Salida MAC Newsletter - May 2013

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Nick W. Blom Salida Regional Library Report - Library Branch Manager, Diane Bartlett shared that April 24 is the last day of "Read to a Dog" for "...children to read to dogs who are good listeners." Saturday, April 27 is "Love Salida" day and there will be opportunities to volunteer and help out at the library. Storytime for pre-schoolers starts again on Thursday, May 2nd for ages 3-5. "Wiggle-worms" reading time up to age 3 begins on Wednesday, May 1 with two sessions, one at 10 am and then repeated at 11 am. More theater is coming, SF Shakes will present "Julius Caesar" later in the year and our local community is starting a "Reader's Theater" - no acting experience is required. Call 543-7353 for more info.

Salida Fire (Station 12) Admin bldg demolition

Salida Fire District Report - Vince Bowman, 'A' Shift Captain at Station 12 reported that fire calls have stayed about the same as the previous month. As the weather warms up, there will be more grassland and wildland fires. Water rescue training will begin very soon. A new group of recruit firefighters will be starting in the first few weeks of May. Training will be held at Station 14 on Ciccarelli Road. Also, the administration building at Station 12 will be demolished. On Wednesday, May 22, Modesto Regional Fire Authority is holding a FREE "Compression-only" CPR training. One of the locations where the training will be held is at Salida's Station 12. Call 552-3600 to sign up or for more info.

Stanislaus County Sheriff Report - Salida Community Deputy Lloyd MacKinnon shared some burglary stats - two days that are the most prevalent for burglaries in Salida are Sundays and Tuesdays. Since December 12, there have been 33 reported residential burglaries in Salida. Time frame is 8 am - noon. Door kicks and window smashes are the most common forms of entry. Deputy MacKinnon is still out patrolling and there are two sheriff cars in the area. He started a "Block-watch" program on Oxbow Ct. and about 20 people showed up. Deputy MacKinnon introduced the "Next Door" website and explained how it works as a form of communication. He asked that residents not set up separate ones until he knows more about it. By the next Salida MAC meeting, he can share more about it and additionally, a new program with an emergency text message system.

CHP Report - CHP Officer Chuck DeLeon reported that Salida had 8 traffic collisions (3 of which were on Freeway 99) and 3 were DUI related and 2 were hit and run. One of the hit and run suspects was caught. 6 DUI arrests last month, 3 different drug arrests, 8 stolen vehicles, 1 toy-hauler and 1 license plate theft. One of those vehicle thefts was from someone who started their car, went back inside their house, and came out to their car being gone. Officer DeLeon recommended that residents do not do that. He also recommended not to leave anything inside the cars to prevent smash and grabs. 

Salida Sanitary Report - Salida Sanitary Board member Brad Johnson asked that residents attend the meetings. Meetings are held on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. Mr. Johnson is encouraging solar requirements for new development. There's a photo of the Sanitary District's robot on the back table.

Stanislaus County Parks and Recreation Department - Jami Aggers, Director of Stanislaus County Parks and Recreation brought handouts and stated that they wish to move forward with the Pirrone & Finney Sidewalks and Trees replacement project. Because CSA 10 is a fixed assessment and cannot be increased without a vote approving it, the county has found different ways like not outsourcing the landscape maintenance and installing no-potable irrigation wells in parks to keep costs down. 

Ms. Aggers stated that they have revised their proposal because Salida residents want to keep the trees. There's an update in the proposal regarding a root control system, to not remove trees that are not causing a problem at the moment and could perhaps be spared.  When they sent out the initial notices, they only sent out 475 to the property owners in the immediate vicinity and based on feedback from last month's Salida MAC meeting, they sent out notices to all 2,700 residents in the CSA 10 district. 

Stanislaus County Parks & Recreation Director Jami Aggers
addresses Salida residents about the sidewalks & trees issue.

Stanislaus County of Public Works - PowerPoint handouts from the last meeting are on the back table.  There are 139 trees in the project areas proposed to be organized into two phases. They are grouped in the two phases based on practicality and cost reasons. 97 trees are proposed to be removed as ones that are already causing damage to the sidewalk or ones that will cause damage in the near future. 47 trees are in phase 1 and 50 trees are in phase 2. Public works would like to begin phase 1 this summer and phase 2 will be in 5 years because they need to build funds. Only 9 of the 47 trees could be spared in phase 1. From an engineer's perspective, they feel it would be more cost-effective to remove all of the trees now. The two pictures in the handout do not represent the trees they wish to put in but they do represent the size. They feel the best option is to go with 15 gal trees which cost $475 per tree (estimates are from Grover Nursery but will go out to competitive bid). The cost breakdown is $165 per tree and additional expenses go to root barriers and deep-well watering systems. An additional $102 goes to contingencies and inspections. 

Vice-Chairman Johnson requested that the County bring a list of acceptable trees and a list of banned

Bacon & Royal Windsor
lifted sidewalk - before picture

trees. During the Q&A, a resident complained that there was a big drop in the sidewalk at Royal Windsor and Bacon and asked for it to be repaired. (Salida MAC councilmember Katherine Borges took the photos and Salida Chamber of Commerce Vice-President Jim Bonetti submitted them to Stanislaus County Public Works which grounded down, patched the sidewalk, and removed the tree.)

Bacon & Royal Windsor
sidewalk repaired - after pic

Jami Aggers clarified that the costs presented are just ballpark estimates and they needed to evaluate how much of the project can be done at a time.

Love Salida Report - Councilmember Katherine Borges had this item added to the agenda per the recommendation of Stanislaus County Public Works Director Matt Machado for a proposal to paint murals on the canal walls along Finney Road. Lorenzo Oreglia is heading up the organization of artwork and he commented on it along with plans for teens to help paint the murals. Councilmember Borges also mentioned that Salida Rotary would begin work on the center landscaping strip along Broadway at 8 am and would be accepting donations of mobility equipment. And the new Salida Chamber of Commerce will have a booth at Salida Park and will be accepting new membership sign-ups that day. 

Supervisor District 3 Report - Supervisor Terry Withrow reported that the probation DRC (Day Reporting Center) on Salida Blvd is now closed and has been moved downtown.

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 at 7 pm at the Nick W. Blom Salida Regional Library Community Room, 4835 Sisk Road, Salida. Featured topic is the Pirrone & Finney sidewalks and trees issue. (For more info, read Ken Carlson's Modesto Bee article, "Salida trees are awaiting the ax")

Salida MAC meetings are broadcast on government cable channel 19 in Salida.

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