth hold the space for the adult teeth emerging under them.

If they are severely decayed, need to be pulled or fall out too soon, the permanent teeth can come in crooked and crowded, condemning the child to years of orthodontia or a life-time of twisted teeth. We've got to do more for our kids. We know how to restore decayed teeth, but there will never be enough resources to pay for all that treatment. And restoring decayed teeth doesn't stop the disease from re-occurring. The much smarter way to go is to prevent tooth decay in the first place.”

The DHF report concluded that “Treatment is good, prevention is better, and early prevention is the best. There is a need for the increase in the use of sealants, which can prevent cavities and greatly reduce dental treatment costs, especially among high-risk children. Sealants applied to permanent molars can avert tooth decay for an average of 5 to 7 years, but currently only 28% of third grade children in California have received sealants. The study, along with the fact millions of Californians possess no dental health insurance, seems to demonstrate the need for substantive new measures to ensure greater health care for children and the elderly in California.”

The dental hygienists point to the fact that they are the ones who perform the preventative services described in the DHF report. They also state that in 1997, after an 18 year pilot project where they demonstrated the effectiveness of a group of independently functioning dental hygienists called Registered Dental Hygienists in Alternative Practice (RDHAP), the CDHA sponsored Assembly Bill 560 that was passed that made the RDHAP a permanent certification category, open to all dental hygienists who complete the related additional training. However, California's dentists successfully had a requirement added that the RDHAPs had to obtain a prescription from a dentist or medical doctor prior to offering client services despite the fact that the pilot project had no such requirement and almost 20,000 clients had been provided services for over almost two decades without it.

AB 1334 was introduced this year to eliminate the prescription requirement and streamline and expedite the delivery of RDHAP services. However, in their legislative platform, the California Dental Association said they opposed RDHAPs being allowed “to commence treatment without the involvement of a dentist or physician.” The CDA said that “a complete elimination of the prescription requirement was premature at best. Until very recently, when the two existing RDHAP programs began graduating significant numbers of students, there were too few RDHAPs practicing in the state to allow for a reasonable evaluation of the prescription requirement's impact. Until data indicates otherwise, CDA believes that requiring a level of involvement by a dentist is not unreasonable for RDHAPs, who can provide a limited scope of services to patients.” CDA's position was “that a dentist must remain part of the equation.” CDA later said that it entered into “a reasonable compromise that gives RDHAPs the opportunity to increase access to care, while still providing for the long-term involvement of a dentist who can assure that patients receive comprehensive care. This will allow RDHAPs to see new patients without a prescription for a maximum of 18 months. After 18 months, further treatment could not take place until the patient provided a prescription along with documentation of an exam by a dentist or physician.”

In response to CDA's position, AB 1334 was amended, passed by the Legislature, and signed by the Governor on September 30, 2006, to be effective on January 1, 2007. Specifically, the law now requires that “no later than 18 months after he or she first provides services to a patient, an RDHAP must obtain written verification that the patient has been examined by a dentist or physician and surgeon licensed in California. The verification must include a prescription for dental hygiene services. The prescription shall be valid for a time period based on the dentist's or physician and surgeon's judgment, but not to exceed two years from the date it was issued. Failure to comply with these requirements constitutes unprofessional conduct on the part of the RDHAP.”

SB 1472 would have given the dental hygienists even more autonomy by creating a separate governing entity for their group entitled The California Dental Hygiene Bureau, instead of being under the current control of The Dental Board of California that oversees dentists. CDA stated that it was “opposed to SB 1472 as amended, on the grounds that there has been no demonstrated public safety need for a separate dental hygiene bureau; that the bill would create unnecessary bureaucratic duplication and potential state general fund costs; and that it would leave unclear the relative enforcement responsibilities of the Dental Board and the Dental Hygiene Bureau.”

While both houses of the Legislature agreed with the dental hygienists that they and the public would benefit from such increased autonomy and passed SB 1472, the Governor vetoed the bill saying, “I believe the concerns of dentists and dental hygienists can be addressed within the existing regulatory structure through the cooperation of all interested parties. I strongly encourage the Dental Board to work with the dental hygienists to provide the existing Committee on Dental Auxiliaries with a stronger voice on the Dental Board.”

Resolving the structural issues to address the oral health epidemic in this state clearly appears to be essential. Dr. Dave Perry of DHF seems to have summed it up by stating, “There is no reason why any California child has to live in pain, malnutrition, and infection from severely decayed teeth when there are proven strategies for preventing decay. And that's what we're after: Wiping out tooth decay among this State's kids.”

