Victories tempered challenges of the last 12 months
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The opening
line from Charles Dickens’
”
A Tale of Two Cities,
”
does a good job of summing up a look back at 2008, and probably
almost any year. There were good times for San Benito County in
2008, but we had our share of bad times, too. There are some things
that happened like clockwork, such as the San Benito Saddle Horse
Show and Rodeo and the San Benito County Fair. Then there were the
things we never would have expected, such as the discovery of zebra
mussels in a local waterway.
Here is a look back at the good times, the tough times and just
some of the funny stuff that happened in 2008 (complete stories can
be read online at www.pinnaclenews.com).
Victories tempered challenges of the last 12 months
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The opening line from Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” does a good job of summing up a look back at 2008, and probably almost any year. There were good times for San Benito County in 2008, but we had our share of bad times, too. There are some things that happened like clockwork, such as the San Benito Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo and the San Benito County Fair. Then there were the things we never would have expected, such as the discovery of zebra mussels in a local waterway.
Here is a look back at the good times, the tough times and just some of the funny stuff that happened in 2008 (complete stories can be read online at www.pinnaclenews.com).
January
CASA comes to SBC
Foster children got a little more support when Court Appointed Special Advocates staff opened a branch in San Benito in January. The nonprofit launched their first training session in 2008, and they have since trained 22 volunteers who are paired up to advocate for foster children. The volunteer advocates spend time with the children each month, but more importantly they attend court appearances and have the right to see school documents so that they can speak for the best interest of the children in the county.
Tiny mussel a giant threat to state water
San Justo Reservoir was shut down after the finding of zebra mussels in the water. The finding of the invasive mollusk that wreaked havoc in the Great Lakes in the 1980s in San Benito County proved to be the first sighting west of the Rockies.
“How long this [San Justo closure] is going to be, I have no idea,” said Lance Johnson, then the director of the San Benito County Water District. “It could be permanently.”
In February biologists for the state Department of Fish and Game dove into the reservoir to see how widely spread the mussels were, and their findings suggested that the mussel had been in the waters for several years. For now, the reservoir remains closed and the mussel is still isolated in San Justo waters.
A Perfect 100
Pinnacles National Monument turned 100, and the staff started out a yearlong celebration with fanfare with a Jan. 16 rededication. Third-generation South County resident Ernie Prewett, who was born when the monument was just 5 years old, was on hand to offer some memories.
“We would, on our Sundays, tour people through the caves,” he said. “You’d have weekends where you’d have maybe 100 people.”
Other events throughout the year included a celebration of conservation in March, a Homestead Weekend in May, and the Rockpile Rendezvous in June.
February
Aromas-SJB goes begging
Budget woes hit local schools early, and often, but none was harder hit than the Aromas-San Juan Unified School District. In February, supporters of the district began discussions of a school bond that asked residents to foot the bill for as much as $21.9 million to pay off a loan for construction of Anzar High School, and to replace portable classrooms at Anzar and Aromas. School officials, including Superintendent Jaquelyn Munoz said the school might be short $600,000 to make payroll through the end of June.
Eventually, officials settled on asking for $18.8 million in the form of Measure V, which voters denied by 54 percent of the vote.
Living with lions
Zebra mussels were not the only threatening wildlife to be found in San Benito County in 2008. Code Enforcement Officer Mike Chambless discovered the unmistakable footprints of a mountain lion near city offices on Park Hill.
“The best thing is that the community is aware and they are aware when they are out recreating or out in rural areas that something like this can be a possibility,” said Jacob Nicholas, a San Benito County fish and game warden.
Council eyes vacant homes
Nationwide, the rate of foreclosures became national news, and in February city officials first started to take heed of the impact the empty homes were having around the county. In February, 589 homes in Hollister were reported in some stage of foreclosure. City officials first discussed a foreclosed house ordinance that would put pressure on neglectful owners of bank-owned properties to keep them up, including everything from maintaining landscape to keeping pools mosquito-free.
Code Enforcement Officer Mike Chambless sent out the first batch of letters in June, and homeowners were subjected to a maximum fine of $1,000 per violation per day if they did not respond. Chambless said the worst violations had been fixed, but some owners were less responsive. By December nearly 1,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure.
