A prepared statement released by the negotiating parties
indicates that nine years of effort has resulted in “a settlement agreement
which, upon Congressional approval, will finally establish the federally
reserved water rights of the Tule River Tribe of the Tule River Reservation.”
Alec Garfield, a longtime leader of the tribe and former
tribal council chairman, chaired the tribe's water rights negotiating
team, working with the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) of Boulder,
Co.
Water rights holders involved in the settlement agreement
include the Tule River Tribe, the South Tule Independent Ditch Company
(STIDC) and the Tule River Association (TRA).
The TRA, formed in 1965, includes most water rights holders
of the
The STIDC is a mutual water company which supplies water
from the South Fork Tule River to its stockholders located downstream
of the Tule River Reservation, largely in the Success Valley located east
of Porterville and south of the Success Dam.
The current Tule River Reservation was established in
1873, having previously been located in what is now
According to Phil Larson, president of the STIDC, the
ditch company serves citrus, olive and other stone fruit farmers, in addition
to non-commercial customers, and has multiple water rights that pre-date
creation of the reservation.
“We have multiple rights that date from 1854 to 1872,”
Larson said. “This put us in a unique situation because the reservation
was not formed or set aside by the president until 1873.”
Additionally, he noted, ditch company stockholders have
relied upon a 1922 agreement that was believed to have settled
Although the 1922 water agreement was sanctioned by the
Department of the Interior,
The
There was no domestic water distribution system on the
reservation until a spring was tapped and piped to some homes in the mid-sixties,
Steven Moore, an attorney with NARF, said his organization
is handling a number of tribal water rights disputes and that the South
Fork Tule River dispute is the first to reach a settlement agreement,
although final resolution of the tribe's dispute will depend upon action
by Congress and the federal administration.
“From the beginning, the tribal council wanted to see
if we could work this out with our neighbors without litigation,” he said.
“We've done that.”
And Larson notes that the South Fork water community
has “become one in spirit” during the past nine years of negotiation.
“Coming together as a community and working together
has been invaluable,” he said.
Everyone involved concedes that the issue at hand—water—is
important.
“Water is a limited and valuable resource and becoming
more valuable with increased population and potential reduction of rainfall,”
Larson said.
“When you get used to having running water in your house,
you don't want to give that up,”
According to the prepared statement, the settling parties
have been able to reach an agreement-in-principle on all major issues
“including the magnitude of the tribe's reserved water rights, the tribe's
rights to use water both on and off the reservation, and the operation
rules of on-reservation storage reservoirs including the near-term Phase
I Reservoir primarily intended to serve municipal and domestic needs.”
Paul Hamai, an engineer with
Natural Resources Consulting Engineers, Inc. in
“Without the reservoir, none of this will work,” he said.
The reservoir would allow the tribe to hold water on
the reservation in a manner similar to the way Success Dam, when operated
as intended, has held water during the winter and spring run-off periods
for delivery to downstream users during the summer and fall.
Both the Porterville City Council and the Tulare County
Board of Supervisors have indicated support for a feasibility study for
creation of such a dam on the reservation and the parties to the settlement
agreement testified in a Congressional subcommittee hearing in October
in support of HR 2535, introduced last spring by Reps. Devin Nunes
and Jim Costa.
Entitled the Tule River Tribe Water Development Act,
HR 2535 would “direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study
on the feasibility and suitability of constructing a storage reservoir,
outlet works and a delivery system for the Tule River Indian Tribe of
California to provide a water supply for domestic, municipal, industrial
and agricultural purposes and for other purposes.”
According to the prepared statement, the remaining issue
to be resolved prior to submitting the agreement to Congress will be to
secure agreement of the Interior Department and the federal administration
to assume responsibility to fund the construction, operation and maintenance
of facilities anticipated by the settlement agreement and to compensate
the tribe for releasing water-related claims against the United States.
R.L. Schafer, watermaster for
the TRA, confirmed his association's participation in the negotiations
and settlement agreement.
