December 28, 2005 - Top Stories
Public comment is being solicited for the Environmental Assessment of the proposed La Jolla Band of Indians’ casino and hotel.
The EA analyzes the potential environmental impacts of a proposal to develop a casino and hotel on the La Jolla Indian Reservation by taking into consideration the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The proposed project would build a 35,000 sq. ft. casino, with 500 slot machines on 13 acres of tribal trust land. It also includes a 5,000 square-foot restaurant, a 150-room hotel, a 600-space surface parking area, improvements to Hwy 76, a new 250,000-gallon water tank and connections to existing water lines, and a new wastewater treatment plant.
Public comments regarding the EA will be accepted until Jan. 10, 2006.
For information or to obtain a copy of the EA, contact: James Trujillo, Gaming Committee, La Jolla Band of Luiseño Indians, at 742-3771. A public meeting on the proposed project will be held at the La Jolla Tribal Office, 22000 Hwy 76, Pauma Valley, CA on Jan. 3, 2006 at 6 pm.
Copies of the EA are available for public review at the La Jolla Reservation Tribal Office located at 22000 Hwy 76, Pauma Valley, CA 92061 and at the Valley Center Branch Library, 29200 Cole Grade Road, Valley Center, CA 92082.
Written comments should be mailed to Michael Baksh, President, Tierra Environmental Services, 9915 Businesspark Avenue, Suite E, San Diego, CA 92131.
What VC or Pauma resident made the most impact in the news in 2005? Who was the greatest force for good in our community?
We want your nominations!
Think of this as being the local equivalent of Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
You have the chance to put in your two cents’ worth in the second annual Roadrunner newsmaker award.
It’s called Newsmaker of the Year. It will honor the person who has been in the news most frequently, had the greatest impact or done something of great benefit to the community during the year.
Who might this person be? It could be a football coach or player. It could be a community activist. It might be someone who performed a selfless act that helped many people. It could be someone who was a hero, someone who is a public official, or even a candidate for public office.
The possibilities are wide. The only restriction is that this person needs to have taken his or her actions during 2005.
We invite nominations for this award. We will make the final determination from the nominees received. So please feel free to write an essay as to why this person should be given the award. Deadline is Dec. 31, 2005.
Drop nominations off at The Roadrunner office, or mail them to POB 1529, Valley Center CA 92082, or email them to editor@valleycenter.com
Representatives from the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians Dec. 15 presented a check for $5,995,000 to the County of San Diego.
The tribal funds will assist with the County’s $34 million road-widening project on Valley Center Road.
Fifth District Supervisor Bill Horn accepted the check on behalf of the county, along with Department of Public Works Director John Snyder, County Tribal Liaison Chantal Saipe, Project Manager of Engineering Services for the Department of Public Works Brendan McNabb and Community Liaison Caroline Smith. Representatives of the San Pasqual Casino Development Group and members of the tribe’s Business Committee presented the check on behalf of the tribe.
“The tribe is very excited about its relationship with the County of San Diego, and we look forward to continuing our cooperative efforts in the future,” said Tribal Chairman Allen Lawson.
The funds will be used to widen Valley Center Road from two lanes to four lanes up to Cole Grade Road. The donation will also be used to create a signal-controlled intersection at North Lake Wohlford & Valley Center Roads. Valley Center Road intersections at Woods Valley, Lilac and Cole Grade will also be improved as a result of the tribe's contribution.
“The San Pasqual Tribe prides itself on being a good neighbor to the surrounding community," said Joe Navarro, President and CEO of the San Pasqual Casino Development Group Inc. “The widened roads and more efficient intersections will result in increased vehicle and pedestrian safety for the Valley Center community.”
The San Pasqual Tribe owns Valley View Casino.
Sales are more than brisk as thousands are paying $12 apiece to make a date with Valley Center’s calendar girls.
And they are getting quite a bit of notoriety out of it. On Tuesday morning they were featured on the Channel 7 morning news.
Shirley Skinner of the Dos Valles Garden Club tells the The Roadrunner that the club ordered an initial printing of 500 for the Ladies of the Garden calendar, which features 12 members of the club in the altogether, although artfully covered with vines and leaves and such.
