MONDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2014 - DECEMBER 28, 2014
riversideindependent.com
VOLUME 1, NO. 34
Rep. Schiff Announces Federal Funding for Earthquake Early Warning System
Tough Competition for Ambulance Company Contracts
by terry miller
by Vickie Vértiz
year ago. Badgett had been planning to retire on Dec. 19, but agreed to fill the Interim Assistant City Manager role at the request of City Manager Scott Barber. Barber, who is retiring Dec. 30, said Badgett’s knowledge of the city and his executive leadership skills make him especially valuable during the
It is starting to look like Riverside will now be allowing four new companies to provide nonemergency ambulance service in the city, reported The PressEnterprise. On Tuesday, December 15, the Rvierside City Council voted to give a four-year franchise to Orange-based Care Ambulance and to send three other applications from companies to public hearings on January 6, which is the last step before getting approvals. The companies were identified as Carson-based AmeriCare Ambulance, Mission Ambulance, and Cavalry Ambulance, the latter are both based in Corona. The decision means that, for AMR, their control over the ambulance market is ending. Many in the business, said the paper, have called their business “a de facto monopoly.” AMR also provides 911 ambulances through a nearly-exclusive contract with Riverside County, added the Enterprise. While emergency calls are processed by the county, but outside Riverside, the nonemergency ambulance business is a wide open market with many providers. The votes were nearly unanimous, but Councilman Chris Mac Arthur dissented each of the four times while Councilman Jim Perry voted against approving AmeriCare. However, another councilman, Paul Davis, actually recused himself from
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Congressman Adam Schiff (D¬Burbank) announced that Congress has included $5 million in funds this year towards the Earthquake Early Warning System during a press conference at Caltech Monday morning. - Photo by Terry Miller
On Monday morning Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) announced that Congress has included $5 million in FY 2015 funding bill, also known as the CROmnibus, for a West Coast Earthquake Early
Warning System, the first time Congress has ever provided funding specifically for the system. A limited system developed by Caltech, UC-Berkeley and University of Washington, in conjunction with the United State Geological Survey (USGS),
has already been deployed and has proven that the early warning technology is sound. This $5 million in funding will allow those developing the statewide system to begin purchasing and Please see page 4
Steve Badgett Named Interim Assistant City Manager in Riverside Deputy General Manager/ COO of Riverside Public Utilities has served City for 24 years Steve Badgett, a key member of the Riverside Public Utilities management team for nearly 15 years, has been named Interim Assistant City Manager for the City of Riverside, effective Dec. 22. Badgett will fill the role of Assistant City Manager Belinda Graham, who is retiring Dec. 25.
A 24-year RPU veteran, Badgett has been Deputy General Manager, the second-highest position in the utility, since 2000 and has been Chief Operating Officer, supervising 600 employees, for about a year. A 40-year veteran of the utility industry, Badgett served as RPU’s Interim General Manager for four months prior to the hiring of General Manager Girish Balachandran about a