Amgen Tour of California

The fourth running of Amgen's Tour of California will introduce San Diego County, and especially Escondido, to world class cycling on Sunday, February 22nd, 2009. We will host the eighth and final stage of the race.

Racers will begin that day's 98 mile course on Bernardo Center Dr. in Rancho Bernardo and wind through San Pasqual, past the Wild Animal Park, up Bear Valley Parkway past the Mayflower Dog Park, up the grade to Harrah's Rincon Casino, continue to Lake Henshaw, and even to Palomar Mountain. They will continue down the south grade road, rejoining highway 76, go to Cole Grade Road, and over to Valley Center Road and back down Valley Parkway. The race ends at the intersection of Grand Ave. and Broadway in Escondido.

A recently announced list of competitors included Lance Armstrong.

Planting the right plant in the right season

It's been cold and wet the last week. Roof leaks have shown up where there have never been leaks before. This is no doubt a good time to plant pansies, agapanthus, and tulips. Check it out on the Demesne Planting Calendar. But are those plants hardy enough to thrive in our fair city?

In a previous post, The Sunset New Western Garden Book was described as a must read. The bulk of the book is an encyclopedia of plants and each entry mentions in which climate zones the plant does best. Escondido is both a Climate Zone 20 and 21 depending on where you are. A very good site to help you select a tree for our climate zone is Cal Poly SLO's Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute's Selectree.

The USDA categorizes "hardiness zones" according to the mean of the lowest temperature recorded each winter. We are a USDA hardiness zone 9. This is for areas which get no colder that 20 degrees fahrenheit. A great site to help you select a plant for our hardiness zone is NC State University Urban Horticulture Department's Plant Fact Sheets.

Craftsman Homes

Craftsman style bungalows are the dominate type of home to still stand in Escondido among all those built between 1915 and 1940. Largely this is due to such design features as rooms opening off each other rather than off long, dark hallways, and rooms built in attic spaces. These were low cost ways of increasing useable space that work as well now as a century ago. With their numerous widows, porches, and wide eaves, inspired by homes built earlier in India, they are also quiet well adapted to Escondido's summer heat waves.

You might be looking into building new, smaller housing or refurbishing an existing Craftman home rather than chosing a McMansion. The Library has a good collection of books on the subject and we can help you find businesses that can supply you with architectural salvage such as Architectural Relics right here in Escondido.

Craftsman homes : architecture and furnishings of the American arts and crafts movement by Stickley, Gustav, 1858-1942. New York : Dover Publications, 1979.
Call #: 728.3 S
ISBN: 0486237915
Description: 205 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. ; 28 cm.

Check Item Status

Craftsman bungalows : 59 homes from the Craftsman edited by Gustav Stickley. New York : Dover Publications, 1988.
Call #: 728.373 C
ISBN: 0486258297 (pbk.) :
Description: viii, 151 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.

Check Item Status

The Battle of San Pasqual

Instead of a long distance drive to Tombstone or Bodie or Rhyolite in order to see history come alive, a great alternative would be to visit the annual San Pasqual Battle Reenactment December 7th, 2008.

The Mexican-American War battle reenactment is an annual event attended by hundreds of people on the Sunday closest to the day of the battle, December 7, 1846. However, each weekend, 10 to 5, you can learn about the battle at the San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park located at 15808 San Pasqual Valley Road Escondido, CA 92027.

There will be an earthquake tomorrow, you can count on it.

It's always a big news story when an earthquake hits Southern California. This one is different, it is a drill to help public agencies get better prepared. If you should visit a hospital or school and see hundreds of people milling about, they are probably one of San Diego County's over 450,000 participants.

For more information and for some earthquake safety tips visit the US Geological Survey page or Shakeout.org.

What's up?

You might find it interesting to compare the changes in neighborhood perceptions in a good economy versus a bad one. For example, in 2006 Escondido was building towards a better future by tearing down run down eyesores but in 2008 not only has construction stopped, and the properties become vacant lot eyesores but according to these comments the city is an overcrowded slum.

In 2007, because of perceived marketability in a down market, D. R. Horton tried turning the Paramount condominium complex from an upscale arts-oriented project with larger units and elevators, planned for "young couples, empty nesters, and those in between ... captivated by the lifestyle that downtown living affords." (SD Biz Journal) into just another family housing project.

