So where oh where is El Niño? The weather phenom was expected to be here, but maybe he’s suffering from a little California fever and being fashionably late.
Divas. Whatever.
The thing is, we were waiting El Niño! We gathered sandbags. We bought super cute umbrellas and rain boots that are still sitting there dry and unused leaving us sitting on the porch anticipating the rain like a jilted high school senior waiting for her date to show up in a limo with a corsage and take her to prom. Don’t worry, El Niño, I will keep the faith. I know that you are sitting out there somewhere in the Pacific growing bigger and better, and just waiting to make an arrival befitting your reputation.
I guess that can be described as growing pains. As El Niño continues to grow (He’ll be here, he promised!), several Central Coast areas are going through growing pains of their own.
Orcutt is growing in population, and the quiet enclave is seeing the difficulties that come with that. Namely, an increase in crime, and not enough law enforcement presence. One reader emailed us to discuss how Orcutt needs to look at its options for becoming something close to a city or township.
In Santa Maria, the growing population is also having an effect on schools. Santa Maria-Bonita School District is buying portable buildings to accommodate a growing student population.
One of the positives about growing is that Santa Maria now has a dual immersion school. OK so I won’t lie, the journalist in me was a little bit suspicious that this might be a way to simply reintroduce bilingual education. But for those of you who always have to go to the dark side like me and entertain those thoughts, rest assured. It’s not.
In fact, Jiménez School Principal Richard Ruiz said exactly that: “It’s not your old bilingual program. It’s an inclusive program,” he told a Sun reporter.
They’ve broken down classes into thirds, so that a third of the students are English-only speakers, a third are Spanish-only speakers, and a third are bilingual. The setup helps all the students to progress in both languages, as well as their studies because they are buddied up and help each other. Starting out with a 90-10 language immersion model, by fifth grade those classes will be half Spanish and half English.
Having friends from other countries who grew up bilingual because of the dual languages spoken in their respective countries, I’ve always believed in the benefits of bilingual education. The benefits go so far beyond just being able to communicate with someone who speaks either language. Studies have shown that young children who are bilingual are adaptable and flexible as their environment changes.
If learning another language helps people readily adapt to change, then maybe the Board of Supervisors needs language lessons.
The Chumash tribe wants to grow, and whenever the tribe wants to grow, opposition is sure to follow.
One area where growth has become an issue involves an area called Camp 4, owned by the Chumash tribe, which wants to put the land into federal trust to build housing and facilities.
The future of Camp 4 has been a major contention between the county and the tribe. More specifically, the biggest point of contention is how much tax compensation the tribe will pay the county to offset potential property tax loss, and the tribe’s reluctance to prohibit gaming on Camp 4.
During a recent meeting between tribe representatives and an ad-hoc subcommittee of the county there remained disagreement on the two issues. The county wants the Chumash to pay 38 percent of 1 percent, while the tribe has offered 13 percent of that 1 percent.
Third District Supervisor Doreen Farr said the higher compensation amount is warranted because the county provides aid by way of services. However, Chumash Tribal Chairman Vincent Armenta said that the Chumash contracts independently with the fire and sheriff’s departments.
Farr argued that current agreements wouldn’t apply to Camp 4 or any other properties beyond the existing reservation and that despite what services the tribe provides its own members, it would still need to rely on some county aid.
However methinks that wasn’t the only issue. The real issue, I suspect, involves the second disagreement—the tribe’s reluctance to specifically exclude gaming from Camp 4. Farr argued that if the tribe was just placing housing and tribal facilities then the property wouldn’t generate sales tax or TOT. Therefore the tribe wouldn’t have to pay, that is unless the tribe decided to build something else (insert an accusatory raised eyebrow here).
Farr said that the committee was “kind of taken aback” that the tribe wouldn’t make an unequivocal statement that there would not be gaming on any part of Camp 4.
But for Armenta there is good reason for not doing so—and it doesn’t have to do with secret plans to allow gaming there. It has everything to do with keeping doors open for growth. Should there be a change in the legislation in the future allowing for expansion of gaming, the tribe could be blocked from gaming rights by the “unequivocal” agreement it made with the county prohibiting gaming.
Sounds like Armenta is being open to possible future change and wants to protect his tribe’s possible future rights. Unless either side gets a little more flexible, it looks like there will be many more monthly meetings to come.
Growing pains are the worst.
The Canary thinks we all have some growing to do. Contact her at canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 18-25, 2016.