March
Post office woes
In March, Aromas residents heard a rumor that their post office might shut down. The building at 368 Blohm Ave. was up for sale, a spokesperson for the postal service confirmed that the lease on the building was up in October and that the price negotiated to keep the lease up would have been restrictive.
“They were asking a little more than double,” said Augustine Ruiz, a spokesperson for the Bay Valley District postal service.
Nationwide 220 post offices had been closed in the last two years, and Aromas residents decided to speak out and started a petition to keep the site open.
“There are a lot of older folks in this community, including my parents, who are 83,” said Jeff Hardy, a resident. “They go down to the post office every day.”
Even Rep. Sam Farr stepped in. In May, postal service officials announced that they had signed a lease on the Blohm Avenue location.
Budget cuts lead to teacher layoffs
In March, the San Benito High School Board of Trustees voted to give five teachers pink slips for the 2008-2009 school year, and to eliminate the equivalent of 57 classes at the high school.
The cuts were made in response to proposed 10 percent cuts to education in Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget and declining enrollment.
“We’re already having problems with kids failing classes,” said Lindsay Anderson, a student. “Basically they’re messing up our education.”
Hollister school district trustees notified 39 teachers that they were likely to be laid off for the following school year.
The budget woes continue for schools as officials again plan for mid-year reductions as the state budget crisis worsens. So far, SBHSD and HSD officials said mid-year layoffs were not expected.
April
County tackles court location
Once again San Benito County residents spoke out and prompted change. When officials from the California Administrative Office of Courts announced that they were recommending a court site near the county jail off Flynn Road, locals questioned why a downtown site had been overlooked. State officials opted out of the downtown site at Fremont School because it would have required extensive geological studies because of its proximity to earthquake faults.
“The state initially made a business decision that may have … ignored the importance of the downtown site to this community,” said Gil Solorio, the local court executive officer.
State officials opted to take a second look at the city when city officials offered to donate the site and fund a seismic study, estimated to cost $200,000-$250,000. By July, geologists had dug trenches 19 feet deep in search of fault signs, but nothing alarming was found when final studies were completed.
In December, city council members approved the sale of the school property to San Benito County for $1.37 million, clearing the way for the new courthouse.
London’s calling
A lifelong pen pal relationship brought 56 London students from Sedgehill School to San Benito County last spring. Local Marge Yarmuth and Tony Masters, a band director, started writing to each other in 1964, and have been friends since then.
So when Masters considered taking his young musicians on a tour of California, it was clear that San Benito should be one of the stops. Yarmuth coordinated home stays for the students who used San Benito as a home base as they explored the region with performances at AT&T Park, where they played the national anthem, and at San Benito High School.
May
Busy hands, thankful heart
Marcellina Munoz was named the Mexican-American Committee on Education Woman of the Year. She was honored at a banquet fundraiser May 3. She was honored because of her support of her own children as they got an education, as well as her lifelong history of helping those in need, especially with MACE. Her help includes cooking for every banquet for 38 years, and she even prepared enough rice once to feed 800 people.
“My mom and dad have always helped out people who needed it,” her son George Munoz said.
Marcellina’s own children have become community activists, teachers and lawyers, and have served in the military.
Sewer gives birth to city’s newest park
A new wastewater treatment provided the impetus for a new park along Hollister’s western gateway. The city council approved the purchase of 50 acres near the San Juan Hwy. bridge in May for $5 million. The new plant performs tertiary treatment, which means sewage is actually clean enough to drink, and city officials needed somewhere to put all this water. The plan is to turn the acreage into athletic fields that will be irrigated with the treated water – and construction on the new park started in December.
“Initially it will just be grass,” said Steve Wittry, a city engineer. “It’s a lot of open space. People can play soccer or ball.”
The only downside is that other structures, even restrooms, cannot be built because the money for the fields comes out of sewer funds. Future improvements can be made as soon as money from other sources is found.
