Our family life has reached another season of change. Within a matter of two weeks, our son Brett was hired by the Department of Defense, left the country, and now is working in Afghanistan for a year. Denise and I are happy for him since that is what he wants to do but you know, as a parent, 'it' is always on our mind. We will both need more hair color to get through the year. Another family milestone is that I have decided to join the social media circus. As an old guy I do learn new tricks, and tweets to my followers has been easy and enjoyable. You can just read my daily posts on twitter's web site or login to get them sent to you (read them from bottom to the top since I occasionally send two posts that go together). As I have been getting used to Tweets, next on the list is Facebook. I also am into Skype, which has been hilarious as my young adult sons enjoy me struggling with this new stuff. Just hooked iTunes into our home audio system and also am using a wireless speaker system for the garage (thanks to our sons). Yes, I am becoming 'hip'. Send me some feedback as to how the old guy is doing (I am 58, which is the new 41). Denise is teaching at Country Springs Elementary as a 2nd grade teacher and she is perfect for the young ones.
1. OKAY. It's time for another community meeting but we are moving to a DIFFERENT location. I would like to show off the redesigned McCoy Family House at the McCoy Equestrian Center on Thursday, Nov. 19th. This building can be paired with the barn to have your next major event or can be rented for smaller parties. Our meeting will start promptly at 7 pm inside the home, end by 8 and we can take a quick tour of the grounds too. McCoy Trust will spend around $1M on a third arena, permanent bathrooms, and a storage building. The community meetings are for sharing news and answering questions. Address: across the street from Ayala High School.
2. BOILER. Occasionally I mention a store or restaurant that in my opinion deserves your attention. A new restaurant at the Commons is "The Boiler". It is not a chain, nor owned by a major restaurateur. This southern, Cajun-style eatery is well worth a trip as the food is uniquely prepared in individual boilers. Say "hi' to owners Ritter or Jackson while you are there.
3. CARTEL. Our Chino Hills PD station was used as a jump-off spot for numerous officers from different agencies to go after a Mexican cartel operating in the US. This was the culmination of a two-year long investigation into the cartel and this sweep was one of many coordinated efforts all across the nation. They made many high-profile arrests, along with the seizure of weapons, narcotics and cash. There were no arrests in CH.
4. OBSERVATION. A resident complained that the new traffic patterns around Glenmeade Elementary are causing an unsafe condition for numerous children. I spent an afternoon and morning observing traffic and kids on Rolling Ridge Drive and Determined Way. I found the children were quite safe. They used the crosswalk, waited for cars, crossed legally, etc. Now, the speed of cars on RR was a concern to me. The humps were not much of a deterrent to speed so I have asked our traffic engineer to look at the situation.
5. HABITAT for Humanity will move their first house into CH in November. But they need more cash. An innovative fundraiser is the Dime-a-Day program where everyone in your family contributes a dime each day into a jar and drop the jar off on Nov. 21 from 1-4 PM at Aegis Retirement Community Center on Peyton near CHP. It's a day to celebrate our own family and to help out another one. I shall be there and you can meet the new family that will move into the home too.
6. BUMMER. I always get questions about the difficulty parking around the Community Park at major events. 'Why can't you build more parking near McCoy and have a connection on the north side of the park?' Good question and we have looked at that. However, there is a federally protected 'blue line' stream, under control of the Dept. of Fish and Game, that runs next to Community Park and we must stay 50' away from the stream, which effectively kills that idea.
7. MOLLY the dog update: She and her owners live in Chino Hills and Molly is now due for licensing through the Inland Valley Humane Society, the agency which contracts with the City for pet licensing. In accordance with California State Law, she cannot be licensed without a current rabies vaccination. Her vet states the vaccination would cause severe damage or death to Molly. The Inland Valley Humane Society has insisted that Molly receive her rabies vaccination since state law does not issue exemptions from rabies vaccination. We have asked the State Vet and the California Veterinary Medical Association to weigh in on the situation to see if they would support a process to allow exemptions for the rabies shot requirement in cases where vaccination is not medically advisable. The CVMA is having their Legislative Committee review the situation.
8. FIGURES. L.A. City Council Members are the highest paid city elected officials in the U.S. They get a salary of $14,906 per month, which is equal to the salary of superior court judges. In CH we are only slightly behind them at $610/month.
9. VBM. I have asked our city clerk to see if going to a vote by mail (VBM) program for our next election can save the city significant money. Since 35% of residents vote already by absentee, the cost of having all the precincts open and manned is high. But is the cost of doing a VBM election cheaper? Can't seem to get an answer from the county register yet. I hope for a timely answer soon. More to come.
10. VICE? I have also asked the city manager if the title of "mayor pro tem" can be changed to "vice mayor". Since we rotate our positions each year, the current pro tem steps into the Mayor slot. However, that title is confusing to most residents so a simple title like other cities use, such as vice mayor, is more explanatory. There is some resistance to change on the council so we will see what happens.
11. WIPEOUT. The Moto Mio Restaurant sign, which has been on a Shoppes building for a year, was just removed. It's a continuing sign of the times.
