By TR Robertson
With summer drawing to a close, except for the excessive heat, the Vista Chamber of Commerce once again began the monthly meetings of the Government Affair Committee meetings which includes updates from city, county, state and national offices. These meetings are held at the Film Hub in downtown historic Vista and are open to anyone wishing to attend.
This month’s featured speaker was an update on the dismantling of the San Onfre Nuclear Generating Station and an update on the removal of the spent fuel waste and other radioactive waste material. The presentation was by the Southern California Edison Public Affairs Officer John Dobken. John gave a power point presentation that began with a history of the process. The nuclear plant was retired in 2013 and dismantling began in 2020. The dismantling process was detailed including a map of the buildings that have been removed and the buildings workers are currently working on. The two large domes are set for final removal in 2027 and the process of dismantling should run through 2029. The year 2051 is the tentative date for final removal of the spent fuel that will be stored at the San Onfre location. A new rail yard was built to assist in the removal of the massive amount of material from the demolition. The spent fuel and other radioactive waster material will be stored on site until a location for shipping the material can be established. Go to www.spentfuelsolutionsnow.com to submit comments and to www.SONGSCommunity.com for the website detailing the current process.
Government Updates
City of Vista – Imelda Huerta – The annual Business Walk will be Oct. 6 from 9am until noon. The next Planning Commission meeting will look at the current housing development program. Moonlight’s final musical for this year will be “Kinky Boots”. The Vista Public Arts Commission is looking for artists to submit designs for a public sculpture exhibit for Pala Vista Kite Sculpture located at 234 Pala Vista Dr. Submissions must be completed by September 26th.
County of San Diego, Supervisor Jim Desmond’s Office – Kristal Jabara – The Supervisor is on the committee researching possible storage sites for the San Onfre spent fuel. It was reported that a program to track the services homeless individuals are using at various locations across the county to see if there are overlaps in services provided.
Assembly Member Tasha Boerner Horvath – Fernando Hernandez – Vista will soon have a new Assembly Member as the state districts have been realigned. A variety of bills the Assembly Member authored and supported have been approved or are moving through the state process. AB 2204 (Deputy Secretary for Climate), AS 1854 (Work Share program) , AB 1682 (Life guard speed for vehicles) , AB 1946 (E-bike safety) are a few. Go to the Assembly Members web site at www.a76.asmdc.org and click on Legislation for more information. The Assembly Member is accepting nominations for Veterans and Service Members Awards.
Senator Patricia Bates – Max Wernher – The Senator is not running for reelection and we will have a new representative in November. The Senator’s SB 925 (Drug Testing in Fatal Vehicular Accidents) and SCR 115 (Opiod Drug Awareness Program) passed. Moving through the process are SB 1191 (Medi-Cal testing) and SB 1342 (aging multidisciplimary teams) . Go to www.bates.cssrc.us and click on legislation for a complete list of bills the Senator has written or supported.
Congressman Mike Levin – Jessica Ramirez – reported over the phone – go to www.mikelevin.house.gov for a complete listing of bills the Congressman has authored or supports.
Vista Chamber Updates – Rachel Beld Chamber CEO – Update on Velosity Internship Data – 42 students from Mission Vista, Rancho Buena Vista and Vista took part – 22 businesses and non-profits offered work opportunities up to 100 hours – a wide range of businesses and non-profits took part – the program allowed for up to 100 paid hours for each student. Very positive feed back from everyone who took part and hope is to increase the number of participants next year.
Rising Star Program returns this month as a monthly recognition program for high schools. Over $14,000 in scholarships were awarded last year.
September 28th at 6 pm in Vista City Hall Community Room will feature a City Council candidate forum for individuals running for mayor and city council.
Chamber will host a Hiring Fair on November 9th from 4 pm – 7 pm.
Rachel also spoke about the need for citizens to become informed and vote in the next election as there are major changes that will be taking place as a result of redistricting and with a number of new candidates being elected to fill positions where the current elected official is not running.
Peter Kuchinsky from Vista Irrigation District gave a water update concerning the drought and our water supply.
John Osborne from AT&T reported there is still a low cost program available for families in need of internet service in their home.
Vista Chamber Government Affairs Dismantling of the San Onfre UPDATE
State Legislative Session has Adjourned
By Assemblymember Marie Waldron
The 2021-2022 legislative session is history — we adjourned around 1:30 a.m. on September 1st. As usual, some of the most significant legislation was delayed until the last days, with votes sometimes occurring late at night and in the wee hours of the morning.
In light of continuing attempts to place Sexually Violent Predators (SVPs) in rural San Diego County, I was a big supporter SB 1034 which creates more structure and transparency to make local authorities and stakeholders participants in the SVP placement process. I’m happy to report that SB 1034 passed without opposition.
