Pacific Progressive

Call Vector Control and Tell Them No Private Pest Control Companies

 The Orange County Vector Control District (OCVCD) helps to control little critters who carry diseases.  (These animals are called "disease vectors" because they move the disease around, hence the name.)  If you have a problem with a dead bird and there is West Nile Virus in the area, you call Vector Control.  Same thing for a neighbor who won't take care of their pool which is now a mosquito farm - call Vector Control and they will work with the neighbor so you don't have to.

A plan is being considered to privatize rat control services. Currently, if you see rats around, Vector Control will come out and give you (for free!) traps and bait and show you how to properly use them. They will also help you find the openings the rodents are using to get into your house and show you how to close them off.

These services are paid by an assessment of about $6.98 per year per residence in the County.  Taxpayers are able to get a lot for their $6.98.

Now, some members of the Vector Control board want to let private extermination companies (Terminix, Orkin, Truly Nolen are some common names) provide the rat control services. The plan is to send the companies out on calls to homes to provide the rat control services to the home owners.  Then, the pest control company can then sell the homeowner services to control pests on the inside of the home.

Smell a rat?  Does turning Vector Control into a marketing company for private pest control companies sound like a bad deal to you?  Call and write your representative on the Vector Control District. Each of the 34 incorporated cities has a representative. If you live in the unincorporated areas, your rep is Supervisor John Moorlach.

The representatives for each area are listed.  If you have a relationship with them, please use that to tell them "No to Private Pest Control Companies."  You can also call, fax and write them at the Vector Control Board.  Sending faxes works very well because it creates a paper trail of who objects and carries more weight than an email.

Orange County Vector Control District (OCVCD), 13001 Garden Grove Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92843

Phone 714-971-2421 949-654-2421  Fax 714-971-3940

Aliso Viejo - Mayor Phillip B. Tsunoda 

Fire Departments Have Open Houses This Weekend

National Fire Prevention Week is during October 5 thru October 10.  Visit a firehouse near you during this weekend during an Open House. These events are always a favorite with the kids because they get to meet firefighters, see the firetrucks close up, and learn what an important job firefighting is.  The firefighters also teach families and business owners how to protect themselves and their loved ones in the case of emergency.

All events are on Saturday, October 10, 2009 unless noted.

Aliso Viejo OCFA Station #57, 57 Journey from 9 AM to 2 PM.

Anaheim from 10 AM to 2 PM at:

Euclid Fire Station #6 - 1330 S Euclid

Stadium Fire Station #7 - 2222 E Ball Rd

Weir Canyon Fire Station - 8270 E Monte Vista

Twila Reid Fire Station - 3078 W Orange

Brea from 10 AM - 2 PM at Fire Station #2, park in downtown parking structure and walk across Brea Blvd using the signal at Ash St

Buena Park OCFA Station #61, 8081 Western Ave from 9 AM - 2 PM

Costa Mesa  from 10 AM to 2 PM at:

Station #1 - 2803 Royal Palm Drive

Station #2 - 800 Baker St

Station #3 - 1865 Park St

Station #4 - 2300 Placentia Ave

Station #5 - 2450 Vanguard Way

Station #6 - 3350 Sakioka Dr

Cypress OCFA Station #17 - 4991 Cerritos Ave from 9 AM - 2 PM

Dana Point OCFA Fire Station #30 - 23831 Stonehill Dr from 9 AM - 2 PM

Do You Ride the OCTA Night OWL? Your Bus Could be Eliminated

OCTA is facing a very tough budget situation because transit funds from the State have been cut, leaving OCTA without a large chunk of money needed to fund the actual day to day operation of buses. OCTA staff is studying how to make cuts in the bus system and has held a series of public meetings, bought ads, and put service change info on buses.  OCTA really needs to hear from more riders about what the specific service needs are so the cuts cause the least harm.

