controversial cadiz water pipeline gets ok from federal ...i controversial cadiz water pipeline gets...
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Controversial Cadiz water pipeline gets OK fromfederal government
By Bettina Boxall
OCTOBER 16, 2017, 6:55 PM
n an about-face, the federal government has given Cadiz Inc. the go-ahead to lay a pipeline for its
proposed desert water project in an existing railroad right-of-way.
The decision by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management follows other Trump administration moves to
eliminate a legal hurdle erected in the company’s path when President Obama was in office.
In 2015, the BLM said Cadiz couldn’t use the right-of-way and would have to obtain federal permission to run
the 43-mile pipeline across surrounding federal land. That would have triggered a lengthy environmental
review that could have imposed new restrictions on Cadiz’s plans to pump groundwater from its desert holdings
200 miles east of Los Angeles and sell it to Southland communities.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management now says Cadiz Inc. can lay a 43-mile water pipeline down an existing railroad right-of-way. (Al Seib/ Los Angeles Times)
The project has been approved under state environmental law, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and public
lands advocates long have fought Cadiz, arguing that the groundwater pumping would deplete the local aquifer
and harm the fragile desert ecosystem on nearby wilderness areas.
Following the BLM’s 2015 ruling, the company founded by investor Keith Brackpool enlisted support from 18
members of Congress and lobbied the Interior Department to rescind the 2011 legal opinion that had
underpinned the denial.
The agency’s solicitor’s office did just that last month, clearing the way for the BLM to make a 180-degree turn
on the question of whether the water pipeline furthered a railroad purpose and could therefore be built in the
right-of-way granted by the federal government under an 1875 law.
In a letter Friday, the BLM’s acting director in Washington wrote that after “further review of the relevant law,”
his agency concluded that the Arizona and California Railroad could let Cadiz use the right-of-way without BLM
authorization.
“The company is very pleased to receive this letter from the BLM,” Scott Slater, Cadiz president and chief
executive CEO, said in a statement. “We have long maintained that the 2015 evaluation by BLM was wrong on
the law, wrong on the facts and inconsistent with the policy driving co-location of infrastructure in existing
rights-of-way.”
But opponents are likely to challenge BLM’s latest decision in court.
“The BLM is not the first or last word” on the federal law that governs railroad rights-of-way, said attorney
Adam Keats, who has challenged the project on behalf of nonprofit groups. “The courts are,” he said. “And the
courts have already interpreted the law in a way that is completely contrary to this new alternate perspective by
the Trump administration.”
Even with the BLM ruling, Cadiz’s pipeline faces another challenge.
The California lands commission recently informed the company that the right-of-way crosses a 200-foot-wide
strip of state land — meaning that to use it, Cadiz will need a lease from the state.
Twitter: @boxall
Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times
This article is related to: Donald Trump, Barack Obama
By JIM STEINBERG | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunPUBLISHED: October 14, 2017 at 11:59 am | UPDATED: October 16, 2017 at 8:23 am
A pumping station designed to help Cadiz project researchers understand how quicklywater seeps into the earth, migrate to the subterranean lakes. The Cadiz project hopesto pump water that would otherwise evaporate from their unique Mojave Desert siteand make it available for municipal use and agriculture. Picture made at the Cadizproject site in the Mojave Desert on Monday, June 1, 2015. Publication Date: March31, 2016 Page: 011 Section: PENB Zone: 1 Edition: 1 ORG XMIT:RIV2016051019285615
NEWS
New obstacle in the Cadiz waterproject in the Mojave Desert? Thecompany says no
The state of California is asserting landownership rights along a proposed
pipeline’s path that would help carry groundwater from a remote part of the
Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County to Orange County and other
communities.
The California Lands Commission asked Cadiz Inc. to �ll out an application for a
lease permit on a 200-foot-wide by 1-mile-long slice on the project’s proposed 43-
mile pipeline.
Environmentalists say this is a major development that could derail, or slow
down, a project that’s gained steam in the Trump Administration.
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Cadiz says that it “is con�dent we will ultimately receive validation of our position
that the project is within the scope of the right-of-way.”
The Cadiz project involves the transfer of groundwater from the Mojave Desert to
parts of Orange County and other locations where it could serve as many as
400,000 people. The pipeline, across a railroad right-of-way, is vital to the
project’s plans to bring its water to market.
“This letter is a reminder that any use of state-owned lands under the
commission’s jurisdiction will require a lease from the commission,” said the
communication dated Sept. 20 and signed by Brian Bugsch, chief of the Land
Management Division.
“Because the commission will be making a discretionary decision when
considering the lease, a subsequent EIR, or its equivalent, may be required to
meet the California Environmental Quality Act requirements,” the letter said.
The move by the state Lands Commission follows a blocked effort to bring a new
environmental review to the Cadiz project under AB 1000. The bill championed by
Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, who was asked to sponsor this
legislation at the request of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a longtime opponent of
the Cadiz project.
A�er the bill died in the Senate Appropriations Committee, State Sen. Ricardo
Lara, D-Bell Gardens, the committee’s chairman, said the bill failed to advance to
the Senate �oor because there was already a process in place to review such
projects.
“Making an exception for one particular case will create a precedent for the
Legislature to block other controversial projects,” he said on Sept. 1.
The bill, called the California Desert Protection Act, would have prohibited the
transfer of groundwater for a vast part of the eastern Mojave Desert unless the
State Lands Commission, in consultation with the Department of Fish and
Wildlife, “�nds that the transfer of the water will not adversely affect the natural
or cultural resources, including groundwater resources or habitat, of those
federal and state lands.”
Lt. Gov. Galvin Newsom, a strong supporter of AB 1000, said, in a letter to the
Senate leadership prior to the vote that “at a time when the Trump Administration
is threatening to roll back environmental protections, and the future of our
nation’s protected National Monuments – including Mojave Trails National
Monument – are under threat, the proposed Cadiz project to pump Mojave Desert
groundwater merits additional scrutiny.”
Newsom is chairman of the state Lands Commission.
View this document on Scribd
Asked why the state Lands Commission is only now asserting its land ownership,
Newsom’s spokesman Rhys Williams said, “when AB 1000 was introduced,
commission staff began to review its �les and research its property interests in
the geographic area identi�ed in the bill. Through that research, staff determined
that the commission retained a property interest in an approximate 200-foot wide
and one-mile long parcel, based on the commission’s historical property records
and the information contained in the Cadiz Water Project 2012 EIR
(Environmental Impact Report.).”
Said Courtney Degener, a Cadiz spokeswoman:
“The state never participated in the California Environmental Quality Act process
for the Cadiz Project, which began in 2011…They failed to show during the entire
process. Yet suddenly, a�er a review of property ownership apparently conducted
a�er the AB 1000 legislative push…they would like us to execute a lease to cross
it.”
A�er Cadiz submits its application, the land commission staff will make a �nal
determination about possible ownership of other lands within the project area
and the level of environmental documentation to be required, the letter said.
The pipeline, which involves the use of a railroad-right-of-way for pipeline
construction, something the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, a huge landholder
in the Mojave Desert, opposed under the Obama Administration and before.
But under the Trump Administration, a recent opinion by the Department of the
Interior’s Of�ce of the Solicitor, appears to the allow the use this 1875 railroad
right of way for the critical water pipeline from the Fenner Valley — about 40
miles northeast of Twentynine Palms — to the Colorado River Aqueduct, where it
would be delivered to future customers.
Under the railroad right-of-way permit granted to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe Railway System by the California Surveyor General in June 1910, there was no
mention of a water pipeline, said Sheri Pemberton, the Land Commission’s
external affairs chief and legislative liaison.
“That use was not contemplated in the permit,” she said.
“Ultimately, whether the many railroad purposes ful�lled by our project satis�es
the statute is not a question for the SLC to determine. This is a question about
construing property rights, which is not a matter for the SLC but for the courts
where our track record before an impartial judge speaks for itself: 12-0,” said
Denenger.
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The state never participated in the California Environmental Quality Act process
for the Cadiz Project, which began in 2011, she said.
“They failed to show during the entire process. Yet suddenly, a�er a review of
property ownership apparently conducted a�er the AB 1000 legislative push,”
Cadiz is focused on clearing up questions related to the scope of the railroad right-
of-way before the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, she said.
“A�er that, we will turn our attention to the question of whether the state holds
any fee title along our preferred route.”
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STEINBERG_JIMJim SteinbergJim Steinberg is a national-award winning environmental writer. He also coversmedical and healthcare issues, drones and aviation, military and the cities ofFontana and Rialto.
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10/17/2017 Slideshow: Land grab: What happens when warehouses move in next door? | 89.3 KPCC
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Ana Carlos still remembers the day last November when the letter came in the mail.
"I get inside the kitchen, I open it up, and it basically looks like an escrow contract," she recalls.
An Orange County developer was offering her $440,000 for her house. She paid less than half that six years ago. The offer still stands.
"I wouldn’t even considering selling," she says, looking out at her property. It spans two acres, with a barn, horses and goats. "They could have come here with an offer of$1 million, and I would have said, no thank you."
Carlos lives in Bloomington, an unincorporated area in San Bernardino county about four miles southwest of the city of San Bernardino. A drive through reveals customhomes spaced far apart and the occasional roadside stand selling eggs.
"We have three young children, so for us it was exciting for them to grow up and be outside with animals, in the garden," she says. "We liked the feel of this rustic town."
But developers have other plans for Bloomington. The community is nestled deep in the Inland Empire, which has become a mecca for the logistics and e-commerceindustries. Over the past decade, warehouses have become a common sight in this part of Southern California.
10/17/2017 Slideshow: Land grab: What happens when warehouses move in next door? | 89.3 KPCC
http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/10/16/76105/land-grab-what-happens-when-warehouses-move-in-nex/ 9/17
As e-commerce and rapid shipping have become a way of life, the Inland Empire has become a mecca for logistics warehouses. Inside are mountains ofonline inventory. Maya Sugarman/KPCC, Google Earth
As Americans buy more of their merchandise online, the industry is in a frenzy to build more warehouses to keep up with demand. But land in San Bernardino andRiverside counties isn’t as easy to find these days. Much of it has been built out or bought up.
So some developers are getting creative – buying up patches of neighborhoods so they can demolish the homes and squeeze warehouses into the open space.
