Flood Preparedness

Nice article from City of La Quinta today ...

Flood Preparedness

Marketing & Events Supervisor Marcie Graham from City of La Quinta · 1h ago

Being Prepared For Season

The seasons are changing and we must make sure we are prepared for rain and other weather elements in La Quinta. Even though our winter is very different from other winters around the nation, it is important to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure our property is not affected by potential rainstorms. Here are a few tips to making sure you are doing what you can to keep your area safe:

Preventive Care

Clean gutters and water drains.
Fix any roof tiles or shingles that are abnormal.
Clear any over-reaching tree limbs that can fall and damage your home.
Be informed about your risk – find out if you live in a flood zone (click here). If you do, consider flood insurance.
Have a plan – discuss family meeting places and out-of-state contacts for emergencies.
Make a kit – put together enough water and food for at least three days. Include medications, a flashlight, battery-operated radio, and spare batteries.
Get involved – the City holds Community Emergency Response Team trainings. Participants learn basic disaster response skills. For more information, contact Jaime Torres, Management Assistant, at jtorres@la-quinta.org or 760-777-7014.

SANDBAG INFORMATION

Sandbags are available for La Quinta residents at the locations listed below, during business hours. Residents will be provided with ten (10) empty sandbags. Please note that sandbags are empty and must be self filled.

La Quinta City Hall: 78495 Calle Tampico. Monday - Thursday from 7:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. City Hall is closed on weekends.

La Quinta City Yard: 78109 Avenue 52. Monday - Friday from 6 a.m. - 2 p.m. Closed on Weekends.

Fire Station 32: 78111 Avenue 52. Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed on Weekends.

Fire Station 70: 54001 Madison Street. Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed on Weekends.

Fire Station 93: 44555 Adams Street. Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed on Weekends.

SAND FILL LOCATIONS

La Quinta City's Public Works Yard: 78109 Avenue 52. Monday - Friday from 6 a.m. - 2 p.m. Closed on weekends.

Fire Station 93: 44555 Adams Street. Monday - Friday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Closed on weekends.

For more tips or additional information, contact Jaime Torres at jtorres@la-quinta.org or 760-777-7014.

Real Estate and scamming

Beware: Scammers may be posing as your REALTOR® 

There's a scam afoot, or, shall we say, a-wire that prospective homebuyers may want to be on the lookout for, and it happens like this: You're nosing around the real estate market — maybe even close to buying a house or piece of property. And then you get a message from your real estate agent urging you to wire money to secure the deal.

As you might have guessed, a scammer is spoofing your real estate agent's account and is waiting for your money.

How a Scammer Finds Their Target

Hackers snatch passwords when people log into free Wi-Fi networks or click on things like those cute-puppy emails. They search your inbox or your real estate agent's inbox for any messages related to real estate transactions. Once they find you're in the process of buying a home, they'll send a fake message from your agent or attorney, title representative (or other trusted source), alerting you to new money wiring instructions to a fraudulent account. Once your money is wired, it's likely gone for good.

"If the buyer takes the bait, their bank account could be cleared out in a matter of minutes," the FTC wrote in a blog post in March.

How to Avoid the Scam

To stay out of trouble, buyers should talk to their real estate agents upon meeting to learn about how and when they might be expected to wire money. Before making a wire transaction, it's a good idea to call your agent, using a telephone number you know to be accurate and have verified outside of email, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

"Never trust a telephone number in an email that explains wiring instructions, because these criminals have created legitimate-looking signature blocks with their own contact information," NAR General Counsel Katie Johnson said in a warning video about the scam posted to YouTube in April. "Also, never send financial information over email or to an unknown website. It's not secure."

Beware of links sent by email, warns the FTC, "instead of clicking a link in an email to go to an organization's site, look up the real URL and type in the web address yourself." You can also report any suspicious activity to the FTC.

Because real estate agents are being hacked as well, the real estate site Realtor.org urged real estate professionals to warn people never to discuss their financial information over email, and to talk by phone if a wire transfer is actually supposed to occur. It also suggested real estate professionals hire someone to monitor office security, and to have elaborate passwords and change them often.

Doing Your Due Diligence

With so much hacker activity, it's always best to monitor your financial accounts, credit reports and credit scores frequently and don't take any unauthorized activity lightly.  If you do fall prey to a scam, be sure to report the crime to the proper authorities. And if you think your personal information was compromised, continue to monitor your credit for signs of identity theft, like mysterious accounts or unfamiliar credit inquiries. (You can see two of your credit scores for free on Credit.com each month and request your free credit reports each year from AnnualCreditReport.com to make sure no one has snatched your information and raided your credit.)

Feds raise Key Interest rate ...

 The Federal Reserve raised the key interest rate (Fed Funds) from 0.25% to 0.50%. It's been a long time since this has occurred however they feel You will see that this sill start to cost you more for nearly everything you do ... Read the full story from the Associated Press ...



http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FEDERAL_RESERVE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2015-12-16-14-01-26

CVWD increases conservation programs, drought penalties

If you are like me at all, I have not been following the printed materials in my water bills recently because I switched to Desertscape. This was obviously a bad move because of several things. Check out this article from CVWD of November 10th ...

The Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) Board of Directors today committed additional money for rebate programs, adopted a ban on irrigation on certain days of the week, and increased drought penalties.
The new measures were adopted to help CVWD meet its state water conservation mandate. The state is requiring CVWD customers to reduce overall domestic water use by 36% when compared to the same month in 2013 or face penalties of up to $10,000 per day.

The board approved $2 million in additional conservation funding with most of it going to CVWD’s conservation rebate programs. In addition, a consultant will be hired to perform comprehensive water audits for some of the district’s largest water users, and academic consultants would be hired to perform targeted research and public education messaging to promote reduced water use.
The board approved new day-of-use restrictions for irrigation. Starting Dec. 1 and through March 31, outdoor irrigation for CVWD domestic customers will be prohibited on Mondays and Thursdays.
Drought penalties were increased for water use in tiers 3-5. The increased drought penalties will go into effect with December water use for bills produced in January. 

Under the increased drought penalties, residents who do not limit their outdoor water use to 36% below their monthly budget are subject to drought penalties structured as follows:

Water use in Tier 1:                             No Penalty
Water use in Tier 2, up to 64%            No Penalty
Water use in Tier 2, above 64%          Regular rate + $2.51/unit
Water use in Tier 3                              Regular rate + $5/unit
Water use in Tier 4                              Regular rate + $10/unit
Water use in Tier 5:                             Regular rate + $20/unit

About 76% of CVWD customers currently are meeting the drought budgets. As a result, about 5 billion gallons of water have been saved by CVWD domestic customers compared to water use in 2013.
Statewide mandatory water-use restrictions remain in effect, including prohibiting water runoff and irrigation during and 48 hours following rain. In addition, CVWD requires sprinklers to be fixed within 24 hours and leaks to be fixed as soon as possible.

CVWD continues to strongly discourage overseeding during the drought.

The state considers a month-to-month rolling average when considering a district’s conservation efforts. CVWD customers saved 21.3% in June, 40.6% in July, 26.5% in August, 16.4% less water in September, and 27.7%  less water in October. The average over the five-month period is 27%.

For conservation rebate programs, tips and additional information, visit  www.cvwd.org
The Coachella Valley Water District is a public agency governed by a five-member board of directors. The district provides domestic and irrigation water, agricultural drainage, wastewater treatment and reclamation services, regional storm water protection, groundwater management and water conservation.

More Young Adults Live With Their Parents Now Than During the Recession

Very interesting article reproduced from The Wall Street Journal ...

 

Economist Jed Kolko says that the rise in children living with their parents is largely related to the fact that people are marrying and having children later, not to the weak economy and housing market.

Family togetherness isn’t just for Thanksgiving dinner. More young adults are now living with their parents than during the recession, according to U.S. Census data.
The share of 18-to-34-year-olds living with their parents was 31.5% as of March 2015, up from 31.4% last year, according to a report from the Commerce Department on Monday. In 2005, just 27% of young adults lived with their parents, a number that has climbed pretty steadily since then.
That the percentage at home has barely moved from last year is particularly notable because many economists expected young people to start moving out as the economy has improved and unemployment among young people has dropped significantly. The housing market is relying on those new households to drive future demand.

But the trend of young people continuing to live at home is unlikely to significantly reverse course any time soon, even as the economy improves, says Jed Kolko, an independent economist and senior fellow at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley.
Instead, Mr. Kolko says that the rise in children living with their parents is largely related to the fact that people are marrying and having children later, not to the weak economy and housing market. Single people without children are more likely to continue living at home much later.
Earlier this month, the Pew Research Center showed that more young women were living with their parents in 2014 than any time since the 1940s. Researchers noted that young women traditionally left home to get married, which they are now doing later and later.
Because young people aren’t likely to leave home in large numbers as their job prospects improve, the surge of pent-up housing demand they were expected to create will be more like a slow, steady trickle, Mr. Kolko said.
That helps explain why the share of first-time homebuyers remains low.
“What I think it means is that the boost to housing from young adults will come more slowly than people expect,” Mr. Kolko said. “The long-term demographic shifts suggest this might be the new normal, with young people living with their parents longer and more permanently delaying household formation and homeownership.”

El Nino follow up ...

While you are thinking about the possibilities, check out this Red Cross site of checklists for numerous situations, in particular:  Winter Storms, Thunderstorms, Power Outage, Earthquake and when you think you are done, check again for your littlest members of the family - Pet Safety


http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster-safety-library

Everyone is warning us that this is an El Nino year ... Are you ready?

Don't say that nobody warned you ... We've been hearing it for weeks and a great article appeared in the LA Times about a month ago which I include for your review ...

http://www.latimes.com//home/la-hm-el-nino-20151017-story.html