Professor Sorin Matei, (Purdue, Communications Dept) wrote a report for the Kettering Foundation titled “Good” and “bad” neighborhoods: perceptions and reality. Matei states in his study of Lexington, Kentucky that "growth has pushed the perceived points of economic, civic and political gravity toward the south of the city. The north, while still commercially vital, hosting much of the services and industry, has become a perceptual “black hole”, the residential areas being considered unwelcoming and declining. This, despite the fact that many lesser known but quite welcoming neighborhoods are located here"

Through researching census data for Lexington, Matie found that crime in the north, though higher per square mile was actually similar per thousand residents to that of the south. See graphic on the left. Other "findings reveal that the two most important factors [in the perception of a desirable neighborhood] are lower population density and higher educated residents. The neighborhoods that fit this description are not the most expensive ones, neither the trendier ones."

Is Escondido as desirable a place to live now as in 2005? With the lower cost of housing and the same events, resources, and services, it's far more so!

Your historic place in the world

After you've found your place in the world using the Thomas Guide, one interesting search is to find out who first owned the property. Thanks to the Bureau of Land Management, you can search those "land patent" records online.

Click on "Search Land Patents", and then select the "Standard" search tab. Select the state along the top, and then select the county from the drop down menu in the "Land Description" section. Enter the block number under "Section NR" and the township and range information as well. Finally, ask for Glorecords to show you the "Results List" by "land descriptions, sorted by "Location" and click "Search"

From the results list, you can select the property by clicking on the Aliquot Parts that describe your parcel. The parcel described last week was "the North West quarter of the South East quarter of section 2, of the 12 South township of the 2 West range." It appears that the North West and North East quarters were joined in the North Half and go by the accession number CACAAA 081439 .

If you open up the record, you'll see that the area around Vintage Place, in Escondido was originally patented by Fred S. Rogers January 21st, 1890. Mr. Rogers - thanks to research materials available in the Pioneer Room - was a 25-year-old dry goods clerk, son of William and Eliza Rogers and brother to Sylvester S, also of Escondido. William was in real estate development and Sylvester owned Escondido's first prescription drug store at the time. Fred and his pregnant wife Nellie moved from Escondido to Syracuse, New York where he worked as an electrical engineer. Fred's son Malcolm Jennings Rogers was born there September 7th, 1890. Malcolm was a pioneering archaeologist and Curator of the San Diego Museum of Man.

Your Place in the World

The Thomas Guides published by Random House are extremely handy for giving directions. Almost all streets, geographic features, and political jurisdictions are recorded on its pages. People also frequently use the guides to find the zip code associated with a particular address. A little used feature of the guides is the pink township markings of the Public Land Survey System with which you can describe a unique parcel of land using horizontal and lateral lines, similair to the more familiar longitude and latitude lines.

Rather than the Equator or the Prime Meridian Escondido's initial point from which to be measured is Mount San Bernardino. Most of Escondido is in the 12th township south and second west of that mountain. A township is made up of 36 sections, each section being one square mile. Sections are numbered from 1 to 6, east to west then below that 7 to 12, west to east, back and forth. Imagine a survey crew on horseback in 1852. The Thomas Guide prints most of the section numbers in pink and prints plus signs at most of the section's corners.

A piece of property is described as being a numbered lot of certain dimensions in a parcel or subdivision described something like "the North West quarter of the South East quarter of section 2, of the 12 South township of the 2 West range." The property described, if it existed, would be off Vintage Place.

Girtsman's Housing Bubble

Some on the greatest novels written in the English language were written by disillusioned World War One veterans. Some of the greatest movies were written by World War Two veterans. Some of the greatest songs were written by Viet Nam War protesters. It would not be too much of a stretch to expect that the Iraq War and the international economic crisis we're in now, might lead to the golden era of a different, contemporary type of artistic expression.

Perhaps people will express themselves with music videos on YouTube like Dave Girtsman, of Blimp. If you would like to contribute to the "Golden Era of YouTube 2001 - 2021" by creating your own work in cyberspace, you might try learning tricks of the trade from this book, checking it out from the Escondido Public Library!

YouTube 4 you by Michael Miller, Indianapolis, Ind. : Que, c2007.
Call #: 006.7 M
ISBN: 0789736985, 9780789736987
Description: x, 197 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.

