Gene Wunderlich - Realtor®, Government Affairs Director

The City of Murrieta held their 2009 Veterans Day Parade and Groundbreaking for their Veterans Memorial today. It was a Chamber of Commerce day, hazy skies keeping the sun from blistering the thousands of people lining Washington Avenue while more than 80 parade entries honored our Veterans. Vintage cars carried vintage Veterans, dignitaries paid tribute, the La Mesa Warbirds swooped overhead, there were motorcycle veterans, submariners from the silent service, marching bands, color guards, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts by the troop.

It was my privilege to be one of the parade announcers this year.

Veterans marched, flew and rode by. Some in wheelchairs, some on crutches & canes, some with as regal bearing as when they marched into battle 65 years ago or more.

Members of the US Submarine Veterans paraded a model of the USS Bonefish. (SS-582), the last conventionally powered submarine in the US Navy. Decommissioned in 1988, this model is 1/10 the size of the 219' Bonefish, which carried a crew of 84.

3 Bands and several marching groups sported color guards and precision flag movements.

Prior to the groundbreaking, a pantheon of local dignitaries, Mayors, Council members, and guests thanked our veterans for their service. Grand Marshall and WWII Marine Corp Veteran Harold Craig was introduced and over 2 dozen WWII veterans were with him. Among the speakers, Murrieta Council Member and veteran Rick Gibbs gave an eloquent tribute to veterans including many in his family for whom he flew flags in the Field of Honor. Congresswoman Mary Bono-Mack also praised the veterans telling the story of her father, also a veteran who died just last year, who returned to marry his sweetheart against long odds.

In this photo Mary Bono-Mack pays tribute to our armed forces as hundreds of veterans, dignitaries and townspeople gathered against the backdrop of 1,200 American Flags in the Field of Honor.

Overall not a bad day in our little corner of the world. Our hearts went out to the recent casualties at Ft. Hood, great respect was given to those who protect us today, and great tribute was paid to those who have taken up that duty in the past.

Our town is not as small as it used to be - but today the town turned out en mass to celebrate, to honor and to have a few hot dogs and rub elbows with the Mayor. It was almost a Groundhog Day kind of event and everything played out beautifully. The parade started on time, nothing broke down, the horses weren't (that) messy and the speeches were blessedly short.

The flags waved softly in a cool breeze and all was right in Murrieta.

Hope your day was good too.

By the way, there's a few more photos at: Murrieta Celebrates Veterans Day.

See you at NAR tomorrow.

Last evening the people of our community spoke and, for a change, somebody listened. That somebody, Rancho California Water District, had proposed a BUILDING MORATORIUM by eliminating eliminating the issuance of water availability letters and the installation of new water meters. That would have deleteriously impacted residential and commercial development in the City of Temecula, some in the City of Murrieta, the Wine Country and other unincorporated areas including the vineyards and avocado and citrus groves.

The effort brought out am avalanche of community response, hundreds of letters and emails generated by the business and Real Estate community, and a parade of speakers in opposition to the proposal - a true Grassroots effort. City and County leaders, developers, wineries, Realtors, attorneys business owners and 'just plain folks' spoke out against this poorly conceived and ill-timed matter.

The outpouring was so large that RCWD had to bring in workers to direct traffic in their lot and post security. As one Director noted, there were more people assembled last night than they've seen in total in the past ten years.

The dog-and-pony show that preceded public comments included presentations from RCWD General Manager Matt Stone as well as representatives from the Metropolitan Water District and the Eastern and Western Municipal Water Districts. I suspect RCWD brought these folks in thinking they would bolster RCWD's position in playing up the water crisis. Unfortunately these representatives did just the opposite. They spoke of being 'under allocation', the positive effects that conservation measures have provided and the variety of projects underway and planned to address the shortage at the local and state level. Kinda takes the wind out of your sails when the people you get the water from poo-poo your whole rationale. As Eastern's GM told us - the problem is not No water but rather no CHEAP water.

There is no denying that California is experiencing a drought - a combination of natural drought caused by less rainfall and snowpack the past 3 years, and a regulatory drought caused by a federal judge responding to environmentalists concerned about the possible extinction of the Delta Smelt. This last aspect has actually contributed more to the problem than the lack of rainfall, leading to greatly restricted water flowing to 20 million Southern Californians and to the Central Valley.

The Central Valley of our state, often referred to as the foodbasket of the nation, has allowed over 200,000 acres to go fallow from lack of irrigation water, entire groves of fruit and nut trees are dying and unemployment is over 40%. New tiered water rate structures have boosted everybodies bills by 20% - 40% with more coming in spite of the fact that demand from our largest wholesaler - Metropolitan, has declined in each of the last four years.

