June 29, 2005 - Top Stories
Michael Crews Development will present the Seventh Annual Fourth of July Celebration, Monday, July 4, from 5 - 9 p.m. at the Valley Center High School Football Stadium.
“Valley Center's fireworks show is the second largest in North San Diego County," Sam Bruggema, Pyro Spectaculars Show President and Producer, told The Roadrunner.
“This year’s display will consist of the latest and greatest pyrotechnics available.”
Festivities begin at 5 p.m., with fireworks shooting off promptly at 9 p.m.
The Valley Center Fire Protection District has donated a lot on the corner of Cole Grade Road and White Star Lane to be used for additional parking at this year’s event.
Due to the construction at and around the high school, parking is more limited than in previous years. Michael Crews Development told The Roadrunner that it is extremely grateful for VCFPD’s donation and encourages viewers to use the lot.
Adding to the fun this year are the inflatable “Cowabunga” slide, the 32 foot Rock Climbing Wall and the inflatable combination slide that will be set up on the football field.
With a one-time, $1 donation to Valley Center High School, and a signed liability release form, participants can ride and play games for free all evening long. Games for children ages 3 and over include an egg toss, three-legged race and gunny sack race.
Arctic Heat, a high-energy, family-oriented band will play throughout the evening.
Local clubs and school organizations will sell refreshments such as kettle corn, burgers, bratwurst, nachos, chili Fritos, and more.
“The roles that the vendors, participants and volunteers play in this celebration are very important," said Kelly Crews, Vice President of Michael Crews Development.
Two organizations, the Valley Center Rotary Club and the Valley Center Lion's Club, give their time and money making an essential contribution to this family event.
“The Rotary Club supplies members to man the gates at the event. They selfishly give their time to monitor the entrances at the school preventing alcohol, tobacco and guns from entering the grounds, keeping the crowd safe,” Crews said. “They also pools funds together to pay for clean-up after the event. This group is not getting reimbursed for their efforts. They do it because it is a community event. We are very thankful and lucky to have their assistance.”
The Valley Center Lion's Club is another local vendor that supports the event.
“We do it as a community service,” said Bill Laird, member of Valley Center Lions Club. “We're not out to make money, we’re there so the community can enjoy themselves, buy some refreshments or snacks and have a great time. The money we do make goes back to the high school.”
Several school-affiliated groups such as the field hockey team, the lacrosse team and the high school band keep the funds they raise. However, vendors that are not affiliated with the school such as Charlie and Lynn Smith who do the kettle corn booth every year, and the Lions Club who do a brats and burgers booth, still give a percentage of what they make directly to the high school.
“It really takes a lot of work to make this event happen,” Crews said. “We are extremely appreciative of Dawn Lacina’s efforts. She spent a lot of time planning and implementing this event. The end result will be an amazing, patriotic gathering that brings goosebumps and sometimes tears to the eyes of those who attend.”
Note that alcohol, tobacco and pets are not allowed on the school campus. Participants are encouraged to come early for best parking and view.
For more information, call Michael Crews Development at 749-1919.
By DAVID ROSS
Some folks are unhappy that County Dept. of Public Works has appeared to renege on a promise made to Valley Center’s planning group three years ago by then deputy director Doug Isbell to include “traffic calming” safety enhancements as options for the bid for the second phase of widening VC Road.
That’s the project that will carry VC Road from Banbury to Cole Grade Road.
The traffic calming enhancements requested by the planning group’s Road Safety Subcommittee and endorsed by the planning group and supposedly agreed to by DPW three years ago, had included colorized bike lanes and textured crosswalks and intersections.
That road work is going out to bid this month. So the time to decide whether those things are included in the bid is now.
Last week members of the Road Safety Subcommittee were complaining that assurances given them by Isbell, who retired recently, won’t be carried out by his successor, Mohamad Fakhrriddine, acting deputy director.
However, upon closer examination it appears that Isbell himself made this decision on April, a month before he retired. He based the decision on the expense of maintaining the enhancements.
He sent an email to Jon Vick, the secretary of the subcommittee on April 12. Note: The email was forwarded to The Roadrunner from DPW at our request.
In the email Isbell said that he had consulted with the road maintenance section and learned that “Colorized bike lanes present major long term maintenance problems. The colored overlay will wear away quite quickly and become unsightly. This is particularly true in areas with high turning movements into driveways. It is then a problem to maintain.”
In addition, colorized bike lanes don’t mix well with the chip sealing that the County does on new roads after a couple of years make them last longer.
