EPILOGUE!!…

…WILDOMAR MAGAZINE EVOLVES

In a personal culmination of my “comeback” from a debilitating stroke on May 03, 2009, as of September 09, 2013, I am re-attaining my previous career level of expertise.

My current employer has approached me and offered to change my status from “independent contractor” (as an insurance claims  field investigator) to that of a salaried Account Manager, managing the Construction Defect litigation of a prominent Fortune 500 residential home developer, which offer I have accepted.

I will be functioning in a “paperless environment,” working in a dedicated office in my home, so no commute or clothing will be required.

Needless to say, my computer time, will be taken up with examining insurance policies, subcontracts and status reports from panel defense counsel, and then writing comprehensive Status Reports for insurance carrier clients, most of whom are in London.

As a result, my primary attention will be focused on performing my duties on behalf of my company and their clients, rather than expending creative energies on the foibles of the elected and appointed officials of the City of Wildomar.

Lest my detractors become too excited by my re-focus,  I am creating a new Wildomar Magazine category, ” Epilogue,” in order to capture any compelling news event which might compel my brief commentary.

For the most part, I believe that the fate of the City of Wildomar has been irrevocably set in stone. The pattern of conduct of the Wildomar City Council has been essentially unchanged , even after the November 2010 and November 2012 election cycles, which, in total, only added two new personalities to Wildomar’s elected body.

Rather than changing  the personality of the Inaugural City Council,  Ben Benoit and Tim Walker “enthusiastically” embraced the status quo, without any reservations or bringing any fresh ideas to the council dais. 

Despite a  major election cycle in 2014, little can or will change Wildomar’s ultimate fate.

 Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

Troubles With City…

..HALL?

This is not going to be the typical Wildomar Magazine article on the dysfunction of Wildomar’s elected officials, appointed officials and staff members,  whether contract or employees.

Instead, it will be a quizzical speculation resulting from curious City Council actions about the upcoming expiration of the City of Wildomar’s five-year lease in December 2013, of the commercial facilities currently used as City  Hall.

On June 26, 2013, City Staff requested authority for the City Manager to “extend the City Hall “lease option” notification by 60 days.”   The City of Wildomar has the option to extend the current lease for “1 or 2 years,” but was required to notify the leaseholder by June 30, 2013.

Please click on the following link to confirm:

http://www.cityofwildomar.org/uploads/files/minutes/06-26-13-ca.pdf

However, on August 14, 2013, City Staff requested additional authority to delay notification “up to an additional 100 days,”while consideration was given to the “City’s various options.”

Currently the city spends approximately  $120,000 annually for the offices that comprise the operational part of City Hall, plus the space for the Council Chambers as well as some space for storage.

It is my WAG (“wild-*ssed guess”) that the property manager is probably seeking lease payments for the previous gratis use of the Council Chamber and the storage spaces. Given the soft commercial real estate market for the past 5 years, it is likely that the property manager thought it more beneficial to have the City of Wildomar occupying what would have been unused, unleased office space.

But that was 2008 and this is now. 

With the approval and construction of a significant “luxury” apartment complex  immediately behind City Hall, it is likely that the property manager can rationally expect to lease his once-empty office spaces to new tenants, such as Certified Public Accountants, retirement account managers and insurance agents.

If my speculation is correct, the City of Wildomar will be facing a significant increase in the monthly lease for City Hall, even if the property manager complies with his legal obligation to accept a 1 or 2 year lease extension, even at a reduced rate, but requires that that reduced rate apply to all of the office space currently being used.

Attempting to move to another facility would require the outlay of  capital, which may not exist, for any Tenant Improvements and infrastructure replacement.

Time will tell if my WAG is  prescient or not.

For the record, I have been wrong before.

Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

Tempest In A…UPDATE:

…TEAPOT?..

Or, flatulence in a windstorm?

Apparently, I’m about to be “bounced” from the pages of Wildomar.Locals for violating their oft-changing rules on re-printing anything “detrimental” from their Facebook page.

