Tulare - Calling California's plan to build a bullet train a “high-speed train wreck” and voting 'no' last week on the controversial DREAM Act, Congressman Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) has made his share of headlines recently. As the 111th Congress winds down, Nunes was in Visalia late last week and sat for a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with the Valley Voice.
The 37-year-old Tulare native is one of the youngest and brightest stars on the national political scene. He has represented Tulare County in Congress since 2003, winning re-election three times while never facing a serious challenge from the Democrats. A graduate of Cal Poly, where he received a bachelor's degree in agricultural business and a master's degree in agriculture, sometimes, Nunes said to start the interview, he still fantasizes about making wine and cheese for a living – “or maybe buying a couple of cows.”
When he was 22 and had just returned to the family farm from Cal Poly, Nunes agreed to help a friend run for the COS Board of Trustees. But when the friend got cold feet at the last minute, Nunes stepped in and his political career took off. Unseating an 18-year incumbent, Nunes served on the COS board for six years. (He earned an Associates degree from COS before enrolling at Cal Poly.)
In 2001, President George W. Bush named Nunes California state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development section, a post he relinquished less than a year later to run for Congress when redistricting created the 21st Congressional district, which encompasses all of Tulare County and portions of Fresno County.
Nunes is a polarizing figure in Washington and frequent guest on political talk shows. He's also become a favorite among Tea Party activists, who applaud his “less government is better” philosophy and willingness to stand up to “left-wing environmentalists.” On his blog, Facebook page and YouTube channel, Nunes is never shy about expressing his often controversial views. “Free-spending”
Democrats are often a target of his conservative-based barbs.
Confident, articulate, often blunt-spoken, Nunes is now a high-ranking member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and also sits on the House Budget Committee. He is a founding member of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, a caucus of Republican members of Congress of Hispanic and Portuguese descent (Nunes' ancestors came to Tulare from a small village in the Azores).
The father of two young daughters, Nunes and his wife live in Tulare. “I spend a lot of time on airplanes going back and forth across the county,” he said.
Nunes book “Restoring the Republic – A Clear, Concise, and Colorful Blueprint for America's Future” was published by WND Books in September. A quote on the book jacket from Nunes states: “At a time of unprecedented government spending, historic deficits, and gathering foreign threats, America stands at a crossroads. We can either reassert fiscal discipline and reduce the government to the size envisioned by our Founders, or we can continue on the path of spending ourselves into oblivion.”
Time magazine recently named him one of America's “40 Under 40” rising stars and Nunes said he draws his inspiration from America's Founding Fathers, particularly George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. He admits to admiring Ronald Reagan – “He was a great president” – but says as a boy, the person he looked up to most was basketball legend Larry Bird. A rangy, six-footer who still enjoys an occasional game of roundball himself, Nunes jokingly admits that he is not expecting to get an invite any time soon to play in President Obama's regular pickup games.
And while the President's approval ratings hit a new low this week, Republicans have been re-energized by the 2010 mid-term election results. One of Nunes' best friends in Washington is Ohio Congressman John Boehner, who is set to become the next Speaker of the House. Nunes said that he places a high value on friendship and loyalty: His two top aides, including Johnny Amaral, his chief of staff, are old friends from his high school days.
Nunes' interview last Friday with the Valley Voice took place in his downtown Visalia office in the Bank of the Sierras building. Additional excerpts from the interview can be found in this week's Tulare Voice.
Nunes on why he got into politics: “I just fell into this. I never set out to do it…I'm not much into titles. I just want to get to the best place where I can influence legislation that I think is important.” What if Sarah Palin calls next year and asks him to be her running mate? “Not going to happen,” said Nunes.
On his blunt-spoken political style: “My grandfather always told me: 'Don't sit on the fence. Take a position. You may not agree with me but at least you're going to know where I stand.”
On the DREAM Act and his 'no' vote last week in the House (the measure passed in the House but stalled in the Senate): “Immigrant children were used as a political prop by House Democratic leaders. The activity in the House was nothing more than an attempt by Democrats to pander to Hispanic voters for partisan political purposes.”
On President Obama: “I've been in the same room with him but have never had any serious conversations with the president.”
On Democratic Party leaders and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi: “I don't have a lot of love for the far left regime that's running the Congress right now. A lot of people suffered at the hands of their crazy stupidity and lust after power. For that, they will never be forgiven and should be thrown out on the streets…The leaders of the Democratic Party, in particular, Nancy Pelosi, are evil, demented people. And I don't say that lightly. Anyone that has taken a political beaten like they've just taken and then to remain in power after that beating tells you a lot about the individual. It's really less about ideology and only about a lust and greed for power.”