"I see it when I go to south Fontana," Carlos says. "To the left are homes, and to the right are these massive warehouses that don’t end. They keep going and going, milesand miles of warehouse."
In some areas, it’s clear that a few homeowners simply refused to sell.
"[The warehouses] have them caged in. An itty bitty house with these huge warehouse walls [around it]," says Carlos.
She mentions a family she knows in Fontana who refused to sell, even as the developers offered them more money. But as the months passed, more of the neighbors tookthe offers.
"And little by little, they started seeing the land leveled behind them, to the right and left of them," she says.
Then the warehouses were built. The offer from the developer increased to more than $1 million.
"With the walls going up, and the warehouses, and the traffic from all these workers coming in, the trucks, they caved, they said, fine, have our house," Carlos says.
10/17/2017 Slideshow: Land grab: What happens when warehouses move in next door? | 89.3 KPCC
http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/10/16/76105/land-grab-what-happens-when-warehouses-move-in-nex/ 10/17
Maya Sugarman/KPCC
She worries it could happen to her. The letter she received makes it clear that the developer, Howard Industrial Partners, is trying to acquire 30 adjoining acres. It’s unclearwhat the company intends to build, but its website shows mostly logistics and distribution centers in its portfolio.
Carlos says it would be strange to have a big white building overlooking her horse stable, or to feel "caged in" by warehouses on either side of her. And then there's thetraffic, the noise of heavy trucks, and the pollution, she says, her voice trailing off.
Long-term studies of the Inland Empire show that pollution is high in communities with high concentrations of warehouses and diesel trucks. There are also higherincidences of asthma and other health problems, especially with children.
"These developers know that once the neighbors start seeing the community go, we’re going to budge," says Carlos. "We’re going to throw in the towel and say, fine.Would we really want to be enclosed in walls of warehouses with our kids? This is not what we signed up for."
A vicious cycle
Rigoberto Diaz owns a home up the street from Carlos. He’s lived here for 17 years.
He got the same letter from the developer, and he's already accepted the offer. A few other neighbors did too, he said.
"They’re afraid to say it, because [some neighbors] may get mad," says Diaz. "But the reality is, they already signed up. I know quite a few of those. They’re keeping it tothemselves."
Diaz won't say how much money he was offered – just that it was more money than he could make in a traditional sale, and it’s money he can give his kids someday.
He doesn’t have it yet, or even a guarantee from the developer. The deal is contingent on whether the neighbors living closest to him also agree to sell. One hold outwould block it from happening.
But Diaz thinks most people in the neighborhood actually want out. He says this area has its share of problems, which the county can't fix.
To explain, he pulls out some photos of his backyard after it rained last year.
"It's a lake," he groans, pointing at the sizeable body of water that he says forms every time it rains. Water streams in from several other properties. Diaz has asked thecounty to fix it many times over the years.
"They say they don't collect enough money from taxes," he says. "They don't have the resources, so they won’t be able to fix it."
As Diaz sees it, Bloomington is stuck in a vicious cycle. The community generates very little tax revenue because the residents pay low property taxes. So the countyprovides only basic services. There are few sidewalks, no sewer and a limited law enforcement presence.
With such minimal county services, the community can't attract traditional businesses, such as restaurants, stores and office buildings. And without those companies, thecommunity can't generate more tax revenue.
Diaz believes warehouse development could generate enough tax revenue to break that cycle.
Others agree. Gary Grosich is a longtime businessman and city planner in the Inland Empire. He also chairs the Bloomington Municipal Advisory Council, a county-appointed board that represents residents. Locals call it the MAC.
"There are several things we need, and the public has been asking for it – more public safety, we need an additional sheriff, we need to provide more services in the wayof parks, we need infrastructure improvements," Grosich says.
10/17/2017 Slideshow: Land grab: What happens when warehouses move in next door? | 89.3 KPCC
http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/10/16/76105/land-grab-what-happens-when-warehouses-move-in-nex/ 11/17
He insists that Bloomington isn’t going to allow warehouses to "hopscotch" all over the community. The MAC recently recommended that three small sections of town bedesignated for future industrial development. That would keep most of the warehouses clustered together, away from the central part of town. Ana Carlos and RigobertoDiaz live in one of the designated areas.
Developers would still be required to go through the same county approval process, which includes an environmental review and a vote from the board of supervisors.Projects in the designated areas would be more likely to receive the required zoning changes.
"The areas identified by the council for rezoning were selected because of their proximity to the I-10 and 60 freeways, the railroad tracks, existing industrial areas andtruck routes," said Lee and Associates, the real estate firm that sent the offer letters to Carlos and Diaz. "We have been in contact with property owners in those areas, andmost have told us that they support the council’s proposal," the firm said in an emailed statement.
Grosich says the MAC spent months gathering public feedback from residents as it developed Bloomington's updated community plan, and that most residents support theidea of limited warehouse development in exchange for enhanced public services.
But others in the community say the MAC has turned a deaf ear to their concerns, and they don’t believe a plan like this will limit warehouse development.
Thomas and Kim Rocha formed Concerned Neighbors of Bloomington and collected 1,000 signatures from residents who oppose warehouses. MayaSugarman/KPCC
A community divided
Kim and Thomas Rocha live a few blocks east of Rigoberto Diaz.
For the past three years, they’ve been fighting to keep a warehouse from being built behind their home (it’s still in the planning approval process).
In that span of time, several other warehouse projects have been proposed around town.
10/17/2017 Slideshow: Land grab: What happens when warehouses move in next door? | 89.3 KPCC
http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/10/16/76105/land-grab-what-happens-when-warehouses-move-in-nex/ 12/17
"We realized that, 'Oh my God, they’re going to surround us.' So it doesn’t [matter] if I win [the fight against] this warehouse here, I’m still going to have one right there,"says Kim Rocha. "So I’m going to have the trucks anyway. Smog, pollution, the quality of my life...and our community, it’s a poor community, and a lot of poor peoplesometimes don’t have a voice."
Earlier this year, the Rochas formed a group called Concerned Neighbors of Bloomington. Kim says they’ve collected more than 1,000 signatures from residents whooppose warehouses, so they find it hard to believe the MAC’s claim that most residents support this kind of development.
"It's like, where are these people?," she asks, growing frustrated. "We don't find these people saying they want the warehouses. To me, it's like, who is telling you this?Because we are in this community too."
Bloomington residents don't often attend county meetings to protest the warehouses, says Kim Rocha. They work long hours, some are elderly and don’t speak or readEnglish, she says. So when the county sends a postcard to inform them of a future warehouse project, many people don’t see it or understand what it says, adds Rocha.
Residents may not find out what's going on until a project is about to break ground. That's similar to what happened this summer after the San Bernardino County Boardof Supervisors approved a warehouse project near an elementary school. Many parents were shocked that they weren’t informed beforehand.
"It’s like David and Goliath," Kim Rocha sighs. "Like, we’re fighting big business, big money, and we’re just little people."
The Rochas have been to many of the MAC meetings, and they know about Bloomington's tax revenue problem. They don't think warehouses are the way to solve it.
Ultimately, Kim Rocha says, if they can’t get county leaders to see it their way, it’ll be up to residents to hold the line.
10/17/2017 Slideshow: Land grab: What happens when warehouses move in next door? | 89.3 KPCC
http://www.scpr.org/news/2017/10/16/76105/land-grab-what-happens-when-warehouses-move-in-nex/ 13/17
For the past three years, the Rochas have been fighting to keep a warehouse from being built behind their home. The project is still in the planning approvalprocess. Maya Sugarman/KPCC
"If you don’t sell, you may be the major block that’s stopping them. Just don’t sell, don’t give in," Thomas Rocha says, recounting the advice he recently gave a retireewho lives nearby.
He and his wife also realize the developers have deep pockets, and that worries them.
"Remember the lady who lived over there?" Kim Rocha says, gesturing over her head.
Her husband nods.
"Her house value came in at $375,000, and they offered her $800,000."
The woman took the offer.
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By ERICKA FLORES |
October 16, 2017 at 5:04 pm
Jim Steinberg, staff photo
Bloomington community member Thomas Rocha brings an anti-warehouse message to San Bernardino County planning commissioners onThursday, Aug. 15, 2017.
The unincorporated area of Bloomington in the county of San Bernardino is a hidden gem. Widely known for its strong community values and
rural living, it has attracted hundreds who want to call this place home. Until recent years, Bloomington remained a quiet area with large empty
acres scattered across its 7-mile radius, a secure place to raise a family in a safe environment. However, all this has drastically changed with
incoming warehouses that have been approved or are being proposed for this area. The rst signs of these impending industrial developments
often begins with the rezoning of land from residential to industrial. Since most of the land is residential, these new land uses encroach upon
sensitive receptors, such as homes and schools, bringing deadly diesel emissions to an unsafe and close proximity to our children and families.
To be clear, our community is not against economic development. Bloomington could surely bene t from more revenue and jobs, but there is no
reason we must trade the health of our children for this growth. We have always urged the common-sense solution, for industrial development
to be placed at a safe distance from schools and homes.
OPINION
Protecting our children from environmental hazards inBloomington
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If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the rightside of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing [email protected].
In May, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors voted to grant permission to the applicant Western RealCo for the construction of a
676,983 square foot, high cube warehouse in a 34-acre lot – less than 52 feet away from Zimmerman Elementary and down the street from
Crestmore Elementary. All of the nearby residents and parents with children in these schools argue that they were never noti ed of this
project, either by the county or by the Colton Uni ed School Board, which oversees K-12 schools within Bloomington. The Colton Uni ed
School Board claims they are not obligated to inform parents of proposed industrial development near schools. When some of the parents
heard of the vote, they were concerned, upset and unsure of what type of protections their children would now have with a massive warehouse
across and down the street from what is supposed to be a safe place to study, learn, play and grow. As a group, we decided to attend the Colton
Uni ed School District Board meetings to urge the School board adopt a resolution that would address warehouse development in close
proximity to schools and homes. As parents and community members, we expect school of cials to take a strong stand to protect the health
and wellbeing of school age children. We later found out that some members of the school district did in fact know of the massive warehouse
project near Zimmerman Elementary School and made their concerns known in a comment letter to the Draft Environmental Impact Report
for the project proposed by the developer, Western RealCo. The district however sent a second letter to the San Bernardino planning
commission on April 5, 2017, in which the school district discussed a negotiation reached with developers. The agreement between the school
district and developer is an absolute. The school district negotiated a meager agreement with developers and on May 3rd it issued a letter
which gave the county its blessing to advance the project.
