Visalia City Council 5, Jobs 0
Land Owner Balks at Restrictions on Industrial Park Expansion

By John Lindt

Visalia - Like five blind men trying to describe an elephant by feeling a different part of his body, the five members of the city council appeared to see a different reality as they viewed the future of the Visalia industrial park this week. At issue—is there plenty of vacant land as one member asserted or absolutely no land for sale as cited by others. There has been an ongoing wrangle over this for about two years now and after this week's meeting it appears an agreement is still a way off.

In a slightly surreal atmosphere, council voted 5 to 0 this week to move forward on the annexation of 480 acres just north of Riggin in the Visalia industrial park at the request of the property owner and his partner MSJ Development who own the land. One little problem, just as council was ready to vote, city manager Steve Salomon suggested they check with the partners to see if the lot size restrictions and several other limitations offered by a wary city council would fly with them. There was a pregnant pause and clearly the answer was no.

No deal, no annexation, no new jobs coming to Visalia.

“We're just going to have to keep talking,” suggested partner Patrick Daniels not wanting to give up on talks that have gone on for months now to try to move forward on a plan that could add several thousand jobs here over the next few years.

Talking to the Voice the day after the meeting, Daniels tried to put a positive spin on the proceedings. “A 5 to 0 vote in favor of a 480 acre annexation is a big deal. Obviously there are lots of details yet to be worked out. This is just the first step.”

At issue is the health of the Visalia industrial park and its importance to the Visalia economy. Daniels offered a slide presentation to council that said in a nut shell that the industrial park has about 1800 acres of which 600 acres are vacant. But of those 600 acres, most is being retained for some company expansion plan, not on the market or is land that is smaller than 5 acres. “Just about 200 acres is available for development and all of it is for lease,” he maintained.

To Own or Lease

What's wrong with that? Tulare County Economic Development Corporation says some 2/3 of prospects inquiring about sites in Tulare County want to own their own land not lease it.

But local developer, The Allen Group who owns the 200 plus acres, say they do sell says company representative David Hernandez who spoke to council this week as well “it's not in our marketing plan but we do sell here,” he maintains.

“We've been hearing two stories that there is no land for sale and now the Allen Group is telling us they do sell land,” shrugged council member Greg Collins.

“The original plea was for large parcels 40 acres or larger,” said council member Don Landers when the news came out that a large industrial user wanted a site in Visalia several years ago but the city could find no parcel available and brought the matter to council and the idea of annexation was first broached.

That's how Mayor Jesus Gamboa sees it and says changing the plans now amounts to a bait and switch trick. He favors keeping the annexed parcels large.

Trying to broker a compromise over the issue, council member Greg Kirkpatrick has suggested a phasing of development bringing in just 160 acres for immediate development while the remaining 320, while annexed, would be kept in ag until needed. As to the use of the 160 acres, Kirkpatrick suggested and MSJ Partners agreed with a plan that would be in 10 acre lot size parcels and that 40 acre projects could move forward with no city oversite while projects 10 to 40 acres would require city planning staff approval.

From the city staff report, it appeared unclear whether the 160 acres industrial park would be allowed to have parcels smaller than 10 acres. Those wary of the plan pointed to the fact the city didn't need more small size industrial parcels with Gamboa jumping on that issue suggesting the developer wanted small size parcels in violation of the spirit of the annexation. MSJ Partners told council that they never wanted a parcel under 10 acres anyway. But a staff report points to a plan to approve lots smaller than 10 acres with a conditional use permit.

The issue of lot size had been addressed by several local business groups in letters to the council. All pointed to the need for various size lots to be located in the industrial park pointing to the need for flexibility.

But council member Landers who appears to be the swing vote on this and is typically considered “pro business” says he read the letter and couldn't find any mention of lot size. But the Visalia EDC letter says Visalia's “reputation and record of success is in jeopardy if we cannot guarantee an uninterrupted supply of land available for purchase, lease, and 'build-to-suit' options in a variety of sizes and configurations.”

The lobbying by local business groups, the chamber, the Visalia Economic Development Corporation, Homebuilders Association and Mangano Homes among others, argued that existing inventory of available lands for sale was low and the city needs a variety of different size parcels to be competitive with other communities who are seeking industrial jobs too. “With the City's population now exceeding the 98,700 Urban Development Boundary and the industrial park at least two thirds built out, it is time to plan for the next phase of growth,” says a letter from Glenn Morris, executive director of the Visalia EDC.

