Ron's Log

Jr. All American Football Spring Carnival on Sunday, May 20

Their website.

It says "Find us on Facebook," which is, I guess, some kind of challenge, because I can't find them on Facebook. If you've got a link to their Facebook page, please share.

Their Facebook page.

Our Lady Of Sorrows: Baseball is for boys only

The second baseman for Mesa Preparatory in Mesa, Arizona, is Paige Sultzbach, a girl. The baseball team for Our Lady Of Sorrows in Phoenix won't play against a girl. The first two times the teams met, Ms. Sultzbach voluntarily stepped aside. Our Lady Of Sorrows lost anyway. But when their third match, a championship game, came along, Ms. Sultzbach stood her ground. Our Lady Of Sorrows responded by forfeiting the game.

"This isn't the first time the issue has come up. Our Lady of Sorrows pulled out of a flag football tournament before it began last October because some teams had female members."

Tom Kirk Talking About The Whitewater Pathway

The audio recording of CVAG Executive Director Tom Kirk addressing a luncheon of the IES-APA on the subject of the Whitewater Pathway is available here. The IES-APA is the Inland Empire Section of the American Planning Association.

This address was probably a variation on a standard presentation that Mr. Kirk has been giving, so if you've already attended one of those, most of this will probably be familiar.

Mr. Kirk said the idea of the trail is an old idea. It goes back at least to 1972 - but probably pre-dates that. In 2009 the Desert Recreation District and county Parks District did a study of it, looking at three possible routes. He called it the Dangerman study. One route was along the Whitewater River, another along Dillon Road, and a third that followed the Coachella Canal. They assumed that wherever the Whitewater River route came to a golf course, the route would leave the Whitewater River and onto the street system. A Class 1 path is one that is off the street system; Class 2 is a path that is basically a painted bike lane on the street. While along the Whitewater the path in this earlier study would be Class 1 until it came to a golf course, and then it would become Class 2.

That study envisioned a bike path on one levee and an equestrian trail on the other levee. The estimated cost was $36-million to $38-million. That did not include all of the cost for grade separation - the places where arterial bridges go across the river channel. A pathway could go under the roadway, over the roadway, or directly across the roadway (at some version of a crosswalk).

The planners said that project would take 30 to 40 years to build. They planned on local money along with federal and state grants. Maybe a few hundred thousand dollars a year would be invested in its gradual construction.

Mr. Kirk rhetorically asked how the approach would change if we had a lot of money available to construct a major portion of the pathway. He suggested it could be "transformational for the Coachella Valley." A couple of changes were made to the plan. The one we are most familiar with is changing the design to accomodate small electric vehicles (golf carts and neighborhood electric vehicles).

He displayed a graphic showing a cross section of what the pathway might look like. As a bicycle and pedestrian path it would have been (in most places) 12 feet wide with a few feet of buffer on both sides. With electric vehicles the width would be increased to 14 feet, achieved by reducing the width of the buffers.

Mr. Kirk said there still could be an equestrian trail on the opposite levee, but CVAG is not focusing on that now. The proposed bicycle/pedestrian/electric vehicle pathway would be on the right bank, the south levee. It would have a pedestrian trail, probably of decomposed granite, separate from the hard-paved trail for bicycles and electric vehicles. This would be the layout from Palm Springs to Coachella, and up to Desert Hot Springs "if that community wants it." He said "it's a bit complicated to get it to Desert Hot Springs because, of course, the Whitewater River doesn't run through Desert Hot Springs." [Oh, if the only challenges in Desert Hot Springs happened to be the location of geophysical features, life would be so much simpler.]

Another change is a proposed connector into downtown Palm Springs along Tahquitz Creek. There is a trail there now, but it needs improvement.

The biggest cost component to this project is the grade separation. Mr. Kirk cited the bike path along the Santa Ana River as an example of undercrossings wherever a bridge crosses the river. Fred Waring, Cook Street and Frank Sinatra, however, are low water crossings. In those places the pathway would go over the motor vehicle roadway. This grade separation is what makes travel on the pathway competitive [in terms of time] with travel by automobile for short trips (under 5 miles).

He pointed out that bicycles and golf carts already share the same lanes in some places in Coachella Valley.

Electric charging stations may be included on the pathway. He said the charging stations won't add much to the cost. He repeated that it was the grade separation that would be the biggest cost factor.