Our water companies have borrowed a page from the oil company playbook - whenever there's a shortage, whether real or perceived, don't miss that opportunity to jack your rates. But as I told them last night, not even the oil companies are shortsighted enough to propose a moratorium on building automobiles. Our local economy is built around positive growth - shut that down, you shut down the whole revenue stream,the job market and critical city services.

The problem with the Director who proposed the moratorium, Jack Hoagland, is that he is being myopic to a fault. He is looking at the issue as if water is the only player in the game. He has consistently refused to acknowledge that he is surrounded by an entire forest as he focuses on a single tree, that water is but one tile in the mosaic that makes up our economic community.

The efforts of our cities, our EDC, our Chambers has been to support the businesses that are trying to hang on during these challenging times and attract new ones bringing much needed job growth to the area. Currently over 60% of our residents still commute to San Diego, Orange or LA counties to work. A moratorium is a job-killer for our community while chasing those jobs and tax revenue to nearby cities not subject to RCWD. It shuts off the spigot not just for water but for much needed jobs.

Last night five out of seven RCWD Directors got it. Thankfully.

But as they and other pointed out, we need an El Nino this winter, Colorado needs a lot of snow, and we as a state need to pass the recently enacted $11 Billion water bond measure next year to bring some long term relief to our over burdened water infrastructure. Otherwise this moratorium proposal may be revisited and next time we may not prevail.

If the meeting accomplished nothing else, it elevated the discussion to a whole new level and provided a good education to a lot of people who may not otherwise be engaged. RCWD is evaluating other alternatives now and a new dialogue has been opened between them and the community they serve. Let's hope we can all make the most of this reprieve.

Irony abounds. On the same day Los Angeles appointed a blue ribbon panel to study ways to reduce taxes and encourage business, the Canyon Lake City Council decided it was time to raise taxes, errr, FEES and singled out 'Professional Employees and Professional Licensees' for an additional tax, errr, FEE. (They went to great pains to point out in their ordinance that this is a FEE and shall not  be construed as a TAX.) Whatever - the net result is if you're a professional licensee it'll now cost you more for the privilege of doing business in Canyon Lake.

Exactly why they singled out 'Professional Licensees' to hit up for more taxes, sorry - FEES, is anybodies guess. Maybe the city leaders just figured that's where the money's at since it apparently isn't in the city coffers and they need more. So they determined that in addition to the customary 'Business License Tax' that owners of every business pay every year, they were going to break that down even further to "protect the public health, safety and welfare as well as provide for efficient administration of the program". That's clever - invent an unnecessary program and then tax people to run it. These people may have bright futures in state politics.

Ryan Smith, IVAR GAD, board Counsel John Giardinelli and I have been working with the City to address the madness of this ordinance since July. We have held numerous meetings with city staff and counsel and, as of a month ago, had actually reached what we felt was an equitable compromise. Unfortunately the CL Mayor visited her hairdresser a few days before the most recent council meeting and the current Ordinance 121 revision was the result of that high level conference. (No, I am not lying).

From here on out, any 'Professional Associate or licensee' including, but not limited to, realtors, attorneys,beauticians, barbers, manicurists, dentists, dental hygienists, veterinarians, doctors, podiatrists and chiropractors get to pay extra to operate in Canyon Lake. It applies to 'businesses which have a fixed location within the city as well as those which do not'. 

So if you're a Broker, attorney, doctor, etc. with an office in Canyon Lake, you will owe this extra fee for every licensee under you. If you are a Realtor from elsewhere and you list a property in Canyon Lake, they will send you a bill. They are unclear on whether they can bill your Broker for every agent in your office whether or not they do business in Canyon Lake but for sure you'll get a bill because of your sign. If you represent a buyer on a property in CL, they have no way of figuring that out so you can either just pony up the tax, errrr FEE because you are a fool, or you get a free pass. 

I'm sure all the agents from San Diego and Los Angeles (& Murrieta and Riverside) listing bank-owned homes in Canyon Lake will just be falling over themselves to send in that extra payment.Their code enforcement person is going to have a full time job tracking down these signs, sending bills, stopping by offices to count noses and ensure compliance etc. 

What? You say they don't have and can't afford to devote a full time code enforcement officer to this effort? Jeez, maybe it's gonna be a challenge collecting those payments from Ventura and the OC then. If they're lucky a few businesses in Canyon Lake might comply - everybody else will just give this program the respect it so richly deserves - doo-dah. 

