In
November 2016, I had the privilege of leading a delegation of eleven Visalia citizens
on a visit to our sister-city, Miki, Japan.
We were hosted for a week by their city officials and local families,
invited into their homes to see the daily routine of Japanese life, were
entertained at banquets, attended and spoke at their Hardware Festival, and
were given a tour of Himeji Castle and city hall. We celebrated the 50th anniversary
of our sister-city relationship and made new friends.
In
April 2017, Miki sent a delegation of 14 people to Visalia where we returned
their kindnesses and hospitality. Their
vice-mayor and city officials in that group assisted us in dedicating our new
Miki Sister-City Park on Mineral King Avenue, we hosted them in our homes, and
gave them tours of our area.
We
have now been invited again to visit Miki, Japan, to help them celebrate their
autumn harvest festival, October 3-9, 2018.
There will be some limited home-stay opportunities, and included in the
itinerary is a visit to Kyoto and Nara, nearby ancient capitals of Japan. We will fly from Los Angeles into Osaka, where
we will be greeted and bussed to Miki for this visit. My wife and I will be attending, along with
other Visalia city officials. There are
a few spaces open for interested citizens of Visalia who would like to
accompany our delegation, on a first-come, first-served basis. All of those traveling to Japan in our group
will be responsible for paying their own airfare and incidentals.
If
you are interested in being part of Visalia's delegation for this visit to our
sister-city in Japan, please contact Gladys Ruiz at the city, 713-4314 or
gladys.ruiz@visalia.city. We look
forward to renewing acquaintances and celebrating our sister-city relationship
with Miki, Japan, and promise to report back.
VALLEY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
In
June, City Manager Randy Groom and I had the opportunity to visit the Eagle
Oaks Specialty Care Center of Valley Children's Medical Group in
Bakersfield. This center is nearing
completion and will soon be servicing the needs of children in Kern County. Valley Children's is expanding throughout the
valley, with centers such as the new one in Bakersfield, and one soon to be
built in Visalia at the corner of Highway 99 and Caldwell. While the Visalia center is still in the
planning stages, current indications are that it will be similar in size and
design to the 52,000 square foot state-of-the-art medical center in
Bakersfield. In 2017, 4,000 children
from Tulare County, with 18,000 visits, were served by Valley Children’s. If the eventual design of Visalia's center is
anything like that in Bakersfield, this building will be an inviting
"welcome" to the newly designed southern entrance into Visalia off of
Highway 99 along the four-lane Caldwell Avenue currently under construction.
UPS EXPANSION
UPS
has purchased 58 acres in Visalia's industrial park on the corner of Plaza and
Riggin Avenue. I recently attended a
meeting with UPS and several of their key partners, along with Visalia’s city
manager and our development director.
While much of what was discussed at this meeting is not public
information yet and was merely an opportunity to share information and get
feedback, I can say that this will be an impressive project. UPS is planning a building in excess of
400,000 square feet. It is anticipated
that they will go through the permitting process from October through December
2018 with construction to begin in 2019/2020.
This UPS expansion will be something that Visalia can be proud of, will
provide additional local jobs, and will attract other businesses to the industrial
park as well.
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. For past
articles, visit directfromwarren.blogspot.com.
