Toll Lanes Approved for the 10 Freeway Across San Bernardino County

San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Toll lanes approved for the 10 Freeway across San Bernardino County

By Imran Ghori, The Press-Enterprise

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

San Bernardino County will make its first foray into toll lanes.

A 33-mile corridor will be built on the 10 Freeway and span much of the county, transportation officials decided Wednesday, July 12.

The $1.8-billion project would add two toll lanes from the Los Angeles County line at Montclair east to Redlands. An auxiliary lane for traffic to weave in and out at ramps also will be added at various points along the general-purpose lanes.

Construction, which would be split into two stages, is expected to start in late 2018. The first segment, from the county line to the 15 Freeway, is expected to be finished by 2022. The rest would begin in 2021 and take three years to complete.

Expanding the 10 Freeway corridor, which is heavily used by commuters and trucks hauling cargo to the rest of the country, has long been a top priority of the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority.

The decision to use toll lanes has been controversial with some residents and members of the governing board. The board — made up of elected officials from the county and its cities — voted 16 to 2 Wednesday, July 12, to approve an environmental report and to create the toll lanes.

Transportation officials say the project will bring a faster alternative for commuters who choose to pay the new tolls. And, by diverting that traffic onto two new lanes, it would also ease congestion on the general lanes, said Ontario Councilman Alan Wapner, president of the transportation board.

“The only way to increase the (freeway) capacity is through express lanes,” he said, noting the project will be paid for by future toll proceeds.

Most other Southern California counties have added toll lanes to their freeways. Wapner said that not doing so in San Bernardino County could create bottlenecks when the lanes narrow as vehicles enter the county.

Chino City Councilwoman Eunice Ulloa and County Supervisor Josie Gonzales were the two no votes. Each cited their opposition to asking motorists to pay tolls.

“I do not have a high-wage-earning population,” Gonzales said of her district, which includes San Bernardino, Rialto and Colton. “I cannot in good conscience impose on my residents something I feel they will not be able to afford to enjoy without further economic impacts.”

San Bernardino County Supervisor Robert Lovingood called it a hard decision but said that if they don’t go forward, the result would be “gridlock” on the freeway.

About a dozen residents spoke against toll lanes. Some held signs and called the board a “shadow government” and its members traitors. Tressy Capps, a Fontana resident who filed a lawsuit seeking to block the project, accused the agency of rushing the process. She said the agency did not do enough to inform residents. As an example, she cited a public notice that made no mention of “toll” or “express” lanes. The flier describes it as the “Interstate 10 corridor project” with new freeway lanes, though public reports on the project do include the words.

“The San Bernardino County taxpayers deserve better,” Capps said.

Paula Beauchamp, project delivery director for the agency, said it has done an extensive public outreach program with more than 140 meetings informing residents of the toll lanes proposal.

Others, including representatives of a laborers union and business associations, spoke in favor of the project and said it’s badly needed to ease congestion.

“I think you’re going to find that people out there are going to be delighted to have the option to move their businesses and goods more efficiently,” said Carole Beswick, president of Inland Action, a nonprofit group made up of business and community leaders.

The route is one of the region’s most widely used, with about 263,000 vehicles and more than 20,000 commercial trucks a day, the agency reports. By 2045, the number of vehicles is expected to grow to 350,000 a day.

The agency’s next steps will be to begin buying property along the freeway needed for its widening and to choose a contractor to handle final design and construction. The agency expects to rebuild or modify several ramps, bridges and interchanges along the route.

The project encompasses the 10 Freeway from the Monte Vista Avenue exit in Montclair to Ford Street in Redlands. A small portion — from California Street to Ford Street in Redlands — would only have one toll lane in each direction, though the majority of the project would have two.

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20170712/toll-lanes-approved-for-the-10-freeway-across-san-bernardino-county

Hard Summer music festival approved for Glen Helen Amphitheater amid safety concerns

By Joe Nelson, The Sun

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

SAN BERNARDINO >> The Hard Summer Music Festival, an electronic dance music rave with a track record of fatal attendee drug overdoses, is coming to the Glen Helen Amphitheater in Devore.

“The county has agreed to allow Live Nation to hold the Hard Summer Music Festival at the Glen Helen Amphitheater,” county spokeswoman Felisa Cardona said. She said in an email Wednesday that Live Nation will be hosting a yet-to-be-scheduled community meeting to provide information to neighboring residents and answer any questions they may have.

Representatives for Live Nation and Hard Summer event organizers did not respond Wednesday to repeated requests for additional information about the community meeting, and why the sudden move to Devore from the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana.

• Photos: Day 1 of the 2016 Hard Summer Music Festival at Auto Club Speedway

According to the festival’s website, the event is scheduled for Aug. 5 and 6, featuring DJ Snake, Rae Sremmurd and Zed’s Dead on Aug. 5 and Snoop Dogg, Dog Blood, BassNectar and Migos on Aug. 6.

Three people died of drug overdoses after attending last July’s Hard Summer event at the Auto Club Speedway, bringing the total number of people who died at the festival since 2013 to six.

San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford, who unsuccessfully tried to get the county to ban raves at the amphitheater following the deaths of two Nocturnal Wonderland attendees and more than 100 resident complaints, pushed even harder following the overdose deaths last July of Hard Summer attendees Derek Lee, 22, of San Francisco, Alyssa Dominguez, 21, of San Diego and Roxanne Ngo, 22, of Chino Hills.

Rutherford’s concerns, however, did not dissuade her colleagues on the board from prohibiting the events outright due to the economic benefits they bring. Instead, a rave task force was formed.

And now the Hard Summer Music Festival is coming to Glen Helen, and Rutherford could not help but note the irony in a telephone interview Wednesday.

“I am at least pleased they agreed to conclude their event at 11 p.m. instead of going into the wee hours of the morning,” said Rutherford, noting that it was one of the biggest complaints she fielded from Devore Heights residents regarding the Nocturnal Wonderland raves held at the venue.

Residents also have complained about traffic, loitering, rampant drug use and public indecency the raves tend to draw to their neighborhood.

During Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Rutherford suggested that Live Nation, which leases the amphitheater, hold the community meeting and field questions from residents. She also recommended that representatives from Live Nation consult with the county’s rave task force about possibly implementing any recommendations into the security plan Live Nation is currently working on with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

“I’m very concerned that this goes smoothly and our residents there are taken care of,” Rutherford said during Tuesday’s board meeting.

Sheriff’s Lt. Sarkis Ohannessian said in an email Wednesday that department staff and representatives from Live Nation have not ironed out any details as yet on the security plan.

“The safety and health of all the attendees are our top priority, and the number of staff on our side and medical side are a big part of any agreement that gets approved,” Ohannessian said.

The deaths last year of Lee, Dominguez and Ngo were among six that occurred since 2013 at the Hard Summer festival, which has bounced from one location to another over the last four years. Most of the deaths were the result of overdoses of the drug Ecstasy. Ecstasy, commonly referred to as “Molly,” the “hug drug” or the “rave drug,” is a psychoactive narcotic that produces intense feelings of euphoria and distorted sensory and time perception.

Jonathan Reyes, 21, of Rosemead died after taking Ecstasy at the Hard Summer festival in 2013 at Los Angeles State Historical Park. In August 2015, Katie Dix, 19, of Camarillo and Tracy Nguyen, 18, of West Covina died of drug overdoses after attending the event at Fairplex in Pomona.

The county’s rave task force was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors last September in an effort to curb undesired conduct, noise and traffic associated with raves and other events at the amphitheater. It has been working on a list of recommendations to the Board of Supervisors and has met three times since December, and is expected to make its recommendations to county supervisors at an upcoming meeting, Cardona said.

In a statement Tuesday, Board of Supervisors Chairman Robert Lovingood noted the efforts being made by the task force, Live Nation and the Sheriff’s Department.

“So we are continuing the process of strengthening safety measures for the attendees,” he said.

Staff writer Neil Nisperos contributed to this report.

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/events/20170712/hard-summer-music-festival-approved-for-glen-helen-amphitheater-amid-safety-concerns

Upland gets OK to disband fire department, annex to San Bernardino County Fire Department

By Liset Márquez, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

UPLAND >> After more than 100 years, Upland’s Fire Department will cease to exist by the end of next week.

The Fire Department will be annexed to the San Bernardino County Fire Department after the number of protests filed with the Local Agency Formation Commission failed to meet the threshold to stop the reorganization.

With the approval, the city’s fire station properties, employees, assets, obligations, as well as liabilities, will be transferred to San Bernardino County Fire July 22.

• Photos: LAFCO holds annexation protest hearing of Upland Fire to San Bernardino County Fire

Emotions ran high at Tuesday’s protest hearing as more than 200 packed council chambers at Upland City Hall. It was their last chance to register their opposition to the proposal. The commission, also known as LAFCO, oversees annexations in San Bernardino County.

For more than an hour, a mostly angry crowd criticized Upland and LAFCO while three staff members from the commission tallied the protests at the front of the room.

In the end — despite a 30-day extended protest period — only 11.9 percent of registered voters and 13.2 percent of landowners voted against the annexation. The raw count was well short of the more than 50 percent needed in either category to terminate the process, said Kathleen Rollings-McDonald, executive director of LAFCO.

The point of contention for many at Tuesday’s hearing came from San Antonio Heights residents who felt they were never properly notified during the process. Others were upset that residents were never given the opportunity to vote on the special tax in a general election.

“We’re going to take as much legal action as we possibly can,” said Ken Petschow, president of the San Antonio Heights Association. “We’ll get an injunction, we will come after you.”

The annexation was initiated by Upland as a financial move to help the cash-strapped city, which was spending about $12 million annually on fire services, with costs expected to escalate in the next five years.

Upland and San Bernardino County Fire initially adopted resolutions in December, which requested that LAFCO begin the transfer process.