Council member Bob Link pulled an analogy out of his Downtown clothing store experience “we need to be customer driven. If I offer only one kind of suit or tie it would limit my business.” He says the industrial park needs all size options.

Despite that stance, Link went along with Collins' motion to allow the annexation of the first 160 acres for development based on three quarters of the parcels being 40 acres or larger and one quarter 10 acres or larger. That's what passed by a 5 to 0 vote this week.

The second issue that appeared to be less of a deal breaker is the plan agreed to by MSJ Partners to pay an ag land mitigation fee for the development of at least 320 of the 480 acres. That mitigation fee could be paid to buy up some local land through the new 1240 exchange program. But council member Collins suggested they pay an ag land mitigation fee on all 480 acres. This is yet to be sorted out.

The city could use the exchange to preserve ag land on the edge of town. A similar deal on land on North Dinuba Blvd. where the new Target shopping center is being built is underway awaiting Department of Conservation approval. The idea promotes the city's plan to protect ag land even as it annexes this ag land to boost the size of the Visalia industrial park.

The tougher issue is that without some agreement on lot size options for the development they won't be moving forward with any annexation.

That has been the stance of a second land owner, Russ Doe who owns 160 acres on the northwest corner of Riggin and Rd. 80. Doe pulled his application for annexation months ago after it appeared clear to him the restrictions would not be modified.

Tying My Hands

“You guys are tying my hands,” says Daniel's partner, property owner David Vargas. “All I want to do is be given the option to compete” noting existing property owners have no restrictions nor do industrial parks in other jurisdictions that offer sites to the same incoming companies.

Prospects who want a central valley location for their plant or distribution center have plenty of choices these days including a huge new park being erected at the Grapevine and over 600 acres being developed in Tulare in the next year along with Fresno and Shafter.

Where does that leave things? In limbo again some believe. Property owners north of Riggin could go to the county with their development proposals in what would start a nasty turf war. “We don't want to see them go to the county,” says planning director Fred Bruesuelas who has the tough job of trying to come up with a new compromise both a majority of the council and the applicants can live with.

How much demand is there for 40 acre parcels? Consider a large 200,000 square foot user can fit on 10 acres the market for 40 acres is for massive size tenants. “We figure it's about 5 percent of the market,” says MSJ Partners Daniels.

After the decision Visalia EDC director Glenn Morris told the Voice he was disappointed in the council's approach. “It's too restrictive to market the property” pointing to the fact the park is Visalia's job hub central responsible for adding over 10,000 jobs in recent decades. “I think we're missing out.”

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By Steve Pastis

Visalia - Due to recently discovered structural problems, the renovations of Recreation Park, the home of the Visalia Oaks Minor League Baseball team, will cost the city more than $10 million, instead of the $5 million approved on September 18, 2006. The Visalia City Council met in a special session on April 13 to hear and discuss a presentation about the situation by Assistant City Manager Carol Cairns and Visalia Oaks Owner Tom Seidler.

The meeting was held the same week that the Oaks started their 2007 season. The team has already played to large and sell-out crowds. The Oaks have created some excitement around town with some of the stadium renovations already in place, and by having the top pick in the baseball draft, Justin Upton, on the team—as well as a brief appearance by future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson.

“These are issues that can happen with any project once you start moving dirt and utilities,” stated the report presented to the city council. “Recreation Park Stadium is a very old stadium that has not had a routine maintenance schedule over the years. The electrical has been a major problem over the past five years. The grandstand berm continues to function, however, there is nothing that can be done to improve any of the structure short of significantly reinforcing it or ultimately demolishing it and building a new grandstand.”

The final soil engineering report revealed the problem that the existing grandstand berm requires major structural reinforcement to support any additional weight. After subsequent investigation by the city, the cost of demolishing the existing berm and building a new grandstand were determined to be the safest and least expensive option, even with an estimated $2,851,055 price tag.

Including the new proposed grandstand, a cost estimate of over $12 million to renovate the stadium in two phases was presented to the city council. This amount, however, would be reduced by $1.8 if all the improvements are done in one phase.

Among the planned improvements are concession stands and new restrooms, which were generally accepted as “basic needs for fans.” Other proposed items include a kids' play zone, a swimming pool, a VIP lounge with both an indoor and patio area, administrative office space and additional office space to rent out.

