There are some folks in Menifee and Sun City who argue that one reason they are opposed to cityhood is because the current proposal includes Quail Valley.

In other words, they don't want Quail Valley included.

The reason why Quail Valley MUST be included is because the LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) demands that any cityhood or annexation attempt cannot create any "islanded" portions of unincorporated land. LAFCO is the organization that oversees all cityhood and annexation efforts.

In other words, if Menifee and Sun City incorporated without Quail Valley, then Quail Valley would turn into an unincorporated island, cut off from the rest of the unincorporated areas.

What it all boils down to, is that we have to include Quail Valley if we want Menifee-Sun City to incorporate. It's impossible to incorporate without Quail Valley.

Labels: Cityhood, Quail-Valley

This evening at the Menifee Union School District Board of Trustees meeting, names were chosen for the two new elementary schools.

"Quail Valley Elementary School" was the name chosen for School #8. They noted that in the voting process, another name "Quail Ridge Elementary School" had actually received the same number of votes, but that "Quail Valley" eventually won the tie breaker. The "Quail Ridge" name came about as a cross between Quail Valley and the canyon ridges that dominated the landscape in Quail Valley.

In my opinion, "Quail Valley" is a better choice since Menifee Cityhood will incorporate Quail Valley, and hence the community of Quail Valley will likely lose its namesake as a result. Thus, Quail Valley Elementary School will be one of the few fixtures that the community will have left to remind itself of its origins.

"Southshore Elementary School" is the name for School #11. The name is derived from the street its located on, Southshore Drive. Lynne Hanke, its new Principal, is apparently already busy incorporating a "Mariners" theme.

Labels: Menifee-Union-School-District, Quail-Valley, Quail-Valley-Elementary-School, Southshore-Elementary-School

The Menifee Union School District will be holding two meetings that affect students of Ridgemoor Elementary School...

School Board Meeting - to present the boundary change
Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 4:00pm
Menifee Union School District, Board Room
30205 Menifee Rd, Menifee

Boundary Meeting - for public input
Monday, January 14, 2008, 6:00pm
Ridgemoor Elementary School, Multipurpose Room

Right now, the district is proposing that all Ridgemoor students in the Menifee Hills community, living south of Honey Run Rd, attend the new elementary school in Quail Valley. The new Quail Valley school doesn't have a name yet, but officials refer to it as "School 8".

The proposal is not sitting well with parents whose children will be affected by this change. Some of these parents are urging the rest of the parents to attend to January 14 meeting, and let their voices be heard.

Matthew Denney, one such parent, is canvassing the neighborhood, and distributing flyers, while presenting his point of view. "Our kids can't be expected to walk to Quail Valley from this neighborhood, there are no sidewalks on Newport Rd and Goetz Rd, and traffic there is pretty heavy", says Denney. "And Ridgemoor is actually experiencing a drop in student enrollment due to home foreclosures; they had to lay off teachers there because of not enough students".

Last October, I published an article about the new elementary school in Quail Valley, and I reported that Ridgemoor students were NOT expected to transfer there. That information came from both Betti Cadmus and Bruce Shaw, the district's director of facilities. But after talking to Betti today, she informed me that the district is now proposing this change in an attempt to maintain enrollment balance between the two schools. They don't want one school near capacity, and another school too far below capacity.

Either way, nothing is official yet.

However, if parents don't attend the boundary meeting on January 14, it could very well be official.

"The district urges all Ridgemoor parents to attend this meeting", says Betti. "We need to know what they think of this boundary change".

It's like that old adage, "if you don't vote, you can't complain".

Labels: Quail-Valley, Ridgemoor-Elementary-School

The Riverside County Fire reports that a pick up truck crashed into a home in Quail Valley, pinning the occupant under the vehicle for 30 minutes. The driver fled the scene. The occupant was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries.

The accident happened yesterday (Dec 11), and was reported at 10:02pm.

The house was located near Mountain View Pl and La Bertha Ln.

Labels: Quail-Valley, Traffic Accidents

Riverside County Fire reports that a child was struck by a car in Quail Valley this morning.

