Not Your Typical Retirement Home

Things are quiet at the Crystal Palace Saloon in Tombstone, Arizona on this Friday evening of August 16, 1881. Saloonkeeper Quarrelsome Karen is badgering a poker player to order another drink, when Cutthroat Chris and his gang, Los Banditos Del Lago, burst in, demanding money.

Quarrelsome K refuses to cooperate, so Cutthroat and his gang drag the saloon’s best poker cheat, Oscar “Hot Tamale” Arango, out to be hanged.

Hearing the saloonkeeper’s desperate cries for help, Town Marshal Will arrives with his deputy, Gun-Slinging Sam, a former ballet dancer. They promise to guard the money, go after the thieves, and save Oscar.

There’s a shootout at the OK Corral. Ruthless Russell, the Los Banditos sharpshooter, staggers off, after being shot by Deputy Sam. He falls, lifeless, into the Corral’s pond.

Saved from the noose, Oscar grabs the money and shouts, “Whoohoo! It’s my money, now! I’m going to Disneyland!

This occurred last Friday night at the Château Lake San Marcos Independent Living, Active Adult Community.

The community center’s dining hall was transformed into the Crystal Palace, festooned with decorative reminders of the 1880’s. A stage set, depicting the OK Corral, stood on the grounds outside.  

                                                                                                            

Quarrelsome Karen was played by the love of my life. I was Roadhouse Riehl, a former preacher who became her wimpy husband. We were cast in the roles by Cutthroat Chris, (not his real name) the HOA executive director of this 55+ community. He wrote the script and directed the show.

The rest of the cast were Chateau employees, including kitchen staff, (Rattlesnake Richard and Oscar “Hot Tamale” Wrango), the resident services director, (Gun Slinging Sam), the maintenance director (Ruthless Russell), the activities coordinator (Hurricane Katrina) and the transportation coordinator (Wild Will). 

Six extras, posing as poker players, were young enough to be our grandchildren. They serve us our daily meals in the dining hall with consistent courtesy and professionalism.

Band Diego Oldies provided the dance music, with tunes from the 50's and 60's. Fifteen of our fellow residents, billed as The Red Hot Peppers, provided the line dancing.

According to an article in Berkeley Wellness, published by the University of California, Nov. 20, 2014, “The Many Health Benefits of Dancing”: Many studies have found dancing can improve balance, even in frail elderly people. Some have shown improvements in gait, walking speed, and reaction time, as well as cognitive and fine motor performance. It has been shown to reduce depression, anxiety, and stress and boost self-esteem, body image, coping ability, and overall sense of well-being, with the benefits lasting over time.

The dancers that night ranged from a 102-year-old gentleman, to a young lady in her teens. What they all had in common were their smiles.

Dinner/dance celebrations occur almost monthly here. On each occasion the attendees are multi-generational, with guests, including children and grandchildren of residents, welcomed with open arms. This place doesn’t feel like an old folks’ home.

Karen and I are looking forward to the Halloween party, our next opportunity to dress up in costume. Last year Karen went as Charlie Chaplin. I had hip replacement surgery the day before, so I wore my hospital ID wristband and posed as an operating room escapee. At 7 pm, giving in to post-operative pain, I pushed my walker back across the street to our condo, where I downed an Oxycodone and slept like a baby.

Today we’re booked on the Château’s monthly noon hour boat cruise on beautiful Lake San Marcos next door. Just another day in the life of this lucky couple, who found the right place at the right time in their lives.

Finding Desmond: My Supervisor Search

After discovering Karen and I cannot vote in city elections because our home is located in an unincorporated area of San Marcos, I’ve found we do live within the San Marcos School District, so we can vote on school bond measures. And, as County residents, we can vote in District 5 Supervisor elections. Jim Desmond, former two-term mayor of San Marcos, won his seat in the 2018 election, after Bill Horn stepped down from his 24-year reign.