Check Item Status

Escondido Gang Prevention Group to Hold Community Forum

The Escondido Gang Reduction, Intervention, and Prevention Task Force (E-GRIP) is inviting the Community to attend one of two separate public forums to express their concerns regarding gang activity, and any suggestions on how to keep youths from joining gangs.
Escondido residents are encouraged to attend the location that is nearest to their home. Childcare and Spanish translation will be provided.
The dates and locations are:
Ø October 7, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. ● Rose Elementary, 906 N. Rose St., Escondido
Ø October 28, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. ● Felicita Elementary, 737 W. 13th Ave., Escondido

Consumer Comments on Contractors

The Small Business Administration's Advertising Primer tells businessmen that "Nobody sells you better than a satisfied customer, so in your efforts to gain sales from new prospects, remember that you can build sales equally well through customer referrals" So in this era of great technology, you would think that finding a blog entry with someones' first hand account would be the best way to go to determine which contractor you should hire.

Perhaps, but you don't know if the person giving you the glowing referral isn't the contractor's brother-in-law. Also, Internet entries are hard to find and never expire although the tiling subcontractor hired by the pool builder might have been fired for that bad workmanship, or he might even have retired.

What would be good would be ratings from a large number of each contractor's clients. It really works for books and professors. Someday one of the following companies will be your trusted resource:

Kudzu Free. Several listings and reviews for local area. Not comprehensive. Links to other reviews by each reviewer. This cuts down on the likelihood of the brother-in-law writing a phony review.

Angie's list One year membership costs $50 in advance. No survey could be completed due to cost. There are many complaints that it is not satisfactory, however.

Service Magic Free. Looks very professional. No local listings found.

Insiderpages Free. Easy to use. Part of the IAC group which owns Ask.com and Expedia. Has many local listings and several reviews. Reviewers are ranked by number of reviews posted so you can see how many reviews they've written without clicking and seeing all of the person's other reviews.

Toolman Depot Free. Straight forward search strategy but at this point so few listings and reviews that it's hard to judge its value. Perhaps in a few years.

Christmas Parade - Aid

Major social/cultural events define a town that hosts them. How they form, grow, are maintained, and the people who participate are definitive because nothing that important can exist in a vacuum. For example, children who march in the annual Christmas parade probably perform better in school because they are brought lovingly into the community fold. Studies on student volunteer programs confirm this. Cities with high performing schools are highly desirable places to live, so cities with superior events do more than entertain, they enhance home values.

Street Fair, First Night, Grape Day, and Cruising Grand are events which will be discussed in Your Escondido Home in the future, but until this morning's announcement that the police presence at the 2008 Escondido Christmas Parade would be funded by a donation from the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, it appeared that that event would be cancelled. Perhaps the marching bands had played their last note on North Broadway. This morning, in fact, the Jaycees were still posting that the 2008 Escondido Christmas Parade would be postponed until 2009.

Now that this year's parade has a pulse, consider not only attending - 9:30 AM, December 13, 2008 - but also volunteering to help, or possibly even joining the Escondido Jaycees as a member. The next parade meeting will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Cocina del Charro, 525 N. Quince St.

Consumer advice on contractors

Blogging is a wonderful way to record information. The problem is that the information you place online is, quite possibly, as invisible to the world as it would be sitting on your own hard drive.

Say that you have a complaint against a building contractor and you believe that it would be a service to warn others of their shoddy work. People who want confidence in a contractor before they call them might look for "escondido strawbale house contractors complaints" on Google or Dogpile. They won't find Leslie Miley's blog though, unless they know to search on the contractor's name: Three Little Pigs Construction. Exchanging the word "recommendations" for "complaints" does pull up an article on Anthony Flynn of RAF Construction but that article, as well as Mister Pimley's complaint about Mission Pools were posted on the Internet within the last few months. Miley's blog was posted almost two years ago.

Nothing but serendipity led to finding Laura Silver's list of recommendations last updated 18 months ago. Mentioning it and linking to it here will make it that much more prominent in the Google hit list next time someone searches.

The next post will present an alternative way to research consumer comments. Stay tuned.

Education Options

Say that you wanted to learn how to play the guitar. There are three Escondido listings in the yellow pages under Music Instrustion - Instrumental: B&H Music, The Music Room, and The Music Playce.

Arthur Golden is hosting two classes this fall at the Palomar College Escondido branch.

Jack Brooks is offering a class Wednesdays after school for teens through the Escondido Recreation Department. The classes are held just next door to the library at the Mathis Center.

In the past, guitar classes have been offered at the Escondido Adult School - ROP.