The department received the call at 11:36am, and responded to 23590 Circle Drive.

The child was transported via Mercy Air in critical condition to an area hospital. The photo above was taken by Holly Kay, and shows the actual helicopter, which landed at Kabian Park.

Labels: Quail-Valley, Traffic Accidents

Tucked away inside the Canyon Heights community of Quail Valley is an elementary school under construction.

Located on the corner of Canyon Heights Dr and Cheyenne Canyon Dr, the still-unnamed school is on its way to becoming the 8th elementary school in the Menifee Union School District.


I contacted Betti Cadmus, the district's public information officer, as well as Bruce Shaw, the director of facilities, to get some more information about the new school.

It's on track to open up in July 2008, and will hold a maximum of 875 students in 37 classrooms. The architectural design of the school is similar to those of Oak Meadows and Evans Ranch elementaries, but adding a couple of extra buildings to achieve the higher number of classrooms.

The new school, sitting on 12 acres of land, will relieve the population at Menifee Elementary School, which is where Quail Valley's kids are now going to. While it's possible that some kids currently attending Ridgemoor Elementary might transfer to the new school, it's not expected.

As for the name of the new school, the District will be forming a naming committee within the next couple of months. Betti Cadmus says that they've allocated a few seats for Quail Valley residents to help find a name that's associated with the community.

Labels: Menifee-Union-School-District, Quail-Valley

The Riverside County Fire Department reports that a small fire broke out in Quail Valley yesterday afternoon.

The fire was reported at 2:55pm and occurred near the intersection of Hampshire Dr and La Bertha Ln.

The blaze scorched two acres and was fully contained. Cause is under investigation.

Labels: Fire, Quail-Valley

I was driving through Quail Valley to the little post office there, and noticed that stop signs were put in on Goetz Rd and Palm Dr.


I took this photo with my cell phone. Yeah, I'm one of those guys that drives and uses my cell phone at the same time, but I do it to bring you the news!

Sounds like the influx of new homes built there in Quail Valley, as well as those in Perris, are causing a lot of traffic along Goetz Rd.

Labels: Goetz-Road, Quail-Valley

Betty Royer, a member of the Menifee MAC, and someone who has been active with the Menifee Valley Incorporation Committee, gave an update on the cityhood incorporation effort at the Menifee MAC meeting this evening.

This evening's MAC meeting was dominated by Jeff Chambers of Donahue Schriber, the company that's building the Countryside Marketplace. Betty spoke in context with this new shopping center and how it will help the cityhood effort.

In summary, she noted that cityhood effort is largely resting with GST Consulting, who is conducting a fiscal analysis. This analysis is required to determine if Menifee Valley can produce enough tax revenue to sustain itself. Betty said that this new shopping center will factor into the analysis.

She further explained that cityhood will not result in higher property taxes. She said that communities are not allowed to raise property taxes to justify its fiscal analysis.

Once the fiscal analysis is completed, and if the fiscal analysis shows that Menifee Valley has enough tax revenue to sustain itself, a ballot measure will be brought to the residents of Menifee Valley for a popular vote.

If Menifee Valley does not incorporate into a city in 2008, Betty simply said that there will be other consequences.

Just to give you my personal opinion, if Menifee Valley fails in its bid for cityhood, it will be carved up into sections and annexed by Perris, Murrieta, and Canyon Lake. Possibly even Lake Elsinore. The only thing that's stopping these cities from doing it right now, is the protection we've been granted by LAFCO (local agency formation commission). That protection expires in 2008.

My guess is that the entire Sun City area will become a part of Perris. Quail Valley, Menifee Hills, and Audie Murphy Ranch will become Canyon Lake. Murrieta will take everything else.

When a city wants to annex a piece of land, the people living on that land has only 20 days to gather up enough signatures to stop it. Someone correct me if I am wrong. So, look out Menifee Valley!

Labels: Cityhood, Quail-Valley

The Riverside County Economic Development Agency is looking into ways to fund improvements in the Sun City/Quail Valley Community. One solution could be the adoption of a redevelopment plan, which would create a flexible source of revenue without raising taxes.

