By Rick
Elkins
Last month, the hospital district formally organized its Graduate Medical Education committee that is the first major step towards the hospital establishing a doctor residency program by July of 2013.
“This could have a greater impact on Kaweah Delta Hospital than the Acequia Wing,” Dr. Mark Garfield, vice present and chief medical officer, told Visalia City Council members during a recent joint meeting of the council and the hospital board.
“It's a major initiative on our part,” said hospital CEO Lindsay Mann, saying that it will have a lasting impact on the hospital and region by making more physicians available in the county.
KDHD has been working on setting up the Graduate Medical Education program for more than two years with the University California at Irvine. While some UCI medical school graduates will come to Kaweah Delta for their residency, the program will be open to any medical school graduates, explained Garfield.
“We will be affiliated with UC Irvine, but we will be a freestanding program,” said Garfield, adding that the program will be administered by the hospital and it will be up to the faculty and staff at KDH who will be accepted into the program.
Residency varies from specialty to specialty. Plans are to offer a family medicine residency and an emergency medicine program, with six residents each who will have to work for three years, both beginning in July of 2013.
The plans are in July of 2014 to add a psychiatry program and a general surgery program. Psychiatry will have three residents who will need to work for four years and general surgery will have two doctors in the program for five years. Finally, in July of 2015, KDH will add obstetrics and gynecology with two residents who will have a four-year program.
By 2015, there will be 66 doctors in the program.
Garfield and Mann said the move by the hospital is huge and the formation of the committee that first convened on Jan. 18 is a milestone in the program's development.
More Doctors
Mann said the importance of the program is the ability of the hospital to attract and retain physicians.
“People that train
in an area stay in that area 50 percent of the time,”
he said, adding that providing that residency training will
“keep the pipeline going.”
It is a well-known fact that the Central Valley is lacking
in doctors in almost every specialty. Mann said having the
residency program will help to fill those gaps.
Those in the programs will already have graduated medical school. While Garfield expects the hospital to add a couple of doctors to the teaching staff, he said they have identified doctors on staff who will provide the necessary instruction and supervision.
“For each of the five residencies there is a requirement there be a program director,” explained Garfield. That would be a physician who is willing to commit 50 percent of their time, but they would be compensated by the hospital. He said several doctors have expressed they are interested in such positions.
Both Garfield and Mann said the development of the program requires “substantial upfront expenses” and a lot of planning. Before the hospital can begin to accept residents, its program will need to be accredited. That would come in July of 2012.
“There is a very large amount of work to be done, but it does look very encouraging,” said Mann.
Garfield does not expect any shortage of medical school graduates to apply.
“Combine our location, quality of facility and programs we're offering, we'll be able to fill our slots with high-quality, recent graduates from medical schools.”
Garfield also said the hospital hopes to attract medical school graduates from University of California at Merced once that newest UC develops its medical school.
“Since 1961 Kaweah Delta Hospital has grown to be a regional medical center and when we add a graduate medical education center, we'll be a regional training center,” said Garfield.
Amgen Excites Smaller Cities
By Rick
Elkins
One of the world's most prestigious bicycle races – the 2010 Amgen Tour of California – will roar into and out of some of the county's smallest and less known cities, but the exposure they will get is worth its weight in gold and the communities are excited to be a part of the race that attracts international attention.
Last week the route for Stage 5 of the eight-stage race was announced. It will begin in Visalia at 10:45 on the morning of May 20, and after about a 15 minute pace lap through the streets of Visalia, the racers will take off at approximately 11 a.m. from Walnut Avenue and Lovers Lane.
From there, with speeds hitting as fast as 45 mph, the pack of what is expected to be at least 75 racers will make its way to the foothills of Tulare County and through the communities of Farmersville, Exeter, Lindsay and Strathmore, before racing through Porterville and into the higher foothills, eventually finishing at Bakersfield College.
