There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, Shining at the end of every day

If you are in your forties or older, you might remember how optimistic the Disney corporation was in their future back in 1967. That's when the updated Tomorrowland opened in Disneyland with such rides as: The People Mover, The Adventure thru Inner Space (with the big eyeball), and of course, the Carousel of Progress with the air conditioning, short lines, and boppy music. This optimism came despite the fact that Mr. Disney died the year before of lung cancer and their most recent animated success was 101 Dalmatians back in 1961.


After you left The Carousel of Progress, you rode up a ramp where the narrator of the show introduced you to a model called "Progress City." What it lacked in boppy music, it made up for in spectacle. How many city planners were influenced by this ride and "Progress City" will never be known, although Disney's optimism despite loss and repeated failures (see Monkeys, Go Home! 1967) has perhaps rubbed off.

North County Times columnist Jeff Frank asked the question in his article, (Is it) Time for Escondido to shift direction? He pointed out some of Escondido's past attempts at making itself an upscale retail/entertainment center and questioned whether the planned Marriott hotel might be another box office failure, similar to Disney's Those Calloways, 1965 . The hotel has been a contentious issue and Frank suggests that perhaps a less contentious alternative might be "an indoor mini-golf course and arcade, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor or perhaps a small classic-car museum to play off the success of Cruisin' Grand."

That article was printed in the Sunday, July 11th edition of the North County Times and as of this moment, no one has commented on any of his ideas. Since then, articles have discussed a potential stadium for the Chargers, and an In-n-Out Burger restaurant. The Paramount Condominium Project actually has been changed from being a 92 unit four story project of 3 and 4 bedrooms with private elevators and a minimum of 1880 sq ft., into a 116 unit three story project with 81 2 bedroom units of 993 sq ft and no elevators. The Westfield company has abandoned plans to add 450,000 sq ft of retail and entertainment space at Shoppingtown North County in favor of cosmetic changes and refurbishing the existing space.

These have generated a fair number of comments after the articles were published online, but many of the comments are off topic, sensationalistic, or lack even minimal insight as to the impact of these projects on the area. The Escondidans who visited the Carousel of Progress seem not to have been much influenced by its message.

If you were, and have not felt comfortable providing an optomistic message on Escondido's future in the comments portion of the North County Times because so many other commentors have responded without courtesy, please don't remain part of the silent majority. Comment on this blog. These comments are moderated and must add to the knowledge and appreciation of our readers in order to be included. No insults or ignorant attacks will be published here. Possibly, after several years, rather than presenting resources for the improvement of our town, this will be a resource all of its own.

Improving your rental business

Of course, there are thousands of ways to improve your rental business from Allowing pets to charging Zero for the first month's rent. Many of these attempts at promotion are a mistake, however, and should be replaced by the ever so reliable, keep your buildings nice and your tenants happy.

Most amateur landlords have a problem putting these two principles in practice, and can relate many horror stories about being taken. That's where a library can help. We have books to help you redecorate, to mediate disputes, and to make friends and influence people.

Every landlord's guide to finding great tenants by Portman, Janet.
Berkeley, CA : Nolo, 2006.
Call #: 346.7304 P
ISBN: 1413304133 (alk. paper) 9781413304138 (alk. paper)
Description: 470 p. ; 23 cm. + 1 CD-ROM

Check Item Status

We can also direct you to a consumer rating site for tenants so you can keep tabs on amenities and how your building compares with others in the same market or a free online classifieds service so you can save your money for improved building maintenance.

Keeping in touch with water

If you have a question about how much water Esconididans used last year or what the average rainfall is in Hemet, call the Library at 760-839-4839. However, if you haven't formed your question yet; if you just have an uncomfortable feeling about how little you know about the drought, the best way to get a lot of information these days is to search a variety of websites; better even than asking a meteorologist.

When it comes to water ecology/conservation information, there are hundreds of websites with potentially valuable information, many of which are updated on a regular basis. Certainly, good sites for Escondido residents would be the City's Water Conservation website and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California bewaterwise.com.

For timely water news, you should visit three additional sites: Steve Betheil's Water Secrets Blog which covers world water shortage/water pollution news. Anonymous posts water stories that the Natural Resources Defense Council won't on his Western Water Blog. Aqua Blog Maven's water blog, Aquafornia, produced by the Water Education Foundation, is very frequently updated. There are hundreds if not thousands of articles just on San Diego, and there's also the Weird and Wacky section which goes to show that not all water stories are depressing during a drought.

Drought Measures - What?

We are currently in a drought watch. That means that we need to use less water in a variety of ways. It does not mean that the water police will spy on you.

Now that we have invested in the infrastructure necessary to obtain and store water from multiple sources - sources which may be thousands of miles apart in entirely different weather systems - droughts do not effect us that season. What happens is that number crunchers review our water use, our water allotment, and such environmental data as snow pack and reservoir levels to provide us with 99% certainty that we will always be able to turn on the tap.