The Night OWL service is targeted for complete elimination because, it is argued, ridership is very low and the money spent on Night OWL service would be better spent on service at other times of the day.  What many people don't realize is that Night OWL riders have fewer choices for transportation than riders at other times of the day.  For these folks, it's the Night OWL or nothing in many cases.

The four Night OWL routes targeted to be eliminated are the 43 La Habra to Costa Mesa via Whittier Blvd/Harbor Blvd, 50 Long Beach to Orange via Katella Ave, 57 Brea to Newport Beach via State College Blvd/Bristol St, and 60 Long Beach to Tustin via Westminster Ave/17th St.  The service reductions would start in March 2010.

What You Need to Do

You need to talk with OCTA to tell them what will work for you. Staff is trying to figure this out and plans are not set yet.  If your workplace is effected, have your manager or HR department contact OCTA to tell them about the problems losing the Night OWL will cause.  You can drop off a comment card or letter when you buy a bus pass at OCTA, attend the public hearing on Monday, October 26, 2009 at OCTA Headquarters at 9 AM, or send a letter to Wendy Knowles, Clerk of the Board, OCTA, 555 S Main St, PO Box 14184, Orange, CA 92863-1584.  If you let OCTA know what you need, they can try to help you.  Now is the time for input.

Info About Proposed March 2010 Service Reductions

43 La Habra to Costa Mesa via Whittier Blvd/Harbor Blvd

La Habra - Whittier Christian High School, La Habra Square, La Habra High School, Washington Middle School, Sonora High School

Fullerton - St. Jude Hospital, North Court, Fullerton College, Fullerton Union High School, Fullerton Transportation Center, Metro Center of Fullerton, Orangefair Mall

Anaheim - Anaheim Cultural Arts Center, Anaheim Library, Anaheim Resort Area, Anaheim Convention Center, Disneyland, Anaheim High School

OC Register 2nd Worst Person in the World for Sports Column Mocking Jaycee Dugard's Captivity and Rape

Here is the original post by Mark Whicker. This never should have been printed, never. Baseball is more important than the kidnap, rape and years long captivity of a child. Whicker should resign or be fired.  And the Hoile family wonders why people don't want to read their paper?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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Innovative Waste Diversion Projects Funded

Landfills can only hold so much and that is all the landfill does - hold the garbage.  Many types of "garbage" can actually be reused or recycled.  Over $2.5 million for waste diversion programs to create composting, recycling and other opportunities to avoid putting more garbage in the landfill were funded through a recent grant from the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

City of San Clemente - Commercial Food Waste Diversion Program. Restaurants will Receive Bins and Weekly Collection. $400,000 

Mission Viejo - Commercial Food Waste Diversion Program. Process Organic Materials (Food) in Dehydration System. On-site System will Reduce Carbon Footprint - $400,000 

City of Cypress - Multi-Family Commercial Recycling Program $378,245 

City of Anaheim -  Multi-Family Commercial Recycling Program $234,238 

2 School Districts Get a 100 on Annual Sexual Health Education Survey

Two local school districts - Irvine Unified and Newport-Mesa Unified - received perfect scores of 100 on the survey of comprehensive sexual health education done by Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties.  Three other districts - Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified, Huntington Beach Union High School District and Laguna Beach Unified showed increases in their scores compared to last year.  The study with supporting materials is available at http://www.publicschoolsproject.com/

The survey of local schools was created to help evaluate how well public schools are delivering the nine specifically required elements required by the California Education Code sections 51930-51993  (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=edc&group=51001-52000&file=51930-51932  and http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=edc&group=51001-52000&file=51933).  Public schools in California are only required to provide education about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.  The schools may elect to provide comprehensive sexual health education, but are not required to.  If a school elects to provide, all elements of the educational program listed in the Education Code must be provided - schools may not elect to pick and choose, cafeteria style, what they will cover in class.

