Home Care In Herald, CA

The 113th California Rodeo Salinas returns Thursday for another year of bull riding, rodeo clowns and record-breaking crowds.

The largest rodeo in California, the California Rodeo Salinas will take place at the Salinas Sports Complex from Thursday through July 23.

Last year’s event saw record-breaking attendance. The Friday performance marked the event’s first sold-out performance in decades with over 17,500 fans in attendance.

Mandy Linquist, the rodeo’s marketing manager, said this year is likely to break additional attendance records.

“The Extreme Bull Riding on Wednesday sold out (last year), that is on track to sell out again this year by Monday,” Linquist said. “We’re also on track to sell out the Friday performance again this year and potentially the Sunday performance.”

The rodeo’s Big Week festivities kicked off Friday with the Rodeo Carnival. The annual Kiddie Kapers Parade will take place Sunday and feature 1,000 children participating.

Friday also saw the return of the rodeo’s country concert. Little Big Town’s performance – which Linquist said was expecting over 9,000 people to attend – marked the rodeo’s first Big Week country concert since 2019.

Linquist said the increase in ticket sales over the past two years are following a national trend in rodeo attendance

“We’ve heard across the board that rodeos all over the U.S. are having more sellout performances,” she said. “I think people are looking for things to do locally and we still have affordable tickets compared to a lot of other professional sports. I also think it’s a tradition for a lot of people and they bring their friends and family.”

Linquist said the women’s breakaway roping event will return for the third year in a row. Other popular events like the freestyle bullfights, calf dressing and barrel racing will also return.

This year will mark the last year the event will have the Chuck Wagon races.

“We’ve had them for multiple years. This year will actually be the last year that we have them,” Linquist said. “We’re going to a new specialty act next year. We’ll have John Payne, the One Arm Bandit, who brings buffalo and has a really exciting act.”

Some of the rodeo’s fan-favorite activities will also feature new faces – and old.

Jessica Blair Fowlkes will perform trick riding this year for the first time, while rodeo clown Matt Merritt will return as this year’s rodeo entertainer. Merritt had previously participated in the 2021 California Rodeo Salinas.

And a new special event will debut on the final day of the rodeo, when the California Rodeo Salinas will honor pediatric cancer survivors and raise funds for the Golden Circle of Champions.

The Golden Circle of Champions will honor 20 children and their families fighting life-threatening cancer during the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. The children and their families will be honored at a banquet at the Las Vegas event, where they will dine with rodeo champions and learn more about the sport.

The California Rodeo Salinas said it plans to expand the program locally for the community in the future. Salinas resident and cancer survivor, Olivia Ingram (11), will grand marshal the children’s parade Sunday.

While the event is primarily focused on entertainment, Linquist said the California Rodeo Salinas also tries to educate the community about the sport and athletes – including the animals.

“There aren’t that many people in the general population that are directly involved in agriculture or familiar with livestock. So we do our best to put information on our website and to share how the livestock are treated here at the rodeo and in the industry,” Linquist said.

There are over 70 rules in place for professional rodeos to ensure the proper care and treatment of animals, she continued. The rodeo also has a veterinarian on site and judges inspect livestock daily to ensure that only healthy animals are allowed to participate.

“There are a lot of things that I think people just may not understand or know, so we do our best to proactively share that,” she said.

More information about this year’s line-up of events and how to purchase tickets can be found at www.carodeo.com

Ticket availability and prices are the same online as in-person. Ticket prices will increase by $5 Monday.

IF YOU GO

What: California Rodeo Salinas

When: Thursday-July 23

Cost: $12-$47

Where: Salinas Sports Complex

Other related events: Kiddie Kapers parade, 3 p.m., Sunday; Extreme Bull Riding, 7 p.m., Wednesday.

For more information: https://www.carodeo.com/

Cutting off all discussion about building new separated bike lanes for the next three years was a short-sighted decision that smacks of politics, says a director of the Penticton and Area Cycling Association.

“We feel that safe cycling facilities have been used to score a political win at the expense of the safety of people trying to get around on a bicycle,” wrote Matt Hopkins, PACA’s urban cycling director, in an email.

