Visalia -
“There’s
a number of things that I am proud of,” Link said. “I’m proud of
the fact that we were able to keep the hospital in the downtown community,
that we’re in the process of building a community in the stockyards
that was property that had little value. I’m proud of the fact that we’ve
brought more stronger commercial and industrial developments which
have created jobs for people in the community.”
Many in the community, however, are more focused on
issues currently on the city council agenda, such as
“With the ballpark, the first thing you have to decide
is whether professional baseball is important to the community—and there’s
a segment in our community, in the area, that professional baseball is
very important to,” he responded. “To be able to keep professional baseball
here, we had to decide if we were going to improve the status of that
ballpark or if we weren’t, then we were going to lose professional baseball.
“So we started a number of years ago to do some upgrades,”
he continued. “The first one was that we rebuilt the clubhouse and made
it a much nicer clubhouse than what we had for the home team. We took
the home team’s clubhouse, remodeled it and gave it to the visitors, and
took the visitors’ clubhouse and gave it to the umpires. That helped baseball.
“We signed a long term agreement with Tom Seidler who is the owner of the Visalia Oaks, and that’s going
to maintain professional baseball, I believe, in our community for the
future,” he said. “The park is a community asset and like any business,
either improve that asset with whatever you have to do with it, whether
it’s paint or remodeling, and maintain it to a level that is acceptable
to the general public. That’s really all we’re doing, bringing that facility
up to standards that are not only good for professional baseball, but
to be a tremendous asset to the community.”
While the ballpark should indeed be an asset to the
city, there are those in the community who question the expense and are
critical about how and why the costs are now projected to double from
original estimates.
“There was a figure that was set initially, but of
course, if you haven’t done your homework initially, and they hadn’t done
their homework initially, their perception was that you could build what
they wanted to build on top of the present berm,”
Link said. “That was $5 million or $6 million. Once they found out that
the berm was not going to hold what they wanted to build, that
changed the whole complexion of how they were going to build that structure.
“Two of the things that have to be done on that field
to make it acceptable to Major League baseball is the dugouts have to
be bigger and they have to have a bigger press box,” he continued. “That
meant that we had to tear out part of this grandstand and rebuild it.
So when they got in to looking at how they were going to do that, they
found out that the berm would not sustain any kind of heaviness that was going
to be built up on top of it. That’s what added to the price of it, and
we’ve got a problem with the electrical and we’ve got a problem with restroom
facilities. Once you started really looking into what the cost was going
to be, that’s when they found out that this is not going to be a $5 million
project. It was going to be an $11 million project.”
He explained that the team “came to us with ‘this is
what we want and this is what it’s going to cost.’” The city council relied
on that information.
Another city council candidate told the Voice that
the proposed new civic center could cost the city between $100 million
and $300 million. Link was asked what he expects the costs will actually
be for the project.
“I’m not going to give you a figure on that because
I don’t know,” Link replied. “The concept of the city hall is where we
want to put it. Now what it’s going to cost is something that we have
not even approached because you don’t know whether you are going to do
it in sections. Are we going to move City Hall West there to begin with?
Are we going to move City Hall East and West there? Are we going to do
City Hall East, West and City Hall North there? Until those decisions
are made, and we know the size of facility and how many years forward
you want to look—how useful will it be for 15 years, 20 years, 30 years,
50 years—until we make those decisions, you really don’t know what the
cost of the facility is going to be. But we have made the decision where
it’s going to be.
“I would be interested to know where they get those
figures,” he added. “I don’t know that the city staff or any of the consultants
that I have talked to have made that decision on how much it’s going to
cost or what it’s going to look like, so it’s pretty hard to set a price
on a piece of property that you own. It’s like going out and saying, ‘You
have 10,000 square feet bought, how much is the house going to cost?’
Well, is it going to be two bedrooms or three bedrooms? Is it going to
have a pool? Is it going to have a jacuzzi? These are all questions
that you have to answer before you can build a house.
“This is going to be a step-by-step process and talking
about something and making a decision about something are two different
things,” he continued. “They are talking about building a four-story building
that city hall would take part of, which would then make it available
for the person who owns the property, who is building the building and
already has a cash flow because he’s got tenants already in it.
“There is nothing that I’m aware of that’s written
in concrete,” he said. “Now if you wanted to ask me how much the transit
center costs or how much the baseball stadium is going to cost, I can
give you hard numbers for that because they’ve had engineers look at it,
they’ve had architects look at it, all those people look at it. This is
only a concept.”
Some of the challengers for city council have expressed
interest in seeing the city fill in undeveloped properties before looking
to build on the city’s outskirts or annexing new property for development.
