March 30, 2005 - Top Stories
A roving county health inspector early last week shut down the VC Optimists’ roadside holiday ham and turkey sales operation, leaving $4,000 worth of product in the hands of the bewildered service club.
It was ironic that the Optimists, who raise all of their funds to benefit the youth of VC, saw their holiday fund-raiser closed in the name of protecting children.
According to Liz Pozzebon, chief of the food and housing division of the Health Dept. “Our focus is protecting the public. When we see a situation that could be an imminent health hazard, we take steps to make sure the situation is immediately corrected.”
The VC Optimist Club has been selling the holiday hams and turkeys during Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter for 15 years, Optimist Pres. Leon Schwartz told The Roadrunner.
“We always used the food preparation permit that Fat Ivor’s had. We’ve always cooked things the same, with the same smokers, using the same temperatures. It’s very sanitary. We clean the turkeys in Fat Ivor’s kitchen. We have two refrigerated trailers that are there,” he said.
The inspector was coming to VC to visit another facility when he saw the Optimists, stopped, and asked to see their permit.
“We didn’t have a permit,” said Schwartz. “He asked for our plan on how we do things. The guys walked him through how we pick up the meat in a refrigerated trailer, how we smoke it and how we wrap it.”
Schwartz said the inspector told him he was concerned that they didn’t cool the turkeys down prior to putting them into the refrigerator.
“We told him that we would obtain all the permits. We asked if he would allow us to sell our product. He contacted his supervisors and said we couldn’t sell the product.”
The Optimists were told that they could use the meat for their own membership but couldn’t sell it to the public.
“We put the word out to our members,” said Schwartz. Many stepped forward to make donations to make up for losing the holiday sales.
Some who made donations were rewarded with turkeys as gifts.
“A lot of people have stepped forward to help us out,” said Schwartz.
Right after the inspector dropped by, the Optimists moved their trailer and smoker off the restaurant property
Schwartz says (and Pozzebon confirmed), that with the proper permits and updated preparation methods, that Optimist turkeys and hams should be back on the road this coming Thanksgiving.
“Optimist member Earl Brown has already been to the county to get the proper permits,” said Schwartz. “We plan to be back Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
In commenting on the inspector’s action, Pozzebon said, “Our focus is to protect the community from food borne illness. Especially when handling large quantities of food, improper handling can lead to food borne illnesses such as salmonella.
“When we do see a situation that could be an imminent health hazard we do take steps to make sure that situation is immediately corrected,” she said.
No fine was issued. “They were given a notice and asked to cease and desist until they were permitted,” said Pozzebon.
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While the county inspector was spreading holiday cheer to the Optimists, another health inspector shut down an “unapproved construction” at Town Center Market.
According to Pozzebon “They were given a notice because they had unapproved construction taking place without a permit.” Apparently installing new equipment in some cases requires a permit.
The store was given a notice from the Health Dept. and the Dept. of Planning & Land Use to cease work until they have approval from the building department and the food plan check division,.
“We were also concerned because the septic system was strained and they need to have the new septic system reviewed to make sure it can handle the new equipment,” said Pozzebon.
“The facility was not closed but the owner was given notice to discontinue the construction until new plans are approved. Meantime they need to pump it more. If it backs up they would need to close themselves,” said Pozzebon.
By DAVID ROSS
Does anyone care about Adams Park and whether it ceases to exist?
Apparently a few do.
About a dozen residents showed up Thursday night to address the issue of whether the park will cease to exist in a couple of months.
The parks & rec board didn’t give them much to be hopeful about— just a glimmer.
“At this point I think we’ve made our intentions regarding that facility well known,” said board Pres. Eric Jockinsen. “Whether it happens a month from now or two months from now I don’t think there’s going to be a pool program that this district is involved in.”
But those who attended seemed determined to try to rescue the beleaguered community park, which the parks board last month voted its intention to cut adrift.
Steve Spoelstra declared: “We are developing a beautiful theater. We are not poverty stricken. Money has not been running out of Valley Center, it has been running into Valley Center. Surely we can afford to keep our park.”
“This was a shock!” said Lynne Leichtfuss, another of the dozen who attended. “It would have been helpful to have known about this before you decided. I know that the Adamses gave the land to Valley Center. A lot of us would like to solve this problem and not get a flash saying that we are ending everything.”
Several suggested that the pool and tennis courts should have separate books— and that each should be run to at least break-even.
