Tehachapi News

City awards Friends of Depot 10-year lease

By: Tina Forde, Reporter, Tehachapi News

Friends of the Depot will operate the rebuilt Tehachapi railroad depot for 10 years under a lease agreement approved Feb. 1 by the Tehachapi City Council.

“The Friends of the Depot will operate the depot like the Tehachapi Community Theatre operates the BeeKay Theatre,” City Manager Greg Garrett told the council at the meeting at the BeeKay Theatre.

“This is really a joyous time for us,” said Fred Motter, president of the Friends of the Depot. “The biggest thing is the deepening of cooperation in the community and the enthusiasm.”

The lease is a major move forward following the June 13, 2008 fire that leveled the old depot.

“When we had the fire, (historian) Del Troy said something good will come out of this.”

Garrett said the city hopes for springtime ribbon cutting for the depot, perhaps in May.

“We are excited about this partnership,” he said.

Garrett said the city will pay the water and rubbish bills and will take care of the grounds. The Friends of the Depot will pay the electric bill and the costs operation.

“The grounds will be a park,” he said. “We are talking just the structure.”

Garrett said the Friends of the Depot will not be required to report their financials but must have a $2,000 reserve.

“They are organized. They have volunteers and grants,” he said.

Garrett said the city has $100,000 in redevelopment funds budgeted for the depot.

“We have cabinets to build, the park, the installation of the Stokoe signals. We'll spend every bit of the $100,000.”

Charles White, president of the Heritage League, said his volunteers have been working on cataloging artifacts and photos that will be placed in the depot museum under the care of the Friends of the Depot.

White said the Heritage Leagues gets offers of items several times a week.

“We have to be careful what we accept,” he said. “It has to be kept in perpetuity.”

He said the Heritage League has received the original depot clock, together with the original bill of sale and guarantee.

“We're trying to tell the story of Tehachapi,” he said. “We're getting there.”

Motter said that Friends of the Depot had presented $18,000 to the city as start-up money for the rebuilding, and that Home Depot had given a $5,000 grant for material costs.

“It's the greatest place in the world to live,” he said.

The Council approved the lease in a 5-0 vote.

Big 5 opening

Garrett reported that the Big 5 sports store on Tucker Road will open in 30 days.

He said the city received a new Highway Safety grant to improve drainage on the bicycle path on Valley Boulevard.

Meet the wardens

The Council voted 5-0 to adopt a resolution supporting a ballot measure drafted by the League of California Cities, the California Alliance for Jobs and the California Transit Association “to constitutionally eliminate the ability of the State to borrow, take or redirect revenues currently specified by law to be used for local government purposes.”

Councilman Ed Grimes reported that he was recently in Sacramento representing the city with the Association of California Cities Allied with Prisons.

“I met with Matthew Cate, the CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) cabinet secretary. It's not a pretty picture.

“The Department of Corrections is releasing inmates. There will be more of an impact. Hopefully they will get a handle on it.”

He said the executive board of the allied cities met with 33 wardens, offering their experience and help.

“You can feel the egos when you walk in the room,” Grimes said of the wardens. “It was initially a little stiff…We had to let them know.”

Grimes said he had a good meeting with Assemblyperson Jean Fuller, who left the floor of the Legislature to talk to him.

“She's well informed about water issues,” he said.

He asked her to put Tehachapi higher on state project lists. Tehachapi tends to get dropped down the list as Bakersfield and larger cities get the funding, he said.

Councilman Shane Reed said the city of Tehachapi pledged to do whatever it can to get Dye Natatorium open.

Reed introduced firefighters from the Curry St. Kern County Fire Station No. 12 - the crew that responded to the depot fire in 2008 -- and visiting Chief Sean Fraley.

(Reporter's note: The jury trial for the two men charged with felonies in connection with the depot fire is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Feb. 16, in Kern County Superior Court in Bakersfield.)