Options for financing the increased cost were discussed. It was noted that the city council has only spent $584,000 of its general fund, and that the stadium is in the city's Central Redevelopment District, qualifying it for redevelopment funds.

Most council members expressed concerns about the new price of the stadium improvements. Mayor Jesus J. Gamboa suggested the need to sharpen pencils “to try to get this number to something that is more manageable.”

Council Member Greg Collins noted that he had initial reservations about the original $5 million cost. He then said that he was more supportive of “fundamentals, such as restrooms and concession stands, rather than pools which are icing on the cake. I want it to be successful. I'm just trying to be realistic about all this.”

He later told The Valley Voice, “All these guys want to do is spend money. I want to figure out ways to bring revenue in.”

While council members questioned the inclusion of the kids' zone and a swimming pool, they were supportive of improvements that would bring in revenue, such as concession stands and the proposed additional office space.

Citing the $1.8 million savings by making the renovations in one phase instead of two, Council Member Donald K. Landers suggested that the city “do it all at once and do it the best we can and as fast as we can.”

Vice Mayor Greg Kirkpatrick noted that the city has spent between $2 million and $3 mald K. Landers suggested that the city “do it all at once and do it the best we can and as fast as we can.”

Vice Mayor Greg Kirkpatrick noted that the city has spent between $2 million and $3 million to subsidize the Convention Center, “a significant community asset,” and in the past has used its funds for a hotel.

“(The stadium) is more consistent with the city's goals and objectives,” he said.

“(A Minor League Baseball team) puts us on the map in the way that nothing else can,” Seidler said. “And the facility is the most important thing.”

The commitment that the City of Visalia made to Major League Baseball was also discussed. If the Oaks moved away because the necessary improvements to bring the stadium up to Minor League Baseball requirements weren't made, the consensus was that it would be almost impossible to bring another team to the city.

“The Diamondbacks in part took a leap of faith,” Seidler said after the meeting. “We owe it to them to follow through. At $11 million, that's 20 to 30 cents on the dollar of what other communities are paying for new stadiums. Very few are built for under $30 million.”

He cited the new Stockton ballpark and its $30 million price tag, as well as Fresno's $35 million ballpark. He added that the improved ballpark would be an asset to the local area.

“We'll be broadening our outreach through Tulare and Kings counties,” he said, explaining that the new stadium would be a community facility for more than the Visalia Oaks baseball games. “We plan to put on another 30 events a year—concerts, service club meetings, corporate gatherings, high school sports banquets. It will become a much bigger community gathering place.”

A few days after the meeting, there was a feeling that the city would make the necessary upgrades to Recreation Park, even though there were still decisions ahead to determine which proposed features were and weren't necessary. Cairns was given the task of gathering and preparing information—including ways to use redevelopment funds—for the city council's April 23rd meeting.

“There seems to be general support to do the project in its entirety with revised numbers and with as sharp a pencil as we can take,” she said cautiously. She added that the city would need to focus on ways to increase potential revenue generation.

“When you cut out a cost, you have to make sure you don't cut out a revenue,” Cairns said. “We have our task in front of us.

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By Julie Fernandez

“I wished there were more poets like Wilma McDaniel…Little slices of real truth, to be long savored.” —Pete Seeger, folk singer and songwriter

Tulare - Tulare resident Wilma McDaniel, hailed by scholars as the Dust Bowl Laureate and widely known as the “biscuits and gravy poet,” has died at age 88.

McDaniel, a prolific writer who stashed away her poetry in a shoebox for nearly five decades before she timidly handed them over to a Tulare newspaper editor who realized their value, died April 13 in her adopted hometown after a lengthy illness.

Her funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at St. Rita's Catholic Church, 954 South O St. in Tulare.

“She was a real treasure,” said Ellen Gorelick, curator and director at the Tulare Historical Museum, which houses many of the poet's original manuscripts. A celebration of the poet's life will be planned for a future time.

One of eight children, McDaniel was born in 1918 to sharecropper parents near Stroud, Oklahoma. She traveled to California in the 1930s at the age of 17 with her family during the great “Dust Bowl” migration.

In the introduction to one of her poetry collections, writer Gerald Haslam said “no writer has more powerfully or more originally captured the lives of California's Okies. People who read 'The Grapes of Wrath' can in her poems trace the Joads beyond the boxcar where the novel ended.”

