There’s no drought around here—of warnings about our water shortage and ideas on how to counter it.

Actually, Southern Californians have done an admirable job in cutting down on water use in the past two decades, necessary to accommodate new growth and home building that kept the economy alive for so long, and hopes to again.

The alternative was to place a moratorium on new homes, a condition experienced in Chino Hills back in the nineties.  Blocking new permits hasn’t even been mentioned yet this time around, in fear of putting a damper on an important economic recovery.

There is still much that can be done in the state to conserve water. In northern and central California, there are still communities without water meters. The answer to saving water in crucial times has been to place residents on odd and even address watering during the week.

Since agriculture consumes 80 percent of the water supply, and is of such importance to the state’s economy, more effort needs to be devoted to developing efficient and economic irrigation, such as drip systems. A part of any water bond issue presented for public approval should include funds for this purpose. Drought-tolerant landscaping has become an important part of residential water saving in Southern California, but it is hard to convince residents to give up their lawns when farmers have unrestricted access to the supply. 

Another area where  more could be done is in the use of reclaimed waste water. While purple pipe systems are becoming more widespread, there remains a psychological barrier among people to using such water, despite it being proven safe. An example is the refusal of fire fighters and their departments, from the state on down, to  tap into reclaimable water systems to fight blazes or even fill their water tanks. This must change.

Barring a plan to figure out how to tap into the abundance of water falling on the north and east of this nation this year, or how to change the ocean currents, we will have to depend on an aggressive program to retain more moisture in our part of the country.

The size and sheen of today’s solar panels are not easy to hide in a landscape. How can we elegantly integrate them onto our land while still generating renewable energy?

Similarly, controlling rainwater runoff by allowing it to soak into the ground requires creating a swale or depression. How can we turn such a low point into a beautiful sustainable garden?

“Sometimes green solutions on our properties can look downright ugly,” said Julie Moir Messervy, an award-winning landscape designer, author and lecturer based in Vermont. “But these days, there are so many ways to create landscapes that combine ecological practices with attractive design.”

Messervy has written six books that explain landscape-design concepts in simple terms for homeowners. Her latest is “Landscaping Ideas that Work.”

“Good design is not only affordable, approachable and attainable, it’s also sustainable,” she said.

Messervy contends that, with focus and know-how, sustainable features such as solar panels, rainwater collection systems, green roofs and beds planted with native plants can be blended into home landscapes in imaginative and aesthetically pleasing ways. On your property, sustainability and style can go hand in hand for those unwilling to sacrifice one for the other.

According to Messervy, a “new homestead” accomplishes both: The house and its adjoining land use time-honored, earth-friendly practices that harmonize with today’s green technologies and materials — all arranged using principles of good design.

“We strive for beauty and meaning as we seek to link good landscape design with sustainable outdoor living,” she said.

To create your own “new homestead,” Messervy recommends beginning with four basic concepts.

Come from the earth. “Start by respecting the earth, by learning from it and responding to it,” Messervy said. “Past generations lived on the land in appropriate ways, providing sustenance not only for themselves and their families, but also for the land.” She contends that new sustainable methods and practices can be grafted onto old ideas of living lightly on the land.

Opt for double duty. “Do two things at once and instantly they become more integrated into your life and property,” Messervy said. For example, a brick retaining wall can be replaced by a sustainable green wall that performs the same function while doubling as an eye-pleasing vertical garden for native plants.

Start with an organizing strategy. “Don’t plunk a vegetable garden, orchard or solar panel just anywhere in your yard,” Messervy said. Instead, see every feature as part of a larger concept — a “big idea” that helps to unify disparate parts of your property. Do you want to create a “grandchild paradise” for instance, or a wildlife sanctuary, or an edible landscape? Determining what your property might become helps you get there.

Demystify landscape design. Education is a valuable tool with DIY landscape projects. Use resources geared to homeowners, such as books, blogs and websites. Especially helpful are apps that enable homeowners to mock up their property and get help designing it. Armed with these tools, “What once might have felt scary can now become play,” Messervy said. “Homeowners can more confidently design their own homestead with a focus on sustainability with style.”