Redevelopment is one of the most effective ways to breathe new life into existing communities which are in need of social, physical, environmental or economic assistance and are lacking new investment and private enterprise. Over time, communities without the infusion of these resources may become "blighted". For example, key businesses and jobs move out of the area, residential neighborhoods show signs of age, or social amenities close down along main streets.

We need your input and want to hear from you regarding projects or areas that you could be covered under the redevelopment.

Please take a minute to review the areas of redevelopment and rank them in importance to you. If there is something that is not listed, please provide the information under "other". Rank as least important: 1 to Most Important: 5.
If Sun City were to become a part of the redevelopment plans, we would like to the focus to be on:

1. Attracting new jobs and businesses _______
2. Create more affordable housing _______
3. Stimulate private reinvestment in local neighborhoods and businesses_____
4. Reduce crime _____
5. Stimulate development of downtown improvement programs _____
6. Stimulate private investment and help rehabilitate homes and businesses ____
7. Build or improve roads, utilities and public facilities ______
8. Preserve open space______
9. Transform hazardous waste sites (called brownfields) into productive uses ____
10. Create, adopt and/or implement specific plans ______
11. Initiate and fund comprehensive planning efforts ______

Other:_____________________________________


Please e-mail this to info@menifeesuncitychamber.com or fax back to 951-723-8513. Many thanks for weighing in your opinion! The chamber promises to get this information into the hands of the right people who will make the difference in Menifee Valley.

Labels: Quail-Valley, Redevelopment, Sun-City

Was going through another old book, this one entitled, "My Seventy Years in California, 1857-1927", by Jackson Alpheus Graves. Graves was born in Iowa in 1852. His family left there in 1857 to go to California.

Graves grew up in Northern California, but later moved to Los Angeles. In his book he describes his life's memories, and shares some information about the politics, the social scene, and industry of Southern California. And he also mentions something about the way of life in Menifee, though he doesn't mention Menifee by name.

Here are some paragraphs I found, located in Chapter XXIII of this book, concerning William Newport, and a "quail preserve":

Harry was as good a fisherman as he was a shot. Whenever we went out, we always got game. A crowd of us had a quail preserve of 2,000 acres fenced and posted, some nine miles south of Perris, in Riverside County. We had good shooting there until the March flying field was built there, during the war. They actually scared all the quail out of that section.

I sometimes think that it is a wonder that I am alive, considering some of the fool things I have done for the sake of shooting. After I lost my left limb, and before I had an artificial limb, I went out to our grounds several times, quail shooting. We used to stop at Billy Newport's (a bluff, hale, good-natured Englishman). He was a good sport and a good shot. He would drive me around in a wagon, and he would get in the most impossible places. One day we were away up on a hillside, amid rocks, boulders and brush. The ground was so steep that the wagon absolutely careened. Chanslor, Schwarz and Klokke were in good shooting, near the foot of this small mountain. All at once, and immense flock of quail flew up in front of them, clear to the top of the mountain. Newport handed me the reins, and jumped out, and said he would run around and head them off. He went around the side of the mountain, until he got opposite where the quail lit, and then started up to the summit. Pretty soon I heard him shooting, and the quail began to whiz past me. I sat there in the wagon and killed six, which fell in various places on that steep hillside. When the flight ceased, I tied the reins to the spring of the seat, so the horses could not move, got out of the wagon, and on my crutches wandered around on that sidehill, and got my six birds. The last one was on a flat rock at the foot of a steep declivity, which I could not possibly negotiate with my crutches. I laid them down, sat down, and went down the hill on my hands with my one foot out in front of me. I got the bird, again sat down, and went up the declivity backwards on my hands, got to my crutches, and when Newport came back I was in the wagon, my six birds lying on the seat. He could hardly believe that I had done this.

Could the "quail preserve", which Graves described as being nine miles south of Perris, be why Quail Valley got its name?

By the way, the "Harry" that Graves mentions in the first paragraph refers to his chauffeur, Harry Graves, no relation.

Labels: History, Quail-Valley, William-Newport