On proposed California high-speed rail project: “Despite what's been written, I've never once said that I'm against the concept. It's been misreported in the media, largely for political reasons. I called it how it was, which is this project…was sent here just before the election as a payoff for [Congressional] health care [legislation] votes...and to help [Rep. Jim] Costa, who was then way down in the polls [in his race against Hanford cherry farmer Andy Vidak]. ” Nunes believes the bullet train plan is fatally flawed, partly because it is not designed to connect with a new international airport. “Basically all that's going to happen here is you're going to have a really nice Amtrak station and some expensive overpasses built in Fresno…The project will cost at least $100 billion. (Current estimates are $45 billion.) I've never seen a government project yet that doesn't come in at least fifty percent over budget. Conceptually, high-speed rail makes a lot of sense. But most experts [have already] said there is no way this will work. And we've wasted millions of dollars already…People should not get the false hope that this is going to create any jobs – except for some short-term construction jobs… By doing it the way they're doing it, it's irresponsible. It's already being written about all over the country as the 'train to nowhere.'”
On the next major economic crisis: Underfunded public employee pension plans are going to be the next big shoe to drop. Local and state governments are masking their debt and borrowing more and more money General Fund dollars to pay employees and underfunding these defined benefit plans for public employees that are going to threaten to bankrupt some cities and states.”
On the recent overhaul of U.S. health care system, dubbed 'Obama-care:' “Clear and utter irresponsibility. What [the Democrats] want is a complete, government-run [system] where everyone here has the same exact health care, which sounds good in theory but ends up in bad delivery of health care because it demoralizes the entrepreneurial spirit of America and you take power away from the local hospitals…so that doctors become afraid to see patients and patients have no access to specialists – sort of like we are already seeing here in the San Joaquin Valley. We're an early indicator here for the effects of socialist government. It's likely that health care is going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.”
On the rise of the Tea Party: “I think it's predictable. The Wall Street bailout started it. These folk believe in limited government, which I also believe in.”
On his favorite new toy: “I just got an iPad and it's just an amazing device. It does all this stuff and saves so much time. I still don't know how to use the darn thing hardly.”
On his political future: “I'm now one of the senior members on the committee [Ways and Means] that yields the most power in the House… Just in the last few weeks, I've put out this Public Employees Pension bill that I think has a real chance of moving in the House. We've had every major pension guru and paper in the country commenting on it. Even liberal papers have called this a step in the right direction…For the Valley, it would not be a good thing for me to leave right now. Could I go do something else in politics or business? Sure I could. My grandfather grew grapes. When I finally do get out of politics, I am going to be in agriculture some way or another.”
Parents: New Child 'Blesses Us'
Tulare County - There are currently more than 200 children waiting to be adopted in Tulare County. Over one hundred more children are in long-term foster care situations but the hope is to place them in a more permanent home as soon as possible, said John Mauro, Child Welfare Services manager for Tulare County's Health and Human Service Agency.
After hearing their pastor speak about orphans needing homes, Melissa Newton and her husband knew adoption was the next step for them.
First, they adopted five-year-old Drew, from South Korea. Currently, they are finalizing the adoption of their six-year-old daughter.
“We were very excited,” Newton said about the day they brought her home.
After going through the proper steps, which included filling out paper work and going through extensive interviews with the Adoption Unit at the Tulare County HHSA, the Newton's finally met their daughter earlier this year. (Because the adoption has yet to be finalized, the Newtons asked that her name not be used. For the purposes of this story, she will be identified as “Jane.”)
“She bonds well with us,” Newton said describing Jane's first six months with the family.
Melissa and her husband moved to Visalia in 2007 with their two paternal children who are now seven and eight-years-old. This will be their first Christmas celebration as a family of six.
“My children are excited to tell her [Jane] all about the family traditions,” Newton said. “It feels good to have her for the holidays. She blesses us too.”
Although they don't see a rise in the number of people wanting to adopt from year to year, adoption workers see adoption inquiries peak during certain periods -- for example, when the Lisa Project, which spotlighted child abuse, was in Visalia earlier this year.
Last month the agency fielded 100 new calls from people interested in adoption, perhaps partly because November is National Adoption Month.
“Events create interest,” said Kathleen Trevino, child welfare supervisor for the HHSA.