During a hearing in March, the plan was amended to include the unincorporated community of San Antonio Heights. Property owners in San Antonio Heights — along with Upland landowners — would have to pay an annual $150 parcel tax, which may increase 3 percent annually, without taking it to a general election vote. Despite public sentiment opposing the annexation, the proposal won the support of Upland firefighters. Upland Professional Firefighters has said its members may not be able to adequately safeguard the community if the transfer did not occur.

Shortly after being incorporated into the proposal, residents from San Antonio Heights launched a grass-roots campaign to mount the necessary support to stop the annexation, recruiting volunteers to collect protest forms.

Bob Cable, president of Cable Airport, helped collect the forms by using his office as a drop-off location. Cable told Rollings-McDonald Tuesday night that by the time he found out about the annexation, Upland had already passed a resolution initiating the process.

“What this had done for me, personally, is make 20 years’ worth trusting the county and my local city a total waste of time,” he said. “When LAFCO sets the rules there is no justice, only a system that is unreasonable and requiring more signatures than the total turnout of voters in the city of Upland in the last election.”

The protest period also led to some lawsuits. LAFCO initiated the 30-day protest period May 12 and it was set to conclude June 14.

In June, a San Antonio Heights resident and attorney alleged the notification process for protests discriminated against women. In response, LAFCO extended the period to July 11.

Then, on July 7, the San Antonio Heights Association filed a motion for a temporary restraining order in an attempt to halt the process. The association, Upland and LAFCO were in San Bernardino Superior Court Monday, a day before the hearing. The motion was eventually withdrawn by the association’s attorney, but all parties involved agreed to a July 28 hearing to discuss the merits of preliminary injunction.

On Tuesday, Petschow said he questioned the proposal the minute he saw it but wanted to keep an open mind about the process. After some research, he “realized it was a gigantic scam.”

Petschow’s comments drew immediate applause from the crowd.

Although his time had expired, Petschow continued to speak — off microphone — to the crowd.

Ultimately, Police Chief Brian Johnson approached Petschow and motioned him to walk away as the crowd booed and others chanted “U-S-A” and “recall.” Petschow obliged but not before putting his wrists up to Johnson as if to mimic being handcuffed.

Longtime San Antonio Heights resident Sharon Frasco-Williams was among the speakers who said they were against the annexation because the public wasn’t given the privilege to vote on a special tax.

“This is our God-given right, it says so in the constitution,” Frasco-Williams said. “Apparently in Upland that doesn’t apply.”

Like many of the speakers, Frasco-Williams said she will consider moving out because she believes property values will go down.

Terry Lynn Whitfield, a San Antonio Heights homeowner since 1985, asked what additional fire services she will receive with the new special tax. Whitfield said her home is located above 25th Street and near the San Antonio Dam. She was also worried about how response times in her community would be impacted.

Rollings-McDonald said Station No. 12 in San Antonio Heights will be staffed with a three-man crew, making it eligible to receive mutual aid from both fire and emergency medical response. Currently, the station has a two- man crew and receives mutual aid for fire purposes but not for emergency medical response, she said.

The ability to receive emergency medical response will be a benefit to residents in San Antonio Heights, Rollings-McDonald told Whitfield. Rollings-McDonald said the next step of the annexation will be to issue a certificate of completion, which she expects will occur by Friday. The transition between fire departments will occur July 22.

The San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector’s deadline to apply the special tax on the 2017-18 tax roll is Aug. 10. Residents and landowners can expect to see the tax applied to their bill in October.

URL: http://www.dailybulletin.com/government-and-politics/20170712/upland-gets-ok-to-disband-fire-department-annex-to-san-bernardino-county-fire-department

By Shea Johnson Staff Writer Follow Posted Jul 12, 2017 at 11:39 AM Updated Jul 12, 2017 at 5:31 PM Ozone levels in Phelan, Hesperia particularly high thanks to wind-swept pollution from L.A. basin. It dissipates as it travels further into the desert.

The High Desert region is experiencing air pollution unseen in at least 10 years, fueled by spiking ozone levels in the Los Angeles basin, according to an official with the region’s air quality agency.

“We’re seeing the highest number of exceedances of the federal ozone standard that we’ve seen in the last decade, for sure,” said Violette Roberts, spokeswoman for the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District.

The federal standard’s formula is based on ozone levels averaging 0.070 parts per million (ppm) or less over an eight-hour period in any given day. Anything more is said to exceed the standard.

The district this year has had more days (52) between Jan. 1 and July 9 exceed the standard than any other year since 2007 (55), according to agency data sent to the Daily Press.

By comparison, in 2016 there were only 37 days in excess of the standard during the same time period, the data show.

The district, where MDAQMD has air monitoring stations, includes Phelan, Hesperia, Victorville, Barstow, Trona and Twentynine Palms. Ozone occurs as a chemical reaction when nitrous oxide — typically generated by vehicle emissions and from factories — combines with volatile organic compounds such as paints and nail polish. The reaction requires time, distance and heat, and this summer’s heatwave has helped to boost levels, according to Roberts.

It can be harmful to a sensitive sub-population, such as individuals with lung disease or asthma, children and older adults. On days when the ozone exceeds the federal standard, this population is warned to reduce prolonged or heavy outdoor exertion.

But on occasion, the levels are so unhealthy, the warnings are aimed at everyone. The agency has sent out three such advisories so far this summer, a signal of the record pollution levels seen in 2017.

“We normally don’t have these (types of advisories) here,” Roberts said.

But she also pointed out that air pollution levels in the High Desert often spike in accordance with the L.A. basin, which is seeing far harsher levels this year. The chemicals generated in the basin have typically formed into ozone over San Bernardino before being wind-swept over the mountains.

“Our pollution isn’t home grown,” she said. “We’re the victims of transport.”

Naturally then, Hesperia and Phelan at the base of the San Bernardino mountains have been struck hardest.

Hesperia has seen 42 days this year exceed the federal ozone standard through July 9, its most since 2012 (45 days), according to the agency’s data.

Phelan has had 33 days during the same period, its most since 2014 (38). The community also had the highest reading of ozone (0.12 ppm) it’s experienced in at least 10 years.

The ozone dissipates as it travels further into the desert, resulting in lesser issues in Victorville and Barstow, which have had just 16 and 5 days, respectively, exceed the federal ozone standard so far in 2017. Much further out, Trona has had no days exceed the standard. Roberts said that individuals can not only often feel the effects of ozone — wheezing, coughing, etc. — but they can see it too, although it shouldn’t be confused with fog, fire smoke or sun-glistened humidity.

“Drive up and down the Cajon Pass in the summer,” she said, “and as you’re going down the hill and you’re hitting San Bernardino, usually around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, you can literally see when the skyline becomes brown. That’s ozone.”

Despite record air pollution in this district and inland, Roberts noted how ozone levels have continued to decrease over the last 30 years due to technology, including cleaner vehicles.

While the federal ozone standard used now wasn’t employed three decades ago, she suggested that “you would have been looking at probably 90-plus days that would have exceeded the eight-hour standard.”

But despite the rosier comparison, Roberts — who often distributes health advisories via email to the general public, schools and the media — still acknowledged that the past few weeks have kept her particularly busy.

“I’ve been here with the district almost 30 years and at this job for 20 years,” she said, “and I’ve never in my whole career put out this many advisories in one summer.

“And it ain’t over yet.”

For real-time air quality information, visit the MDAQMD’s website at www.mdaqmd.ca.gov. For more information, call 760-245-1661, ext. 6104 or email [email protected].

Shea Johnson can be reached at 760-955-5368 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.

READ NEXT Supervisors OK Ranchero Road widening project in Hesperia By VVNG Sta - July 12, 2017

Ranchero Road going westbound towards the 15 freeway. (Google Maps)

HESPERIA, Calif. (VVNG.com) – Widening of Ranchero Road moved forward Tuesday as the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved its part of a $2.4 million funding agreement.

“This project will improve traffic flow for thousands of High Desert residents, especially commuters,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Robert A. Lovingood.

The project will widen Ranchero Road from two lanes to five lanes, from just east of Mariposa Road east to Topaz Avenue in the unincorporated area of Hesperia. The project will also widen, reconstruct and re-profile Ranchero Road, from Topaz Avenue east to Seventh Avenue in the City of Hesperia area.

“Ranchero Road is a key transportation corridor for the High Desert region,” said Hesperia Mayor Paul Russ. “Hesperia is pleased to have the support and commitment from San Bernardino County for the widening of Ranchero Road.”

The first phase includes obtaining right of way and relocating utilities in unincorporated Hesperia before the construction component begins. The San Bernardino County Transportation Authority Board of Directors approved the funding agreement on June 7.

Funding for the Ranchero Road widening will come from Measure I funds, the countywide half-cent sales tax. San Bernardino County voters first approved the measure in November 1989 to ensure that needed transportation projects were implemented countywide through 2010. In 2004, San Bernardino County voters overwhelmingly approved the extension of the Measure I sales tax, with 80.03 percent voting to extend the measure through 2040.

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     Rep. Cook signs support of national monument reduction

By Charity Lindsey Staff Writer Follow Posted Jul 12, 2017 at 6:36 PM Updated Jul 12, 2017 at 6:36 PM Republican Congressman Paul Cook recently signed a letter to the Department of the Interior recommending the reduction of some national monuments, despite nonprofit efforts to preserve their boundaries and designations.

In a June 30 letter to DOI Secretary Zinke signed by Cook and 16 other members of congress from western states, lawmakers claim that the “misuse of this outdated 1906 Act has jeopardized the daily activities, livelihoods and traditions of local communities,” including energy development, wildfire prevention efforts and recreational activities like hunting and fishing.