As members of the Center For Community Action and Environmental Justice, Concerned Neighbors of Bloomington and parents from various
schools across town, we came to voice our reasons as to why the resolution letter was necessary. We thought that the board would be
compelled with parents’ concerns. Although, we believe some members of the school board members understood the parents’ concerns and
had their support against industry next to or near schools, it was with disbelief that we found out that they did not grant the resolution letter.
Instead, an opposition letter would be drafted that would address general industrial development taking place but not specify any particular
project.
This is not want the parents wanted and it is not good enough for the residents who will now have to live with the aftermath of seeing their
health deteriorate because of diesel exposure from idling trucks and the noise pollution that comes from an industry that never sleeps. The
health of the most vulnerable members of our society is put at risk with a polluting site so close to a school, and – unlike what some might
believe – warehouses lack proper regulations from agencies placing community members at risk.
It is disappointing that the school board did not see this as an opportunity to stand with the community and the children they are charged to
protect. Instead, they played it safe by giving a letter that only focuses on general statements already publicly known by those concerned.
Through its inaction, the school board members passed the buck of their most important responsibility – to protect the health and safety of our
children. Yes, the school district has no jurisdiction over the rezoning of any land, but they do have an opportunity and responsibility to
challenge anything or anyone who might affect the environment where our children learn. Why will they not advocate for common sense,
simple zoning solutions that will both generate economic growth and keep our air clean? Why will they not stand up for those they represent
and protest a measure that will put our children’s health at stake? The bottom line is, for our children, we must demand more.
Ericka Flores, San Bernardino resident and community organizer with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.
ErickaFlores
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By CURT HAGMAN |October 16, 2017 at 3:52 pm
Courtesy photoElizabeth McSwain and Vice Chairman Hagman.
As the owner of an award-winning southern cuisine restaurant, Elizabeth McSwain knows a lot about food, healthy eating and down-home
goodness.
Elizabeth joined the Ontario community just one year ago when she opened her business, Beola’s Southern Cuisine restaurant. She has not
only made a name for herself with her mouth-watering creations, she found the time to use her knowledge about food to form the Caramel
Connections Foundation which helps underserved children with tips on healthy eating and physical �tness.
Teaching our children about physical �tness is so important because 34 percent of youths in San Bernardino County don’t get the
recommended amount of physical activity which is 60 minutes a day. Only 23 percent of adults in our county are getting the recommended
150 minutes a week of physical activity, according to according to the most recent data from the California Health Interview Survey.
It is my privilege to name Elizabeth as my “Action Hero” representing San Bernardino County’s Fourth District because of her commitment
to the Countywide Vision’s Vision2BActive campaign to improve health and wellness by encouraging residents to increase their physical
activity and connecting them to existing recreational programs, amenities and activities in their communities.
OPINION
Elizabeth McSwain serves up physical fitness andhealthy cooking to kids
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Elizabeth started the Caramel Connections Foundation by hosting monthly healthy eating and cooking classes at her restaurant to teach
kids how to cook their own fun and healthy meals.
“Some of these kids come from challenged households.” Elizabeth said. “When they come to a monthly cooking class and eat more salad
than the adults, it’s because it’s tasty. For a lot of them, it’s also because they don’t know where their next meal is coming from.”
Elizabeth says her students – some as young as 8 years old – are energetic and extremely engaged in the lessons.
But Elizabeth knows healthy eating isn’t the only component to wellness. Her Caramel Connections Foundation also partnered with the
Boys and Girls Club of San Bernardino to offer children physical activity classes. For those children not near the Boys and Girls Club,
Elizabeth started a private social media group for parents to document their children’s physical activities.
Each picture of their child engaging in physical �tness results in a raf�e entry for a new bicycle the foundation gives away each year. The
pictures provide visual and moral support for kids and their parents. The bicycle is a great incentive for kids to do a little more and try a
little harder. The social media account lets them see how daily physical activity makes lives better and enables them to learn new skills and
make new friends. Physical exercise is truly a win-win situation for our children. It bene�ts them physically, socially, emotionally and
psychologically. It brings people together and encourages teamwork and sharing.
“The social media account is a great way for kids to work with their parents to promote physical activity,” Elizabeth said. “Kids see their
friends working out, riding bicycles, skateboarding, or swimming and they tell their parents, ‘Let’s go do that.’ So it gets kids and their
parents out of the house. It gets them excited to be active. They’re sharing with their friends, they’re meeting up outside of the monthly
meetings, and it’s great!”
I am pleased to hear kids who are using Elizabeth’s program are bene�ting from both learning about healthy and delicious food and
learning about the health bene�ts of regular physical exercise in accord with the Countywide Vision’s Vision2BActive campaign. Children
are the future of San Bernardino County and Elizabeth’s leadership and dedication to furthering the goals and ideals of the Vision2BActive
campaign make her the perfect person to be our Action Hero in the Fourth District.
Curt Hagman is San Bernardino county supervisor representing the Fourth District. For more information about the Vision2BActivecampaign, check out Vision2BActive.com, an interactive resource that provides residents with information about physical activity events,�tness tips and a GIS map featuring places to be active in the county.
Curt Hagman
BY MORNINGFINANCE
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Lake Gregory End of Season Shoreside and TrailClean Upin Community News, Environment, For Your Information, Informational, Mountain Region, News, Subject,Ticker, Volunteering / by Michael P. Neufeld / on October 17, 2017 at 5:03 am /
By Susan A. Neufeld
Crestline, CA – On Saturday, October 21, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., residents and friends of Lake Gregory areasked to come out and join in the end of the season beach and trail clean up.
Everything needed for the clean up around Lake Gregory will be provided. Bags, gloves, water and trash pick upwill be available, and parking passes will be provided.
Please meet at 10 a.m. at the south shore parking lot, off San Moritz Drive near Lake Gregory Drive.
The clean up is sponsored by: Lake Gregory Yacht Club, Crestline Communities Development Alliance and Lake Gregory Recreation Company.
Come out to help make the lake cleaner going into the winter season.
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By Rene Ray De La Cruz Staff Writer Posted Oct 13, 2017 at 6:01 PMUpdated Oct 16, 2017 at 9:11 AM
An Apple Valley woman who lived at Del Webb Sun City died in her husband’s arms earlierthis week as they tried to escape a wildfire that swept through Northern California.
Carmen Caldentey Berriz, 75, died Monday while she and her husband, Armando Berriz, triedto escape the blaze by jumping into a pool at a hilltop rental in Santa Rosa, according to theAssociated Press.
The couple escaped the flames of the Tubbs Fire by remaining in a swimming pool overnight,but Carmen Berriz died after she was overcome by smoke, her husband of 55 years cradling heras she took her last breath.
The Apple Valley woman was one of 33 victims of the fires that have ravaged parts of NorthernCalifornia this week.
Carmen Berriz leaves behind her husband, three children and their spouses, sevengrandchildren, and family and friends who are mourning her loss.
“Everything they did was as a team,” daughter Monica Ocon told the AP. “They had this bondand this strength that literally lasted a lifetime.”
The Berriz family was on vacation in Santa Rosa when a family member awoke just aftermidnight, saw the approaching fire and alerted the others.
As family members escaped through the thick smoke in their vehicles, they pulled over andwaited for Carmen and Armando’s car, but it never came, the AP said.
When a fallen tree prevented Armando Berriz’s car from leaving the property, the couple tookshelter in the backyard pool while the smoke became heavier and the blaze approached.
Armando Berriz held on to his wife and the side of the pool for hours, even as the hot brickburned his hands. He hung on to his wife even after she stopped breathing, the AP reported.
After the flames burned out, Armando Berriz laid his wife on the steps of the pool with herarms carefully crossed over her chest. He then walked 2 miles to find firefighters.
“They were wonderful people and everybody loved them,” Sun City resident Lorraine Yannonetold the Daily Press. “They brought food for us and helped me when my husband, Mike, diedabout two and a half years ago. We’re all shocked by her death.”
Apple Valley woman dies in husband’s arms in NorCal �re
10/17/2017 Authorities: Suspect in home invasion robbery in Hesperia shot by homeowner
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20171017/authorities-suspect-in-home-invasion-robbery-in-hesperia-shot-by-homeowner 1/2
By Kevin Trudgeon City EditorPosted at 8:09 AMUpdated at 8:09 AM
HESPERIA — A homeowner shot a suspect during a reported home invasion robbery here Monday evening,authorities said.
Deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Hesperia Station received reports of a burglary in progress inthe 7200 block of Kern Avenue at 9:39 p.m.
According to authorities, when deputies arrived they found Andrew Sanchez, 18, of Hesperia, suffering fromgunshot wounds to his upper body.
Through interviews and evidence at the scene, detectives believe that Sanchez, for reasons still unknown, went tothe residence and began to force open the front door while the residents slept.
“An adult male resident engaged in a confrontation with Sanchez at the door of the residence and called 911,”sheriff’s officials said in a statement. “As Sanchez gained entry to the house, the resident, who had armed himselfduring the confrontation, fired several shots, striking Sanchez.”
Sanchez was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center in critical condition, according to authorities, andthe homeowner was treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries suffered during the confrontation.
Several other residents at the home, including four juveniles, were not injured and were cooperating with thedetectives, authorities said.
The firearm used during the shooting was recovered and detectives with the Hesperia Sheriff’s Station arecontinuing to investigate the shooting.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Brian Waterhouse at the Hesperia Sheriff’s Station at 760-947-1500. Callers wishing to remain anonymous may call the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-782-7463 or visitwww.wetip.com.
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Authorities: Suspect in home invasion robbery in Hesperia shot byhomeowner
By THERESA WALKER | [email protected] | Orange CountyRegisterOctober 17, 2017 at 8:06 am
Jenni Tillett writes a message at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden, Monday,Oct. 16, 2017, in Las Vegas. The garden was built as a memorial for the victims of therecent mass shooting in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
LOCAL NEWS
For Las Vegas shooting survivorswho want to talk, mental healthprofessionals give free time tolisten
Mental health professionals can be thought of as the second responders a�er a
crisis in the community: They help people deal with emotional and behavioral
trauma that follows both natural and man-made disasters.