Once a child is removed from a birth parent, he or she is then placed in a foster home or what is referred to as a fost-adopt home. A prospective adoptive parent who is licensed takes care of the child while Child Protective Services attempts to re-unify the child with the original parents. Agency workers have approximately six months to a year do so depending on the child's age. If the parents fail to “re-unify” with the child, the adoptive parents may follow through with the adoption process for that child.
During the time that the birth parent or parents are trying to re-unify with the child, the agency provides any type of assistance necessary to help the parent become stable enough to regain custody. These services include parenting classes and/ or drug treatment and domestic violence counseling.
“It depends on the situation in the home,” Trevino said. “We make an active effort to try and get those children back to their parents.”
The children then become available for permanent adoption if the birth parents do not meet the requirements within a given amount of time. Children over the age of three are allotted a 12-month period.
One problem the agency faces is finding homes for older children—usually those ages five and above. Also, placing sibling sets in a single home together is another big issue. Although a sibling set of six is currently waiting for their finalized adoption, there are still plenty others.
“What a blessing for them to be able to grow up together,” Trevino said.
The agency tries to do is keep the children in the county. However, if they cannot find them a local home, they will seek adoptive families outside of the county.
“My heart goes out to children who want to find a permanent home. And people coming forward who want to adopt children and are from our community, is a really good thing,” added Mauro, who noted that some of the basic steps necessary to start the adoption process include: A person must be over the age of 18 and at least ten years older than the child; must be interviewed and go through the process of obtaining a license—which consists of a nine-week training course and home inspection; must provide additional documents and information as required. To learn how to obtain a license to adopt or to find out more information about adoption, contact Trevino at 623-0500.
Tulare County - The future of the east side rail line linking Exeter and Dinuba, already considered to be on thin ice, could become even more uncertain if additional shipping surcharges are levied by San Joaquin Valley Railroad.
According to at least three firms which use SJVR rail services, a $725 surcharge is being considered on all Burlington Northern/Santa Fe cars pulled by SJVR.
Shippers and others, including Tulare County Supervisor Allen Ishida, say the increases likely would result in higher overhead as well as justification for SVJR to seek abandonment of the Exeter to Dinuba line.
Officials with SJVR parent company RailAmerica had not responded to requests for comment as this issue of the Voice went to press.
Local shippers say they have been told that the surcharges are being considered but have not been officially notified of any action by SJVR.
Several shippers use BNSF, which contracts with SVJR, to move its cars to Fresno. Union Pacific will not allow the SVJR to run BNSF traffic up their Main line from Goshen to Fresno or through a BNSF connection at Hanford.
Ishida says the fee increases could dry up all BNSF business on the east side rail line, giving SJVR reason to file for abandonment.
Several years ago, SJVR was successful in its bid to the federal Surface Transportation Board to abandon nearly 30 miles of line from Strathmore to Jovista near the Kern/Tulare county line. Business on that line declined when a $950-per-car surcharge was imposed and service reduced during the company's filing with the STB for abandonment of the 30-mile section.
The rails subsequently were torn out and sold for salvage.
Tulare County and the Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG) have been trying to find a way to halt further SJVR abandonment plans, including unsuccessful negotiations to purchase the rights-of-way from Union Pacific in order to preserve the east side rail corridor.
SJVR has indicated that the Exeter-to-Dinuba line is too costly to operate and maintain. There is a 15 mile-per-hour freight limit on the line and although Rail America officials say money to update and maintain the line north of Dinuba is budgeted, that is not the case for the line from Dinuba to Exeter.
The county and others claim adequate rail service is crucial to the maintaining and expanding industrial and commercial development throughout the Valley.
One potential action being considered by local officials is petitioning federal officials to force the sale of the short line company due to substandard service, an option that Ishida said is still on the table.
Meanwhile several area shippers who had complained that SJVR service was declining have reported their service has improved recently and the rail company is working more closely with them.
Ishida, who reported at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting that the surcharges are being considered, said the improvements are good news. But, he said, the improvements have been spawned by the threat of action by TCAG and some shippers for forced sale.
Habit’s Plans for Mearle's
Tulare County - With only a couple of modifications, plans for the redevelopment of the former Mearle's Drive-In have been endorsed by Visalia's Historic Preservation Advisory Committee (HPAC), a move seen by some as a key to Habit Burger Grill's future in Visalia.
The commission voted 4-0 to approve a revised site plan for updating and converting the 70-year-old Mooney Boulevard building into a Habit Burger Grill. The plan calls for the original structure and its unique architecture to be retained.