The primary administrator of the page has “demanded” that I delete the previous Wildomar Magazine article (see below), which offends his rules unless I can provide justification for not doing so.

First, this is somewhat reminiscent of the Wildomar Gazette incident, where the publisher of that defunct  pro-Wildomar City Council propaganda organ demanded that I cease publication or face legal action, which never occurred. In this case, a very small portion of a closed group of approximately 500 Facebookers desires to censor a five-year-old publication which has been read and visited 185,000 times, including visits from around the globe, since its inception.

 Second, the rule against ” migrating content from Wildomar.Locals to another blog in a detrimental manner ,” was not a condition precedent  to joining the group back in July, when I became a member. That “new” rule was promulgated on August 10, 2013, meaning that my membership was “grandfathered” under the original rules.

 Third,  administrators of the Wildomar.Locals cannot sustain the argument that the exact, word for word,  reproduction of the written rule is somehow “detrimental.”

 Embarrassing? Perhaps, but not detrimental on its face.

I have spoken, face-to-face, with one of the Wildomar.Locals administrators and personally expressed my unwillingness to agree to  ex post facto censorship, based on a ever-changing  set of rules. Instead, I have indicated that I will no longer participate or contribute to his Facebook page.

 Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

At 11:30 AM while attempting to purchase a sandwich at Submarina, I received a telephone call from the “creator” and primary administrator of the Wildomar.Locals  Facebook page, giving me one last chance to “recant” my previous publication and to preserve our “friendship.” 

Unfortunately, my verbal response apparently  conveyed my attitude that my interest or necessity of participating on the Wildomar.Locals  Facebook page was quite negligible.

In fact, I think I expressed that I didn’t “give a sh*t” about being a member.

Needless to say, by 12 o’clock noon, I had been removed from Wildomar.Locals.

I still  don’t give a sh*t!

The End Of My Mud Run On….

…WILDOMAR.LOCALS

There is no question that my “opinions” tend to be provocative. However, in a recent post, a spouse of one of the Wildomar City Council members posted a whiny, simpering apologetic on behalf of his “over-worked” and “under-appreciated” elected wife, I responded by suggesting that being an elected official is a voluntary position , taken without “mental reservations,” and that, perhaps, an elected official could mitigate  the personal distress  by “staying home” more, and foregoing such things as Chamber of Commerce mixers, After posting the comment, I then left my computer to tend  to an out-of-town claims investigation as a part of my employment.

When I returned, hours later, I discover that my post, along with numerous  pointed responses, have been removed in their entirety, and replaced with the following declaration  by one of the Facebook page administrators:

“Tim Walker.  Marsha Swanson.  Bob Cashman.  Bridgette Moore.  Ben Benoit. 
These are our City Council members.  If you have an issue with any of them, I suggest you send them e-mails with your concerns.  What Kevin and I will NOT accept, are blatant insults to them, as they are entitled to the same respect in this group as any one of the rest of us.  Again, NO personal attacks will be allowed in here, regardless of anyone’s position inside or outside of City government.”

 Unfortunately, given the temporary nature of any “administered” Facebook page, I have no written record of the original simpering spousal apologetic, my response, or any of the other related comments, as they had all been removed by the administrator of the page.

Since it appears, in my opinion, that the  obvious “pro-City Council” mentality has been formalized by the above declaration, as well as the implementation of arbitrary censorship by the administrators, I will refrain from posting on the Wildomar.Locals Facebook page and continue  my long time political ” conversation” within the pages of Wildomar Magazine, where every article written since its inception in July 2008 is still visible and accessible for all to see.

 Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

Wildomar.Locals will continue to function  without my provocative presence.

By the way, there are some citizens of Wildomar  who might consider  that celebrating the opening of a bridge that the juveniles on the Wildomar City Council didn’t build with a bevy of cheerleaders, taken out of school to do so, is a blatant insult to the adults in the community.

The Clinton Keith Bridge Is….

…DONE

‘Nuff said.

Comments can be made, after your nap, to zakturango@excite.com.

Making Litigation….