Eventually they persuaded the board to give a little encouragement, with two directors saying they support a short-term solution that would give a breathing spell to come up with long-term funding. Jockinsen remained adamant that “band-aid” solutions are not good enough to win his vote.
“It has to be a viable program. It has to be something that will work for several years,” he insisted.
Among those at the meeting were the couple who has run Adams Park’s pool program for a year and a half Jamie & Brian Smith, and the president of the VC Tennis Club, Tosh Yamagata.
Listing some of the pool programs, Mrs. Smith asserted : “It provides a service to the community that shouldn’t be thrown away.”
It’s a pool that has its maintenance problems. One of the heaters doesn’t work. The lifeguard chair has broken off and needs repairing. And those are just the things that are broken this year.
“As far as the summer program, we at least break even. Last year we had 1600 visit the pool during the summer,” said Mrs. Smith.
Community member Lynne Leichtfuss, a former county planning commissioner, asked if there was interaction between the parks board and users of the pool as far as how much money is needed to make it viable.
“On a monthly basis,” replied parks board Pres. Eric Jockinsen. “It’s not getting us anywhere. Park and rec provides a service and the users are the school and water polo.
“Every month we go over the pool and the budget. They couldn’t possibly generate enough to pay for all the expenses going to the pool,” he said.
Director John Scibilia added, “The problem is that maintenance on the pool far exceeds any amount that they could raise. We have PLDO money but we put a lot of money into that pool all the time.”
Jockinsen chimed in that Gen. Mgr. Joyce Johnson and Tiffany Lopez spend too much of their time on the pool.
“It’s a bigger issue than that. It is the only pool in town. If you decide not to run it you are going to turn down a program that is extremely successful,” said Mrs. Smith.
Jockinsen repeatedly stated that the pool is the school’s problem since it owns it.
“We are not going to tell the school district what to do with their property. If Karen [Jobe] and Sarah [Clayton] (superintendent and assistant superintendent of the school district) decide they can keep the pool open for a program that breaks even, great!” he said.
Directors insisted they were forced into making this decision.
“We don’t want to do this either,” said Jockinsen.
“Without question, it’s the hardest decision we have had to make. But the community has voted twice not to fund parks,” said Director Tom Litchfield.
Mrs. Johnson explained that last year the parks district spent $81,000 on the pool. “A lot of that was the school’s usage. Last year our electrical costs were close to $16,000, above and beyond what the school pays.”
“It costs $120,000 to maintain the pool. That’s not what it costs to repair it,” said Scibilia.
“Adams Park doesn’t bring in anything. Perhaps $1,000 and $1,200 a year,” said Mrs. Johnson. “It is $7-8,000 in the hole every year. The pool can sometimes break even when you don’t include workmen’s comp. It varies on how much it’s in the hole.”
“Valley Center has changed immensely. The clientele of what we do has changed immensely,” said Jockinsen.
Mrs. Leichtfuss and the others insisted on finding out the general figures on the pools profit and loss.
“There’s people who are here who are very serious about this. I used to be on the planning board and planning commission, I know there are grants available,” she said.
For many years after the Adams family donated the land for the park, Parks & Rec got an annual $5,000 check from the family. That ended when Mrs. Adams moved to Palm Springs.
“We wrote them and there was no response. I’m not even sure if Mrs. Adams is alive,” said Mrs. Johnson.
Directors repeatedly asserted that closing the park was the natural result of the public voting down Prop. CC.
“We have stated over and over that we don’t have enough money to operate. We have had two elections that the public failed to approve,” said Jockinsen.
Editor’s Note: At no time during the election campaign for Prop. CC did the district state that it was in danger of closing down any parks if the measure didn’t pass.
Mrs. Leichtfuss responded: “You needed to let the community know that we are in dire straits and we are going to lose our tennis courts.”
Director Tom Bumgardner said, “You could take $100,000 a year to run the pool. But we can’t take it from our budget to run the pool. So we are doing the lesser of two evils.”
When Spoelstra commented that money is running into, not out of, Valley Center, Litchfield retorted: “But it hasn’t been running into this park district. We lose 25 percent of our funding and the community says clearly over six years that we are not going to pay an extra $17. There was only two precincts in Valley Center that voted for Prop. CC.”
He concluded: “We ran a very positive campaign and maybe we should have slapped the community on the side of the head.”
“We meet every single month to an empty room,” said Jockinsen. “We changed our names to Parks ad Rec to let people know what we do. We’ve done a ton of things over the years to get people involved, but they don’t seem to care.”
“I had no idea,” said Mrs. Leichtfuss.