The first 500 were gone almost immediately, so they ordered a second printing of 1,250. A couple of hundred of those are left and they’ve ordered another 500.
“I don’t think that people are buying this to keep track of the dates,” said Marcia Townsend, president of the club. “So we are hoping that the novelty of the calendar will carry us to January and February.”
The club will be taking some copies to their annual Palomar District Garden Club District meeting in February.
The money is used for club scholarships and some renovation work at Adams Park as well as other “dig in the dirt projects,” according to Mrs. Townsend.
“We’d like to get enough money to rebuild the gazebo at Adams Park,” she said.
The $12 price includes tax. Calendars are available at the following locations: Curves for Women, Country Cuts, Community Pharmacy, VC Library, VC History Museum, Image Solutions on 154 East Grand Ave. in Escondido, VC Community Hall and Walter Anderson Nursery in Poway.
You can also download order forms that you can mail in by visiting the garden club’s web site: www.dosvallesgardenclub.org
If you have questions, call Shirley Skinner at 749-5657.
“We wish to thank the community, the residents plus the business in support of our efforts. Everyone’s been really good sports about it. I don’t know when I’ve laughed so much,” said Mrs. Skinner.
Joe Navarro, CEO/president of the San Pasqual Casino Development Group, gave an update on the tribe’s casino expansion project at the Dec. 8 meeting of NCIRL (North County Inland Regional Leadership) aka “tribal forum.”
NCIRL is a group of tribal, non-tribal and community leaders and interests in North County who have met since April to talk about common interests.
Navarro, the first speaker at the Thursday meeting, explained that San Pasqual’s Casino Development Group was established in November of ‘04. The seven member group, which includes two non-tribal members, oversees casino development for the San Pasqual tribe.
The casino is being expanded from 43,000 sq. ft. to 105,000 sq. ft. The buffet will be doubled and a steak house, 24-hour cafe and coffee bar will be added. The steak house won’t be high end or Sizzler-end. It will be in between, he said.
Note: the buffet’s celebrated director, Chef Josef, will continue to perform his magic.
Also coming: a six story, 1,200 space parking structure near the entrance to the casino.
Navarro addressed the “nasty rumor” that the casino will have a kids arcade, with a firm “no!”
The tribe is relocating Nyemi Pass Road south of the existing road. This includes the addition of a signal light.
Lake Wohlford Road is also being widened and improved on either side of the casino entrance.
The tribe contributed $5.99 million to Phase II of the widening of Valley Center road, as well as funding for the traffic signal at the intersection of North Lake Wohlford & Valley Center Roads.
According to Navarro the parking garage will open in the early summer of 2006. The first phase of the casino expansion will open in December of ‘06. A grand opening will be in the summer of ‘07, he said.
A covered walkway will connect the parking garage with the casino entrance.
The expanded casino will have an events center, with seating for about 500. It will also be used for shows, said Navarro.
VC Planning Group Chairman Andy Washburn, referencing a festering community concern with the casino parking lot at the corner of Valley Center & N. Lake Wohlford Roads, asked, “With the larger parking does that mean that you won’t need the additional parking next to the middle school?”
“We will continue to use the nine acre parking lot for our employees,” Navarro replied.
Although the tribe did build the parking lot without the proper county permits (it’s not on reservation land), they are applying for a permit with the County.
Navarro was asked if the tribe’s previous plans for a Tuscan resort on its land overlooking Lake Wohlford was now dead.
“I think ‘dead’ is a good word,” said Navarro.
Anti-Drug Program
Jo Ann Smith, program manager of the North Inland Community Prevention Program (NICCP) accompanied by Myriam Padilla, community organization specialist, presented an overview of her program .
This group takes what it calls an “environmental approach” to reducing the risk and preventing substance abuse.
This approach, said Smith “is designed to establish or change written and unwritten community standards, codes and attitudes thereby creating an environment more conducive to preventing behaviors that increase risk for problems.”
Strategies include increasing abstinence, and delaying the age when youths first use drugs through information and education.
Learn more by contacting Smith at 858-391-9303 or emailing her at nicpp-pm@mhsinc.org. Or visit their web site at www.nicpp.org.