McDaniel and her mother moved to Tulare in 1948, shortly after her father's death. She had started writing poetry when she was only 8 years old, but it was not until the early 1970s that she took her shoebox, filled with poems written on the backs of envelopes and brown paper bags, into the late Tulare Advance-Register editor Tom Hennion's office and asked him to read what she had written.

Hennion began publishing her poetry in the daily newspaper and in 1973 her first book, “The Carousel Would Haunt Me,” was published. The Tulare City Council named her the city's Bicentennial Poet in 1975.

Many more chapbooks and poetry collections followed her initial offering and her work began to appear in anthologies. McDaniel also wrote short stories and a regular newspaper column.

National or international media outlets working on “Dust Bowl” migration stories often contacted the shy McDaniel.

“I've always been a poet. It came out of living with and observing my people,” she told National Geographic for a Sept. 1984 story titled “The Okies—Beyond the Dust Bowl.”

In 1995 a British Broadcasting Corporation. team working on a documentary about the migration of residents from the Southwest to California also contacted her.

By that time, McDaniel had just completed her 23rd collection of prose and poetry and scholars were calling her the Dust Bowl Laureate and Okie Euterpe, after the Greek Muse of music and lyric poetry.

Writer Trudy Wischemann, who now lives in Lindsay, met McDaniel for the first time in the early 1990s and they became fast friends.

“Wilma had a way of making disciples,” Wischemann said. “She wouldn't like that term, but that's what we [her friends] are.”

McDaniel's “real fame is on the back of envelopes where she scribbled her poems and then sent them on to people,” she said.

The poet didn't keep good track of where she sent her work and, as a result, she has a “huge amount in print in places we don't even know about,” Wischemann said. “She was not a person who kept a file cabinet. There was no file cabinet.”

McDaniel suffered a stroke two years ago and writing became a struggle.

“She was always trying to write—the urge didn't go away but the ability to readily put all her thoughts down did,” Wischemann said. “It was difficult for us to watch.”

Though quiet and somewhat reclusive, her friends said McDaniel had a wonderful sense of humor that she never let go ofeven in recent years.

“She kept us alive with her humor,” Wischemann said. “Her caregiver said, 'Wilma made me laugh. She made me laugh every day.'”

McDaniel lived in Tulare most of her adult life, although she and her sister Opal left in 1985 to, in her words, “gypsy around.”

Two months after she returned home in 1994, she was honored during a special Tulare Historical Museum program that her friend Hennion had helped to organize.

The event drew scholars and fellow writers, as well as local residents eager to honor her for her literary achievements.

COS honored her in April 2002 with the showing of the 30-minute documentary titled “Down an Old Road: The Poetic life of Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel.” Chris Simon, who produced and edited the film, said she wanted to do the documentary after reading McDaniel's poetry in an anthology published by the California Council for the Humanities.

Gorelick said the Tulare museum is very fortunate to have McDaniel's original manuscripts because others, including Princeton University, had wanted them as well.

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By Miles Shuper

Dinuba / Porterville - County health care clinics in Porterville and Dinuba will close July 1 despite concerted efforts to extend the deadline, at least for the Porterville clinic, for four months.

Tulare County Supervisors Tuesday voted 3-1 to shut down the county-run clinics to cut county losses by $1.5, about half of the overall anticipated $3 million county clinic deficit by the end of the fiscal year.

Porterville area Supervisor Mike Ennis voted against the July 1 closure stressing that extra time was needed to facilitate a transition of clinic patients to other providers, especially Family Health Care Network, one of several health care providers working to assume the county clinic patients.

Ennis said he was not opposed to closing the two clinics but pleaded for more time to allow other providers, mainly FHCN which already started efforts to find staff and space to absorb patient load. FHCN has been offered help in recruiting more professional staff by Sierra View District Hospital in an effort to expand its Porterville clinic service. FHCN chief executive officer Harry Foster said his firm is already working to expand services but can not be fully ready for six months. After the vote Foster said he will continue to work with Sierra View officials and county staff to provide more patient capacity.

Tuesday's decision came after an hour-long discussion which was a continuation of a public hearing three weeks ago where supervisors opted to seek more information before taking any action. Dinuba and Porterville officials and others blasted county officials with rushing to judgment before obtaining enough information before closing the facilities.

Health and Human Services Agency and Dinuba and Porterville and others have been meeting in recent weeks in an effort to find ways of mitigating the impact of closing the two clinics which are operating at a loss. Revenue forecast for fiscal year 2006-7 shows Porterville clinic losing $2.183 million and Dinuba $667,500. The county clinic in Visalia is forecast to lose $4.09 million and the Hillman Center in Tulare is seen operating $2.6 million, according to studies by the county's Health and Human Services Agency.