Bumgardner said the school district should step up “Because they are the ones who have the money.”
Directors slowly moved in the direction of being open to a last ditch effort to save the park.
One man said he wants a three year history of what the budget should be. “So we can find some means to get the money.”
Another said they should try to come up with a temporary fix until another bond can be tried.
“The problem we have is the amount of time that Joyce is spending on this,” said Scibilia. “We are trying to buy property so that we can have more soccer fields.”
“You can’t take care of this park,” said Leichtfuss.
“They generate money,” said Scibilia. “Adams Park doesn’t.”
“We’ve got lots of money to build fields but zero money to take care of them,” said Jockinsen.
Litchfield was willing to get together with Mrs. Johnson and the interested parties and go back three to four years and show the historical data on what each field has done. “At some point we are out of money,” he said.
“The way things are going we have a year and a half and then we run out of money,” said Jockinsen.
“We’ve had a wonderful relationship with the pool and the tennis courts, but what you don’t get is that the money is gone. We need a long term mechanism to fund it. Prop. CC didn’t happen. After two runs of telling the people of Valley Center, help us man!” Eric.
Litchfield pinned the problem on VC’s changing nature.
“I see the same faces all over the place. It isn’t the people in this room. It’s the rest of the community. We have a bunch of people who feel they are entitled to get what they get in the big city, but not to pay for it.”
Somebody said that the tennis courts and pool should be run like the ballfields. “I don’t see why everything can’t be grouped so that each facet pays for itself,” said one.
“The school district is the beneficiary of every program that is run there,” said another.
Another asked if the tennis club pays revenue.
“The tennis club doesn’t pay but they do a lot of maintenance,” said Jockinsen.
Making a pitch to save the park, Mrs. Leichtfuss said, “If we can have meetings with the different entities that use the park, we can make this work.” She added, “There’s going to be huge expenses if you close that thing as far as sheriff’s keeping vagrants out.”
That’s the school district’s problem, said Jockinsen. “You got to remember that the school owns it. If they want coin operated things to keep the tennis courts open, they can.”
“Are you going to wash your hands of us or can we work together?” asked Mrs. Leichtfuss.
Scibilia said he thought that the school district would keep the park open. “They have a huge maintenance crew. It’s nothing for them to do it,” he said.
“The only way we could do that would do that would be if we could get $100,000 a year from the school district,” said Bumgardner.
“If nothing else, hopefully it’s opened the community’s eyes to whether they want parks or not,” said Jockinsen. “We are trying to concentrate on things where we can break even. The park is the only thing that we have that is truly killing us. It’s draining the general fund until we will have nothing.”
Apparently becoming discouraged, Spoelstra asked, “Was there ever a chance that you guys would change your minds?”
“A long term viable funding mechanism that. We need a long term funding mechanism,” said Jockinsen, rejecting anything that funds the park for one or two years. “That just prolongs the agony. Everything gets older. It’s just one more thing that you have to throw a check at. Give us a long-term program. Give us a twenty year program.”
Then came a crack in the united front:
“Nothing is written in stone. All we have done is given the school district a letter,” said Scibilia.
Litchfield said if they came up with a two-year break-even plan, that doesn’t rely on Prop. CC, he might support it. “It’s got to be some kind of fee based thing. Nothing is free.”
Director Fran DeWilde said, “My opinion is that two years would be a good thing and would allow us to really get the word out.”
Bumgardner agreed. “I think the school is a little slow in responding because they are tied up with their theater. They are not coming to us and saying maybe we need to fund this a little better. A short-term method would be better than closing the door and saying goodbye.”
“I’m the eternal optimist,” said Mrs. Johnson. “I feel that nothing is impossible. Once we get together and show what it is that we need from you. Right now we don’t have enough to do it.”
One woman talked about starting a foundation funded by grants to pay for park maintenance.
Litchfield said they could piggy back onto VC Youth Soccer.
“We’ve got some time on all of this issues. Come to the next meeting and let us know where you are going,” said Jockinsen.
Spoelstra declared: “This community has built a library and a museum and an arts center and you say we can’t have a pool. That’s crazy.”
“I don’t think we won’t have a pool, it will just be a different managing body,” said Jockinsen. “We don’t want to do this either, but when your balance sheet is heading towards zero, you have to do something.”
Then, hopefully: “Maybe they will do something instead of sitting in their easy chairs and letting things go.”
For half of her life Natasha Tuthill has struggled with Multiple Sclerosis.
She’s 33 and has had it since she was 17. She and her family have lived in Valley Center for 20 years.
