Lighten Up

I’ve had some feedback from posters to this blog who say I’m getting too negative. As a result, I looked back through my postings and Whoa, their right, I’ve been letting this recall nonsense affect my attitude. This is a bad thing. Murrieta old town does look great, but there is still a long way to go to cleanup this town. I will be helping with the clean-up on April 9, but from now on I will only be posting stuff sans opinion. I will, however, post topics to begin dialog strings, and if there is some subject that you would like to see discussed here, I’m open to suggestions.

I saw a sign...

The election day is looming and apparently it is time for the block boys (or those who appreciate them)to start turning up the anti-recall heat. The signs I have seen are very patriotic looking with their red, white and blue color scheme, but I was surprised to learn that "cops and firefighters" oppose the recall. Seyarto is a firefighter, but who is this cop they are talking about?

Old Towners to clean up their act

The old town area along Washington in Murrieta is looking much better these days. Traffic is again flowing in two directions (intermittently) and some of the landscaping has been installed. As the dust finally begins to settle, I wonder if it was worth it. The old town project cost taxpayers $4.5 million, and for this princely sum, Murrieta got some sidewalks, some lamp posts, much congestion and wasted time, major potholes in surrounding streets, and corresponding damage to the vehicles falling into them. All this and it only cost 4.5 million, what a bargain. To ease the congestion that his tax clients must endure, Vanhaaster thinks it might be a good idea to hire sign dancers to direct traffic around the still delayed construction. This might help, but then the mildly effective Juan Murrieta signs would be out of a job.
When asked about the light posts in old town and an explanation of why they weren’t aligned, Jack reportedly mentioned something about buried utility lines. I can live with that excuse, but I notice that old town nights are darker than they used to be; why aren’t the new lights working?
Now that the project is finishing up, is the city going to do the same thing to Ivy? It would be nice to know so I can put up a "for sale" sign now and avoid the rush. Early next month, the city of Murrieta is sponsoring a citizen clean-up of old town. This is to give the people likely to experience loss of their old town property to the Murrieta RDA a chance to clean up their act. Large items will be taken away at city expense. The clean up will take place from 7:30 until 12:30. Old towners would do well to take heed of this and be there, at 7:30 a.m. in front of the Mill (restaurant) on the ninth.
The old town clean-up drive is another instance where Mayor Vanhaaster, while mired in a dung heap of allegations of corrupt politics, comes out smelling like a rose. He actually managed to get his arch enemies in Rescue Murrieta to participate in a clean up of his own backyard, for free. Again, what a deal. Hats off, Jack.

The Brown Act

I'm a big fan of the first amendment. This link will take you to a site where the Brown Act is explained more fully.

Old Town Clean-up

on APRIL 9, at 7:30 am at THE OLD MILL RESTAURANT in OLD TOWN

Cathy Forkey and Barbara Nugent have been working with City staff on the Old Town clean-up. It is in the Redevelopment Area and there is a lot to do.  Many older residents in the area, lots of abandoned cars, overgrown properties, etc.   It is going to be a worthwhile project - and we need to make a showing.  Prove that we are not a one-area group, but citizens coming together from all parts of the city to help make it a better place.   Please make it a family affair and join us on April 9, at 7:30 am at The Mill restaurant in Old Town.  This is a good time for students to do thier community services, it only involves 3-1/3 hours of thier time.

Here are more details:

"Meet at the Mill Restaurant at Washington/Kalmia in the parking lot area at 7:30 a.m. for registration. At 8:00 a.m. the Mayor will be speaking and talking on the celebration of rebuilding downtown etc., 8:30 a.m. workers will be breaking up into groups and heading out. At approx. 12:00 pm the clean-up will end. At 2:00 pm, for those interested, the City will have an information fair and volunteer barbeque at the fire station. Each person/family is asked to bring with them an ice chest, shovel, rake, wheel barrow, garden gloves or whatever they can bring with them. (Gasoline weed whackers would be great).  Everyone needs to check in and register to sign a form to be covered under the City of Murrieta's insurance." Thanks for volunteering: We hope to see many families attend and participate in this community event.

Please pass on this message to anyone you think may be able to help.

Barbara & Cathy

GPAC Meeting

The General Plan Advisory Committee meeting is planned for the 14th of March at 6:00 p.m. at city hall. Some items that will be discussed will be the Bear Creek airport property, Gary Thomasian has requested a review of the city council’s decision to rezone from ER-2 to commercial.

Next in line...

Unfortunately, due to health reasons, Mr. Jon Sparks has withdrawn from the race for Doug McAllister’s council seat. Dr. “Doc” Larry N. Francis has stepped up to the Rescue Murrieta plate and will run the RM ticket instead. Dr. Francis was narrowly beaten by Sparks for the original endorsement.