The past four weeks have been a whirlwind of activity at the Graham Casa. Married son Kyle (26) started the process of shopping for a first home, son Jarad (24) broke his tibia and fibula playing soccer so has been in a wheelchair or crutches 24/7, son Brett (22) came home from Baghdad for a leave and has since returned to Iraq, and me... I am going through another stage of life. After 33 years in education, I retired effective September 1. I need to do something different so I will be out pounding doors. It's still great to be young, if not in body but in mind. Oh, wife Denise will still be working at least another 10 years.
1. Youth sports are such a major part of CH life and I know numerous parents and coaches have questions about how fields are allocated. The City Council adopted a Field Allocation Policy which covers City and School District fields. Staff and representatives for EACH organization meet on a bi-yearly basis regarding the allocation of fields to all qualified users. A qualified user must meet the following standards: a) First priority is given to organizations with 90% Chino Hills residents. b) Second priority is given to organizations with 70-89% Chino Hills residents. c) Length of service to the community and the previous season's field allocations are also part of the criteria. d) Baseball and Softball receive priority for the months of January through July. e) Soccer and Football receive priority for the months of August through December. The leadership in each sport decides the field spaces, and NOT city staff. The leadership share and trade with each other.
2. So here are the 5 "Most Popular Questions asked of the City" pertaining to CH Youth Sports Organizations. A) What involvement does the City have with each youth sports organization? The City is ONLY responsible for the allocation of City and School District fields. Each group is responsible for specific practice and game schedules based on the fields received through the field allocation process. B) How do we find out what fields my team is to use for practices and games? Once confirmed, it is the responsibility of each league to share with its membership what specific times and locations are available. C) How are the registration fees determined for each league and why do I have to do a fundraiser as part of my child's participation? The City has nothing to do with the establishment of league fees for each group. In fact, it is the City's policy to completely stay out of the day-to-day operations of each group. D) I am a coach of a team and would like to utilize the park closest to my house for practice. How can I make that happen? It is imperative that each coach check with your league's representatives for which group has been allocated which field. With over 3,500 participants throughout the many leagues within the City you can bet most if not all facilities have been allocated. So to minimize potential on field issues it best to check before you use. E) How do I find out information about an organization in another sport? Have you checked out The City News and Recreation Brochure, which is distributed on a quarterly basis to all Chino Hills residents? It has a great resource page with phone numbers and can be downloaded from the City's award winning website: www.chinohills.org
3. Rainfall in SoCal is at its lowest level in recorded history dating to 1877. Governor Arnold, the Metropolitan Water District, and water agencies have declared a "Water Supply Alert," urging public water agencies to achieve extraordinary conservation. Agencies are urging customers to use water as efficiently as possible this summer and through the remainder of 2008 due to unprecedented water supply challenges. For the past year, to help drought-proof the City, Chino Hills has stepped up its water conservation program. Council has already adopted a resolution encouraging voluntary water conservation programs like our "20-Gallon Challenge." The Council established a Water Supply Reduction Program Committee in December. This ad-hoc committee is comprised of a representative from the City Council (me), each of the commissions, and supported by staff. The goal of the committee was to revise our water conservation ordinance and address matters related to violations and penalties. The current drought conditions necessitated the need for a stricter, more enforceable ordinance. These revised restrictions primarily address outdoor activities since the preponderance of water waste is irrigation intended for lawns and landscape. Our staff constantly states that you, residents of CH, are extremely conscientious and implement the Stage II Water Conservation Alert with few problems. It speaks to our residents' concern about this important issue. By the way, The Stage II Alert is NOT a rationing program. The alert addresses water waste and prohibits excessive water use due to broken or incorrectly programmed irrigation systems and uncontrolled watering with hoses. There is no mandatory reduction being imposed at this time. More info will get into the water bill shortly.
4. I had several emails about two water issues... having a water feature at the government center and building a splash pad. A) The water fountain will be designed using a water recirculation system. The new Government Center will provide a "center" for our community. While we do have many parks and recreation facilities, we have a real shortage of public places like what we have designed here. The Government Center is very nice but not luxurious. It is designed to be a very practical, low maintenance, multi-purpose facility. The fountain is the only purely aesthetic feature in the Center and I feel it will serve the community well. B) The council is reviewing a plan for a splash pad (Wikipedia has an excellent description) at Butterfield Park which would be approximately 30' x 40' in size. I asked about which specific amenities would be included, the time of use, which sports would be affected by loss of the turf, how is the system operated, compatibility, vandal proof, etc. The cost would be around $300K and monies would be taken from our current project lists or from reserves. I am not in favor of using our "reserves" cash for this project.