But she hasn’t let it get her down and she is such an upbeat person that she has often thought that she’d like to be the spokesperson for the MS Society.
“I’m not shy!” she says. “I don’t have a job right now and that’s frustrating. So that’s why I think I would be a great spokesman.”
Right now her project is lining up sponsors for the MS Carlsbad Night Walk, which is being held April 9-10 at the San Diego Embarcadero. It is a three day walk through some of the most beautiful parts of San Diego.
How has MS affected her life?
“How doesn’t it affect my life,” she counters. “It has affected my independence. I have to rely on other people. Fortunately, I have a really good family support system that can take care of me.”
That includes her father, Alan, mother, Tatiana, and sister, Lisa.
She has trouble with her balance and she is currently unable to drive. She also has pain in her feet and back.
But things could be worse. Some afflicted with MS are confined to wheelchairs.
“I was in the hospital for three years and my neurologist wasn’t sure that I would be able to walk,” she recalls.
She used to work at both Robinson’s May and Nordstrom. So she is approaching both companies to try to get sponsorships for her walk.
“I’ve been mainly getting donations by calling people. My goal is to hit $5000 if I can,” she told The Roadrunner.
This is her second year participating in the walk, which she wasn’t able to finish last year. Some who have the disease take part in wheel chairs, so committed are they.
“This year my balance has definitely improved so i think I will be able to do the whole walk without help,” she says.
“I’m very social so it’s very hard for me not to go around with my buddies and having fun.”
Her mother, Tatiana Tuthill says, “I’m very proud of her because she’s trying very hard and I know she is going to succeed. We all try to help her, play games with her and try to have her mind always being busy and positive.”
If you’d like to donate to Natasha Tuthill’s effort, you can visit the web site at www.mswalk.com or mail donations to:
Mail donations:
13848 Blue Sage Lane
Valley Center CA 92082
Her friend Jana Limon, owner of VC Wellness Spa, is also collecting donations.
“I would like to sponsor her and hold a special location at our spa where donations can be made in her honor or someone's loved one,” said Limon, whose mother has MS.
“Join us as we stomp out MS this Spring!” she said.
The VC-P school board at its March meeting got an update of possible building projects at the high school and Pauma Elementary School.
The idea was not to get a final decision, said Supt. Karen Jobe.
They have started getting input from staff, parents and community groups. She was presenting the ideas for discussion, she told the board.
The projects for consideration at the high school include:
• Pool complex. This would require its own leach field. The Parks & Rec request for the district to take back Adams Park complicates this proposal, said Mrs. Jobe.
• Track and football field
• Additional play fields. These would include soccer, soft ball and multi-use facilities as enrollment increases.
• Stadium upgrades, including additional seating, addition of a flushable rest room, a second press box, additional parking for snack bar workers
• Tennis courts, including ten courts. Locations being considered are 1) JV baseball/multiuse field are next to the gym or 2) westerly portion of the Thompson property between the house and Oak Glen Lane.
The administration recommends further study of the pool project, considering the track and football field at a later date.
It recommends considering a temporary park lot site for the additional play fields and considering the available land at the Thompson property for some of the fields.
It also recommends getting a projected cost for the stadium upgrades from Lusardi Construction.
The administration also proposes having Davy Architecture and Lusardi Construction determine how many tennis courts can be built on the Thompson property and at what cost and bring this back to the April board meeting.
Pauma School
Last year the board went to bid for a modular 40X48 ft. facility for Pauma School and received a bid of $260,000.
This was thought to be too high, and the administration began looking at conventional construction.
Rick Davy of Davy Architecture said he felt they could do the building for about the same cost, but build a permanent structure that could be used for the next 60 years.
He proposed a mission style building, steel frame, nearly fireproof, with a style similar to the existing classrooms.
Lusardi Construction said it could be built for $290,000.
“We’re not asking you to approve this,” said Mrs. Jobe. “We want to continue to refine this so that we can bring a contract to you, if this is the direction the board wants to go.”
The board seemed enthusiastic about the idea.
“I like the idea that it blends in with the existing facility and doesn’t look like a hodgepodge,” said Trustee Henry Van Wyk.
The VC Road median may get funding in a process that’s kind of like borrowing on your tax refund before you get it.
Supervisor Bill Horn’s office Friday announced that $1.5 million for the VC Road Median is part of a request to the San Diego Assn. of Governments (SANDAG) that includes a total of $8.6 million in projects in Lakeside, Jamul, Spring Valley, Fallbrook and Valley Center.
