Recently in City Council happenings Category

The City Council meeting starts early today, 6 p.m., so that a number of people can be recognized by city leaders. The Lions Club, A.C.E. all-star teams, the year's "community heroes" and others will get some props.

Not a whole lot on the agenda for the 7 p.m. portion of the evening. The city is expected to amend the municipal code so that permit parking districts can be established without a minimum size requirement. With this amendment, the neighborhood near Chaffey College can begin the process of creating a permit parking district.

After six months of unemployment, Councilman Rex Gutierrez has found a job working for his brother in Delano, Ca. Gutierrez is helping the Delano Association for the Developmentally Disabled with its fundraising efforts. It's a temporary full-time position lasting until January.

In the meantime, Gutierrez is also studying to get his real estate license.

"I'm trying to do what I can to be productive," Gutierrez said.

Delano is north of Bakersfield, approximately 180 miles from Rancho Cucamonga. Gutierrez is spending most weekdays there and returning to the city on weekends and on nights during City Council meetings. He's missed two special meetings so far because they took place during the afternoon and thus conflicted with Gutierrez's schedule.

Gutierrez spent a portion of his childhood in Delano, where his mother and siblings still live. He said he's living in the same home that he did in the ninth grade.

In May, Gutierrez was fired from his position with the county's Economic Development Agency after the county sued Gutierrez for his role in the Assessor's Office scandal. Since then, Gutierrez started a private tutoring business but he said it has not been very successful.

What is it about fun toys that make grown adults happy?

Library officials are getting ready to develop these prototypes, a sort of movable play areas to be housed at both libraries. The purpose is to give the community a sneak peak of what's to come on the second floor of the Biane Library. It's not coming any time soon, but once money is available,the city will build an interactive area for children called Rancho KIDS (Kids Interactive Discovery Space).

This made my editor super excited, even though he is about 54 years older than Rancho KIDS' target audience.

The prototypes are expected to be complete this March. Above is the Big Dig, a station with colored sand where children can either dig for dinosaurs or grow a make-believe garden. At left is an art station with space to hang paintings and a light table for tracing.

"We want it to be educational," said Assistant Library Director Michelle Perera. "We don't want to just chuck a bunch of toys and say, 'go ahead.' "

She called this "purposeful play."

It was something that Councilman Dennis Michael wouldn't mind incorporating into his schedule.

"You talk about purposeful play. God, I'm 62 and I need that," Michael said.

Don't we all.

Read more about the library's future plans in Saturday's Tuesday's newspaper.


 

Council gadfly Jim Moffatt had a message for Don Kurth at yesterday's City Council meeting but the mayor was absent. The message was -- hey, why aren't you here?

"If he wants to be assemblyman, he can spend all the time he wants running for Assembly. He was elected to do a job and I'm sure all the residents of Rancho Cucamonga expect him here," Moffatt said.

Perhaps the message would be more effective if Moffatt saved it for Kurth's return.

The mayor was in Washington D.C. yesterday speaking to legislators about health care reform.

Library Director Robert Karatsu will lead a workshop on future plans for the second floor of the Biane Library at a special meeting today with the City Council, library board and library foundation board. It'll be 3 p.m. at the Cultural Center Celebration Hall.

The agenda for the 7 p.m. City Council meeting is very light. Organizers behind National Night Out, Linda Bryan of the Military Family Support Group and Minuteman Press will be honored at the start of the meeting. Planning Director James Troyer will present the results of a community survey as part of the General Plan update process. The Community Services department will present the Healthy RC Living show and Web site.
 

In today's article about landscape maintenance district fees, I made a mistake in describing potential future increases.

If majority of voters support an increase in landscape maintenance fees, the fee will not automatically increase every year. The fees will only increase if the maintenance costs increase and that will be capped at 3.5 percent. According to Deputy City Manager John Gillison, it's common for the city to get maintenance contracts with prices locked in for several years. In that case, the fees would not go up for the property owner.

Traffic Engineer Jon Gillespie presented a plethora of traffic calming options for Red Hill last night -- speed humps, speed pillows, rumble strips and radar speed signs. None were approved.

For one, they're just too noisy. Residents could be driven crazy with the sound of cars going over humps and bumps in front of their house.

They're also ugly. The radar speed signs, which are run on solar power and remind motorists how fast they're going, seem like a good idea. But most people probably don't want one in front of their house, said Gillespie.

One resident complained to Gillespie after the city installed such a sign, saying he didn't like looking out the window in the middle of the night and seeing "Your speed 50."

He also told Gillespie, "It just didn't fit with my landscaping."