“The TRA, recognizing the federal reserve right as established
by the Supreme Court in 1908 (known as the Winters Decision), expended
nine years in negotiation with the tribe,” Schafer said. “It's been a
very well-attended, well-structured process and it has indeed developed
a trust, understanding and appreciation between the Tule River Tribe,
STRID and the TRA,” he added.
Regarding the future, Schafer said he does not know how
the settlement will fare in Congress.
“The tribe will have to depend on Nunes
and Costa to process the legislation,” he said. “The Congress needs, of
course, to validate the agreement and direct the Department of Interior
to participate in the settlement, but I have no idea what the process
might be in terms of time and reaction of the Congressional members.”
Other than eliminating conflicts over the rights, he
said the TRA does not “identify any specific benefit” to its members in
the proposed reservoir.
Actual construction of a dam and reservoir in the upper
reaches of the South Fork Tule River would not take place without a planning
effort that would include following an environmental process consistent
with the National Environmental Protection Act, Hamai
said, noting that initial environmental studies in the area being considered
for a dam have not indicated the presence of any threatened or endangered
species.
Elements of the settlement agreement released indicate
that the total federally reserved water right for the tribe is 5,828 acre-feet
of water per year and that the tribe may use its reserved water right
for any purpose on the original 1873 reservation and may use up to 2,000
acre-feet of its reserved water rights for any purpose on tribally owned
lands located off the original 1873 reservation.
The agreement also states that the intent of the 1922
Water Allocation Agreement between the STIDC and the federal government
as the tribe's trustee, “is honored through required minimum releases
from the anticipated on-reservation Phase I reservoir and through limitations
on tribal diversions from surface and ground water.”
The settlement also sets out a schedule for reservoir
filling structured to minimize impact on TRA members.
In other words, Moore of NARF said the agreement does
not take away the water rights of the non-tribal parties.
According to the parties, the estimated average annual
flow of the
Storm Brings Snow, Cheer to Sierra for Holidays
Central California - Last week's storm brought
some cheer all around as a cold, slow moving front brought precipitation
all over the West Coast and snow to our back door in the Sierra. Kids
flocking to the mountains with their families this past weekend had
a chance to build their first snowman of the holiday season.
Over the several days before the storm
moved east,
There was enough snow to allow most of
the West Coast ski areas to open for business or announce they would
open soon. Some Tahoe area resorts reported 3 feet of snow, altering
conditions for visitors who reported they went hiking one day and snowboarding
the next.
Sierra
For cross-country skiers and snow players,
the mountains of
On any trip to the Sierra, be sure to
carry chains.
For those who watch the
Those snow depths are a long way from
an adequate snowpack, but it's finally a start on what had been a bone-dry
winter to date except for a brief event in October.
“As of now, this doesn't look like it
will open the door to a series of storms,” suggests
Visalia Police Lt. Jason Salazar said
that Kern County used to be the dividing line between the rival north
(nortenos) and the south (surenos) gangs, but that over the past 20
years the southern gangs have slowly moved into the north.
“Our gang battles mostly occur between
northern and southern groups,” said Salazar.
He said there are 120 different gangs
in
In
“This is not about tagging, rowdy teenagers.
This is about guns and bullets,” said Tulare County District Attorney
Phil Cline.
“The southern gangs are definitely growing
in size, as well as in their activity,” said Salazar. He said part of
the growth in southern gangs is from people moving into the area for
other reasons - more affordable housing, jobs. “The other thing,” he
said, “is gangs and drugs go hand and hand. Southern gangs are finding
a large market for drugs in the
The drug of choice is methamphetamine,
a highly addictive drug that is easy to manufacture and distribute.
Salazar said until the past 15 or 20 years,
this was solely northern gang turf. He said because they were basically
unchallenged, the northern gangs became disorganized. “The southern
gangs have to be more organized in order to stake their turf,” he said,
and as a result more violent in claiming turf. “A lot of the violence
we saw this summer was a north-south battle,” he said.
