State of North County Address

I am looking forward to giving my vision for 2008 and sharing reflections on the past year in the State of North County Address. It will be Thursday, March 20 at 10 a.m. at the San Marcos City Hall, 3 Civic Center Drive, San Marcos. Special thanks to Mayor Jim Desmond (who will emcee the event), the City Council, and staff of the City of San Marcos for making their outstanding facilities available for this community gathering.

You are invited and I hope to see you there.

Included in this edition of “The Word” are stories about getting rid of street gangs, a successful meeting with Fire Marshals and Chiefs of North County, a milestone in our efforts to build a new library for the Village of Fallbrook, the tremendous job the County has done following the fires, the debut of our new District web site, and you’ll meet two new members of my staff.

North County Gang Commission Moves Forward

This month, the Board of Supervisors gave unanimous approval of an ordinance to establish the North County Gang Commission which, I along with Supervisor Pam Slater-Price brought forward in December. This is a major step in combating gang activity along the Highway 78 corridor.

The volunteer commission will consist of seven voting members, five from District 5 and two from District 3. So far, I have appointed four members. They are Kenneth Noonan, education representative, Serge Duarte, law enforcement representative, Katherine Valdez, social/health services representative, and Dick High, business and civic representative. I will name an additional member representing the youth seat; an individual formerly involved with gangs. All terms will expire January 3, 2011.

Part of the purpose of the Commission is to construct a regional plan to reduce gang violence in the North County using gang prevention, intervention, and suppression activities. It will also pursue funding opportunities for anti-gang initiatives.

I wanted a commission free from political influence. Elected politicians at the city and county level come and go. Majority vote on those bodies often changes and this can adversely impact the main goal which is protecting the public from gangs that prey upon innocent victims and create cycles of generational gang activity. I believe we will do that with this commission.

The ordinance creating the commission becomes effective March 27, 2008.

Fire Talks

Last month, I met with 28 Fire Marshals and Chiefs at our County offices in Escondido. In the wake of the October 2007 fires, I wanted to make sure all of us were on the same page when it comes to the future of public safety.

We talked about how the fire agencies responded during the horrific tragedy and discussed the needs and desires of our fire chiefs, and more importantly, collected ideas and suggestions for future improvements.

The spirit of cooperation at the meeting was tremendous and I know that we all came out with a better understanding of each other, as well as where we are in terms of service and where we’d like to be in the future.

We asked the Fire Marshals and Chiefs to complete surveys which were sent along with the meeting invitations. Our discussion included:

• The possibility of reorganizing or consolidating the County’s fire services from North County’s perspective.
  
• Learning what types of equipment and staff are needed to enhance our current system and what our fire leaders think is needed most as a region.
  
• Fire prevention such as education programs, stricter code enforcement, defensible spaces around homes, and fireproofing buildings.

At my State of North County Address, I will talk about the latest developments since that meeting.

After the Fires

The October Fires continue to be the focal point of many on our County team; including hundreds of people who have been part of the private property debris removal effort, erosion control, community liaison, and rebuilding.

Numbers only tell part of the story; it’s the people behind the numbers who continue to distinguish themselves with service above and beyond the call of duty. However, here are some of those numbers from last month that give you an idea of the gargantuan challenge we are dealing with:

• Tons of debris removed: 70,000 (the 2003 fires had 24,000 tons)
  
• Right of Entry (ROE) forms received and targeted for debris removal: 548
  
• ROE completed: 391 (64 in progress but not completed)
  
• Approved Small Business Administration loans approved: $67.8 million
  
• Housing assistance grants from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) or rental expenses, home repair or replacement: $9.1 million
  
• Unemployment Insurance benefits to individuals who lost work due to the wildfire: $1.76 million

Widening and Straightening Highway 76

I’m pleased to report the first step has been taken toward widening and straightening a key 1.3-mile stretch of Highway 76 from Interstate 15 east towards Pala.

Granite Construction and the Pala Indian Tribe will fund this section of road improvement at a cost of about $26 million.

I’ve worked many years to one day have all of Highway 76 widened, so I welcome this milestone. I’m hopeful that the kind of cooperation we’ve fostered between private industry, the Pala Indian Tribe, State agencies, Caltrans, and the County will continue.

Raising the Mark

The people of Fallbrook and Bonsall now have visual reminders of our efforts to help the community build a new library. Banners at the south wall of the library and one at a market in Fallbrook show the goal of raising $1 million in donations; part of the Friends of the Fallbrook Library participation in the project.

I stood with Honorary Chairwoman Arlyne Ingold at a banner that shows $570,000 of the $1 million has been raised. Also there was Jerri Patchett, president of Friends of the Fallbrook Library and other community leaders who are working tirelessly to build the 17,000-square-foot library just north of the existing library at Mission Road and Alvarado Street.

The estimated cost of the project is $9.5 million. Nearly half of that has been raised from Community Projects grants, money from the Friends group, and funds set aside by the County. The remaining amount is expected to be covered through County funds, private donations and grant money.

Our county library director Jose Aponte, has said construction could begin as early as summer of next year.

More Time to Read, Study and Check-out

As of February 1st, all branches of our County Library system in North County are open a half hour earlier at 9:30 a.m.

The earlier start gives you more access to our expert staff and collections. This is part of our commitment to helping us be more “user-friendly.”

For more information, you can check the Library’s website at www.sdcl.org or call (858) 694-2484.

New Look for District 5 Website

We’ve worked to redesign our Fifth District website and invite you to check out the new look at www.sdcounty.ca.gov/cnty/bos/sup5/ . This is a great tool for us to keep in touch with constituents and allows us to provide you with the latest developments in North County.

In redesigning our website, our intention was to make the pages easier to access and allow you to provide feedback on issues important to you. Let us know what you think.

New Additions to Team Horn

We have welcomed two new members to our staff.

“Aloha” is appropriate for our new director of constituent services, Candyce Yee. Candyce was born and raised in Hawaii and attended the University of Hawaii. In 2002, she moved to San Diego and five years later, graduated with honors from UCSD with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications. Candyce does volunteer work and her interests include snowboarding, kayaking, singing karaoke, and spending time with friends and family.

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Joining us as community liaison is, Christi Knight. Christi has been a resident of North County for more than 20 years and before joining our staff worked as a sales executive. She is currently earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications with a Minor in Political Science.

Proving it’s a small world, in her high school years, Christi was a student representative to the Escondido Union High School District in 1993-94 when I was serving on the Escondido Union High School District Board.