“I’m a believer in concentric growth,” Link said, “but
I’m also a strong believer in a person’s right to do with his property
what he feels he should. There are people on the council who want to do
nothing but infill projects and not do anything on the outskirts and I
can buy that, if the person who has the infill piece of property wants
to develop it. But if you have a piece of property that you don’t want
to develop, then I or the city should not come to you and say you have
to develop that piece of property, nor should I be able to tell you what
size lots you should have to put on that piece of property. And there
are some pieces of property in our community that are not going to be
easily infilled. It may be difficult to get
to that piece of property.
“I have no problem with infill,” he added. “I just
have a problem with saying you can only infill.”
Some of the candidates who are seeking their first
term on the Visalia City Council talk about their new ideas and enthusiasm.
“I think that’s a great attitude to have, and that
you need the enthusiasm,” he said. “Eight years ago when I was in this
process, I had the same thoughts and the same enthusiasm. I still have
that same enthusiasm, but the thing that everybody has to remember is
that they only represent one vote and that there are four other people
who are voting on that same issue. So if you want to build a swimming
pool in the city somewhere, and it’s a great idea, you’re enthused about
building that pool and the community says it’s a great idea, you may get
into the room and only have one other person who agrees with you. So it
doesn’t happen because three people don’t agree with you. That’s the difference
that I have found over the years—that you only have one vote.
“A lot of the things that you learn in the first 18
months to two years are just the mechanics and how things work,” he added.
“A lot of people have a disadvantage that I don’t have, and it’s the same
disadvantage that I had when I first ran for council, that there’s a lot of history that council
people have in their minds on how things can be put together, either through
the closed session or through the work session or through the regular
session. Most of the candidates, with the exception of probably Amy (Shuklian) don’t know how the process works because they haven’t
been following the council other than what they’ve read in the paper.”
Even after eight years on the Visalia City Council,
Link still has a list of goals he plans to pursue for the city.
“I really feel that we need to continue on the path
that we are going on the civic center and how that develops and what happens
out there so that it’s something that the community is very pleased with”
he said. “We’ve done a tremendous amount of work in terms of focus groups
and information sessions where people had an opportunity to say, ‘This
is what I think. This is where this should go. This is where that should
go. This is where the park should be, etc.’ I think that’s a very important
project that we need to continue.
“I want to see us bring the sports park to a completion
which is probably about another four years away,” he said. “We need to
really look at how we grow our city with industry. We have to create more
room for industry in our community so we have more opportunity for jobs.
“One of the things we need to look at is better higher
education opportunities,” he continued. “Fresno Pacific, Chapman and
“I think that the biggest issue that’s going to face us as well as everybody in the Valley over the next 25 to 50 years is water,” he said. “We need to begin looking at how we save water in the wet seasons so we have it in the dry seasons, how we improve the quality of the underwater and how we store the ground water. Those are the things that I think are very important for our community in the next 20, 30 or 40 years.”
Visalia -
The total project cost for the first
phase is $11.7 million. Included in this cost is
approximately $10 million in construction costs and $1.7 million in
design fees, construction management, impact fees and staff time.
On Saturday, August 25th,
the community will finally be able to visit the
At 10 a.m., the celebration continues
with a community event for the entire family. Games, information booths,
amusements, food and more will be available for all ages. Entertainment
will include Kids Edition, Visalia Twisters, Visalia
YMCA Cheer Squad, clowns, music by Run for Cover, and appearances by
Fresno Fuego Soccer Team members and the 1,000 Hands Playground Project,
which will have visitors from out of this world. The fun will last until
1 p.m.
At 10:15 a.m., the ceremonial first
kick will be made for the opening day of AYSO soccer.
“This organization has over 1,850 participants
in this year’s league,” said Jeannie Greenwood, recreation manager.
“Thirty teams will be playing each hour.”
Thirty-six
“There’s been a desire for a considerable
amount of time to recognize Visalia’s athletes who made it in the big
time,” said Bill Dilberg, a commissioner with the Parks and Recreation Department,
who served on the selection committee with Stanley Simpson, Terry Ommen, Sam Farsakian, Don Grady
and Al Branco.
“Criteria was
a big issue,” Dilberg said. “How do we decide who to honor?”
The committee decided that all the athletes
to be honored had to have graduated from a high school in Visalia—although
a couple of exceptions were made for Olympic athletes who would have
graduated in the city except that they went to high schools that offered
better training facilities.
It was determined that all the athletes
had to be in the upper echelon of their sport. If they played football,
they had to have played in the NFL. If they played baseball, they had
to have played in the Major Leagues, etc. If they were in a sport without
a big league, they had to have competed at the highest levels, such
as at the Olympics.