Sheriff's office Lt. Mike Boudreaux said
the county now has second and third generations of gang members. “The
parents are raising their children from infancy to become gang members,”
he said, adding the average age for kids to join gangs is 14 to 21,
but they have seen children as young as 8 who have joined a gang. He
said the problem is countywide.
TCSO Sgt. Kevin Cotton said the migration
north of southern gang members began in the 1980s. He said the first
time they saw southern gang members in
Intervention
The theme of the summit was intervention.
“A child in kindergarten to sixth grade,
you still have a chance [to keep them out of gangs],” said Cotton. “By
the time a child has gotten to high school, they're lost to the gang
if that's what they chose. Those are more likely to end up in prison.”
Breakout sessions over the course of the
day focused on what schools can do, what law enforcement is doing, what
businesses can do and what youth centers and churches are doing to intervene.
“We plant the seeds, and then somebody
else has to add the water,” said Wayne Sakamoto of the San Diego Department
of Education, the presenter on what schools can do.
He admitted he has never heard a child
say, “wow, that changed my life.” He said, “It's a slow process. We
need to give kids hope they can make it.”
He said that being involved gangs has
the obvious consequences, as one as some not so obvious. “If you're
involved in a gang, it will take until age 30 to accomplish what takes
others until just 20,” he said about lost productivity and development.
The most compelling presentation may have
come from Visalian Stan Bennett, whose brother was affiliated with a
gang and who died from an accidental gunshot wound.
He told of the drug addiction two of his
brothers had and of his brother's gang connection. He said one brother
helped police catch several drug dealers, assistance he paid for by
having to move out of the area for his safety, but because of the similarity
in looks between his brother and Stan, he also has paid a price.
“I have been shot at. I have been threatened,”
said Bennett.
He told how he interviewed a sureno gang
member to prepare himself for the summit and how that person said for
$1,600 a month (about $9.50 an hour), he would go straight. However,
going straight does not mean leaving the gang. Once a member, you are
a member for life, the gang member told him. However, as long as he
was in good standing with the gang – did his deeds, never snitched and
doesn't leave – the gang will leave him alone.
Bennett then told how he has employed
gang members, with fairly good success.
“They've been down and out and as low
as they can go and they don't want to go back,” he said.
Why would someone hire a gang member?
Bennett answered because most are unemployed and that is one of the
causes of a multitude of other problems. “Investing and hiring the difficult,
the not-so-desired, it'll make a difference,” said Bennett. He said
they can affect others in a positive way.
Collaboration
Keynote speaker Paul Seave, state director
of the Gang and Youth Violence Policy, noted that gang killings in
“Suppression is a short term solution.
Our plan must include prevention and intervention. It's time for us
to step up to the plate,” he said.
Carden agreed.
“This is not just about Visalia PD, Porterville
PD, or the sheriff's office - law enforcement must come together. We
have to come together as a community,” said Carden.
In his opening remarks, Cline laid out
the task ahead.
“This is nothing, if not an opportunity
to stop the gang violence that has been occurring,” said Cline. “We
are seeking a means to save our children from becoming victims,” he
added.
He noted that Tulare County is quickly
becoming an urban county with urban problems. He said the choice is
clear.
“We can address all the problems intelligently,
effectively. We can be a vibrant, upbeat place where our kids can't
wait to get back to after college. Or, it can be a dead zone where fear
reigns.
“What it takes is why we're here today. What it takes is to step up. We have to stand together.”
The nearly 20-year-old firm, with plants
in
A
company spokesman said the company supplies materials to many locations,
including
The Canadian company currently is seeking
a location to establish a plant which could employ 60 to 100 people.
The firm is seeking at least several acres with close access to a rail
spur line. Although no specifics were disclosed, the company official
said once a decision is made to expand to a Tulare County site and property
is located, the operation would be up and running in a relatively short
time. He said the West Coast, especially
If the company moves here, it would be
the third new plastics recycling firm expanding or relocating in
Viscotec-U.S.