“This will have a disproportionately negative impact on lower-income folks, children and other members of our community who cannot drive. Median household income in Penticton is well below the provincial average and transportation is one of the highest expenses.”

Hopkins was reacting to council’s 4-3 decision Tuesday night to have city staff cease all work on the design or construction of new separated bike lanes through the end of the council’s term in October 2026, plus remove funding for any such work from the proposed 2024 budget.

City spokesman Shane Mills told The Herald on Wednesday the decision won’t affect the final two-kilometres stretch of the lake-to-lake bike route down South Main Street, construction of which is slated for 2024. (The design that was approved by council at its Oct. 3 does, however, call for concrete dividers and other measure to separate vehicles from bikes.)

Hopkins suggested the city’s own usage data for the lake-to-lake bike route shows it’s gaining traction.

Traffic counts contained in the Oct. 3 agenda package estimated an average of 300 cyclists pedaled daily through the intersection of Eckhardt Avenue and Martin Street between Jan. 1 and Sept. 18.

Usage peaked at 525 daily riders in July and bottomed out at 55 in January, according to city statistics.

The report also noted the number of daily cyclists passing through the intersection of Echardt Avenue and Martin Street rose from 316 in May 2022 to 370 in May 2023.

“We don’t doubt that there are people in Penticton that don’t support safe cycling infrastructure, but there is no doubt the usage has been very strong, in spite of the route only being half complete,” said Hopkins.

He’s also concerned about how the vote with affect the city’s Safe Routes to School Initiative, which was announced with great fanfare earlier this year in a bid to make life safer for kids at Uplands and Carmi elementary schools.

The motion to shut down talk on new bike lanes was put forward by Coun. Amelia Boultbee, who believes a majority of the public has spoken loud and clear on the issue.

“The election process and results are very fresh in my mind because I was very clear during the campaign process, as were voters clear with me, that they opposed new bike lanes. And I was very clear that I would oppose new bike lanes should I be elected,” said Boultbee.

“I will acknowledge there are some people in Penticton who want to see bike lanes expanded,” she continued later, “but in my experience there is an overwhelming sentiment that bike lanes have not been good for our community, that they’ve been too expensive and there is no appetite to see them expanded at this time, which is why I’m brining this motion.”

Amid skepticism at a town hall meeting in Benicia, California Forever clarified some key aspects of its plan to build a city-sized community in Solano County.

Fresh information arrived in CEO Jan Sramek’s response to a question about what the company will do if, in November, it fails to pass a ballot initiative to make this project possible. He said in an interview earlier this month that “there are other ways to proceed with the project” if the plan falls through and declined to elaborate.

Sramek clarified Thursday that California Forever owns about 800 acres of land within Rio Vista city limits. If Solano County won’t play ball, he’ll attempt to get that land zoned as residential and build on it.

This would be a less ambitious project and, in Sramek’s view, less beneficial for the area.

“We think that would be a bad idea for Solano County because if we’re doing it piecewise, that wouldn’t help us to bring in employers,” he said.

Answering other concerns about where the company would find enough water for the new development, Sramek said the current plan is to buy water that is currently irrigating almond groves. Sramek said many of these almonds are getting shipped to China, which he sees as a waste of a precious resource.

“We don’t have a shortage of water in California. We have a misuse of water,” he said.

Speakers also raised a variety of other questions about the project. Vallejo resident Michelle Pellegrin argued that while California Forever claims the development would benefit Solano County, its investors’ main goal is “to make a whole hell of a lot of money.”

“This is making money. This is not being nice to people. There’s a huge difference,” Pellegrin said.

Benicia resident Gregg Horton also took aim at a remark by Sramek that he spent a year trying to fix housing crises within existing Bay Area cities, but “became convinced that that wouldn’t be enough to make homes affordable.”

“I find that kind of awful because we have people in this room who have been working for decades on this kind of thing,” Horton said.

Sramek responded that it would be impossible to raise as much capital as California Forever has by attempting to infill existing cities. He also denied the implication that only nonprofit ventures can help people.