Agency officials say they hope to save another $1.5 million through better case management and by increasing the number of patients in other clinics.

However, the decision to close the two clinics could eventually lead to the end for the county's clinic operation county wide in light of a proliferation of non-profit and other health care providers in the county. County clinics were begun in the early 1980s after Tulare County closed its county hospital.

Health Services Director Ray Bullick said his agency hopes to rebuild the county's health infrastructure and focus more on prevention and health promotion that running clinics.

Supervisor Steve Worthley agreed saying that the clinics were opened at a time when few, if any clinics were available when the county hospital was closed.

Porterville has eight other clinics and Dinuba has seven.

Foster said FHCN needs the six months to recruit staff, possibly including some county employees, and to seek additional licenses to offer specific services in Porterville. There have been talks about FHCN contracting to use the Porterville clinic facility but no decisions have been made. Foster said the Culter-Orosi FHCN clinic could serve the Dinuba patients because it has the capacity.

Fosters' clinics serve 85,000 South Valley patients in 10 clinics including one in Hanford.

One of the most vocal opponents of closing the clinics was Porterville Mayor Cameron Hamilton who charged county staff with “clumsy” handling of the clinic situation and using “politics and half truths” in efforts to close Porterville and Dinuba clinics and keep bigger losers, like the Tulare and Visalia clinics open.

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By Steve Pastis

Visalia - KSLK-FM 96.1 is under new management and heading in a new direction. The Visalia-based station, known for years as the home of smooth jazz and more recently as “Radio El Sabor de Amor,” is now Sporting News Radio, the source for local sports in Tulare and Kings counties. Radio veteran Mike Kerr and businessman Mark Lane have teamed up to bring a sports station to the area along the lines of their Fresno station, 1550-AM.

“It's almost grass roots radio,” explained Kerr. “We know from friends and relatives and clients that there's been an evolution of radio over the years. We've seen it go from single owners of stations to suddenly becoming a corporate entity. Suddenly, your morning disc jockey was broadcasting to you in Fresno or Visalia from studios in Chicago or New York. Everything is satellite-delivered and no one's giving you the time of day or the weather.”

Bob Eurich, who sold them 96.1, gave Kerr his first job in radio, hiring him as a radio salesperson at KFIG in Fresno almost 30 years ago. From there, Kerr went on to KMJ and KMAX, to an oldies station in Merced and then to a country station. He returned to Fresno to run a jazz station in 1998.

“At the same time, Mark was putting together a group to buy KBIF-AM which became ESPN 1430,” Kerr said. “He hired me to become his general sales manager. Our whole concept at the time was to do local sports.”

Some of the investors, however, had other ideas. They were very interested in broadcasting the games of professional sports teams from throughout California, such as the Giants, A's, Lakers and Sharks.

“There's nothing wrong with that, but it really left the local aspect in the background,” Kerr said. “After a short time, we both became disenchanted with that situation. I moved on to KJWL, a Frank Sinatra - Tony Bennett station in Fresno, where I worked for five years.”

Meanwhile, Lane, who farmed for 25 years, operated food stands in front of Home Depots across the Central Valley. Despite success in these areas, he found himself leaving them to pursue his ambitions in radio.

“It's my passion,” he said. “It's what I love to do.”

“I ran into Mark just as I was ready to retire from the business,” Kerr said. “He said he was acquiring 1550, a station that had been dark (off the air) for a couple years, and would I consider coming back to do a real local sports station? I made him say 'real local sports' several times.”

Their Fresno station has been well-received. Now they are looking to their new station in the Tulare-Kings market as their next step.

“The theory is to duplicate what we've already proven works in the Fresno market,” Lane explained. “The corporate entities can't do what we do. We have dedicated people who do this because it's a passion. (The corporations) really don't want to put that much work into it. They want to simulcast something off 50 stations.

“If we wanted to do something easy, we would just pick up a satellite broadcast,” he continued. “This is about getting involved in the community. We're non-traditional broadcasters. We're what radio was 30 years ago when the station was actually part of the community.

“My dad used to listen when they did my high school sports on the radio and a lot of our clients have the same stories to tell,” he said. “The kid who hits the winning triple and the dad comes home and at dinner, says, 'I heard you at my office. Way to go, Son.'”

