By Miles Shuper
Visalia - When Valley Business Bank moves into its new headquarters at 701 W. Main St. in Visalia by the end of November it will mark a homecoming of sorts with considerable deja vu for President and Chief Executive Officer Don Gillis and a number of his staff.
Gillis is coming back to the same building where he started his Visalia banking career more than 27 years ago.
Gillis said this week he expects the major remodeling of the 18,700 sq. ft. building to be on schedule to be completed this fall. In all, 42 staff members, including 22 in the accounting and credit departments, will make the move to the West Main Street building.
Valley Business Bank currently is located at 200 S. Court St., where it opened in April 1996, the year after its founding.
Ironically, architect Dana Stahl, who helped design and plan the major remodeling of the former Southern California Edison Co. office into Mineral King Bank, is working on the new site which last was occupied by McMillin Homes.
Gillis was chief financial officer and president of Mineral King Bank when its doors opened. The building had been the home of Southern California Edison for some time. It was the first downtown Visalia building to use tilt-up walls in construction, said Gillis, who will be working with a number of former employees of Mineral King Bank which was sold to County Bank a number of years ago. That bank is now WestAmerica Bank.
Of the 80 total Valley Business Bank employees in the five branches, 14 worked at Mineral King Bank, said Gillis. Valley Business Bank has branch offices in Tulare, Woodlake, Tipton and Fresno, in addition to the Visalia main branch.
Even with major remodeling, Gillis said moving back into the building and working with so many friends “makes it kind of fun.”
Architect Lyle Munsch of Canby and Associates also sees the irony, noting some features added to the building when it was remodeled as the home of Mineral King Bank to give it a unique and up-to-date look then are now being ripped out and replaced for the same reasons. He cited the curved Plexiglass covering over the Main Street entrance and the drive-up lane on the west side of the bank among the features added to Mineral King Bank to create a protective yet open entrance design. Those elements were taken out when McMillan Homes remodeled. And the bank's vault was altered and turned into office space. Now, Munsch said, the vault is being retrofitted back to a secure bank facility.
The new entrance, facing Main Street, will feature a more contemporary and open design while still providing a secure-style entrance using straight wall and glass elements. The brick exterior will be maintained, he said.
Stahl, who worked for another firm when the Mineral King Bank was designed, has been working for Canby for about 15 years, and Munsch are teamed together on the Valley Business Bank project.
Galen Pheiffer is the contractor.
Currently, Valley Business Bank has assets of $350 million, deposits of $302 million and $245 million in loans, Gillis said. “Business has been quite good,” he said, especially considering the troubles in some sectors of the banking industry.
Well-Known
Smitty Opening Stand
By Rick Elkins
Visalia - One of the most successful and best known restaurant owners in Visalia is emerging from retirement with Smitty's Awesome Gourmet Hot Dogs in Downtown Visalia.
Irwin Smith, who once operated eight different restaurants in Visalia, will be opening his hot dog shop at 302 E. Main St. in the next few days.
“It's the smallest
restaurant I've ever owned,” said the personable Smith,
now 80.
He has been out of the restaurant business – sort
of – for about 10 years, although he has operating
an importing business selling to restaurants around the
state. But, he wanted more.
“I'm tired of sitting on my behind. I'm only 80,” he smiled. He called Smitty's Awesome Gourmet Hot Dogs his “last hurrah” and added, “I said to myself, get busy, get your mind busy.”
He also hopes to fill
a void of less expensive eateries downtown. “It fills
a need. They want something less expensive,” he said
of his dogs that will run $3 to $4.
But, by the twinkle in his eye and enthusiasm in his voice,
Smitty is glad to be back in the restaurant business.
“It's giving me something to do. My wife says I'm a changed person.”
Local Restaurant Icon
If you don't know Irwin Smith, he's a character who well fits the name Smitty. He is an icon in the local restaurant business and in 2002 was named to the Visalia Times-Delta's Best In Dining Hall of Fame.
He proudly displays the article telling of his hall of fame credentials, including establishing the California Apple Annie restaurant chain. He also at one time, or the same time, had Dingle's Diner, Boochies, Hen's Nest and more.
Born in New York, he came to Visalia in 1980 and quickly established himself as a leader in the restaurant business. He was one of the founders of the Waiter's Race and of the local Restaurant Association. Before coming to Visalia, he operated Parasol Restaurants in Southern California and prior to that has his hand in show business as a standup comic.