You might try looking for a tutor to come to your home on craigslist.

And of course, you can check out one of the dozens of books or videos available at the Library here at Second and Broadway in Escondido and strike out on your own.

Proposition A: Regional Fire Protection

There have been a large number of major fires in San Diego County in the last 15 years: the Harmony Grove Fire 1996, the La Jolla Reservation Fire 1999, the Pechanga Fire 2000, the Viejas Fire 2001, the Gavilan Fire 2002, the Pines Fire 2002, the Coyote Canyon Fire 2003, the Paradise Fire 2003, the Cedar Fire 2003, the Mataguay Fire 2004, the Witch Creek Fire 2007, the Rice Fire 2007, the Harris Fire 2007, and the Poomacha Fire 2007. All of them cost over a million dollars to fight and did over ten million dollars damage. Many took lives.

Fire protection issues make for lively discussions at both the state and local level, but little department funding has been added. A mandatory weed abatement program has been put into effect charged to rural land owners. Studies have shown this to be the most effective method of reducing the dangers of wildfires; however, weed abatement in San Pasqual would have meant little to the homeowners in Scripps Ranch and Rancho Bernardo or in the Escondido neighborhoods of Sonata and Lomas Serenas in 2007. They needed fire fighters, fire trucks, and airtankers.

Jerry Sanders and Ron Roberts have developed Proposition A for the November ballot. If approved by two-thirds of the county's voters, the parcel tax is expected to generate about $50 million a year to improve the funding of the Regional Fire Protection Agency. As of today opposition to the proposition has not united, but opponents are comprised of those who don't want to pay additional taxes and those who feel that the money raised will not be enough to do the job.

Trees don't only make paper

Which of us didn't dream of having a treehouse to escape when we were 5? Treehouses are part of our culture from the treehouse in Swiss Family Robinson to Bart Simpson's Treehouse. Being an adult now, you might now have the ability to make something fascinating as well as safe.

There are some wonderful examples online at the architectural blog WebUrbanist and the Library has a couple of recently published books. Read up and good luck!

Build your kids a treehouse by Schmidt, Philip. Chanhassen, Minn. : Creative Pub. International, c2007.
Call #: 690.89 S
ISBN: 9781589232877 (softcover)
Description: 142 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.

Check Item Status

Treehouses and playhouses you can build / by David R. Stiles; Salt Lake City, UT : Gibbs Smith, c2006.
Call #: 690.89 S
ISBN: 1586857800; 9781586857806
Description: 144 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.

Check Item Status

Escondido Union School District

Summer is a wonderful time to relax and play in and around Escondido. Fall is a great time, too, because it's the time that children go back to school and parents no longer have to pay for daycare or juggle their schedules to watch them. Posts at Your Escondido Home will return to a more regular pace when that happens.

For now, you might be interested in learning about your neighborhood school , its calendar, its policies, its boundaries, and telephone numbers to call for more information. If you're interested in its testing results, you should visit the California Dept. of Education page. If you're interested in something more subjective such as "Will my child enjoy the program?" you might research the reviews on greatschools.net.

Landscape: a problem or an opportunity?

If your home is landscaped with the classic look of junipers or azaleas under the eves and patchy yellow grass from there to the curb, you've probably thought once or twice about making drastic changes. Where can you get ideas that won't cost you a fortune?

Here's a website and a book:

Landscape Online won't help you select plants for your container garden, but it has hundreds of well illustrated articles which are keyword searchable. Cover the drop down menu titled "Research" and select "Search Articles." I tried the terms "Gophers" and "Palms". The first led me to an article on "critter control". The second provide pictures of the Frederick Law Olmstead landscaping for Stanford University using "Trachycarpus fortunei" - windmill palms.. along with 245 other articles

Sunset Before & After Garden Makeovers by Vicki Webster and the editors of Sunset Books. Menlo Park, Calif. : Sunset Pub., c2006.
Call #: 712.6 S
ISBN: 0376031883
Description: 144 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.

Check Item's Status

Bidclerk

The internet is crowded with advertising - much of the information is highly selective and exaggerated. That might be helpful to you, because hiring a building contractor is as much like hiring a best friend as it is like buying a case of canned corn.

For those of you who would like to push the experience of home construction closer towards the "You say, they do, you pay" model, there is Bidclerk. Free for those of us who want to hire building, landscape, or swimming pool contractors; you simply describe what you want done and contractors who pay for the service will be able to contact you with a price quote.