“Because of these maintenance issues we cannot accommodate this request,” Isbell wrote.
Colorized bike lanes, Isbell added, “present similar maintenance problems. They make chip sealing very difficult and replacing any damaged brick pavers or stamped asphalt can be tricky and hard to match. These enhanced intersections are more typically used in urban areas particularly where there is a higher proportion of pedestrians to vehicular traffic, as opposed to the high traffic volume Valley Center Road.”
According to Brendan McNabb, the project manager for the road widening, who spoke to The Roadrunner this week, it would cost $200,000 to install colorized bike lanes from Woods Valley Road to Cole Grade Road and $25,000 for colorized crosswalks.
The same amount would have to spent every time the road is resurfaced, said McNabb.
However, there didn’t seem to be any maintenance issues associated with the “traffic calming” measures three years ago.
On July 8, 2002 the Dept. of Public Works had included the “traffic calming” measures and noted at the time “The construction of any of the optional items will depend upon the bids received and funding available at the time of construction.”
Apparently the planning group was not aware of Isbell’s April email when it voted May 11 to reiterate its understanding with Isbell and ask that “DPW put colorized bike lanes and colorized and textured crosswalks and intersections at traffic signals as optional items into the Valley Center Road North Phase bid, subject to available funding.”
Last week the planning group got back the following reply from Isbell’s replacement: “We have reevaluated your request to include colored bike lanes and textured cross walks in the Valley Center Road Widening project and regret to inform you that we are not able to accommodate these changes. This decision is based on future maintenance problems these changes would cause.”
According to planning group Chairman Andy Washburn, the reason the planning group had asked DPW for the enhancements was to “provide for a safer road, reduce speeding and make the road like more like a parkway.”
He added, “At that time, everyone thought the likelihood of funding was very low. Times have changed. There are new sources of funds available.”
Perhaps more important than whether funds are available is the question of whether the enhancements would actually create a safer road.
Jon Vick, the Road Safety Subcommittee secretary, certainly believes that they do.
In his email reply to Fakhrriddine’s denial of the enhancements, he wrote “. . .These are life-saving traffic calming design features we have requested and have been discussing with DPW since June, 2002. . .” and referred to the “added liability this will place on DPW in the event of injuries or deaths that might have otherwise been prevented. . .”
However, according to McNabb, “Colorized crosswalks are not used as a safety tool at signalized intersections. The signal itself combined with the visible painted crosswalk provides the protection for the pedestrian. . . . Colorizing the crosswalk does not add to pedestrian safety.”
He notes that three cities cited by Vick as examples of places that have colorized crosswalks, El Cajon, Solana Beach and Escondido, “typically use the colorized crosswalk in their downtown areas as part of a downtown enhancement or beautification project.”
As for colorized bike lanes, which are predominantly used in Europe, “The consensus of opinion is that they do not provide demonstrated safety benefits for the road user,” says McNabb.
By DAVID ROSS
Analysis
When former Assemblyman Bruce Thompson dropped by the office Thursday to talk about his candidacy to replace Bill Horn as supervisor, he grumbled about Horn’s response to his announcement the previous day.
Valley Center resident Horn, in one of his vintage putdowns that say as much about him as about the person he is targeting, remarked (quoted in Logan Jenkins’s Union Tribune column) “I may have said two words to him in my time in office.”
Now that’s cold.
Yet Thompson, a 14-year Fallbrook resident, was quick to turn it to his own advantage, to use it to explain why two of the California legislators who serve Horn’s fifth district, Assemblyman Ray Haynes and Senator Dennis Hollingsworth have endorsed him over Horn.
“Bill says he hardly knows me, even though I served the area for six years [from 1994-2000],” said Thompson. “He, for some reason doesn’t like other politicians, I guess. When you’re trying to solve the kinds of problems that face us you have to be able to work with other people, with other legislators.”
I was quick to inform Thompson that it’s ironic to cite Haynes when complaining that Horn doesn’t get along with other politicians, given Haynes’s own reputation in Sacramento. Not to mention that if he’s aware that Valley Center is part of his district, no one in Valley Center knows it.
“I guess I didn’t impress you with that endorsement then, did I?” said Thompson with a smile.
Which brings up a plus about Thompson: He’s a genuine people person. Ready with a smile and a warm handshake.
“I have a proven record of bringing people together. You don’t solve problems by alienating people,” says Thompson.
There’s very little to separate Thompson from Horn politically. So Thompson is pushing the notion that Horn is “missing in action,” and “arrogant” and “lacking in leadership.”