Lynn Jackson Kirk is a public relations writer for Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

 

February 5, 2014;Politico

Vice President Joe Biden pulls few punches. Just ask President Obama, who had to get off his noncommittal public stance on LGBT marriage when Biden sort of forced the issue. This week, in the wake of President Obama’s assigning Biden to chair a task force on job training (and issuing an executive memorandum that did not use the word “union” once), the Vice President gave a speech at the annual meeting of the United Auto Workers that was as pro-union as almost anything that anyone from the Obama administration has ever uttered.

Biden told the UAW assemblage that collective bargaining is the “bedrock of our economy,” that “labor built the middle class,” and that, referring to unions, “You guys are the only guys keeping the barbarians at the gate.” Now, tell us what you really think, Joe!

Citing right-to-work laws that were enacted in Michigan and Indiana in recent years and other governmental initiatives limiting unions’ collective bargaining, Biden ascribed these policy reversals to “a concerted, full-throated, well-organized, well-financed, well-thought-out effort waging war on labor’s house.”

Given that Vice President Biden is now in charge of a task force to generate ideas on job training programs that work for the parts of the economy that are likely to grow jobs, are his strongly pro-union statements at the UAW conference consistent with the task force deliberations? Here is the Bureau of Labor Statistics review of the occupational categories likely to show the largest proportional and absolute employment increases between 2012 and 2022. It would appear that the VP is reminding the unions that they have organizing challenges ahead:

While the president’s speech seemed to imply a focus on job creation in the “knowledge-driven” part of the economy, which tends to be not particularly strongly unionized, the largest areas of job growth during the next decade—personal care aides, home health aides, registered nurses, retail salespersons, food preparation and serving workers, nursing assistants, and secretaries and administrative assistants—are all battleground occupations for organized labor, including for unions such as the UAW that have expanded far beyond their original labor constituencies.

In essence, the challenge depends on one’s impressions of the role of unions. Conservatives and many employers think that unions stand in the way of certain kinds of job and economic growth, while an alternative perspective is that union organizing, collective bargaining, and union membership have been the instruments that thrust much of working-class America into the middle class.

If you recall the emphasis in both the president’s State of the Union and his executive memorandum on job training, there was a strong call for apprenticeships. On the AFL-CIO website, the standard-bearer of organized labor in the U.S. describes job training and apprenticeships as “at the heart of unions’ efforts to ensure that working men and women have a voice in our country’s ever-changing economy” and claims that unions train more than 450,000 workers annually. During the SOTU, Elizabeth Shuler, the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO tweeted that unions are the second-largest provider of training in the U.S. next to the U.S. military, though the task force doesn’t make that point.

Perhaps Vice President Biden was reminding the unions that despite their absence from the president’s job training memorandum, organized labor has a role to play in the emerging, job-creating occupations of the economy to ensure that those workers get the kinds of workplace protections that they need and deserve. From a 501(c)(3) nonprofit perspective (as opposed to a 501(c)(5) union perspective), the BLS chart might be seen as identifying the top occupations in which nonprofits and unions alike should be focusing their job training and job placement activities—and hopefully with their collective bargaining and workplace rights protected.—Rick Cohen

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I understand the impulse of network executives to shuffle around the order of sitcom episodes so they don’t necessarily air in their production order. In this overstuffed media landscape it’s more important than ever to put your best foot forward, airing your stronger episodes first to build an early positive buzz. Understanding the impulse doesn’t mean I like it though, as it’s continually frustrating to see events airing out of sequence even if a show’s not overly serialized. The continuity nerd inside me flinches to see characters make references to events that haven’t happened before, behave in a manner that doesn’t suggest they learned lessons in recent weeks, and give the overall feeling we’ve traveled back in time. Not the dramatic time travel where you can’t step on anything, but the feeling of going into a room and everything’s been put back from where you moved it last time you were there.

Sadly, Enlisted has been a victim of that trend in the early goings. Last week’s episode was clearly moved up to coincide with the Super Bowl, and consequently there was a jump forward in the Derrick/Erin relationship. This week it’s even more noticeable, as “Rear D Day” was the first installment produced after the pilot and there’s a definite “second episode” vibe surrounding much of the episode’s events. There’s a restatement of the show’s core ideas—Pete’s punching out a superior officer, his frustration at his change of status, the special role that Rear D plays compared to deployed soldiers—and several of the relationships between characters don’t feel as lived-in as you’d expect.