The HPAC vote clears the way for Habit officials to seek a conditional use permit for their project.
The HPAC is chaired by Virginia Strawser. Jay Hohlbauch is vice chairman. Steven Cullen and Steve Pastis are the other two members of the seven-member committee, which currently has three vacancies.
Hohlbauch described Habit's plans as “pretty well laid out,” adding that some minor design changes should easily be worked out.
Russ Bendel, chief executive officer of the 30-restaurant company, agreed not to put the “Habit” name on the existing ice cream soda neon sign when it is repaired and updated.
Although the lighted signs on the tower and the standing sign on the north edge of the lot with the moving arrow will be reworded, the signs themselves also will be retained.
Terry Ommen, the area's leading historian, said the lighted ice cream glass on the sign should stand alone with no added label to maintain it as a Mearle's symbol.
Bendel agreed, adding that that sign will be reworked with neon but most other lighting will be with the current LED lighting systems.
The drive-through lane will have entrance and exit off Mooney and parking will be on the east end of the site off of Myrtle Avenue.
About four or five parking stalls will be located on the south edge of the site off of Myrtle for, as one person noted, the lucky ones who want to show off their cars or relive the drive-in era, which made Mearle's such a social experience.
Bendel also agreed to have his architects work with city staff to reconfigure the cornice caps for the roof in an effort to retain the original design after HPAC members and others expressed concern.
According to a summary of Habit's submitted proposal, a stainless steel cap would be installed on the 'parapet' and 'eye brow' cornices. Stainless steel would also be used on the louvered vents on the parapet, around the windows, and vertical fins between the windows and along the base of the structure.
Plans also call for several murals depicting the '50s and '60s car culture and drive-in era to be included above the stainless steel and stucco exterior walls. At least two area mural artists have had contact with Habit executives.
A scale model of the original Mearle's and a photo gallery will be part of the interior décor, according to plans.
Rick Mangini, a long-time local architect and a member of the Friends of Mearle's group, which has fought for several years to save the famed car-culture-era eatery, outlined his concerns regarding the proposed cornice design. The “art moderne” building does not have cornices and adding them would be too much of an exterior design change, he said. The cornices are incorporated into the design for the parapet atop the exterior wall. Mangini indicated the exterior design adjustments might prove to be less costly than the submitted plans.
Mangini, along with his wife Susan, commissioners and others agreed that Habit officials have done a good job in maintaining as much of Mearle's image as possible in redesigning the building. Mangini said he and Susan will “stand up” at the planning commission or Visalia City Council, if necessary, to support Habit's efforts “one hundred percent.”
Referring to concerns
on the cornices and other minor adjustments to Habit's submitted
plans, Mangini said “we ask you to respect our architectural
heritage.”
Keeping the building's unique structure has been the focus
of efforts to resurrect the famed restaurant and a key to
its designation as a historic structure.
At the HPAC meeting, the Habit CEO said he discovered the Mearle's site about a year ago while touring Visalia for a potential restaurant site. Bendel said when he spotted Mearle's, he asked the real estate broker accompanying him, “What about that?”
Despite the recent history and status of the site at that time, Bendel said he was excited and began efforts to come to an agreement.
At last week's meeting, Bendel also reiterated that the company plans to put the Visalia project on the fast track once final approvals are granted.
SECOND FRONT PAGE
What's New
*The Visalia City Council held a special meeting last Friday and there was just one item on the agenda: An improvement and reimbursement agreement between the city and VWR International, a major supplier of medical lab materials, which will soon open a 500,000-sq.-ft. distribution center in the Visalia Industrial Park. The agreement, which was approved on a 5-0 vote by city councilors, will allow VWR's contractors in coming days to make arterial and collector street improvements to Riggin Avenue between Plaza Drive and Kelsey Street. Council agreed that total reimbursement to VWR from the city's Traffic Impact Fee program Fund shall not exceed $1.5 million. “This is an important project,” said Visalia assistant city manager Mike Olmos before the council voted. With headquarters in West Chester, Pennsylvania and annual sales in excess of $3.5 billion, VWR's Industrial Park distribution facility, its second in California, is expected to be up and running by 2012 and should create more than 100 new local jobs. At the conclusion of the special session, which lasted only two minutes, Assistant City Manager Leslie Caviglia, who was serving as clerk, stated that it was the shortest council meeting in city history. “That's fitting,” joked Visalia Mayor Bob Link, “since I'm the shortest mayor in the city's history.”