The letter provides an analysis of the 27 monuments currently under the DOI’s review, recommending a reduction of the Mojave Trails National Monument and the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, much to the discontent of the Mojave Desert Land Trust (MDLT), whose representatives claim Cook “has not communicated with his constituents” about the Executive Order.

“It is outrageous that Rep. Cook would go behind the backs of his constituents to argue that one of our Mojave Monuments be diminished,” MDLT Executive Director Danielle Segura said. “The Mojave Desert Land Trust has invested in this landscape for over a decade, and worked alongside many diverse local groups, to create this monument. Rep. Cook couldn’t even wait until the public had commented before trying to strip protections on land important to the local community.” But in a statement to the Daily Press Tuesday, Cook said that as a government official, “I don’t submit public comments, as this is the domain of the public.”

″Once the letter was submitted, it was published on the Western Caucus website and made available for anyone to view,” Cook said. “To assert that this was done in secret is laughable at best. In fact, my staff sent a link to this letter directly to the staff of the Mojave Desert Land Trust the same day it was sent to Secretary Zinke.”

MDLT has collected more than 1,250 comments focused specifically on the importance of the monuments in the Mojave. The Desert Defenders campaign comment period began May 10, two weeks after the executive order, which impacts four sites affecting San Bernardino County: The San Gabriel Mountains, Mojave Trails, Castle Mountains and Sand to Snow national monuments.

Mojave Trails is located between interstates 15 and 40 and partially surrounds the Mojave National Preserve. While San Gabriel was designated in October 2014, the others were all established in February of last year.

Cook noted that the letter recognized the local support for the Sand to Snow National Monument, which the congress members requested no changes to.

“On the other hand, the former President nearly doubled the total size of the Mojave Trails National Monument from any of the previous proposals,” Cook said. “This was accomplished without any public comment. This letter simply recognizes the illegitimacy of this action and asks that President Trump follow the publicly debated boundaries while rolling back the former President’s overreach.”

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors also sent a letter to the Department of the Interior on May 31, stating its position “that any national monument designations should go through the legislative process, rather than by Presidential Proclamation under The Antiquities Act.”

Charity Lindsey may be contacted at [email protected] or 760-951-6245. Follow her on Twitter @DP_Charity.

READ NEXT San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Highway 330 remains closed as crews battle Hidden fire

By Beatriz Valenzuela, San Bernardino Sun

Thursday, July 13, 2017

HIGHLAND > Firefighters managed to hold the Hidden fire burning in the hills above Highland, only allowing it to grow a single acre overnight, fire officials said.

The blaze scorched 34 acres and was 20 percent contained, according to information released by the U.S Forest Service in San Bernardino Thursday morning.

Highway 330 remains closed Thursday as firefighters continue their assault on the brush fire.

The blaze dubbed the Hidden fire ignited Tuesday around 3:30 p.m., one mile north of Highland Avenue on the west side of Highway 330, prompting a road closure between Highland and Running Springs, according to U.S. Forest Service officials. It was unclear when Highway 330 may reopen, according to the California Highway Patrol incident log.

The fire is burning just north of the last month’s Mart fire, which consumed more than 670 acres before it was contained.

The causes of both fires are under investigation.

Firefighters from San Bernardino National Forest, Cal Fire, San Bernardino County Fire and San Manuel Fire Department along with the California Highway Patrol, San Bernardino Police Department and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department worked together during the firefighting efforts.

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20170713/highway-330-remains-closed-as-crews-battle-hidden-fire

Motorists trying to avoid Cajon Pass traffic get in worse trouble on rugged fire roads

By Beatriz Valenzuela, San Bernardino Sun

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

CAJON PASS >> Motorists trying to find a quick route around a fatal crash Tuesday afternoon in the Cajon Pass had their plans foiled when they became trapped on washed out and rugged fire roads that dot the area.

“Because it’s hot and sometimes you get stuck in traffic people want to find a route around it, especially in the Cajon Pass, but we ask people not to do that,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Alvarez. “We have folks who run out of gas, their vehicles overheat, and if you have a mechanical issue with your vehicle it’s better to be on the freeway versus an unmaintained dirt road that we don’t really patrol.”

Following the crash that killed a 43-year-old Victorville man just before 1 p.m. Tuesday, CHP started getting reports that drivers were getting stuck on the side roads. Initial dispatch reports indicated that as many as 150 cars had become stranded or stuck in secondary traffic along the 15 Freeway. Alvarez said he couldn’t confirm those numbers but said they did get several calls for help.

Although Alvarez said there were a high number of calls Tuesday, he said requests to help stuck drivers is nothing new.

“When there are larger traffic incidents in the Pass, we can expect at least one call,” he said.

To prevent additional emergencies, Alvarez advises drivers check road conditions before they hit the road, especially on real-time apps that show the constantly changing traffic conditions.

“If there is a big back up, get off the freeway and wait,” he said. “My wife and I have done that. We’ve pulled over and had dinner waiting for it to clear.”

However, if drivers don’t have the option of safely exiting the freeway, Alvarez suggests they remain on the freeway.

“Sometimes you just have to wait it out,” he said. “But that is the safest option.”

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20170712/motorists-trying-to-avoid-cajon-pass-traffic-get-in-worse-trouble-on-rugged-fire-roads

Want to learn the art of bobbin lace? Head to the San Bernardino County Museum

By Kristina Hernandez, Redlands Daily Facts

Thursday, July 13, 2017

REDLANDS >> Julia Brock remembers when she was first introduced to bobbin lace.

She was a teen in 1968 touring Europe when she noticed a group of women sitting outside, perfecting their own versions of the craft.

“I knew it was something I, too, would be doing eventually,” she said.

Twenty-five years ago, Brock, who lives in Riverside, joined the Cross-Twisters, a group of eight that meets every Wednesday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the San Bernardino County Museum to work on lace projects and give demonstrations.

Bobbin lace is lace made by hand with thread wound on bobbins, and is still used today to create everything form garments to pillow cases to bookmarks. A recent pop culture example is the lace used to make the dress Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge wore when marrying Prince William in 2011.

The lace, Brock said, “was all done by hand.”

Cross-Twisters have been a museum staple since the 1990s, and have exposed the art of bobbin lace to interested parties as young as 7.

Museum visitors are welcome to join the group each week to learn what it takes to create items that pique their interest. Brock has a station set up where she teaches new students how to make fish. If they come back again, she will teach them how to make a snake, and so on.

“And after that, if you’re still interested I will teach you how to make a pillow,” she said with a chuckle.

The Cross-Twisters are hoping to create a new crop of members so the art form continues for generations to come.

Similar groups are found throughout Southern California. But since Cross-Twisters took up residence at the museum, staff there have called demonstrations a beneficial experience for themselves and visitors.

“It’s amazing to be able to introduce such a wonderful craft,” said Jennifer Reynolds, the museum’s spokesperson. “People don’t often think about how things are made. And to be able to watch actual craft peoples’ work is just a huge thing, and for children to figure out they can make something like that is so exciting.”

Demonstrations are free to museum guests with paid admission. Cost to enter the museum is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and active military, $7 for students with I.D. and $5 for children 5-12. Museum association members and children under five are free.

There is a charge involved for those interested in creating a bobbin lace kit, which Cross-Twisters are more than happy to help organize.

To learn more, visit the museum at 2024 Orange Tree Lane or call 909-867-2086 or 951-784-3882.

URL: http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/lifestyle/20170713/want-to-learn-the-art-of-bobbin-lace-head-to-the-san-bernardino-county-museum

Clock ticking for planned Arden-Guthrie project in San Bernardino

By Ryan Hagen, The Sun

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

SAN BERNARDINO >> The city has just three months to find retailers for the long-stalled Arden-Guthrie development that equal the new jobs promised by a Home Depot that dropped out of the project.

Otherwise, it will have to return the $7 million that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fronted for the long- planned 17-acre site southwest of East Highland Avenue and Arden Avenue.

The city has already passed the HUD-imposed deadline, and now the department is requiring signed development commitments within the next 90 days or it will reclaim its money, according to City Manager Mark Scott.

The repayment can be done over four years and the property can be sold to cover part of that cost, but the land is now estimated to be worth $3.5 million — half what was spent to buy it 14 years ago.

The city would retain access to the $7 million, but instead of being general fund money that can be spent on any project, it will be restricted to projects eligible for Community Development Block Grants, Scott said.

“This would finally end the long Arden-Guthrie saga and, I think, will finally give us opportunity for positive impact,” Scott said in an email to the City Council. “It is sad that we did not get the Home Depot project, but the big-box retail chapter in America has largely passed.”

The city initiated the project on the 17-acre site southwest of East Highland Avenue and Arden Avenue in 2003, and Redlands-based Mark Development had worked with Home Depot to develop the site for more than 11 years.

Home Depot dropped out this year because its internet sales make brick-and-mortar locations inefficient, but other developers will be ready by the deadline, said Mark Development President Mark Sandoval.

“We have several opportunities we’re looking at with different tenants for the property,” Sandoval said by phone Wednesday, declining to name the potential tenants but saying they may not be retail. “We’re hoping to have a firm commitment in the next 30 days or better.”

Sandoval said he’s not positive the number of jobs will match those Home Depot had promised, but it will be close.

The City Council unanimously gave Mark Development a one-year exclusive right to negotiate over the property in May, several years after an earlier agreement with the developer expired. In the meantime, all the parties had “continued to negotiate in good faith,” according to Sandoval.

But that vote was made without any warning that a final deadline was approaching or that the property was worth only half what had been paid for it, Councilman Henry Nickel said Wednesday. “That was not a pleasant surprise,” Nickel said. “I have not been satisfied with (Mark Development), and the city again is left holding the bag. The council is constantly told to defer to the professionals in the room, but every time we do, we get burned.”