That being said, none of those issues are enough to derail the overall enjoyability of “Rear D Day,” which is another solid episode for the entire Enlisted ensemble. Pete’s decided to “embrace the suck” of his current position and be enthusiastic about any assignment he takes on, and gets one right away as punishment for his unit’s tendency to make hilarious Internet videos on Army property. Rodney Spratt is an Army husband raising his son alone while his wife’s deployed, and he needs some help around the house. Specifically, he wants to turn his laundry room into home brewing storage and his backyard into a sports court, and happily responds to Pete’s offer to help by volunteering the troops as his own personal landscaping crew. Rodney’s played by comedian Andy Daly, who’s an expert at playing good-natured characters with depth, and his oblivious cheerfulness is a great counter to the increasingly frustrated unit.

His oblivious cheerfulness also provides the right counterweight to Pete’s forced cheerfulness, a connection that Derrick’s chaos antenna picks up on immediately. He quickly pounces on Pete and suggests that it won’t be too long before he cracks, and that crack will usher in the return of Temper Man, or “T-Man” as he’s referred to in Hill history (accompanied by a background guitar strum with every mention, more than a few shades of Arrested Development’s “Mr. F!”). Apparently Pete has a history of violent outbursts, ranging from throwing a second-place trophy through a plate glass window and punching a cotton candy machine because he couldn’t get on a log flume ride. (“You know I was taller than that bear’s paw!”) It’s an excellent Hill brother dynamic, as Derrick’s determined to show Pete up, Pete’s determined to turn this into a victory, and Randy just wants everyone to play nice. “Let’s get our suck on! Let’s embrace getting our suck on!” (Said Ripley to the android Bishop.)

Remarkably, the blowup doesn’t come at any point in the gardening process—a series of events that sees Park traumatized by fire ants, Dobkiss literally digging his own grave and Robinson waging a war on boob sweat. It instead comes at the very end, when Rodney’s cheerfulness leads him to make a comment about how this had to be more enjoyable than “real soldiering” stuff, and you can practically see the switch flip behind Pete’s eyes. T-Man is unleashed, and he questions what’s real by smashing a bench to pieces, trying to throw a batting cage over the fence and calling Rodney a “giant pain in the ass.” It’s played for broad comedy and does it well—though going back to the issue of continuity, this outburst coming after “Pete’s Airstream” makes things seem more worrisome.

Typically, this is the moment where Cody would step in to shake some sense into Pete, but he’s busy making life complicated for another soldier. If previous episodes have spent time making sure that Jill can be incorporated into the Hills’ unit, “Rear D Day” is one that helps establish the character as a separate entity with her own drive and ambition. She’s angling for a spot in an advanced leadership course, which she sees as the next step toward a promotion and moving past some of the snap judgments she receives. As she complains to Pete, “They see you and they say ‘There goes a brave solider.’ They see me and go ‘Oh, a lady one.’” Given Enlisted’s interest in covering multiple aspects of military life, it’s good to see that it wants to address specific issues faced by women in the service, especially with how strong its bench of actresses is.

Jill’s clear interest in being seen as more than a woman makes her relationship with Cody this week all the more amusing, because that seems to be the only way he can see her—not in a sexual or chauvinistic way, but a desperate one. As a divorced father with a teenage daughter, he’s entirely out of his depth, and thinks that Jill can fill in all of the questions he has. (“Can I stop the hormones? Does spicy food help? What about the moon, friend or foe?”) The sequence where he winds up tailing his daughter and her new boyfriend is an amusing pairing of his being both competent and incompetent at the same time, and while his behavior is clearly out of line it comes from a place of genuine uncertainty that excuses more problematic traits. When he and Jill eventually reconcile, it clearly comes from a place of mutual respect and understanding, and proves that the two don’t need to be interacting with the Hills to carry a plot. (Plus, it involved a discussion of oranges as murder weapons, which earns it bonus points.)