*Former Visalia business owner and attorney Diana Dooley was picked last week to become California's new Health and Human Services Secretary by Governor-elect Jerry Brown. Dooley, 59, is president and CEO of the California Children's Hospital Association and was legislative secretary and special assistant to Brown when he was governor from 1975 to 1983. Earlier in her career, she operated a public relations firm, Dooley & Associates, which later became Rita B. & Associates and is now the Lockwood Agency.
*According to a California Department of Education report released last week, Visalia Unified School District's graduation and dropout rates worsened during the 2008-09 school year. District-wide, graduation rates slipped four percentage points to 79.5 percent while dropout rates increased from 11.1 percent to 15.4 percent. The figures included VUSD's alternative education facilities.
*Nearly half of all properties with mortgages in the Visalia-Porterville area were “underwater” for the third quarter of 2010, according to a report from CoreLogic. About 44%, or 30,301 Tulare County residential properties with a mortgage, were upside down between July and October 2010 – meaning homeowners owed more on their mortgages than the properties were worth. Another 5.1 %, or 3,546 area homes, were in “near-negative” equity territory.
*Kings County Supervisor Richard Valle was charged with five sex crimes last week during an arraignment in Kings County Superior Court. The two victims in the case have been identified only as Jane Doe No. 1 and Jane Doe No. 2. Valle, 40, was elected to the Kings County Board of Supervisors in 2008. He gave up his post as board chairman after the allegations were made public but remains on the board. A gag order has been issued to prevent Valle and his alleged victims from talking publicly about details of the case. That gag order is expected to be lifted when Valle next appears in court on Jan. 18.
*An additional $624 million in federal funding for California's high-speed rail project was made available late last week after the U.S. Department of Transportation redirected $1.195 billion in high-speed rail funds originally designated for Wisconsin and Ohio. Those additional funds will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the state's high-speed rail bond. After governors from both Midwestern states rejected plans to pursue high-speed rail, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered that federal funds originally earmarked for projects in Wisconsin and Ohio to be dispersed to transportation projects in 13 other states, including California. “Californians at the local, state and federal level came together to fight for these unused funds and I am pleased that the Administration delivered,” said Congressman Jim Costa. “This funding should allow the Authority to extend the Fresno segment and allow us to connect two major cities sooner than initially expected.” Costa's prediction was confirmed later in the week when high-speed rail officials announced that the initial 65-mile segment of the system will be extended at its southern end from Corcoran to Bakersfield.
*After considerable discussion and public debate, the Visalia City Council finally OK'd amendments to the city's Municipal Code pertaining to future development along the South Mooney Boulevard corridor. The changes allow for a wider range of businesses to operate along Mooney. One of the biggest changes was the addition of grocery stores smaller than 30,000 square feet to the list of permitted uses. Currently, smaller food stores are not allowed on Mooney Boulevard. The amendments will allow a smaller grocery store or specialty type of food store such as long-sought-after Trader Joe's to locate in the area.
KVLP: Visalia's 'Local Power' Radio Station
By Marina Gaytan
Visalia - Sprinkled every so often between eclectic, commercial-free sets of folk, rock, country and bluegrass music, an announcement proclaims: “KVLP-LP — Radio without the corporations or stockholders.” Bill Balsley, founder of Visalia's free-form, “local-power-to-the-people” radio station wouldn't have it any other way.
Balsley showed his hand early in terms of both management style and musical tastes. When KVLP first went on the air in 2006, to test his systems, Balsley, who admits to being somewhat of an old hippie, played the 18-minute-long sixties cult classic 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida' nonstop, 24/7 — for six straight weeks.
During the past few years, KVLP, a so-called “low-power” radio station — which is what the second LP in its name designates — has developed its own local cult following. Many of the station's listeners are Baby Boomers raised on Dylan, Hendrix and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.
An interest in radio since he was fifteen and approval from the FCC to run a 100-watt, low-power radio station was really all Balsley needed to create KVLP, which can be found at 101.5 on the FM dial.
The idea for the station came about while Balsley, in May of 2000, was helping others in the community with the tedious paperwork necessary to obtain a license for another low-power radio station. During the process, he found what he considered to be a great way to connect with his fellow Visalians.
Starting KVLP “was a great opportunity for me to serve the community,” said Balsley, who is also a licensed ham radio operator.
After two applications and several years of waiting, KVLP won FCC approval in December 2005 and early next year will celebrate its fifth anniversary on the air.