“I don’t shy from the fact that this is a for-profit investment. But I think that it’s a false distinction to say that that’s somehow bad,” he said.

Later in the evening, Sramek and Aiden Mayhood, founder of the anti-California Forever coalition Solano Together, went head to head in an argument about a Solano County Water Agency meeting last month.

At that meeting, the agency’s board of directors considered a California Forever proposal to potentially fund a study into improving a key Solano County waterline. The company had claimed that their funding would come with “no strings attached,” but a crowd of over 100 people packed the meeting and overwhelmingly spoke out in opposition.

The agency’s board of directors voted against the proposal, citing community concerns.

Discussing this pipeline, Sramek named Mayhood and originally attempted to blame him for the water agency’s decision – but attendees shouted him down.

Mayhood rejected Sramek’s statement that the agency’s vote took place “because people showed up and yelled at the electeds long enough that they agreed not to do it.”

“It was a question of trust. Can we trust these people?” the organizer said. “And personally, I don’t find them trustworthy.”

California Forever’s final town hall this year will take place at 6 p.m. Monday at 231 North First St. in Dixon.

On the heels of an intensely critical town hall Wednesday, a company seeking to build a new Solano County city is inviting members of the public to visit newly opened offices in Vallejo and Vacaville.

People seeking more information on California Forever’s ambitions can now drop by buildings at 537 Georgia St., Vallejo and 960 Alamo Drive, Vacaville to speak to company representatives. CEO Jan Sramek hopes the new locations, which opened Thursday, give interested residents a chance to learn in a more level-headed setting than a community meeting.

Despite the tenor of this week’s town hall, which was dominated by outbursts and accusations against California Forever’s actions, Sramek insisted that he believes Solano County’s “overall feeling is a sense of excitement.”

“I think if you try to judge it by looking at something like the town hall, you’re going to get a skewed picture, because oftentimes what happens is there’s a bias in who turns up, and then there’s a bias in who turns up to speak,” he said.

The company’s new Vallejo location was an obvious work in progress as of Friday afternoon. No signage has been installed yet and the interior is mostly empty.

Field Director Anthony Barski, the only employee in the office Friday, became interested in working for Sramek after seeing how many people in his Ohio hometown originally opposed a sports complex that later became a hub of economic activity.

“I just kind of see the same thing with California Forever,” Barski said.

Manning the office marks a shift from Barski’s previous approach of knocking on doors and calling phones. He said a representative from U.S. Rep. John Garamendi’s office paid him a visit Thursday, as did former Rio Vista mayoral candidate Rich Lynn.

Once California Forever finishes the first draft of its plans for the new city in January, people will be able to visit the company’s offices to view the materials for themselves. Sramek also intends to host meetings and small-scale events at the locations in the future.

“We hope that these offices become the heart of our relationship with communities in Solano County,” he said.

California Forever will host three more town halls around Solano County next week, followed by two more the week after that:

The company announced Friday that it is pushing back the time for all these meetings by an hour. They will now start at 6 p.m., rather than 5 p.m. as previously advertised.

Outbursts, accusations and disdain for provided answers crackled across an emotionally charged town hall about a company’s plan to build a new city in eastern Solano County.

California Forever hosted its first public forum about the proposed project Wednesday at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum in an attempt to provide residents with more information and answer their concerns.

But if any community members walked away from the night satisfied about the company’s plans, they didn’t say it. Instead, anger at California Forever and its approach to public outreach added fuel to many attendees’ doubts about the company’s promises of economic growth and fears about the harm the project might cause the county.

Benicia resident Michael Hayes accused the company of “doing urban sprawl” and said investors’ money would be better spent improving the Vallejo waterfront.

“You’ve got a bad investment. That’s what this is,” said Hayes. “You’ve got a bad investment, and we’re not going to support – as a shill – support your project. Shame on you!”

Former Vallejo Councilmember Katy Miessner agreed, adding her own concerns about the project’s long-term impact on Solano County’s economy.

“What’s going to happen in 30-40 years in this community when the construction jobs are gone and it’s all built up?” she asked, drawing applause from the audience.