San Juan Bautista city manager fired
San Juan city council members voted unanimously to fire City Manager Jan McClintock May 20. City council member Ed Laverone said there was no single reason that McClintock was fired.
“I’m sure each person had their reasons for voting for it,” Laverone said. “I’m sure mine was just lost confidence in her management style.”
Chuck Geiger, a former council member, suggested that McClintock had been fired because of pressure on city officials after losing a $3.8 million Economic Development Administration grant weeks earlier. The city had worked for 10 years to obtain the grant, which was given to them 2005 with San Benito County Water District listed as a co-recipient. The grant was put in jeopardy after San Juan city officials and San Benito County water district officials failed to work together.
“She’s a scapegoat for a council that refused to work with the water district,” Geiger said.
In June, city council members hired Interim City Manager Stephen Julian, who is still serving the city in the post.
June
Love and marriage
The Supreme Court of California overturned Prop. 22, a ballot measure that defined marriage as between a man and woman, on May 16. The outcome of the ruling hit San Benito County when Mike Dunn and Rodger Thornberry became the first gay couple to apply for a marriage license – and they did it on June 17, the first day gay couples could legally marry.
“I remember a long time ago thinking it would never happen in our lifetime,” Dunn said.
The two met in San Jose and had been together for 25 years when they wed. By October, seven other same-sex couples had applied for a marriage license in SBC.
By mid-summer, however, opponents of gay marriage started collecting signatures to get a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot that would change the state constitution to again ban it. The ballot, Measure 8, drew nationwide donors for and against the proposition. Locally, pro and con factions lined up at the corner of Fourth and San Benito Streets, and made their points of view known on the Views page. On Nov. 4, the measure banning gay marriage passed with 52.3 percent of the vote.
Despite the winning measure, the battle is not over as the California Supreme Court has plans to review the ballot measure in Spring 2009.
Elections: just follow the cash
In the June primary, campaign donations totals could have easily predicted the winners for San Benito County Supervisor seats as the three candidates who spent the most money were the same three candidates who won seats.
Supervisor Don Marcus stepped down, and two other incumbents were up for reelection in June. The field stretched wide with seven candidates entering the race.
In District 2, Anthony Botelho reclaimed his seat after receiving more than $20,000 in campaign contributions. His opponent, Anthony Freitas, had $1,000.
In District 5, Jaime De La Cruz amassed more than $22,000. He was also the only candidate to collect and spend campaign contributions in 2007, a non-election year. His opponent Marian Cruz, collected nearly $6,000.
In District 1, three candidates entered the race to vie for Marcus’ empty seat. Barrios collected nearly $20,000 and won the seat. Opponent Bonnie Flores-Voropaeff raised $1,500 and Grant Brians raised $1,100.
July
The long wait ends
The $120 million sewer treatment plant got started five months ahead of schedule and went online in July, bringing the end of a state-imposed moratorium ever closer. The city started issuing construction permits July 7 in anticipation of the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board lifting the moratorium.
The moratorium was in place since 2002 when the water board ordered Hollister to disallow any more sewer hookups in the wake of a spill that sent 15 million gallons of partially treated effluent into the San Benito River.
“Marriott Hotel just turned in all their applications [for a four-story hotel off Gateway Drive near Tiffany Motors] a couple weeks ago,” City Manager Clint Quilter in the days before staff started reissuing permits.
While the moratorium’s lift had long been anticipated as a new dawn of economic development and some projects are already in the pipeline, city officials have recently assumed a stance of cautious optimism as a down economy has slowed construction projects.
The water board officially raised the moratorium at a Dec. 5 meeting.
A change of habit
By mid-summer local gas prices reached $4.59 a gallon for regular unleaded, and many analysts expected them to continue to climb. Some local families reported that they had changed their driving habits as the cost of filling up a tank became prohibitive.
While some people turned to more efficient means of transportation such as motorcycles, other families gave up summer travel to save money.
“We want to go see family and all that, but it’s impossible,” said Kenneth Elliot, I July. His family opted out of a visit to Arizona to see family. “We can’t afford it.”
Truck companies, such as McFeely’s Truck-N-Equipment in Tres Pinos, were especially hard hit by high diesel costs.