You think to yourself: It’s a cinch he’s not going to promise a return to rock rib conservative values and to stand up for property rights.
But he does.
“Where’s Bill’s Republican ties?” Thompson demands. “Where are property values?”
Continuing on his theme that Horn is anti-social, for a politician, anyway, Thompson says, “My main thing will be to go out and meet with people. He seems to refuse to do that. All these organizations that have popped up to get action from the county. Most of them formed because they get nothing from the County.”
He continues, “Back during the medfly issue [ in 2003-2004 when Valley Center and Pauma Valley were infested with Mexican Fruit Flies] Bill was nowhere to be found. I looked around and no one was doing anything.”
The reason for that may be that Horn was in Valley Center, where the infestation was [I know, because we have photos of him during the Mexfly crisis inspecting fly-specked groves with California Ag Secretary Bill Lyons], whereas Thompson was looking around for him in Fallbrook.
Thompson put together a group of Hwy 76 growers to address the Mexfly crisis and was disappointed that Horn didn’t take part. Hence the remark about Horn not liking other politicians.
The former legislator, who actually does hand out cards that say “former CA State Legislator,” has been a Fallbrook resident for 14 years.
Thompson reserved his most telling barb for last. Also the most obvious: “Horn’s overall arrogance of trying to get a $25,000 pay raise and doubling the size of his staff. He now has 12 staffers instead of the six he started with. He treats his constituents as subjects rather than constituents.”
He adds, “People can’t get him on the phone, can’t see him. Traffic issues continue to increase. He’s missing in action on a lot of these issues. But when something goes right he’s the first to take credit.”
The election is next June. Given the fact that Horn is a world-champion fund-raiser who has been known to make turnips bleed, Thompson figures he has to get started early to make up the deficit.
That will be difficult, because while Thompson has his endorsements, Horn is also sure to have his, and his list will without doubt be longer.
He probably won’t have to spend as much money as Horn does on staffing his campaign. All eight of his grown children have volunteered to work for Dad’s election bid.
He might also win a contest for name dropping. He was one of the first political figures in California to endorse George W. Bush back before he declared his candidacy for president. He got together with about 20 Golden State legislators and called on Bush to run.
This prompted Bush’s political guru, the then relatively-unknown Karl Rove, to call Thompson and ask: “Do we know you?”
Bush knows him quite well now. In November 2001 he appointed Thompson regional administrator of the Small Business Administration for Arizona, Nevada, California, Hawaii and Guam.
He oversees nine offices and 300 people that give SBA guaranteed loans and counsel small business. It is the most active SBA in the country, processing $4 billion in loans annually.
It’s too early to say whether Thompson will be the only candidate to challenge Horn. December is the deadline to declare.
Nevertheless it’s hard to see that a bigger heavyweight will turn up.
Which presents for political junkies the delicious prospect of two conservative candidates beating each other like amateur boxers, spending hundreds of dollars, throwing mud, all for the privilege of continuing the same policies no matter who wins.
What could be better than that?
For as Thompson admits, “I have no quarrel with his conservative philosophy. It’s the way he’s doing his job. It’s how he administers his job. The fact that this guy has been there and he’s gotten lazy in his job.”
He does have a few specific criticisms of policy.
He does excoriate Horn for voting for traffic impact fees, the same fees that have prompted a lawsuit from commercial builders. “They [the board] went about $600 million over what it should have been.”
He’s also very critical of General Plan 2020, which he says should never have tampered with the existing land use values.
“I think people were satisfied the way it was before. Fallbrook and Valley Center have a way of life that we are happy with. I don’t support it,” he says.
Nodding his head when it is pointed out that the Board of Supervisors has had fewer seat changes in the last decade than the old Soviet Politburo used to, Thompson says he supports 12 year term limits for supervisors.
“I was in the Assembly for six years before I was term limited out. Six years is a short time, but if you can’t get your agenda done in 12 years . . .”
Twelve years, in case you hadn’t guessed, is how many years Horn will have served if he isn’t reelected.
The challenger promises that he will have some meet-the-candidate events in Valley Center pretty soon.
“You guys have a great community here and we want to continue to see Valley Center taken care of in a proper manner,” he says.
* * *
To learn more about Thompson’s candidacy, visit his web site at www.electbruce.com
The Valley Roadrunner
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Tel. 760.749.1112 Fax 760.749.1688
Website: www.valleycenter.com
Email: editor@valleycenter.com
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