Cody’s distraction means that Pete gets off scot-free, and he even gets a real smile—which is the same as the fake smile, but it’s the thought that counts. However, Randy is not so forgiving, as he chews Pete out for being “a slang word for genitals” for insulting Rodney in front of his son. Randy’s most genuine emotions come when he ties what’s going on to his own family memories, and here the recollection of their mother’s own difficult experience leads him to strip the title of hero from Pete. (Derrick says it best: “Pretty profound stuff from a guy whose favorite food used to be pennies.”) It’s a good moment for all of the brothers, and one that introduces hopes we’ll meet Mrs. Hill in a future episode given the clear regard all three have for her.

In a nice bit of circular storytelling, Pete figures out how to patch things up with Rodney and his son by using the unit’s gift for making viral videos as a force for good. The resulting “Super Tim vs. Rear D” is an endearingly low-budget affair that allows full of simulated flight on gardening tools, lightning effects and sunglasses popping up from Rodney’s fanny pack. It’s a moment that manages to be both sappy and goofy, and makes for a fun close to an episode that works well, continuity problems aside.

Stray observations:

• I hope I wasn’t the only one distracted by the resemblance between Andy Daly and Mort Burke. I half-expected one member of the unit to nickname Rodney “Other JaMort.”
• Past Pete revelations: kale is a super food and social media is tearing us apart. “People used to have conversations.”
• Excellent slapstick runner with Chubowski this week, as first he gets injured and covered in toxic grease playing human bowling, then smashed in the face by a washer door and knocked down stairs, and then clocked between the eyes with a motor-launched baseball. The last one has a wonderfully tragicomic opening: “I’m out of the hospital and ready to work!” BOOM. (JaMort: “That doesn’t seem fair!”)
• We learn more about Jill’s upbringing this week, as it turns out she had absentee parents and her Uncle Rico was beaten to death with a sock full of oranges. “Or was it doorknobs? No, it was oranges. His corpse was sticky.” Cody: “Stop telling me things.”
• This week in hilarious Dobkiss revelations: a mule kicked him in the esophagus when he was six and an eagle clawed his eyes when he was ten. Pete: “How are you still alive?” Dobkiss: “Part of me died a long time ago.”
• As someone who has two brewers in the family, Rodney’s Summer Pig Roast Ale—described by Pete as “gelatinous”—was doubly disgusting for me to consider.
• “Pete has decided to try at his job, so we’re celebrating!” *POP* “Hooray.” “Why do you have those in your desk?” “I’m a festive man.”
• “It’s like my boob-sweat is cousins with my back-sweat and they’re having a Thanksgiving dinner downstairs!”
• “T-Man’s kind of uncoordinated.”
• “Our tears are private, Private!”

Dexter Leader News

Published: Friday, February 07, 2014

By Sean Dalton
sdalton@heritage.com
Twitter: @seankdalton

Coley O’Brian, owner of Dexter’s AW.

View and purchase photos

DEXTER — Coley O’Brian, owner of Dexter’s AW on Dexter-Chelsea Road and Main Street, said recently that he has plans for further improvements for visitors to one of Dexter village’s most prized local businesses.

Last season, O’Brien altered the building and grounds of his business for both aesthetic and practical reasons.

PHOTOS: Dexter’s AW receives renovations

Those cruising into or out of the village near the viaduct toward the end of last season might have noticed new awnings and, at night, more brilliant lighting illuminating Dexter AW like a beacon.

“I was worried about the orange,” O’Brian said of the building improvements, which included a new wavy awning skirt around the bottom of his building’s roof, which is painted orange along with structural support beams holding that awning up, which were also refurbished.

In addition to the new lighting, O’Brien commissioned L-n-J Landscaping to building a brick patio with picnic table seating and a railed overlook into the downtown and Mill Creek Park.

“The problem we had to address with the awning was that it went straight across at the law point (of the skirt that replaced it), so vehicles like box trucks were constantly hitting it because that low point went all the way across,” O’Brien said.

A family friend had the idea to replace the awning, according to O’Brien. Some rough ideas were submitted to the AW All-American Foods, which has state headquarters in Westland. The corporate franchise architects turned those rough ideas into blueprints and O’Brien was tasked with hiring a company to put those plans into action.

O’Brien said he was at first concerned about going from the highly noticeable and unique teal color that once adorned his building, but he says he pleased with the end result in terms of the color palette as well.