Even accounting for the property being bought at the height of the real estate boom, Nickel said, the property must have either been overvalued when it was bought or is being undervalued now, leading him to doubt the capability of the officials involved in the project.

None of the officials involved in the 2003 purchase remains with the city, but the city transferred the property and others from its redevelopment agency to the city’s successor agency in 2013. That followed the statewide dissolution of redevelopment agencies and an order from the state controller accusing the city of improperly transferring the assets.

Nickel said he had questions about that transfer.

Scott said he was looking into multiple questions related to the property, including why the estimated value was so different from the purchase price. arden-guthrie Timeline

2003: Arden-Guthrie project initiated

2011: Mark Development and Home Depot enter exclusive right to negotiate agreement with San Bernardino

2013: Exclusive right to negotiate expires, but parties continue to negotiate

2013: Redevelopment agency projects transferred to city’s successor agency, under state order

March 2017: Mark Development informs San Bernardino that Home Depot has dropped out of the project

May 2017: San Bernardino approves one-year exclusive right to negotiate agreement with Mark Development

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/business/20170712/clock-ticking-for-planned-arden-guthrie-project-in-san-bernardino

Photo by Doug Saunders, The Sun/SCNG A man apparently was wounded by federal agents while in this vehicle in an officer-involved shooting in downtown San Bernardino on Wednesday, July 12. He was hospitalized in critical condition.

By DOUG SAUNDERS | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise PUBLISHED: July 12, 2017 at 9:11 pm | UPDATED: July 12, 2017 at 11:47 pm



San Bernardino police are investigating an ofcer-involved shooting Wednesday night, July 12.

Shortly aer 7:30 p.m., federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were involved in a shooting at the corner of Fourth Street and the Carousel Mall.

“There was an operation that resulted in shots red. A defendant has been transported to the hospital,” Ginger L. Colbrun, spokesperson for the ATF’s Los Angeles ofce, said in a written statement. “No ATF personnel were injured.”

One man was pulled from a Mercedes Benz sedan, treated at the scene and taken to a nearby hospital where he is listed in critical condition. Police have set a large perimeter around the shooting scene, blocking off the streets with yellow police tape.

Colbrun said the investigation is ongoing.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.

Tags: Echo Code, ofcer-involved shooting, shooting, Top Stories PE

Doug Saunders Doug has covered crime and public safety in the Inland Empire since rst becoming a reporter in 2012. With a long standing military background, Doug naturally heads into volatile situations in order to gather intelligence for those who rely on accurate and up-to-date information. Doug, a former combat Army veteran, attended the Defense Information School. At DINFOS, the United States Military school of journalism at Ft. Meade, MD, Doug learned all aspects of journalism before taking on a role as an Army Public Affairs Specialist for 16 months prior to his employment with the Southern California News Group. Doug is an avid outdoorsman who loves camping on the beach, but he's also a giant "Star Wars" fan.

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If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing [email protected]. Hesperia hiker rescued from Deep Creek Hot Springs Wednesday

By Staff Reports Posted Jul 12, 2017 at 4:58 PM Updated Jul 12, 2017 at 4:58 PM APPLE VALLEY — A rescue team successfully extracted a stranded hiker near the Deep Creek Hot Springs area early Wednesday, authorities said.

Avery McLemore, 51, of Hesperia, was hiking on the trail from the hot springs to the parking lot at Bowen Ranch at around 8:30 a.m. when he began to have medical problems, according to a statement from San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities said units from both the Sheriff’s Department and San Bernardino County Fire Department responded to search for and assist McLemore. Sheriff’s helicopter 40King 5 located McLemore on a steep trail, where authorities determined a hoist rescue was needed due to the terrain.

“McLemore was suffering from heat and respiratory problems and was unable to hike out on his own,” authorities said. “McLemore was placed into a rescue harness and hoisted into the helicopter.”

He was transported to the parking lot at Bowen Ranch, where he was treated by County Fire and AMR paramedics before being taken to a local hospital for treatment.

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Crestline man accused of assault on dog park visitor

By Gail Wesson, The Press-Enterprise

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

A 57-year-old Crestline man pleaded not guilty Tuesday, July 11, to misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon charge in connection with an assault on a 60-year-old woman in a Crestline dog park, according to a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s news release.

The victim, who was not identified by name, took her two dogs to the large dog area at the San Moritz Dog Park on July 5.

After securing her dogs, the suspect approached and began verbally assaulting her about closing off the small dog area, and then he physically assaulted her in the large dog yard. She suffered multiple injuries to her face and arms.

A witness provided deputies with information that deputies used to find and arrest Jeffrey Igoe on Saturday, July 8.

He is in custody at West Valley Detention Center in lieu of posting $25,000 bail.

Anyone with information about the incident may call the Twin Peaks station at 909-336-0600. Callers wishing to remain anonymous, may call the WeTip Hotline at 800-782-7463.

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20170712/crestline-man-accused-of-assault-on-dog-park-visitor

By Shea Johnson Staff Writer Follow Posted Jul 12, 2017 at 5:57 PM Updated Jul 12, 2017 at 6:07 PM Officials appear to be broaching the tax cautiously, seemingly aware of the slim margin of error in presenting it to voters.

VICTORVILLE — Faced with rising contract costs and inadequate revenues, city officials unanimously backed a proposed half-percent sales tax Tuesday evening to resolve the expected shortfall in long-term public safety funding.

If passed, the special tax — which appears likely to go to voters in a November special election — is projected to generate roughly $10 million yearly in restricted general fund dollars to bolster fire and police services based on the city’s current sales tax figures, according to City Manager Doug Robertson.

Robertson said the significant revenue boost could mean opening San Bernardino County Fire Station 315, which was built in 2008 on Eucalyptus Street but never fully staffed, adding nine firefighters and at least 10 Sheriff’s deputies, all the while setting some extra money aside.

The Council voted 4-0 to direct staff to prepare the resolution, which must be submitted to county election officials by Aug. 11. The tax, which would add to the city’s current 7.75 percent sales tax rate, would require a two-thirds majority by voters to pass. “To me, it’s the most sensible way to create the revenues we need,” Councilman Jim Kennedy said.

Momentum for the sales tax emerged quickly during Tuesday’s special meeting — one of two options presented to the dais. The other, a parcel tax, was universally scrapped behind the thinking that burdening only property owners was unfair. Additionally, a sales tax would ensure that the steady stream of out- of-town motorists traveling Interstate 15 also would contribute, officials said.

Food and medicine would not be subject to the tax, according to Robertson.

Officials appear to be broaching the tax cautiously, seemingly aware of the slim margin of error in presenting it to voters. On one hand, regional voters already embraced Measure I, the county’s half-cent sales tax for transportation projects, in 1989 and overwhelmingly again in 2004.

But voters in Victorville, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Cox noted, would need to be assured that money collected by the public safety tax would be spent only on public safety.

“I’m of the opinion based on what I’ve been told,” he said, “if we don’t give the public that assurance, it’s destined to fail.”

Robertson said legally the city could not spend the tax revenue anywhere other than for services provided by San Bernardino County Fire or the Sheriff’s Department. The actual allocation each year would be decided during routine budget sessions, he said.

Cox also urged fellow Council members to leave no questions unasked as city staff work to develop the required analysis and documentation for the tax resolution, as a splintered Council — “because we all have a constituency” — could pose a threat to the tax’s passage.

An unanimous vote Tuesday — with Councilman Eric Negrete forced to leave the meeting early for apparent personal reasons — would appear to show, at least early on, signs of that united front. Tax conversations come as an off-shoot of talks that have taken place over the past six months about the city’s contract with County Fire. Officials are examining options for its fire services, although this was not addressed Tuesday.

Officials have said — even amid modest growth — that city revenue ultimately won’t be able to catch up to rising costs in both its fire and police contracts nor to address several needed equipment upgrades in the queue.

For context, the County Fire contract represents roughly 90 percent of projected property tax revenue — a share the city has warned is “unsustainable” — and the Sheriff’s contract will have increased by 300 percent between 2001 and 2020.

“If we don’t see an increase in some sort of tax, what’s going to happen is,” Negrete said, “our revenues ... cannot keep up with all of the things that we have to pay for.”

Anticipated population growth is also a major consideration, he added.

If the tax measure is shot down, Kennedy said the city would be forced to annex into County Fire’s Service Zone FP-5, which would improve services but also be accompanied by a $153 special tax on nearly 38,000 parcels in the city.

The city isn’t alone in scrambling to ensure the long-term health of its public safety services; in April, the Barstow City Council took the last step needed to place a sales tax measure on the November ballot in an effort to keep solvent its city Fire Department.

Shea Johnson can be reached at 760-955-5368 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @DP_Shea.

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Opponents of high-density project in Chino claim victory after Measure H election

By Neil Nisperos, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

CHINO >> A majority of voters in Chino, in a special election Tuesday, rejected plans for a high-density for- sale housing development in the northern part of town.

Unofficial results from the San Bernardino County Registrar of voters, as of Wednesday, showed 5,362 no votes versus 1,096 yes votes. Registrar officials said 1,181 ballots were still uncounted, and another vote update would be released on Thursday, officials said.

“It’s a resounding victory for people who believe we don’t need any increased density in the Chino General Plan,” said former Chino Mayor Larry Walker, who was a key figure in the opposition campaign.

Opponents said the project is incompatible with surrounding development, would negatively impact traffic and safety concerns and cited the need to preserve the rural environment in north Chino.

“It’s historic and it’s epic. It’s hard to come up with adjectives, because, just as an election, it’s an incredible percentage of the community voting together on an issue,” Walker said.

A number of supporters and opponents had actively campaigned for votes in the run-up to the election to determine whether the 30-acre project, in an area south of Frances Avenue between Vernon and Benson avenues and near the Chino Promenade shopping center, should proceed.