5. Are you interested in helping your community? Here are three resident based, city sponsored activities you can join: A) Youth Accountability Board (YAB) Hearing Panel - This program is a positive option available to first-time, nonviolent juvenile offenders and their families. A Social Investigator interviews the juvenile, parents, and school. Adult volunteers, serving on a Hearing Panel, meet with the juvenile and parents and devise a "contract." Year-to-date we have 16 current cases from probation, 8 were returned to probation because of new offenses or probation requested them back, 8 hearings held, 5 completed contracts and 3 are still open. B) The purpose of the Seniors Assisted by Visiting Volunteers and Youth (SAVVY) program is to improve the quality of life, health, nutrition and safety of homebound senior residents of the City by utilizing adult and youth Volunteers. The program's goal is to provide support for homebound and senior residents. Volunteers in this program are matched with seniors or homebound residents and can assist them by providing companionship. Currently SAVVY has 7 seniors matched with volunteers. C) Sign up for the Citizens Academy. To date we've had 105 residents graduate from the Citizens Academy, which begins September 8th. The Citizens Academy is a free program designed for residents to receive a well-rounded overview of municipal government and the services, tools, and resources available to all residents. The class curriculum includes: The Neighborhood Network Program Overview, City Government Organization Pt. 1 & 2, and probably the most important section titled - Neighborhood Problem-solving.
6. The traffic signal at Slate and Soquel Canyon was approved by the city council and installation will occur shortly.
7. The grand opening of our new facility, the CH Police Station, celebrated its opening in August. This facility is a major upgrade for our dedicated officers and I hope the new digs makes our top-notch officers even more effective. City Hall is planning a November opening with the Library opening in January.
8. With the opening of schools for the vast majority of students, I thought sharing of the academic kudos for our excellent schools is important. 1) Our Chino Valley Unified School District schools lead the County in Academic Performance Index (API) results. There are eleven elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools in Chino Hills. 2) Four CH elementary schools have scored above 900 API for 2007. That is a remarkable feat and way above the state's goal of 800 API. 3) Five other CH elem. schools and both middle schools have scored above 800 in API for 2007. 4) Country Springs Elementary has been designated as a National Blue Ribbon School for 2007 and a California Distinguished School in 2006. You cannot do any better than that! 5) Los Serranos Elementary was named an Academic Achievement School in 2006. 6) Wickman Elementary named California Distinguished School in 2008.
9. I love this new Thai restaurant that opened in CH several months ago. "Swasdee" is located next to Roscoe's and serves great food. The owners are invested in our community and provide great service too.
10. During the famous earthquake last month cell phone systems crashed right after the quake due to the tremendous amount of calls attempted into and out of the system. So the towers didn't go down - it was all of us calling our loved ones. This does have implications in a major emergency; i.e. how will we contact rescue personnel to come in?
11. "Neighbor National Night Out" occurred in early August and we had 27 neighborhood groups totaling 1,000 residents hang out, eat, and get to know each other. The object is to build relationships within the group so we can help each other. Each group got a visit by police, fire, and even your elected officials.
12. Can this be true? In 2006, the top 5% of tax filers paid 60% of the tax burden in this country. The bottom 50% paid 3%.
13. In California, there are 16 Indian casinos being considered by the Department of Interior.
14. The past month I received calls about homes with peeling paint, about front yards not being maintained, about trashcans left out for everyone to see, about garage doors in poor condition. This affects all property values in our neighborhood. This is why we have a Code Enforcement Department. The purpose of the Code Enforcement Program is to preserve the quality of life in Chino Hills by maintaining and improving the general appearance, safety, and property values of the City's residential neighborhoods and commercial districts. CH has a reactive program that deals with property maintenance and safety. All inquires and reports are anonymous and you are protected from retaliation. It is a "reactive" program for property complaints and "proactive" for health and safety issues. Our reactive program responds to complaints received from the public. Code Enforcement Officers rely on residents to inform them of substandard property conditions that exist in the city. They do not accept anonymous complaints to ensure that Officers have someone to follow-up with for additional information and to minimize spiteful neighbor vs. neighbor complaints. All complaints are confidential and yes, I checked with our lawyer on that one. Officers proactively enforce health and safety violations and do not require a complaint from residents. Here are some general guidelines. The Officers first seek voluntary compliance by issuing a Notice of Violation whenever a complaint is confirmed by an investigation. Most residents fix their violation after being informed of the code requirements. This works for about half of all violators. If the house is a rental, the property owner and renter are notified. If voluntary compliance is not achieved, the case may be escalated to include criminal prosecution and/or administrative citations that include fines. In 2007/08 we opened 1,163 code cases. The majority of our cases were Neighborhood Issues (39%) and another 37% were Public Nuisance complaints (dogs, squawking birds, etc). Only 22 cases were referred to the City Attorney for prosecution.
15. Months ago the City updated its Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Master Plan, which found residents wanted a public swimming pool as the number one item. Lap Swim, Water Aerobics, Mommy and Me, Programs for kids and the stay-at-home mom would be consistently instituted 365 days. Hearing the importance of a pool, the City Council is considering a plan for a public pool, gymnasium, and community center at the current Civic Center site. In addition, a number of park enhancements and new projects were identified in the Master Plan: Big League Dreams, Bird Farm Park, the existing Civic Center site, Crossroads Park, English Springs Park, Galstian Park, Grand Avenue Park, Los Serranos Tennis Center, McCoy Equestrian Center, Mystic Canyon Recreation Building, Richland/Pinehurst Park, and Torrey Pines Park. The estimated construction for all the sites is around $50 million, which includes $8 million for the McCoy Equestrian expansion, which if built, would be funded by the McCoy Trust and not taxpayers.
16. General Fund Reserves (money set aside for a rainy day) for this year are estimated at approximately $14.2 million.
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