Not that long ago, somebody asked me how tall Mickey
Valdivia was. I immediately responded, “At least seven feet the last time I
checked.” While Valdivia's physical stature measures in the mid-five foot
range, his vision and planning abilities have no height limit.
There are at least two people in the Pass Area I cannot keep up with. One is
Valdivia and the other is Amy Herr. I had lunch with Valdivia recently and
across the table he looked like a normal person eating his lunch and sharing
conversation. As I reached down to retrieve my napkin, I looked under the
table and his foot was just tapping away.
The last time I experienced that much energy was when I spent some time with
Amy Herr. By the way, Amy taps her foot a mile a minute too. If they could
put their energy on a grid, they would never pay for electricity again!
Valdivia is General Manager of the Beaumont Cherry Valley Recreation and
Park District. His domain consists of The Grange, the Women's Club and the
fabulous 60 acre Noble Creek Park in Beaumont. He has transformed this
barren land into a recreation paradise. No wonder 1200-1500 people flock
there on a daily basis.
With the population of Beaumont having increased to about 32,000 and Cherry
Valley at 6,000; the District services these people and about 7,000 more
from out of the area. Well, not out of the area, throngs of youngsters are
drawn to the activities at Noble Creek Park; and rightfully so.
I strongly suspect that many of the youngsters benefiting from
Valdvia's visions live and go to school in
Banning. It saddens me to think that Banning kids are so recreationally
deprived. I believe Banning has a Parks and Recreation
departmentŠ I cannot for the life of me figure out what they do.
Yes, there is a nice, new
pool in Banning and yes, there is a skateboard park. Goodie. It took years
to accomplish that. Neither would have happened and stayed under budget had
it not been for the private-sector-thinking of Banning Public Works Director
Duane Burk. He gets his orders from council then immediately moves on it.
Maybe we should employ real regional thinking and get Valdivia and Burk to
work together!
“Regional” - that's the word that usually prompts
Valdivia and I to get together. While others talk Š Valdivia acts.
He told me that one of his latest project ideas
hit him at a PassCom meeting. After seeing what
happened during Hurricane Katrina and experiencing what happened closer to
home during the Esperanza and San Bernardino fires, Valdivia was reminded
how one tragedy could be avoided Š DON'T TRY TO SEPARATE PEOPLE FROM THEIR
ANIMALS DURING AN EMERGENCY.
I do not know the number of human lives that could
have been saved during Katrina if some system had been in place to allow
people to keep their animals in sight or have a very good idea where they
would be going. Instead, people were evacuated and most animals in New
Orleans were left to fend for themselves.
As a person who loves my companion animals as if
she were a person, I can say with a great amount of certainly that if I
wasn't allowed to take Sandy with me; we would stick in out Š together.
Thanks to Valdivia's vision and the faith people
have in him, part of Noble Creek Park is being transformed into a Regional
Evacuation Center. Each word is music to my ears. When fully operational, it
will accept all animals from cats and dogs to horses and deer.
Valdivia set out to find some portable buildings.
His search and his connections steered him to the Hemet School District
where he was able to purchase two old portables for $1 each! That was the
fantastic news. The overwhelming news was that he had to have them moved
with 30 daysŠ. at a
cost of $75,000!
I should buy Mr. Valdivia knee pads, so when he
has to go beg for money; he has some cushioning for his knees. Valdivia
appealed to the Beaumont City Council, Beaumont School District and
Beaumont/Cherry Valley Recreation and Parks District for emergency
preparedness funding.
Valdivia succeeded in securing $175,000 to get the
buildings moved and made functional Š everything from lighting to what would
be needed for humans and animals. He had created a regional command center.
One building will serve as a triage center and the
other will be for storage of everything from portable corrals to bird cages.
The buildings are located near an Olympic size horse rink. In an emergency,
this huge fenced area will be used as a staging area for the animals.
Valdivia has moved some older baseball field
lighting into the expansive parking area. If there is an emergency, people
will be able to navigate with the safety and agility as if it were daytime.
Mickey Valdivia has succeeded again. He has
brought agencies together and reached a mutually satisfactory goal for all.
The property will function 98% of the time as an equestrian center and when
needed, be instantly transformed into a regional evacuation center.
As we continued our tour through Noble Creek Park,
Valdivia showed me all six of the baseball fields. We arrived at one field
and he explained that there was too much wasted and unused space. With
clever planning, he can now put 8 T-Ball teams out at the same time! The
league has 20 teams.
Near another field, there is the largest handicap
parking area I have ever seen. There is an extensive length of handicap
accessible ramps that lead to the field where handicapped people in wheel
chairs play ball every Saturday.
Valdivia didn't tell me where we were headed next,
so we just kept walking. As I was admiring one of the incredible views of
the snow capped mountains, Valdivia said, “I think the successful recreation
department serves the needs of all constituents from kids to adults and . .
. their companion animals.”
We stopped walking and he pointed.
“There it isŠ the future dog
park. “Be still my heart,” I said to myself. A dog park in the Pass
AreaŠFinally, a long overdue need will soon be
filled.
I've been yearning to get a dog park in the area
for nearly all of the six years I've resided in Banning. Finally, somebody
is doing something about it. I plan to write many more words to keep you
posted and let you know how you can participate in the process or just enjoy
a romp in the park with your favorite dog.
Thanks, Mickey. You make dreams come true.
Gail and her husband Bill Paparian created a
service called Writing Solutions in 1996. Gail has also written for a number
of local and national magazines and newspapers over the years.
Currently, she provides public relations
consulting services for the Banning Unified School District. She can be
reached at
info@WritingSolutions.com.