Restaurants are his life. As a child, he worked for his parents' restaurant as a “pearl diver” or more commonly known as a dish washer.
In the mid-1990s he published a Visalia restaurant newspaper, “Central Valley Hospitality News.” He published the small paper for more than a year and half.
Smitty's Dogs
He said he decided to open up the hot dog stand that will feature at least nine different dogs – from chopped onion and tomatoes to relish, sport pepper and mustard dogs. He has names for all of the dogs, using his grandchildren, such as Cherish's Chili Dog or Chance's Mustard Dog. He will have other names for his dogs – one after his insurance agent and one after his attorney.
“So, I've got the whole family involved,” he said.
His says his dogs will
be unique. “The meat is all natural. When you bite
into the wiener, the skin will pop with flavor,” he
said. His dogs will include Hebrew National brand wieners
and he said he is the only hot dog stand in the Central
Valley to use the wieners that are shipped from New York.
“It's pure beef,” he promised.
He said his dogs will be steamed, saying that's the best
way to prepare the wiener. Customers will get to chose from
three types of buns – regular, whole wheat or poppy
seed buns.
Besides the hot dogs, he will also offer a couple of different sandwiches, but stresses it will be the dogs that will bring people to his stand.
“I've got a bacon-wrapped dog. It will be a meal in itself,” he said.
Basically, Smitty's
will be take-out but there will be a few places to sit and
enjoy a dog. He said the Fox Theatre has given him permission
to set out tables under the cover there during lunch.
First
Flow Begins Today
By Rick Elkins
San Joaquin Valley - Water was to begin flowing down the San Joaquin River today as part of the settlement to restore the salmon fishery to the channel that has been mostly dry the past 60 years.
To many, the water flow is historic, calling it the beginning of the rebirth of one of the West's largest rivers. For others, it is the loss of what has become the most volatile resource in California – water.
For nearly two decades, a settlement was hammered out between environmentalists, water and ag interests over how to restore the salmon fishery in the San Joaquin River. Before Friant Dam was built above Fresno, the mighty San Joaquin flowed through the Valley, eventually winding its way to the San Joaquin Delta. Salmon were plentiful as riverboats made their way from Fresno past Firebaugh, a western Fresno County community named after one of those riverboat captains.
However, for the past
60 years much of the river channel has been dry, especially
from the Mendota Pool west of Fresno until where the Merced
River merges with the San Joaquin, the first of many rivers
that eventually merge with the San Joaquin.
Ron Jacobsma, general manager of the Friant Water Users Authority,
was one of those key to the negotiations that ended with Congress
finally agreeing on a settlement earlier this year. He said
last week a couple of issues still needed to be ironed out,
but he expected the water to begin flowing today.
“Chances are better than 50-50 that the flow will start on Oct. 1.” He said the initial flow will be just 24,000 acre feet to study how the river handles the water.
Tulare Irrigation District Manager Paul Hendrix said the water being sent down the river is at the expense of Friant Water Users, like TID and Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District. “It's all coming out of Friant Dam,” he stressed, saying TID could lose as much as 20 percent of its average water supply. That may not mean fallowing farm land, but it will place a greater burden on the underground water supply that is being severely overdrafted every year.
The Friant-Kern Canal feeds much of agriculture on the east side of the Valley, including providing domestic water for the city of Lindsay.
Jacobsma said on average the annual release would be about 150,000 acre feet. “If it's a wet year, it will be over 300,000 acre feet. If dry year, then there will be no release,” he said. On average, about 2 million acre feet of water flows down the San Joaquin into Friant Dam where the water is then diverted.
The releases, called interim flows for now, will be intermittent to allow for the construction of restoration projects. The purpose of the flows is to collect information about salmon habitat, channel capacities, water reuse and other aspects of the river to inform the salmon reintroduction and water supply planning efforts. Full releases are expected in 2012.
Many feel the dry water channel will soak up the flow well before it gets very far past the Mendota Pool. With the construction of the Eastside Bypass in the 1970s, much of water during wet years was diverted from the channel before it reached the Mendota Dam. Because of that, there are concerns that the old river channel will not be able to handle much of a flow today, but so far the cost on restoring that channel has not been confirmed.
Many in the ag community objected to the release, but eventually agreed to the settlement with promises some of the water would be returned. However, said Hendrix, the details of being able to get water back to the Valley has not been worked out.
