September 18, 2009 |
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Welcome to this issue of Janet’s Journal, a First District Report designed to keep you updated on issues and events concerning our communities in Orange County especially in the First District.
I am proud and honored to represent over 600,000 people within the First District covering the cities of Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Westminster and the unincorporated community of Midway City.
I hope you will find this journal informative. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to hearing from you.
Respectfully,
Supervisor Janet Nguyen
Janet.Nguyen@ocgov.com
IN THIS ISSUE...
1. Board of Supervisors
2. Janet Around the First District
3. Local Issues
4. Requests for Proposals
5. Community Events
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A week ago today, I attended several gatherings in the community in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks. It was an introspective time to reflect on how we have responded to those tragedies as a nation. While the anniversary of that horrible day has passed, the poignancy of the lessons we learned and remember with each anniversary continues to stay with us.
The memories of September 11, 2001 were seared into our minds as airplanes full of innocent passengers were transformed into missiles by terrorists. These deadly missiles were aimed, physically and metaphorically, at America and its financial center.
In contrast to the brutal intent of the terrorists, our memories of that fateful day will forever be the images of devoted rescuers and countless numbers of workers and volunteers committed to the singular task of helping to find survivors and saving human lives. Facing grave and unforeseeable risks of harm, thousands of police, firefighters and safety workers, nevertheless, remained steadfast at their jobs, helping their fellow citizens. The bravery on display that morning was, and continues to be, an inspiration to the world.
September 11th shall always be remembered for the heroism of our people and resilient nature of our country. The brave actions of these first responders gave strength to us all, and we all are grateful. The attacks on 9/11 were an attack on America’s principles and an attack on our freedoms. America is a nation that protects the freedom of religion, the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. We will not allow acts of violence, no matter how barbaric, to waver from our country’s founding principles.
People have been drawn to the United States of America from around the world because of what this nation stands for and because of the freedoms we seek to protect. An overwhelming response to 9/11 was a renewing of our patriotism – a renewed sense of pride in what it means to be an American. It is in these tough times that we come most closely together.
The American spirit is strong. Throughout history, we have been defined as a world leader by how we have responded to adversities, both domestic and international. We must continue this leadership position. We will look forward, however, we will never forget.
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| Board of Supervisors |
OC Sheriff’s Explorer Post 449 Recognized for 50 Years of Service
On Tuesday, September 15th, the Orange County Board of Supervisors presented a resolution to the Orange County Explorer Post 449 (Post 449) in recognition of 50 years of exemplary service to the community. Organized in 1959 by Orange County Sheriff James A. Musick, Post 449 became the first Explorer law enforcement post in the nation. Post 449 continues to strive in its objective to stimulate young explorers’ interest in law enforcement practices, while engraining a strong code of ethics and outstanding citizenship.
The Board commends Post 449 for its efforts in reaching out to the public and training the young men and women of today for the future that awaits them in the law enforcement field of tomorrow.
Thank You to OC Council of Boy Scouts of America Learning Program for 50 Years of Dedicated Service
The Orange County Board of Supervisors presented the Specialty Exploring Program (Program) with a resolution on Tuesday, September 15th, in recognition of 50 years of value and accomplishments the Program has brought to the community. An affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America, the Program was officially recognized as the national program in 1959.
The Program provides the structure and resources needed for the youth of America to explore future careers while achieving their full potential as individuals through the Learning for Life course based on five areas of emphasis: career opportunities, life skills, service learning, character education, and leadership experience. The Board encourages young men and women to participate in the many enriching activities in which the Exploring Program participates.
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| Other Boards & Commissions |
OCTA
I-405 Improvement Project Environmental Review Process
The I-405 Improvement Project environmental review process will officially begin this fall with a series of public scoping meetings. Public scoping meetings are an opportunity for the public to officially comment on the transportation alternatives under consideration. Comments will be considered in the preparation of the environmental document and will become part of the public record. Project representatives and technical professionals will be available to answer questions about the project.
I-405 is one of the most congested freeways in Orange County, carrying more than 300,000 vehicle trips in some sections each day and it is projected that this number will increase to 370,000 vehicle trips per day by 2035. In order to accommodate the projected transportation demands and Orange County’s population growth, significant improvements to the I-405 are needed to reduce the congestion travelers experience on a daily basis.