You are not required to take the lowest bid or even use any of the bids submitted there. It is suggested that you ask for references and check the status of their contractor's license before agreeing to hire them.

They do not provide a list of their subscribing contractors, or even publish an estimated number of subscribers, so Bidclerk's effectiveness is unknown. Similar websites to Bidclerk include: BidstreetUSA, and Constructiondeal.com.

Eviction Resources

Possibly, a public librarian's most frequent legal reference question is "How do I evict a deadbeat tenant?" Like all legal, tax, and medical questions, we are unqualified to offer advice. Still, we aim to help out as best we can by buying books and directing people to informative websites. Our best book is:


The California landlord's law book : evictions by David Brown, Berkeley, CA : Nolo.com
Call #: Oversized 346.79404 B
ISBN: 0873375432
Description: v. <2> : ill., forms ; 28 cm. + 1 computer laser optical disc (4 3/4 in.)

Check Item Status


As for websites, the San Diego Superior Court offers a bit of help navigating their own specific requirements to file an unlawful detainer action. Note two links in the left hand column: "Forms" and "Self Help Center" The first one provides you with a pdf file of the unlawful detainer information sheet for San Diego County. The second one provides you with most of the other forms you'll need IF the tenant does not respond to your 3 day notice and you need to take him to court.

Many people come into the library to photocopy other forms, such as the 3-day Notice to Pay Rent or Quit out of the California landlord's law book. Alternately, you may be able to use the forms and legal advice included in the Nevada County Court's Unlawful Detainer Instructions for Landlords.

Old Escondido Neighborhood Group

The Old Escondido Neighborhood Group (OENG) was organized in 1989 to preserve the historic character of that neighborhood. They do that by hosting parties, educational walking tours, and quarterly town hall meetings at the Escondido Public Library, Turrentine Room to foster the camaraderie you would normally only get in small towns. They also lobby City Hall for neighborhood improvements and assist the city in applications for redevelopment grants.

If you are fortunate enough to live in one of the 900 homes within the district bounded by Fifth Avenue on the north, Chestnut Street on the east, Thirteenth Avenue on the south and South Escondido Boulevard on the west then you are automatically a member.

Real Estate Syndicates and Investment Trusts

The cost of real estate has been falling for more than two years now. Perhaps you feel that the bottom has been reached and now is the time to buy low, however, you have no desire to become a landlord or to move into a larger home just for the sake of the investment. What you might consider is finding a Real Estate Syndicate or a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust). They purchase and manage commercial properties (including apartment complexes) and pay you a monthly dividend.

For advice concerning the strengths of the current market, there was a May 5, 2008 article in Forbes titled "The REIT Time?" You can read it online by signing onto and searching Business Source Premier with your Escondido Public Library card.

If you do decide to invest in a REIT, there are many companies looking forward to assisting you. The Bank of Escondido and Realty Income Corp are both here in Escondido.

Yellow Straw Bales used in green homes

Straw-bale construction is a distinctive method of enclosing and insulating a post and beam house built to meet California seismic codes. Several local contractors and architects are available in the North San Diego County area to help you build with straw.

Projects that have been highlighted in the local media include and the Atkins home in Fallbrook built by RAF Contruction of Ramona, the Dunham-Kidwell home in Jamul designed by Hubbell & Hubbell and built by Sustainable Building Systems and the Chris Exline home of Escondido built by his father David Exline of Three Little Pigs Strawbale Design and Construction of Paso Robles.

You can read more about the building method in the book,

Straw bale building : how to plan, design & build with straw by Chris Magwood & Peter Mack Gabriola Island, B.C., Canada : New Society Publishers, c2000.

Call #: 693.997 M

ISBN: 0865714037

Description: xvii, 234 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Check Item Status

San Diego's Source for Business

The Escondido Public Library subscribes to a very informative newspaper, The Daily Transcript. If you are a residential contractor and new home construction is drying up, you should certainly come into the library and we can provide you with it and other tools to keep your business afloat.

Since you are currently online, you might want to check out. From the home page, you see links in an Information box such as Construction and from that selection there is a Construction BidBoard searchable database - Sorry - it and many other features are for subscribers only.

