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March 2000
SALIDA COUNCIL, PUBLIC WORKS TO DISCUSS SALIDA FLOODING CAUSES, REMEDIES
SALIDA, CA: Stanuslaus County Department of Public Works will
address the causes of the January 24, 2000 flooding in Salida, at the March
9, 2000 meeting of the Salida Municipal Advisory Council. The meeting will
be held at 7:00 pm, Thursday, at Salida Fire Station #1, located on the corner
of Salida Blvd and Broadway in Salida. The meeting is open to the public;
turnout is expected to be heavy. On January 24, 2000, heavy rains, combined
with anomalies in the local storm drain system, caused flooding in 4 houses
and one business on the west side of Salida. In early February, a public meeting
was held to allow residents to air their concerns, and to seek answers as
to the cause of the flooding. At that meeting, which was covered by the television
media, Public Works agreed to attend the March meeting of the Salida Municipal
Advisory Council, to discuss the design of the storm drain system, the causes
of the January flooding, and steps being taken to prevent future occurrences.
The Salida Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) meets monthly to discuss issues
relevant to Salida, and to advise the County Board of Supervisors about those
issues. The members of the council are elected to 4 year terms by residents
of Salida. In addition to advising the Supervisors, the MAC sponsors or promotes
community events, including the Town and Country Festival in August, Safety
Fair in October, and the Holiday fair in December.
Submitted by Tom Burns, Salida M.A.C. Chairman
February 2000
New Salida Rotary Begining
A group of interested Salida community members have begun the journey to get a local Rotary for Salida. They will be meeting at Bobbies Country Kitchen on Broadway Tuesday mornings at 6:45AM (Yes, thats right.... when the Roosters are a crowin').
The CHP have begun a new program where there will be a few officers concentrating on traffic issues within Salida 3-4 times a month rather than just one officer spread out all the time. This way they can focus on the complaints and will be able to better patrol with specific times set aside each month for that reason. There will be more of a CHP prescence in neighborhoods and througout the Salida area which will be able to directly respond to specific traffic complaints. They have kicked up the patrol during the morning commute, and are now using radar on Highway 99 througout Stanislaus County.
Salida Railroad Crossings
As a concerned Salida resident, I contacted the Union Pacific office in Roseville regarding the deplorable state of our crossings here in downtown Salida. I was referred to Mark Mahoney who is responsible for the maintenance of the tracks and surrounding areas. Mr. Mahoney was very helpful and is quite interested in assisting us in cleaning up the areas surrounding the tracks. He was also able to refer me to Patrick Kerr for discussion of the crossing situation.
After a lengthy conversation with Mr. Kerr, I then contacted Mr. Dave Meyers from the Stanislaus County Traffic Department and discussed with him Union Pacific’s plan to upgrade our crossing to concrete. It appears that there is a question of who is responsible for specific work in the project and to clarify the entire issue, a meeting was held at the Roseville U.P. office on Friday, January 28th. Mr. Meyers attended this meeting on behalf of Stanislaus County.
I spoke with Mr. Meyers on Tuesday, February 1st and he advised that several staff members from the County will be attending a meeting next Thursday (February 10th) to discuss the County’s involvement with the railroad for this project.
A letter is being prepared by Mr. Meyers to inform the railroad of specifics needed by Union Pacific (such as location of crossings, project date conflicts) to proceed in scheduling this work over the next six months.
The concrete crossings will ensure that we no longer suffer from "rabbit ears" on the edge of pavement to track area that we now must endure. The crossings at Kiernan and Broadway (as well as the crossing on the south side of town that is the City of Modesto’s) are scheduled for replacement of asphalt to concrete crossings. However, the trains will be moving at a higher speed and therefore railroad track safety becomes a greater issue. Mr. Kerr has provided the name and phone number for the person responsible for conducting railroad crossing safety "classes" and this will be coordinated with the schools, churches if interested, they will participate in the Salida Safety Fair and any community meetings we can arrange. As we have become complacent in the crossing arms not necessarily meaning a train is approaching, particularly our children need to be re-educated on the dangers of trains and crossings with a reminder that it is quite dangerous to cross the tracks without proper care.
Modesto Bee is preparing an article for paper on the crossing issue, and Mr. Kerr and Mr. Meyers were contacted for this article. I was also interviewed for this article for a resident’s perspective. Bumpy tracks to get smooth (2-4-2000)
The work to install concrete crossings will surely improve the drive for all of us that take these routes. The cooperation of the County and the Union Pacific Railroad is appreciated in this endeavor.
Salida residents affected by flooding organized a meeting 2-3-2000
at the Fire Station, 7pm. Here's the Modesto
Bee Story.
A Salida man was arrested on drug and hostage charges Monday afternoon. See
story in Modesto Bee, pictures coming soon.
January 2000
Salida Floods, new neighborhoods turn into lakes. Public Works doesn't work fast enough. Someone is responsible for NOT TURNING THE PUMPS ON to pump the water out of neighborhoods. This was a situation that COULD have been prevented if the COUNTY was on the ball.
Check out these related stories in the Modesto Bee: Flooding Angers Salidan's
Also, the County Board of Supervisors had their meeting and the Salida Community Plan was on the agenda, here's an article about what was discussed in the Modesto Bee: County looks at biz park near Salida
It's rather convienent that the County Board of Supervisors has their meetings at 9am so the public can't attend. (author's note)
There's some new things happening in Salida this month. Have you noticed anything new like some new stop signs and construction for a new Middle School? There has been a lot of activity over the past couple of months in the West Kiernan Rd. side of town. Toomes Rd. was a dirt road for a few months last year and got re-paved and widened last fall. Just this month they finished the project with new sidewalks, curbs and gutters between Kiernan and Maximillian where a new 50 home Vella Estates is going in. Also a new stopsign at Overland and Maximillian and at Neva and Kiernan between Zinfandel and Toomes. On the corner of Kiernan and Toomes, groundbreaking began in December for the new Middle School which is slated to open in the fall of 2001.
The Modesto Bee ran a story recently about a family on Jeppson Dr. who were victims of a violent crime 8 years ago. It was a follow up story to the incident and the recovery of the victim and his family. It is a very touching story and can be found here.
The Salida Town Watch held it's first meeting of the year Jan. 20th. A new Board of Directors was formed and ideas were discussed about how the group can get more involved with individual neighborhood watch programs. Lynda Rodriguez is the M.A.C. Advisor to the group and was one of the founding members of the Town Watch program a couple of years ago. The Chairperson is Debra Miner, an active member in her neighborhood watch group and a "Safe House" in her area for kids. Karen Harbeck is Treasurer and has been an active member of Town Watch along with her husband Pete. They both have volunteered at Salida events and are core Town Watch members. Sandy Johnson is Secretary and has been active in her neighborhood watch program since January 1997. Bev Garcia is the communications coordinator and has also been an active member of Town Watch since the beginning. Pat Landucci is the Pin Map coordinator and along with Bev has been involved since the begining of Town Watch. Town Watch meetings are on the 3rd Thursday of every other month, for more information see our page here on Salida.org!
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