“I’m really on the razor’s edge of financial crash, and I had a very lucrative business since 1989 or 1990,” said John McFeely. “It’s sad to say, but I’ve run out of options.”
In mid-November, prices of diesel and gasoline began a rapid descent. Just before press time regular unleaded had settled at $1.79 in Hollister.
August
Well runs dry
In August, Stonegate residents ran out of water. The problem for residents was that they were not notified that their water allowance had been cut until the water was already gone. The allowance had been lowered to 50 gallons per person per day for the gated community that receives water through the Bureau of Reclamation.
“They ended up using all of the water that was available to them during the summer months in the first 45 days,” Cattaneo said. “They effectively ran out of water.”
The incident set off a spat of finger-pointing over who was to blame. County Public Works staff notified residents late in July that their allotment had changed, and claimed they did not receive notification from the San Benito County Water Districts about the change in allowance until July 7. Water District officials maintain that they sent out letters to Public Works staff on Feb. 6, April 22 and May 31.
“There’s so many things that the homeowners could have done if they had known ahead of time,” said Mike Randle, president of the Stonegate Homeowners’ Association. “I had been trying to get a meeting with public works since the beginning of May for some other issues that we had going on.”
The community continued to receive enough water for household use, but not enough for pools, landscaping and other maintenance uses. The Tres Pinos Water District board members approved an emergency supplementation.
Lowe’s construction stalled
Al Guerra, a resident whose family is developing a former walnut orchard into a shopping center, planned a groundbreaking ceremony for the project last summer. Legacy Village will connect with the Hwy. 25 bypass and has Lowe’s planned as an anchor tenant. But in the weeks before the planned ceremony, Guerra received word from Lowe’s staff that they would be delaying development of the store in Hollister.
“At this point we’re waiting for Lowe’s and we expect it to be a short delay,” said Al Guerra.
Lowe’s owns the property and staff members have already filed for a building permit. At the end of the year, Lowe’s staff still had not committed to a time frame to start construction.
“They’re not starting all over the place, and we’re just one of the bunch,” said Bill Avera, Hollister’s development services director.
September
5 yr. exchange program planned for condor researchers
Pinnacles National Monument staff had the opportunity to participate in a study abroad of sorts when they signed up with Argentine scientists for a five-year project that could bolster the numbers of the endangered birds in California and in the Andes.
Eric Brunneman, the superintendent of Pinnacles, was one of several staff members to travel to the South American country to meet with scientists. During their time there, they posted information, photos and videos to a blog so that locals could keep up with their adventures.
New RDA director comes on board
In September, Bill Chow came on board as the new Redevelopment Agency Director. Chow spent 14 years with the city of Huntington Park in Los Angeles County – including the past four as redevelopment and economic development manager for the city of approximately 70,000.
“Being away from other areas is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing,” Chow said, “especially when you can’t take advantage of (Hollister’s proximity to) other markets like Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and Salinas. Hollister is its own island,” but that fact also makes it a challenge to market the area to national tenants.
When he first arrived in town, he said his focus would be on providing market-rate and affordable housing in Hollister. With that said, he worked with Hollister City Council to offer help to first-time homebuyers in the form of a mortgage assistance program that can be used to help with down payments and closing costs. Residents had until December to apply for up to $50,000 for a 1 percent second mortgage that has no monthly payments and would not have to be repaid as long as the person didn’t sell or transfer the property. By the deadline, six families had applied.
October
Local economy gains new advocate
A month after chow’s arrival, Nancy Martin arrived to take on the role of executive director of the Economic Development Corp. Like Chow, Martin also arrived from Southern California, have worked as an economic development manager in Corona in Riverside County. Martin played a role in bringing in 5 million square feet of retail, industrial, manufacturing and office space to the city, with 15,000 jobs created.
Martin cited Hollister’s downtown district and San Juan Bautista’s rich history as assets.
“Economic development keeps people here,” she said. “I want them to stay here to enjoy our community, and I want people to come from outside to enjoy what’s here as well.”