“We still have concerns we'll be losing water. I don't see any concrete plans implemented yet to get back that water,” he said. “My concern is that these interim flows will continue for many years without money to fully implement the project,” he added, saying those include habitat improvement and channel preparations.
And, key to moving water back into the Valley are the pumps that have been restricted because of concerns for the Delta Smelt, a tiny fish environmentalists say are threatened by pumping in the Delta.
Environmental groups like the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) hail the beginning of the flow.
“The release of these flows will be a critical step forward in restoring California's ailing salmon industry and putting fishermen back to work. The releases reflect a great deal of hard work and commitment to restore a living river and aid in the recovery of the fishery while continuing to support a healthy and sustainable agricultural economy. It serves as an important example of how farmers, fishermen, environmentalists, state and federal agencies can work together to implement real solutions to conflicts over water resources,” said Valerie Jaffee, communications director with the NRDC.
San Joaquin River
After the completion of Friant Dam by the federal government in the 1940s, nearly 95 percent of the San Joaquin River flows were diverted for irrigation, except for a small release of water for districts below the dam. As a result, 60 miles of the river ran dry and the second largest salmon population in the state was wiped out.
From its headwaters in the Sierra Nevada to its meeting with the Sacramento River in the San Francisco Bay Delta, the San Joaquin stretches over 350 miles, making it the second longest river in California. For the first 230 miles, it winds west and then north until it is joined by three major tributaries – the Merced, the Tuolumne, and the Stanislaus – for the final 120-mile stretch to the delta.
Diversions from the San Joaquin River at Friant Dam provide about 13 percent of the regional water supply that irrigates more than 3 million acres of cotton, grapes, orchards, alfalfa and other crops in the southern San Joaquin Valley, contributing to the area's multi-billion-dollar agricultural industry.
The return of water flows to the San Joaquin will end 18 years of litigation brought by environmental groups against the U.S. government and Friant Water Users Authority. They argue that because of the dam, a 60-mile stretch of the river typically goes dry, thwarting the return of the Chinook salmon that were plentiful at one time.
Get Clunker Funds
By Miles Shuper
Visalia - Area new car dealers say sales have slowed as expected since the end of the federal Cash for Clunkers program, but they finally are getting paid for the clunker sales they made.
Last week, the U.S. Government reported that 97 percent of the $2.7 billion worth of cash for clunkers deals made has been paid to dealers. A survey of local dealer seems to verify that.
Buyers received $3,500 or $4,500 for turning in their older cars and buying new vehicles getting better fuel mileage. While U.S. car sales climbed, problems with computerized filing of paperwork and subsequent delays in paying dealers for the discounts they gave buyers frustrated dealers. That frustration now seems to have disappeared.
Jeremy Hickman, sales manager of Serpa Automotive Group, said the dealership has received funds for all 17 new car sales made during the Clunkers month-long program.
Don Groppetti said this week his dealerships have received payment for about 90 percent of the 337 new cars sold under the program. ”We've got about 30 or so deals still on the books,” he said, but he's confident the rest of the funds will arrive soon.
Groppetti also reported
sales have slowed after the clunkers program, as he expected,
adding that manufacturers are lagging behind in restoring
inventories, a problem he says is being reported throughout
much of the new car industry.
Ed Dena said his Dinuba GM, Chevy and Buick dealership received
the final clunkers payment from the federal program last weekend.
Dena sold 36 new cars during the program and said that non-clunker
sales were generated by increased customer traffic. Sales
slowed after the clunkers campaign ended but the arrival of
the 2010 models and anticipated increased inventories should
help. General Motors loaned clunker program sales payments
to dealers who are repaying the loans with the federal stimulus
vouchers.
Vic Surroz of Surroz Dodge,
Chrysler and Jeep said the dealership has been paid for all
the 30-plus new cars sold during the program. Surroz said
there are indications that Americans are starting to spend
again but he doesn't see a significant upturn in new car sales
until after the first of the new year. Surroz expects it will
be a couple years before the industry rebounds from the overall
economic slump.
Surroz said he is waiting for inventories to pick up, especially
in some Dodge lines. Surroz BMW inventories are doing well,
he said.
James Manning of Jim Manning Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep in Dinuba said a surge last week in the arrival of the federal funds brought all his 18 clunker sales deals to an end. “It was tough in the beginning,” Manning said, “but it all turned out well. I'd like to see them do it again.”