“We have a dedicated crew of young men and sports enthusiasts who are out there doing play-by-play virtually every day,” Kerr said. “It's not unusual for us at 1550-AM, our station in Fresno, to do the high school freshman, junior varsity and varsity games all on the same Friday afternoon.”

Their Fresno station also covers little league finals, baseball tournaments, basketball tournaments, local city college games and university games, as well as the games of the Fresno Grizzlies and Fresno Falcons. Their Visalia-based station will cover the same kinds of events, as well as the games of the Visalia Oaks and the College of the Sequoias.

In addition to covering local sports, 96.1 will provide information about community events. The station's management and on-air personalities also plan to be part of many of these events.

“The bottom line is that it requires customer support and requires a sales effort so we get involved with the community,” Lane explained. “We try to make ourselves highly visible in the community. It will be the local guy who sponsors what we're doing.”

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Visalia - If California gets a high speed rail train that travels 220 mph up and down California, there is a chance now that the train will stop near Visalia. Tulare County leaders, led by the city, have been the squeaky wheel in the past two years as the state High Speed Rail Authority appeared to ignore hope the train would link to the highly populated east side of the central valley rather than take a route on the west side between Bakersfield and Fresno. That is the current “preferred route” the train is expected to take if voters approve funding for the project as soon as the fall of 2008.

“All our complaining appears to have paid off,” admits assistant city manager Carol Cairns of Visalia. Cairns says an earlier study done by a consultant for the High Rail Authority didn't take into consideration growth in this part of the valley as it suggested not enough riders from the area would take the train that would link San Diego with the Bay Area.

But after some heavy lobbying last year the state budget included several hundred thousand dollars to fund an alternative study—called the Visalia study—to reassess ridership, look at route options and consider the best location for a station stop somewhere near Visalia. The existing alignment study has called for no station stop between Bakersfield and Fresno offering limited benefit or access to this area.

“We're happy to be working with local consultants this time who know the valley,” says Cairns talking about subcontractors to URS Corp—Fresno based VRPA Technologies who are working on the study expected to be wound up by June.

“They've already begun to collect data” says Cairns noting there is a meeting April 23 for the study's technical advisory group at the Visalia Convention Center. “It looks to me like we could get a station next to the Visalia airport,” suggests Cairns making the transportation hub of airport, highway and train a true “intermodal center.”

Many people haven't noticed but the airport and UP train tracks can be accessed through a tunnel that runs under Highway 99.

Key to a station location will be what the consultant says about running the high speed train along the Highway 99 alignment or whether to use the BNSF rail alignment to Corcoran and laying out a new alignment north of there to link back up with the Highway 99 route somewhere south of Fresno.

Cairns expects several station stops and alignments will be offered as alternatives.

The study sets out the likelihood that the rail will link to Palmdale over the Tehachapis—expected to be a major international airport in the future.

The future of the high speed rail in California has been very much up in the air as the price tag appeared to climb and the state focuses on other needs that may take precedence Governor Schwarzenegger has said. He does not support a ballot measure to be put to voters next year.

But there is heavy lobbying to include funding this coming state budget year that begins in July.

Supporters say the state needs a high speed rail system because as the population grows existing rail capacity will be a capacity forcing more trucks on the highways. They suggest 68 million passengers will use the train reducing oil consumption in California by 5 million barrels a year. The rail boom will create 450,000 permanent jobs, they say.

The CHSRA recently announced a new study shows ridership and revenue forecast has been increased from 68 million passengers annually as estimated in 2000 to 86 to 117 million passengers in a new study prepared by Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The increased ridership increases the train's revenues between $2.6 billion and $3.9 billion.

One estimate suggests a ticket from SF to LA could cost $70, less than airfare currently.

The train is expected to whisk passengers between major hubs in the state in minutes instead of hours including the route from Fresno to Sacramento in less than one hour and LA to SF in 2 and ½ hours.

Most observers of California believe it is a matter of time before we invest in a modern high speed rail system connecting urban areas. “Wherever it is built we will have a study on the shelf that points to the need and benefits of a station stop in Visalia,” suggested Carol Cairns.

Coming meetings with local stakeholders over the next few months will offer feedback to the consultant on the options. This study will be forwarded to the Authority when they carry out the next step—a project level environmental review.