“Accomplished a lot”
Larry Glavinic, the VC planner who has organized the six NCIRL meetings, commented, “I think we have accomplished quite a bit. As time goes on we are going to find a voice for this region, and I think it’s going to be a powerful voice. Don’t be impatient. This is going to be a process that’s going to take awhile.”
Terry Van Koughnett, who also organizes the forums, added, “Our goal is to become a regional voice, to become a well-networked community.”
Vital to that, both men agreed, is setting goals .
“Where are we now? Where do we want to be? How do we get there?” said Van Koughnett.
They have researched similar forums throughout the state, which share many of the same concerns for their communities: The environment, education, the arts, transportation, economic development, regional planning and business.
Locating funding will be key in accomplishing anything, said Glavinic. That will mean being creative about getting in front of new waves of change.
“We need to position ourselves for the new ways, because it’s too late for the old ways. “We need to position ourselves so that when the feds or other organizations have new things we can include ourselves,” he said.
These could includes things like getting on board new types of mass transit.
“To position ourselves four what’s coming next, so we are an eligible candidate for whatever that is,” he said.
Part II of II parts
Last week we told readers about the Rancho Heights Liberty Tree, which was formed to combat what its members see as abuses of the Rancho Heights Road Maintenance Committee which maintains a series of private roads near Pala.
At the end of the first installment we learned that one of the members, sued in an attempt to get records of the association, but the suit was thrown out due to a loophole in state law.
* * *
Misrepresentation of the type of organization has also been an issue. The committee calls itself a non-profit organization but it isn’t on file with the state of California as such. Prince says he was unable to locate a tax identification number that is requested for non-profits.
It has also been collecting on past due bills by way of a standard homeowner’s association contract. But it is not a homeowners association, says Prince.
The chairman of the committee, Steve Boschinski, hired the past two bookkeepers from his personal business, says Prince.
“He used his influence to use them as bookkeepers for our community,” said Prince. “Beverly Romans [our current bookkeeper] also works for him and is being paid by the committee when she shouldn’t be. It is supposed to be all volunteers. I asked him if it was a conflict of interest and he said no.”
The RHLT’s goals are simple: The road committee should be legally defined.
The property owners should have access to the financial records of the committee that they are paying into.
Road assessment fees should be accompanied by written documentation citing which roads are to be paved and what the schedule will be for that.
Use of all contractors, venders and bookkeepers should come from outside the Rancho Heights Property Owners Community.
According to Romans, “The committee spends many hours each month in a thankless job working for the common good of all property owners. We are all volunteers.
“The committee makes decisions based on the good of all. Not special interest groups. The property owners are represented by the five-member committee they elect. Each member serves a two-year term and is elected by a vote of the owners at the annual meeting. Owners unable to attend vote by proxy.”
Regarding the bylaws for the road committee, she said, “The Declaration of Road Maintenance Agreement was written in 1972 and signed by one hundred percent of the property owners. The annual assessment can only be changed by a 65% vote of the owners. Change to the declaration itself would take a 100% vote of the property owners and the RHLT is more than welcome to put any change up to a vote.”
Residents Paul Reiker and Barbara Gill bought their property on Sunset Peak they were told by their Realtor that road was the last road to be paved and it was just a matter of time.
“Since we purchased the property there has been no maintenance, which is a far cry from what was represented to us,” said Reiker.
Everett Dunnick, a candidate in this year’s annual election, says, “This is the only group I’ve ever been associated with that refuses to open the books to the membership. They have a right to go in and collect fees from us but they do not have to account how they spend the money and refuse to give us accountability aside from what they desire.”
After the annual meeting, the RHLT continues its battle with road maintenance and vague bylaws. Small steps are being taken as an act of resistance and also action.
Three weeks ago, the RHLT sponsored an erosion repair job to fix an eight-foot drop off on the road.
Prince said the committee was aware of the safety issue that presented and instead used the road maintenance fees to finish installing a gate.
Several Liberty Tree members have stopped paying their assessments, citing reasons of mismanagement and lack of complete open accounting.
All members of the committee were contacted for statements. Boschinski said the committee would meet to discuss how they wanted to represent themselves and get back to the Roadrunner with further information. Romans was the only committee member to give a response.
For more information regarding the Rancho Heights Liberty Tree visit ranchoheightslibertytree@cox.net or contact Tim Prince at 760-737-9121.
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
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