Up in Smoke

Anyone make a trip to Target recently? If you have, no doubt you've encountered the signature collectors at the entrance. They have petitions for you to sign for a variety of things, helping firefighters and their families, police, and of course, medical marijuana. I should point out that they do get paid to gather those signatures, and they are paid per signature I believe.

I've encountered these folks numerous times at Target, Vons, Albertson, etc. When I'm with my kids, they never ask me to sign the medical marijuana petition. When I'm alone, it's the first thing they ask.

So let me just explain a few things...the city of Lake Elsinore has received an application for a business license from Mother Earth, based out of Fallbrook. The president of the company, Robert Riedel, wants to manufacture pot here in Lake Elsinore. By manufacture, I mean grow it, dry it, sell it, smoke it, you name it. Mr. Riedel accused the city of "supporting organized crime" if we did not see fit to lift restrictions on marijuana. Mr. Riedel does not live in Lake Elsinore.

In addition, we have another person, Mr. Wayne Williams, who wants the city to lift the current ban on medical marijuana dispensaries. Mr. Williams lives in Wildomar.

Mr. Williams has stated to the press that he feels there are two options before him - 1) push for a voter initiative to be placed on the ballot in November, or 2) get enough signatures to force the city to hold a special election. A special election would cost the city around $40,000-60,000. I should say it will cost you, the taxpayer, that much.

The measure proponents want to get on the ballot in November would legalize the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for adults 21 and older. Residents could also cultivate marijuana gardens up to 25 square feet.

The city council wants time to review all of the details, hence the moratorium we passed last week. We don't want to make an uninformed decision. Unfortunately, Mr. Williams stated to the press that, "Those are just more excuses. I'm done with excuses." So much for mutual respect and understanding.

If you're all for easy access to marijuana, by all means, sign the petition.

If you're not, signing the petition under the assumption that it doesn't mean anything is dead wrong. Putting your name on that petition is the same as signing away your tax dollars to pay for a special election. The choice is yours.

Dec 22 Council Meeting Results

1) Add new chapter to Lake Elsinore Munical Code (LEMC) Regarding Water Efficient Landscaping.

We adopted the WRCOG model of the ordinance, which essentially leaves the job of "water police" to EVMWD. Since the City has no control over rates, we didn't feel it was appropriate to be put in the position to enforce EVMWD's rules.

2) Ordinance approving a First Amendment to Development Agreement between the City of Lake Elsinore and Pardee Homes.

This item passed unanimously, allowing an extension of Pardee's development agreement. It will allow them to continue to develop The Canyon Hills neighborhood as planned.

3) Approve Tentative Parcel Map for Pasadena Business Park

This item passed unanimously, with a modification to allow the developer to work on Satudays since it will not impose on neighboring residential areas. It is completely surrounded by industrial uses.

4) Implementation Agreement with Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) regarding Assembly Bill (AB) 811.

This item passed with 4 votes. I asbstained because I do not agree with using taxpayer money to fund home improvement projects. My belief is, if I want to put in new energy efficient doors, windows, etc. I should have to pay for it myself.

This implemenation agreement allows a property owner to get a loan from the government to make energy efficiency improvements to their home. They can then sell the home at a higher appraised value, keep the money from that sale, but leave the loan to the person who buys the home.

I abstained because while I don't agree with the policy, I do want our residents to have the same opportunties other cities have.

5) Consideration of moratorium on marijuana manufacturing activities.

This item passed unanimously. A moratorium will go into effect.
We had several speakers on this item, all from out of town, save for one. My statement to them was if they want their own city to allow this type of activity, they should lobby their own councilmembers, not ours. They were not the most respectful bunch that's for sure. But then, they don't live here, so that came as no surprise.

Council Happenings for Dec 22nd

Below are the highlights for our Dec 22nd council meeting.

Click on the title above for full staff reports on these and other items.




1) Add new chapter to Lake Elsinore Munical Code (LEMC) Regarding Water Efficient Landscaping.

This is a text amendment mandated per state regulations. It requires us to adopt Water Efficient Landscape Guidelines.



2) Ordinance approving a First Amendment to Development Agreement between the City of Lake Elsinore and Pardee Homes.

This is to extend the term (it's about to expire) of the original Development Agreement in order to allow full development of Canyon Hills.



3) Approve Tentative Parcel Map for Pasadena Business Park

The applicant is proposing to construct five (5) concrete tilt-up buildings for industrial use. The area of construction is the NW corner of Pasadena and Central Avenue.



4) Implementation Agreement with Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) regarding Assembly Bill (AB) 811.

The state assembly signed into law AB 811 which authorizes cities and counties in California to designate areas where property owners could apply for a loan to finance energy efficiency upgrades to their home. The financing comes from the Obama administration's stimulus plan.



5) Consideration of moratorium on marijuana manufacturing activities.

