It will be your turn to quiz local leaders about taxes, water, education and other issues at this year’s 10th Annual “An Evening with Your Elected Representatives” in Alpine. The Alpine & Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, is presenting the event on Thursday, Oct. 23. It will be at the Viejas DreamCatcher Lounge at 5000 Willows Road. Cocktails and dinner will be followed by information from the elected representatives.
Invited guests include Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger; U.S. senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer; Congressman Duncan Hunter; State Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth; State Assemblyman Joel Anderson; State Board of Equalization member Michelle Steel; San Diego County Supervisor Dianne Jacob; county Sheriff Bill Kolender; county District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis; county Tax Collector Dan McAllister; county Clerk/Assessor/Recorder Gregory Smith; county Board of Education President Robert Watkins; President Bill Garrett of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Governing Board; President Larry Urdahl of the Grossmont Union High School District Board; President James Stieringer of the Grossmont Healthcare District; President Ann Pierce of the Alpine Union School District Board; President Martin Marugg of the Alpine Fire Protection District; President Mark Price of the Alpine Planning Group, and Director August Caires of the Padre Dam Municipal Water District. More details about this year’s event will be available soon.
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It’s time to “file” your intention to serve as Honorary Mayor of Alpine!
The chance to be Alpine’s community ambassador through the Alpine & Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce comes cheap ---- a dollar a vote.
People can vote as often and as much as they wish. All proceeds from dollar votes to the candidates’ campaigns will be used to help Alpine youth and schools through the Chamber’s Education Committee.
“It’s been a great opportunity to meet other business leaders and community leaders here in Alpine,” said current Honorary Mayor Al Guerra, owner of The Liars’ Club Tavern & Grill in Alpine. “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the community.”
Any adult who lives or works in Alpine can apply. The candidate with the most dollar votes turned in to the Alpine Chamber Community Foundation by 5 p.m. on Nov. 28 wins.
Past characteristics of honorary mayors have included being professional, cooperative, eager and outgoing.
“We always feature the candidates at the ALPS (Alpine Leadership and Public Service) Awards, so they really should get their applications in by Sept. 5,” said Patricia Cannon, the Chamber’s president and CEO.
This year’s winner will be announced on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at the Chamber’s holiday Hot Topics Networking Business Breakfast at the Viejas DreamCatcher Lounge at 5000 Willows Rd.
The Honorary Mayor’s Inaugural event, the annual Essay Contest Winners Dinner, and the Annual Luau at the Ranch and Great Duck Race, all sponsored by the Chamber and its businesses, have provided more than $50,000 for Alpine schools to cover classroom needs not met under current budgets.
Proceeds from those events are distributed through the Alpine Chamber Community Foundation, Inc., a 501(c) (3) California corporation.
Honorary mayors attend and help with the fund raisers, as well as appearing at ribbon cuttings and other Chamber events, parades, and the annual presentation of the Chamber Education Committee check to the Alpine Union School District Board of Education.
Applications for honorary mayor will be available in the newsletter, at the Chamber office at 2707 Alpine Blvd., and is downloadable here.
Kill and the other panelists ---- Ryan DePrizio of DePrizio Development, Inc.; Laurie Hallihan, State Farm Insurance; Greg Fox, Prudential California Realty; Barbara Tackett, Keller Williams Realty; Roger Garay, On Line Bookkeeping & Tax Service, Inc.; Lori Roberts, Ticor Title, and Chris Wiley of Primary Residential Mortgage, Inc. ---- shared their tips, clues and personal advice for staying solvent and even getting ahead in the changing real estate situation.
The panel represents the variety and depth of regional expertise and experience available through the ACRES, a group of local professionals who bring added value to buyers and sellers, according to the report.
“Our goal is to let people know about these professionals,” who know this area, its unique characteristics and the many different aspects of it, Kill said.
The audience included area residents and business people, real estate agents, ACRES members and others who wanted to know the best way to buy and sell homes and how to keep homes in the current market.
Out of 151 available homes in the Alpine and Mountain Empire at the moment, Fox said, 28 are in short sales or foreclosures.
“There’s always a flip side to the coin,” because declining sales present wonderful opportunities for real estate investors and first-time buyers, Tackett said. “The flip side is that buyers have the power.”
Often during the meeting people leaned forward in their seats to be sure they heard every tip, clue and personal piece of advice from the pros.