Inc. announced several weeks ago it had leased an 80,000-square-foot
building in Tulare where it will initially employ 30 workers and hopes
to increase that to 50 within two years. The company, which has plants
or a major presence in
Viscotec-U.S.
Inc. announced nearly two years ago it was moving to
In Terra Bella, AGG (America Goes Green) is starting up a recycling plant in a large building formerly used by Grand View Citrus Packing. The company expects to employ 100 workers within two years.
The event, held at a the Visalia Convention
Center on Dec. 5, was also attended by local dignitaries, including
members of the Tulare County Board of Supervisors and several mayors
and city council members.
“The reason I am here is I have so many
friends here,” Gaylord told the crowd, mentioning some of the local
friends he knew when he was president of the California Association
of Realtors. He then worked to inspire the crowd by explaining what
it means to be a realtor.
“We can be proud,” he said. “There are
not many professions that have a code of ethics that they require their
members to subscribe to.”
He reminded people about the innovative
Multiple Listing Service that efficiently helps serve members of the
public.
“It's realtors who have innovated,” he
said. “We did a survey of our members asking them how many of them use
technology. Ninety-some percent of our members are technologically savvy.
“As far as competition, our industry has
welcomed every single new business model that has come about,” he said,
citing ReMax which started about 30-35 years ago with what some at
the time considered “the craziest business model” they had ever seen.
“Most important of all is as realtors,
we build communities,” he said, adding how realtors associations also
support charities.
“We're a part of our community and we
build communities and as we celebrate our 100th anniversary, we have
a great deal to be proud of,” he said.
Gaylord talked about a recent interview
he gave to television news media from across the country where he was
asked about the current real estate market.
“The real estate market is on everybody's
radar screen today,” he said. “You can hardly pick up a newspaper that
doesn't talk about how terrible the market is. Well, what I said to
them is this, 'I've never been more confident in the real estate market.
The problem we're having is this: we've enjoyed some tremendous appreciation
over the past five or ten years and people now have a misperception
about a real estate investment. They're thinking that real estate investment
is a short-term, high-yield investment – and it's not.'
“But how many of us in this room can think
of a client who lost money in real estate who bought real estate as
a long-term investment?” he asked.
He stressed that real estate is a “solid long term investment,” adding that now is a good time for the real estate market with low interest rates, inflation under control, high employment and the fact that “buyers have more of a choice than they ever have.”
David LeBeouf,
a Stockton-based lawyer who has helped several cities, including
LeBeouf, who
was contacted by local vendors late last week, and only saw the county's
proposed ordinance Monday, said, “I want to go through these (proposed
restrictions) one-by-one so you can write a good law.” He called laws
disallowing or restricting vendors “a restraint of fair trade,” citing
California Appellate Court rulings to back up his contention.
During the board's closed session, the
attorney talked with reporters and several other persons, citing laws
dating to 1979 and the case of Barajas vs. the City of
Although he has only little time with
his new clients, LeBeouf said they want to form an alliance and work with the
county to regulate operations. He said vendors in
His presentation came while supervisors
were going through a revised proposed business license ordinance. Supervisors
were considering a four-option proposal from county staff who had been
instructed last month to return with revisions. Those revisions included
provisions allowing vendors to seek waivers on some rules, especially
time and location restrictions. For many years, restaurant owners and
others have complained that vendors infringe on their businesses without
having the overhead costs, and create traffic safety issues and leave
trash.
After the lawyer's brief presentation,
the board went into closed session to confer with
The so-called “Taco Truck” ordinance has
been a hot one for a number of years, but recently has drawn considerable
attention as the county worked to create a business license requirement
for the unincorporated areas of the county.
At Tuesday's session, supervisors were
considering revisions of the originally drafted rules which they decided
were too restrictive. They sought a method of allowing for waivers on
a case-by-case basis.
Among the options the board heard prior
to voting to table the issue was one which allows taco trucks and like
vendors to obtain waivers allowing for more than one hour between the
proposed 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. period and to be able to stay for more than
the original one-hour limit.
