Progress continues on naming highway in honor of firefighters – Porterville Recorder

Work can now be done to name Highway 65 in Porterville in honor of Porterville Fire Captain Ramon Raymond Figueroa and Firefighter Patrick Jones.

As part of its consent calendar the council approved a Caltrans permit for the installation of the memorial signs along Highway 65 in honor of Figueroa and Jones, who were killed in the February 18, 2020 fire that destroyed the Porterville Public Library.

The action now paves the way for Highway 65 to be known as the Captain Ramon Figueroa Firefighter Patrick Jones Memorial Highway.

State Senator Melissa Hurtado introduced a resolution last year to name Highway 65 in honor of Figueroa and Jones. The Captain Ramon Figueroa Firefighter Patrick Jones Memorial Highway will run along Highway 65 from Teapot Dome to Pioneer.

The families of Figueroa and Jones were consulted on the preferred memorial highway signage. Caltrans has designated the southbound and northbound locations of the signs.

The city will be financially responsible for the maintenance of the signs should they become damaged or if they need to be replaced. KRC Safety Company, has donated the cost for the signs and their installation.

A dedication ceremony for the Captain Ramon Figueroa Firefighter Patrick Jones Memorial Highway will be held at a still to be determined date.

REDISTRICTING

The Porterville City Council reached a consensus on Tuesday that a map designed by its consultant in the redistricting process, Best, Best and Krieger, be the one that's the frontrunner to be the new map for the five districts the council members represent.

The council could approve introducing an ordinance for the map to be the one that's used at its meeting on February 15. The third public hearing on redistricting was held at Tuesday's meeting and the final public hearing on the matter will be held at the February 15 meeting.

There's still time for anyone from the public to draw their own proposed draft map to be considered. Maps can be drawn at MapPorterville.org where all the information on the redistricting process can be found. Maps need to be drawn by Monday, February 7 to be considered at the February 15 meeting. Final adoption of the map needs to be done by April 17 and then submitted to the county registrar.

The council could still make revisions to the map it has selected if it chooses to do so. One other map drawn by a member of the public was submitted and considered at Tuesday's meeting.

But the council came to a consensus that it favored the map drawn by its consultant. The consultant's map significantly reduced the population deviation of the five districts to less than one percent, well below the 10 percent required threshold. The current population deviation of the districts is above the threshold at 15 percent.

The other map drawn by a member of the public also had a population deviation below the threshold at 5 percent.

But the biggest advantage of the consultant's map is it was able to achieve a population deviation of less than one percent by making minor population changes and keeping the districts virtually the same as they are now.

The map drawn by the member of the public made major population changes, moving large populations from District 2 to Districts 3 and 4. So that would mean many people who would have voted in the November election would have had to wait until 2024.

The new map for the districts will go into effect for the November election and Districts 1 and 2 are up for election in November. Districts 3, 4 and 5 will be up for election in 2024.

Since the consultant's map made little changes as far as who will vote this November, the council favored that map.

Lawana Tate represents District 1 and has said she will run in the November election to stay in her seat. Milt Stowe represents District 2 and announced recently on Kent Hopper's Hopper in the Morning Podcast he won't run for reelection.

One member of the public spoke during the public hearing and that was 75-year-old Rae Dean Strawn, who was taken into handcuffs and into a police car to the Porterville Police Station for not wearing her face mask properly.

Strawn said since the council isn't representing the community the way it should there should be at least 7 districts which would give more community members more of a say since the city is growing.

It's my opinion there needs to be more districts in the city, Strawn said. Right now we have five council men and women that aren't representing our city and getting the job done.

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Progress continues on naming highway in honor of firefighters - Porterville Recorder