In the a�ermath of the Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooting in Las Vegas, a
number of local counselors have stepped up to offer free services to survivors in
Southern California – home to 23 of the 58 victims killed by a lone gunman and to
many of the more than 500 injured.
Since the 10 minutes of terror on Oct. 1 at the outdoor country music concert,
private therapists, counseling centers and government-funded crisis specialists
around the region have been extending help on hotlines, in private sessions and
through support groups.
Their focus has been on the thousands of Southern Californians who were in the
audience that Sunday night when shooter Stephen Paddock, who later killed
himself, �red high-powered weaponry from his luxury suite high up in the
Mandalay Bay Resort and Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
One of those survivors, Patty Caretto Brown of Laguna Hills, was grateful she
could share experiences in person with about 50 other concert attendees the
Sunday a�er the shooting. The gathering was led by a local member of the U.S.
Army who Brown said routinely deals with soldiers possibly suffering post
traumatic stress disorder.
“The groups are very therapeutic, listening to other people’s stories and knowing
where they were and where we were and how everybody was affected by the
whole thing,” said Brown, 66, who attended the concert with her husband and
son.
The three family members were separated in the chaos. Before the shooting
began, Brown’s husband had gone closer to the stage. Brown and her son had
stayed toward the middle of the crowd, and hid from the bullets beneath a table
by a bar until there was a lull in the barrage.
“My son said ‘Mom we’ve got to run’ and when the shooter was reloading or
whatever he was doing and there was a pause my son grabbed me and we stood
up and ran out an exit.”
The two reunited with Brown’s husband later. All three were physically unharmed
but Brown said they are suffering from mental anguish, like many of the other
survivors she has connected with through virtual support groups on Facebook
and those at the Huntington Beach gathering.
A feeling of survivor’s guilt weighs heavy on their hearts and minds.
“You know it’s very hard to deal with that we were survivors,” Brown said. “The
other thing that’s hard to deal with is that we did not have the heroic situation or
we weren’t injured or have a bullet wound, but we still are all survivors.
“We all have scars from what we heard, from what we saw, and what we had to go
through.”
Some therapists and counselors have personal ties to the people and the place
where the worst mass shooting in modern American history took place. Facebook
and other social media outlets served as a means to reach out to larger numbers
of those in need of support.
Stephanie Goldsmith, a licensed clinical psychologist with a practice in the
eastern Los Angeles County community of Claremont, posted a message on
Facebook Oct. 4 that said, in part, “Las Vegas is my hometown. I need to do
something to help.”
Goldsmith said she received more than 50 emails and additional phone calls from
Route 91 concert-goers wanting to attend a support group she’s leading for people
in the Los Angeles area and the Inland Empire. Goldsmith said she had so many
responses, she needed a bigger space for the survivors to meet. A church in town
opened its doors.
At the �rst group meeting Friday a�ernoon, 50 people showed up. Goldsmith
plans to continue them weekly through Nov. 17.
“People seem to be really grateful to have a place to come to and not go through
this alone,” said Goldsmith, who lived in Las Vegas starting in middle school and
graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
It’s in the nature of mental health professionals to want to help people, and the
proximity of the Las Vegas shooting and the number of Southern Californians
who were there allows Goldsmith and other counselors in the area to respond
directly.
“A�er something this horrible, it’s really wonderful to see people on their feet and
mobilized to help,” she said.
An eight-week series of free group sessions that Mariposa Women & Family
Center in Orange will start Wednesday night, Oct. 18, for survivors grew out of the
response that poured into its director, Krista Driver, on her personal Facebook
page and via emails and phone calls.
“I was overwhelmed by how many of my friends were either there or knew
someone that was,” Driver said. “This has sent ripples through our community
and I felt compelled to mobilize our resources to help these people.”
A nonpro�t that has been in the community for 40 years, Mariposa sets aside a
portion of its donations to maintain a scholarship fund to help cover free services.
One Las Vegas shooting survivor who was referred to Mariposa will be getting
one-on-one counseling with help from the scholarship fund, but with so many in
need, the group sessions were necessary, Driver said.
As of Monday, 20 people had signed up with Mariposa, just about at capacity.
Driver said more groups can be opened if needed and “if we get to eight weeks
and they feel like they need more time, we’ll extend it.”
There also will be a separate group for adolescents.
“We’ve gotten quite a few calls for teens who were at the concert,” Driver said.
“We don’t want teens and adults together.”
Phone operators at county-run mental health hotlines immediately stood ready to
refer anyone in need of help to local resources and to the state victim
compensation program that can provide �nancial assistance for mental health
treatment and other services.
San Bernardino County, which suffered the trauma of the December 2015 terror
attack at a training session for county workers in San Bernardino that le� 14
people dead and 22 seriously injured, held an all-day drop-in clinic in Ontario the
Saturday following the Las Vegas shooting.
A few days later, the Riverside County Mental Health Department held regional
group sessions for survivors of the shooting on the same night in three different
locations in Riverside, Indio and Lake Elsinore and 75 people showed up. Those
Oct. 11 gatherings were only for people who had attended the Las Vegas concert.
Separate groups were offered for those not at the concert but knew someone who
had been killed or injured.
Men and women in their 20s to their 50s came to what are described as “critical
incident debrie�ngs” by psychologist Andrew Williams, mental health services
administrator with Riverside University Health System-Behavioral Health, who
led the group at a family wellness center in Riverside.
All but one person spoke up, with many of them saying it was the �rst time they
had shared what they experienced outside of Facebook groups, Williams said,
describing the gatherings as being more like triage than therapy sessions.
“The unique dynamic is these are complete strangers that don’t know each other
but they feel completely uni�ed and validated around each other,” said Williams,
who in the past conducted similar debrie�ngs for the survivors of the San
Bernardino mass shooting.
Where to get help
The structured two-hour meetings provided a safe environment for survivors to
share their experiences, to debunk myths about what happened and for mental
health professionals like Williams to provide guidance on processing thoughts
and emotions a�er a traumatic incident. Such reactions as nightmares, hyper-
vigilance, trouble sleeping in the dark (because the shooting happened at night),
and feelings of guilt are normal and even predictable, Williams said.
Initial shock can be followed by feelings of emotional numbness with no sign of
anger or tears — a defense mechanism, Williams said — or a sense of
helplessness, self blame, and physical symptoms that could include headaches,
stomach aches, insomnia and loss of appetite. Some people might increase
consumption of alcohol or turn to other drugs.
Coping strategies were discussed, along with providing resource information for
those who may want or need clinical therapy services. Research shows that
symptoms tend to dissipate on their own a�er two to four weeks, Williams said.
But if they go beyond that and become intrusive in daily life, he recommends
seeking one-on-one professional help.
The woman in his group who did not speak during the meeting opened up
a�erward, Williams said.
“She ended up staying behind, talking to and hugging others she didn’t know at
all.”
Contact Mariposa Women & Family Center in Orange about its group
sessions for Route 91 survivors at 714-547-6494 or email
Stephanie Goldsmith in Claremont can be reached at
[email protected], or �nd more information on the resources
page at stephaniegoldsmithphd.com.
Also in Orange County, the Center for Individual and Family Therapy, a
Christian counseling center, has been holding free group sessions. Another
group will be held Tuesday night, Oct. 17, in Brea. More may be added. Call
714-558-9266.
The county of Orange is referring people seeking short-term therapy to its
HCA Prevention and Early Intervention program, Community Counseling
and Supportive Services (CCSS) at 714-645-8000.
The Los Angeles County ACCESS line is 800-854-7771; Riverside County
CARES line is 800-706-7500; the 24/7 national SAMHSA Disaster Distress
Helpline is 800-985-5990.
For information on San Bernardino County 24/7 Crisis Walk-In Clinics, go to
crisis services at http://wp.sbcounty.gov/dbh/.
Reach the California Victim Compensation Board at 800-777-9229.
TheresaWalker.RegisterWriter. //MOREINFORMATION:AssociateMug ShottakenAugust 24,2010 : byKATELUCAS,THEORANGECOUNTYREGISTER
Theresa WalkerTheresa Walker is a Southern California native who has been astaff writer at The Orange County Register since 1992. Shespecializes in human interest stories and social issues, such ashomelessness. She also covers nonpro�ts and philanthropy inOrange County. She loves telling stories about ordinary peoplewho do the extraordinary in their communities.
Follow Theresa Walker @TellTheresa
Tags: health, las vegas, Las Vegas mass shooting,mass shooting, Top Stories OCR, Top Stories PE
By BRIAN ROKOS | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise
PUBLISHED: October 16, 2017 at 12:55 pm | UPDATED: October 16, 2017 at 2:14 pm
A fundraiser has been set for San Bernardino County sheriff’s Sgt. Brad Powers, who
was wounded in the Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas.
The event is planned for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 22, at J. Riley Distillery, 721
Nevada St., Unit 206B, Redlands.
A portion of the sales will bene t Powers’ GoFundMe account. Raf e prizes include
a skateboard signed by Tony Hawk and two tickets to the Nov. 4 USC-Arizona
football game in Los Angeles.
Powers, a 19-year-veteran of the department, is assigned to the Fontana station. He
was still hospitalized Monday, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller said Monday. She
did not have an update on his speci c condition.
Brian Rokos
LOCAL NEWS
Fundraiser to bene�t SanBernardino sheriff’s sergeantwounded in Las Vegas
Tags: Las Vegas mass shooting, Top Stories RDF, Top Stories Sun
By SANDRA EMERSON | [email protected] | Redlands Daily FactsOctober 16, 2017 at 8:09 pm
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, takes questions from local residents Mondayevening October 16, 2017 during a townhall meeting at the Esri Conference Center inRedlands. (Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)
NEWSPOLITICS
Rep. Pete Aguilar discusseshealth care, jobs, immigrationduring town hall in Redlands
Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, addressed health care, economic
development and immigration during a town hall Monday evening, Oct. 16 in
Redlands.
“I’m going to do everything we can so that we don’t cut and erode social security,
Medicare and Medicaid for the poor,” Aguilar told residents of the 31st
Congressional District, which spans from Redlands to Rancho Cucamonga.