“We had to cut it off at that level,” explained Dilberg. “If we allowed college athletes, we would have needed two soccer field to inscribe all the names and we would have gone from 36 to 10,000.”
Marta Sahaguin
de Fox, the former first lady of
In addition to the keynote addresses,
BizTalk will host a variety of specialized and custom breakout sessions
designed to provide those in attendance with real-world skills and knowledge
of life and business, organizers say.
Announcement of the keynote speakers
was made Aug. 14 at the Tulare County Board of Supervisors meeting by
Harlan Hutson and Stan Simpson, co-founders of BizTalk.
The focus of the event is to help prepare
the next generation for success in the coming decades, with at least
200
Mrs. Fox will deliver her talk at 8:30
a.m. Navarrette, a columnist and editorial board member of the
San Diego Union, will be the luncheon speaker at 12:20 p.m. Dawes, a
1996 Olympic Gold Medal gymnast and president of the Women’s Sports
Foundation, will speak at 1:45 p.m. Her message is “Success as Journey,
NOT a destination.”
Early bird tickets are available online
at biztalkconnections.com for $129 per person. Additional information
is available at 300-8600.
The first week of October will be a
busy one in
The air board, on which County Supervisor
Steve Worthley serves, moved its date to fit the BizTalk schedule.
Speaking with the media outside the
board chambers, Hutson said obtaining the former president and first
lady of
Hutson credited Simpson with having
the vision to organize the BizTalk, and said he expects the event to
gain even more momentum with the population and economic importance
of the
Simpson and Hutson said before they
were able to secure Fox, there were efforts to sign other major personalities
including Bono of U2, former President Bill Clinton and former British
Prime Minister Tony Blair. Hutson said scheduling issues didn’t allow
for Bono to make this year’s event. Hutson described Bono, the founder
and lead singer of one of the world’s most successful rock groups, as
an example of someone who uses his fame and fortune to fight against
poverty and disease worldwide.
A number of area businesses and business
leaders are financially backing BizTalk ‘07 with the support of the
Visalia Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, along
with the county and the City of
and Farm Living
Visalia - Vice Mayor Greg Kirkpatrick will not be seeking reelection
to the Visalia City Council this year. Four days before the filing deadline,
Kirkpatrick finally and emotionally announced at the August 6th city council
meeting that he would not be a candidate for a second term.
“As John Lindt said recently in the Valley Voice, it's decision time for Kirkpatrick,” he said in his statement.
“I have been struggling with the question of whether to run for council
again over the last several months. The current city council and staff
have made unprecedented progress over the last four years maintaining
His late decision was the subject of much speculation
around town, but he explained to the Voice—without a lot of intrigue—the
reasons it took so much time.
“Well, obviously, I really struggled with the decision,”
he said. “I was looking for a way to say I could keep all these balls
in the air at the same time (family, business, farming and city council).
Something had to give.
“One daughter is in high school, the other is in eighth
grade this year and I'm only going to get one shot at watching them grow
up,” he added. “That's why I want to be there for them.”
So family is the reason he isn't a candidate this year?
“Primarily, yes,” he said. “The other reason is that
we're working through a transition in which I'm going to take over the
family's farm.”
Kirkpatrick is about to take over the farm from his father,
who is currently running it full time. The farm grows citrus—mainly lemons
and tangelos—on its 40 acres.
His decision to not be a candidate for the Visalia City
Council this year doesn't mean that the 45-year-old farmer-to-be won't
be a candidate again, however.
“What I hope is that in a few years, when the kids are
grown up and this transition is over—I won't have to do the consulting,
my farmland conservation consulting, at least not as much anymore—I hope
I can come back and serve on the council again,” he said.
According to his statement, he plans to stay active in
city and county business such as the transformation of the East Downtown
area, enhancing the local tourism industry, improving the quality of the
community and neighborhoods, and “the effort to save
Kirkpatrick, who appeared relaxed and relieved two days
after his announcement, like a person who knows he made the right decision,
smiled at some of the speculation that had been circulating around town.
“I was just struggling with the decision,” he said. “I just wanted to be sure it was the right decision to make.”
Visalia - With a construction budget of $130 million,
California Dairies, Inc. is transforming the old Frito Lay potato chip
plant in the
Reconstruction of the plant has been
going on for most of a year now and the company’s CEO, Richard Cotta,
expects “we will be running milk through the plant in December.” Already
office staff has moved in.
Once the plant is operational and it
gets up to speed, the facility should employ just under
100, says Cotta.