The City claims this is necessary for 'disaster preparedness and in the event of an emergency'. So by their logic, if your building is on fire, instead of calling the owner of record they could just call some random Realtor or hairdresser. If your business is being burgled, don't call the manager, just call somebody that does nails in the back stall or a random podiatrist. Yeah, that makes sense. 

In summary, under Ordinance 121, the City of Canyon Lake has singled out 'licensed professionals' working in or thinking about working in the City for an additional tax, errr, FEE. They claim they need to do this for 'disaster preparedness and emergency contact', and they're counting, in large degree, on voluntary compliance because they don't have the manpower necessary to enforce it. They have invented an unnecessary program and want to charge you an additional fee to implement it. 

At this point you may be wondering what the additional tax, errrr FEE is? $20. That's right, $20. One lonely Andrew Jackson. As a representative from their Chamber asked, why is the City willing to piss off some 300+ business' still hanging on in Canyon Lake over $20? If they're lucky, they might generate a few grand. Probably not. He told them straight out "You aren't listening!". He was right. 

If there's any good news to be gleaned from this ludicrosity, they started out demanding $90 a head, they ended up at $20. Of course since the amount of annual increase is unspecified, they could decide to jack it to $90 next year now that it's in place. 

Anyway, if you're thinking about dong business in Canyon Lake, you might want to check out the City's record on business friendly ordinances before you jump. Menifee, Lake Elsinore & Wildomar are right next door and they would love to have your business. And it won't cost you an extra $20 a head to do it. 

You can read the full text of this ordinance if they every figure out how to post it to their website. 

County Assessor/Clerk/Recorder Larry Ward has just released his 2009-2010 Annual Report and it's chock full of all kinds of exciting stuff - and some not so exciting.

I'll just tease you with a few details but for the full scoop you've got to follow the link at the bottom to find the details.

For example, did you know that:

• The Riverside County tax roll value (before exemptions) dropped 10.51% last year - from $242.98 Billion to $217.44?

• There are 500,292 single family residences in the County worth $120,318,983,044. They represent 57.54% of the tax base with an average value of $240,498?

• 253,364 of those received a reduction in assessed value last year averaging $144,432 and a total of $36,593,784,694 was lopped off the tax rolls as a result? That's 15.44% of the total.

• Indian Wells has 4 of the 5 largest homes in the county at 22,597; 20,499,; 19,188; and 18,404 SqFt. Palm Desert snuck in #2 at 20,667?

• The Palm Desert place is assessed at $26,619,674 while the Indian Wells places are $16,611,951; 12,180,881; 11,935,337 and $11,736,743? (He doesn't say if they applied for a reduction in value last year).

• There were 36,191 appeals last year, up from 12,330 in 2008 and 2,909 in 2007. Remember those days?

• In Murrieta there were 19,113 homes re-assessed under Prop 8. Gross Value Assessment rolls dropped 14.92% from $11,885,525,613 to $10,112,353,803?

• In Temecula there were 16,110 homes re-assessed. GVA dropped 11.33% from 13,537,557,997 to $12,003,546,129?

• The top business in the County based on Business Personal Property was Abbott Vascular. International Rectifier came in at #14?

Well, there's a ton more great info available - the report runs to 40 pages of numbers, charts & graphs and a terrific summary of each of our cities. . You can find the whole shebang right here: Assessor/Clerk/Recorder 2009-2010 Annual Report.

In a nod to bi-partisanship, Gov. Schwarzenegger has sent a clear message to one his Democratic legislators. Gov. Arnie always includes a note attached to a bill that he signs or doesn't signs letting the bills author know why he is taking the action he did. It's usually a boilerplate note either congratulating them on proposing a bill that serves the people, or telling them to try harder next time.

In addition to his boilerplate note, he attached the following missive to a bill he didn't sign authored by San Francisco Assemblymember Tom Ammiano. It should be noted that Ammiano was a prominent heckler of the Gov when he attended the State Democrats Convention last month at the request of former Speaker Willie Brown. Among other taunts, Ammiano is reported to have called the Gov a 'liar' and shouted that he could 'kiss my Gay ass' as he walked out of the event. So here's the Gov's message:

Now that in itself is hardly newsworthy - except that some sharpie noticed another message embedded in the text. And it's not that hard to find - just one of those simple 'Read Down the Left Margin' kind of things. If you're having trouble seeing it, the message begins with 'F' and the second word is YOU.

When asked about the note, the Gov's office replied:

"My goodness. What a coincidence," said Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear. "I suppose when you do so many vetoes, something like this is bound to happen."

Silly stuff - and if you want to read what the San Francisco Guardian had to say about the matter (as if you can't imagine what the liberal blogs are saying) just click here: Arnold to SF - FU