Although the inventory on the dealership is down from previous levels, Manning said it is not a major issue and after a brief lull right after the clunker program ended, business seems to be rebounding. The Dodge Challenger and Dodge trucks continue to generate interest, he said.
At Giant Automotive Group in Visalia, sales manager Guss Marquez said federal funds have been received for all 24 new car sales under the program. Like other dealerships, Giant received most of the money in the last week to 10 days, Marquez said.
Tulare County - One of the offshoots of the drop in the real estate market has been a drop in rental rates for homes and higher end apartments and condos.
Jim Armstrong of Armstrong Property Management says rents of upper end apartments and houses have declined 10 to 15 percent the past 18 months. However, there is not a glut of rentals on the market.
“I think apartments have an acceptable vacancy rate, if they are priced right,” said Armstrong who has been in the property management business 30 years. “There's a demand out there, but they're not going to pay more than the market demands,” he said.
Steve Duerre, owner of Equity Group and president of property management, said what is somewhat surprising to him is that if there is a glut of apartments, it is in those priced in the $500-to-$550 a month range.
“It's kind of a strange deal. Visalia and Tulare are kind of flooded with $525-to-$550 units,” said Duerre whose company manages 1,600 units in Visalia and Tulare. “Those have been tried and true, but those things are hurting.”
Armstrong said location plays a big part. He said while generally the lower end apartments are not moving as fast as the higher end, they are in some areas.
Still, Duerre said he never thought he would see the day that the lower-cost units were not being grabbed as fast as the higher-priced ones. “We've lost the people who used to rent those – people that move from area to area that pick and pack,” he said.
Duerre and Armstrong both said homes, if they are priced right, are being rented fairly quickly. “Lot of homes for rent, but they are getting snapped up quick,” said Duerre.
He said people coming out of foreclosure on upper end homes are more likely to rent a home rather than an apartment. “Homes are no problem renting, they are flying off the shelves,” he said. Those with less expensive homes are renting the higher end apartments and condos.
While many multi-unit housing facilities are struggling in the economy, Duerre said there has not been a lot foreclosed on yet. However, when those properties are foreclosed and taken over by someone new, rents may come down because the “owners won't be into the property for as much money.”
He said what are most susceptible to foreclosure right now are mainly duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.
Home Sales
DataQuick, which monitors home sales, reported the sale of 396 homes in Tulare County in August, five fewer than were sold in July.
However, after three months
where the median price increased, that price fell a little
bit in August from July. DataQuick reported the median price
in August was $141,250. In July it was $145,000. A year ago,
the median price was $185,000.
Still, the August price was the second best this year and
the drop from a year ago was the least it has been in months
– 23.65 percent compared to 25.64 in July and 36 percent
in June.
Carlos Aleman, president of the Tulare County Board of Realtors, said the market continues to show strength as inventories drop and buyer interest grows.
He said the tax incentives offered by both the state and feds helped, but noted the state tax credit has ended and the federal $8,000 credit is about to expire.
“It helped quite a bit,” he said, adding there is a push to continue that credit, even increase it to $15,000.
He said the inventory of homes on the market is down to two-and-a-half or three months from a six-month supply not that long ago.
Visalia had the same number of home sales in August as in July – 140, but the median price fell from $162,000 to $140,000. Tulare's home sales fell from 91 in July to 80 in August, and Porterville saw 12 fewer homes sold. However, sales were up slightly in Exeter, Woodlake and Dinuba.
An estimated 39,811 new and resale houses and condos were sold statewide last month, according to DataQuick. That was down 11.7 percent from 45,079 in July, and up 4.8 percent from 37,988 for August 2008. Sales have increased on a year-over-year basis the last 14 months. California sales for the month of August have varied from a low of 33,429 in 2007 to a peak of 73,285 in 2005, the average is 49,467. MDA DataQuick's statistics go back to 1988.
The median price paid for a home in California last month was $249,000, down 0.4 percent from $250,000 in July, and down 17.3 percent from $301,000 for August a year ago.
Of the existing homes sold last month, 39.9 percent were properties that had been foreclosed on during the past year. That is the lowest in more than a year. In August 2008, it was 46.5 percent; it reached 58.8 percent last February.
Aleman doesn't think the end of the foreclosure wave has hit. “They're still saying there's another wave, but we haven't seen it yet.”
