Dick Enberg to emcee Padres Luncheon
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Folk music Saturday in Poway
! p u t i d d A
Queen Latifah: ‘Celebrate who you are.’
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2012
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The Poway Woman’s Club will host a free cooking demonstration 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10 in a member’s home. Guests are welcome. For directions, call 858-748-4492.
BY STEVE DREYER
Good eating
or Current Resident
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VOL. 56, ISSUE 31
858•451•0620 • ranchofinancial.com
High court’s ruling terminates city’s redevelopment program
Good cooking
13475 Danielson St. #110 Poway, CA 92064
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program ends feb. 1
POWAY DIGEST
Two local eateries are hosting fundraisers for the Twin Peaks Middle School Foundation: 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 10 at Panda Express, 13624 Poway Road, and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7 at any of the three El Ranchito Taco Shops in Poway. Download a flier from www.twinpeaksfoundation.org. The Kiwanis Club of Poway Foundation is hosting a World Service Project fundraiser Wednesday night, Jan. 11 at the Company Pub and Kitchen. Details at www. powaykiwanis.org.
(includes tax)
Rancho Bernardo resident Rica Lehmann holding her son, Alden Richard Sumbillo, at Pomerado Hospital on Tuesday. Alden was the first baby born there this year. Photo by Beverley Brooks
Pomerado’s ‘New Year’ baby born after 45 hours of labor BY ELIZABETH MARIE HIMCHAK 31, but stayed home until after Pomerado Hospital’s first baby of 2012 surprisingly received the honor, according to his mom. Rancho Bernardo resident Rica Lehmann said her son, Alden Richard Sumbillo, was due to be born on Jan. 8, though it was possible he would arrive by Jan. 4 or 5. That estimated time frame was obviously off when the first-time mom started going into labor at 2 a.m. on Dec.
the new year arrived, waiting until 3 a.m. Jan. 1 to check into Pomerado Hospital in Poway. Despite being in labor for 25 hours by that point, it would be another 20 hours before Alden was born at 11:03 p.m. Jan. 1 by Caesarean section. He weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long. “I did not expect (such a long labor),” Lehmann said. See BABY, Page 14
Happy New Year
A California Supreme Court decision backing Gov. Jerry Brown’s effort to abolish local redevelopment agencies will fundamentally change the way Poway conducts business in the future, City Council members were told Tuesday night. “This will be the most dramatic impact Poway will ever see,” when it comes to the financing of new projects, City Manager Penny Riley said. “It will change how we pay for things in the City of Poway.” “Appalling and disgusting,” declared Councilwoman Merrilee Boyack of the state’s effort. “It’s highway robbery.” The high court on Dec. 29 upheld a new law that will abolish community redevelopment agencies, effective Feb. 1. It also struck down a companion statute that would have allowed local governments to keep the agencies alive by making payments to the state. Poway had signed up for the voluntary program and was poised to make its first payment of $5.2 million on Jan. 13. Riley said the ruling is still being reviewed by city staff and that a full report outlining how the city will proceed after Feb. 1 will be presented at the Jan. 17 council meeting. The council last March took a series of legal steps designed to protect existing funded redevelopment programs and to assign purposes for unallocated agency funds. The council also created the new Poway Housing Authority under which the city’s numerous low- and moderateincome housing projects will be administered.
Whether those actions will successfully protect Poway’s redevelopment assets remains to be seen. Redevelopment agencies are funded by the increase in tax revenue created by projects in their areas. The Poway agency has been in existence since shortly after the city’s 1980 incorporation. This fiscal year the agency received $39 million in tax revenues. Local tax-increment revenues have helped finance everything from development of the business park, the county library branch and Poway Center for the Performing Arts to major road improvements and athletic fields at public schools. Twenty percent of all funds received have been used to build affordable housing in the city. Redevelopment proponents had argued that voter-passed Proposition 22, which bars the state from seizing local tax money, invalidated both laws reviewed by the court. The justices determined that Proposition 22 did not address the Legislature’s power to close redevelopment agencies, which were created after World War II. Gov. Brown contends the money is better used to fund schools and other municipal functions during tight budgetary times. He and his supporters cite a state analyst’s report that shows the cost of redevelopment growing without any tangible economic benefit to the state. The court’s decision will free up more than $1 billion statewide in on-going funding for education and public safety. Poway’s redevelopment tax revenues will be redirected to the
Free
See RULING Page 14
Oil Change
with any other $75 service or more
Must be used on same visit. Not good on previous or future purchases. Expires 1/31/12.
TOYOTA of POWAY
13760 Poway Road, Poway • www.ToyotaOfPoway.com • 858-486-2900