Another option was to reduce the time
restrictions. A third option set the hours at 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and allowed
the vendor to stay at one site for more than an hour if the site is
at least one-half mile from any incorporated city.
It is possible that some of the staff
proposals may be incorporated when the business license ordinance eventually
becomes reality.
The drafting of rules and licensing likely
will take on a new light considering the apparent willingness of vendors
to work in self-regulation and policing.
Though there were a number of vendors
at the meeting who listened to the discussion through an interpreter,
none chose to address the Board.
In other matters, Supervisors:
-- Approved a staff request to grant an
appeal by Seng and Nina Saephan of a planning
commission denial of a zone change for a 4.7-acre parcel along Highway
63 north of
-- Approved a four-way stop at the intersection
of Spruce (Road 204) and Avenue 256 near the City of
– Approved the acceptance of $25,526 from the Friends of Tulare County designated for the Sheriff's K-9 unit, the Sheriff's Search and Rescue Unit and the Tulare County Peace Officers Memorial.
What's New
Bakersfield-based Liberty Energy
is scouring the county for a site to build a new 15-megawatt biomass
powered plant in the
Local home builder Gary Smee may
be one of the few builders left standing after the real estate meltdown
in recent months with several of the large home builders simply hanging
up their hammers on new residential construction in
A 42-unit senior housing project
is slated for
What's next for
State Senator Dean Florez
called this past week for the immediate resignation of Fresno State's
president John Welty after a court awarded Fresno basketball coach Stacy
Johnson-Klein $19.1 million in a sexual discrimination suit against
the college. Florez claimed he would hold up next year's
Gottschalks'
losses amounted to $13.5 million so far this year (as of November 3)
– more than double last year's losses. But like many retailers, the
Fresno-based company hopes the holidays will bail them out again as
shoppers forget the sub-prime mess and focus on gifts for loved ones.
The Valley's largest department store is a gauge of the local economy.
Low-rider squad car makes debut.
After drawing a mixture of laughter and applause at the Candy Cane Lane
Parade, the Visalia Police Officers Association's new “low-rider” squad
car made its official debut at a press conference on December 4. Originally
purchased by the Visalia Police Association, the 1993 Chevrolet Caprice
comes complete with chrome wheels with black spokes, 14-inch whitewall
tires, black and white upholstery, sound system, custom art and hydraulic
shocks that cause the car to hop. The car was the brainchild of Agent
Lance Brooks, who came up with the idea three years ago of using a low-rider
squad as a way to reach out to admiring youths. The car was paid for
through donations from the Police Activities League ($1,000), businessman
Roger Vogt ($2,500) and Brock Robertson ($500). The workmanship includes
local artist Alberto Herrera's scene painted on the trunk, upholstery
by Nico Santos, Pro-Hopper Co. in
Fresno - The proposed new Blue
Ribbon Cheese plant in rural Fresno County will get its first hearing
December 13 at the Fresno Community Planning Commission. The project,
just north of the
The project was proposed by a group led
by attorney and dairyman David Albers who has previously told the Voice
he hopes the big project will break ground in February 2008.
The project comes on the heels of a decision
by the State of
At 650 million gallons of milk capacity,
the proposed facility is equivalent to several other large cheese plants
in our area, including in Lemoore at Leprino
West and CPI-Saputo in
According to the filing with the planning
commission, the project is seeking approval based on a mitigated negative
declaration.
The 436,000-square-foot facility along
The project, located on 80 acres, would
have its own wastewater treatment plant. The plant would feature a 120-foot
drying tower for whey.
According to the county report, the project
would employ some 232 workers and salaried people. The plant is expected
to be visited by 163 delivery trucks a day.
As for water use, the company plans a
reverse osmosis process that would take water from processed milk and
use it to offset pumping the plant would need from groundwater. As a
result, the project will require just 60,000 gallons of well water per
day.