It is still a worthwhile site to add to your favorites list, though. A few of its free features:

• In the Resources box there are links to the Small Business Center, SBA News Notes, and CSSM Leadership Series. These hold a lot of information helpful to businessmen looking to change the direction of their businesses.
• Also in the Resources box there is a link to the San Diego Sourcebook and San Diego Newsmakers. These provide you with business contacts and a little background on each.
• In the Research box there is a link to Public Notices. Here you may want to select 600 City of San Diego or 802 Proposals/Bids in order to review building projects currently open for bid.
• As you are not a subscriber, you cannot search the database and the above view of Public Notices only shows what was published that day. To review previous dates, open one of the selections - 600 or 802 - and then scroll to the bottom of the page. There you will be allowed to Browse by Publication Date and can open each day's advertisements as far back as you'd like.

Sometimes propoganda is fun!

Even at Your Escondido Home there is time for fun. "Riding" the rising and falling costs of homes plotted versus inflation is one of those times. Thanks to blogger Richard Hodge's use of Atari’s Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 you can experience the rises and falls of home costs from 1890 to 2007. The propaganda comes when you reach 1997 and you notice the steep, unending, upward climb ending with tracks to nowhere - presumably a horrific fall.

Hodge, got his information from Robert J. Shiller, Professor of Economics at Yale University, so the data should be reliable. Selectively presented in order to provoke an emotional response, but reliable.

Oceanfront Escondido?

With the recent report in the North County Times titled Local fault capable of 7.5-magnitude quake. You might be wondering how Escondido might fair. Historically, the most significant local earthquake appears to be the 5.4 magnitude Oceanside earthquake of July 13, 1986.

According to the Southern California Earthquake Center's searchable earthquake catalog, verified by the California Department of Conservation, there was a 4.3 magnitude quake at 33.070 latitude -116.803 longitude on December 4th, 1991. This would be a couple hundred yards north of the Wild Animal Park. The Escondido Times Advocate, however, didn't mention it.

The Elsinore Fault (pictured), which had a 6.0 magnitude quake on May 15th, 1910, runs closest to Escondido. A 6.0 quake on the fault near Palomar Mountain could lightly damage some buildings in town. A 7.0 quake there could cause heavy damage to many buildings depending on the depth, direction and variation of the seismic waves produced. A 7.0 earthquake has the equivalent strength of the sudden detonation of 32 million tons of TNT.

Because of the strength of the bedrock under Escondido, it is unlikely that the energy from the seismic waves will be amplified and extended here. Therefore, even in the event of a 7.0 earthquake on the nearest location of the nearest fault to Escondido, damage should not be catastrophic.

Property Finder provides answers

The Escondido GIS (Geographic Information System) maintains a website called Property Finder. Among many applications, some yet to be realized, are those mainly intended to allow users to search for available retail, commercial, office, and industrial property in Escondido. If you are a realtor with Escondido listings or a property owner with vacant (non-residential) space for lease or sale, you can apply for a login and password and post available properties to the searchable database.

Some of the unrealized applications:

If you're thinking of renting an apartment and you'd like to see if it is on a busy street click in the box in front of "Average Daily Traffic Counts (2004)" in the left hand menu. Traffic numbers will appear in yellow boxes when you search for that address.

If you'd like to see the percentage of renter occupied versus owner occupied homes within a .5 mile radius of a home you're looking to buy, or want to see the percentage of households with five or more occupants because of parking fears, run a demographic report.

If you'd like to be hired to work for a television sound crew, but thought you'd have to move to Los Angeles, you can find employment information clicking on the "Demographics" search tab, and selecting the report titled "Business and Workforce" from the dropdown box. In 2005 there were 53 people who worked in the motion picture industry living here in Escondido. You don't have to move.

Is now the time to buy?

The economy is really bad, so is it a really good idea for you to buy rather than rent. Don't play a hunch, check out one of these three books and make an informed decision.

Tips and traps when buying a condo, co-op, or townhouse / by Robert Irwin. New York : McGraw-Hill, c2007.
Call #: 643.12 I
ISBN: 0071467955 (alk. paper), 9780071467957 (alk. paper)
Description: xi, 208 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.

Check Item's Status

Why rent? : own your dream home! / by Entrepreneur Press and Jason R. Rich. [Irvine, Calif.] : Entrepreneur Press, c2006.
Call #: 643.12 R
ISBN: 1599180359 (alk. paper), 9781599180359 (alk. paper) Description: xiv, 225 p. ; 19 cm.

