Santa Paula Blog

The Santa Paula Downtown Merchants Association and the City of Santa
Paula will be hosting our Third Annual Christmas Cookie Contest on
Saturday, December 10, 2005. Contestants should bring one dozen cookies
to the Oddfellows Hall, Main and Davis Streets, between 2:00 PM and 3:00
PM. The cookies will be judged by a blue ribbon panel of experts at
3:30 PM. Contestants need not be present to win. First prize is a $100
grocery store gift certificate. Gift certificates also for second and
third prize. For further information, please contact the City of Santa
Paula at 525-2873.

Also on December 10, the City will be celebrating the 100th Anniversary
of the historic Oddfellows Building and its signature clock tower. The
building was dedicated on December 13, 1905 and was the first major
building constructed in Santa Paula after the 1903 fire which destroyed
much of downtown. The clock tower was constructed after donations were
made by community residents at the time. The building and tower remain
today one of Ventura County's most recognizable landmarks.

This post marks the 209th posting to Santa Paula Blog since its start one year ago this week. I hope the blog is informative. 5% of all page views for the City of Santa Paula website (23,000 total) since January 1 have been to the blog. It is the number one destination of our website (followed by the "Santa Paula for Vinick" site and our employment opportunities pages). Thanks for your interest.

Today's Los Angeles Times has a good article updating efforts to permanently repair the runway at Santa Paula Airport.

Adelphia Cable taped today's outstanding 56th Annual Santa Paula Christmas Parade. The parade will be played back on Channel 12 tomorrow (Sunday) evening at 5:00 PM, Saturday December 3 at 5:00 PM and Monday, December 5 at 5:00 PM. Additional playbacks will be announced later.

4:45 PM: This afternoon we went to Radio City Music Hall to see their annual Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes, a 28 member women dance troupe.

The presentation was something. Complete with ice skaters, camels and lots of Santas. We both particularly marveled at how the orchestra moved together on a platform from the orchestra pit to the stage and back.

After show, we encountered a bit of rain and difficulty finding tea AND a place to sit. Tea was procurred at a Starbucks; seats at Jamba Juice across the street.

Dinner is in SoHo at 5:45 PM.

11:00 AM: We arrived in New York right on time at 8:45 AM and headed right to the parade. We ended up watching the parade at 72nd and Central Park West. We were advised to stand on east side of CPW but we couldn't cross the street. Had a pretty good view. Patrice is not much for crowds, but she perked up when I realized we were across the street from the Dakota. The Dakota is a famed apartment building in the City with much architectural signifgance. It is also the place where John Lennon was shot and killed.

We are now having a little breakfast. The weather is in the 40's and dry.

PS..... (Saturday): Found a photo I took of the M&M balloon before it met with its problems further down the parade route.

7:32 AM: I am on train from Philadelphia to New York for Thanksgiving festivities. I will try and send updates throughout day from my Treo. I have been visiting my girfriend Patrice here since late Tuesday. Weather called for snow overnight, but nothing fell in Philly. It is about 35 degrees.

The train left right on time at 7:18 AM. We are do in at 8:45 AM. First stop is Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Friends who work at Syracuse's New York center, Lubin House, have suggested where best to see the parade.

Web access on the Treo is remarkable considering the fast clip we are going on the train.

More later......

The Santa Paula Planning Commission approved the Fagan Canyon project
tonight in a series of votes. The Commission approved the Final
Environmental Impact Report adding a condition for access to the project
via Foothill Road. The Commission approved a General Plan amendment
allowing for 2,165 housing units in the entire Canyon (2,155 for the
Centex Homes project and 10 units for "Upper Fagan" or also known as
"Phase II"). The number of housing units for Centex equals their
original project request. This vote was 3-1 (Summer, Nasalroad and
Turturro approving, Matos dissenting). Commission also approved all
other necessary actions to move the project to the City Council.

The City Council will begin its final hearings on the project on
Tuesday, December 6, 2005.

Santa Paula's 56th annual Christmas Parade is this Saturday, 10 AM on
Main Street. This is the oldest celebration of the holiday season in
Ventura County.

The parade has bands, animals and lots of small marching units.
Congressman Elton Gallegly is the grand marshal this year.