It is expected the riders will reach Farmersville at about 11:03, Exeter at 11:14, Lindsay at 11:33 and then pass through Strathmore at 11:46. The riders will arrive in Porterville about noon, and leave that community approximately 15 minutes later. The race is scheduled to end in Bakersfield between 3:15 and 4 p.m.
All cities, including Visalia, are making plans to make the day special, even if that is for a few minutes.
Exeter
“Absolutely,” responded Exeter Mayor Ted Macaulay about being excited that the race is going through his city. A recreational bicyclist himself who followed the racers last year as they went from Visalia to Paso Robles, Macaulay said he is excited that his city will bet “its five minutes of fame.”
While no plans are set,
he said the city will encourage the schools to allow as
many students as possible to see the riders as they go down
Pine Street and Rocky Hill.
“This could conceivably be a once in a lifetime opportunity,”
he said, adding they will likely also encourage people to
come downtown early, eat and shop before the riders hit
town.
Visalia
Visalia will not only be host to the start of the race on the morning of May 20, but Chamber of Commerce CEO Glenn Morris said this year the riders and their support teams are expected to stay in Visalia the night before the race. Last year, Stage 4 finished in Clovis and the riders stayed there, driving down to Visalia on the morning of the Feb. 18 race.
“We think they (riders) will be out and about and mingle with the community,” Morris said, adding the local Amgen committee will pay the bill for housing about 300 people. Each of the 16 teams is made up of about 16 people including eight riders. Then there are the race officials and other support staff that need to be housed.
“The committee has to raise the money for the rooms and to feed 300 people,” he explained. However, he said, it is a plus to have the riders stay in Visalia, further exposing the positives of the community and giving local residents a better chance to see the riders, especially on the morning of the race.
“The experience we're going to get on the morning will certainly be enhanced,” he said.
While plans are still being finalized, Morris said they are hoping to put together a community event the night before the race. That likely will be at the Garden Street Plaza at Main Street and while it is unlikely the riders will be there, many of the officials and support crews could be.
And, that morning there will be more activity by the race teams.
“I think it will be a cool behind-the-scenes thing,”
Visalia is also planning its sponsor race like it did last year before the start. That will probably be about 9:30.
Because the start of the race will be at Main and Garden, Morris said it will create more of a connection between the fans and the racers.
Morris is also excited that Visalia is once again a host. He said the exposure as a tourist area is huge and by putting on the event it shows others that Visalia can certainly play host to a large sporting event.
“We're starting to get in front of those people who make decisions on where events are held,” he said.
Porterville
Donnette Silva-Carter, CEO of the Prterville Chamber of Commerce, is definitely pleased that the race will showcase her city.
“We're pretty excited. It lets us capitalize on the event and we are looking forward to it,” she said.
Porterville will get the riders for the most time of any city outside of Visalia. The riders will come into town on North Plano over Rocky Hill, and then make their way to Main Street through the downtown area, before back to Plano and south out of town.
Especially exciting is that a sprint finish is planned in Porterville. Those are where racers can earn points by being first to certain points along the race route. That could be on Main Street.
Silva-Carter said they will also work with the schools to allow as many children as possible to see the race as it passes by. They also are planning on events downtown in front of city hall and Centennial Park and will encourage residents to have lunch downtown as they await the arrival of the racers.
Lindsay
The first sprint line will be in the city of Lindsay, an exciting prospect to see at least some of the racers at full speed as they hit the line.
By the time the pack hits Lindsay it could be spread out a bit, but it should only be a few minutes from the time the first racer hits the city and the last departs.
Still, Lindsay wants to take full advantage of the opportunity and city officials are hoping to get as many people downtown as possible.
“It's going to be an hour, two hours of inconvenience for five minutes of viewing,” said Lindsay City Services Director Michael Camarena. He was one of the local people who helped design the Stage 5 route.
He said the route will go by two schools – Jefferson and Washington – and eventually past Strathmore Elementary a few miles south of Lindsay.