Planned Parenthood used 4 categories to characterize the required elements:

1. Overall Requirements
2. Human Development and Healthy Relationships
3. STD Information
4. Pregnancy Prevention

All schools surveyed received high marks for:

• Materials which did not teach religious doctrine or promote bias against persons protected by non-discrimination policies
• Educating about skills for responsible decision making
• Instruction about reproduction and anatomy
• Promoting healthy relationships
• Encouraging students to talk with parents or guardians about sexual health issues
• Teaching abstinence is the only 100% effective method to prevent pregnancy and STDs.

There are several areas for improvement:

OCTA September Service Cuts - The Details

Plan C - which retains Night Owl service was adopted.  The complete list of changes is available in the agenda packet for the June 8 meeting.   http://www.octa.net  OCTA Director Bill Campbell negotiated that span trips with 8 or more riders can be saved, for now.  Those trip reductions are listed here because staff is able to make changes to schedule to combine trips to save span service.

Here's a summary.

Line 20 La Habra - Yorba Linda Via Imperial Hwy

Increase weekday time between trips from 60 to 95 minutes.

Line 21 - Fullerton - Huntington Beach via Valley View St/Bolsa Chica Rd

Delete 5 weekday trips. Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 24 - Fullerton - Orange via Malvern Ave/Chapman Ave/Tustin Ave

Delete 3 weekday trips.  Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 26 - Fullerton - Yorba Linda via Commonwealth Ave/Yorba Linda Blvd

Delete 3 weekday trips. Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 29 - Brea - Huntington Beach via La Habra Blvd/Beach Blvd

Increase peak weekday time between trips from 15 to 20 minutes.  Increase Saturday and Sunday time between trips from 15 to 18 minutes.

Line 33 - Fullerton - Huntington Beach via Magnolia St

 Increase time between trips on Saturday and Sunday from 60 to 65 minutes.

Line 37 - La Habra - Fountain Valley via Euclid St

Delete 2 weekday trips. Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 38 - Lakewood - Anaheim Hills via Del Amo Blvd/La Palma Ave

Increase peak weekday time between trips from 8 to 15 minutes.  Delete 4 trips.   Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 38 - Lakewood - Anaheim Hills via Del Amo Blvd/La Palma Ave

Increase Saturday and Sunday time between trips from 30 to 45 minutes.

Line 43 - La Habra - Costa Mesa via Whittier Blvd/Harbor Blvd

Increase peak weekday time between trips from 10 to 15 minutes.  Increase Saturday time between trips from 20/15 minutes to 25/18 minutes. Increase Sunday time between trips from 15 to 18 minutes.

Line 46 - Los Alamitos - Orange via Ball Rd/Taft Ave

Delete 1 trip. Weekday span trips with more than 8 riders may be saved.

Line 50 - Long Beach - Orange via Katella Ave

Service changed to Short Line service.

OCTA Transit Cuts

http://www.octa.net

Here's a list of what is being cut by the OCTA during 2009.  This is very, very long (about 20+ pages if you're printing it.)

Summary of OCTA June & September 2009 Service Cuts

(Does not include Night Owl Service discontinuation.)

May 28, 2009

Prepared by Reggie Mundekis, [email protected]

What is Impacted

154 Schools & Colleges 

53 Shopping Centers

27 Medical Facilities

40 Employers & Office Parks

52 Government Facilities

52 Recreation & Other Facilities

32 Transportation Centers & Connectors 

OCTA Cutting Our Chances of Economic Recovery - Pt 3

Once is not enough, apparently not when the OCTA cuts bus service.  Four routes are being cut twice - once in June and again in September.    Here are those routes and the impacts.