Scoping meetings will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. with a brief presentation at 6:30 p.m. Please join us at any of the following four meetings:
• Tuesday, September 22, 2009 - Fountain Valley Senior and Community Center, 17967 Bushard Street, Fountain Valley, CA
• Wednesday, September 23, 2009 - Huntington Beach Library, 7111 Talbert Avenue, Huntington Beach, CA
• Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - Westminster Community Center - A/B Room, 8200 Westminster Avenue, Westminster, CA
• Thursday, October 1, 2009 - Rush Park Auditorium, 3021 Blume Drive, Rossmoor, CA
If you cannot attend one of the four meetings, please submit your comments before October 8, 2009 to the following:
Smita Deshpande
Branch Chief
Caltrans – District 12
Attn: 405 Scoping
2201 Dupont Drive, #200
Irvine, CA 92612
For more information about the project, please visit our web site at www.octa.net/405improvement or send an email at 405scoping.parsons@parsons.com.
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| JANET AROUND THE FIRST DISTRICT |
Supervisor Janet Nguyen’s Chief of Staff and Garden Grove City Councilman Andrew Do and Special Assistant Nick LeCong joins Westminster Councilman Frank Fry and his wife Marilyn at the renaming of Frank Fry Park in Westminster.
Huntington Beach Union High School District Trustee Matthew Harper joins Westminster Councilman Frank Fry and his wife Marilyn at the renaming of Frank Fry Park.
Supervisor Janet Nguyen presents a Certificate of Recognition to AYSO Region 517 Commissioner Rudy Cordova.
Supervisor Janet Nguyen joins (l-r) Mike Fults, AYSO Section 11 Director; Rick Niedermayer, AYSO Region 517 Board Member; Mike Wade, AYSO National President; and Tony DeGilio, AYSO Area K Director.
Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce Chairperson Sandy Thomas; Kathryn Feather, Policy Advisor for Supervisor Janet Nguyen; new Garden Grove Subway owner Iffat Karim; Garden Grove Mayor Bill Dalton; and former Garden Grove Councilman Harry Krebs.
On Friday, September 11, 2009, Supervisor Janet Nguyen joins Westminster City Council in the 9/11 Remembrance ceremony at Sid Goldenstein Freedom Park. The brief ceremony provided an important time to reflect on what happened and how far we, as a nation, have come since the events of that tragic day.
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| LOCAL ISSUES |
* The following articles are for informational purposes only and are not necessarily intended to imply endorsement or support.
Orange County
Coastal and Inner Coastal Cleanup Day
Keeping our watersheds and coastlines clean is vital to the preservation of our creeks, rivers, bays and beaches. Come join other members of your watershed community at one of many sites throughout Orange County on September 19, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Volunteers from the First District are needed to help at the following locations:
SANTA ANA
Location 1: Santiago Creek at Santiago Park
2535 N. Main Street, Santa Ana, CA 92705
Contact: Anthony Novella
Phone: (714) 571-4239
Email: Anovella@santa-ana.org
Location 2: Greenville Banning Channel at Centennial Park
3000 W. Edinger Ave., Santa Ana, CA 92705
Cleanup at this location will include an ecological outreach fair.
Contact: Itzia Carvajal
Phone: (714) 667-2260
Email: Icarvajal@santa-ana.org
Location 3: Santa Ana at Spurgeon Park
2701 W. 5th Street, Santa Ana, CA 92704
Contact: Margarita Gonzalez
Phone: (714) 667-2288
Email: nlayne@jamboreehousing.org
WESTMINSTER
Location 1: All volunteers to meet at Civic Center
8200 Westminster Boulevard, Westminster, CA 92683
Location 2: Anaheim Barber City Channel
Location 3: East Garden Grove Wintersburg Channel
Location 4: Westminster Channel
Contact: Pete Quinn
Phone: 714-895-2876; ext 6208
Email: peteq@ci.westminster.ca.us
What to bring: Gloves, sturdy shoes, sunscreen, snacks, sports water bottle (we can provide water refills), and a hat.