With the cost of the system currently estimated at $40 billion, support for the rail system appears to be building with news in recent weeks that a French TVG train hit 357 mph on a new run from Germany to France. Tired of long commutes and concerns about congestion and air quality more people are jumping on the high speed rail bandwagon. But the train's high cost worries some who say Californian's prefer to drive their own car rather than take public transit anyway. Meanwhile, Governor Schwarzenegger appears to be ready to cut the high speed budget this year rather than maintain it over the next year.

AHSRA meeting later this month in LA will highlight the connections between LAX and Palmdale in just 26 minutes. The trains would run off the electrical grid on special tracks running up to 100 trains a day. It is expected that only a few would stop in Visalia each day.

Located in the middle of the state, Mayor Jesus Gamboa has lobbied for a maintenance station that could be part of the statewide system here.

Efforts to get any kind of passenger rail service for Tulare County have fallen on deaf ears in recent decades with the latest failing effort to lobby Union Pacific Railroad to allow AMTRAK passenger trains on the UP line that runs along Highway 99.

Still local officials are hoping to build a light rail line plan to connect Tulare with Visalia and beyond and have earmarked $30 million to buy up right-of-way to run the line in the future with funding from Measure R passed last year.

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Visalia - Monday's Visalia City Council meeting was attended by a plainclothes police officer and uniformed police officers who sat in on the meeting as a result of alleged threats. Monty Cox, Visalia's Transit Manager, confirmed that it was his understanding that a recently terminated employee of MV Transportation, a company with a contract with Visalia's City Coach, had made the threats. “Quite often, people do not distinguish between a private contractor who has a contract with the city and the city itself,” he explained.

The Visalia Police Department was notified about the alleged incident and decided to make extra sure that the public meeting was safe, especially since it was the same day as the Virginia Tech tragedy.

A Porterville Police Department source confirmed that they were contacted by the VPD about this individual. Porterville Police located his car at his residence in northwest Porterville at 3:39 p.m. that day, but the car was gone when officers returned.

The Visalia Police Department and MV Transportation did not return our calls by deadline.

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PAL Gets Former Cal Trans Building. The Visalia city council approved a plan to lease one of four vacant buildings at the former Cal Trans yard that the city purchased recently. PAL is Police Activities League and helps children pair with police officers offering activities to area youth and divert them from gangs. The non-profit organization has some $65,000 to renovate one of the buildings and McMillin Homes has offered to help with the renovations as well. PAL activities are expected to be boxing, reading, computer lab, and outdoor basketball among others. City plans to re-use the property for multiple use over the years. PAL is currently at Manuel Hernandez Community Center but is out of room there.

Bigger Convention Center/New Hotel in the works? That's what a study approved this week by the Visalia city council will determine. Is there is a market for a larger convention complex in downtown and can that happen only if there are more nearby hotel rooms? The city has received a letter of interest from a hotel owner to buy City Hall East. Now a consultant will assess the market and feasibility for a large convention center paired with a hotel that could co-use parking and meeting space, says a city report. The city study costs $76,000. City faces new competition in recent years for conventions from the Heritage Complex (Tulare) and large Fresno Convention Center as well as the new Tachi Palace hotel can now hold meetings up to 300.

Something new—Property owner William Martin has signed a lease with the owner of a Brazilian restaurant who has a location in Cancun, Mexico to take the space formerly occupied by LaDolce Vita on Main Street. The 2000 square foot restaurant will also feature patio dining out back. The unnamed restaurant hopes to be open by June.

City of Visalia signed a memo of understanding with one of several employment groups this week in this case with Group A—police managers and supervisors. They agreed to a 4 percent increase in salary or larger if Group B settles for a larger number regarding health benefits there is 50% 50% sharing costs.

City has signed a lease with Federal Express at the airport on the eastside of the complex. But a city memo says the long range plan is to move all shipping operations—there are three now—to the westside of the airport. FedX appears to be the fastest growing between UPS and DHL.

The new BMW dealership off Plaza Drive is under construction with an eight month completion schedule, reports contractor Basil Perch. Also the plans for a new Toyota dealership on Ben Maddox are in and owner Don Groppetti plans a huge 2 story dealership with parking on the second level. The building's square footage is 91,000 square feet—the size of the current Costco building. The dealership won't be moving until after the holidays.

Costco has filed their building permit with the City of Visalia in recent days. The new store—about one third larger— and gas station will open before Christmas. Also this week Lowe's is expected to get their building permit for a new store at Riggin and Demaree and construction could start very soon.

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