He cited a figure of $80 million for construction, right-of-way, planning and design. He compared that to the estimated cost for the new Jefferson/I-10 interchange: $55 million. Three years ago that interchange project was estimated at $80 million. He suggested that the interchange will probably cost less, when real bids come in, and he suggested that the cost of the pathway could likewise be lower than $80 million. CVAG's budget this year for infrastructure projects is $80 million.

He finally got to the funding issue. One person in attendance admitted he was not familiar with the Sentinel Power Plant - obviously, he came from some faraway foreign land. Mr. Kirk gave the quickest summary of the power plant and mitigation funds I've heard so far. I will spare you the story, assuming you've heard it all before.

CVAG will be submitting a proposal for up to $40 million of the air quality mitigation money. CVAG has authorized a matching $20 million from its other sources. Prior to this, CVAG has paid for Class 2 pathways when building a major arterial, but it has never paid for a Class 1 pathway. They are talking to other possible sources of funds including the Desert Healthcare District, endowments, and federal and state governments. Mr. Kirk said there isn't much money available from the federal or state governments.

Mr. Kirk said that getting people out of their cars is a known control measure for dealing with air quality. Mobile sources account for 70% of our greenhouse gases [I guess "mobile sources" includes not just motor vehicles, but also cows and other ruminants]. Natural gas vehicles "are nice," but still generate greenhouse gases. Electric cars generate greenhouse gases, depending on the source of their electricity. Bicycling or traveling by foot are the best in terms of greenhouse gases.

Jobs: the standard thing done with air quality funding is to issue an RFP and then go buy a bunch of natural gas vehicles, put emission traps on diesel engines, pave roads, put dust control on dirt lots. "That's all nice and helpful," Mr. Kirk said. "None of it is long term, except maybe paving roads." He loves the idea of converting school buses to an alternative fuel, "but in 10 years or 15 years, those school buses are going to be in Mexico or some other place." They also generate almost no local jobs. Purchasing alternative fuel vehicles generates jobs in Mexico, Korea and Japan. [I need to point out that CNG buses are made in America.]

Construction is the sector of our economy hardest hit by the recession. Building the pathway would me a major, local construction project. Also, it would provide public health benefits. "If you build facilities, they will come," Mr. Kirk said. A lot of people currently drive to a trailhead.

He listed Denver, Portland, and Minneapolis as cities that have built trails to attract "active tourism." Fewer people are coming here to play golf, he said.

CVEP is assisting on an analysis of the economic benefits of the project. Besides the construction jobs, it could raise property values along the pathway. In the Outer Banks of North Carolina a study has been performed on a $6 million bike pathway facility [only $6 million?]. The study estimated the economic benefit to the region to be $60 million/year. Theirs is a tourist economy, as is ours.

The Coachella Valley can't keep relying on golf courses to drive our economy. There are already a lot of golf carts in the valley. That base can be built on.

Mr. Kirk said that very few people show up for any CVAG meetings, unless the meeting is about trails, and then a big crowd turns out.

I've been part of that crowd at least a couple of times. I think the interest among cyclists and hikers is partly generated out of a fear that CVAG decision makers may just not "get it" when it comes to good bike paths or good hiking trails.

He suggested that the pathway could support rickshaws, pedi-cabs or bike-sharing (as has already been done in Boston).

The pathway would be public and free. If you wear shoes when you walk, then that would be your minimum equipment requirement for using the trail.

Much of the trail already exists, but it's discontinuous. At the Adams Street bridge in La Quinta, he said you can see the undercrossings being built today.

Q & A

Q: Long term maintenance?

A: How much and who pays for it. There are two parts to maintenance: 1 - keeping the trail safe and clean. There will be no landscaping on this trail. CVWD likes the pathway as long as it plays by their rules, which means no irrigation. There will be some hardscape. In terms of public safety, the goal is to build a first class facility that's well used, so you don't have vacant segments where there are safety concerns. Keeping the trail busy will keep it safe. 2 - pavement rehab. The long term cost for that maintenance expense should be a CVAG responsibility. There are sources of funding to pay for a pavement management system. Total maintenance costs are estimated at less than $1 million/year. In La Quinta, their 2.6 miles costs about $30,000/year.

Q: Small commercial establishments that could be tied in? San Antonio's Riverwalk has restaurants nearby.

A: Bike sharing is one example. Commercial can be developed where there are vacant properties along the pathway. Indian Wells has suggested a link to Miles Crossing and the Esmerelda. The details will be up to the private sector for commercial development.