Further details on site locations and event details can be found at the Trails4All Web Listings. The California Coastal Commission and the County of Orange also have many site listings, including several coastal locations. Please visit the California Coastal Commission website for more Coastal Cleanup Day information.
Legal Aid Society Increases Hours to Better Serve Residents Visiting the County Community Service Center
The Legal Aid Society of Orange County (Legal Aid) is coming to the County Community Service Center (CCSC) and will be holding office hours from 10:00 a.m. to noon on the first and third Tuesday of every month, beginning Tuesday, October 6, 2009.
Legal Aid provides free, civil legal services to low-income persons and seniors. Services include a hotline intake system, self-help clinics, workshops, online court forms and in-depth legal services ranging from preparation of legal documents to legal representation.
Legal Aid is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has been bridging the justice gap for nearly 50 years. Legal Aid was founded by a group of local attorneys (with volunteer assistance from a group that was then known as Lawyers Wives) in 1958 to respond to the needs of the County’s poor and elderly. Legal Aid serves low income individuals and seniors who reside in all the cities and unincorporated areas in Orange County. Legal Aid has an office in the City of Santa Ana and one in the City of Anaheim.
The County Community Service Center was established by the Board of Supervisors and opened to the public in October 2007 to provide referral and outreach services for County residents. The Legal Aid Society now joins the Health Care Agency, OC Community Resources and the Social Services Agency in successfully providing assistance in accessing County programs and services. The CCSC is located at 15460 Magnolia in Westminster. For more information about the services available at the CCSC, please call (714) 889-4105.
Superior Court Closure Dates
Beginning September 16, 2009, through June 16, 2010 the Superior Court of Orange County will be closed the third Wednesday of each month. The California Judicial Council approved the unprecedented one-day-a-month closures for all state courts due to California’s fiscal crisis and the Legislature's reduced state funding to the courts.
The statewide court closures are authorized by recently enacted Government Code Section 68106. Court closure days listed below will not count as official court days for purposes of calculating statutory deadlines. The Court will re-set hearings currently scheduled for these dates. As with all non-court days, judges will be on duty to handle emergency matters.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 |
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 |
| Wednesday, October 21, 2009 |
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 |
| Wednesday, November 18, 2009 |
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 |
| Wednesday, December 16, 2009 |
Wednesday, May 21, 2010 |
| Wednesday, January 20, 2010 |
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 |
Free Flu Shots Offered at Two Locations in the First District
Free flu shots will be available for the first 1,300 adults and children (3 years of age or older) on a first-come, first-served basis on October 30, 2009, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The locations are:
Crystal Cathedral
13280 Chapman Ave.
Garden Grove, CA 92840 |
Santa Ana College
1530 W. 17th St.
Santa Ana, CA 92706 |
There will be no onsite parking available at the Santa Ana location but drive through service is available if you enter at Washington St. and Bristol. Drive through and walk through services are available at the Garden Grove location.
You cannot receive a flu shot if you are sick on the day of the vaccination; you are allergic to eggs; you have previously had a reaction to a flu shot; you have a history of Guillan Barre Syndrome; or you are a child younger than 6 months of age. The H1N1 (Swine Flu) vaccine is NOT available, only seasonal flu vaccines will be available.
Solicitation of Interest for Skilled Nursing Facility Communicable Disease Care
The County of Orange is soliciting interest from licensed skilled nursing facilities in Orange County to provide medical services to contagious and non-contagious Orange County residents for tuberculosis-related care, severe acute respiratory syndrome care and other communicable disease care.
The County expects to contract with one or more organizations that meet the requirements specified in the Solicitation of Interest and submit a Statement of Interest. Services are anticipated to commence July 1, 2010. Contract rates will be on a fee-for-service basis and usage will be based on County referrals. For addition information, please contact Christine Bavaro-Sutton, Contract Administrator at csutton@ochca.com or (714) 834-3181. Statements of Interest must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 30, 2009.
Unemployment Rate in Orange County is Lowest Among All Metropolitan Cities in California
While the direction of our economy remains uncertain, Orange County’s unemployment rate continues to rank lowest among metropolitan counties in the State of California.
Orange County is the fifth largest county, yet we have been able to maintain the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 9.5 percent. Of the State’s 58 counties, 49 counties have double digit unemployment rates, while Marin County has near 30 percent unemployment.