Encouraging customers to voluntarily reduce their water use is the preferred way to balance our use with our allotment. Other ways are through fines, increasing fees, providing rebates for the purchase of water conserving equipment and putting our limited resources into a market based system in which people can profit by using less water.

Check out more tips for positive ways that you can prosper during this drought at the Escondido City Utilities Department Water Conservation Page.

Drought Measures - Why?

In a previous post, the "who" of the drought was highlighted using one lawsuit as an example. However, the lawsuit described is only the most recent of many lawsuits directed towards redistributing the flow of publicly funded water projects and restoring native fish habitats. Even if the litigants, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Secretary of the Interior (Kempthorne), were not involved in a plan to restrict water flowing to Escondido through the Central Valley Project, there would still be a problem obtaining enough water.

The San Diego County Water Authority estimates that between 75% and 95% of our water needs to be imported due to our arid climate, dense population, and intensive agriculture. In order to secure the importation of our water, we purchase water rights and develop infrastructure, but in the case of a drought or environmental disaster in that distant location, our aqueducts may run far under capacity.

As for droughts, the current forecast for the Central Valley water supply is running 80% of average in the north bound San Joaquin River and 70% of average in the south bound Sacramento River. The long standing drought in the Upper Colorado Basin has recently broken, however, the reservoirs on the Colorado River are at about half of capacity. A very good site to check on the current conditions is the Drought Monitor of the National Drought Mitigation Center of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

The recent success of NRDC v. Kempthorne came after the defeat of Defenders of Wildlife v. (Secretary of the Interior) Norton, an attempt by environmentalists to protect endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico. In March of 2003, a federal court found that (1) the Dept. of the Interior (DOI) cannot control whether water reaches the Colorado River Delta, and (2) under the terms of the Treaty of 1944 and the Law of the River, the DOI has no discretion to release additional water to Mexico.

Additional lawsuits pertaining to the Colorado River habitat are bound to make their way through the courts, however, perhaps closing the desalination plant in Yuma or the emptying of the newly concrete lined All-American Canal. It may only be a matter of time.

Drought Measures

As the City of Escondido will soon suffer a water shortage, Escondidans - who have this month enjoyed over three inches of rain - should be interested in the whys, whos, and wherefores of the upcoming "drought." This entry will provide the who's.

Federal District Court Judge Oliver W. Wanger of the Eastern District of California ruled in Natural Resources Defense Council v. Dirk Kempthorne that the Central Valley Project had to increase the fresh water it allowed to flow into the Delta and out to sea to flush the ecosystem and improve the health of several endangered fish species, most notably the indicator species called the Delta Smelt. Judge Wagner was born in L.A. in 1940, graduated from USC and then UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1966. He helped found San Joaquin College of Law in Fresno in 1969 and held a variety of legal posts from then until 1991 when he was appointed to this judicial seat. In another controversial case in 2008, he ruled that the City of Fresno owed 225 homeless citizens 2.35 million dollars for the destruction of their property during several city clean up campaigns (over $10,000 per person). Fresno Mayor Alan Autry was not happy with the agreement, complained to the press in a written statement, and Wagner ordered him to appear in court to defend his words.

Natural Resources Defense Council founded in 1970 employs more than 300 people, mainly lawyers and lobbyists, who "strive to help create a new way of life for humankind, one that can be sustained indefinitely without fouling or depleting the resources that support all life on Earth." Doug Obegi is the staff attorney on the Western Water Project for NRDC. Born in Orange County, he graduated from UC Hastings College of the Law in 2006. Prior to working for NRDC he worked for the Ocean Conservancy as a policy analyst. Obegi's explanation for the importance of this action is contained in his paper titled Fish Out of Water.

Dirk Kempthorne, was the United States Secretary of the Interior from 2006 to 2009. Born in San Diego, he moved to Idaho where he was elected both Senator and Governor of the state. As Interior Secretary, he was awarded the 2007 Rubber Dodo Award for not placing a single plant or animal on the federal endangered species list during his administration up to that time - 472 days. The previous record was for 376 days between 1981 and 1982.

Mission Park Neighborhood

If the heart of Escondido is a place not a mood, then the Mission Park Neighborhood might just be the spot. It's centralized location includes shopping centers, restaurants, entertainment spots and the Joslyn Senior Center. In addition, hundreds of professionals are employed there by institutions such as Chicago Title, Kaiser Permanente, Mission Middle School, and Escondido's Chamber of Commerce.

It is a neighborhood dominated by apartment complexes and rental houses. As you drive through, you will see pedestrians on the sidewalks, young men on street corners, and children playing in parking lots. These are indications of an urban environment within a city comfortable with its suburban lifestyle. This density has been achieved despite the area's 35 foot height restrictions as most of it is R-3 Medium Multiple Residential zoned.

Perhaps the Mission Park Neighborhood, with all of its people, business, and professional employment does represent more to the pulse of the City than just its centralized location.