Santa Paula Engine 82 under the command of Captain Dustin Lazenby with Reserve Firefighter/EMTs Tim Harris and Adam Kilian was sent by a mutual aid request early this morning to the School Canyon Fire near Ventura Avenue and will be committed to that incident until further notice.

Acting Assistant Chief Fildes backfilled Engine 82 by staffing Engine 181 with a crew, to maintain two engines (with Engine 81) in the City.

In addition, due to the current extreme local weather conditions as well as the potential serious threat of the School Canyon Fire to the City of Ventura, I have just now instructed our personnel to staff our remaining Engine 182, so we will have three on-duty engine companies on duty here by 0800. However, the Fire Chief has authorized one of those three engines to be dispatched to the School Canyon Fire if needed for structure protection in the City of Ventura.

The City Council approved $475,000 is budget amendments to the current
year City budget last night. These changes were to address current
critical staffing and resource issues. Included in these changes were:

* Hiring two new positions in the Public Works Department and
reclassification of two positions in response to recent management audit
of the department.

* Hiring four new positions in the Building and Safety as well as
Planning Departments to better serve the public. These changes were
recommended in a recent study of the City's development services
operations.

* Allocation of $88,000 to assign a Fire Department Captain to
emergency preparedness activities full-time for one year as well as
funding for emergency supplies and the purchase of an emergency
broadcast AM radio station for Santa Paula.

The hearing schedule shook out tonight:

Monday, November 21, 5:15 PM, Community Center: Planning Commission Hearing and Deliberations. Public Comment will begin at 5:15 PM. Meeting(s) will be televised live on Channel 10.

Tuesday, November 22, Time TBD, Community Center: Planning Commission Hearing conclusion (if needed).

Tuesday, December 6, 5:30 PM, Community Center: City Council Hearings and Deliberations. Public Comment will be limited to 90 minutes and will be at or near beginning of meeting.

Wednesday, December 7, Time TBD, Community Center: City Council Hearing conclusion (if needed).

The Pacific Coast Business Times wrote an excellent article in their November 4 issue about coming plans for increased activity along the Highway 126 railroad corridor. This is an issue we will be hearing lots more about. It will have a tremendous impact on the Santa Clara Valley. Kudos to Henry Dubroff and his staff for picking up on this important story which has largely been missed by other local media.

The joint City Council/Planning Commission hearings on the proposed Fagan Canyon project ended this evening and the Planning Commission began their own final hearing on the project. The Commission continued their hearing until Monday, November 21 at 5:15 PM at the Community Center when they will take public comment and begin their deliberations. The Commission plans to take final action on the project on the 21st or continue the hearing until the 22nd.

This means that the City Council will not begin their final hearing on the project until Monday, December 5 at the earliest. The City Council must take action on the project at a regular meeting (first or third Monday of the month). The City Council's annual reorganization meeting is scheduled for the 5th. They may choose to continue the meeting of the 5th until the 6th to take up the Fagan Canyon project and allow the 5th to remain only a meeting where a new Mayor and Vice Mayor is elected.

The City Council may finalize these arrangements at their meeting on Tuesday night (November 15). The Council will also now not meet at all on November 21st.

We will keep you posted.

The Santa Paula City Council will be having a special joint meeting with
the Planning Commission this evening at 5 PM to continue and perhaps
conclude their deliberations on Fagan Canyon. The Planning Commission
still has their regular meeting scheduled for tonight as well. If the
joint discussions conclude, the Planning Commission may decide to hold
their meeting tonight and consider the Fagan Canyon project. The City
Council is still planning on taking final action on the project next
Monday, November 21,

The Council is also having a meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 PM. The big
item on this agenda is a major review of budget issues for the current
fiscal year. I am recommending a $474,000 decrease of our reserves to
invest in a variety of needed items as well as the hiring of four new
positions in our Public Works, Planning and Building and Safety
Departments.