The riders will also pass through the newly completed roundabout at Hermoza and Elmwood, something Camarena said should be a good place for viewing.
Few Solutions to Water Crisis
WAE Speakers Said Short-term Fixes Are Unlikely
Dan Dooley of Visalia, vice president with the University of California at Davis Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, David Nawi, Sacramento director with the Department of Interior, and Dick Moss, former head of the Friant-Water Users Authority, all agreed that a long-term solution is the best answer to the problems with the Delta and the shortage of water for California farmers.
Dooley, a Visalia attorney, played a key role in the San Joaquin River settlement that is designed to restore the salmon population on the San Joaquin River. He said the key to the long-term solution is a resolution of Delta conveyance, such as a peripheral canal or some other way to move water around the Delta.
“It's going to be a challenge and take many years,” he told a crowd of about 50 people.
Dooley did offer some short-term solutions, such as the 2-Gate proposal many ag interest support that would be designed to protect smelt and young Salmon from the massive pumps that send water to the south. However, that experimental program has been put on hold for more study, a move Dooley questioned.
“It's not sensible to delay an experiment of something that is to develop information for long-term solutions,” he said.
He said it would also be helpful to get the two biological opinions on the Delta – one on the smelt and one on the salmon – to be consistent with the other.
Nawi provided less hopeful analysis of the crisis that saw hundreds of thousands of farm land idled this past summer and has threatened the east side water supply from Friant Dam.
Saying we live in “difficult times” Nawi said the only possible solutions this year would be a large snowpack, but he said it will not be a quick fix to problems that have been decades in the making.
“You have limited resources. The Delta is in trouble and there are no short-term solutions,” he said.
He said the Interior Department is dedicated to finding a solution to both restore the Delta ecosystem and improve water supply, but it will take time, although he is hopeful that at least a draft plan to move water around the Delta could be finalized by the end of this year.
Moss, who managed much of the water for Eastside growers for many years, said that if solutions are not found soon and should Eastside water go away, then 600,000 acres of farmland could go unproductive in the south Valley.
He said the lack of surface water is greatly impacting the underground water supply and that it is reasonable to assume that use of groundwater will be regulated within 10 years.
“What's happening here in the San Joaquin Valley, it's not pretty picture,” said Moss.
Launched in County
Tulare County - A prescription drug discount program allowing significant savings for Tulare County residents, regardless of age, income or health status, has been launched.
The free Rx cards being distributed may be used at all pharmacy chains and most independent pharmacies in the county and include more than 60,000 drugs. Prescriptions for pets also are included.
The program was announced Tuesday at a press conference at the Board of Supervisors chambers.
Tulare County becomes the eighth of 10 California counties which have or are in the process of participating in the Coast2Coast Rx program.
Martin Dettelbach, chief marketing officer for Financial Marketing Concept, Inc., said participants have saved an average of 38 percent on prescriptions and the average savings in California is slightly higher. Thirty-five counties nationwide are participating with an estimated 300 to 500 expected to be involved by the end of this year, Dettelbach said. Stanislaus, Alameda and San Joaquin counties are among those participating and have reported significant savings.
There is no public money being spent on the program. Tulare County will receive a royalty of 50 to 75 cents per filled prescription. That money comes from the company's share of the prescription dispensing fee charge charged by pharmacists.
With more than 60,000 drugs on the list and no estimate of how many participants will be involved, it will be some time to determine just how much money the county will receive. Revenues will go to support various county health services. Supervisor Steve Worthley suggested the funds might help in securing state or federal health care grants or special funding.
Dettelbach explained that about 80 percent of all prescriptions filled include the $5 to $10 dispensing fee, a portion of that fee goes to advertising and promotions and his company gets a part of that.
Delletbach said pharmacies like Wal-Mart and others which offered $ 4 and $9 or $10 prescriptions generally don't charge the dispensing fees, or if they do, they are minimal.
Dettelbach said Financial Marketing Concepts, Inc. “is clear” of ties to any drug companies.
