Weekly News Roundup: April 14 Edition

All the news that's fit to post!

City News

April 12, Yucaipa News Mirror, "District approves charter school"
April 11, San Bernardino Sun, "District says yes to its first charter school"
April 11, Press-Enterprise, "Yucaipa Charter School wins conditional approval" (with podcast)

The Yucaipa-Calimesa School District finally approved the Inland Leaders Charter School.

[Mike] Gordon, who will become the principal of the new charter school that will be housed at the Bryant Street Baptist Church, said the school will offer, “high quality California content instruction with a family centered focus.”

The kindergarten through sixth grade school will have a shorter school day to allow students to spend more time with their families. Even though the school day will be from 8:15 a.m. to 1:03 p.m., it will still have the same amount of instructional time for students in that traditional recesses and breaks will not be part of the school day.

And while many charter schools offer specialized programs such as aeronautics, as was the case for a charter recently approved in San Bernardino, and performing arts, ILCS's primary focus will be on leadership.

April 11, San Bernardino Sun, "Yucaipa confronts global warming"

At the last City Council meeting, council member Denise Hoyt gave a presentation on the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which calls on local governments to "stem sprawl, plant trees and call on residents to conserve energy." The only council member who opposed a resolution in support was Tom Masner.

He said predictions of global warming-related disaster remind him of times when he attended school in the 1960s and listened to lessons on the dangers of a new ice age or nuclear winter, calamities that did not come to pass.

I'm sure that is a misrepresentation of Masner's comments, since you'd have to be really ignorant to discount global warming because there has not been a nuclear winter (since, duh, there hasn't been a nuclear war, at least that I'm aware of). Global warming is a real phenomenon, the only questions being how much of the change is human-caused and whether human intervention can actually stem the warming. The EPA has a comprehensive website with more information, including a site for kids. The latest IPCC report (pdf) was rather gloomy and that's after political machinations ended up toning down the conclusions. Only a fool would discount the real data that the climate is changing (more). Anyway, I don't see how planting more trees and trying to lower emissions would be such a terrible thing even if it doesn't have an effect on climate change. [end rant]

April 12, Yucaipa News Mirror, "New I-10 freeway lanes open - but no relief

The good news is that construction on the I-10 eastbound center lanes between Orange and Ford streets has been completed. The bad news is that now the right lane will be closed for construction of a sound wall, not due to be completed until spring 2008! As this week's editorial says:

Construction time could be shortened considerably if additional crews were assigned to the project. Once footings are in place, laying concrete blocks is a very regimented process. The more masons working on the project, the shorter the time to finish at the about the same costs. SANBAG should work with its contractor to get this extra help on the job. The freeway driving public would surely be much happier.

The News Mirror urges concerned locals to contact SANBAG, mayor and Yucaipa SANBAG representative Dick Riddell, and our other city council members.

Yucaipa Development

• The draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Oak Hills Marketplace is available for "inspection by the public" at Yucaipa City Hall. The draft report is also available online for download. The Marketplace would be built at the former Christmas tree farm, just west of Live Oak Canyon Road (map). A review by the Yucaipa Planning Commission is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, June 6.
• The Yucaipa Planning Commission has approved two developments on Yucaipa Blvd. The first is a 11,000 square foot commercial building on the north side of the boulevard near Seventh Street (map). It will be just west of current construction, which is planned to include a Chili's. The second development is just west of Wendy's (map), and will include Tarbell Realty, gourmet food store Tesco's Light and Breezy (sounds like a feminine hygiene product) and a third as yet unidentified tenant.
• The City Council has upheld two planning commission land use decisions to appeal. Concerns were raised about traffic safety on Sixth Street where it borders the development at Sixth and Wildwood Canyon (map). Questions about a proposed 20-acre residential development at the corner of Carter St. and Norton Ave (map) were also raised, asking for clarification of the definition of the open space required to be set aside for the project. In both cases, the original planning commission decisions were upheld almost unanimously (Riddell was absent for the first vote, and Masner voted "no" on the second).
• Work on Civic Center Park continues, with new contracts awarded for landscaping, including a pond and fountain, and construction of sidewalks, a bridge and benches.
• The April 18 Planning Commission Meeting has been canceled. The next meeting is scheduled for May 2 at 6:30PM at Yucaipa City Hall. The agenda will eventually be posted here.

You can download the agenda and minutes (pdf) from the April 9, 2007 City Council Meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for April 28. Watch this page for the agenda.

Yucaipans in the News

April 12, San Bernardino Sun, "Celebrating a year of Inland theater"

The Inland Theatre League held its award ceremony in Riverside Wednesday night. Local winners include the following:

From the Heartland Players
Darah Catattini-Garcia as Rose Alvarez in Bye Bye Birdie
Dustin Ceithamer as Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie

From the Yucaipa Little Theater
Geri Marzuez for Director of Cats
Sam Bell as Munkustrap in Cats
Adrian Rodarte as the Baker in Into the Woods
Amy Carrillo as the Baker's Wife in Into the Wood
Christine Presley for Director of Into the Woods

Heartland players is currently performing Sincerely Yours, an original play by Didi Pelev, through April 22. Yucaipa Little Theatre is currently performing A Little Princess, also through April 22.

April 8, Press-Enterprise, "Yucaipa woman has artistic air about her"

The Press-Enterprise profiles 22 year old Yucaipan Juell Villarreal, who works as "The Air Brush Girl" painting vans, motorcycles and cars. She also takes private commissions painting bedrooms, T-shirts and probably anything else you could think of. Check out her work.

April 12, San Bernardino Sun, "Crafton Hills College recognized for serving the community"

Crafton Hills College has been showered with accolades on its 35th anniversary. Jerry Lewis entered a special recognition in the February 14th edition of the Congressional Record, and the cities of Redlands, Yucaipa, Highland and San Bernardino have presented the school with resolutions in special recognition.

Some of Crafton's specialized programs, such as the fire technology program, the respiratory care program and the emergency medical services-paramedic program, are among the top programs in the state and are attended by students from all over California, [CHC president Gloria] Harrison said.

Crafton, Harrison said, is a good place for students to start preparing for their college education, especially for those who might not speak English or those who have some difficulties.

"We can help them, prepare them and give them the skills needed for college level work," she said.

Crafton offers 36 different associate degrees and 27 occupational certificate programs. Registration for the summer session begins April 30.

In other Crafton news, last night the Crafton Hills College police had a very cute baby owl as an overnight guest (photos).

In the category of "I wish these guys weren't associated with my town" are the Yucaipa branch of the White Legion Knights of the Ku Klux Klan who have showed up at Minuteman anti-illegal immigration protests. I'm not sure what their plan is, since their arrival caused the Minutemen to head home.

Tags: Yucaipa, news