The national unemployment picture improved slightly as national unemployment figures showed a slight drop from 9.5 percent to 9.4 percent. However, California’s unemployment rate reached 11.9 percent in July, a jump of more than 4 percent as compared to the same time last year. Nevertheless, two industry categories did show an increase in jobs created in July of this year. Both the professional and business services and the leisure and hospitality industries added 2,900 jobs over the previous month.
Garden Grove
Faylane Elementary School Thanks Volunteers
Volunteers from Give and Grow, a local nonprofit, spent all day landscaping the Faylane campus, painting murals, building a new playground and decorating a new library. Hours after the new bookshelves were filled with library books, the room was gutted by fire. It is believed faulty wiring was the cause.
Give and Grow returned on September 8 and 9 with more volunteers, including parents and teachers, to rebuild the library and continue the landscape, which was damaged by the fire trucks.
If you would like to help, Faylane Elementary is accepting donations of new or gently used books for elementary school readers. Books can be dropped off at the school, 11731 Morrie Lane in Garden Grove, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Westminster
Founder’s Day Celebration Coming Soon
The City of Westminster will hold its Founder’s Day Festival October 15th through the 23rd at Sigler Park (7200 Plaza St.). There will also be a parade through the Sigler Park neighborhood on Saturday, October 24th at 9:30 a.m.
The city has seen much growth in its long history. Founded as a temperance colony by the Presbyterian Reverend, Lemuel P. Webber in 1870, Westminster was the second colony in Orange County to be deliberately founded.
Westminster Rose Center, a Coastline Community College satellite campus, the Senior Center and the Vietnam War Memorial are just a few of the current civic center focal points. As of 2005, the city’s population was 92,000 and its assessed value reached $5,186,876,215. For more information about the Founder’s Day Festival, visit www.westminster-ca.gov.
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| REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS |
County of Orange
There are currently many new bids to contract with the County of Orange.
For more information, please click here.
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| Community Events |
City of Westminster
September 19, 2009 – Free Lamp Exchange
Southern California Edison will sponsor a Free Lamp Exchange for all residential customers of SCE at the Westminster Mall on September 19 & 20, 2009 from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. each day. Plug-in lamps accepted include table lamps, desk lamps, floor lamps and halogen torchieres. All new lamps supplied include a fluorescent bulb. For more information, call 1-800-865-6483 or visit the event website by clicking here.
City of Garden Grove
September 26, 2009 – 3rd Annual Asian Pacific Islanders Health Fair
Come join the Asian Pacific Islanders community on Saturday September 26th at the Garden Grove Community Meeting Center, 1130 Stanford Ave., Garden Grove, CA 92840. From 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. participants will have access to blood pressure screening, glucose screening, stroke screening, flu shot, and assistance with online application for benefits. For additional information, please view the flyer or contact the event co-chairs: Julie Duarte (Acacia Adult Day Services) at 714-530-1566 or Pauline Le (Caregiver Resource Center) at 714-870-3530 ext. 2424
October 3, 2009 – 26th Annual Korean Festival
For more than 25 years, the Korean Festival has been a celebration of Korean history, tradition, and culture. The annual, family-oriented event features a parade and carnival with games and contests for everyone. There is also an open-air market and displays of performing and martial arts. The festival takes place in the heart of the Korean District. For more information, contact the Korean Festival Foundation at (714)539-3002.
City of Santa Ana
October 3, 2009 – Pico Lowell Community Forum and Fair
The Pico-Lowell Neighborhood Association, in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Ana will collaborate on a community forum and resource fair event that will take place on Saturday, October 3, 2009 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (Forum at Boys and Girls Club) and 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (Resource Fair on Highland St. between Flower and Shelton) in Santa Ana. The event theme, “Connecting our Voices and Strengths for a Safer Community,” focuses on building cooperation and raising consciousness among residents, community stakeholders and community-based organizations.
For more information, please view the flyer or contact Fabiola Soto of the Community Service Program at 949-757-1096 ext. 224 or the City of Santa Ana Neighborhood Association Improvement Program at 714-667-2260.
To contact Supervisor Janet Nguyen, please call 714-834-3110 or email Janet.Nguyen@ocgov.com. |
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