Gang violence prompts stricter dress code
In light of a drive-by shooting near Cerra Vista School, San Benito High School administrators acted quickly to enact a stricter dress code that took effect Oct. 1.
Some of the items outlawed including clothing with references to geographical areas or area codes and other gang-affiliated items, such as “SoCal,” “NorCal,” “South Pole” and “Ecko Unlimited.” Students were also banned from wearing certain color lanyards around the necks, and belts.
“Currently, we have groups of students wearing similar clothing that can be very intimidating to other students as they move about campus,” Principal Krystal Lomanto wrote in an e-mail. “The newly identified items will help reduce possible confrontations.”
Some students disagreed with the need for a stricter dress code.
Courtney Cardoza said she understood the reason for it but said, “It’s completely stereotypical of what gangs are wearing. I know a lot of people who wear shirts that say NorCal on them and aren’t in gangs.”
Ray Becker dies
Ray Becker, the vice president in charge of entitlements for DMB’s El Rancho San Benito project, died at his San Juan Bautista home Oct. 7. He was 59.
Becker had lived in the county since 2004 and had worked diligently to garner support for the El Rancho San Benito project, a 6,800-unit housing development proposed between Hollister and Gilroy. In addition to his work with DMB, Becker was serving as chairman of the California Building Industry Association and was president-elect of the San Juan Bautista Rotary Club.
November
Election ’08
Nationally, history was made with the election of Barack Obama as the first African-American president of the United States. Before polls had even closed in California, many called the race in favor of Barack Obama.
“If there is anyone out there that still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our times – there’s no question the power of our democracy – tonight is your answer,” Obama said in his victory speech in Chicago.
Locally, voters approved Measure Y, a move to exempt residential projects in the downtown district from city housing allotments in hopes that developers will come up with mixed-use projects downtown. Two San Juan Bautista measures to make the city treasurer and city clerk elected positions failed.
Two city council members ran unopposed, Doug Emerson and Ray Friend, but in a third district three men vied for the seat. Victor Gomez, a local business owner and San Benito native, won out over Roy Iler, a sheriff’s deputy and David Huboi, a planning commissioner.
In San Juan Bautista, incumbent Rick Edge and Maggie Bilich, a newcomer, took the two open seats. But on election day another San Juan city council member resigned his seat, prompting the council members to appoint a new person in December.
“I’m 70 and a little tired of politics, I guess,” said Bob Paradice. “My council duties started to conflict with my other interests and I just seemed to lose interest in what was going on.”
With Paradice’s resignation, city council members had the choice of funding a special election or appointing a member. They selected Andy Moore, who serves on the board of directors of the San Juan Bautista Chamber of Commerce, from a field of four applicants.
Bypass opening stalled
Cracks showed up in the asphalt of the Hwy. 25 bypass just weeks before the project was set for completion on Nov. 24. Kerry Theran, an engineer in charge of overseeing the project said the problem lies with the Hollister area’s notoriously clay-rich soils. Anyone who has observed the mosaic of cracks in a pond or swale knows that clay soils expand and contract depending on the amount of moisture they hold.
To counteract that tendency, the construction contract for the bypass mandated that the top 20 inches of the entire area under the roadbed be treated with lime, a mineral powder that counteracts clay’s tendency to squirm when wet.
“The lime basically changes the chemical compounds in clay so it’s not really clay any more,” Theran said. “The clay underneath the lime can still expand and contract, but it will not go through the lime.”
Bad weather further delayed the completion, which requires dry weather to repair. Pavex, the company completed the project, is being fined $8,600 for every day the project runs after Nov. 24, including weekends.
December
Flushed with success
“Hallelujah!”
With a single, heartfelt word, San Juan Bautista City Council veteran Priscilla Hill summed it up for more than a dozen others present Dec. 9 as the city officially broke ground on the largest municipal project in the town’s history.
The project is expected to be completed by the end of summer of next year, according to Mark Davis, project manager.
The project is projected to cost $9.4 million, and involves water treatment, new pipelines, storm sewer improvements, the reconstruction of Fourth Street, including sidewalks and gutters, a reservoir, new wastewater pipelines and a water softening facility, Davis said.
