Happy Birthday, Jurupa Valley!

One of the events of the four-day celebration of Jurupa Valley's incorporation was a car show (mostly classic cars.). A sheriff's deputy at the show was proud to show everyone the new "detailing" that had been added yesterday to his car, "Proudly serving the City of Jurupa Valley." Our city may decide to put its own logo on the cars before too long, but I imagine, like in Apple Valley, we will still have a contracted force from the Sheriff's Department when Jurupa Valley grows up. One of my other former residences, Adelanto (just before the move to Riverside County), got rid of its police force and contracted with the sheriff' department while I lived in Apple Valley.



Just a few hours ago, I attended the very first city council meeting of my hometown, Jurupa Valley, California. Our new mayor, Laura Roughton, is a mom and closed out that first city council meeting by comparing the process of incorporating a city to that of trying to conceive, carry and give birth to a child. She somewhat challenged us all to see ourselves as "parents" of this new city, which will need nurturing and guidance as it grows to maturity. I'll have to take her word for it that incorporation is like becoming a parent, but as a somewhat civic-minded resident, I will strive to help my city as it grows.

What makes me even more excited and hopeful for Jurupa Valley is that if I am a parent of this municipality, this is my second child. I have already had a part in raising another great Valley, the Town of Apple Valley, from infancy to adulthood. I lived in Apple Valley from 1990 through 2003.

Both of my cities are named "Valley" and both were attractive to me for similar reasons. I am a country girl. Although today's incorporation means I'll probably be living in a city for the rest of my life, I have actually so far only spent about 16 1/2 of my 49 years living within the city limits of anywhere. Even eight of my 13 years in Apple Valley were in a rural area outside the town limits. I therefore greatly appreciated Apple Valley's commitment to preserving a rural lifestyle, and one of my hopes for Jurupa Valley is that it will do likewise.

But, just as my two stepchildren are very different, I think my two cities will be too.

Jurupa Valley considers July 1, 2011, the first day it could legally be open for business, as its "birthday." If Apple Valley had followed the same logic, today would be my former hometown's 22nd birthday. However, Apple Valley considers itself born on November 28, 1988. This is the day the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors certified the election held 20 days earlier in which voters there decided they wanted to incorporate.

I moved to the Victor Valley on June 12, 1989, which is 19 days before Apple Valley began officially operating as a town. By the end of 1989, my ex-husband and I had picked out a lot in the still unincorporated part of Apple Valley, where we moved in April 1990. From 1998 through 2003, I lived within the town limits, and from 2003 to 2005, I continued to keep a close eye on the town even though circumstances had forced a move back to Victorville. Better circumstances required us to move to Riverside County in 2005, and home ownership brought us to Jurupa Valley in 2006.

When Apple Valley incorporated, we were coming to an end of a much more prosperous time. But, economic challenges were on their way. The entire country was heading into a recession, and in the High Desert, that was made worse by a decision to decomission George Air Force Base in 1992. Once it had the general plan in place, Apple Valley didn't struggle too much in the early 1990s. It didn't have the money to grow. It didn't want to grow either.

When the economy improved in the mid-1990s, Apple Valley began to change a bit, especially in the middle of town. First, two new grocery-anchored shopping centers came in. Then, a new library. Lastly, in 2002, the Town of Apple Valley moved its operations out of three rented buildings and into its own Town Hall. In that last year before I moved, it was a joy to attend a few Town Council meetings in that comfortable, attractive, but not ostentatious facility that continues to serve the town well.

Apple Valley is a town. In California, cities can be towns if they want to be. Apple Valley's founders thought calling the new municipality a town would better communicate its commitment to keeping a rural lifestyle.

Now that Apple Valley is a "young adult," it does not seem nearly as rural as when I first moved there. A drive down Bear Valley Road at the beginning of this year showed that section of the town to be much more developed than it was even in 2003, and it is my understanding significant portions along Highway 18 are also more developed than they were eight years ago. However, I believe if I were to travel off the two main roads, I would still see a commitment to rural living.

I don't know if I will see that same commitment in Jurupa Valley when it's a young adult.

I am confident Jurupa Valley will retain much of its rural character for awhile. It has no choice. Apple Valley may have been dealing with a recession when it first could stand on its own two feet. That slowed progress. Jurupa Valley is born into the worst economy of most people's lifetimes, except those alive during the Great Depression. Because of how California wrote the state budget, Jurupa Valley had to slash $6.2 million (from an anticipated surplus) before it even started. Most likey, that actually means Jurupa Valley starts off at the lowest point in its economy and can only get better.

Meanwhile, Jurupa Valley may need 18 months to figure out its municipal codes and general plan. But it may need less. I don't expect my new city to have quite so much public input, evne though that input seems welcomed.

In a city that is born with a population of 92,000, only about 6,000 of us voted, and only 54 percent of us voters were in favor of incorpoation. Compare that with Apple Valley's 10,683 yes votes (83 percent) in a city that was around 50,000 pouplation at the time. That translates to at least 20 percent of Apple Valley's original residents caring enough to voice their opinion, whereas in Jurupa Valley, we should more likely expect about 3 or 4 percent caring so much. Today might be the first evidence. In adopting its first six ordinances and 33 resolutions, Jurupa Valley's City Council only heard concerns from two residents.

Soon enogh, Jurupa Valley will have the financial means and the strength of new codes and plans to actully accomplish change. It most likely will do so quickly. I expect the five newly sworn-in City Council members, all of whom moved to the neighborhoods of Jurupa Valley when they were far more rural, to do their best to keep things that way. I am not sure if the ones who come after them will.

I also know our leaders will need to pursue some opportunities to bring in more revenue through development. This city is already home to 92,000 people, most of whom probably don't know they didn't live in a city before today. It is surrounded on all four sides by other cities, one of which is quite large. And it is the CITY of Jurupa Valley.

So, I don't know what the future holds. But I'm still excited!