“On startup, we will be pushing through
about 2.5 billion pounds of milk a day on its way to the goal of 5.5
billion pounds in ‘phase one’ of the big project,” he said. “Phase two
could double that, making it one of the largest milk processing plants
around, comparable to what Leprino is looking to run once its new expansion is complete
in Lemoore in 2009.”
For now, the plant will be producing
powder and butter and some byproducts. In phase two, the company has
said they might look at cheese making in
He says strong international demand
for powder could mean that phase two of the plan may continue to concentrate
on more milk powder, given the globalization of international trade
in milk products. “We’ve seen strong interest from foreign buyers.”
One thing they know—
Cotta says construction of the new plant
at Plaza and Goshen Ave. will be mostly on the inside now with “hundreds
of miles of stainless steel pipelines being laid inside, connecting
the silos and dryers and the rest of the maze of tanks to safely produce
the products.”
The new
Cotta and California Dairies caused
a stir this spring with the announcement that the cooperative would
go rBST-free as of August 1, which has now
come and gone without much hubbub, although you wouldn’t know it at
the time when it was announced in February. Although there was talk
of some members exiting the co-op as a result of the announcement, Cotta
says “we didn’t lose one member” over the controversial issue. “This
is what our customers wanted” and after talking to membership, he says
they understood.
Cotta says few members are still using
the growth hormone made by Monsanto and their milk is segregated from
the rest at an extra expense that the member pays for.
Regarding the continual relocation of
members from
Nevertheless, Cotta and the cooperative
see their future in the Central Valley, not in Southern California—the
reason why this year, they moved corporate headquarters from Artesia
to
All the new commercial construction
in
“The ink is not even dry on this purchase,
but I’d like to turn this investment around quickly,” says council member
Greg Collins, suggesting the city is just a few weeks away from going
out on a RFP basis for someone to acquire the property to develop the
city’s first “ag enterprise” type project along the scenic corridor entrance
to the city.
Other council members agree the city’s
land purchase is timely. Mayor Jesus Gamboa
said, “It’s an idea whose time has come. This was a unique opportunity
to work together with a willing seller and donor to begin to secure
this city asset.”
“I think it’s an important first step
in assembling and protecting agricultural lands within the scenic corridor,”
said Vice Mayor Greg Kirkpatrick. “There’s a majority on the city council
that wants to see lands protected along the corridor. We’re hoping that
there are other opportunities.”
The city paid $989,800 for the land
through a combination purchase and donation by Mangano
and Dowds.
Funds from the Park and Storm Drainage
impact fees, as well as funds from a reserve account designated by the
council for scenic corridor land acquisitions, were used to buy the
land.
Developer Andy Mangano
told the Voice that several months ago they had the property appraised
by Dick Hopper and using that appraisal, they agreed to essentially
donate about 10 acres of the land to the city and sell six acres at
a market price to get the deal done. “We will get a tax benefit from
the donation,” says Mangano, who adds that
the deal “could be a model for other property owners” along the corridor
to get some value out of their property while meeting the goal of the
city to preserve the corridor in ag
and open space.
“We could have just sat on this property
until the politics at the city changed,” says Mangano,
but “we wanted to be involved in laying the foundation for other property
owners.” The upshot is that the city paid about $60,000 an acre for
the 16.38 acres. “It took about three or four months to hammer this
deal out,” he says.
The sale from the developer to the city
is the first parcel of land on the corridor to be acquired to push forward
the idea of preserving the landscape through a land use designation
that keeps most of it as ag
land but allows a variety of ag-related businesses
to be built along the city’s western entrance. Over the years, the current
city council has rejected housing projects and more intensive development
office or retail plans.
A majority of the council has favored
this approach but for the first time the city will test the waters to
see if there is an interest from anyone in actually doing it.
The city has negotiated on several parcels
and others along the corridor both in the city and in the county jurisdiction
for the past few years, but has until now been short on specifics of
how the whole plan might work.
Across the freeway, they continue to
negotiate with
Back on the north side of 198, two parcels
adjacent to the land the city has just purchased can also look forward
to the planned extension of Hillsdale to Shirk. With this purchase as
a model, these two property owners may now figure how their parcels
might be sold if the city continues the same deal points. They might
be ready to come to terms with the city on how they can develop their
freeway-adjacent property with better access.
Separately, farmer Tokkie
Elliot got recent approval from the city and county of his proposed
farm/office and store but hasn’t said if he will actually build the
projects on the west side of Shirk south of 198. One major concern:
will the city and CalTrans require monies
from any development near the interchange because of its limited traffic
capacity?
Also pending are plans put forward by
the city to acquire lands along Mill Creek from property owners as part
of the corridor plan.