“I think it will go through,” Supervisor Horn told The Roadrunner last week.
“I’m not saying it’s a done deal,” said Horn. “But I don’t see them turning it down. They aren’t going to make us mad over a small sum such as $1.5 million.”
Small it may be in the overall scheme of things, but it is totally vital in getting a landscaped median planted as part of the VC Road Widening.
The Road Safety Subcommittee have been working to get the funding for the maintenance of the median, which was necessary before the County would agree to go after funding for construction.
* * *
CORRECTION—Last week’s article about the planning group vote on the median gave the impression that the group had endorsed four 4X6 advertisement signs as part of the tribe’s commitment to providing $50,000 in funding annually for the median.
The San Pasqual Tribe in their letter of 2/10/05, offering to pay for the median maintenance, requested “Appropriate signage, subject to applicable SD County requirements, be incorporated in the design of the median giving recognition of our contribution.”
No mention of advertising was made or is being requested in the resolution approved by the planning group
According to DPW Deputy Director Doug Isbell, the signage being considered in negotiations with the tribe is similar to that used in parks and would give recognition to all donors, as in Fallbrook.
* * *
The transfer of funds for the median comes under SANDAG’s TransNet s Early Action Plan. This would allow the County to get TransNet money in advance of the money actually being collect, which begins in 2008.
SANDAG is providing local jurisdictions with the opportunity to be included in the Early Action Plan by using SANDAG debt financing for local street and road projects that are ready for construction.
The $8.6 million represents about 1% of the total funding expected from the 40-year extension of the TransNet gasoline tax program, approved last year by voters.
Planning Chairman Andy Washburn told The Roadrunner. “I am pleased with the optimistic news from Supervisor Horn regarding the proposed landscaped medians for Valley Center Road. While it’s not a ‘done deal’ yet, there appears to be general agreement on a funding method for the median construction. We appreciate Supervisor Bill Horn’s leadership and guidance on this issue.”
The planning group has repeated endorsed landscaped medians for Valley Center Road to increase safety and improve the look of our community.
The proposed medians would be constructed as part of the next phase of the County’s Valley Center Road Improvement Project, scheduled to begin later this year.
The Road Safety Subcommittee worked with business and property owners along Valley Center Road to ensure that they agreed with the plans and the locations of proposed medians.
Drivers on Valley Center Road will be making history as they take part in the first toll road within a community in San Diego county.
Although parts of freeways in San Diego County have tolls, such as a diamond lane stretch along I-15, Valley Center Road is the first where motorists will actually have to pay a nominal fee to leave and enter their community.
This puts Valley Center in common with San Francisco, where every day motorists have to pay to cross the bay to go to work.
The new toll, which will go into effect in the spring of 2007, will only affect local motorists. Drivers going to and leaving from, local casinos will not have to pay the levy.
The fee, the exact amount of which has yet to be determined, will be about the cost of a cup of coffee (think Starbucks rather than AM/PM).
The Roadrunner asked an official at the Dept. of Public Works, Brian Mulroon, why gas taxes and Valley Center property taxes aren’t enough to pay for the road work.
The official replied, “For 30 years we collected taxes and fees for the Valley Center road widening. We actually put it in a fund for Valley Center. Unfortunately somebody (who now works at Mayor Murphy’s office), screwed up the accounting. We had to spend it on other things, including a scenic parkway in Rancho Santa Fe. So you folks will have to make up the difference.”
Mulroon was asked why not collect the money from the residents of Rancho Santa Fe?
“We know they’d never put up with something like that. However, from past experience, we know that people in Valley Center will usually tolerate just about anything,” Mulroon said, on condition of anonymity.
The Roadrunner noted that local residents are bound to be up in arms about having to pay for the road widening when motorists visiting casinos from out of town will get in free.
“Well, Valley Center people benefit from the road widening— Why should tourists have to cough up all that money?” said Mulroon.
However, to lessen the pain of the toll, every thousandth motorist going through the toll booth will get a chance for a $5,000 jackpot.
The toll gate is expected to slow down traffic considerably. However, since the road is being widened to four lanes, that should almost make up for the increased delays.
April Fool.
The Valley Roadrunner
P.O.B. 1529, Valley Center, CA 92082
Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
Copyright © 2005, Palomar Community Newspapers, dba Valley Roadrunner. All rights reserved. This content may not be archived, retransmitted, saved in a database, or used for any commercial purpose without the express written permission of the Valley Roadrunner.