Q: A suggestion that businesses could now face the wash. The "North City Specific Plan" (Cathedral City north of the freeway) includes a similar pathway. Creation of a Whitewater Pathway may encourage other entities to include pathways in their plans.

Q: The right-of way exists, so what are the additional right-of-way costs?

A: The right-of-way does not entirely exist. There are 200 property owners along the Whitewater River. The largest ones are the CVWD and the county flood control district. They have easements that the pathway may be able to piggyback on. In other places there are private owners. This is the most complicated part of the designing process.

Q: How many miles of the right-of-way needs to be acquired?

A: "We have not even started the right-of-way acquisition process."

Q: "Six months out of the year this thing isn't going to be used at all." April or May into the fall, it's going to be too hot, the snowbirds will be gone, everyone who uses a golf cart will be gone. Riding a bicycle five miles in July is not an option. Walking is not an option. Lack of usefulness is what has kept this project stifled. The questioner suggested that the $80 million estimate did not include right-of-way acquisition costs nor grade separation costs.

A: The right-of-way and grade separation costs ARE included in the $80 million estimate. Mr. Kirk said look at Minneapolis where their trail system is not usable during the cold months.

[I've never been on the trail system in Minneapolis in winter (and I hope to maintain that record), but my guess is that they actually do use it even when it's "too cold." There was never a day of the year when I didn't see at least some cyclists and pedestrians on the Charles River pathway in Boston (not quite as severe as Minneapolis, but painful enough I assure you). If snow isn't cleared from the pathway then it becomes a cross-county ski and snowshoe path.]

Mr. Kirk continued...saying one should look at our Coachella Valley Class 2 system (bike lanes on the street) in May and June. They're in use. He said he would wonder if someone who thinks that the pathway would be unusable for 6 months is actually in the Coachella Valley during the hot weather months. He said he sees more and more people hiking and biking in the warm months. They tend to move their exercise to the shoulder hours: dawn and dusk. His point is that our tourism competitors are doing pathways in very difficult environments. "Like Portland," he said. [Mild and damp?] Mr. Kirk said he was willing to say that a Whitewater pathway would be under utilized for 2 or 3 months of the year, and he considered that acceptable.

Q: It's no different than golf courses. Very large acreages are devoted to golf in this valley. What's their decline in popularity in the hot months? Tempe has something like the Whitewater pathway.

A: Tucson has a pathway, too. "The Loop" is part of their tourism program. It goes around the city, while here we can build something through the city.

Q: Policing and patrolling costs?

A: CVAG builds and funds roads all the time. Nobody ever asks "what about the extra costs of patrolling a standard arterial?" There will be more people speeding, you'll need more police. But build something for pedestrians and bikes and suddenly those questions erupt.

Less and less of our transportation dollars come from gas tax. More comes from sales tax. Pedestrians and cyclists tend to have higher discretionary incomes than average automobile drivers.

He repeated that he would prefer to build a first class trail that is well used. A cheaper trail that attracts fewer users will more likely become a magnet for trouble.

In Addition

I happened to be seated next to a planner from Beaumont who brought along a giant notebook filled with paper (iPads have not yet reached Beaumont perhaps). He's working on that city's trail system which is already quite well developed, including some segments that are for neighborhood electric vehicles. They've built a regional park for RVs where RVers can park their big vehicles, unload their bicycles and get directly onto the city's pathways. They are building a pathway west to connect to a trail in San Timoteo Canyon.

His focus right now is a pathway that will connect Beaumont's system to Banning's. From there the pass cities intend to continue a pathway eastward to connect in with our proposed Whitewater pathway, maybe traveling along Edison's right-of-way (or is it an easement?). Eventually, we'd be seeing a pathway stretching from Coachella into San Timoteo Canyon. Once you've got that, someone's going to suggest extending it into San Bernardino.

They call it a "1080"

This is said to be first ever "1080."

I believe "1080" is supposed to refer to 3 times 360°. But when I watch the slo-mo part of this I see only 2.5 rotations, which would be 900°. He goes up the ramp facing forward. Any multiple of 360° will leave him facing in the same direction, so a 1080 should have him coming down backwards, but he comes down facing forward. But maybe it's like grade inflation. He made such a good effort, we're going to call it a "1080."