Current zoning at the proposed Brewer site project allows for one home per acre. Voter approval would have allowed a density of an average of six homes per acre for a 180-home project, which the city planning commission unanimously rejected in March.

But the City Council voted 4-1 in April to allow voters to decide the matter through the city’s Measure M ballot initiative process, in addition to approving an environmental report. Mayor Eunice Ulloa provided the dissenting vote.

“I’m very happy and excited that the citizens of Chino actually came forward and voiced, through their votes, what they want for our community,” Ulloa said by phone on Wednesday. “I’ve been concerned for years how the development community is dictating what our city is going to look like and this is really exciting for me. I’m proud for the city of Chino.”

Supporters said the project would have spurred job creation, stimulated economic growth for the north part of Chino, provided new amenities and public infrastructure, provided home ownership opportunities for young families and helped improve declining school enrollment in the area.

“I think basically there was public concern about overcrowding in the city and that really overwhelmed the benefits of our project,” said Chris Jones, a consultant serving as manager for the Support Chino Yes on Measure H campaign.

Project developer D.R. Horton paid $200,000 for the election to be held.

URL: http://www.dailybulletin.com/government-and-politics/20170712/opponents-of-high-density-project-in-chino-claim-victory-after-measure-h-election

By IMRAN GHORI | [email protected] | The Press-Enterprise PUBLISHED: July 12, 2017 at 11:29 am | UPDATED: July 12, 2017 at 12:16 pm



Riverside County Transportation Executive Director Anne Mayer was set to speak before a U.S. Senate panel Wednesday, July 12, in support of a federal transportation nancing program.

Mayer planned to tell the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that the federal loan program provided low-cost nancing that aided in the recent construction of the $1.4 billion 91 freeway toll lanes project through Corona, according to a copy of her remarks provided by the agency.

The agency is also planning to utilize the transportation nancing program for the planned widening of Interstate 15 with two new toll lanes from south of Corona to Jurupa Valley early next year.

Mayer addressed the panel as congressional leaders are considering future infrastructure legislation.

Tags: Transportation

Imran Ghori California lawmakers delay climate change vote amid push for affordable housing

Some state lawmakers have been wanting to deal with the affordable-housing issue before grappling with a cap-and-trade extension. Above, electrician Jaime Sanchez works at a construction site in downtown Los Angeles in 2016. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

By Liam Dillon

JULY 13, 2017, 12:05 AM | REPORTING FROM SACRAMENTO

hile conversations over climate change have dominated recent debate at the Capitol, California lawmakers are accelerating bills to address the state’s housing affordability crisis, and may vote W on a series of measures before they break for summer recess next Friday. The move comes after progressive Democrats in the Assembly balked at approving an extension to cap and trade, the state’s landmark program to fight climate change, without also addressing housing problems.

Gov. Jerry Brown, Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) announced a cap-and-trade deal Monday that would strengthen the state’s air quality rules and extend through 2030 the program that forces businesses to pay to pollute. The three had hoped for a vote late Thursday to comply with a new rule approved by voters requiring legislation to be publicly available for 72 hours before final action is taken.

De León and Rendon said in a joint statement Wednesday that moving the vote to Monday will avoid a late- night floor debate and “will also allow our discussion on long-term housing affordability solutions in California to catch up to the climate effort.”

For two years, Brown and lawmakers have discussed increasing funding for low-income housing and reducing local government barriers to development, but have yet to reach any major decisions. Evan Westrup, a spokesman for Brown, called the current housing discussions “productive.”

The governor has been pushing lawmakers to approve a cap-and-trade extension this year, and wants a two- thirds supermajority vote in the Legislature to insulate the decision from potential legal challenges. But some legislators have been reticent to embrace the plan, with many wanting to address the state’s housing problems first.

“Housing is the biggest problem facing the state of California,” said Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), one of the Assembly Democrats pushing for faster action on housing. “While climate change, of course, is an existential threat, we can do both. We need to do both. This rescheduling I think is a reflection of the fact that the concerns that we have voiced are being heard and addressed.”

While legislative leaders said housing was the reason for the cap-and-trade delay, there were other concerns that pushed back the vote. A faction of Republican lawmakers who have been active in negotiations had concerns about how a key priority for them, a tax credit for manufacturers, was written into the legislation. They also sought more specific details on how the revenues from the cap-and-trade program would be spent.

Brown, De León and Rendon didn’t say what might be part of a housing package. But high-profile bills introduced this year include a new $75 fee on real estate transactions to raise roughly $250 million a year in low-income housing subsidies, a $3-billion low-income housing bond to be put before voters in 2018, a measure allowing cities to require developers to build low-income housing in their apartment projects and a bill forcing cities that have fallen behind on state goals for home building in their communities to ease development regulations.

One complication in the housing debate is that the funding bills also require two-thirds votes to pass. Democrats hold supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, but have waning interest in making such decisions, especially after agreeing to hike gas taxes in April. Extending cap and trade and boosting low-income housing funding could mean at least two more supermajority votes.

Brown and lawmakers, however, are nailing down key details in housing legislation in anticipation of a larger deal. This week, they’re finalizing an agreement with the state construction workers union, a major interest group influencing both the housing and cap-and-trade discussions, over provisions in Senate Bill 35, said Cesar Diaz, political director of the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California. That legislation, from Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would eliminate multiple local planning reviews for individual projects that met certain zoning and affordability standards. Under the deal with the union, Diaz said, projects of more than 10 units that qualify for expedited approval will have to pay union-level wages to construction workers, and developers of some larger projects also will have to agree to union-standard work rules or apprenticeship programs.

Diaz said the union is going to throw its weight behind a housing deal, including more funding for low-income development.

“We’re working collaboratively with both houses, the Assembly, the Senate and the governor’s office to get an entire package done,” he said.

Wiener, whose bill passed the Senate last month, said he anticipated a vote on his legislation in the Assembly “as early as next week.”

“It is my hope we will be voting on housing funding bills as well,” Wiener said.

Times staff writer Melanie Mason in Sacramento contributed to this report. [email protected]

@dillonliam

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This article is related to: Jerry Brown, Poverty, Democratic Party San Bernardino County Sun (http://www.sbsun.com)

Cap-and-trade system an economic net positive for Inland Empire: Guest commentary

By Ethan Elkind, Betony Jones and F. Noel Perry

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

California legislators are on the verge of voting whether or not to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program — one of the policies critical to meeting the state’s long-term climate change goals. As they debate the measures, they should be aware of the economic and job impacts of cap and trade in the state’s most environmentally and economically challenged regions.

In particular, residents of the Inland Empire and San Joaquin Valley face economic and environmental hardships that could be alleviated or exacerbated by the Legislature’s decisions. Our forthcoming report on the Inland Empire and recent report on the San Joaquin indicate cap and trade’s net positive economic effects for these regions.

Cap and trade limits total greenhouse gas emissions from major polluters such as utilities, refineries and other large industrial facilities. It creates a market in emissions allowances, and companies can choose to either buy allowances to cover their emissions, or cut their emissions and sell extra allowances to others.

Many questions have been raised about whether or not this form of cap and trade would saddle residents of some regions with additional costs, while spreading the benefits to other parts of the state. Of the multiple goals that policy makers are trying to balance, one is the economic impact of the policy on our most vulnerable regions. Will cap and trade saddle residents of these regions with additional costs, while other regions reap greater benefits? The issue is particularly salient for Californians who face some of the most harmful air pollution in the country from industrial facilities and automobile traffic.

To answer these questions, we conducted a quantitative assessment of the economic impacts of the cap-and- trade program in the Inland Empire and San Joaquin Valley since its inception in 2013.

After accounting for the costs and loss of jobs in industries required to comply with cap and trade, as well as the benefits from investments of cap-and-trade revenue, we found in the Inland Empire, the program had net economic impacts of $25.7 million, $900,000 in tax revenue and net employment growth of 154 jobs.

These net benefits do not account for funds that have been appropriated but have not yet been spent. Since only about one third of appropriated funds have so far been spent on projects in these regions, the positive impacts will only grow. When we account for the expected benefits after all funds collected are reinvested in projects, the net economic benefit reaches nearly $123 million, with 945 jobs created and $5.5 million in additional tax revenue.

We found even greater net positive impacts in the San Joaquin Valley, totaling $202 million in economic activity, along with $4.7 million in state and local tax revenue. The program also created 1,612 net jobs in the Valley. When including expected benefits after all funds collected are reinvested in projects, this figure balloons to nearly $1.5 billion in economic benefits. These projects will create 7,400 total jobs, including more than 3,000 direct jobs in the San Joaquin Valley. As the California Legislature considers extending cap and trade, it is important to consider these results for economically and environmentally disadvantaged regions like the Inland Empire and San Joaquin Valley, as well as potential room for improvement.

A number of policy options are available to the Legislature to help optimize benefits for these regions. For example, continuing to provide and potentially expand cap-and-trade dividends to consumers in these regions could help offset potential higher-than-average gas and electricity use.

Policymakers could also consider ensuring that these areas receive appropriate levels of statewide spending from the cap-and-trade proceeds, based on their economic and environmental needs. Finally, it will be important to develop robust transition programs for workers and communities affected by the decline of local greenhouse- gas-emitting industries.

F. Noel Perry is the founder of Next 10, a nonpartisan nonprofit that educates, engages and empowers Californians on state issues and has commissioned these research projects. Betony Jones is the associate director of the Green Economy program at the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. Ethan N. Elkind is the director of climate program for the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at the UC Berkeley School of Law. They are co-authors of the January 2017 report “The Economic Impacts of California’s Major Climate Programs on the San Joaquin Valley” and the forthcoming report “The Net Economic Impacts of California’s Major Climate Programs in the Inland Empire: Analysis 2010-2016 and Beyond.”