Aguilar said he would not tolerate the erosion of health care bene�ts for his
constituents, but would try to work with his colleagues across the aisle to address
challenges in the Affordable Care Act. Repealing the act has been a key priority
for President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.
“These are programs that are essential for our community, essential for our
seniors, essential for our young people,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar �elded questions directly from the audience and from notecards
submitted by attendees, while Jessica Keating, editor of the Redlands Daily Facts
newspaper, moderated. The town hall was held at Esri.
A question about bringing the �lm production into the Inland Empire dovetailed
into a need to boost jobs and economic development.
Aguilar said the state is losing �lm production to other states that offer tax credits,
but a federal tax credit would apply to production in any state.
“This is something that has to have local buy-in and local help to the extent we
could continue to work with local partners to make sure we pursue that,” Aguilar
said. “It’s about economic development.”
Aguilar stressed the importance of re�nancing student loan debt and making sure
young people know they have options besides college, such as technical career
education programs.
“I know for so many young people, it is their entire focus while they’re in school
and for so many you know this is becoming a barrier for them going to school in
the �rst place because of the high cost of tuition,” Aguilar said. “There is no
reason to have student loan debt with 8, 9, 12 or 14 percent interest rates. That’s
ridiculous.”
Aguilar said he is working with his colleagues in Congress to protect immigrants
known as Dreamers following the Trump administration’s announcement in
September that it would phase out the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or
DACA, program. Under DACA, children brought to the country illegally by their
parents can apply to be protected from deportation.
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Aguilar called the administration’s action wrong, but said he agrees there needs to
be legislative action on the issue.
“It’s still important for us as the legislative branch to deal with this issue,” Aguilar
said. “So we’re going to do everything we can to protect Dreamers, the thousands
of young people here in our region who, through no fault of their own, are here
and contributing to the Inland Empire.”
Monday’s town hall follows a similar event Aguilar held in April at the National
Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino.
Aguilar’s town halls and public meetings stem from his time as Redlands mayor,
when he launched the Coffee with the Council program.
“I can’t do my job, and none of us as elected of�cials can do our job, unless we
hear from our community,” Aguilar said.
Lois Stuart of Redlands attended Monday’s town hall to ask about rent control.
Stuart said she is very interested in politics.
“I want to be involved like never before and this is my community, so I care a lot,”
Stuart said.
EMERSON_SANDRASandra EmersonSandra Emerson covers the cities of Redlands, Highland and Yucaipa for theRedlands Daily Facts and The Sun.
Follow Sandra Emerson @TheFactsSandra
Tags: congress, Top Stories IVDB, Top Stories PE,Top Stories RDF, Top Stories Sun
By Shea Johnson Staff Writer Posted Oct 14, 2017 at 4:33 PMUpdated Oct 14, 2017 at 4:33 PM
Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a series of stories leading up to the Nov. 7 special election that will examine Victorville’s Measure K
ballot initiative.
VICTORVILLE — The anti-effort to the city’s public safety tax met its rival this week as “Yes on Measure K” mailers weredelivered to voters, the answer to the flood of vote-no signs plastered throughout Victorville.
Depicting images of San Bernardino County firefighters battling treacherous blazes and three Sheriff’s deputies on a call,the mailer offers a rather ominous rally cry for the proposed half-percent sales tax: “Let’s make sure they are there when weneed them!”
“Measure K takes the money out of the hands of politicians and requires it to be spent on public safety personnel,” it readson another side, underscoring a key point that city officials have sought to get across: The $8.5 million in projected yearlyrevenue must by law be spent only on law enforcement and fire services.
With less than a month until the Nov. 7 special election, the pro-campaign has finally emerged on the scene to counter the
push of Measure K opponents: The Inland Empire Taxpayers Association and County Fire union being, arguably, the
most visible.
“Yes on Measure K” is backed by the Quality of Life Coalition, a political action committee focused on pro-business andpro-jobs candidates and issues, according to its spokesman, Michael W. McKinney.
While the committee has members who are regional developers, McKinney insisted it was more diverse and included,among other members, Victorville residents.
“Residents, businesses, and former Fire Chiefs,” he wrote in an email, “recognize the importance of decreasing responsetimes, increasing public safety personnel on the job, and ensuring the money raised only be used for public safety.”
He said by phone Friday that developers were not unlike residents of the city: “You want to see a thriving community and asafe community.”
But builders might also have an incentive to get behind Measure K, as it has been acknowledged by city officials that the
alternative is an annexation into County Fire’s Service Zone FP-5, which carries a $153 yearly parcel tax.
“I don’t think there’s any guarantee that a property tax would pass in the city of Victorville,” McKinney said in response.
The pro-campaign’s offensive also comes more than a month after “Vote No on Measure K” signs first began appearing inthe city, presenting many voters with their introduction to the ballot measure, but McKinney declined to discuss whetherthe pro-campaign had arisen too late.
“I don’t think that’s proper to address what our strategy is,” he said. “We’ll find out whose strategy won in November, won’twe?”
The pro-campaign effort, while assisting to highlight the city’s plans to boost law enforcement and fire services —
particularly because the city can’t assume an advocacy role — also has a potentially awkward tenor.
In 2014, the Quality of Life Coalition had sought to upend Councilman Jim Kennedy’s re-election campaign through
a series of mailers which were fiercely rebuked at the time by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Cox.
City Manager Doug Robertson had called the mailers — one seemed to suggest the city or Kennedy was subject to an FBIprobe — “disappointing” and “potentially damaging to the city.”
Measure K mailers counter established anti-e�ort in Victorville
The committee also has links — strongly challenged by McKinney, however — to the Building Industry Association. Itsprincipal officer is BIA Baldy View Chapter President Carlos Rodriguez, campaign finance records show, but McKinneysaid Rodriguez is not acting within his BIA capacity.
The BIA of Southern California’s official political action committee previously contributed to the coalition in October2014, a month before Kennedy was re-elected to the dais, campaign finance records show.
Shea Johnson can be reached at 760-955-5368 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.
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By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunOctober 16, 2017 at 4:34 pm
FILE PHOTOSan Bernardino City Council will introduce its nine-member marijuana advisory committee on Wednesday.
The nine nominees for a committee tasked with recommending regulations for marijuana use in San Bernardino will be announced
during Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
Each council member has one nominee; Mayor Carey Davis has two. The body will vote on all nominations together as a single action.
The advisory committee is charged with “the duty to evaluate, analyze and propose options and standards to establish marijuana
regulations that will protect the public health, safety and welfare of residents of San Bernardino,” a staff report says.
To be voted on before the appointees is an exception to a city law that requires all members of boards, commissions and committees to be
San Bernardino residents. At least six council members must approve the exemption.
The committee will work with a hired consultant and is to discuss regulations relating to personal cannabis cultivation, consumption, and
taxes and fees on marijuana sales – issues of the highest concern, a staff report says.
Recommendations must comply with Proposition 64, which allows marijuana statewide, and Measure O, a local law permitting
dispensaries in a limited number of locations that San Bernardino voters passed in November.
LOCAL NEWS
Nine-member marijuana committee to be announcedat Wednesday’s San Bernardino City Council meeting
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If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the rightside of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing [email protected].
Measure O currently is being challenged in court.
Proposals are to be brought before the mayor and City Council by Dec. 20 to allow for any recommended ordinance to be in place by
January.
All committee meetings will be open to the public. The date and time for the �rst meeting has yet to be determined.
The City Council meets at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 201 N. E St.
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Brian WhiteheadBrian Whitehead covers San Bernardino for The Sun. Bred in Grand Terrace, he graduated from Riverside Notre DameHigh and Cal State Fullerton. For seven years, he covered high school and college sports for The Orange County Register.Before landing at The Sun, he was the city beat reporter for Buena Park, Fullerton and La Palma.
Follow Brian Whitehead @bwhitehead3
Tags: marijuana, Top Stories PE, Top Stories Sun
By BRIAN WHITEHEAD | [email protected] | San Bernardino SunPUBLISHED: October 16, 2017 at 3:03 pm | UPDATED: October 16, 2017 at 3:07 pm
Contestants take a look at their artwork during Omnitrans’ second annual San Bernardino Transit Center Sidewalk Chalk Art Contest on Saturday,Oct. 14. Winners received cash prizes. (Courtesy of Omnitrans)
The artists didn’t need their paints or pastels. No need for a blank canvas or easel either.
On Saturday, 15 contestants needed only a 6-foot-by-6-foot slab of sidewalk and a medium commonly associated with schoolchildren and
blacktops.
More than 100 spectators watched creativity in action as artists vied for cash prizes at Omnitrans’ second annual San Bernardino Transit
Center Sidewalk Chalk Art Contest.
Held in celebration of the center’s two-year anniversary, the two-hour event, themed “Connecting Our Community,” hoped to combine
local art talent and community partnerships at the regional transit center, said Wendy Williams, an Omnitrans spokeswoman.
“We look forward to integrating the transit center’s growth into next year’s contest,” she added.
LOCAL NEWS
Omnitrans sidewalk chalk art contest in San Bernardinoapplauds creativity
Arlette Ramirez, left, won $300 for her artwork at Omnitrans’ second annual San Bernardino Transit Center Sidewalk Chalk Art Conteston Saturday, Oct. 14. Dana Devereaux, from left, and David Mir took home $150 for finishing second, and Alicia Rubios won $100 forplacing third. (Courtesy of Omnitrans)
First-place winner Arlette Ramirez drew Omnitrans’ mascot, Buster the Bus, greeting passengers at a bus stop and giving away balloons.
She won a $300 Visa gi� card.
The team of Dana Devereaux and David Mir came in second for drawing a man and a woman talking on the phone with the image of the
world and �ags from various countries between them. They won $150.
Alicia Rubios received $100 for a piece illustrating how music connects all communities.
“We are pleased that the sidewalk chalk art contest has become a true community event,” Williams said.
Children under 13 received a free movie ticket for their participation. The San Bernardino Teen Music Workshop, a program for sixth-
through 12th-grade students, provided a soundtrack for attendees.
Artwork was judged on �rst impression, creativity, originality, skill and use of color. Local art a�cionados deliberated and selected
winners.