Here is the latest:

Meeting of Wednesday, November 9:
Wednesday 11/16, 6:00 PM

Meeting of Monday, November 14:
Monday 11/14, 5:00 PM LIVE
Thursday 11/17, 6:00 PM
Sunday 11/20, 1:00 PM

Meeting of Tuesday, November 15
Tuesday 11/15, 6:30 PM LIVE
Sunday 11/20, Following 11/14 Meeting Replay
Wednesday, 11/23, 6:00 PM

I normally don't mix other issues onto the blog, but this one has a Santa Paula connection. This weekend I was at Syracuse University in upstate New York for Homecoming. I am VP of the National Alumni Board in my spare time (I have my Master's degree from SU). The photo is of fans gathering in front of Hendricks Chapel on campus for a pre-game pep rally. I had a chance to visit with one of Santa Paula's "Favorite Daughters" Cindy Cunningham. Cindy was a standout Santa Paula High School student who went on to great local fame working locally for then State Senator Jack O'Connell. She moved to Sacramento in 2003 when O'Connell was elected Supt. of Public Instruction. Since July, Cindy has been at Syracuse in their Masters in Public Administration program. When I saw her Saturday before the football game, she was hard at work on an assignment dealing with the balance sheet of the fictional "City of Orange." Cindy is one of Santa Paula's greatest exports and seems to be enjoying the program. Her plan is to head back to Sacramento next Summer upon completion of the program to rejoin O'Connell's staff. Seeing Cindy was a highlight of a weekend where the Syracuse Orange football team lost to the University of South Florida 27-0. SU is on its way to its worst football season in 100 years. Yikes!!

Well, the Mayor ended up on CNN Headline News' "Showbiz Tonight" this afternoon. Here is a transcript from the CNN website.

A.J. HAMMER: Santa Paula, California, has declared itself the official hometown of Republican Senator Arnold Vinick, which is Alan Alda`s character on "The West Wing," you`re seeing here.The town has launched a "Vinick for President" campaign, and it wants its favorite son to stump at home. Live tonight in Santa Paula, California, for a "SHOWBIZ Newsmaker" interview, the mayor of Santa Paula, Mary Ann Krause. Thanks for being with us, Mayor. MARY ANN KRAUSE, MAYOR, SANTA PAULA: Thank you. It`s my pleasure, A.J. HAMMER: So Santa Paula has declared Alan Alda`s character as an official resident. You`ve got this campaign headquarters that you`ve unveiled at the train depot. As I can see behind you, you`ve got signs up all over town, people wearing buttons and T-shirts. You do realize this is a TV show, don`t you? KRAUSE: Well, we do, but you know, we take our television pretty seriously, especially our politics. HAMMER: Well, this is a fun, fun story. I love this. When Senator Vinick`s character was first introduced last season on the "West Wing," he simply said he was from a Southern California citrus- growing community. That happens to be what your town is. But "The West Wing" didn`t mention a specific town. And now if you go to the NBC web site you see his bio, Vinick`s bio actually claims Santa Paula as his home. I believe you had something to do with that, didn`t you? KRAUSE: Well, yes. When Senator Vinick announced that he was from a small citrus growing region, the city manager and I decided that we needed to lobby NBC and make sure that he declared Santa Paula as his home. Because after all, we are the citrus capital of the world. HAMMER: And you pulled it off, and last Sunday night, as you well know, NBC aired this live debate between the two "West Wing" presidential hopefuls. You guys had a big party and bake sale during that event. What other kinds of things are going on around town these days? KRAUSE: Well, back in April, we actually opened this campaign headquarters with a big event and had a lot of fun with that. We had obviously the event last week, which attracted a number of local residents and a lot of attention by the newspapers. We have some other things planned, as the event -- the campaign goes forward. We`ll probably have another event on the night of the election, which I believe is to be in March toward the end of the "West Wing" season. HAMMER: And I`m sure you`re hoping Alan Alda`s character will win this race, this fictitious race. Now, aside from reaching out to NBC, you specifically reached out to Alan Alda, I understand? KRAUSE: Well, we have -- we haven`t heard back from him yet, but we do think that, considering the love that`s shown by this community, that he probably will come for a visit. Our current campaign is to get NBC to mention Santa Paula on the air, and then hopefully to actually come and do some filming here. HAMMER: Well, we wish you...KRAUSE: We do often have filming. And we think they`ll do it.HAMMER: We do wish you the best of luck, and hopefully Alan Alda will show up in your town. And among other things it looks like you`re just having a lot of fun. Mayor Mary Ann Krause, live in Santa Paula.KRAUSE: We are. HAMMER: Thanks very much for joining us on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT. KRAUSE: Thank you. (Photo Courtesy of the Santa Paula Times)

Santa Paula Mayor Mary Ann Krause will be interviewed live on CNN at
approximately 4:00 PM today. A CNN crew will be here in Santa Paula to
telecast the interview on Santa Paula's efforts to get Senator Arnold
Vinick elected President of the United States on "The West Wing." FYI.

The joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission tonight
was continued to Monday, November 14 at 5 PM at the Community Center.
Both bodies continue to consider the Fagan Canyon project and decided
that they needed more time to discuss the project together in joint
session before final consideration of the project by them separately.

1. Approved Sparkuhl Ranch project with one less parcel (19) than requested.

2. Denied appeal of Planning Commission decision for lot split at 481 N. Sixth Street

3. Introduced ordinance raising City's Development Impact Fees

4. Awarded contract for construction design of new Water Recycling Facility.

Santa Paula Fire Department will be joining other Southern California departments in lowering the station flag to half-mast to honor Firefighter Eduardo Teran of the Riverside Fire Department, who died on November 5, 2005 while engaged in firefighting activities. 

1. Award of $2.6 million design contract for new water recycling
facility. This is an important next step for construction of this
important facility.
2. Adoption of new City water and wastewater master plans. This
item is the end of a nearly two year effort to better establish
specifics for our capital improvement program for water and sewer
infrastructure.
3. Consideration of 20 residential unit project - Sparkuhl Ranch
4. Appeal of Decision of Planning Commission on Lot Split - 481 N.
Sixth Street
5. Consideration of changes to City's Development Impact Fee
ordinances

The City of Santa Paula will be closed Thursday and Friday, November 10
and 11. City offices will be closed Thursday for our regular "every
other Friday" closure. City offices will be closed Friday in observance
of the Veteran's Day holiday. Police and Fire services will be open as
normal.

About 50 Santa Paulans came out for the Vinick Debate Party last night. Almost $2,000 was raised for equipment for Santa Paula Hospital. We will be sending this picture to our friends at "The West Wing."

The Santa Paula City Council met tonight with the Santa Paula Elementary and High School District Boards and passed a resolution committing to joint master planning of eighty acres of property on the east end of Santa Paula for community recreation and education uses. The resolution also invites the Ventura County Community College District to join in the effort using their $25 million of Measure "S" bond funds to construct their planned Santa Paula Center. I took this picture of all three Boards together because their was no press photographer present to record this historic occasion. Too bad that the residents of Santa Paula who missed the meeting on television (or who don't see the blog) did not see this rare joint meeting of Santa Paula leaders doing what leaders should do....lead.

Here is the text of the press release to be issued later this afternoon
regarding our new Police Chief Steve MacKinnon. He is a great guy and
Santa Paula is lucky to get him:

STEPHEN MacKINNON APPOINTED SANTA PAULA CHIEF OF POLICE

Stephen MacKinnon has been appointed Chief of Police of the City of
Santa Paula, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz announced today. MacKinnon,
a twenty-six year law enforcement veteran, will begin his duties
November 16, 2005.

"Steve MacKinnon brings to Santa Paula a passion for working with
communities and a high standard for ethics and integrity in law
enforcement. Steve is an innovator who has a track record of searching
for new and creative ways to deliver the best police services possible.
He is one of those people who search out the best way to address issues,
not just the easiest way. Steve will be an asset to Santa Paula and
will provide excellent leadership as he joins an outstanding team of
police officers serving our community," Bobkiewicz said. A priority for
the new Chief will be the continued implementation of a management audit
conducted of the Police Department early last year.

MacKinnon, 50, has served as Chief of Police in Avondale, Arizona;
Salem, New Hampshire; and Exeter, New Hampshire. For the last eighteen
months, MacKinnon has served with the United Nations International
Policing Task Force in Kosovo and Haiti. MacKinnon has a Master's
Degree in Public Administration from City University, a Bachelor of
Science Degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University and is a
graduate of the National FBI Academy.

Bobkiewicz conducted a national search for Police Chief. The final four
candidates were interviewed in late September by a three-panel
assessment team made up of Santa Paula Police Department employees,
members of the Santa Paula community, and Chiefs of Police from
surrounding communities. These panels made recommendations to
Bobkiewicz on the candidates before he made his appointment of
MacKinnon.

MacKinnon's salary will be $100,112 per year.