Blue Ribbon would bring milk in from surrounding
areas including from Vintage Dairy located just 2,000 feet to the south
of the site. Most of the milk will come from dairies within five miles
of the plant. The facility would be
In the environmental analysis, the county found that of the 1,080 acres used at the site, most of it was not cultivated.
California - Relations are a little
chilly this month between the two states known for warmth –
Here's why. After
Meanwhile, angered by the protests from
California, Florida's Ag department, in an apparent retaliation, slapped
a quarantine on all California citrus from areas of the state that have
seen Septoria citrus in the past – Fresno and Tulare Counties –
despite the fact the disease is being controlled by a new protocol.
That protocol has been supported by export countries like
Now
The legal action is being brought by Sunkist
Growers and California Citrus Mutual, among others.
Sunkist's Mike Wooton
says the quarantine “makes no sense at all” since
Besides canker,
Mining Operation Expansion Plan Hearing Scheduled
By Miles Shuper
Lemon Cove - A public hearing
on a plan to expand a hard rock granite extraction operation near
Lemon Cove is set for Jan. 16.
Tom Cairns, owner of Lemon Cove Granite,
is seeking renewal of the current mining permit and expansion of six
acres from the current 22-acre operation.
One issue expected to be discussed at
the Tulare County Planning Commission hearing is the proposed widening
of the Highway 198 and Avenue 328 intersection adjacent to the landmark
Lemon Cove Woman's Club, the former Pogue Hotel. The realignment,
according to current documents, would clip a portion of the parking
lot and landscaping of the historic, two-story building.
County staff was scheduled to meet this
week with Caltrans officials regarding intersection requirements for
the widening needed to accommodate additional truck traffic, up to
400 daily truck trips (200 in and 200 out) from the increased mining
operation. There are currently about 50 total trips per day. The mining
operation currently produces 400,000 tons per year which could jump
to one million tons per year, documents state.
The January hearing is a continuation
of the Nov. 28 Planning Commission session where several persons spoke
in opposition to the expansion citing concerns of traffic, water,
air quality and noise as well as the Pogue Hotel issue. George Clausen
spoke in support of the mining expansion, citing the need for building
materials. Clausen, a former College of the Sequoias agriculture teacher
and a longtime area farmer, said he anticipates little, if any, impact
on surrounding prime farmland if the mining operation is expanded.
Ann Chapman of the county's Resource
Management Agency, said this week's meeting with Caltrans
would focus, in part, on exactly what the state agency will require
for the expansion of the Avenue 328 and Highway 198 intersection where
the famed building is located.
The historic two-story building which
was built in 1879 by J.W.C. Pogue, an area pioneer, is listed in the
National Register of Historic Places.
Chapman said the meeting with Caltrans
would focus on the construction of a right-turn deceleration lane
for northbound 198 traffic and a northbound acceleration lane
for traffic turning from Avenue 328. The project would be paid for
by Lemon Cove Granite. The estimated life of the mine is 20 years.
Plans provide for the re-vegetation and reclamation as mining of the
land is completed.
Tom Cairns, who owns the company, initially
began digging at the site in 1982 in an attempt to improve orchard
property. The discovery of quality hard rock granite led to the mining
operation with began in 2002 after
The proposal calls for the addition of a tertiary crusher being added to the existing crushing equipment.
Measure R Oversight Team Gets Update
By Dave Adalian
Tulare County - With their first
year behind them, members of the Measure R Citizens Oversight Committee
sat down Monday with officials from the Tulare County Resource Management
Agency and the Tulare County Association of Governments for a year-end
update on how the 1/2-cent sales tax voters approved in 2006 for improvements
to the county's roads and transit systems has been spent so far, as
well as what return taxpayers can expect in the future for their investment.
Already, more than $10 million in Measure
R funding has been forwarded to
Hard numbers on what's been spent and
what it purchased will be available on the committee's web site -
CMeasureR.com - by the year's end, said Vicki Stasch,
the committee's vice-chair.
“By January 1, all the information will
be on the web site, updated regularly,” she said.