URL: http://www.sbsun.com/opinion/20170712/cap-and-trade-system-an-economic-net-positive-for-inland-empire-guest-commentary

By Rong-Gong Lin II

JULY 13, 2017, 4:00 AM

ith bipartisan support, a congressional panel voted Wednesday to keep funding a West Coast earthquake early warning system that W could have been shut down under President Trump’s proposed budget.

A House of Representatives subcommittee said that the U.S. Geological Survey program should be allowed to continue and receive the same $10.2 million the network received in the last budget.

The system is expected to begin limited public operation by next year if the network continues to receive stable funding.

Ken Calvert Follow @KenCalvert

$10.2 million is included to continue the development of the @USGS earthquake early warning system. twitter.com/HouseAppropsGO… 1:26 PM - 11 Jul 2017 3 4

The House appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Department of the Interior, which includes the USGS, and the Environmental Protection Agency, approved the proposal on a voice vote Wednesday. House Appropriations Follow @HouseAppropsGOP

The FY18 Interior Appropriations bill was just approved by the subcommittee on a voice vote. 12:31 PM - 12 Jul 2017 12 13

After Wednesday’s vote by the 11-member subcommittee, the budget proposal still will need to be voted on by the full House Appropriations Committee, which is expected to be taken up next week. Eventually, the full House of Representatives and Senate must also sign off on the legislation before it can be sent to President Trump’s desk. The next fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), chairman of the subcommittee, said Tuesday he has been a big supporter of the earthquake early warning system and was the architect behind the decision to allocate $10.2 million to the system in the last budget year.

Congressional funding for earthquake early warning

2015: $5 million

2016: $8.2 million

2017: $10.2 million

2018 (proposed Wednesday): $10.2 million

“I was the one that put it in the first place,” Calvert said. “We have made too much progress on the earthquake warning system to stop now. And it’s certainly important to my state.”

Calvert said the funding has backing from both parties. He said he would oppose any effort to cut the program as the budget bill moves through Congress.

“We’ve got good momentum on the legislative side. We plan to keep it in, and I want to make sure that nothing puts a stop to it,” Calvert said. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said Calvert “deserves a great deal of credit” for protecting the system and the deal represents “a rare sign of bipartisanship in Washington.” “This investment has the potential to save lives,” Schiff said in an earlier statement. “In rebuffing the president’s request to eliminate funding for the system, Congress is showing its strong support for the system will not wane.”

Overall, the House appropriations subcommittee penciled in $1 billion for the USGS — $46 million below what the agency received in the last budget. The Trump administration called for a $137.8-million cut.

Further details about the USGS budget are expected to be made public when the full Appropriations Committee is set to hold a vote.

The text of an earthquake early warning, received on an iPhone in Tokyo in 2014. The Japanese text says: "This is an earthquake early warning. An earthquake occurred off the Fukushima coast, prepare for strong tremors." Shaking arrived after the alert sounded on the phone. (Rong-Gong Lin II / Los Angeles Times)

Under development for years

A seismic early warning system for the West Coast has been under development for years by the U.S. Geological Survey, the nation’s lead earthquake monitoring agency. President Trump’s budget would have ended the system before it launched. Officials were looking for “sensible and rational reductions and making hard choices to reach a balanced budget by 2027,” according to the administration’s proposal.

But the proposal to end the funding raised bipartisan complaints across the West Coast. Twenty-eight lawmakers in the California Legislature, including leaders from both parties, urged Calvert to protect the earthquake early warning system. Members of Congress from Southern California to the Canadian border say the system is crucial to public safety.

Already, technology is being designed to allow early warnings to cause elevators to open at the next floor, sparing occupants from being trapped; alert surgeons to remove scalpels from patients; and halt the flow of natural gas through major pipelines, preventing catastrophic fires.

“We always wanted to make sure that it’s the real thing; we don’t want to have any false alarms. So we’ve gone a long ways now, which we now think it’s to the point where it’s a functional system and it will work,” Calvert said.

The system works on a simple principle: The shaking from an earthquake travels at the speed of sound through rock — slower than the speed of today’s communications systems. That means it would take more than a minute for, say, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that starts at the Salton Sea to shake up Los Angeles, 150 miles away, traveling on the state’s longest fault, the San Andreas. Watch an earthquake early warning pop up on a computer screen before shaking from a magnitude 9 earthquake arrives in Japan

Metro has started to use early warnings

Countries around the world have implemented earthquake early warning systems, such as Mexico and Japan. During the 2011 magnitude 9 earthquake in Japan, viewers in Tokyo watching an NHK television channel that blared the early warning had more than a minute of notice before the strongest shaking arrived.

2011-3-11 (Home Video) Japan Earthquake Live, With Early Warning. Complete Raw

At 39 seconds into this NHK television broadcast of a Japanese parliamentary hearing, an automated earthquake early warning pops up. More than a minute later, heavy shaking arrives at the NHK TV studios in Tokyo.

Along the West Coast, facilities of all types are already testing the earthquake early warning system, including airports, hospitals, oil refineries, pipelines, schools and universities.

In Los Angeles County, Metro rail drivers are now trained to stop trains when they hear word of an earthquake early warning from the control center. Slowing and stopping subway cars and light rail trains reduces the threat of derailment.

Limited public rollout of early warning system expected by Limited public rollout of early warning system expected by next year

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has said by the end of 2018, there would be a deployment of “an earthquake early warning system to every corner of this city — in schools, at businesses, even on your smartphone. It will give you a head start when an earthquake is coming — precious seconds that save lives.”

Experts have said it would make sense for officials to begin a limited public rollout of the early warning system in Los Angeles. Along the West Coast, Southern California has the densest network of seismic sensors needed to operate it.

20110311 144615 - 150036 И. H. K. 01.mp4

Japan earthquake early warning on TV in 2016.

The system needs $38.3 million to be fully built out and $16.5 million a year to be operated and maintained across the West Coast, according to estimates.

The federal government has already invested $23 million in the system; California lawmakers and Gov. Jerry Brown last year approved $10 million. Los Angeles has also directed money for the installation of seismic sensors in Southern California.

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A century ago, L.A. agents quietly began purchasing land in the Owens Valley to take its water. (July 13, 2017)

By Louis Sahagun

JULY 13, 2017, 4:00 AM | REPORTING FROM BISHOP, CALIF.

century ago, agents from Los Angeles converged on the Owens Valley on a secret mission. A They figured out who owned water rights in the lush valley and began quietly purchasing land, posing as ranchers and farmers.

Soon, residents of the Eastern Sierra realized much of the water rights were now owned by Los Angeles interests. L.A. proceeded to drain the valley, taking the water via a great aqueduct to fuel the metropolis’ explosive growth.

This scheme became an essential piece of California history and the subject of the classic 1974 film “Chinatown.” In the Owens Valley, it is still known as the original sin that sparked decades of hatred for Los Angeles as the valley dried up and ranchers and farmers struggled to make a living.

But now, the Owens Valley is trying to rectify this dark moment in its history. Officials have launched eminent domain proceedings in an effort to take property acquired by Los Angeles in the early 1900s.

Owens Valley wants to reclaim its history It is the first time Inyo County has used eminent domain rules against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which owns 25% of the Owens Valley floor, officials said Wednesday.

Unlike previous battles with the DWP that focused on the environmental and economic damage caused by L.A.'s pumping of local water supplies, the county seeks to pay fair market value for property and water rights needed for landfills, parks, commerce and ranchlands along a 112-mile stretch of Highway 395 east of the Sierra Nevada.

“We’re using a hammer the DWP has never seen before in Owens Valley,” Inyo County Supervisor Rick Pucci said. “Our goal is the future health and safety of our communities.”

The move comes after years of efforts by Los Angeles to make amends for taking the region’s land and water. In 2013, for instance, the city agreed to fast-track measures to control toxic dust storms that have blown across the eastern Sierra Nevada since L.A. opened the aqueduct a century ago that drained Owens Lake.

As a gesture of conciliation, the city a year ago erected a $4.6-million monument of granite and sculpted earth that now rises from a dry bed of Owens Lake. It features a public plaza with curved granite walls inspired by the wing shapes of shorebirds. Sculptures of earth and rock have been made to resemble whitecaps like those that graced the lake’s surface before it was transformed into a noxious dust bowl.

L.A. concerns about giving back land But in Owens Valley, Angelenos bearing gifts have always elicited skepticism, and occasionally sparked eruptions of violence. The aqueduct was dynamited repeatedly after increased pumping exacerbated a drought during the 1920s that laid waste to local farms and businesses.

Inyo County officials see their effort to take back DWP land as an important step in taking back local control.

That worries DWP officials, who acknowledged they were caught off guard by the action.

“This is brand new. It could be a slippery slope and where it would lead us I don’t know,” Marty Adams, chief operating officer at the agency, said. “The county also wants the water rights on certain properties, which could have a cascading effect. We’re very concerned about that.”

The Inyo County Board of Supervisors directed its staff to study the use of eminent domain after the DWP a year ago proposed a fourfold rent increase of more than $20,000 annually at a landfill in Bishop operated by the county on land it has leased from the DWP for decades, Rick Benson, assistant county administrator, said. The proposed lease included a clause allowing the DWP to terminate the agreement for any reason with a 180- day notice, he said.

After months of heated negotiations, the county approved the new three-year lease agreement in January because, Benson said: “We had no choice.”

“We’re mandated by the state to provide environmentally sound means of disposal,” he said. “But the cost of abandoning that landfill and building and certifying a new one elsewhere would be astronomical.”

Beyond that, he said, the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery refused to renew an operating permit for the landfill until a new lease was in place on the property.