Michael Scott Wants To Play Baseball

I've gotten so far behind on my write-ups of city meetings, I thought I should probably give some time-sensitive bits a little higher priority. So here's one. Michael Scott got up at last night's city council meeting to ask for donations to help him cover the expense of going to Omaha. He wants to be a professional baseball player one day. He started playing t-ball in DHS when he was five. That was awhile ago. Here's the letter he handed out at the meeting:

1/31/12

Michael Scott
65974 4th Street
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240

760-673-8989

To all my friends and family:

Just recently I have been selected out of thousands of players to make the Baseball Factory National team competing in the Omaha National World Series being held in Omaha, NE. As you can imagine I am very excited to have made this prestigious team of outstanding baseball players. We will be competing against the best players and teams in the country and will be coached by professional baseball players and pro scouts. I've trained for years with hopes and dreams of playing with the best. This great experience will help me reach my highest potential and receive national recognition to help me play college baseball. It will be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I'm seeking sponsor support in order for me to have this opportunity and I need your help. I'm counting on you for one of the donations listed below. Any support would be greatly appreciated. My financial obligation is to fundraise $3900.00 to cover my expenses such as local transportation, hotel, food, training, coaching, uniform, registration, insurance and miscellaneous costs.

I am very proud to be a part of the Baseball Factory. They are really helping my baseball career. Look them up on the web at www.baseballfactory.com and see how they help baseball players across the nation. My goals are to play baseball in college and maybe someday after graduation, play professionally. I love baseball and hope you will be able to help.

Base Hit-- $25.00
Double-- $50.00
Trip|e-- $100.00
Home Run-- $200.00
Grand Slam-- $300.00
Other-- _________

Please make checks out to Baseball Factory, place my name in the memo line and mail them directly to me. I will forward them to the Baseball Factory. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Michael Scott

Here he turns around to ask his parents for permission to give out his phone number (so don't blame me).

Super Bowl Re-cap

Halftime

13 minutes, 16 seconds.

Kenmore Square To Be Closed For 4th Quarter & Aftermath

Kenmore Square (which is looking mighty well scrubbed in that photo) will be closed to "all pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic after the game's third quarter 'with no exceptions,' says Captain Robert Molloy of the Boston University Police Department." The article says nothing about alternative plans for MBTA buses or the Green Line. I can find no information about this on the MBTA website. There are no service updates for the Green Line or for any bus route that goes to Kenmore.

For the Green Line there are two ways to handle it: (1) close the exits, keeping all those who disembark at Kenmore underground until the rioting subsides. They could play the soundtrack from the Wizard of Oz and encourage people to pretend there's a twister, Aunty Em, a twister. Or (2) no stopping at Kenmore, but dumping inbound riders at the last stop before going underground and outbound riders at Hynes. When the MBTA transit patrons ask for clarification or assistance, the drivers will just tell them to stand around on the sidewalk until the rioting subsides and all those blue lights go away, then walk into Kenmore. Buses, OTOH, could simply be diverted to Huntington Avenue, and the riders could be dumped at Symphony with wishes of good luck.

What To Do With An Empty Big Box Store

What with the news that up to 120 Sears and Kmart stores will be closing soon, people should be wondering what do with empty big box stores. Fill them with other retail options? Turn them into skating rinks? Host raves?

Here's what's going to happen in an empty PetSmart store:

Last week the Covina City Council unanimously approved a Skyzone trampoline park to occupy the 25,608 s.f. building. Here's the website for Skyzone Indoor Trampoline Parks. They will charge $12/hour at the Covina location which is midway between the 10 and 210 on Azusa Avenue, near the AMC Covina 30.

Responsible persons will be pleased to note that the Skyzone trampoline park will be only 13 minutes from the nearest emergency room, according to Google maps.

Their website indicates they are planning to open facilities in Riverside, Glendale, Ontario, Torrance, and San Fernando Valley. Currently, you can find them in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Sacramento as well as several other cities across the U.S. and Canada. The Boston location is in Readville, an easy walk from the commuter train stop.

"New " Video Of Nude Bowl

New on the internet, that is. A brief video of young men skateboarding at the site in the western end of Desert Hot Springs.

And the short explanation:

my friend loaned me a VHS tape converter so i've been going to town. this is footage from a trip that a bunch of us took in the spring of 1999. we basically did a loop around the country with sometimes 12 people in a ford aerostar mini van. the nude bowl was one of our destination stops. our plan was to camp out at the bowl. after being up there for an hour or so, a desert rat/tweaker/psycho showed up. in footage @1:30 you can see him leaned over the coping. he had prison release papers and was talking about weird stuff like what a human head looks like when it explodes. it was so creepy that we decided not to camp.

Here's a video of a musical [I use the world loosely] performance at the nude bowl.