Volume XXXVI No. 13 • 7 July, 2016
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Plainview Opens New Park Through Aid of County, Other Local Agencies
Five-year-old Darlene slides down the new playground equipment at the Plainview Neighborhood Park grand opening in June.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Domitila Lemus told Tulare County Supervisor Alan Ishida during the June grand opening of the Plainview Neighborhood Park. Lemus, who has lived in the unincorporated area of the county for 30 years, said the park is “a dream come true.” The park has been one of the things on Ishida’s to-do list since he was first elected 11 years ago. It involved several agencies including the county, Plainview Water Mutual, El Quinto Sol de America and Self Help Enterprises. “I think every community needs one of these,” Ishida said. “The communities can help to organize these. The people in Plainview have come to all of our meetings [regarding the park] – that makes it very easy for us to help them.” Regular meeting were held to bring the county and local residents together in anticipation of the park and other community projects. El Quinto Sol de America served as community outreach in finding out just what the community needed and wanted. The
Nancy Vigran
children played an integral part of the park development, laying out swatches (designed by the architects) throughout the park as to where everything should be placed. The park cost approximately $320,000 which includes adjoining roadwork, electricity and fencing, said Eric Coyne of the county’s Economic Development Office. The property belongs to Plainview Water Mutual and most of the funding came through grant sources including the state’s Housing Reward Parks Program, Coyne said. There was a 60-day time restriction to get the park built, once funding was awarded. Safety was a very important issue, Coyne said, and the park is ADA complaint. All agencies involved worked closely with the community to get the park done. Included is covered playground equipment and a basketball court. The park has lighting for evening use and
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Visalia Council OK’s Late Budget Hanford Council Denies Appeal Dave Adalian It took a special meeting ending in a 4-1 split vote, but the Visalia City Council passed the city’s annual budget just ahead of the June 30 deadline. “Because of snafus getting the item on the agenda, we had to hold a special meeting just for the budget,” said Visalia Mayor Steve Nelsen. The Council was originally scheduled to pass the budget at a regular meeting June 20. A clerical error delayed the vote by a week. There was no disturbance to the city’s normal operation, and those
involved in crafting the budget have described the city’s projected spending as conservative and the city’s financial outlook as solid.
$198M for 16/17
The city will spend just over $197.9 million in the next 12 months. Plans for FY 17/18 call for a budget of $196.7 million. Both budgets includes surpluses. “I would say that when you look at the budget, you do have a surplus in 16/17 and a much smaller one in 17/18, and that’s a concern,” the Mayor said,
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At the June 21 Hanford City Council meeting Hanford Environmental Action Team (HEAT) lost their appeal to protect a remnant of Mussel Slough. The council voted 5 -0 to deny HEAT’s appeal of the Bajun American Properties’ site plan review for a multi-family apartment complex. The proposed project will be built on Centennial Drive and the future Millennium Way. The project site is located on 13.11 acres and includes two-storey buildings, 216 apartments, a recreation building and pool. There are seven open play areas throughout the development. The
Catherine Doe units include three-bedroom, two-bath units; two-bedroom, two-bath units and one-bedroom one -bath units. Each unit will have a single garage and a parking space, with the exception of the one bedroom units, which will each have a single garage. The Community Development Department that signed off on the site plan review came to the conclusion that the apartment building would not have an adverse impact on the environment
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Kings County Crop Production Declines Over 18% in 2015 Steve Pastis After a record year in 2014, ag prices in Kings County took a beating last year, decreasing in value by more than 18%. “A lot of that has to do with commodity prices,” explained Kings County Ag Commissioner Tim Niswander, who presented the 2015 Agricultural Crop Report to the county board of supervisors at its June 28 meeting. “The gross value of all agricultural crops and products produced during 2015 in Kings County was $2,021,052,000,” he wrote in the introduction to the report. “This represents a decrease of $450,694,000 (18.2%) from the 2014 value.” Livestock and poultry products had the biggest decrease in value (32.6%) as the result of lower milk prices. Livestock and poultry, however, showed the biggest increase last year, up 23.2% due to higher beef prices. Apiary products increased in value last year by 43.3%, even though both
beeswax and honey decreased in production, because pollination for tree fruit, nuts and seed alfalfa all did well. Colony collapse disorder, which threatens the bee population and the many crops that depend on pollination to survive, may be responsible for these positive numbers. “Probably what’s driving pollination (prices) up is the lower number of bees,” said Niswander. “It probably has a lot to do with why beeswax and honey might have declined.” Other products showing an increase in value in 2015 included pasture range (182.75%), oat silage (130.47%), cherries (101.28%), and wheat grain
(37.91%). Most of these crops benefitted from an increase in acreage, although higher prices and an increase in rainfall were also factors. Field crops declined by 20.3% to less than $99 million, due to lower prices for hay and pima cotton. Although cotton hasn’t been Kings County’s top ag product since the mid-90s, the county is still the top cotton producer in the state, according to Niswander. “Cotton prices being what they are, we’re seeing some growers plant crops like walnuts and almonds instead,” he said, adding that local cotton prices fluctuate because of world prices for cotton.
Other crops declining in value in 2015 included walnuts (-41.03%) and pistachios (-37.02%). Walnuts were hit by a price decrease of nearly 49%, while pistachio production was impacted by the lack of chilling hours. Following the presentation, Supervisor Craig Pedersen asked Niswander about the affect the drought had on last year’s numbers. “I would say the drought has impacted some of what has been grown in the county, but I don’t know that our county is impacted as much as Fresno County,” Niswander said. A down year for ag is bad news for the rest of the county. The University of California at Davis conducted a study several years ago that attempted to determine how much ag affects the local economy. “For everything except dairy, for every dollar growth in ag there is $3.50 in growth in the local economy,” said
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