Valley towns struggling to survive In March, Inyo County Administrator Kevin Carunchio notified the DWP of the county’s decision to condemn that landfill site and two others in the towns of Independence and Lone Pine. That would set in motion legal proceedings that could lead to its taking ownership from the DWP.

A county appraisal concluded a fair market value for the total 200 acres of $522,000, county officials said. On Monday, the DWP declined that offer, saying it had yet to complete its own appraisals.

Some officials are already raising the possibility of mounting crowd-sourcing campaigns to fund additional acquisitions of DWP land for public benefit.

“The county would obviously like more economic opportunities,” the DWP’s Adams said, “and we support that.”

In the meantime, Owens Valley towns — including Big Pine, Independence, Lone Pine and Olancha — struggle to survive, with most of their developable land and water rights controlled by the DWP.

In 1997, the DWP agreed to relinquish 75 acres in the Owens Valley for residential and commercial uses, and the county amended its General Plan to ensure that land exchanges did not result in a net loss of tax base or revenues. Since then, county officials say, lots on only a fraction of that acreage have changed hands because the DWP has tended to set minimum bids far above market value.

In 2009, a group of Owens Valley residents sent a petition to then-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles City Council urging them to force the DWP to compensate for the loss of private land it planned to buy in the region by releasing an equal amount of its own holdings elsewhere. The city never responded, according to activists who helped write the petition.

The DWP has spent more than $1 billion to comply with a 1997 agreement with the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District to combat the powder-fine dust from the dry 110-square-mile Owens Lake bed. Separately, after decades of political bickering and a bruising court fight, the DWP directed water back into a 62-mile-long stretch of the Lower Owens River that had been left essentially dry after its flows of Sierra snowmelt were diverted to the Los Angeles Aqueduct. But it later balked at removing thick stands of reeds that swiftly choked the renewed river.

The DWP caused an uproar during the drought in 2015 when it gave ranchers 48 hours’ notice of its intention to reduce their irrigation water from the usual 49,000 acre-feet a year to 20,500 acre-feet a year. The agency abandoned the deadline after Inyo County threatened to seek an injunction to stop what it claimed was a violation of long-term water agreements that would devastate the local economy.

Some itching for a fight with L.A. Farming and ranching generate $20 million a year in rural Inyo County, second only to tourism, officials said.

Jenifer Castaneda, a Lone Pine real estate broker and community activist, had one word to say about the county’s use of eminent domain: “Awesome.”

Castaneda said she only hopes local leaders are ready for a long fight and that they don’t “cave when Los Angeles dangles some kind of big fat carrot in front of their noses." [email protected]

Twitter: @LouisSahagun

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This article is related to: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, California Drought, Los Angeles City Council, Antonio Villaraigosa Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (http://www.dailybulletin.com)

Lawsuit claims discrimination against millions of Medi-Cal patients, especially Latinos

By Susan Abram, Los Angeles Daily News

Wednesday, July 12, 2017

California’s Medicaid patients lack access to health care and are therefore facing discrimination, because doctors are not being paid enough to take them. That’s the charge in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against state regulators.

The suit, filed in Alameda County by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, among others, alleges that the state’s Department of Health Care Services has failed to monitor the problem. The issue has created a system of discrimination, especially against Latinos, according to the lawsuit.

Latinos make up roughly half of the 13.5 million Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, according to state data. In their lawsuit, MALDEF said that as the number of Latinos enrolled into the program rose over the years, reimbursement rates to physicians who accepted the insurance fell by 20 percent. California ranks 48th in the nation in reimbursement rates, said Thomas Saenz, MALDEF president and general counsel.

Because there are so few Medi-Cal providers, Latinos and others can’t get primary or speciality care in a timely manner, said Saenz and others who filed the lawsuit.

“We must ensure that Medi-Cal is administered in a fair and non-discriminatory manner that serves the healthcare needs of Latinos and all others enrolled in the program,” Saenz said in a statement.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Health Care Services said the agency won’t comment on the lawsuit. DHCS is required by law to monitor patient access to services. But no systematic problems have been identified, according to the spokeswoman.

MALDEF has raised concerns about discrimination in the past. In 2015, MALDEF, with the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, sent a letter to the state listing the same complaints. In their response, the DHCS said they found no evidence of discrimination.

“You have not alleged and we are not aware of any evidence that Latino beneficiaries are being treated differently than other beneficiaries under the Medi-Cal program,” DHCS said in a 2016 response. “Indeed, Medi-Cal rates are uniform for all providers and patients and they do not discriminate in any way on the basis of race, color, national origin or any other protected category.”

A glance through data provided by DHCS show that almost 50 percent of all grievances compiled quarterly in 2016 had to do with accessibility issues. Latinos filed about a third of those grievances. White Medi-Cal recipients filed another 30 percent.

“In the past, when Medi-Cal was a predominantly white program, access was better because the reimbursement rates were closer to other insurance reimbursement rates,” said Bill Lann Lee, senior counsel of the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center. “That changed when the Medi-Cal program became increasingly Latino and then majority Latino. That is discrimination.”

Given the recent discussions surrounding the Senate’s plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Saenz said Medi-Cal is still worth fighting for, but it needs to be improved, not scrapped.

Anthony Wright, executive director for Health Access, a California-based consumer advocacy group, said people who have private insurance also can face obstacles to care, but he said those with public insurance struggle more.

Still, it’s worth saving, Wright added.

“Even though there is an issue of access, Medi-Cal is still far better than being uninsured,” Wright said. “There’s data that show Medi-Cal does provide a lot of good services and care.”

URL: http://www.dailybulletin.com/general-news/20170712/lawsuit-claims-discrimination-against-millions-of-medi-cal-patients-especially-latinos

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti supports a motion to ban criminal background checks in the early stages of job applications. (Soumya Karlamangla / Los Angeles Times)

By Nina Agrawal

JULY 12, 2017, 8:45 PM

hen Lily Gonzalez was released from Valley State Prison in Chowchilla in 2012, all she wanted to do was put incarceration behind her. She hoped to go back to work, continue her education at W Cal State Northridge and reconnect with her 11-year-old daughter. “I tried to assimilate,” she said. “And I couldn’t.”

Gonzalez had been convicted of multiple felonies for falsifying signatures on documents — “something stupid I did when I was 18 years old,” she said. Instead of returning to her old life, including a job with the county’s Department of Consumer Affairs, Gonzalez found herself stuck. “I applied for jobs everywhere,” she said. “I’d go in for an interview, and they’d be reviewing my resume, and then they’d get to the application and see the box [asking about a criminal record] … and just in their body language you could see they weren’t interested anymore.”

Los Angeles County may soon join the City of Los Angeles and others around the country in making it easier for people like Gonzalez to find employment. Two motions approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday direct county officials to recommend standards for establishing “fair chance” ordinances in L.A. County.

The ordinances, which would apply to county government, businesses that contract with the county and businesses that operate in unincorporated L.A. County, would do away with restrictions on employment that are based solely on prior criminal records.

This could include such policies as not asking job seekers about criminal convictions until a conditional offer of employment is made, giving them an opportunity to appeal if an offer is rescinded and fining businesses that repeatedly flout the guidelines.

”Once someone has paid his or her debt to society, they ought to be afforded the opportunity to become productive citizens in the context of their respective communities,” Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said during discussion of the motions on Tuesday.

If adopted, Los Angeles County’s ordinances would follow similar policies that have been put in place elsewhere.

According to the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy and research organization that tracks these policies nationwide, 28 states and more than 150 counties and cities now have “ban the box” policies, which eliminate the check box on job applications that asks about prior criminal convictions.

In nine states and 13 cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, these policies extend to private employers.

A California state law that went into effect in 2014 prohibits public employers from asking about criminal history on the initial application.

The state legislature is considering a bill that would make it unlawful for any employer, including private businesses, to ask about an applicant’s criminal history until a conditional offer of employment is made.

Some business groups have opposed such legislation, arguing that it slows down the hiring process and exposes businesses to legal liability and litigation.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Sarah Golden with the Valley Industry Commerce Assn., which represents 400 businesses in L.A. County, said “it is essential that businesses not be overly burdened by lengthy appeal periods.” A 10-day appeal period, she said, means two workweeks that a position goes unfilled and possibly the loss of second- and third-choice candidates to other companies. “We are also concerned that a fair chance ordinance will spawn costly and frivolous litigation,” she added.

Those in favor of employment policies aimed at helping people who have been incarcerated emphasized their importance in helping reintegrate those who have been released from prison back into society and preventing recidivism.

Peter Espinoza, head of the county’s Office of Diversion and Reentry, said that, in addition to substance abuse and mental health issues, chronic unemployment is one of the primary barriers to smooth reentry.

Others argued that helping former felons benefits everyone, by reducing crime.

“A lack of hope and a lack of opportunity is actually a public safety problem,” said chief probation officer Terri McDonald.

Approximately three-quarters of released prisoners re-offend within five years, according to the National Institute of Justice. Studies have consistently shown that steady employment and close ties to family members decrease the likelihood of returning to criminal behavior; one 2011 study, published in the peer-review journal Justice Quarterly, found that post-release employment was the single-most important factor.

But people with criminal records are less likely to get jobs.

The policy of prohibiting employers from gathering information about an applicant’s past incarcerations is not without its unintended consequences, some research shows.

In 2015 and 2016 Sonja Starr, a law professor at the University of Michigan, and Amanda Agan, an economist then at Princeton University, conducted a randomized, controlled experiment using 15,000 fictitious job applications to compare outcomes for young white and black men before and after ban the box policies went into effect in New Jersey and New York City.

While they confirmed that applicants who check the box are far less likely to get called back for an interview, they also found that once employers removed the box from the application, they turned to race as a proxy for criminality, relying on “wildly exaggerated stereotypes” about the difference in conviction rates between white and black men, Starr said.