Other significant bills approved in the last days include AB 1314, setting up a “Feather Alert” system for missing Native Americans, specifically women and children, similar to the Amber and Silver Alerts we’ve become familiar with. Another bill receiving final legislative approval, SB 846, directs the California Public Utilities Commission to extend the Diablo Canyon Power Plant beyond its scheduled retirement in 2025, making more electricity available for California.
Firearms-related legislation included SB 918 and AB 1227. Despite the recent Supreme Court ruling about concealed carry permits, SB 918 included a long list of locations where firearms would still not be permitted. AB 1227 would have added new excise taxes on the purchase of firearms and ammunition – I joined the majority to vote down both bills.
As a result of strong public opposition, SB 866, allowing minors 15 years and older to consent to being vaccinated without parental approval, was withdrawn from consideration by its author. SB 300, to reduce criminal penalties for major participants in serious felonies like murder or kidnapping, was also withdrawn by its author before a final vote.
This year, just over 2,000 bills were introduced and about 900 made it to the Governor’s desk. He has acted on just over 200 — about 700 remain. As always, he has the final say.
Assemblymember Marie Waldron, R – Valley Center, represents the 75th Assembly District in the California Legislature, which includes the communities of Bonsall, Escondido, Fallbrook, Hidden Meadows, Pala, Palomar Mountain, Pauma Valley, Rainbow, San Marcos, Temecula, Valley Center and Vista.
South Buena Vista Park Closed Thursday, September 8
South Buena Vista Park will be closed during the morning hours on Thursday, September 8 for maintenance improvements. Crews will be removing the silt buildup and re-grading the area around the playground.
The closure will expediate the work so that residents and visitors can enjoy the park and its surroundings later in the day.
Hundreds Fill Downtown Historic Vista for the 32nd Annual Vista Rod Run
By TR Robertson Photos by Brian Robertson and NCDS
Car enthusiasts from all over the county filled Downtown Historic Vista’s streets on Sunday to admire the incredible work over 300 classic car owners had put into their cars. The day was hot and humid with occasional clouds helping to cool down the streets as people visited with the car owners, read about the cars from the placards some had in place and to stop by the various tents set-up with vendors selling a variety of items from material for cars to food booths. Classic 50’s and 60’s rock and roll music blared adding to the festive atmosphere.
The morning began early as cars lined up to check in and to find out where they would be placed in the Downtown area. Event Planner Debbie Medrano and her crew checked participants in and gathered information the car owners they filled out about the category their car fell into for judging. Wandering the streets car owners were enthusiastic about talking about the restoration process they had gone through to get their cars into the immaculate shaped they were now in. Randy Ade, owner of the 1959 pink Thunderbird on display, said he had worked on restoring his car for over 2 years. TJ Crossman, owner of TJ Crossman’s Auto Repair in Vista, had his 1929 Model A Kit Car on display and offered visitors a chance to sit in the car for selfie pictures. Fritz Eibel, Josh Spann and Mike Saldaria were on hand from the Vista Firefighters Association to speak with the public and the classic Vista Firetruck was also on display.
If you were in the market for purchasing a classic car, there were a number of vehicles on sale to choose from. The most expensive one I saw was a Shelby Cobra on sale for $58,000. If you wanted something a little older you could get a 1931 Ford Roadster for $25,000 or one of my favorites a 1940 Ford Deluxe 4 Door for $22,500. These were but a few of the cars on sale at Vista’s Rod Run.
Palomar College Opens Fall Semester With Increased Number of On-Site Students
All locations will open with in-person classes and services on Monday, August 22, 2022. A wide variety of online options remain in place for students who prefer the remote format.
SAN MARCOS (August 19, 2022) — The Fall 2022 semester begins at Palomar College on Monday, August 22, with all locations offering a variety of on-site course offerings, comprehensive student services, and all libraries open.
Palomar will have three times the amount of on-site students than last fall. All facilities across the Palomar Community College District (District) are open, including:
San Marcos Campus
Escondido Education Center
Rancho Bernardo Education Center
Fallbrook Education Center
“I can’t wait to welcome our students back to school,” said Dr. Star Rivera-Lacey, Superintendent/President of Palomar College. “Everyone here has been hard at work preparing for this semester, and we are very excited to get started and support our students on their path to success.”
For the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors, health requirements remain in place, including mandatory daily health screenings for anyone who comes to a Palomar site. Vaccinations are not required, but facial coverings are strongly recommended indoors.
Palomar College offers 16-week full semester courses and condensed courses that are 8 and 4 weeks in length. Registration remains open and information can be found at Palomar.edu.