…PERSONAL

Most people understand the “shark” metaphor for attorneys, suggesting that  lawyers are  voracious predators  who will kill  and devour anything in their path without the slightest  consideration for ethics or morality and yet, in the most impersonal manner, go about their business without the distraction of personal issues.

However, the City of Wildomar Mayor Tim Walker  has likely managed to interject his demeaning personal opinions into an ongoing litigation process, that may be detrimental to the outcome for the City of Wildomar.

According to a current article in the Press Enterprise about a local attorney who specializes in the California Environmental Quality Act ” CEQA “) ,  Mayor Walker  foolishly  opines that attorney Ray Johnson, who is currently representing Citizens for Quality Development in their lawsuit against the recently-approved  Oak Creek Canyon project, is nothing more than an “opportunist” who is motivated by money.

 Please click on the link to the Press Enterprise article for context and confirmation:

 http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/temecula/temecula-headlines-index/20130817-temecula-johnson-shakes-up-inland-development-projects.ece

Johnson, who often makes appearances in public places in blue jeans to reflect the disdain and lack of respect  he has for some people,  is not a legal adversary to provoke  with demeaning commentary, especially if you’re the mayor of the city  that seems to be the focus  of Johnson’s attention.

 Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

Paying To Lose, At….

…$36,000 PER YEAR

When your Sacramento lobbyist admits that another scheme of political strategy/maneuver has been lost, it is time for the City of Wildomar to cut its losses and discontinue their apparently futile  $3,000  per month lobbying effort to recapture  $1.7 million in Vehicle License Fees the State of California re-allocated to law-enforcement several years ago.

Please click on the following link to the Press Enterprise, for details:

http://www.pe.com/local-news/politics/jim-miller-headlines/20130814-legislature-cities-county-wont-team-up-to-win-back-revenue.ece

Even if  Wildomar pulls out  of the four city agreement, the lobbying effort will likely continue to be funded by the remaining three cities because it’s the same juvenile mentality that other cities “won’t like us” that keeps  Wildomar in the inequitable Animal Friends  agreement,  the City of Wildomar will continue to spend money it cannot afford chasing a payoff they will likely never achieve.

Perhaps it’s time to call Gamblers Anonymous and schedule an intervention for the Wildomar City Council.   

Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

I bet they can’t.

Analyzing The Numbers For The Great Day Of….

…SERVICE

Quantifying human endeavor through the use of mathematical calculations, is not new.

Every week we are provided labor statistics  which give us a “rule of thumb” indication of the nation’s economic health, using the  number of persons applying for unemployment insurance.

In a similar manner,  we can apply mathematics to the proposed Great day of Service volunteer effort, set for October 26, 2013, when Tom Pilkington intends to unleash 500 volunteers on to the arid wastelands of Wildomar’s parks, as follows:

1) Number of square feet  in an acre of parkland =   43,560 ft.²
2) Number of acres of arid wastelands of Wildomar’s parks = 15
3) Total number of square feet to be renovated = 653,400 ft.²
4)  Number of volunteers =500
5)  Number of square feet, per volunteer = 1306 ft.²

Based on the above calculations, every volunteer,  be they a 12-year-old Boy Scout, or a 62-year-old amateur gardener, will have to manipulate decomposed granite or  groundcover bark, using a  hand rake, to cover the equivalent of a footprint of a two bedroom, two bathroom tract home.

Most 12-year-old boys have trouble keeping a  single bedroom clean, let alone  raking the equivalent of an entire house.

Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

Obviously, the City Wildomar is being controlled by the mentality of a non-profit volunteer organization, rather than a taxpayer-funded  municipality, which is like  operating as the defunct Friends For Wildomar’s Park, or the obsolete Wildomar Community  Council, but on steroids.  

“Citizen’s” Planning Commissioners…

…ARISE

“We don’t want to appoint Planning Commissioners who can think; we want Planning Commissioners who think like us,” according to Wildomar City councilmember Marsha Swanson during Council discussions of the qualifications for Planning Commissioners back in 2008.