Dr. Karen Haught, Public Health officer for Tulare County, said the program should go a long way in helping the majority of county residents cope with medical care and she expects many will take advantage as they become aware of the program.
Cards are being distributed at all county pharmacies, county libraries, health clinics, the Health and Human Services Agency or by calling 737-4660 or FMC Co at 1-800-797-3020. Cards can be downloaded and printed by visiting.
Allison Lambert, HHSA media specialist, said family members living outside Tulare County can also get the cards.
Tulare County - Retired city and county employees are presenting a financial challenge to local governments already struggling in this tight economy.
All are paying more money into the Public Employment Retirement System to compensate for the decreased value of the system's investments. Some are also sharing part of increased health care costs for their retirees.
“We're like everyone else; the value of our fund dropped 25 percent,” said Tulare County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau. “We're very concerned about its effect on future budgets.
“Unlike a lot of PERS agencies, we don't have a Cadillac plan,” Rousseau said, noting that the county's pension plan is 2 percent at 50, which means, for example, someone who has worked for the county for 20 years would receive 2 percent of their salary for each of those years – resulting in 40 percent of their salary as an annual pension.
“We're still struggling,” he added. The county pays $20-$25 million a year into PERS, which includes its current employees as well as its retirees. “We, as any employer, make matching payments.”
“A lot of the cities in this county have better retirement plans – or did,” Rousseau said. “What agencies were doing up and down the state was recruiting for better employees.”
Rousseau said the board of supervisors didn't use benefits as a recruiting tool. “The board didn't think it was sustainable. I think the board has taken a prudent, fiscally responsible approach.”
As a result of this approach, while Fresno County has a pension debt of $500 million, Tulare County has a current debt of $11 million, but plans to make a $5.7 million payment in August and a $6.3 million payment in August 2011 to pay off that debt.
Tulare County doesn't offer post-employment medical insurance and as a result, “health care is not an issue with the county,” said Rousseau.
Visalia
The city of Visalia needs to pay $2.6 million into the PERS fund this year to help make up for the decreased value of investments in the recent economic downturn.
The city will be paying a similar amount “for at least 15 years unless we have some gains in our PERS interest,” said Eric Frost, the city's administrative services director.
About 77 percent of that money is for the pensions of current employees; 23 percent is for those already retired.
“They look at what your payroll is and decide what percentage you have to put in the pot,” Frost said.
The city's PERS plan is 3 percent at 50 for its safety (police and fire) employees, and its miscellaneous employees hired before July 2008 are at 3 percent at 60. New miscellaneous workers are hired at the rate of 2.5 percent at 55.
Health insurance for retirees is a heated issue in Visalia, where the city subsidizes health insurance for its qualifying former employees. This policy is based on the city's administrative policy which reads, “Retirees are eligible for medical and vision at a cost determined each year by the city.”
“We spend about $2 million a year on retirees' health benefits,” said Frost.
Many former city employees contend that the city promised them it would pay for their health insurance when they retired.
“The only promise the city has made is the city would give retirees access to our medical plan,” Frost said. “Most other cities allow their employees access to health benefits but they do it at cost. We do it at subsidized cost.”
Tulare
The city of Tulare pays its public safety employees 3 percent at 50, and 2.7 percent at 55 for its other employees, according to City Manager Darrel Pyle.
Tulare is among the cities that provides its retirees access to health insurance at cost. “Our retirees have access to our health care program but they pay full cost,” said Pyle. “A handful of retirees choose to keep the benefits, but they pay the costs so it has no financial impact on the city.”
Dinuba
“We have probably the most basic plan, 2 percent at 55 for all city employees,” said City Manager Ed Todd about Dinuba's PERS plan. “Under the plan, they get 40 percent of their highest annual salary as their retirement as long as they are alive.”