At Rialto Avenue and E Street in downtown San Bernardino, the transit center serves more than 5,000 passengers every weekday. The
center has such environmental-friendly features as solar roo�op panels, sustainable greenery and high-tech heating and cooling systems.
For information: omnitrans.org.
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Skypark at Santa’s Village Presents Pumpkins in thePinesin Community News, Entertainment, For Your Information, Informational, Mountain Region, News, Subject,Ticker / by Michael P. Neufeld / on October 17, 2017 at 5:00 am /
By Susan A. Neufeld
Skyforest, CA – Skypark, at Santa’s Village, presents Pumpkins in the Pines, October 21, 22, 28 and 29.
Activities at the Pumpkin in the Pines include: Pumpkin patch, attractions, live music, harvest games, appleorchard tours, crafts, cookie decorating and photo ops.
Trick or Treat nightly from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. and Saturday nights will be skate night, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.. Whileyou are there visit The Pedal Pub and Artisan Fair.
Come out and enjoy the autumn nights at Skypark at Santa’s Village.
For more information about Skypark at Santa’s Villagevisit: http://SKYPARKSANTASVILLAGE.COM/EVENTS.
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A
Prisoner missing from inmate fire crew fightingO.C. brush fire; police searching for himBy City News Service
OCTOBER 16, 2017, 1:25 PM
uthorities today were searching for a prisoner suspected of walking away from an inmate firefighting
crew helping to battle the Canyon 2 fire near Peters Canyon Regional Park in Orange.
Armando Castillo, 31, was last seen at 4:45 p.m. Sunday before the group of inmates to which he was
assigned returned to Prado Conservation Camp in San Bernardino County, according to Krissi Khokhobashvili
of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Castillo was serving a five-year sentence in a Yucaipa conservation camp for possession of a firearm and
evading police while driving recklessly. Castillo, who was convicted in Los Angeles County and was sent to
prison on Aug. 23 of last year, was due to be released and placed on probation next May, according to
Khokhobashvili.
Inmates like Castillo earn $1 an hour for fighting fires and get two days for credit for time served for each day
they battle a blaze. Castillo is 5-foot-11 and weighs about 190 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair.
Anyone who sees the inmate should dial 911, or call authorities at (209) 984-5291, ext. 5439, or (909) 797-0196
to provide information on his whereabouts.
Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times
By STAFF REPORT | |PUBLISHED: October 16, 2017 at 9:35 am | UPDATED: October 16, 2017 at 2:30 pm
Staff photoThe Sun has moved to its new location. It opened its doors Monday, Oct. 16, at 473 E. Carnegie Drive, Suite 250, San Bernardino, 92408.
The Sun opened in its new San Bernardino location today.
The of�ce moved from the downtown area to its new site at 473 E. Carnegie Drive, Suite 200, San Bernardino, 92408. The Sun is in of�ce
250.
Have questions? Here’s how to contact The Sun staff: sbsun.com/contact-us.
LOCAL NEWS
The Sun opens at new San Bernardino location
Tags: Top Stories Sun
By STAFF REPORT | Press-EnterpriseOctober 16, 2017 at 5:47 pm
About 150 volunteers gathered on Oct. 7 to paint murals at Del Norte ElementarySchool in Rancho Cucamonga. With the support of its corporate partners, InlandEmpire United Way provided all of the paint, ladders, supplies and leadership tocomplete the project. (Courtesy photo)
NEWS
United Way, volunteers paintmurals at Del Norte ElementarySchool in Rancho Cucamonga
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With help from Inland Empire United Way and its partners, nearly 150 volunteers
gathered last week to paint murals at Del Norte Elementary School in Rancho
Cucamonga.
“Thank you to Inland Empire United Way and all the volunteers for giving a very
symbolic meaning to our community and for breathing new life into this
campus,” said Dr. James Hammond, Ontario-Montclair School District
superintendent, said in a United Way news release.
“This is a legacy, something that will last for years to come. It sends a powerful
message to our community that our school matters, that our kids matter, that our
families mean a lot to you,” Hammond said.
With the support of its partners — QVC, Target, Cardenas, Safelite, UPS and QTC
— IEUW provided all of the paint, ladders, supplies and leadership to complete
the project on Oct. 7. The students got to see the �nished campus when they came
to school on Oct. 9.
The 61-year old school serves more than 500 students from preschool to 5th grade.
“Inland Empire United Way is committed to helping underprivileged youth
succeed academically and reach future self-suf�ciency,” said Bill Hobbs, interim
president and CEO at Inland Empire United Way. “Research shows that children
learn better in an environment where they feel proud and comfortable, which is
why we engage in these projects.
“They are not just about making a school look nice, they have a speci�c goal of
bringing inspiration and motivation to students so they can succeed in life.”
Staff report
Tags: education, Top Stories Sun
By JEFF HORSEMAN | [email protected] | The Press-EnterprisePUBLISHED: October 16, 2017 at 5:18 pm | UPDATED: October 16, 2017 at 8:34 pm
Courtesy of Highland Fairview.An artist’s rendering of the World Logistics Center to be built in Moreno Valley.
Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill from a Riverside assemblyman inspired by a
massive warehouse complex planned for Moreno Valley.
NEWSPOLITICS
Gov. Brown vetoes bill that wouldhave closed loophole in theCalifornia Environmental QualityAct
Brown’s of�ce announced the veto of AB 890 on Monday, Oct. 16. The bill by
Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, would have closed a loophole in the
California Environmental Quality Act, also known as CEQA, that allows projects
approved by voters to bypass the act’s review process.
Medina on Monday said he was “de�nitely disappointed” by the veto.
“I think (the bill) would have been good for our area, good for our constituents,”
Medina said, adding he regularly hears concerns about truck traf�c and air
quality.
“Trying to close that loophole, which developers have been able to use, would
have been a good �rst step,” he said.
The bill arose a�er Moreno Valley’s City Council approved the World Logistics
Center, a 40.6 million-square-foot logistics center – the size of 700 football �elds –
that would transform the city’s eastern side.
Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside.
Opponents say the project’s environmental analysis fails to fully consider impacts
to air quality and traf�c. Developer Highland Fairview and city of�cials defend
that analysis and contend the project will support 20,000 jobs and $2.5 billion a
year in economic activity.
The project would draw close to 69,000 vehicle trips a day, about 14,000 of which
would be trucks, according to a project environmental report.
Medina, who represents Moreno Valley, offered the bill a�er Highland Fairview,
led by CEO/President Iddo Benzeevi, bankrolled three ballot measures designed
to thwart legal challenges to the project.
Had the measures made the ballot, voters would have been asked to repeal the
City Council’s August 2015 approval of the project and replace it with ordinances
with identical language to what the council OK’d.
Had voters rejected the measures, the council’s approval would have stood. But if
the measures passed, the logistics center would have been exempt from CEQA.
Eventually, council members adopted the three measures before they reached the
ballot. Project opponents sued, arguing the city and Highland Fairview broke state
law by using the initiative process for two of the three measures.
AB 890 would have barred developers from bypassing CEQA through the ballot
box, a process used to fast-track football stadiums in Inglewood and Los Angeles.
“I am worried that there is undue in�uence of money by developers in the politics
of the city of Moreno Valley and it makes me question the decisions they make, if
they are indeed for the interest, not only of their community but the surrounding
communities as well,” Medina said in September.
The bill would not have applied to the logistics center. It only would have
pertained to projects approved a�er Jan. 1, 2018.
Moreno Valley Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez and Councilwoman Victoria Baca went to
Sacramento to oppose AB 890, saying it threatened voters’ constitutional rights
and the jobs the World Logistics Center project would create.
In 2014, the California Supreme Court ruled that CEQA generally does not apply to
voter-approved development projects.
In his veto message, the governor wrote that he favored “a more comprehensive
approach” to reforming CEQA rather than “the piecemeal approach taken in this
bill.”
“I hope to work with the author who has shown a steadfast commitment to
protect vulnerable communities from being disproportionately burdened by
environmental harms,” Brown wrote.
Moreno Valley of�cials did not respond to a request for comment.
In a Monday evening statement, Benzeevi spokesman Eric Rose said the city
followed all requirements of the act and that the project has “the highest
environmental standards in the state and over $200 million in mitigation
measures.”
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“Unfortunately, Medina has deliberately and continually misrepresented the WLC
project to pander to special interests who support him … The Governor stood for
jobs and the environment, Medina voted for special interests,” the statement said.
Penny Newman, executive director of the Center for Community Action and
Environmental Justice, a Jurupa Valley-based group opposed to the World
Logistics Center, said she was “really disappointed the governor didn’t sign that
bill and close the loophole on projects that get through by being manipulated
through the system and not addressing the impacts on the community.”
Newman, a 2018 candidate for Riverside County supervisor, raised the prospect of
working to deliver a more comprehensive CEQA bill to satisfy the governor.
“One way or another, this loophole needs to be corrected,” she said.
Medina said he’s willing to include his bill in a larger effort to reform CEQA.
Staff Writer Imran Ghori contributed to this report.
Jeff_Horseman_mugx.jpgJeff HorsemanJeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math.He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarketcashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” A�er graduating fromSyracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at TheWatertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S.Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of aninterview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city,county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and thequest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where hestarted out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes aboutRiverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff hascovered wild�res, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in SanBernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the innerworkings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even ifit involves a little math.
Follow Jeff Horseman @JeffHorseman
Tags: California politics, Top Stories OCR, Top Stories PE,Top Stories RDF, Top Stories Sun
LOCAL
Fresno wants $4,200 in water fees added to new-home prices. Big developers say:See you in court
BY TIM [email protected]
OCTOBER 15, 2017 6:00 AM
Buyers of newly built homes in Fresno are on the hook for a fee of more than $4,000 to ensure they have enough water coming to their residences.But a trio of major home builders is challenging the city’s fees in court, contending they’re too high, are unfair and amount to a tax that violates statelaw.
The “water capacity fee,” which adds up to $4,246 for a typical new single-family home with a one-inch connection to a water meter, was approvedin April on a 5-1 City Council vote following a contentious public hearing at which developers voiced strong objections. Many of those concerns foundtheir way into the litigation now working its way toward a March trial date in Fresno County Superior Court.