The importance of clean paperwork and titles, the latest tax law and insurance, and rebuilding issues in firestorm and national forest country were also discussed as panelists answered questions.
Wiley said that in his opinion the federal government will continue to push to keep interest rates down.
“The market has changed significantly” as far as financing, Wiley said. “You have to have a job. You have to have a down payment. You have to have responsible credit.”
And credit scores and updated appraisals also count, he added.
The upside of using local agents and business representatives who are willing to work with buyers and sellers to get the smoothest and best real estate transactions became apparent.
“The difference is that we will do everything we can to keep things in check for you,” Fox said.
Businessman Tom Miller, another audience member, said as he left that he thought it was a good initial meeting, and that the quarterly meetings should be continued.
“I think they had the right people there, a lot of good people,” Miller said.
It’s time to nominate those organizations, businesses and individuals for this year’s Alpine Leadership and Public Service (ALPS) Awards. The premiere event and dinner, sponsored by the Alpine & Mountain Empire Chamber of Commerce and the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, will be held on Thursday, Sept. 11, at the Viejas DreamCatcher Lounge.
“We’re looking for outstanding leadership and outstanding organizations,” said Patricia Cannon, the Chamber’s president and CEO. The nomination categories include Business of the Year, Citizen of the Year, Organization of the Year, Humanitarian of the Year, and Beautification and Special Recognition awards. Last year’s Business of the Year honor went to the Alpine Animal Jungle, for its great animal rescue service and knowledgeable ownership under Evan and Linda Dee Ames.
“The fact that we were a new business and got the award was most flattering,” Linda Dee Ames recalled. “We got lots of congratulations from our regular customers, and I suspect we saw some new faces.” In addition to the overall awards, the Alpine Community Organizations will hand out special honors at the formal gala event. The Chamber will also recognize those who have achieved excellence with its awards, as well as install Chamber directors for the upcoming year.
Nominations should be in by Sept. 5. Winners are selected by the most number of ballots received. Ballots will be available at the Chamber office at 2707 Alpine Blvd., in the Chamber newsletter or download here. The cost for the event, including dinner, is $55. Call the Chamber office at (619) 445-2722 to make reservations
Many businesses and residents could be paying more for less water within a year in San Diego County because of a state-wide drought. Although area water districts are urging the state to improve water storage infrastructure as quickly as possible to try to maintain water needs for Southern California, it could be almost a decade before things start to improve, according to local authorities. They said it could take two to eight years to reach the current level of available water if the drought breaks and the state decides to make water storage improvements. However, there are no signs of relief from either possibility soon. “It’s a possible three to five-year situation,” said Mike Uhrhammer, communications director for the Padre Dam Municipal Water District. “Nobody knows just yet.”Traditional theory has been that there will be at least one good water year out of every five, “but with climate change nobody knows if that’s really going to happen any more,” Uhrhammer said.
The problem this year, spokespeople for area municipal water districts said, is getting people to believe that the current water conservation alert isn’t just the annual “save water” warning since the drought in the early 1990s. “I think people are starting to get the word,” said Jeanne Swaringen, administrative supervisor, conservation coordinator and treasurer of the Lakeside Water District. “We’re starting to get calls.” What makes this year different for Southern California, officials said, are:
President Allan Zaremberg of the California Chamber of Commerce has concurred with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that an immediate solution is needed for the state’s water infrastructure needs. “The water system that contributed to California’s emergence as one of the world’s major economic powers is faltering and water deliveries are in jeopardy,” Zaremberg said in a statewide Chamber alert.
The Padre Dam, Lakeside and Helix water districts are among 24 members of the San Diego County Water Authority, which sells water to the districts. Padre Dam gets its entire water supply from the agency. John Liarakos, spokesman for the county Water Authority, said about 40 percent of the water for this county’s urban areas comes from Northern California and the rest from the Colorado River, “which is also not in very good shape.” “We cover roughly 95 percent of the populated area of the county,” said Liarakos. “In San Diego County, we’re looking at a reduction in water deliveries sometime early next year if things go the way they are.” Liarakos said the state needs to do three things:
“The economical and environmental issues with the delta are huge,” Liarakos said. “We have to find a balance.” An attempt last year in the state legislature to solve the problem of growing demand for less water failed. Republicans wouldn’t support plans that didn’t include funding for new reservoirs and more water storage. On June 13 of this year, Assemblyman Joel Anderson of East County’s District 77 reaffirmed his commitment to “building more water storage as part of a comprehensive solution.” “California has spent billions of dollars on studies, bureaucracy and environmental projects with very little to show for our investment, and today we’re paying the price for ignoring the critical need to build more water storage,” said Anderson, a past president of the Padre Dam board.