12. RENEWABLE. Update on those 200' Power Lines: Will the state allow SCE to run those lines through the middle of our residential community or force them to go through the State Park? The PUC is meeting in San Francisco and some type of ruling should occur before 2010. The city council has been spending our tax dollars to fight SCE and we will continue to do so to protect our city and its residents.
13. SPEED. Sometime in the middle of last month the traffic speed limit on Carbon Canyon dropped from 55 to 35 MPH without our knowledge. Was Caltrans really serious? They claim speed surveys told them to lower the limits. Seriously. After we got hold of the higher ups, the speed limit was returned to its normal limit. Bureaucracy at its finest.
14. CONGRATS to two community heroes as recognized by LA County Fair: adult winner is Judy Rogers, Caring for the Hills food bank, and CHHS student Anthony Amendariz for volunteering at numerous events.
15. WIRELESS. NextG Networks will soon install small wireless facilities on our city poles. They are a wireless wholesaler that will charge other companies to use their system to enhance cell coverage in our city.
16. TERMINATOR. Governor Arnold acted on 685 bills on the final day he had to do so. He signed 456 into law and vetoed 229. Once again, I didn't know we needed so many new laws.
17. SPEAK.TO.ME. An Emergency Communication Tower in the Carbon Canyon area is finally nearing completion. It is a 70foot, 800MHz antenna with an emergency generator. The facility benefits the health and safety of the surrounding community by supporting emergency radio dispatch and incident coordination for the Police, Fire, local ambulance provider, as well as any fire dept that responds to our wildland fires. I attended the official opening and it will be operational at the beginning of December.
18. CVS vs WAL. We have received this question from several residents, "Why did the city let CVS locate across from Walgreens on Peyton and CHP?" The city is not involved because it's a decision that private businesses make. Like Lowe's locating near Home Depots, it's a choice made in a free marketplace. We only have a say in the matter when the City of Chino Hills owns the land.
19. PROJECT. The Stonefield Project (28 large estate homes in Carbon Canyon) will have had a hearing in front of the council by the time you read this. The issue is whether they should be required to improve CC Road to the tune of $1.2M even though they only contribute 1% of traffic to the road. Here's the issue: how safe is it to get into the traffic of CC Road and whether a developer pays that price tag or something different.
20. PLANES. The Federal Aviation Administration handles "aircraft in the sky." Occasionally I get questions about plane traffic over CH so here is some general information. FAA is the agency that governs aircraft in flight as they establish patterns, routes, etc. There is no federal law regarding how long aircraft may remain over a residential area. Minimum height is1,000 feet above populated areas; the limit is set for safety not to mitigate noise impacts. The planes flying over Chino Hills are flying at about 9,000 feet to 7,000 as they descend into LAX. One thing the FAA won't do is shift noise. There is a local telephone number for the Aviation Noise Information Line for the Western Pacific Region - 310-725-3638 www.faa.gov
21. SPEEDS. I occasionally get questions regarding the speed limit on Fairfield Ranch Road. Unfortunately reducing the speed limit on Fairfield Ranch Road is not as simple as changing the sign. Any speed limit is dictated by a speed survey and must be within +/- 5 mph of the speed that 85% of drivers travel. We will evaluate whether it is time for a new survey and keep you informed.
22. ELECTRONIC. The city's Parks and Landscape division has changed all 200 of our manual water meters to 3G radio read water meters. All the meters can be read in minutes. This will enable staff to generate water use reports within one day of reading the meters, to track the water consumption, and conserve water more efficiently.
23. JOBS are still a major element of our economic recovery. Last month, CH advertised for a "Meter Reader" and received 275 applications in five days.
24. FAIRFACTS. Over 1,700 school kids from Chino Hills enjoyed their field trip to the LA County fair on CH Day. The day began with a Community Expo that ran from 9 to noon where kids were treated to interactive games, education displays, giveaways, and even the chance to make a "water cycle" bracelet. The Chino Hills Community Committee raised over $6,800 to pay for the school buses that brought the children to the fair that day.
25. CRAZY. The National Park Service is looking to add the San Gabriel Mountains as a NPS resource area. Remarkable, one of their options has the Puente-Chino Hills Corridor added into the study. The open land between Diamond Bar and CH off of Grand Ave. would become part of the San Gabriel Mountain resource area. It would be another layer of government on top of our city priorities. Pretty ridiculous.
26. GOOD? California is looking for a few good citizens. Proposition 11, which voters passed last year, will establish new district political boundaries for the state Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization. We need to get political seats out of the hands of California legislators. Instead, a 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission will be drawing those maps next year after the 2010 Census tallies its numbers. The state auditor's office will oversee the process of winnowing the applicants down to a 60-person pool of those most qualified. Applications will be accepted from Dec. 15 through Feb. 12 for the commission, which must be established by the end of 2010.
I thank the numerous people that stop me to say hello. As I wander through the grocery aisles, or sit in restaurants don't hesitate to stop and ask a question or register a complaint. It is part of the job that I was elected to do and I welcome your input.
Yours in service,
Council Member Ed
