The following are some recent items of interest that you may not have been aware of:
Kaweah Delta Hospital
KDHD was recognized at the 2016 California Parks and Recreation Society District VII Awards and Installation Dinner held on February 26. KDHD was given a community service award for its ongoing support and dedication to health and wellness in our community, for partnering with the city for the first Visalia Senior Games event, and also for participation in Healthy Visalia.
Also, KDHD recently opened their Kaweah Delta Chronic Disease Management Center just west of the hospital on Willis at Mineral King. The building was remodeled and modern medical equipment installed, and will be staffed by a medical director, nurse practitioner, RN/LVN, pharmacist and social workers, for the convenience of their patients.
While I'm at it, let me put in a plug for the upcoming bond measure for KDHD, ballots will be mailed out in April. Approval of the bond measure will allow the district to comply with state regulations mandating earthquake-compliant facilities. The bond monies will be used for construction of a new earthquake-resistant wing for the hospital, which in turn will attract new doctors, nurses, businesses, and construction jobs to our Downtown area. Please vote "yes."
Senior Games
The inaugural Visalia Senior Games walked away with the gold as the Visalia Parks and Recreation Department received the "Outstanding Program" award. Mark Hornburg, California Parks and Recreation Society District VII President, presented the award, stating that the review committee chose Visalia Senior Games because of its uniqueness to the area with the focus solely on seniors, including today's "new senior." In addition, this first year event showed tremendous support from athletes, sponsors and volunteers and will become an annual event with unlimited growth opportunities.
Comcast
On February 23, I attended a ribbon cutting relating to the new Comcast network infrastructure installed in Downtown. Comcast invested $711,811.44 in extending its advanced network to businesses between Oak Avenue/East Mineral King and Willis Street/Liberty Street. These system enhancements are intended for small businesses and organizations requiring more band width capacity. Comcast installed more than three miles of coax cable, both underground and aerial. The high performance network will provide businesses with internet speeds up to 10 Gbps.
Gold Status
In 2009, Visalia was a founding member of the Valley Innovative Energy Watch (VIEW), a collaboration between the San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy Organization, SCE, Southern California Gas, Pacific Gas & Electric, and local governments in Tulare and Kings counties. Visalia recently reached the "gold" status, and will now receive incentives of approximately $0.215/kWh from SCE for qualifying new energy savings projects. Compared to our 2006 baseline, Visalia has saved more than 1.3 million kWh. That represents a savings of approximately 354 metric tons of carbon dioxide, and more than $230,000.00 in reduced energy costs at our average electricity price. Those savings are in addition to incentives received, which helped pay for the energy efficiency improvements.
City Trails
The city's trail system will be adding a new section on the Mill Creek Trail. Starting construction in early March, the work is scheduled to be completed by the end of April, and will extend the existing trail along Mill Creek all the way from Shirk to Acres.
Marymount California University
This private Catholic university is still exploring Visalia and the valley for a possible new campus. On March 1, I, along with other city officials, met with president Jim Reeves and Sandy Escobido for about an hour, to discuss the city's hopes and aspirations for this new campus. A study is currently being undertaken and should be completed by May regarding the proposed project. We thank Dr. Robert Aguilar and Dr. Juan Lopez for being the point men locally in encouraging this project along.
New Sports Park
Actually, this information tidbit relates not to a new sports park in Visalia, but in our sister city Farmersville. Groundbreaking took place on February 29 for their eventual 27-acre sports park complex located west of Farmersville High School. I had the opportunity along with city manager Mike Olmos to attend this groundbreaking. This will be a great addition to their community and we wish them the best.
If you have questions or topics regarding the city which you would like to have addressed in future articles, please email Warren at warren.gubler@visalia.city, or call (559) 713-4400 x 3313. For past articles, visit directfromwarren.blogspot.com.