“We want to make sure that new-home buyers pay their fair share, but we want to make sure it’s fair and equitable,” Granville Homes presidentDarius Assemi told the council earlier this year. “We’re simply going to pass it through. … We want to make sure an appropriate fee is put togetherwith the correct amounts.”
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The Building Industry Association of Fresno/Madera Counties, Granville Homes Inc., Wathen Castanos Peterson Homes Inc. and Lennar Homes ofCalifornia Inc. filed the lawsuit in May. Less than a month later, however, the trade association pulled out of the case in a petition to Judge JamesPetrucelli without detailing a specific reason.
“The board decided that it was not in the BIA’s best interest to continue,” said Mike Prandini, the association’s president and chief executive officer.“If we won, it would just delay the inevitable. The builders felt the amount (the city) was charging wouldn’t go down much, if at all, so it wasn’t worththe resources to battle the city.”
Attorneys for the developers say the fees unjustly burden builders with extra charges that they say cannot be legally justified. They point to referencesin a water fee study conducted for the city that describe doubling the treatment capacity of the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Plant to help meetfuture water needs. They assert that the expansion requires a detailed analysis under the California Environmental Quality Act before fees for thatportion of the long-term program can be charged.
“Basically the bottom line is primarily the 50 percent of fees for the northeast treatment plant,” said John Kinsey, one of the builders’ attorneys. “Itincreases the costs for people who are interested in buying new homes.”
They also argue that the fees are greater than what it will cost the city to assure a stable water supply for a growing population. As such, they shouldbe considered a “tax” that requires approval from two-thirds of voters in an election rather than mere adoption by the Fresno City Council.
“The city’s position is that there’s no need to comply with CEQA because the funds are for unknown future projects, but the fees can’t be greater thanneeded to cover cost,” Kinsey said. Either the city has committed to a project with a known cost and has to do the environmental review, or hasn’tfinalized a project with a known cost and hasn’t taken it to the voters, Kinsey added.
In their lawsuit, the builders and their attorneys want Petrucelli to declare the fees invalid and decide that they violate state law, and order the city torescind its approval of the fees. They also want a court order barring the city from assessing and collecting the fees “unless and until the city complieswith all controlling laws, including … CEQA.”
The city’s legal team – City Attorney Douglas Sloan and attorneys from the Irvine law firm Aleshire & Wynder – contends that the new fees don’tviolate the state’s constitution. In court documents, they assert that the fees are only what’s needed to cover the cost of services. They add that thefees will bear a “fair or reasonable relationship” to new homeowners’ burdens on future water demands or their benefit from a more reliable watersupply.
The defense attorneys also argue that the fees themselves do not represent a project that triggers CEQA requirements for an environmentalassessment. “CEQA applies only to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment,” they countered. “The feesdo not have the potential to result in a direct physical change in the environment. ...”
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The $4,246-per-home fee adopted in April was lower than a previous proposal in December 2016 for $6,373. Fees would also be charged forcommercial and industrial properties with larger water meter connections. The fees would only be charged for new development, not existing homesand businesses, because they are intended only to accommodate the water demands created by future growth. That includes $143.9 million in newwater wells, groundwater recharge basins and distribution pipelines.
The city began charging the new fees in mid-June. Builders typically pay the fees when building permits are issued. Through the end of September,Fresno has collected just over $104,000 – about the equivalent of 24 single-family homes, said Mark Standriff, a spokesman for the city.
The two sides will argue their points in a March 22 hearing in Petrucelli’s courtroom in downtown Fresno.
Tim Sheehan: 559-441-6319, @TimSheehanNews
IN OTHER NEWS
COMMENTS
Trailer Park Boys Star John Dunsworth Has Died Aged 71…
https://nyti.ms/2kWsr5U
U.S.
Cleanup From California Fires PosesEnvironmental and Health RisksBy KIRK JOHNSON OCT. 16, 2017
SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Dr. Karen Relucio has heard reports of people digging intothe ashes of their burned homes in recent days without gloves, wearing only shortsand T-shirts, looking for sentimental items that might have survived California’shorrific wildfires. And as the chief public health officer in Napa County, one of thehardest-hit places, she has used her office as a bully pulpit to urge them to stop,immediately.
“Just think of all the hazardous materials in your house,” she said in aninterview. “Your chemicals, your pesticides, propane, gasoline, plastic and paint — itall burns down into the ash. It concentrates in the ash, and it’s toxic,” said Dr.Relucio, who declared a public emergency over the hazardous waste from the fires,as have at least two other counties.
California’s fires are far from out. They have killed at least 41 people and burnedabout 5,700 structures and over 213,000 acres since they exploded in force on Oct. 8and 9 — record totals for a state that is used to wildfires. Thousands of firefightersare still at work fighting blazes and tens of thousands of people remain undermandatory evacuation from their homes, though fire officials have expressedcautious optimism about bringing the fires into containment.
But even as the smell of smoke still wafts through this area north of SanFrancisco, public health officials and environmental cleanup experts are starting tothink about the next chapter of the disaster: the huge amount of debris and ash thatwill be left behind.
In whole neighborhoods here, a thick layer of ash paints the landscape a ghastlywhite. Wind can whip the ash into the air; rain, when it comes, could wash it intowatersheds and streams or onto nearby properties that were not ravaged by fire.
And the process of cleaning it all up, which has not even begun, is very likely tobring its own thorny set of issues, in the costs, timetables and liability questions —all compounded by scale, in the thousands of properties that must be repaired andrestored.
“In modern times this has got be an unprecedented event, and a major hazardfor the public and for property owners,” said Dr. Alan Lockwood, a retiredneurologist who has written widely about public health. He said an apt comparisonmight be the environmental cleanup after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, inNew York, as debris and dust swirled through Lower Manhattan.
As could well happen too in California, Dr. Lockwood said, the health andenvironmental effects were felt long after the attack, in the chemicals or pollutantsworkers and responders at the site, and the public at large, may been exposed to asthe cleanup went on.
Household building materials are obviously different from the components of aconcrete tower. But they pose risks too. Treated wood in a house’s frame, forinstance, put there to prevent bacteria growth, can contain copper, chromium andarsenic. Consumer electronics contain metals like lead, mercury and cadmium. Olderhomes might have asbestos shingles. Even galvanized nails are a concern becausewhen they melt they release zinc. All are potentially harmful.
“It’s a completely complex mixed bag of different stuff that’s there,” saidGeoffrey S. Plumlee, associate director for environmental health with the UnitedStates Geological Survey.
Dr. Plumlee led a study after several Southern California wildfires in 2007 thatfound that ash from burned-out residential areas contained elevated levels ofarsenic, antimony and metals including lead, copper and chromium. In most casesthe levels were above federal Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for soilremediation.
After a fire in Slave Lake, Alberta, in 2011 that destroyed about 400 homes, thecity landfill was found to be leaching toxins after fire debris was deposited there.
In California, the road ahead to cleanup and the safe return to properties willprobably not be smooth or fast, public health officials and cleanup experts said. Thesheer number of communities affected and properties destroyed creates a greaterchallenge than any the state has faced in recent history.
Local and state agencies, focused on active fires, have not yet sorted out who willtake the leadership roles. Even determining how severely lands are affected and theestimated costs of remediation lay ahead in the weeks and months to come.
At a packed public meeting in the basketball gym at Santa Rosa High School onSaturday, some residents said they worried that the cleanup could go on for yearsand asked state officials if they could proceed on their own.
The answer they got was a qualified yes. An approved contractor can be hired, ifone is available. Otherwise the cleanup should be free in most cases, residents weretold, paid for with taxpayer money or private insurance if a homeowner has a debris-removal clause in the insurance policy on the house.
But state and federal officials said on Monday that many of the details of howthis cleanup would work remained unsettled. That is partly because the focus hasbeen on response to the fires and the fatalities, and the 40,000 people still evacuatedfrom their homes, but also because of the complex mix of properties affected on bothpublic and private lands.
“There are more questions than answers,” said David Passey, a spokesman forthe Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said, for example, that FEMA, thefederal government’s lead disaster response agency, typically concentrated on public
property, not private, unless individual counties declare the private properties apublic health and safety risk. Counties and cities can also take the lead on cleanup,he said, and that too has not been fully sorted out.
“We don’t know yet which of those solutions, or mixture of those solutions, thecities and counties will choose,” Mr. Passey said.
Mark Oldfield, a spokesman for the California Department of ResourcesRecycling and Recovery, which administers state-managed waste handling andrecycling programs, said a typical situation for cleanup would include a kind oftriage, with the most hazardous materials as a site handled first, typically by theCalifornia Department of Toxic Substances Control. That agency would evaluate andremove hazardous debris, which can range from asbestos siding or pipe insulation topaints, batteries, flammable liquids and electronic waste like computers andmonitors.
After that, contractors under CalRecycle’s auspices could focus on remainingdebris removal for recycling (metals and concrete) or disposal (ash andcontaminated soil), Mr. Oldfield said. Then the land could be prepared for potentialrebuilding. But, he added, “With fires still active in many areas, there is not yet atimetable for cleanup efforts to begin.”
Dr. Relucio, Napa County’s public health director, said that in the meantime,people who go back to their properties should protect their eyes, lungs and skin, withlong sleeves and pants, boots, glasses, and a good quality N95-rated mask availablein most hardware stores.
Dr. Lockwood said a secondary caution for anyone entering a burned site ishuman idiosyncrasy, in the things people store in garages, use in their hobbies orjust never got around to throwing away.
“One never knows what people have stashed in their homes,” he said.
Henry Fountain contributed reporting from New York.
A version of this article appears in print on October 17, 2017, on Page A10 of the New York edition withthe headline: When Flames Retreat, Risks to Environment and Health Remain.
10/17/2017 Power lines and electrical equipment are a leading cause of California wildfires - LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-utility-wildfires-20171017-story.html 1/4
T
Power lines and electrical equipment are a leadingcause of California wildfires
By Ivan Penn
OCTOBER 17, 2017, 5:00 AM
he deadliest wildfires in state history have raised questions about whether a repeat culprit might
again be to blame for starting or spreading at least some of the Northern California blazes: utility
companies and their equipment.
The explosive failure of power lines and other electrical equipment has regularly ranked among the top three
singular sources of California wildfires for the last several years. In 2015, the last year of reported data,
electrical power problems sparked the burning of 149,241 acres — more than twice the amount from any other
cause.