The plan calls for employees to pay into it for 20 years. That money is invested and the benefits are paid to the retiree. “In theory,” there should be enough money to pay retirement benefits, Todd said. “In practice, cities pay at least half of it, generally 7 percent of an employee's salary.
Dinuba also contributes to its retirees' health insurance.
“In our city, if you work here 15 (continuous) years and have reached retirement age, then we will pay your medical insurance up until the age of 65, basically for 10 years, then you go on Medicare,” Todd said. “I think at this point, we only have one or two employees (in that category).” He added that the city budgets $75,000 annually for its retiree health benefits, even though the actual expense is much lower.
Porterville
The city of Porterville pays into PERS at the rate of 3 percent at 55 for its public safety workers and 2 percent at 55 for its miscellaneous employees.
The city subsidizes a portion of retirees' health care costs up to age 65, said Patrice Hildreth, the city's administrative services manager. The formula is based on service time and age.
Lindsay
The city of Lindsay pays into PERS at the rate of 2 percent at 55 for its miscellaneous employees and 3 percent at 55 for its safety workers, according to City Manager Scot Townsend.
Lindsay provides 50 percent of the health care benefits for its retirees, 50 years of age and older, who have worked for the city for at least 15 years. This benefit, which lasts until the retiree reaches the age of 65 and qualifies for Medicare, has not had a major financial impact on the city. “There are only two who have taken advantage of this insurance,” said Townsend, noting that the cost to the city is about $9,400 a year.
Exeter
The city of Exeter is also with PERS. Its plan is 3 percent at 60 for its miscellaneous employees and 3 percent at 55 for its safety employees, according to Acting City Administrator Felix Ortiz, who said that the city currently has two retirees receiving PERS benefits.
The city doesn't provide any health benefits to its retirees. “They can go with the same company, but they won't be grouped with the city,” Ortiz said.
Farmersville
The city of Farmersville PERS plan is 2 percent at 55 for its public safety employees and 2 percent at 60 for its miscellaneous employees. The city joined PERS in 1998 and “has played catch-up ever since,” said City Manager Rene Miller.
Farmersville pays “22
cents on the dollar” for its employees, according
to Miller. “When the stock market drops, the 22 cents
may go to 30 cents on the dollar.”
The city doesn't provide health benefits to its retirees.
“I won't let them do that,” Miller said. “We
can't afford it. Once they go, they're on their own.”
Woodlake
The city of Woodlake is in PERS for both its retirement and medical plans.
“In Woodlake, the employer (the city) pays the employees' share,” said City Administrator William Lewis.
In the 1990s, the city didn't have to make any payments to PERS, “because the stock market was doing so well,” Lewis said. “At the time, they were beating the PERS projections. Now, it's the opposite.”
The stock market decline is expected to cost Woodlake $100,000 a year, “probably for 15 to 20 years,” Lewis said. The city's regular annual payment of about $150,000 has increased to $250,000. Nineteen of the 49 people in the program are retirees.
The city pays about $110 a month to partially subsidize insurance for its retirees. “Since we are with PERS, statutorily they are allowed to opt into the PERS program, with a required contribution from the city,” Lewis explained. He added that only one or two retirees are in the program.
“We've only been in PERS Medical for about five years,” he said. “They (PERS) went back to all employees to ask them if they wanted to be in the program. A lot of folks already had other insurance.”
Pension Reform?
There are at least two proposed ballot measures that would reform pensions in the state.
“The measures would basically mandate maximums to the formulas,” Hildreth said. “You can still maintain the system, just reduce it to 2 percent. It would save the cities money.”
“This would potentially change pensions to reflect how things are now,” Rousseau said, estimating that the rate would be 2 percent at 57. “That's what was historically in place for 40 years, up until the last 10 years.”
The proposed measures are complicating things in the city of Tulare.
“We're working right now on a new formula for new hires,” Pyle said. “We can come up with one and then the voters will come up with something else entirely.”