Just how is the scenic corridor going
to be “protected”?
“I think we’ve taken the first formal
step,” says Mangano who once proposed this part of the corridor might
be the right place for an auto mall—a project that ended up farther
to the west of here. Mangano now believes
the corridor protection idea has community and political support but
argues property owners need to be fairly compensated. Offering a tax
break for land donations is one way to increase that compensation since
every property owner who sells is likely to have a capital gain.
As for who might come forward to build the first ag enterprise project, the city finally has a location they control and enthusiasm to listen to ideas. The plan is allowing ag-related businesses that might also attract visitors to locate here while keeping the landscape in farming and open space. We will see if anyone is ready to put money where their idealism is. With an election pending in November, and Kirkpatrick deciding not to run, some may decide to wait a little longer to see who is elected this fall.
Visalia - Rusty Barker has announced his candidacy
for the Visalia City Council. The 30-year-old father of three and regional
manager for Volcom, a skating and surfing apparel company, is running
for the council for the fourth time.
“My reason for running is that I want
to be part of the process,” he explained. “I’m very passionate about
local government, not so much the state or federal. I like seeing the
difference the council can make and the decisions they make. I just
feel really passionate about things like growth and public safety. Since
I ran the first time, I don’t feel a lot of these issues are being addressed
the way I feel they should be addressed. Every time the election comes
up, I feel my being on the council could benefit the community. So I’m
going to keep trying.
“I think I would take a much more proactive
approach to get out into the community and get the community involved,”
he added. “I mean it takes a lot to get a community involved and to
think beyond themselves and beyond their household—to get the people
in the community out to events and to get them involved in neighborhood
watches. It takes a lot of footwork to do that. I just feel that the
members we have on the council right now are not taking that step to
reach out to the community and really try to pull people in.
“If I was elected, you are definitely
going to get somebody who is more personal, and someone who is going
to take more ownership in the city,” he said. “With me, the city would
get someone they could put a face to. A lot of people, if you ask them
who the members of city council are, they haven’t a clue.”
Barker was asked what he would do about
some of the issues on the city council’s agenda, such as the renovations
on
“The ballpark, I think, took way too
long for the council,” he said. “I think they had to get forced into
it. It didn’t seem like an issue that took very much desire or drive.
I think the Visalia Oaks being in town is a huge thing. I don’t think
they realize that.”
Barker said that the Minor League team
is an asset that “adds character to the town.” He would not want
He also shared his concerns about the
rapid growth of the city.
“I don’t want to see us turn
into
“I don’t want our city to decline or
die,” he clarified. “I just think we’re losing focus on the core of
our city and focusing on the growth ring that has opened up to us. We’re
trying to put businesses and houses on the outskirts of town and we’re
losing total focus on the heart of town.
“I don’t think we’re doing enough to
keep our core city together,” he added. “We’re expanding way too fast.
I think it’s going to devastate us if we don’t slow down.”
To deal with the gang problem, Barker
said he “would take a very proactive approach. I think we need to get
the community involved. There are nonprofit and faith-based organizations
in the community that would be more than happy, with the city’s help,
to get in there.”
He said that an FBI crime report listed
“And it’s just been neglected,” he said. “I feel our city officials just say, ‘Oh, it’ll get better. It’ll get better.’ And it won’t. We need to get the nonprofits and the faith-based organizations in there. I think the city leaders need to go out there and find people to fill those voids.”
Deputies'
Pay Hikes Could Help Recruitment,
Retention, Officials Say
Tulare County - It took more
than a year, including a legal impasse and some name calling, but Tulare
County Sheriff’s Deputies now have a contract providing for an initial
9 percent pay raise and 6 percent hikes for 2008 and 2009.
The agreement, reached last week and
formally approved Tuesday by Tulare County Supervisors, takes effect
retroactively to Aug. 5 and runs through June 30, 2010. Each of the
6 percent pay raises will go into effect in June 2008 and 2009. The
total cost is about $3 million per year, county officials say. The contract
covers about 390 deputies and sergeants who have been working without
a contract for some time. The deputies have not had a multi-year contract
since 2002.
Both sides see the contract as a way
to stem the flow of law officers leaving the county for higher paying
jobs, a problem which has generated concern for some time. The contract
was overwhelmingly endorsed by the Tulare County Deputy Sheriff’s Association
prior to last Friday’s announcement of the agreement, according to Tom
Sigley, the group’s president.
During the contract talks and the legal
fight, the deputies’ group blasted county supervisors for ignoring the
issue of low pay in relation to other areas and other county employees.
A spokesman said the deputies were “tired of being swept under the rug.”