Also in operation are several programs for high school students within the District who are pursuing completion of courses with Palomar College that are transferable to four-year institutions:
The newly opened Poway to Palomar Middle College, serving 40 high school students at the Rancho Bernardo Education Center;
The Bonsall Early College Program, with 45 high schoolers at the Fallbrook Education Center;
And the Orange Glen High School Program, which includes some 300 high school students in Escondido.
14th Annual Fall Fun Festival 2022 at Alta Vista Botanical Gardens
Come join the 14th Fall Fun Festival in Vista on Saturday October 15 between 10 am and 3 pm. This festival has been a community tradition for 14 years and is a wonderful way to enjoy the beauty and diverse features of Alta Vista Botanical Gardens which are located at the top of the hill inside Brengle Terrace Park in Vista. The event is free for all visitors.
Kids’ crafts will include painting pumpkins, macaroni necklaces, a beanbag toss, worms discovery, and other fall activities.
This year’s event features a Plant Sale from our GrowGetters, and vendors will sell their jewelry and other crafts. Amigos de Vista Lions will sell BBQ lunch. Snacks and water will be available for sale.
This year’s Scarecrow Contest will be for scarecrows constructed at home. Register and pick up scarecrow supplies at the Children’s Garden on Saturday October 8 between 10 am and 2 pm OR Friday October 14 between 10 am and 1 pm. Your deposit of $10 covers the armature (sticks), a head, stuffing, and whatever clothes you choose from our collection. $5 will be returned to you when the completed scarecrow is brought back to the Gardens. Create your scarecrow at home using your own colorful clothes and bling. Bring your completed scarecrow to the Gardens for judging on Friday October 14 between 10 am and 1 pm, or Saturday October 15 between 9 am and noon. Home-made scarecrows can also be registered for the contest for $5 that day.
Judges will choose winners, and gift card and other prizes will be delivered to 3 creative families. Scarecrows stay at the Gardens through August 1, 2023.
Vendors are welcome to apply – see Events page for Fall Fun Festival on the website. Entry to the Gardens is free during this Festival! Walk the 14 acres of Gardens filled with rare plants, our new Children’s Garden Discovery Trail, Ricardo Breceda sculptures, and intriguing
water features.
Event Cost: Free
The Gardens are open every day for a $5 entry fee, free for members.
Alta Vista Botanical Gardens, 1270 Vale Terrace Drive, Vista (760) 822-6824
Contact: farmerjonesavbg@gmail.com
Contact: info@altavistabotanicalgardens.org, https://www.altavistabotanicalgardens.org, www.fb.com/vistaavbg
Coaster Train Vs. Vehicle
On 9/6/22, around 12:30 AM, deputies from the North Coastal Sheriff’s Station’s Transit Enforcement Unit responded to a report of a vehicle that was struck by a Northbound Coaster train in the City of San Diego. The vehicle made a wrong way turn onto the tracks in the 3800 Block of Sorrento Valley Blvd. The driver of the vehicle was not injured and was able to exit the vehicle prior to the collision. There were no reported injuries from the passengers on the Coaster Train.
Anyone with information about this case can call the Sheriff’s Department’s non-emergency line at: (858) 565-5200
Travels With TR – Atlantic & Arctic Awe – An East Coast Adventure – Log VI Bar Harbor, Mount Desert Island, Maine
By TR Robertson
Day 8 of our East Coast adventure found us arriving at Bar Harbor, Maine, anchoring around 9:00 am in the harbor. We would be taking tenders into the pier to visit the town and to board buses for the various tours. Bar Harbor is located on Mount Desert Island and remains a premier get away location for many living in the big cities along the East Coast. The town and surrounding area are filled with quaint hotels and bed and breakfast spots, inns, and restaurants and of course souvenir shops. There is also a prestigious genetics research center called Jackson Laboratory and the College of the Atlantic.
The first visitors, other than the Abnaki peoples living in and around the area, were Vikings arriving in 1007 AD. Numerous other tribes were around the area including the Wabanaki Confederacy people which includes the five Algonquian nations. The first Europeans to arrive were French explorers led by Samuel de Champlain, landing in 1604. As the French and the British vied for lands in the Americas, the Treaty of Utrecht would give control of the island to the British in 1713. Settlers would begin to arrive in the Bar Harbor area in the 1760’s, fishing, trapping, farming, shipbuilding and lumbering to make a living. The small village would be incorporated as the 107th town in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1796 and was given the name of Eden. The name would change to Bar Harbor in 1918, named after the sand bar that connects the town to Bar Island at low tide.