Check Item's Status

The geek's guide to home buying / by Karen James. Birmingham, Ala. : Crane Hill Publishers, 2006.
Call #: 643.12 J
ISBN: 9781575872544 (pbk.), 1575872544
Description: 192 p. ; 21 cm.

Check Item's Status

Escondido Spring Garden Tour

Join the Escondido History Center for their second annual spring garden tour on April 19th. Gardens include the San Diego Home & Garden Magazine's 2002 Garden of the Year: Villa Floreal at Oak Creek Adjacent to Felicita Park, you can park there at no charge and walk a very short distance to this arborist's amazing woodland garden with year-round creek. The second garden has expansive views, yet feels secluded, and caters to our feathered friends. The third garden features literally hundreds of roses, dahlias, gladiolas, and other flowering plants for what just might be a sensory overload. Refreshments, a plant sale and goodie bags are all included in this event that supports the EHC Endowment. Tickets are $15 at any garden on April 19th, but only $12.50 if purchased in advance. Pre-sale tickets are available at The Escondido History Center, El Plantio Nursery, or by mail at least 10 days in advance.

Sponsored by El Plantio Nursery and Grangetto's Farm & Garden Supply.
PLEASE CARPOOL
Start with free parking at Felicita Park for adjacent garden
OR call hotline at 760 743-4382 for all addresses and directions
April 19
10am-2pm
$15 at the gate

How does Escondido stack up?

If you are considering moving to ...or from...Escondido in the near future, there are many factors that can help you make the decision. Family, a job opportunity, or going away to attend college are often reasons.

If the world is your oyster, though, you might consider visiting Sperling's Best Places online to rate your city. There Escondido compares well statistically to similar cities like Chula Vista or Murrieta; how does your city compare?

You might also compare a region's economics. The Milken Institute says that the San Diego economy, which was ranked #1 in 2002, has steadily fallen to #72 in the 2007 report. Whereas Ocala, FL, which was rated 117 in 2002 is now rated #1.

Calculate Your Mortgage Payment

In the era before computers, people would frequently come to the library to look for books of loan amortization tables. That's because they were NOT exciting reads, were seldom referred to, and were never owned by ordinary people. So, they are a fabulous example of why people needed libraries.

Now, most people calculate loan payments online or with special software. A good website for that is on Yahoo Finance. Other calculators there allow you to compare various loan terms, or whether it's best for you to pay points in order to qualify for a lower interest rate.

What is a librarian to do without storing and dusting thousands of boring, seldom read books? We get to spend more time helping people and the library's shelves get to hold books that are exciting and seldom sit long enough to need dusting.

San Diego County Fair

Although San Diego County may not be the Agricultural Mecca it once was, there is still a very large and very popular County Fair held every summer in Del Mar. As a master gardener, you can show off your most beautiful flowers in the Paul Ecke Jr. Flower & Garden Show. As a carpenter, you can check out the woodworking exhibits.

Entrance forms are available at the Escondido Public Library in April and the entrance deadlines are usually in the beginning of May.

Correction 4/4/2008 Entrance forms are no longer being sent to public libraries. In order to participate, please click on the logo and then on "Win a Blue Ribbon" to obtain an entry form online.

Landlord's Be Cautious

Landlords should be cautious in deciding to whom to rent their home or apartment. Unscrupulous tenants can easily cost them several thousand dollars in lost rent and legal fees. Even higher amounts if they vandalize the property. Sites like criminalwatchdog.com or youcheckcredit.com provide answers, but at a price. Also, they often require proof of the tenant's consent to do the background checks.

An easier and free way to check how often someone is involved in the San Diego Court system is by performing a Court Index Inquiry. If you search on their name and they are involved as a defendent in a civil case with a number that starts with a U, then they were most likely sued for Unlawful Detainer in an attempt to evict them.

This is by no means fool proof. There are easily over 50 unlawful detainer lawsuits against people with the common name of Jose Garcia. There are more than 100 criminal cases against a Jim or James Jones. Even when a name is uncommon, there is no way of saying, using this index, that your prospective tenant was not evicted outside of San Diego County.

For more security there is always criminalwatchdog.

Gardener's Must Reads

We like to highlight our new books, but frequently our older books are the ones gardeners consider essential. Here are three excellent examples:

Reader's digest practical guide to home landscaping. / Pleasantville, N.Y. : Reader's Digest Association, [1995] - 14th printing
Call #: OVER 712.6 R
Description: 479 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.