Eventually, more lighting will be added to illuminate the building’s roof above the new skirt. Continued…

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The idea behind the design of the brick patio was to provide almost an extension of the recently completed and award-winning Mill Creek Park, which is just across the street.

“I like to think of it as almost a little extension of the park,” O’Brien said. “We wanted to mimic some of the stonework the village used, and with the extension to Hudson-Mills that just opened, we think it’s a great opportunity for our business.”

He added that there is a possibility of talks opening with the village this year on the possibility of having a sidewalk installed so pedestrians can more easily cross Dexter-Chelsea Road at the nearby intersection.

“That also seems to be a good fit with the theme locally of promoting and supporting pedestrian traffic,” O’Brien said. “Sometimes it’s rough getting over here from the village for people.”

There are also some new events and menu programming coming in 2014, including a monthly feature of a limited-time-only beverage, main meal item and side item beginning when the seasonal business opens its doors again March 1.

Being the parent of a three and a six-year-old, O’Brien said he also has some fun planned for children as well.

“I came up with this idea last season of having kids drives up in little electric cars — like a cruise for kids, where they drive around the parking lot, park and a car hop comes out and serves them and their parents,” O’Brien said.

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• See Full Story

DEXTER — Coley O’Brian, owner of Dexter’s AW on Dexter-Chelsea Road and Main Street, said recently that he has plans for further improvements for visitors to one of Dexter village’s most prized local businesses.

Last season, O’Brien altered the building and grounds of his business for both aesthetic and practical reasons.

PHOTOS: Dexter’s AW receives renovations

Those cruising into or out of the village near the viaduct toward the end of last season might have noticed new awnings and, at night, more brilliant lighting illuminating Dexter AW like a beacon.

“I was worried about the orange,” O’Brian said of the building improvements, which included a new wavy awning skirt around the bottom of his building’s roof, which is painted orange along with structural support beams holding that awning up, which were also refurbished.

In addition to the new lighting, O’Brien commissioned L-n-J Landscaping to building a brick patio with picnic table seating and a railed overlook into the downtown and Mill Creek Park.

“The problem we had to address with the awning was that it went straight across at the law point (of the skirt that replaced it), so vehicles like box trucks were constantly hitting it because that low point went all the way across,” O’Brien said.

A family friend had the idea to replace the awning, according to O’Brien. Some rough ideas were submitted to the AW All-American Foods, which has state headquarters in Westland. The corporate franchise architects turned those rough ideas into blueprints and O’Brien was tasked with hiring a company to put those plans into action.

O’Brien said he was at first concerned about going from the highly noticeable and unique teal color that once adorned his building, but he says he pleased with the end result in terms of the color palette as well.

Eventually, more lighting will be added to illuminate the building’s roof above the new skirt.

The idea behind the design of the brick patio was to provide almost an extension of the recently completed and award-winning Mill Creek Park, which is just across the street.

“I like to think of it as almost a little extension of the park,” O’Brien said. “We wanted to mimic some of the stonework the village used, and with the extension to Hudson-Mills that just opened, we think it’s a great opportunity for our business.”

He added that there is a possibility of talks opening with the village this year on the possibility of having a sidewalk installed so pedestrians can more easily cross Dexter-Chelsea Road at the nearby intersection.

“That also seems to be a good fit with the theme locally of promoting and supporting pedestrian traffic,” O’Brien said. “Sometimes it’s rough getting over here from the village for people.”

There are also some new events and menu programming coming in 2014, including a monthly feature of a limited-time-only beverage, main meal item and side item beginning when the seasonal business opens its doors again March 1.

Being the parent of a three and a six-year-old, O’Brien said he also has some fun planned for children as well.

“I came up with this idea last season of having kids drives up in little electric cars — like a cruise for kids, where they drive around the parking lot, park and a car hop comes out and serves them and their parents,” O’Brien said.

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WATERLOO | Barb Miller has placed a special order for sunny skies and warmer temperatures for the Eastern Iowa Home Landscaping Show, opening Friday at the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center.

“The weather can definitely affect attendance, and we’d like a nice weekend, but the show will go on no matter what it’s doing outside. Iowans are hardy, and it will be warm inside the convention center,” said Miller of Iowa Show Productions.

Typically 8,000 to 10,000 visitors attend the event.