Shortly after Maine became a state in the United States, in 1820, Bar Harbor was becoming a getaway location for people in large cities like Boston and New York, seeking to find peace and quiet from big city life. The island was also becoming a favorite spot for artists and by the 1880’s rich and famous families like the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and Fords were building massive summer homes on the island. Nelson Rockefeller was born in Bar Harbor. For many summer seasons the Boston Symphony Orchestra played the entire summer on the Bar Harbor Village Green. The depression of the 1930’s and a horrible 17,000-acre fire on the island in 1947 burned down many of the mansions and devastated the town. As the town came back and rebuilt, the town remained a getaway location, but this time it also became a favorite spot for people of all ways and means. Today, over 150 cruise ships arrive during the cruising season, stopping in Bar Harbor as they work their
way north. Without the tourists, Bar Harbor’s population is 5,089 citizens.
The bus tour we were on today would be taking us to many lookout spots along the coast, to the interior of the island and into the Acadia National Park, to Cadillac Mountain (the highest spot on the island), and to a special Lobster Bake luncheon. Our first stop was to Thunder Hole, an inlet along Mount Island’s coastline where waves crash at high tide sending ocean spray over 40 feet in the air. Unfortunately, the large crowds there did not see any large ocean sprays as we were there at low tide. As we began to drive further into the island’s interior, we began to see some of the 30 lakes located on the island. Along the way our guide told us about Acadia National Park.
Acadia National Park covers 49,075 acres, half of which is on Mount Desert Island the other half scattered on 16 islands surrounding Mount Desert Island. The National Park was established in 1916 and originally called Lafayette National Park. It was renamed as Acadia National Park in 1929. The National Park is the 3rd most visited National Park in the nation, behind only the Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Park. An average of 4.6 million people visit and in the COVID year of 2020 2.2 million people still managed to getaway and visit Acadia National Park. Acadia is made up of wetlands, forests, streams, lakes, meadows, and coastline. A portion of the park on Mount Desert Island includes part of the historic carriage road system, financed by John D. Rockefeller, built between 1919-1931. Rockefeller was opposed to any automobiles being on Mount Desert, so he had raised carriage roads built, for horse and buggies, which interconnected with many of the elaborate homes on the island, much of the carriage road system running through Acadia National Park. Rockefeller had several homes and cottages on the island, one of the cottages had 100+ rooms. We were able to see portions of the original carriage road, close to the Visitors Center and Gift Shop.
After a quick stop, we headed out of Acadia for our lunch stop at the Bar Harbor Lobster Bake in Hall’s Cove. Each of us on the tour received a 1 ½ lb. lobster complete with a potato, corn on the cob, bread, and the utensils we would need to help us break the lobster open and dig out the delicious lobster meat. Our place setting was an instruction sheet on how to eat a lobster. It also had fun facts like – lobsters can live to be 100 years old or older and during colonial days lobsters were plentiful and were the food for the poor. We were also served an amazing Blueberry Crumb Cake after lobster meal. The meal was delicious even though a little messy.
After lunch, we boarded the bus again and headed off once again into Acadia National Park. This time our destination was the highest point on Mount Desert Island, Cadillac Mountain, height 1,530. Arriving we were able to walk to the overlooks and look down on Bar Harbor and several of the islands off the coast called Porcupine Islands. We were told there are over 6,000 islands off the coast of Maine. Loading back on the bus, we headed back to the town of Bar Harbor. We were able to have a bit of time to stop in several of the shops for some souvenir hunting, Carolyn on the look-out for tourmaline jewelry.
Our boarding time was 5:00 pm, so we boarded the ships tender at the pier and headed back, ready for a 6:00 pm departure heading for Halifax, Nova Scotia and Canada, 257 nautical miles away.
Travels With TR – Atlantic & Arctic Awe – An East Coast Adventure I
Travels With TR – Atlantic & Arctic Awe – An East Coast Adventure – Log II
Travels With TR – Atlantic & Arctic Awe – An East Coast Adventure – Log III
Travels With TR – Atlantic & Arctic Awe – An East Coast Adventure – Log IV
CCAE Welcome’s Manny Cepeda’s Orchestra Quartet
Join us THIS FRIDAY for a night of dancing and live music at our Música en la Plaza series featuring Latin Grammy Award nominee Manny Cepeda and his Orchestra Quartet! This talented group of musicians will have you on your feet dancing merengue, cha-cha, salsa, and cumbia or have you relaxing with some smooth and sophisticated Latin Jazz. Either way, it’s an evening you won’t want to miss. Admission is FREE.
VENUE CHANGE: Due to the chance of rain, Música en la Plaza featuring Manny Cepeda Orchestra Quartet will be located in the Conference Center. We suggest parking in our free lot and make your past the Lyric Courtyard to the Conference Center. The entrance to the Música en la Plaza concert will be through the Conference Center’s Main Castle Doors.