To try to deal with the increasing water concerns, general managers of the 24 water districts of the County Water Authority have been meeting for a year to work out a consistent water conservation plan for all the districts. The districts are in the process of adopting the ordinance, Uhrhammer said. The four-stage plan, which started last year:
“If the drought continues, possibly next time this year we may not be issuing new (water) meters, which would stop growth,” Swaringen said about the Lakeside district’s concerns. “We hope it won’t come to that.” As it is, she said, the 6,800 customers in the Lakeside district are looking at a water rate increase in January. The amount of the rate increase is still being worked out. The Padre Dam District has about 97,000 customers from Santee to the east end of Alpine. Uhrhammer said with no rate increases since 2002, last August the Padre Dam board approved a five-year business plan and budget that includes annual 6 percent water and sewer rate increases and a cap on spending through 2012. “The 6 percent does not include pass-through increases from Metropolitan Water District and the San Diego County Water Authority, because we don’t know what their impact on our rates will be,” Uhrhammer said. The 250,000 customers of the Helix Water District in La Mesa, El Cajon, Lakeside, Lemon Grove and Spring Valley, saw an 8.5 percent rate increase that started July 1 for the next fiscal year, said spokesman Jeff Barnes. He said that’s about an $8.40 increase for the average single family home when the bill comes once every two months.
The Helix district, like most local urban water districts, is encouraging customers to save water in order to offset price increases. The districts also continue to offer incentives toward water conservation programs, such as high-efficiency sprinkling nozzles and low-flush toilets, and commercial water rebates for artificial turf and other water conservation items. Sea water desalination (removing the salt) also is being explored by the county Water Authority agencies, Liarakos said. He said a public-private partnership between the City of Carlsbad and Connecticut-based Poseidon, Inc., may produce a desalination plant in that coastal community by 2012. The plant could produce 50 million gallons of high-quality drinking water a day, enough to serve about 112,000 average families of four for a year, said Liarakos. “Several member agencies have contracted with Poseidon for that water,” the Water Authority spokesman said. “It offsets the amount of water we would have to find elsewhere.” Liarakos said feasibility studies are also under way for possible desalination plants in the Camp Pendleton and South Bay areas of the county. With the environmental impact on sea life and the coast to be considered, it could be 10 to 15 years before an operational plant is ready in those areas, he said. A target date of 2020 has been set for seawater desalination to provide about 10 percent of the county’s water supply, according to Liarakos. However, he stressed that there is “no single fix” for the county’s water problems. It will take ground water, imported water, recycled waste water and conservation as well as desalination to help resolve the issue, said Liarakos.
Out in rural far East County, wells are the most common water source.
The Jacumba Community Services water district operates wells to fill the needs of 234 service connections, said general manager Tom Lindenmeyer.
“We don’t have plans for any (water) restrictions this year, but it’s still too early to tell,” Lindenmeyer said. “By late summer we might ask for voluntary water conservation.”
He said the company is drilling a couple of new wells for the community, but no rate increases have been sought.
While the county Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District lobby the legislature for water infrastructure improvements, some East County businesses such as Bob Bailey’s Alpine Air are checking out their options while conserving water.
“We are considering everything down the road,” said Susie Bailey. “We may call a well company to test our (unused) well and see how deep it is. We can at least use it for gray (nondrinking) water, if nothing else.”
At the Campo Materials Company in Campo, quality control manager Anthony Scira said wells and pond water are used for mining and washing sand. So far water isn’t a problem, Scira said.
In Boulevard, the owner of Steam Doctor Carpet Cleaning said gasoline price hikes are his major concern, not water. Wes Blanchard said his carpet cleaning equipment operates off the available water at customers’ homes.
“The equipment doesn’t really take a lot of water,” Blanchard noted.
Shannon Dierkop, manager of Frank’s Well Drilling Co. in Guatay in the mountains, said the business hasn’t seen a significant problem with the area’s water table.
However, with municipal water districts talking about mandatory cutbacks some people in Alpine and nearby areas have been inquiring about wells for landscaping use, Dierkop said.
“As soon as (mandatory reductions) happen, we’ll probably get pretty buried (in requests for wells),” he said. n