The association decried the issue of experienced officers going to other
locations for better pay, leaving the county and forcing the county
the county to hire less costly and inexperienced officers.
Sheriff Bill Wittman
said the pay increase will help the county recruit and retain deputies.
An entry level “Deputy 1” currently earns about $41,364 annually. The
new agreement calls for that total to rise to $45,085 the first year,
to $47,791 the second and to $50,659 in the final years of the pact.
Wittman and
other management officials pointed out that when a deputy leaves for
a higher paying job, the county suffers not only a financial loss but
loses experience as well. The cost of a putting a new officer into duty,
including six months of academy training and about four months of additional
training, is about $36,000.
The Tulare County Sheriff’s department
currently has about 550 deputies and sergeants.
The contract issue was at times bitter
and, after an impasse was declared when talks stalled, deputies sent
the dispute to arbitration. But county officials went to court maintaining
that arbitration violated the budgetary authority of county supervisors.
Tulare County Superior Court Judge Melinda Reed ruled for the county.
The deputies association filed with the Fifth District Court of Appeals
for review. That appeal is still pending and terms of the new contract
require the association to join in the court appeal.
The county’s suit seeks clarification
and declaratory relief on the issues of the constitutionality of having
an unelected arbitrator determine the economic conditions of employment.
The crux of the suit is provision of
Sections 1299 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure. That section states
that the arbitration is not binding if an elected board (such as the
board of Supervisors in
The case is being watched around the
state with “friends of the court” briefs being filed by attorneys representing
the California State Association of Counties, the League of California
Cities and the Peace Officers Research Association of California, among
others.
The court case has bearing on the contract, according to the county and the deputies association.
Study Says
Courthouse Best Consolidation
Site for County Services
By Miles Shuper
Visalia - A preliminary evaluation
of all county facilities suggests the existing
A briefing on the survey by the consulting
firm Vanir Construction Management, Inc. was held Wednesday. The
county administrative and Vanir staffs will
hold a joint work study session at the Board of Supervisors chambers
Aug. 21 at 1:30 p.m.
Supervisors Chairman Allen Ishida said
the study indicates that the
The study, commissioned in October 2006,
takes into account the options for potential expansion and consolidation,
also providing 20-year population and staff projections. Three conceptual
scenarios for a consolidated
Health and Human Services and child
welfare agencies would not be included in the consolidation plans. Another
factor considered is the eventual splitting of the county’s criminal
justice system when a new county court facility is built in
The study indicates that nearly 50 percent
of the county’s 74 facilities is 30 or more
years old. About 23 percent are between 16 and 29 years old, and 29
percent are 15 years or less. Most of the county’s newest buildings
are in the northern part of the county, mainly at or near the Bob Wiley
Detention and
The Vanir
study, which was not released until after the Voice went to press, provides
a rundown on various county facilities including size, structural conditions,
needed repairs and cost estimates.
Centralizing Services would not include
Health and Human Services nor child welfare agencies.
Perhaps the biggest move in consolidation
would be the Resource Management Agency which includes most county general
services including planning, building permits and other services which
are now housed in
In other actions, supervisors:
· Ratified
a proclamation honoring Bob Felts for his outstanding community services,
especially with the
· Authorized
the submittal of a grant application to the California Endowment’s Cover
California Kids Program for $358,000 to subsidize premiums for the Tulare
County Kids 6-18 program.
· Heard a presentation given by the Health and Human Services Agency and the Probation Department to approve the Tulare County System Improvement Plan, part of Assembly Bill 636, known as California’s Child Welfare System Improvement and Accountability Act of 2001, and submitted it to the California Department of Social Services.
Tulare County Considers Sole Provider Ambulance Service
By Steve Pastis
Tulare County - “What we want
to look at is consolidating ambulance service countywide,” said Tulare
County Board of Supervisor Chairman Allen Ishida. “We’re studying it.
We’re trying to see if a sole provider would be an advantage to all
parties concerned.”
Lori Trowbridge, Operations Manager
of Exeter District Ambulance, which services
Exeter District Ambulance has four ambulances,
two of which are operating 24/7 with a staff of two. The vehicles are
used on a rotating basis “so not all the mileage is on one.” The service
receives an average of 225 to 250 calls a month and takes patients to
the closest hospital or to where their physician is. Usually this means
a trip to Kaweah Delta in
The City of
“We can’t financially put an ambulance
in each city,” Trowbridge said.
There is a local meeting planned in
“Obviously we wouldn’t be able to put
a bid in,” Trowbridge said. “We probably will be out of service.”
Ishida explained that if the county
determines that having one sole provider of ambulance service is feasible,
communities would have a choice whether or not to accept the service.