He is also not sure the housing market has seen the bottom, although signs are encouraging. “It may take a while for us to look back and say that was the bottom,” he said.
He said with the low interest rates and prices, it is not only a good time to buy a home, but also a good time to buy property to rent.
The typical mortgage payment that home buyers statewide committed themselves to paying last month was $1,093. That was down from $1,101 in July, and down from $1,519 for August a year ago.
SECOND FRONT PAGE
The city of Visalia and its retirees are going to mediation to settle a lawsuit filed by the retirees to block the city from charging them more to cover their health benefits. The city is looking at reducing its costs for covering retiree health benefits because of a drop in local revenue. The retirees filed suit earlier this year to block those changes and to stop the city from increasing their premiums in the future. The two sides are now trying to agree on a mediator.
Macy's boost. Mary Ann Millar, manager of the Visalia Mall, said that the mall will be fully occupied this holiday season and part of that can be attributed to Macy's coming the mall. She said four stores are currently vacant, but all will be filled in time for the Christmas season. Two of those, she said, are due to Macy's coming and two others would be in the mall with or without Macy's. She did say Macy's arrival has stirred a lot of excitement at the mall. Two of the new stores are Native American Traders (Indian artifacts and artwork) and Things Remembered (a gift store and engraver).
Lemoore's Fresh & Easy grocery store will open soon with a “now hiring” sign in the window, confirms spokesperson Brendan Wonnacott. The store – essentially built for months now – has awaited a corporate decision to open like several in Kern County, says Wonnacott. The company has built a new distribution center in Stockton allowing a push into Northern California but the new Lemoore store would be supplied by the Riverside distribution center. The store, about 14,000 sf, will employ about 25. Fresh & Easy is owned by England-based Tesco.
An attempt to prevent the federal government from spending any money to implement biological decisions that are cutting water supplies from the Delta was defeated last week. California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer both voted against the measure by Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) “Unfortunately, the amendment failed 61-36. The vote was split along party lines with one Republican senator, Lemare Alexander, voting against. Although we failed, a significant message was sent. This is an issue of great importance to the nation, and not just California,” reported Westlands Water District spokesperson Sarah Woolf.
Construction of 198 Expressway is expected to start early November, confirms contractor Tony Inocencio of Flat Iron West Construction that was awarded a contract last month. The four-lane, 10-mile divided highway – in the works for more than a decade – will improve both safety and promote economic development, said KCAG Director Terri King. “It is critical for the future of Kings County to be connected to Highway 99,” she said, noting it's been “a long, hard struggle” to get funding for the project. She credits the cooperation between Kings and Tulare counties each making the project “their No. 1 priority” to get monies from seven funding sources. Inocencio says the big project will take 500 days to complete, with the westbound lanes done first and later tearing up the current road to raise it by 5 feet in some places. The contractor will also be building a new overpass at Road 68 in Tulare County, just west of Highway 99. Altogether, the project will cost about $111 million – down from estimates of $125 million. The road project will employ about 80 workers during the next 18 months.
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park, Tulare County's only state park, received a reprieve from the state budget chopping block. The California Department of Parks and Recreation postponed its park closures, according to State Park Interpreter III Steve Ptomey, the park's supervisor. He said that liability issues and contracts with concessionaires made closing state parks more difficult than expected. “As far as I know, it's been put off indefinitely,” Ptomey said. “Right now, it's business as usual unless we hear otherwise.”
Visalia's new Natural Resource Conservation manager was introduced last week. Kim Loeb was hired last month to oversee the city's effort on water conservation and many other projects.
Vallarate Supermarket that is going into the Orchard Walk Shopping Center on North Dinuba Boulevard is expected to open in April 2010, says Visalia Housing and Economic Development Director Ricardo Noguera. The market is taking over the former Sportsman Warehouse store in the same center with Target and Ross.
Even though Tulare and Kings counties are known for their production of milk, it is the consumption of sodas that garnered headlines recently. In the study, “Bubbling Over: Soda Consumption and Its Link to Obesity in California,” researchers from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) and the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA) reported that 39.1% of adults in Kings County consumed more than one soda a day, while 36.1% of Tulare County adults did so. In making a correlation between soda and obesity, the report found that 63.3% of adults in Kings County and 66.1% in Tulare County are overweight. Those figures compare to the statewide numbers of 24.3% and 56.1%, respectively, for consumption and being overweight. Already there are calls to add a tax to sodas, with the excuse that the money would be used to fight obesity.