“The effect of that was to very greatly increase the callback gap between our white and black applicants,” Starr said — from 7% to 43%, with the effect being that the split about evenly helped white applicants with records and harmed black applicants without them.

Gonzalez, for one, said that “the box” itself was the obstacle. She eventually turned to Homeboy Industries, a job training and reintegration program for former gang-involved and incarcerated men and women.

Gonzalez worked in maintenance there and later went back to school for her bachelor’s degree. She was readmitted to Cal State Northridge, but couldn’t get a job on campus. Her graduation was overshadowed by the difficulty she knew she’d face in finding work.

“Having a degree — no matter how many I had, it wasn’t going to make a difference,” she said.

Three months ago Gonzalez was hired as a community organizer at A New Way of Life Reentry Project, which provides housing and supportive services for formerly incarcerated women.

An ordinance in L.A. County to keep employers from looking at applicants’ pasts, she said, would mean “everything.”

“We come home to nothing — you can’t find a job, you can’t find a place to live,” she said. “People ask, ‘Why do people go back to prison?’ This is why.” [email protected]

Twitter: @AgrawalNina

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By Michael Balsamo / The Associated Press Posted at 8:24 AM Updated at 8:24 AM LOS ANGELES — An attempt to keep California juvenile offenders out of detention centers has thrust them into a system with differing and overly strict rules that send many back behind bars for minor violations, according to a report released Wednesday.

Rules for juveniles who are sentenced to wear GPS ankle monitors are “unrealistically onerous” and “undermine the rehabilitative purpose of the juvenile justice system,” said researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the East Bay Community Law Center in a report.

After juveniles are accused of crimes, a judge can choose to sentence them to juvenile detention or require them to wear GPS ankle monitor and abide by a set of rules set by probation officials. Because there are no statewide policies in place, it is left to individual counties to establish the rules for juvenile probationers.

In Northern California’s Lassen County, juveniles are required to follow a set of 56 rules, but in San Francisco County, they are only subject to 10 rules, according to the report. The rules also vary from county to county.

“People in one county didn’t even know what the county next door’s policies were,” said Catherine Crump, an assistant clinical professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

It is difficult to determine how the rules in California counties compare across the U.S. because in other large states, including Florida and Texas, the rules also vary from county to county, said Laura Abrams, who chairs the social welfare department at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Some smaller states have centralized probation systems, meaning all offenders need to follow the same set of rules, she said.

“I’m not sure disparities are this large in other states, partly because California is so diverse,” Abrams said.

The researchers also found that the system disproportionately affects youths of color.

Some counties require a parent be home at all times, that schedules be approved weeks in advance, or that landline phones be set up in the home, which could prove to be a hurdle for a child from a poorer home, said Kate Weisburd, a supervising attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center.

If they violate the rules, a judge could order the juvenile offender behind bars, often leading to a repetitive cycle in and out of juvenile detention facilities.

In several counties, families are required to pay for the monitoring and are charged monthly fees. Several California counties also bill families if their children are incarcerated in juvenile detention centers.

A measure wading through the state Legislature would prohibit counties from charging parents for their children’s incarceration.

Weisburd, who defends juveniles in court, said one of her teenage clients was arrested for trying to steal a classmate’s backpack and was sentenced to probation with electronic monitoring.

The teenager, who has attention deficit hyperactivity order, couldn’t just stay in his house and repeatedly violated the monitoring rules, she said. The teen cycled in and out of juvenile detention centers seven times.

The system is “undermining rather than supporting and helping” juvenile offenders, Weisburd said.

READ NEXT http://www.bakersfield.com/news/supervisors-brush-aside-ridiculous-corruption-claim-kill-pace-program/article_ccee79f3-d6e3-5e10-90af-cf0908243270.html Supervisors brush aside 'ridiculous' corruption claim, kill PACE program

BY JAMES BURGER [email protected] Jul 11, 2017 Updated Jul 12, 2017

Supervisor Mick Gleason Felix Adamo

Kern County supervisors voted Tuesday to terminate the Property Assessed Clean Energy program in unincorporated Kern County.

The vote didn’t come without challenge.

Local contractors and companies that administer the clean energy improvement financing program questioned whether supervisors had promised local Realtors that they would kill PACE months before the issue ever came to a public vote.

Jim Whittington, of Whittington Solar in Bakersfield, asked why a representative of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors wrote in a December 2016 grant application for funds to fight PACE that she had met with local elected officials who were willing to “commit the votes” needed to end PACE here.

Is that a violation of California’s open meetings law, the Ralph M. Brown Act? Did supervisors, he asked, sell out?

“This really stinks of corruption,” Whittington said.

Supervisors denied his allegations and Interim Kern County Counsel Mark Nations said lobbying doesn’t violate the Brown Act.

“I am confident that people on both sides of this issue have met with supervisors to lobby, but that is a specific exemption to the serial meeting provision of the Brown Act,” he said.

Supervisor Mick Gleason called the accusations “ridiculous.”

“There was no backroom deal,” he said. “I never once told one individual — and I never do — my stance on an issue until I hit that button” to vote. Supervisors David Couch, Zack Scrivner and Mike Maggard all said they didn’t promise their votes. Supervisor Leticia Perez — who cast the lone vote against terminating PACE when this issue came before the Kern County Board of Supervisors last month — was absent.

“I think it is a sad day in this country when we cannot have a difference of opinion without the character of the person in the disagreement being assassinated,” Maggard said.

Supervisors said the core reason they voted against the PACE program is that it funds the home improvements with “super liens” that trump home mortgages and can make it difficult for property owners to sell their homes.

The Property Assessed Clean Energy financing program works differently from other home financing loans and options.

It is administered by private companies that fund the debt by placing a lien on the property that doesn’t travel with the homeowner — forcing a person selling a PACE home to either pay off the lump sum amount or convince a buyer to pick up some or all of the debt. The Kern County Treasurer-Tax Collector is forced to collect repayments to the private companies on the tax rolls.

And supervisors said that system just won’t do.

Fix it, they said, and they would be happy to revive PACE in unincorporated Kern County.

PACE-affiliated company officials asked supervisors, in light of regulatory legislation wending its way through the legislature and of a public records request intended to get to the bottom of the accusations of backroom dealing by the board, to postpone any action to terminate PACE.

But supervisors went ahead and voted to kill the program.

For eight of the nine companies that administer PACE loans the authorization to conduct new business is terminated immediately. Current contract processes will be allowed to complete.

But that’s it.

The ninth company offering the service, Renovate Americas’ HERO Program, will continue for the next six months because that company had a different contract with the county.

James Burger can be reached at 661‑395-7415. Follow him on Twitter: @KernQuirks. $5-million program finds housing for only 268 veterans, report says

Homeless veteran Kendrick Bailey keeps cool inside his tent on a street corner near skid row in downtown Los Angeles. (AFP/Getty Images)

By Gale Holland

JULY 13, 2017, 7:00 AM

$5-million program to assist homeless veterans has helped only 268 get off the streets over 18 months, according to a recent Los Angeles County civil grand jury report — in part because a $1.2- A million contract to provide interim shelter has been delayed for nearly a year. Homes for Heroes, a county program funded by the federal government, provides interim shelter to veterans and pays for move-in costs and minor repairs for landlords who agree to rent to ex-service members. But from January 2016 to June 2017, the report said, the program has helped more property owners, 363, than it has veterans. The “bridge” housing contract was put out to bid by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in September, but the agency had not reached agreement with providers by the time the report — which was released in late June — was prepared, the grand jury said.

Tom Waldman, spokesman for the homeless services authority, said the contract process began in November and the agency reached agreement in April with a provider to house eight veterans.

A second provider, Volunteers of America, had been expected to furnish shelter for 72 more but lost its site. That contract will be executed when Volunteers of America finds a new location, Waldman said.

Phil Ansell, director of the county’s homeless initiative, said the grand jury’s information was seven months old. “In the ensuing months, progress has been made, although more certainly remains to be done,” Ansell said in a written statement.

Despite housing thousands over the last three years, Southern California continues to lead the nation in veteran homelessness, with 4,800 living on streets and riverbeds countywide — including 2,700 in the city of Los Angeles, the report said.

Mayor Eric Garcetti had made a pledge to end veteran homelessness a signature of his administration, but scrapped a timetable earlier this year after the numbers continued to climb. The mayor's office referred comment on the report to the homeless services authority and county officials.

The grand jury’s report also expressed concern about Homes for Heroes’ administrative costs.

Officials with the homeless services authority told jurors that portion represented 15% of the total funds, the report said. But “as no contracts have been awarded, we were not able to obtain the actual administrative cost for the contractors.”

According to the report, federal rent vouchers go unused because veterans can’t find a place to use them before they expire. “These voided vouchers go back to the county for reassignment to other homeless veterans waiting for housing,” the report said.

A county spokeswoman disputed this finding, saying that “100%” of its veteran vouchers are being used.

The grand jury also found that many homeless veterans don’t know where to get help.

They may be living on skid row, where they receive assistance from the missions but have trouble getting government aid available at downtown’s Patriotic Hall or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs campus in West Los Angeles, the report said.

Another impediment is that much of the housing that accepts veteran rent vouchers is for men only; their family members must find shelter elsewhere, the report said. The grand jury also found that homeless veterans lack storage for their belongings, and that police use ticketing and arrests to remove them from neighborhoods where they are unwanted.

In order to help alleviate the crisis, the report recommended, among other things:

• Considering using the General Hospital building north of downtown, or other vacant structures, to house homeless veterans and their families.

• Expanding county benefits for homeless veterans from one to two years.

• Setting up a county mobile outreach service for veterans at the missions.

• Giving the missions more county homeless funds.

• Establishing county storage facilities for homeless veterans.

• Speeding up the procurement and contracting process. [email protected]

Twitter: @geholland

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