The advantage is that the county would provide the service in some of
the harder areas to service, such as Lindsay, Springville, Farmersville
and
“We have all these small communities
with 10,000 people or less,” Ishida said. “Because
their population base isn’t that high, an independent ambulance company can’t recover the cost of delivering service. This basically is
what happened to Lindsay.”
Ishida believes that if an ambulance
plan is countywide, it could be beneficial to both the ambulance company
and to cities and communities throughout the county.
“(The ambulance service) can make a
profit in the big city and they can also provide service where they
are not making a profit,” he said.
Supervisor Ishida was quick to dismiss
the suggestion that the county is looking to take over ambulance service
within its boundaries.
“We are not going to take over any ambulance
service,” he said. “There’s no way in the world you’re going to have
a
Ishida is sympathetic to those in the
county who do not live close to where an ambulance is stationed.
“I would like to see an ambulance stationed
in Lindsay,” Ishida said. “We need closer service. I live on the border
between the Lindsay and
“The district here said no,” said Chris
Brewer, a civic leader in
“This is a very bad idea,” he added. “It will cause a lot of problems. Unless it’s worked out the right way, it will end up in court.”
Visalia Police Substations Dedicated
By Roni Miller
Visalia - “What all this means
. . . I don’t know where to start—so many good things,” said Visalia
Mayor Jesus Gamboa in his remarks at the dedication
of two new police substations in the city.
The new police substation at
Several speakers including Gamboa
and Tulare County Sheriff Bill Whitman referred to Manuel Hernandez
and all that he had done to help the struggling area. Gamboa
called Hernandez the “Godfather of Northside.”
On behalf of Visalia Rotary Clubs, retired Police Chief Bruce McDermott
made a presentation in honor of Hernandez. George Gonzalez accepted
the Karl Weiss Fellow plaque in his memory.
“Believe me, folks, we are not done
yet. We are not done yet,” said Gamboa, making
reference to the Proteus, Inc. and Boy Scouts of America buildings well
under construction also on the Visalia Community Campus. “The Renaissance
of Northside has begun,” continued Gamboa.
Police Chief Bob Carden
said that the substations are a convenience for the people who live
near them and he pointed out, “These white walls have sat here for months
and haven’t been touched (by graffiti). That’s because these folks want
this to be here.
“We have made over 100 gang arrests
in the past four weeks and we’re not going to stop,” said Carden
to enthusiastic applause.
Carden said
that having the two substations would bring back “beat integrity, like
in the old days when police took crime in their area personally.” He
said that the officers who will be serving at the two stations are stationed
there because they chose to be there. Each station will be lead by a
lieutenant and manned with 35 total officers.
Sharon Sheltzer,
project manager for the two buildings, had a long list of craftsmen
who had turned the concept of two satellite stations into a reality.
Topping her list was Micham Construction, whom she said did a smooth job on their
first-ever straw bale construction.
The substations both implement environmental
features such as energy-efficient walls that consist of layers of concrete
block and straw bales. They provide twice the amount of insulation of
standard construction to reduce heating and cooling costs. Each station
will also benefit from its reflective “cool” roof and a night air ventilation
system.
Lt. Michele Figueroa, District 1 Commander,
said, “It’s nice to have something brand new. It’s a little like moving
into a new house; there are still a few things that need to be done
here and there, but it will be great. Especially the
fully functioning locker rooms.”
The two substations cost roughly $3.7
million each. The funds came from Measure T, the quarter-cent sales
tax increase Visalians passed in 2004. When completely implemented, Measure
T plans will bolster
The sister stations are identical except
for one item. The combined Rotary Clubs of Visalia created the Rotary
International’s Centennial Community interactive water fountain that
sits in the front of the
The water feature uses music, lights
and streams of water to create a bright spot for children and area residents.
Yesenia Kharufeh
had chosen a music motif for her tile. She was there with her family
to view the tile she made to represent her school when she was in sixth
grade at Washington Elementary. Kharufeh is
now in high school and said, “I’ve been waiting for this forever.” She
was quick to add that the fountain was very nice. The students seemed
to agree that it was well worth the wait.
The Rotary Clubs hope that the fountain
will draw area youngsters to a safe place to have fun. City officials
expressed hope that the new substations will draw safety to all areas
of
VUSD Ready for New School Year
By Steve Pastis
Visalia - “On Thursday, August
the 16th, we’ll start our 2007-2008 school year,” said Visalia
Unified School District Superintendent Stan Carrizosa.
“It’s exciting.”
While the students have been away from
school for the summer, the VUSD has been busy making changes to prepare
for the new school year.