SECOND FRONT PAGE
What's New
Ding, Ding, Ding. Taco Bell is planning a new restaurant in Visalia on North Dinuba Boulevard. City Housing and Economic Development Director Ricardo Noguera said the fast-foot restaurant chain is looking at building just north of the Food 4 Less shopping center.
Sales are Up. Target Corporation reported that its net retail sales for the four weeks ending Jan. 30, 2010 were $4.289 million, an increase of 3.6 percent from $4.138 million for the four weeks ending at the same time last year. Macy's reported total sales of $1.255 billion for the four weeks ending on Jan. 30, an increase of 3.4 percent compared with total sales of the same period in 2009. For the 13-week fourth quarter of fiscal 2009, Macy's sales totaled $7.851 billion, down 1.0 percent from total sales of $7.934 billion for the final 13 weeks of 2008.
Dog ordinance on hold. The city of Exeter's proposed ordinance that restrict from the city certain breeds of dogs deemed dangerous, is on hold, said Mayor ted Macaulay. He said a lot of people passionate about their animals turned out for a recent council meeting to discuss the issue and that led the council to turn the matter over to a committee for further study,.
Didn't make this list and that's good. Tulare County did not make the list of the one of the most economically stressed counties in the nation, but nine other California counties did, led by Imperial County at No. 1 and Merced County at No. 2. In the Valley, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties also made the list.
Saputo Cheese company which has three plants in Tulare, reported net earnings for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 totaled $104.3 million, an increase of $46.5 million or 80.4% compared to $57.8 million for the same quarter last fiscal year.
Waste Management Inc. announced it will not take nuclear waste at its Kettleman Hills landfill. In a letter to the California Environmental Protection Agency, Robert Henry, Waste Management's senior district manager, said the company had voluntarily decided not to accept solid or hazardous wastes from any portion of the Santa Susana Field Lab.
Visalia City Council has declared Visalia as a Federal Recovery Zone as part of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009 that could make both public and private projects available for low-interest loans. The city was left out of the first round of funding because it was no so designated and city Director of Housing and Economic Development Ricardo Noguera says the designation hopefully will put the city in line for some of the money that is available to help finance a broad range of capital projects.
State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) was honored by the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce for a 12-0 perfect voting score for 2009 for supporting measures promoting job growth.
By Rick Elkins
Visalia - When Stan Carrizosa looks back on his nine years as superintendent of the Visalia Unified School District, one number will stand out – 5,064 more kids are proficient in English and math than there were six years ago.
“We just improved the quality of living for 5,064 kids. That's what drives us,” he said of himself and his staff Friday as he reflected on his tenure in Visalia.
Carrizosa announced last week he is leaving VUSD to assume the position of superintendent at Burbank Unified School District in Southern California. His departure has been received with sadness by many in the community.
“It's a shame to see him go,” said Visalia City Manager Steve Salomon. “I've worked with a lot of superintendents and he's the best by far. He is a tremendous leader.”
Carrizosa took over a Visalia school district that was struggling. The two previous superintendents each lasted just a short while. Test scores were down, so was morale.
Today, VUSD is highly respected, test scores are way up, morale is up and the cooperation between the district and the city is at an all-time high.
“It sure feels good,” Carrizosa said as he noted VUSD is now the “highest-performing” unified district in the county with an average state test score of 747 “on a path to (a score of) 800.” He said the district's API score has grown 124 points over the past six years.
However, it is that 5,064 figure that he is most proud of. “We know how powerful that is. If a kid is proficient, they are going to succeed,” he said.
He gave credit to both his staff and the school board members he has served. He said all helped to build creditability, trust and relationship.
“You build things that last beyond yourself,” he said.
COS President Dr. Bill Scroggins noted his respect for Carrizosa in his weekly president's report:
“We will all miss Stan Carrizosa. It has been a pleasure during my four years here at COS to have such a visionary, passionate colleague. Stan is soft-spoken and chooses his words carefully and strategically for maximum impact. He and I worked on many partnerships, and I always found him to be honest, ethical, and straight-forward. He is a man I trust unequivocally, and I do not say that about many.”