However, last evening Wildomar Planning Commissioners, Bob Devine and Bobby Swann did indeed think for themselves, as well as the best interests of existing Wildomar citizens whose property will be negatively affected by a reincarnated housing tract, first approved by Riverside County in 1978.

Despite the City Staff report/recommendation  which laughably stated that the original environmental “conditions” had not changed,  Devine and Swann,  who had taken the time to physically inspect the current conditions of Murrieta Creek, and as a result, came to the reasonable conclusion that Mother Nature had significantly changed the local conditions of Her Earth.

As a matter of fact, a local resident presented the Planning Commission with a copy of a letter from FEMA advising her that, should the proposed development be built , her property would become a part of the  floodplain, ” which would require her to purchase expensive flood insurance.

Rather than “kicking the water drainage can down the road,” once again,  Devine and Swann requested that the matter be tabled, until the appropriate City, County , and Federal agencies address the current conditions.

Fellow Commissioners Stan Smith and Veronica Langworthy conducted themselves in their usual roles, as follows:

 1) Stan Smith, who is a realtor and smalltime developer, tried to carry the water for the developer and only stopped doing so when it was obvious that his pro-development arguments would not carry the day.

2) Veronica Langworthy, who self-described her public comments as “rambling,” accurately depicted her disconnected discussion of financial benefits to the City of Wildomar, should the Developer Agreement be approved. Unfortunately for Langworthy, such fiscal considerations  fall within the purview of the City Council. She should  have concerned herself with the land issues at hand.

3) Michael Kazmier, who rarely speaks publicly, did not attend the meeting,  thereby rendering his normally mute persona, moot. 

For once, elected/appointed officials of the City of Wildomar properly listened to the  legitimate concerns of an impacted resident /property owner, thus likely sparing the City of Wildomar from additional litigation.

 Perhaps, there is a slight ray of hope emanating from City Hall.

 Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

The United Methodist Church Wants….

… YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

At a time when most folks are concerned about intrusion by the government into our personal affairs, such as the current NSA scandal, the  United Methodist Church, as a part of their information “mining” and, as a required prelude to your volunteering to participate in their Great Day of Service on October 26, 2013, appears to be seeking to harvest an inordinate amount of personal information from you for the privilege of volunteering.

Volunteer Registration

Planting Shrubs and Trees

Title:- None –

First Name: *

Last Name: *

Email Address: *

Confirm Email Address: *

Address:

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Phone:

Cell Phone:

Special needs/skills:

Example:
“I am a licensed contractor” or
“I have limited mobility and may need assistance”

Primary language spoken:

I will need an interpreter:

yes

I certify that I am at least 18 years old: *

Yes

Age: *

Number of adults (age 18+) in my group, NOT including myself:

Number of youth participating with me (ages 12-17):

Number of children participating with me (age 11 and under):

I will need FREE childcare during the event:

yes

I would like a FREE event t-shirt:

yes

T-Shirt Size:- None -SMMDLGXL2XL3XL4XL

I will be attending the Celebration:

yes

Number of people attending the Celebration (including myself):

I attend one of the sponsoring United Methodist Churches:

yes

no

Church I attend (if any):

I would like to receive event updates:

How did you hear about this event: *

I would like to know more about the United Methodist Church:

Notice, if you will, that the volunteer registration is contained wholly within the  Re-Think Church   website, rather than controlled and coordinated by the City of Wildomar.    Thus, you have no knowledge of where this information can end up. By the way, the City of Wildomar will be legally liable for any  misuse of your personal information, since they are facilitating this information gathering protocol .

Apparently,If one wishes to participate in a Wildomar Park Renovation, one must divulge significant private contact information, including  your church affiliation.

Naturally, The constitutionally-unsophisticated juvenile adolescents at City Hall  have no problems with their facilitation of this unseemly abuse of their citizens.

Comments can be made to zakturango@excite.com.

If you want to observe the actual Volunteer Registration, please click on the following link to the United Methodist Church website, click on the “Choose A Project” button and then click on the  the “sign-up to volunteer” button:

http://www.rethinkchurch.org/impact-event/2013-great-day-service#