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With No Help From Washington-Citrus Growers
Make Plans To Pool Labor
Contingency Study Would Tap H-2A Program

San Joaquin Valley - Valley citrus growers aren’t having a labor problem yet with a short navel orange crop and not much competition this time of year from other crops. But come early spring it could be a different story, says California Citrus Mutual’s Bob Blakely, director of growers services for the industry trade group. “We can’t wait until then” to try to figure how to make it through the busiest part of the season with a labor shortage.

Citrus farmers like farmers across the nation were disappointed that Congress decided not to take up any kind of guest worker plan when they passed the border security bill funding a 700 mile fence on the US/Mexico border. President Bush just signed the measure that farmers here fear will exacerbate the farm labor shortage.

“It seems clear we need to work with the people we have now,” says Blakely, so CCM will be taking a contingency plan to their board next month to utilize the workforce that is here in some sort of cooperative effort, he says. Second, there will be a contingency plan to ask for federal help in using the H2A temporary foreign worker program that farmers in general have found too cumbersome and slow to bring in needed workers on short notice, at least in the past.

Currently the Department of Labor has to certify the need for foreign workers and farmers need to provide housing. DOL tries to fill the request around the U.S. first. The proposed Ag Jobs bill farmers are backing would modify the H2A plan that farmers say would make it easier to tap on short notice - 72 hours. Under Ag Jobs the farmer could pay a housing allowance instead of providing the housing to workers if the state government certifies there is enough farmworker housing.

In the meantime, Blakely says they may try to use the existing H2A program despite its shortcomings because they have no other choice. “The current application process takes 45 to 60 days,” says Blakely and that’s why by December they want to file the application with the Department of Labor. Blakely says the workforce - perhaps just a few hundred - would come in from Mexico. “Last year we tried it from Thailand and it didn’t work out.”

Suits are pending in three states claiming LA based Global Horizons who brought in the workers didn’t pay the right amount of tax on their earnings. Now the UFW has signed a new agreement with Global to recruit from Mexico and that the workers brought in would pay 2 percent in union dues to the union. It’s not clear if Global will be the contractor for this citrus project.

Whatever the case, neither growers or workers would have to look over their shoulder for immigration authorities. The benefit would be the worker would come legally here, do the work and return home.

Regarding the pooling of local workers, Blakely says theoretically CCM would act as a coordinator for growers who need workers, keeping crews busy going from one ranch to the next, thereby improving the workers take home pay. “Growers would cooperate with each other and we would be the facilitator,” says Blakely.

Come spring when the citrus fruit is sweetest, there will be an overlap with other crops likely making the demand for labor tighter.

Blakely and others still hope Congress will take up the Ag Jobs bill after the November election after nationwide reports of labor shortages and local reports that wages have had to increase to attract the workers. Some farmers have reacted to the labor shortage by switching to strawberry varieties, for example, that stretch out the season and harvest demand. Lake County reported a harvest shortage in the pears harvest season.

In the citrus there were reports this last year that a sizable portion of the orange crop in Florida was not picked. But shortages are unconfirmed. In California the citrus industry research group is funding a prototype robot harvester concerned enough about the potential worker shortage here.

Under the Ag Jobs bill, up to 1.5 million unauthorized foreigners who did 150 days of farm work during a 24 month period ending December 2005 would pay $500 and any back taxes to obtain a so-called blue card giving them temporary legal status. Blue card holders who worked 100 days for a five year period would become legal residents and could legalize their families as well

. Congress is split over the need and importance of the Ag Jobs bill with Dianne Feinstein suggesting fruit and vegetable prices would rise without it and Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia arguing that “As soon as we give illegal aliens in agriculture legal permanent residence status, they will no longer choose to work the fields, packing sheds, groves and processing facilities.” He wants them to use the H2A program.

Sounds like area orange growers may give the H2A program a spin this winter.

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What's New

City of Visalia council will honor long time restauranteur John Vartanian November 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Visalia council chambers. Mr. Vartanian will be honored with a proclamation for his long time service to the community and the excellence and significance of his restaurants including the Vintage Press that has drawn visitors form across the state since 1966. Vartanian and his entire family helped build the Downtown reputation as a gourmet destination—a tradition that continues to be a major theme in the renaissance of the city’s Downtown. He also founded Jack and Charlies restaurant and has preserved the former county jail building (some of the old cells are still in there) on Oak Street. Vartanian is also well known for his philanthropic endeavors but is too modest to take much credit for them.

After some legal hassles, owners of the Tulare outlet mall, Ariel, will move forward on a 140,000 square foot expansion of the Preferred Outlets mall. After a meeting with the city of Tulare this week, the company will submit final plans to the city council December 4, breaking ground in February and be open in October on 17.7 acres they are buying from William Martin just north of the current outlet mall. The former owner of the outlet mall had challenged title to the Martin land in court but their case was thrown out by a Tulare County judge in recent weeks. The master plan of the mall calls for an eventual build out of 600,000 square feet of retail space on about 75 acres.