Salomon said Carrizosa will be missed. “It's a huge loss. Visalia has been fortunate to have had him.”
VUSD Board President Jim L. Qualls echoed those sentiments in a prepared statement:
“He is an excellent superintendent, considered by search consultants to be one of the top candidates in the state. It has been Visalia's good fortune to have him share his leadership, hard work, talents, dedication, and sincere, personal commitment to VUSD.”
Many Accomplishments
Carrizosa came to VUSD in 2001 after serving as superintendent of Dinuba Unified for several years. A native of Dinuba and a graduate of Dinuba High School, Carrizosa fast-tracked into a leadership position in school administration and became superintendent in Dinuba in 1994 at the age of 34 before coming to Visalia in 2001.
He admitted that when he took over in Visalia,
things could not have gotten much worse. Fortunately, he
said, “We had a community that wanted their school
system to get better. The formula was to work hard and be
consistent.”
While he did inherit the passage of Measure G – a
$42 million bond measure – he said the district had
not done its “due diligence” in preparing to
be in line for state matching funds. “We leveraged
$42 million in Measure G funds to $124 million total, using
developer fees and state money.”
The district opened five new elementary schools and a new high school over six years – an ambitious effort. “To have six schools open in that time was just monumental. It builds community and neighborhood pride,” he said.
The fact nearly half of the emails he has received since announcing his leaving have been from staff is overwhelming, he said.
He said teachers are happy, even in these tough economic times, and. the rise in test scores is an indication they are happy and committed.
A Good Opportunity
Carrizosa said the move comes at a good time for him and will allow him and his wife to be closer to their children, now both in college in Southern California.
His son is not only attending UC Irvine, but is pursuing a career in entertainment. He won the reality series High School Musical competition a couple of years ago and has a manager and an agent. The Carrizosa's daughter is getting ready to graduate from Long Beach State University with a degree in dance and her father said she is seeking a career in the entertainment industry as well.
“It is this commitment to family that prompted my interest in this particular recruitment offer. Burbank Unified is in the heart of the entertainment industry, home to corporate offices for Warner Bros., Disney, Burbank Studios, and other major entertainment leaders,” he noted in a press release.
Burbank came looking for him about two weeks ago, he said. While he has had other districts court him, Burbank seemed a good fit and the timing was right.
He will take over a district that has far fewer students and campuses than Visalia Unified. Burbank has 17,000 students with just two high schools. Carrizosa said all the schools' API scores are above 800.
“I'm excited about the opportunity to learn about an urban setting,” he said.
And, he will still be around. Both he and his wife have lots of family in Dinuba. He also has relatives in southern California.
Carrizosa will serve out his contract which ends on June 30 and hopes to assist in a smooth transition to a new superintendent.
Visalia - If the funding can be found, then a one-way Main Street could be extended from Garden to Santa Fe by the end of this year.
No opposition has surfaced to a plan that would end the two-way traffic along that stretch of Main St., said Visalia Engineering Services Manager Adam Ennis. At a public meeting last week, only one citizen showed up and he indicated he favored the plan.
The idea to extend the one-way traffic came out of discussions regarding Mangano Development's Main Street Promenade development on the north side of Main Street between Bridge and Santa Fe.
The developer and city were looking at ways to improve the sidewalk along that development and Ennis said it became apparent reconfiguring the street made good sense.
“The more we looked at it, trying to keep it at two-way was real clumsy,” said Ennis.
Mangano is planning on constructing a three-story development on the block, with demolition of what at one time was the Larson Hotel expected to begin within 90 days. Steve Peck, vice president with Mangano, said they could begin construction on the first phase of the project later this year. That would most likely be at the corner of Bridge and Main Street, said Peck.
Once built out, Mangano will have about 60,000 square feet of retail and office space. While the plan right now is to build it out in possibly three phases, Peck said they could end up doing it all at once, or in just two phases. It all depends on the market, he said.