“There are always some changes and some
updates and improvements in the facilities,” he said. “We’ve been doing
some modernizing of older buildings and some repairs like that over
the course of summer. That’s always nice because kids and parents and
teachers come back to a facility that’s been upgraded and improved so
we’re happy about that.
“The big projects maybe that draw attention
for the start of this school year include a new physical education/fitness
center on the campus at
Carrizosa
explained that there are some projects that require more time than is
available in the summer weeks. He then turned his attention to the district’s
new plan to reduce the number of students who are expelled or drop out
of school.
“Our ongoing work always is to improve
student achievement and students’ connectedness to school,” Carrizosa
said. “We have a couple of goals we’re emphasizing this year to try
to achieve that. We are continually working to improve each school’s
academic performance index, or their API scores. We’re working to increase
the percentage of students who are proficient, or what we call ‘on grade
level’ in reading, the language arts and math.
“We’ve been working really hard on the
concept of connectedness to school and we’ve recognized over the years
that as students become less connected to school, sometimes that causes
them to also perform below their academic potential as well,” Carrizosa
explained. “It’s kind of a rhetorical question. Are kids more connected
to school because they perform better academically, or do they perform
well academically because they are connected to school? We think the
answer is both.
“We’re working on a couple of projects
that deal with transitions for kids,” he continued. “We studied some
students in our district over the last 18 months who were not having
success and from our own action research, which was an analysis of the
(cumulative) folders of children who in our system had gone through
expulsion, we were looking for the indicators, the earliest possible
places to intervene, where we could have made a difference and prevented
that outcome. We were looking for the frequency of things.
“We established some very primitive
bar graph results from that and what we found is that one of the most
difficult points for the children who had that kind of outcome in their
school career came when they made transitions like from sixth grade
to seventh grade,” he said. “That jump, from a self-contained classroom
to a middle school where there are multiple teachers and multiple periods,
caused the seventh graders to lose touch or disconnect. The same kind
of thing occurred in the transition from eighth to ninth grades.
“So this year, we’ve implemented a kind
of connectedness program, a connectedness approach, and it’s being delivered
primarily through a new position that’s been funded by the state for
us and we call them Transitional Learning Directors,” he continued.
“They’re counseling positions with staff members who have licensed credentials
to be school counselors, only their role is to identify children who
are at risk by those students who are not performing on grade level
from sixth to seventh grade and monitor them more closely during that
transition, usher them into the seventh grade, hold conferences with
them and their parents, meet with their individual teachers, provide
them tutorial services if needed and make sure they have the right course
schedule.
“More importantly, encourage them—almost
insist—that they get connected to school in another way. Promote them
being in a club, participating in a sport, being in the band, being
in drama. What we find is the kids who find those linkages, who make
those other connections, they’re more holistic in their experience in
school and they do so much better.”
There will be two transitional learning directors at each of the four middle schools. One is in charge of the sixth-to-seventh grade transition; the other handles the eighth-to-ninth grade transition. In addition to these new staff members, the district has organized “Link Crews,” a group of 11th and 12th grade students selected to act as mentors to the members of the incoming ninth grade class, helping them get involved in school programs and activities.
Voting Machine Ruling May Slow February Results
By Miles Shuper
Tulare County - A top-to-bottom
statewide mandated review of the electronic voting system used by many
counties, including
The California Secretary of State’s
office has withdrawn approval of all of the Sequoia Voting Systems electronic
equipment, the system
She said, “The conditional equipment
usage plan outlined in the Secretary’s conditional re-approval order
is very similar to how
The biggest changes are to election
setup, poll worker training election night reporting and election certification,
she said, adding that those issues all will take longer than previous
elections and that election night results may not be available by 10
p.m. as has been the case in recent years. One of rulings in the Secretary
of State’s prohibits the electronic transmission of election results,
meaning that poll site vote results must be transported to county election
headquarters in
The county is in the process of reviewing
the 39 conditions and formulating plans for compliance, but since the
county already meets many of the conditions, he expects the conditions
can be met prior to February. Strachan said
the new rules for the use of Sequoia Voting Systems equipment will not
be required for the November elections but that equipment work and procedures
will be made by then. The City of
The decision by Secretary of State Debra
Bowen followed the first part of her review of the state’s voting system
in which computer experts were able to breach all the systems they studied,
but only under artificial conditions with unimpeded access to the equipment.
Bowen’s decision has drawn fire from county registrars. Steve Weir,
president of the state association of registrars said it was not news
that voting systems could be breached under ideal conditions. Since
experts were given permission to get into the system, the tests were
not “real world tests.”
The three systems certified for use
in
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
August 15, 2007