Tulare County absentee percentage is not likely to change much this round, expects elections manager Hiley Wallis. “Absentees should come in about 33 percent of all ballots,” she says. Some jurisdictions are saying it’s likely absentee voters will outnumber those that go to the polls. Absentee voters must turn in their ballot to a polling site by 8 p.m. elections night, she cautions. Doesn’t count on postmarking on November 7. That would be too late.

Air service for Visalia to the main Las Vegas airport will begin November 19 operated by Mesa Air doing business as America West Express. The new airline replaces Scenic Airlines who was flying to the North Las Vegas airport weekly. America West Express will make more flights.

Easing concerns in the city of Farmersville, SCE has opted to move a planned expansion of the main power lines through the area to the north of Farmersville and will petition the PUC to change the route of its planned upgrade of major lines into Tulare County.

EIR on Yokohl Valley. “New Town” project will move forward November 7 as Board of Supervisors approves the hiring of a consultant and memo of fundraising with JG Boswell on the terms of the study.

Engineers Provost and Pritchard will present a plan to the Visalia city council later this month to establish a year round water flow in the new East Visalia Civic Center area between Ben Maddox and Tipton where Mill Creek runs. Authorized to do the study Dick Moss says the report will say the city could re-circulate ground water to establish a regular flow when Mill Creek doesn’t run - about 160 days a year. That water could be used to irrigate the park planned along the creek around the Civic Center as well as provide stream flow in Jenning Ditch and Mill Creek. Moss says the water could be used to establish a large pond if that’s what the city decides. A second phase will look to run Mill Creek from Tipton west into Downtown looking at the possibility of surfacing the creek through portions of Downtown where it runs underground currently. That study should be ready for council in early 2007.

Speaking of the Civic Center, the city of Visalia has a key parcel in escrow now at Tipton north of Oak owned by The Gas Company where portions of the approved Civic Center or parking for the complex would be established. The vacant lot was where Razzari Ford used to store excess car inventory. The sale should be closed by the end of the year.

City of Visalia has applied for a $1.5 million grant through the state Resource Agency to landscape a 20-acre park along the St. Johns River. The application has a good chance of being funded, says Urban Tree Foundation head Brian Kempf. The park will make use of several hundred oaks that have been planted there because it was a city oak tree nursery. Kempf says the grant will fund the removal of tons of concrete waste near the Ben Maddox bridge as well as a new parking lot for people visiting the St. Johns walkway.

How to reduce obesity is a question on people’s minds. About two thirds of us are overweight according to an August 2006 report. About 30 percent of white men and women were obese between 1999 and 2002, 28 percent of Black men and 50 percent of Black women, 30 percent of Hispanic men and 40 percent of Hispanic women. The 2006 book “Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think” points to serving size as a key factor. It describes an experiment in which movie goers were given stale popcorn in various size boxes. Those with the largest container ate most. New York City is weighing a ban on artificial trans fats in restaurant meals. Trans fats are used in restaurants because it allows hotter frying and expanded shelf life of cookies and crackers. This week KFC said they would stop frying in oil with trans fats. New research on nutrition education suggests the cost benefit of nutrition education among low income people noted that for every $1 spend on nutrition education in California from $3.67 to $8.34 is saved in health care costs.

The San Joaquin Valley Partnership boasted by Governor Schwarzenegger as the new strategic action plan for the valley is proposing several key ideas that would affect dairies including making it easier to establish “net metering” with the big utilities, promoting biomass power, increasing research for dairy waste control and best available control technology for dairy emissions and the construction of 10 methane powered co-generation plants located at dairies and other wastewater facilities in the valley.

US Census has published its annual State and Metro Area data book that has some facts about the Visalia/Tulare/Porterville metro area in comparison to 360 other metropolitan areas nationwide. Coming as no surprise in the rankings is the fact that just 11.5 percent of the population has a Bachelors degree or higher, number 356 in the rankings (four from the bottom). We have a young population - number 11 in the ranking in the percentage of population under 25, 44 percent. We are number 9 on the ranking of 361 cities in the percentage of Hispanics 53.8 percent. The report also says our metro area grew by 42,843 between April 2000 to July 1, 2005. Components of that growth were about 39,000 births, 13,700 deaths and net international migration of 13,000. The population that receives Social Security in the metro area is about 51,000 - lower on a percentage basis than plenty of the area in the US but the percentage receiving Supplemental Social Security 17,500 - aimed at low income disabled folks - is higher than most metro areas.

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