The city received a business license application for the purposes of growing, drying, farming, packaging, processing, warehousing, and wholesale manufacturing of "medical" marijuana. The consideration of a moratorium (which is a temporary ban) allows us to study the issue further.

Here We Go Again

At Tuesday night's Planning Commission meeting, the decision was made to hold a public hearing to determine the fate of Trevi Entertainment's ability to retain a permit to provide night-time entertainment.

This all started around March of 2008. About 2 months after I was elected, in 2008, council made the decision to send it back to the Planning Commission to revoke the permit because of a variety of code violations, some relating to safety issues.

The Planning commission suspended the permit for 90 days, and a 6-month review of their compliance with code regulations and conditions of approval was set.

That 6-month review period was Tuesday night, and now it is set for a public hearing. At this public hearing, the Planning Commission will decide whether or not they will permanently revoke the permit.

Now if I were a betting woman, I'd say that if the Planning Commission revokes the permit, someone from the public or on the council will not be happy with the decision and it will be appealed, placing it squarely in the lap of the city council, again.

If you click on the title above, it will take you to the staff report from Tuesday night's meeting. There's just too much information to put in a blog, so if you want the full scoop, go to the staff report and click on Agenda Item #2.

I should point out that the staff report gives the city's perspective, not Trevi's.

Your comments??

So, You Say You're Just Visiting?

Federal agents arrested almost 300 illegal immigrants in California recently, almost all of whom have a criminal past. By criminal, I mean they committed a crime other than just being here illegally of course.

The operation ended this past Thursday, and almost 200 of those arrested had been already been convicted (in this country) of rape, armed robbery and other major crimes.

Here's the interesting part, only 6, count em' 6, of those arrested did NOT have a prior conviction. The rest were all apparently "familiar" with the system.

Now I know this will shock and surprise you, but groups that advocate illegal immigration, (like our friend Ricardo Dominguez, an associate professor at UC San Diego, who came up with the GPS app for cell phones to help with border crossing) are enraged at these arrests. Their beef? There were some people (illegally here) arrested who didn't have a criminal record.

So they entered illegally, but because they didn't rape, murder or knock off a liquor store while they were here, they shouldn't be arrested?

By that line of thinking, I guess I can steal cars, and as long as I don't crash and kill someone, then I really haven't done anything wrong, have I?

What the Heck Happened Here?

Here's the rundown of last night's meeting everyone.

The reduction of TUMF fees

We decided to reduce them, but not by 50%. The majority of the council was not comfortable with this high of a decrease. There was some "spirited" discussion about the topic to be sure.
We did ask that they rework the proposal and bring it back when they're done.

The Grading Ordinance

This was unanimously approved, with some additional language added relating to prohibition of mining and processing material onsite for commercial purposes. This does not apply to permitted mines already established, this is strictly for residential and commercial developments. No spirited debate on this one as everyone recognized the value in protecting the city's best interests.

Reorganization of the Council

RDA Chairman - Bob Magee
RDA Vice-Chair - Tom Buckley
Public Finance Authority - Daryl Hickman
Mayor Pro Tem - Amy Bhutta

And I am proud to announce that I was appointed as the new Mayor.

I am looking forward to your ideas, suggestions and comments this next year, as always!

December 8th Council Happenings

So here is what's happening on Tuesday, December 8th. Hope to see you there!


1) Resolution to establish a revised fee schedule under the Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) program

This relates to lowering project fees for TUMF for a one year period. The intended result is to stimulate development. As an example, the council could lower fees for single-family residential units from $9,812 to $8,873, or it could be lowered 50%, which would take it from $9,812 down to $4,437.



2) Ordinance amending Chapter 15.72 of the Lake Elsinore Municipal Code (LEMC) relating to grading.

This one came before us at the last meeting and relates to rules and regulations with respect to grading operations. It is designed to protect the interest of the city, such as requiring reimbursement for road damage during development. It also addresses what can and cannot take place during grading, such as prohibiting commercial quarry operations during grading.




3) Reorganization of City Council

Each year in December, the council appoints a new mayor, mayor pro tem, RDA chairperson, RDA vice-chairperson, Public Finance Authority chair and vice-chair.

Which Way To The Border?

Here's one you may not have seen...there's a new cell phone app that has been developed to help with illegal border crossing. Handy huh?

Ricardo Dominguez, an associate professor at UC San Diego, led a team of people to create this little number. He says all one has to do is download the app onto an inexpensive web capable phone and presto, you're on your way to the good old U.S. of A. in no time.

He says he did it because too many people die trying to cross into this country, seems getting lost is a problem when travelling into foreign lands. So he's doing his civic responsibility to help America by guiding illegal immigrants into our country via a cell phone application.

I'm sure this type of power will only be used for good and not evil. I'm sure no drug cartels will be able to get this technology and use it to their advantage. I'm just sure of it.

Wonder if the study of how to create the technology was taxpayer funded courtesty of UC San Diego?