When TCMeasureR.com goes live with the
data, it will include numbers already available on the committee's
website, such as the $124,000 Visalia received to help purchase the
right of way for a bike trail along Packwood Creek, $217,000 for reconstruction
of East Lakewood Avenue in Woodlake, $450,000 for an upcoming rehab
of Tulare's Tulare Drive, $194,000 for road repairs in Exeter and
$2.4 million for repairs in unincorporated areas of the county.
The money spent so far represents just
a tiny fraction the $652 million Measure R is expected to generate
over the 30-year course of the tax.
“There are some projects that would
not be done if it weren't for Measure R,” said committee chairman
Gil Jaramillo. “There will be some projects in three to five years,
and that may seem like a long time. Without Measure R, it might be
20 years.”
The nearly two-thirds of a billion dollars
the tax is expected to generate over its lifetime will not cover all
of the $1 billion in projects that have been identified by the RMA
for that same 30-year period. The good news, however, is the funds
taken in through the end of fiscal year ending in June 2008 should
be some $3.4 million more than originally estimated, meaning the $652
million figure Measure R is intended to generate may be lower than
its actual performance. Caltrans also projects State Transportation Improvement Program
regional funds for the county at a maximum share of $59 million through
the 2015-16 funding year.
Also, to help steady the flow of income
TCAG planners have proposed short-term borrowing of $20 million for
a term of two to four years. Other measures intended to regulate the
supply of cash to the RMA for regional upgrades such as the ongoing
widening of Road 108 between Tulare and Visalia will be needed a few
years into the Measure R term, said Ramon Lara, regional planner for
TCAG.
“We've been talking to local banks to
forward the projects,” said Lara. “We will eventually look at bonding.
We don't have enough capital to fund all the regional projects.”
Should it be deemed necessary, the county
could issue bonds in five to seven years.
The bonds would likely be used to finance only projects fully funded
by Measure R revenues, and the Measure R Finance Technical Committee
has recommended either a pair of 15-year bond issues, a pair of issues
with 10- and 20-year terms or a single bond issue with a 30-year term.
Debt service on the bonds would range between 6.5 and 13 percent of
the principal, which would be between $151 and $210 million.
While those numbers represent a vaporous
future, more concrete evidence of Measure R dollars at work is already
all around us. During the next four years, the county and the eight
incorporated cities have agreed 50 percent of Measure R funding will
cover regional projects, such as the ongoing work on Road 108 and
the widening of
A single percent of the money - some
$6.5 million over 30 years - will pay for administration, leaving
35 percent of Measure R revenue for local projects in the eight cities
and the smaller, unincorporated communities. How local project money
will be spent is up to the city councils of the eight incorporated
cities. A series of meetings in the unincorporated communities have
helped the RMA determine how local project funds will be spent in
those areas.
“Most [citizens of unincorporated towns]
are very happy we have projects on their list,” said Jean Brou,
the RMA's assistant director of transportation.
“We want to do roads that serve the communities.”
The RMA has decided 55 percent of its
portion of the local projects funding will be spent on set projects,
with 35 percent of the remainder committed for discretionary spending,
a move made in response to the RMA's realization
their funding could not satisfy all citizens' demands for road repair
and construction.
“They
want to do more and that's the problem, we have only so many funds,”
Brou said. “What I see is they would like
to see more done. We can't do more than the money we receive.”
Henry Hash, RMA's director, pointed out Tulare County has the third most
extensive system of roadways in the state, larger even than that in
Los Angeles County, which receives 20 times the funding for road upgrades
and maintenance per mile. Measure R has been a boon for transportation
in the county, Hash said.
“It only does a fraction of the roads,
but we couldn't touch them without Measure R,” he said.
While only required to meet once a year,
the Measure R Citizens Oversight Committee has been meeting on a nearly
monthly basis during the 12 months since its inception. That will
change in 2008, when it will limit itself to quarterly meetings, the
first of which will be held on Monday, Feb. 11 at a location to be
announced.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
December 12, 2007