The city of Porterville and Kings County will both be recognized by the San Joaquin Valley Regional Policy Council for “the best plans – blueprints” for the future of the San Joaquin Valley. The city of Porterville is being recognized for its general plan and will receive the ward of Achievement, General Plan – Small Jurisdiction. Kings County will be honored twice – first with an Award of Achievement, Community Plans – Unincorporated Community for its general plan and then with an Award of Merit, Sustainable Development Policies for its General Plan, land use and resource conservation elements. The honors will be given out at the council's fall policy conference luncheon on Oct. 2 in Fresno. The contest stemmed from an effort three years ago by the eight regional planning agencies in the Valley to develop the first-ever coordinated Valley vision – the San Joaquin Valley Regional Blueprint.
Blockbuster, which has movie rental stores in Tulare, Porterville, Hanford and three in Visalia, may close up to 760 more stores nationally over the next two years. The company, which has 3,800 locations in the U.S., has already closed 200 stores this year, but officials would not say if any local stores are on the chopping block.
Macy's, Inc. reported total sales of $1.543 billion in August, a decrease of 8.5 percent compared with total sales of $1.686 billion in August 2008. On a same-store basis, Macy's, Inc. sales were down 8.1 percent in August. Target Corporation's report was a little better. That large retailer said its net retail sales for August were $4,856 million, an increase of 0.1 percent from last August.
The U.S. Census Bureau announced that real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303. This breaks a string of three years of annual income increases and coincides with the recession that started in December 2007. The bureau also reported the nation's official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. There were 39.8 million people in poverty in 2008, up from 37.3 million in 2007. Meanwhile, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008, while the percentage remained unchanged at 15.4 percent.
Conway Details Ups, Downs of Being a Legislator
Tulare County - For many years as Tulare County Supervisor, Connie Conway would speak of “those folks” in Sacramento. Now, she finds herself one of “those folks” and trying from the inside to fix what looks like a broken system.
Conway, elected as the 34th State Assembly District representative last November, was the guest at the weekly “Talk of the Town” gathering at Jack & Charlie's restaurant hosted by Valley Voice publisher Rick Elkins.
“I am now one of those people,” admitted Conway, the Republican from Tulare. However, she said she has found there are many “well-intended” people in the state Legislature, but also those who don't seem to have a clue as to what is really going on in the state, especially issues important to the Central Valley.
While it is easy to recognize that no one, even the state, should live outside its means, the state still spends more than it brings in revenue. She said there are so many issues, bills and lobbyists to confuse matters, that it is difficult to have a focused, serious discussion on any of the major issues facing the state.
“We can't have that (budget) discussion because control of the state Legislature is with special interests on both sides and staff.”
She said what the Legislature needs to do is “get to the facts, to the basics.”
“It is difficult to keep a handle on what's
going on up there – all this legislation,” she
said, adding it costs taxpayers about $125,000 just to get
a bill passed. And, often a bill once it is passed is far
different than what was introduced.
Conway most recently was named vice chair of the powerful
Assembly Appropriations Committee, and she serves on more
committees in the Assembly than any other state representative
– a total of seven.
As she took office, she was named by The Sacramento Bee as one of the most prominent freshmen in the Legislature.
Water Big Issue
One of those big issues she said the state has continually avoided is the supply of water. She said it is likely state lawmakers will be called back for a special session beginning Oct. 13. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants the Legislature to come up with a solution to the state's water crisis and has vowed not to sign any legislation until something is done. However, he has only a few days left to sign hundreds of bills or they die for lack of a signature. She said it will be interesting to see what he does.
Conway, whose district is the largest in the state and one of the driest, said there are many “extreme opinions” on what the solutions are. She said those in the Delta are very protective, but wondered how those same people have allowed Sacramento to dump millions of gallons of pollution into the Delta. She also questions how those same people can say farmers can't have water.
“It's a battle and fight every day,” she said and suggested the Legislature sit down and iron out a solution, rather than having staffs come up with one that is then presented to the lawmakers.
She used the water debate in the waning hours of the session as an example of spending a lot of time on minor legislation while more important issues were put off. “They tried to jam something together in two weeks and tried to get a vote on something not in writing,” she said.
To her, there are two issues. One is an immediate fix to the cutback in pumping water to farms south of the Delta. Second, is the long-term fix for more water storage.