Plans call for diagonal parking on both sides of Main Street, just as it is west of Church. Ennis said the goal is to replicate the look of Main Street all the way to Santa Fe, where two-way traffic would begin. What are called bulb outs – where the sidewalk extends where there are crossings – would be installed at all intersections.
Another motivation for the conversion is to provide more parking along Main Street. Peck and Ennis said they estimate it could add as many as 20 more parking spaces along the two blocks.
Also being considered is changing Garden Street to one-way – southbound – again to add more parking.
Sgt. Brian Winter, with the Visalia Police traffic division, said adding more parking would be a plus. “That's a benefit for us,” said Winter, who also oversees parking enforcement in the city.
Both Peck and Ennis said they had met with
many of the business owners and they have been supportive
of the idea.
“They had concerns before when the city tried this,”
but they feel now those have been addressed, said Peck,
adding that Acequia Street being two-way has made the conversion
easier.
“They all seem to be good with it,” added Ennis.
The next step is to get city council approval and then come up with the money to improve the sidewalks and convert the street to one way. Ennis said his very rough estimate is about $300,000, but Mangano will pay for all the improvements along its frontage – about a fourth of the project.
By Miles Shuper
Tulare Country - Currently it takes almost four days to backup the county's computer data and restore it for use, a process which the county's Information Technology officials say takes too long and is too costly.
Peg Yeates, the county's IT Department administrator, said the department is running two separate backup systems, Arcserve for the main county system and Backup Express for the Health and Human Services Agency.
But that is about to change with an upgrading which will cut the time considerably, Yeates said. It is, she said, a major step toward as close to a “paperless” information system as possible.
County supervisors recently approved the purchase of a new backup system at a cost of about $1.5 million. A big chunk of the cost, nearly $1 million, will be paid by the State Health and Human Services Agency. The rest comes from already budgeted county funds.
Under the current system, the county has to have expertise in systems, hardware, software and manpower resources for both systems. The current backup system, she said, is designed for disaster recovery and not for data recovery. In a report to supervisors, Yeates states, “This means if a server fails IT can bring up new hardware and restore from the last weekly full backup and last night's daily backup. However, if someone needs a file that was deleted on a Wednesday three months ago, it is unlikely IT will be able to recover it.”
She said her department “currently is running out of time during the weekends to perform backups with our current hardware and software. We start the backups as early as possible on Friday and continue into Monday morning.” Sometimes, the process goes into Monday afternoons. The new system, expected to be totally operational in May, should be able to handle that job in perhaps four hours, she explained, allowing staff to catch up on tasks super ceded by the backup operation. The current system, Yeates said, “only supports three of the ten commands that Oracle supports that we can use in test, development and the tuning arena.”
Yeates said, “We need to change our primary backup system to a disk-to-disk backup and then move the disc backup to tape. This will allow us more flexibility and faster restores. We also need to be able to backup and restore our county data within time lines that support our county business.”
She explained that the current system takes
nearly four days to restore 1 terabyte (TB) of data. A terabyte
equates to about three million pictures or a half million
songs. On average, the county system handles about 60 terabytes
of data for nearly all county functions including building
permits, property information the auditor and controller's
office and other agencies including the sheriff's department.
Court records generally are handled though the state's judicial
system.
As the county grows, she said, the need for a reliable and
efficient system which can store information as well as
have as quickly as access as possible grows.
Yeates described the Syncsort backup system as state of the art. Since the county is contracted with the same vendor there should be minimal transition time when the installation is completed.
County Executive Officer Jean Rousseau said the latest updating of the IT system is simply the latest step in what has been a concentrated effort to keep pace with the continuing growth of information collection, processing, storage and retrieval. That Rousseau said, was a key factor in forming IT into a separate department more than a year ago.
The above stories are the property of The Valley Voice Newspaper and may not be reprinted without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
February 18, 2010