Power poles and lines block a street at Brookdale and Aaron Dr. in Hidden Valley where most of the homes were destroyed by fire in SantaRosa. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
10/17/2017 Power lines and electrical equipment are a leading cause of California wildfires - LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-utility-wildfires-20171017-story.html 2/4
And regulators have hit the state’s investor-owned utilities with tens of millions of dollars in fines related to
wildfires, including $37 million for the 2007 Malibu fire (Southern California Edison); $14.4 million for the
Witch, Rice and Guejito fires the same year (San Diego Gas & Electric); and $8.3 million for the September
2015 Butte Fire (Pacific Gas & Electric).
Investigators have yet to determine what sparked the Northern California fires.
But a review of emergency radio traffic recordings found that fire crews were dispatched to at least 10 spots in
Sonoma County in response to reports of sparking electrical wires and exploding transformers as high winds
pummeled the area on the night of Oct. 8, the San Jose Mercury News reported. The first fires were reported
about the same time, the newspaper said.
The electrical lines and equipment are owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. Spokeswoman Jennifer Robison said
the San Francisco utility is focusing on ensuring the safety of those affected by the fires, rather than engaging in
debate over the cause before investigators complete their work.
“There will likely be reviews of these wildfires by the appropriate agencies, but right now we are focused on life
safety and service restoration,” Robison said.
Even the speculation that PG&E might be liable has sent its parent company’s stock tumbling. On Monday,
PG&E Corp. shares closed at $53.43, down 22% from their closing price Oct. 6, the last trading day before the
fires began.
Utility critics blame lax regulation and enforcement for the continuing problem of wildfires caused by power
equipment failures. They point to Gov. Jerry Brown’s decision last year to veto legislation that would have
required the California Public Utilities Commission and the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,
or Cal Fire, to identify steps that cities must take to prevent fires from overhead electrical equipment.
“It takes a catastrophe like this to show how bad the problem is,” said Jamie Court, president of advocacy
organization Consumer Watchdog. “We’ve seen no comprehensive attempts to change the system because it’s
costly.”
Mindy Spatt, a spokeswoman for the Utility Reform Network, said her organization has argued at the California
Public Utilities Commission for years that the power companies need to give more attention to their equipment,
such as ensuring trees are trimmed around power lines to prevent disasters.
“One question in this case may be whether PG&E properly assessed and responded to the increased risk,” Spatt
said.
Cal Fire spokeswoman Lynne Tolmachoff said it is too early to blame PG&E when the cause remains
undetermined.
10/17/2017 Power lines and electrical equipment are a leading cause of California wildfires - LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-utility-wildfires-20171017-story.html 3/4
“None of it’s clear right now,” Tolmachoff said. “They’re doing their due diligence, making sure the investigation
is very thorough.
“There’s not a quick easy way to determine the cause,” she said. “After every fire like this, there’s all kinds of
speculation.”
To Court and others, the utilities, regulators and government leaders need to do more to ensure public safety,
such as ensuring that utility companies are properly managing trees and brush around electrical equipment and
maintaining and reinforcing equipment to guard against hazardous conditions.
Southern California Edison said in a statement that the utility works with state, county, and local fire agencies
to identify areas with high fire risk and takes appropriate steps to improve SCE’s vegetation management
efforts, establish design and construction standards appropriate for high wind and high fire areas and identify
operational practices to reduce fire risk.
For example, when red flag warnings are in place and circuits in high fire areas trip, Edison requires a patrol to
inspect lines before they are re-energized.
SDG&E said it has made significant investments in fire preparedness over the last several years and have
modernized infrastructure throughout our service area. That includes replacing thousands of wooden poles with
fire-resistant steel poles to reduce the risk of damage to power lines in fire-prone areas.
The utility also developed and operates the nation’s largest utility-owned weather network, with models that
provide a fire potential rating, giving a team of meteorologists and local fire agencies valuable information to
help develop response strategies in advance of an emergency.
In 2013, SCE launched a comprehensive pole loading assessment and replacement program to ensure that its
1.4 million poles are strong enough to withstand high winds based on using accurate information on
attachments from all utilities, including electric, phone, cable television, internet and wireless equipment.
This included a thorough meteorological study to update the potential highest wind speeds in every part of the
service territory. The assessments were prioritized to address high fire areas first, and these areas will be
completed by the end of this year. The remaining poles will be assessed by 2021.
Elizaveta Malashenko, director of the PUC’s safety and enforcement division, said the concern about fire safety
has prompted more funding and personnel for her office.
Malashenko’s division had been operating with about 10 investigators who, in total, reviewed an average of 120
incidents a year of potential violations by various types of utilities, not just electrical. Now her office is in the
process of increasing to about 36 staff members, with two dedicated to fire safety.
“We do need to grow our capacity in the area of fire prevention,” Malashenko said. “I think in an area like this,
you can never say that you’ve done enough.”
10/17/2017 Power lines and electrical equipment are a leading cause of California wildfires - LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-utility-wildfires-20171017-story.html 4/4
There are some limitations to strengthening the electrical system against disasters such as wildfires, said Ted
Kury, director of energy studies at the University of Florida’s Public Utility Research Center.
Kury said utilities could use concrete or metallic poles instead of wooden ones but flying debris in a wind storm
could strike a wire and cause it to break loose from even those poles and ignite a fire.
Underground wires also are an option, but every improvement comes with a cost, he said. And depending on
the geography in a particular location — which is the primary factor in cost — underground power lines can
range from $200,000 to $300,000 a mile. Kury has seen an extreme case that cost as high as $9 million a mile.
“Make no mistake, it’s the customers that spend the money,” Kury said. “Utilities don’t have money.
Government doesn’t have money. They get their money from the people.”
Ultimately, Kury said, each area has to determine what is workable for the terrain and resources available based
on reviews by regulators.
“When regulators are typically taking a look at this question, they have a statutory duty — all regulators, and
this includes the California commission — the basic idea behind it is safe and reliable service at just and
reasonable rates.”
For more energy news, follow Ivan Penn on Twitter: @ivanlpenn
ALSO
Death toll in wine country fires rises to 41 as driver of water truck dies in rollover accident
Firefighters battle blaze near Mt. Wilson Observatory
He wouldn't evacuate, then used Facebook Live to broadcast firestorm in his hometown
Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times
This article is related to: Wildfires
The U.S. has far too many malls scrambling to attract consumers at a time when onlineshopping is tightening its grip.
That doesn’t mean middling malls will die quickly, however.
Projections for hundreds of shopping centers to close in the next five years could provetoo pessimistic. A more likely outcome, analysts said: many weaker malls will turn intozombies, staying open for years as they cycle through increasingly less successfulretailers before finally being repurposed or leveled.
“It takes a very long time to transition these malls,” said Thomas Dobrowski, executivemanaging director of capital markets at real estate services firm Newmark KnightFrank. “They don’t die of heart attacks.”
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-some-malls-manage-to-stay-alive-years-after-losing-their-mojo-1508245202
PROPERTY REPORT
How Some Malls Manage to Stay AliveYears After Losing Their MojoLong-term contracts and regulatory hurdles mean many malls will continue to muddle along
A shopper takes an escalator at a Sears store in a nearly-empty shopping mall in Waterbury, Conn., on March 28. PHOTO:SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
Updated Oct. 17, 2017 11:18 a.m. ETBy Esther Fung
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Part of the reason for weak malls’ persistence lies in contracts signed years or decadesago. Landlords typically strike leases of 10 or 20 years with multiple tenants, makingspeedy exits difficult. In some cases, lease buyouts can be negotiated, but the processcan be expensive and lengthy.
Owners hoping to close malls and redevelop them for other uses might also run intoregulatory hurdles. Getting buy-in from the local community takes time and rezoningapprovals might not happen, especially in areas where sales tax revenue makes up a bigchunk of the local government’s budget.
Of the 41 malls Mr. Dobrowski has helped to sell since 2012, most of which weredistressed sales, only one, Granite Run Mall in Media, Penn., has been closed andredeveloped. The others are still operating as malls.
The two-story Granite Run Mall was foreclosed on in 2010 after struggling withvacancies. It was sold in 2013 to BET Investments, which is redeveloping the site into amixed-use property with open-air retail, entertainment and roughly 400 apartments.The demolition started only in 2016 as the firm waited for leases to expire and forgovernment approvals for the redevelopment.
“You can’t just tear it down while tenants are in there,” said Bruce Toll, principal at BETInvestments and a co-founder of home builder Toll Brothers Inc.
Roughly 200 malls have closed since 2007, according to Newmark Knight Frank. But theamount of square feet of retail space has increased 10.4% over the same period,according to data from CoStar Group . Part of that is due to the continued developmentof mixed-use centers in urban markets, but the steady growth in supply is also partlydue to the slow pace of demolishing or transforming struggling malls for other uses.
Between 2007 and 2016, at least 275 enclosed malls, strip malls and open-air shoppingcenters were foreclosed on after their owners ran into difficulties repaying theirsecuritized mortgage loans, according to data from Trepp Inc. Most of the propertieslive on as retail entities, with some adding medical clinics, tax and insurance offices, andgyms to their tenant mix.
After foreclosure, distressed retail assets are sometimes sold at rock-bottom prices.Some owners do minimal work on their newly acquired shopping centers becauseoperating them at high vacancy rates might still be profitable given lower property taxesand lower property maintenance bills.
Other landlords might be compelled to improve properties, buying out leases fromtenants that have fallen out of favor and renovating the vacated space. Some retailers orrestaurant owners on the fence of whether to stay open might be persuaded to remaineven if vacancy rates go up during the renovation period.
“If you buy these assets dramatically below replacement costs and become one of thelowest cost providers of real estate within a region, you can repurpose these shoppingcenters for alternative uses,” said Andy Weiner, president at Houston-based real-estateinvestment firm RockStep Capital, which invests in shopping centers in small-townAmerica alongside local businesses. Partners are aware of the regional and local issuesand are able to identify substitute tenants such as entertainment, fitness, governmentoffices, hospitality uses, he said.
But it can take time.
“There are some places where a mall shouldn’t have been built but has existed for 20years,” said Brian Landes, a director of geographic information systems and locationintelligence at real estate services firm Transwestern Commercial Services.
Write to Esther Fung at [email protected]
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