“It's not going to go away, certainly not solved,” said Conway, adding she could not predict what's going to happen when the lawmakers return. However, one proposal is for two statewide ballot measures to come up with funding for the water crisis. She said getting voters to approve two bond measures in this economic climate might be asking too much.
While not dwelling on the state's budget mess, she said that will also probably come up during the special session this month. She said it looks like the state overestimated revenues and that it may be facing yet another deficit.
During questioning, she said that term limits do not seem to be working as intended. Saying maybe they weren't even needed, Conway said, “You have an automatic term limit. It's called voting.”
She held out hope that the redrawing of assembly and senate districts after the 2010 census might help, but wondered how politicized that will become.
Harvey May, who came to listen to what the Assembly member had to say, encouraged Conway to keep up the fight. “Thanks for doing it Connie, because it's completely out of control,” he said.
$2.8 Million Given Region to Combat Homelessness
Tulare & Kings Counties - Those people finding themselves homeless or on the brink of being homeless will soon have some financial assistance available to them.
The Kings/Tulare Continuum of Care on Homelessness (CoC) announced last week that local agencies have been awarded approximately $2.8 million to assist families who fall into homelessness, or prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. The funding is provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help persons and families facing a sudden financial crisis that could lead to homelessness.
Machael Smith, Homeless Management Information System coordinator, said the money is being divided up among several agencies in the two counties, but all is designed to help those who want to help themselves.
“If you have a person who wants to become self-sufficient, this will help them,” she said.
However, for those who have chosen a life of living on the street, or in the small tent city along the Saint Johns River in Visalia, the grants will have little impact.
In fact, said Smith, helping people who have chosen a life on the street only encourages them.
Coincidentally, the grants were announced on the day after the Visalia City Council debated what should be done about the homeless population in the river bed. Mayor Jesus Gamboa asked the city to consider providing porta-potties and maybe even portable water, but that motion was defeated.
City Housing and Economic Development Director Ricardo Noguera said the issue is where the tents are located – in the county. While some argued those homeless residents make their way into the city, providing that assistance should be up to the county.
However, Smith said providing any assistance
to those living in tents, unless they seek it, sends the
wrong message.
“A dumpster and clean drinking water isn't the solution,”
she said, adding there are beds available in Visalia that
go unclaimed every night. “The treatment is to get
them off the street. If you put those things out there,
you're just encouraging that lifestyle.”
She said the census of homelessness done in January found 545 people in Tulare County and 420 in Kings County that were homeless. She said the survey did not distinguish from those who want that lifestyle from those forced onto the streets.
In Visalia, said Smith, the number was 224, but she wasn't sure if that included those along the Saint Johns River. The number of homeless in other cities: Tulare, 36; Hanford, 237; and Porterville, 134.
Smith said the number of those homeless is growing, but not because of foreclosures as some might expect. She said unemployment and domestic violence brought on by economic pressures, is causing more people to become homeless.
Grant Helps
The Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) provides short – and medium-term rental assistance and services to either prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless or help those who are experiencing homelessness to be quickly re-housed and stabilized.
Noguera said a good example would be a person who is facing eviction. That money can be used to pay off a bill so they can stay in a home or apartment.
"This is money that will not only spare families the hardships of homelessness, but will save taxpayers significant money in the long run," said HUD secretary Shaun Donovan. "Often times, a little bit of financial assistance can make all the difference between a stable home and being forced to live in a shelter or on the streets."
Grants provided under HPRP are not intended to provide long-term support for individuals and families, nor will they afford mortgage assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure. Rather, HPRP offers a variety of short- and medium-term financial assistance to those who would otherwise become homeless, many due to sudden economic crisis. This can include short-term rental assistance (up to three months), medium-term rental assistance (up to 18 months), security deposits, utility deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance, and hotel vouchers. Payments will not be made directly to households, but only to third parties, such as landlords or utility companies.
Smith said the money is definitely geared for those already living in shelters – to get them back on their feet and into their own homes.
“If we can get some people out of the
shelters, that frees up some of the existing resources,”
Smith said.
“Kings and Tulare counties have been one of the hardest
hit areas by the recession with 22 towns above 20 percent
unemployment,” said Betsy McGovern-Garcia, president
of the CoC. “With these tough economic conditions,
we have more people than ever at the brink of becoming homeless.
