Sphere of Influence and Deceit

An August 13 gave an overview of the candidates for the Temecula City Council. I am one of four challengers for seats held by the two incumbents up for re-election, Mike Naggar and Chuck Washington. The three other challengers are Patrice Lynes, Jamie White and Walter Wilson. You can find a bio for the incumbents at the City of Temecula web site, and my campaign web site link that was omitted from the Patch article is www.pauljacobs4temecula.com. 

Readers are encouraged to learn about all the candidates and to vote on November 6, 2012. 

Patch reader “TVOR” commented on the previous article, “Why can't candidates post comprehensive examples of what they (perceive) as wrong in our city? A person who speaks in generalities and offers no specific information does not earn my trust.” 

The following is my comprehensive reply concerning one crucial issue our seasoned City Council got wrong. 

Our “experienced” City Council shot Temecula in the foot when they gave up the City's claim to annex land the City should rightfully govern under the policies of a Local Agency Formation Commission. Temecula is the appropriate local government agency to annex the territory between city boundaries and the county line separating San Diego and Riverside. LAFCO wrongly protected a land-use project rather than the existing open space next to the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve that has existed since the 1960's. 

The City didn't just give up on the annexation area, but agreed to be the requesting agency to remove the quarry site from the original annexation request!  The City stupidly requested that LAFCO take away the City's existing sphere of influence that happened to be in the pit of the proposed quarry. 

I challenged the Council's lack of wisdom on July 13, 2010 and warned the City Council that they were falling into Granite Construction's trap. City leaders argued that giving up on the quarry site was just a line on a map, because they were protecting 4,500 acres of land – most of which was already protected as an established San Diego State University ecological reserve. The “line on a map” argument that the City “gives up nothing” by protecting 4,500-acres of non-threatened land was politically ingenious. 

City leaders could pretend to fight a battle that had already been surrendered. The City sued the County over development before Liberty Quarry threatened nearby communities. The City is suing the County now over a very peculiar loophole created by . They never sued the County LAFCO. 

The beastly beauty of this political game of chess in the Inland Empire is that the City willingly gave the Liberty Quarry territory to the County without a protest or legal fight. The sitting Council voted unanimously to protect 4,500 acres of nothing while giving up 400 acres of something that will blast six days out of the week. 

The City Council helped orchestrate the circumstances that allowed Granite Construction to create a unique “county island” that LAFCO usually advises against. 

Yet even with the establishment of this County island sandwiched between the City of Temecula and the San Diego County line, the Riverside County Planning Commission ruled 4-1 against the quarry. The Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 against the quarry until Tavaglione's schizophrenic subsequent votes that gave the monstrous quarry project new life. 

Most everybody is blaming those darn county supervisors for the looming fast-track while ignoring those responsible for handing the decision to the County. The Temecula City Council escapes being held responsible for the horrible decision they made placing the fate of local communities into the hands of the County. 

Thanks to TVOR for asking for specifics to inform Patch readers and the Temecula voting public. Please visit www.pauljacobs4temecula.com to learn more or contact me.