Jobs on Way to Temecula

This week saw ground broken at the corner of Waverly and Ynez Road in Temecula in preparation for the pending Fletcher Jones Mercedes-Benz Dealership.

In the Environmental Study submitted to the City of Temecula in 2008, The Project proposed to develop a two-story dealership showroom building, auto service facility, car wash facility, private street, and associated parking and landscaping on the 13.97 acre project site. Proposed Project development would total approximately 80,000 sf of building space to house the dealership including car maintenance, repair services, and a car wash facility.

The Project proposes to extend a private street into the site from Waverly Lane with a temporary 

turnaround point at the southwest corner of the property. Three driveways located on the 

proposed private street would allow access to the dealership, including direct access to the car 

wash, the automotive service center, and customer service facilities (main entrance). The treelined internal main entrance would also feature an approximate 10-foot landscaped island down 

the center of the driveway corridor. Vehicle flow to and from the proposed car wash facility 

would access the facility from the eastern entryway of the proposed private street. Vehicles would 

then travel counter-clockwise through the carwash building and exit on the opposite side of the 

same entryway. http://www.cityoftemecula.org/nr/rdonlyres/6ab694bb-1889-4838-9476-6205fac0f010/0/dseir52308final.pdf

This site is where many Harveston residents enjoyed jogging through the open pasture.  The wide open spaces were perfect for animal lovers who daily walked their dogs.  Nearby at Date Street, air flight aficionados fly their wireless and battery powered planes and helicopters.  To see the heavy tractors and machinery turn the ground to dirt this week was another sad reminder of how this once rustic area is being transformed to a burgeoning concrete sprawl.

Normally, I lament the continuing erosion of our natural hinterland and rural beauty that caused me to move here 16 years ago, but with the rumors swirling about the potential loss of a major employer in our Valley, the potential arrival of more jobs is to be welcomed. It says much about the earning potential of our residents that a luxury car dealership deems it good business sense to set up in our Valley.  

Hopefully, we can start attracting more upscale businesses to the area providing local employment to our often stressed commuters who have to make the daily long drives to LA, Orange and San Diego Counties for their livelihood.

Pernetti should be fired

We have a 20 year old son playing college baseball in Nebraska.  Anne and I understood when Conor left home that there were going to be things outside our control concerning his time at college.

My wife and I believe we instilled a strong foundation of love, respect and honor in our son, yet we know we didn't raise a saint and Conor would face the same challenges as we did when we were his age.

With hope, we expected him to attend his classes, keep up with his studies and to behave with maturity, avoiding involvement with the 3 big ones; drugs, alcohol and unprotected sex.

In trusting our son to the college baseball team, I had expectations that they would teach, train, and test my son, instructing him in team, duty, loyalty and industriousness.

Sure, we expected discipline.  Adherence to constructive criticism, direction, study, diet, work, appearance, demeanor and behavior requirements would be what we would expect from our son.

Never would we permit verbal and physical abuse by a coach who bullied, berated and belittled his team.  And neither should a college administration who seeks to portray themselves as a molder of minds, a place of education and learning.

Rutgers violated the trust placed in them by parents to protect their children by allowing the abuser, Mike Rice, to remain in his post after video surfaced of his assaults on basketball players.

When Penn State legend, Joe Paterno was forced to step down after failing to act when he was presumed to know about Coach Sandusky's sexual abuse of students, it set a precedent on how college officials should act.University athletic director, Tim Pernetti, obviously wasn't paying attention and didn't learn the lesson. He should be fired forthwith.