Check Item Status

The Ortho home gardener's problem solver / created by the editorial staff of Ortho Books ; editor, Cheryl Smith. - 3rd edition
San Ramon, CA : Solaris Group, c1993.
Call #: OVER 635 O
ISBN: 089721255X
Description: 399 p. : col. ill., col. maps ; 28 cm.

Check Item Status

Sunset new western garden book / by the editors of Sunset books and Sunset magazine. Menlo Park, Calif. : Lane Pub. Co., - 8th Edition
Call #: Over 635 S
ISBN: 0376038853
Description: 1 v. : ill. ; 28 cm.

Check Item Status

What brings home buyers to Your Escondido Home?

MSN has a nice article with some good links titled What realty agents won't tell you. It explains there are some pieces of information that an agent simply can't speak about due to fair-housing laws. That's where librarians come in; we generally can tell you by pulling up statistics, first-hand reports, and historical records.

Sorry, if you're planning to move into a cheap apartment owned by a slumlord, crawling with gangs, close to being condemned; we won't stop you. However, you might note an anxiousness in our voice when we say, "I highly suggest you check out ARJIS" or "That is a very spacious area, lots of open fields, no houses, no playgrounds,.. no birds,.... no wildlife..... Geotracker is a site you might want to visit."

Real estate agents are knowledgeable professionals, and they will often tell you the same sites in much the same ways as librarians, but they deal on commission and have an obligation to protect the seller and seller's agent as well as to protect you. A librarian's obligation is to provide facts which help you make better decisions. Therefore, we might just hurt the interest of a slumlord or someone trying to sell a toxic waste dump.

Crime in your neighborhood?

Potential renters and home buyers are always asking if the apartments they're looking into are in high crime neighborhoods. For San Diego County, the answers can come from creating a map on ARJIS (the Automated Regional Justice Information System).

One tip: A large number of neighborhoods might look like high crime neighborhoods. Be sure to compare the address that interests you with another address you are familiar with to get best results.

Escondido to host Firescaping Program

The City of Escondido Utilities Department and Rincon del Diablo MWD are hosting a workshop about fire-resistant landscaping from 6 to 9 p.m. March 3, at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 340 N. Escondido Blvd. Douglas Kent, author of “Firescaping: Creating Fire-resistant Landscape, Gardens, and Properties in California’s Diverse Environments” will speak. For more information call: (760) 839-4076.

Check the book's status

Losing your home?

The HOME Clinic is a community service program of the Housing Opportunities Collaborative, a coalition of nonprofit organizations and agencies in the San Diego region.

This Clinic will pool attorneys, real estate and mortgage industry professionals, housing counseling agencies, fair housing agencies, and other public agencies into one location to give you a one-stop shop of counseling resources. It can connect you to legal assistance, consumer protection assistance, credit counseling, and fair housing counseling, in English and in Spanish.

Educational sessions on credit management, mortgage loans, bankruptcy and consumer protection will also be provided.

IF YOU NEED IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE, CALL 1-888-995-HOPE.

Searching for a house?

There are many websites you can use to locate houses for sale including the official site of the National Association of Realtors, Redfin, and Zillow.

Each has its own reason to visit as each has different features. Realtor.com has featured tours, Redfin has a forum to ask questions online, and Zillow has an automatic appraisal system based on recent home sales. If you aren't in the market for a home, an entertaining part of Zillow is their page highlighting the homes of the stars.

Of course the blockbuster site of the future might be owned by Google - see their beta site Google Base which allows you to search for haunted houses or houses with firepoles for sale worldwide. It's also good to find a house by street name which is almost impossible on the other sites.

1001 ideas for home improvement

1001 ideas for kitchen organization / by Joseph R. Provey.
Upper Saddle River, NJ : Creative Homeowner, 2007.
Call #: Oversize 643.3 P
ISBN: 1580113613, 9781580113618
Description: 253 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.

Check item status


1001 ideas for floors : the ultimate sourcebook : flooring solutions for every room / by Emma Callery.
Chanhassen, Minn. : Creative Publishing International, 2008.
Call #: Oversize 747.4 C
ISBN: 9781589233577 (pbk) 1589233573 (pbk.)
Description: 240 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.

Check item status

1001 ideas for color & paint / by Emma Callery.
Upper Saddle River, NJ : Creative Homeowner, c2006.
Call #: Oversize 698.14 C
ISBN: 1580112889
Description: 240 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.



Check item status