California Forever CEO Jan Sramek disputed these arguments, saying the new city would be limited in scale and provide jobs in industries other than just construction. He also alluded to possible investment in existing cities’ downtowns.

Solano County residents will ultimately decide whether or not the project moves forward. After presenting a first draft of plans for the new city in January, California Forever intends to ask voters to make the project legally possible through a ballot initiative next November.

‘Wrong, wrong, wrong!’

Wednesday’s meeting kicked off with a presentation by Sramek about the project and ways it might benefit people currently living in Solano County. After that, the businessman began answering submitted questions that one of the company’s own employees read aloud off her cellphone.

Sramek asked people to wait until the end of the meeting to ask their own questions in small breakout groups.

The audience, however, had other plans.

Heckling began during Sramek’s presentation, in which the CEO claimed that eastern Solano County, with its plentiful land, low ecological value and limited agriculture, is better suited for development than anywhere else in the Bay Area.

“If we don’t do it here, where are we going to do it? In Suisun Valley? Or in Dixon?” Sramek asked.

Murmurs of “Here!” and “Vallejo!” arose from the audience.

“Somewhere else. Somewhere else. We don’t have to do it here,” one woman said.

Discontent intensified as Sramek discouraged attendees from asking questions during the question-and-answer period. As the presenter began discussing construction workers’ role in the proposed community, a woman began shouting.

“Wrong, wrong, wrong! What about the Native American graves that you are going to be excavating and building on without even consulting us, the Natives of this land?” demanded the speaker, who did not give her name. “We didn’t even get an invite here tonight, and here I am from Solano. My people – where’s the other Natives? We knew nothing about this.”

Sramek promised that his team will do field surveys and consult with Indigenous tribes before building. But the woman and other audience members peppered the CEO with a spate of other questions.

Melissa Mendoza asked how the city will get water without depleting the county’s current water supply. Vallejo resident Phillip Balbuena asked about how promised tech jobs in the new city would contribute to local economies when advancements in artificial intelligence appear poised to eliminate existing jobs.

When Sramek referred to companies’ tendency to “cluster” and bring growth to nearby areas, Vallejo resident Robert Brekke questioned whether that prosperity would extend as far as Vallejo.

“I’m tired of hearing about the ‘cluster’ – and I won’t use the end of that word,” Brekke said. “But you know, you’re talking about clusters, but Vallejo is on the edge of your cluster. You’re aligning yourself with Vacaville and Fairfield.”

Napa resident Irina Rozo, who has worked in Vallejo, took aim at the basic format of the meeting, asking why Sramek was attempting to answer only questions that people had submitted in advance.

“We came from our homes to talk to you personally,” she said. “Here we are! Talk to us, not to the woman standing there.”

Sramek spoke quickly as he answered speakers, who often asked multiple questions at once and argued with his responses. He reiterated that his company has access to its own water resources and insisted that Vallejo and the rest of the county would only stand to gain from new development.

“There’s no world in which our community succeeds and that doesn’t bring more jobs into places like Vallejo,” he said.

Future town halls

California Forever plans to conduct two town halls in all cities in Solano County. The first round of meetings will all take place at 5 p.m. at the following locations:

Future town halls will look somewhat different from the Vallejo meeting, California Forever confirmed Thursday.

The company will allow people to ask questions directly at the event. More people will also get the opportunity to attend.

The Vallejo town hall advertised itself as requiring people to register in advance and sold out within a day. A large portion of seats Wednesday were empty, however.

Sramek said he had intended to prevent overflow, but many people who registered didn’t show up.

“A lot of people would come out, and then there would have been people who were stuck outside of the doors,” he said. “So we tried to prevent the problem. We tried not to have people drive here and then be turned away at the door.”

California Forever still recommends that people register for future meetings in advance but will accept walk-ins.

In addition to attending town halls, people seeking more information on California Forever’s plans can visit one of the company’s new offices, which opened Thursday in Vallejo and Vacaville.

The offices are located at 537 Georgia Street, Vallejo and 965 Alamo Drive, Vacaville. They are open 10 a.m.–6 p.m.