This program will be the catalyst for diverting these folks
from homelessness.”
As the lead applicants for each county, Kings United Way and Tulare United Way, will receive $1,200,000 and $1,600,000 respectively. The agencies that will receive these funds are as follows:
Community Services Employment Training, Tulare County, $745,000
Salvation Army, Kings County, $580,318
Kings Community Action Organization, Kings County, $289,828
United Way of Tulare County, $275,185
Center for Independent Living, Tulare County, $247,960
Kings United Way, Kings County, $244,301
Central California Family Crisis Center, Porterville, $200,000
Aspiranet, Visalia, $116,855
Kings County Human Services Agency, $85,553
Visalia Rescue Mission, Porterville and Visalia, $15,000
“The CoC would like to thank the Kings United Way and Tulare United Way for being the lead applicants, organizing and designing the programs to meet local needs, and facilitating the overall application,” said McGovern-Garcia. “They demonstrated exceptional leadership in securing this funding to assist our community.”
For more information on the Kings/Tulare
Continuum of Care's effort to end homelessness, please visit
www.kingstularecoc.org.
VUSD Trustee Candidates Show Differences
By Steve Pastis
Visalia - The five school board candidates participating in Monday night's forum at “210” in Visalia agreed on the importance of vocational education in the Visalia Unified School District.
Their opinions and plans differed on how to deal with the other issues raised at the forum, including budget cuts, teachers' pay freezes and dropouts.
Area 1 candidates Timothy Chaney, Victor Yost and Sally Martin-Winter, and Area 4 candidates Juan R. Guerrero and Charles E. Ulmschneider responded to written questions supplied by the 40 people in attendance. Area 1 candidate Rusty Barker declined his invitation to participate, according to moderator Paul Hurley.
The five participating candidates were asked how they felt about increasing vocational instruction in the district. “Part of the overall education process is providing choices,” said Ulmschneider.
Guerrero, the only incumbent candidate participating in the forum, said he thinks the district has a good vocational program, noting VUSD's partnership with College of the Sequoias. “One of the things with vocational education is that we have to be innovative,” he said.
“I strongly believe that all our children aren't cut out for college,” said Martin-Winter. “It's important that we get the best vocational training we can get in Visalia.”
Yost said the district should reach out to the community and see what vocational needs they have. Chaney suggested partnerships with the community and with local trade unions “to establish formal apprenticeship programs.”
To the possibility that the board should negotiate with teachers to have their salaries frozen or take pay cuts if more budget cuts are needed, Guerrero responded, “There is a freeze in place and if we need to talk about it next year, we will talk about it.”
“I've advocated that everything should be proportional and across the board,” Ulmschneider said.
“We can put a freeze on raises, but I don't believe they should have a cut,” Yost said. Chaney proposed a comprehensive study of the entire district to provide an overview. Martin-Winter said “nobody's going to be left out” of future cuts, but stressed the need “to make teachers feel valued.”
When asked how they would solve the high school dropout rate, Yost said, “A lot of kids aren't being assessed properly.” Chaney suggested offering more curriculum to students who didn't want to go to college. Martin-Winter said the district should educate the parents to improve their skills.
“Is there a problem?” asked Guerrero
rhetorically, noting that the dropout rate was 11 percent,
less than Fresno's 17 percent rate and less than the state
average. He said that kids need to be connected to their
schools.
Ulmschneider questioned Guerrero's numbers, saying that
he has heard the district dropout rate was at 19 percent.
“We need to solicit ideas from our parents and teachers
and others,” he said.
The five candidates were asked what student services they would cut to accommodate possible future budget cuts – and the possibility of cutting athletics and music was suggested. “We do expect reduced funding,” said Guerrero, noting that the district has been making plans to cut 3 percent – or $6 million – out of its budget.
“Just downsize it all proportionately,” Ulmschneider said. “Why cut something out entirely?”
“Our core mission is to graduate the students from high school and your core mission always has to stay in place,” said Chaney, who added that music and sports are part of education.
Martin-Winter suggested that the district should call on its “natural resource – parents” to play a role. “Many have coached or led groups in the past,” she said.
“If we're going to cut anything, I think it should be the administration,” Yost said.
Area 2 candidate Rodney Elder and Area 3 candidate Jim L. Qualls are both unopposed in the November election. Both were in the audience at the forum.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
October 1, 2009