Line	Route	Impacts
20	La Habra to Yorba Linda	June Eliminate 6:44PM Eliminate 7:34 PM eastbound September Increase time between trips from 30 to 45 minutes Destinations Impacted:   Downtown Yorba Linda, Yorba Linda Community Center,  Brea Gateway Center, Brea Promenade, Brea Mall, La Habra Marketplace and 2 schools
33	Fullerton to Huntington Beach	June  Increase time between trips from 30 to 35 minutes September  On Sunday, increase time between trips from 60 to 65 minutes Destinations Impacted: 10 schools, Little Saigon, and Huntington State Beach
46	Los Alamitos to Orange	June Eliminate total of 8 trips during morning and afternoon peak periods.  Create a new short turn routing between The Village at Orange and Knott Avenue that terminates at Orange and Knott Avenues.  Increase the time between trips from 20 to 24 minutes during the afternoon. September  On Sunday, cut last eastbound trip. Destinations Impacted: 11 schools, Orange Library, Greyhound Station, Disneyland, Anaheim General Hospital, Western Medical Center  - Anaheim
177	Foothill Ranch to Laguna Hills	June Weekday cuts - Cut 6:38 PM & 7:13 PM northbound  and 5:15 AM  southbound trips. Saturday and Sunday cuts - Increase time between trips from 45 to 60 minutes all day September Saturday and Sunday - Increase time between trips from 60 minutes to 90 minutes all day Destinations Impacted: 1 school, Foothill Ranch Market Place, Foothill Ranch Towne Center, Baker Ranch Plaza, Foothill Corporate Centre, Laguna Hills Mall, Saddleback Hospital.

http://www.octa.net/

OCTA Cutting Our Chances of Economic Recovery - Pt 2

OCTA  http://www.octa.net/ will make more cuts in September 2009, in addition to the June 2009 cuts.  This round of cuts will impact your ability to get to:

• 129 Schools and Colleges 
• 43 Shopping Centers, Malls, and Shopping Districts 
• 19 Hospitals and Medical Facilities 
• 32 Employers and Office Parks 
• 39 Civic Centers, Senior Centers , Libraries and other Government facilities
• 24 Park & Rides and Transit Connectors 
• 40 Parks, Beaches and other destinations

These cuts make it difficult to get to work, go to school, obtain medical care, go shopping for food and clothing, get books from a public library, get to a park or beach, and conduct business with the government.  If you depend on the bus, you are slowly being cut off from being able to compete in our local economy.

Trip Frequency and Service Reductions Starting September 2009

Starting in September 2009, replan your trip if you need to get to these destinations.  You can still get there, but it may be tricky, depending on when you need to be there, how long you need to stay, and what other connections you need to make to arrive at your final destination.  Here are the details:

OCTA Cutting Our Chances of Economic Recovery - Pt 1

OCTA http://www.octa.net/ is making severe, deep cuts to balance a budget.  These cuts are severe and will impact our local economy.  These cuts make it difficult to get to school, work, medical care, government facilities, other transportation, and recreational opportunities.  This will impact our recovery from the current economic crisis.  How can you hold a job you can't get to?  How can you go to college when you can't afford to get to classes?  How do you get to a doctor's appointment if you don't have a car or can't drive?

And, the cuts to service to transit connectors like Park & Rides and Metrolink stations mean no more saving money and energy with public transportation for some people.  If you can't get from the station to where you need to go, why take the train or carpool?

Where are the cuts and who will they hurt? 

• 78 Schools and Colleges have reduced service 
• 27 Shopping Centers, Malls, and Shopping Districts have less transit service
• 14 Hospitals and Medical Facilities have fewer buses available
• 17 Employers and Office Parks have fewer trips to bring employees to work
• 27 Civic Centers, Senior Centers and Libraries have fewer buses to get residents to city  services
• 22 Park & Rides and Transit Connectors have fewer ways to move people to and from the sites
• 13 Parks and Beaches have fewer trips to bring people to recreational opportunities

This is Part 1 of a series. The other stories in the series will examine the impact of the cuts starting June 14 and the proposed September 2009 cuts.

Trip Frequency and Service Reductions Starting June 14, 2009

Los Alamitos FY 2008/09 Budget

I am going to say, for the record, I had trouble with this budget document because I had difficulty in getting numbers to tie within the document.  With that said, Los Alamitos gets approximately equal amounts of General Fund Revenue from Property and Sales Taxes (about 19% each).  A Utility Users Tax adds almost 16% to the coffers.