“R” is for Renaissance Man (and our paRk man)

By Gail Paparian
For the Record Gazette

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.

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