Partnering with FoodLink of Tulare County and Kiwanis Club of West Visalia, KVLP is one of only two low-power radio stations currently broadcasting in Visalia. The other is KFSC at FM 94.1.
Thousands of people tune into nonprofit, commercial-free KVLP and Balsley appreciates the community's support.
But although the station appears to have been running smoothly for its listeners, Balsley has been faced with some recent difficulties, including having to vacate his former 150-square-foot donated office and relocate the radio studio to his home.
Always one to look on the bright side, the ever-upbeat Balsley said that when you work at home “you're never far away from your work.”
Balsley hopes to soon find another small office or studio so that he can perform 'live' presentations, something he feels will help the station and the community.
And he is currently waiting on the FCC to approve the request of KGFM 101.5 in Bakersfield to move to 101.7 on the FM dial. If that happens, Balsley could then apply for KVLP to relocate its transmission facilities and antenna from northeast Visalia to a more central site and increase its broadcast range.
With its antennae currently located near the intersection of Houston Avenue and Ben Maddox Way, the station's broadcasting radius is only about four miles. But depending upon wind, weather and a number of other variables, the station's tunes, while at times interrupted by static, often reach most parts of the city. A few listeners have reported picking up KVLP as far away as Sequoia National Park.
“Our goal is to get more centrally located so we can share our music and messages with the rest of Visalia,” Balsley said.
Other areas Balsley said he would like to branch out into in the future include webcasting, Really Simple Syndication—which are web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—and 4G applications.
Currently, Balsley plays music from his 70,000-song digital library and has hundreds of additional tunes on cassette tape.
With help from his family and the community, Balsley continues to build his music library.
Broadcasters call KVLP's format 'Americana' – which includes so-called 'roots' music, folk, world music, western swing, Hawaiian, Cajun, bluegrass, blues and classic country western.
KVLP also auditions local recording artists and selects those tracks which best represent the format and the performers.
Educational programming, community event announcements and the occasional novelty track are added to the eclectic lineup as well.
“If the community continues to support the station,” Balsley said, “we will be on the air forever.”
Tulare County - In the legal battle over the Valley Air District's landmark regulation of development-associated air pollution, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal last week upheld the Air District's right to regulate indirect sources of pollution.
The suit, filed by the National Association
of Homebuilders in June 2007, alleged that the Air District's
pioneering regulation, which establishes development fees
for air-pollution mitigation, is pre-empted by the federal
Clean Air Act.
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California
ruled against the NAHB in September 2008, and the developers'
group appealed the decision.
The Court of Appeal's ruling last week affirmed that the Clean Air Act permits the Air District to regulate aspects of land use critical to air quality.
“We are gratified by this ruling,” said Seyed Sadredin, the District's air pollution control officer and executive director. “We are eager to continue working with Valley developers to clean up our air.”
Rule 9510, Indirect Source Review, requires developers of projects over certain sizes in the eight-county air basin to quantify the emissions produced by their projects in both the construction and habitation phases and mitigate their emissions either by building in air-friendly components to their projects, such as sidewalks, electric plug-in stations, green space and other features that encourage alternatives to driving, or through the payment of mitigation fees.
Development sprawl and its negative impact on air quality is especially pertinent in the Valley, Sadredin said.
“We have significant natural challenges to our air quality in the Valley by virtue of our geography and climate. Piling on our historic tendency to sprawl has only posed another obstacle to clean air. Local developers in the San Joaquin Valley should be commended for their innovation and cooperation in complying with this rule despite legal challenges by the national association,” Sadredin said.
By Donna Oblander
Tulare County - The Tulare County Association of Realtors swore in its 2011 Officers and Directors at a holiday luncheon held at the Visalia Convention Center last week.
Brian Icenhower will serve as the 2011 President, along with Mimi Ruby, President-Elect and Mark Avedian, Secretary-Treasurer.
Outgoing President Jeremy Garcia in his farewell speech told attendees that the Association, despite the problems in the housing industry, was in good shape. He credited the good standing to past leaders of the Association saying, “Past leadership put us in a position to withstand the current situation.”
In his speech, incoming President Brian Icenhower commented that the real estate crisis has touched every aspect of our economy, stressing that “We must work together to succeed,” for economic recovery.
At the luncheon, Mark Avedian received the Realtor of the Year award.
As well installation of next year's officers, the Association used the occasion to collect toys to be donated to both Visalia Emergency Aid and Tulare Emergency Aid. Patricia Espinoza of Visalia Emergency Aid and Debbie Thrasher of Tulare, were on hand to accept the donation.
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 16, 2010