Once elected, our county supervisors tend to remain there. District 2 Supervisor Dianne Jacob has the record. She’s in her 27^th year in office, the longest serving supervisor since the five districts were created in 1889. District 1 Supervisor Greg Cox has begun his 25^th year, and District 4 Supervisor Ron Roberts, gave up his seat, together with Horn, after his 24 years.

It wasn’t always that way. In the 104 years before Jacob took office, only Austin De Graf, who served District 4 from 1945 to 1970, and David Bird, who held the District 2 seat from 1941 to 1964, have come close to matching the incumbencies of Jacob, Cox, Horn and Roberts.

It begs the question: Why are our county supervisors so popular these days? I’m guessing it begins with their expanded use of media technology to promote themselves. Here’s what I learned from Supervisor Desmond’s website, under his priorities.

Promises Made Need to Be Kept --- April 30, 2019

In November 2004, 67 percent San Diego’s voters approved a 40-year extension of TransNet, a half-cent sales tax to generate funds for highway, road, and public transit projects. San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is responsible for leveraging these funds with state and federal resources;

On April 26, 2019, SANDAG staff presented to the Board of Directors a new vision for the RTP. The new vision identifies numerous new public transit projects while removing the majority of the 14 unconstructed highway projects that the San Diego voters were promised in the 2004 TransNet Extension Ordinance.

The purpose of this letter is for the County Board of Supervisors (Board) to direct the Chairwoman to send a letter addressed to SANDAG on behalf of the Board opposing any modification to the TransNet Extension Ordinance; advocating for inclusion of the highway and road projects in the RTP.

Encinitas mayor, Catherine Blakespear, in a message to her constituents, addressed the issue this way:

“SANDAG prepares a plan every four years that looks ahead 50 years and asks, “How do we want our transportation network to look in the next half century?”

Studies show that a few years after a freeway is widened, congestion returns to previous levels. It’s called induced demand – if you build it, they will come.

With his love of cars on freeways, my supervisor is clearly unconcerned by California’s requirement of a 19 percent reduction in carbon emissions from every person within the next 15 years, based on the emissions generated in the county in 2005.

Notably absent from Desmond’s website is any mention of climate change and the need to reduce carbon emissions to keep his district livable for following generations. Instead, on July 24 he sent a letter to his fellow supervisors titled, “Streamlining the Discretionary Permit Process,” to gain their support to make it easier for developers to escape the burden of the California Environmental Quality Act Process (CEQA) by allowing them to “self-certify” their projects.

His fondness for developers may be explained by their generosity in funding his 2018 campaign.

Twenty-one Desmond donors have District 3 San Diego home addresses, including the Chief Executive officer of ColRich Multifamily, a private, family run, residential real estate development and investment firm in LaJolla. The company has acquired, developed and managed more than 12,000 apartments and multifamily residential units in seven states (CA, OR, WA, CO, AZ, TX, UT). With several members of the Gabriel family in leadership positions, they donated a total of $4,200 to Desmond’s campaign.

Other notable donors from outside his District 5 include developers, real estate investors and construction firms. The following is just a sample.

--Touchstone Communities, a San Diego-based real estate investment and land development company, $1,300

--Kvaric Capital and Risk Management, San Diego, $1,600

--Gafcon, a San Diego firm with core expertise in managing complex design and construction activities, $1,600

--Cloverfield Management, Santa Monica, $2,050

--Suncoast Financial, San Diego, $1,600

--Marc Perlman Real Estate investment, Del Mar, $1,100

--Sudberry Properties, San Diego, $4,800

--Atomic Investments, San Diego, construction and development projects, $2,000

--Hilltop Properties, Escondido, $1,600

The total for individual donors from outside of his district comes to $37,800. Add another $25,000 from the San Diego GOP Political Action Committee, and the grand total of contributions from sources beyond District 5 comes to 20 percent of his $298,000 campaign.

Thanks to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters campaign financing website, as well as Jim Desmond’s, We’re now informed voters in our new home.