Iowans with cabin fever will find ideas and products for projects varying from paint, wallpaper, redecorating, refurnishing and remodeling to building, landscape and gardening.

Nearly 200 home improvement and landscape exhibitors will be present, including home contractors and remodeling experts. Other exhibits will include kitchens, home entertainment systems, lighting, plumbing, water systems, windows, doors, siding, hot tubs, fireplaces, sunrooms and more.

“The show has a long tradition and continues to be popular with people who have a specific project in mind and want to talk to several contractors in one place, or people who are dreaming about a future project who want ideas,” Miller explained.

The 63rd annual show is sponsored by Waterloo Exchange Club and Iowa Show Productions. Hours are 3 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $6 for adults and free for children younger than 12. Friday matinee admission is $4 from 3 to 5 p.m.

Paul Ryan, DIY Network’s television host known as the Kitchen Magician, will present several seminars. “Ryan gives the show a little excitement and a fresh look. Lots of people watch DIY Network and see those shows, so it’s fun to say you’ve seen him in person and perhaps ask him a question or two,” said Miller.

He will present “Kitchen Remodeling: Planning for the Best Outcome” at 5 p.m. Friday and noon and 6 p.m. Saturday and “Remodeling 101: So That’s How It’s Done” at 7 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday.

Other seminars will take place throughout the weekend on topics from fairy gardening, ideas for spring planting and retaining walls to geothermal systems and building with insulated concrete forms.

Area members of the American Society of Interior Designers will exhibit showcase rooms. Featured will be Jim Aronson Interior Design’s urban loft space with trendy pops of color and a mix of rustic and popular elements; Flack Interior Design Associates, a division of Simpson Furniture, creating a layered, textural multipurpose room; and Katie Bell’s bathroom with vintage flair.

Landscape and garden designers will construct landscaped garden displays using pavers, retaining blocks, trees, shrubs and a variety of other products. Decking, lawn equipment and lawn care products will also be featured.

In addition to a concession stand for snacks and sandwiches, exhibitors demonstrating grills will be offering food samples. The Iowa Pork Producers and Fahr Beverage also will be at the show.

Discount coupons are available at local Kwik Star stores. More show information is available at www.iowashows.com.

MONTCLAIRThe new water conservation education center couldn’t have come at a better time.

As California officials spread the message of water conservation in a time of drought, local water agencies hope the center may further drive the message home.

The new Water Conservation Campus, at Chino Basin Water Conservation District headquarters in Montclair, held its grand opening last weekend. Officials hope the new center, 4594 San Bernardino St., will be a place for people, local leaders and business to learn about new landscaping techniques and water conservation.

“We did a strategic plan, that concluded in 2008, and at the conclusion of the strategic plan, we said that if we were really going to promote true water conservation and change people’s habits, we’re going to have to put our money where our mouth is and show people what can be done and not just demonstrate it,” said Eunice Ulloa, general manager of the Chino Basin Water Conservation District.

The San Bernardino County special district has been delivering water collected in catch basins back into the Chino Basin underground aquifer for more than 60 years. The new $8 million campus expands upon a district office facility built in 1991 and includes a new education center for children, a maintenance building, a landscape demonstration garden.

“For the first 40 years, we spent most of our time focused on basins, and then we needed to get a bigger office, so this is the second generation office,” said Geoffrey Vanden Huevel, a district board member. “We began to say we need to begin to educate the public to have a different water ethic because the way we have been doing things is not sustainable.”

Vanden Huevel said California is in constant drought, “we’ve got to recognize we’re in a different environment.”

“We started with a demonstration garden to demonstrate to people how to save water and the idea is that over time, most of the water bill for homeowners is spent on landscaping,” he said. “That’s where the savings could come from.”

District officials said the main campus building is 40 percent more energy-efficient than state requirements. The building includes an exhibit space where people can learn how to save water.

The site is irrigated with recycled water, uses permeable asphalt and concrete designed for 100 percent water retention and percolation, and has a 42 kilowatt voltaic solar array that provides power to the much of the facility.

The district operates through the use of county property taxes. Money from the sale of unused catch basin property 10 years ago was used to pay for the construction of the new facility.

Ulloa has invited schools to bring their students to the center to learn about water conservation, with children being good ambassadors of the knowledge back to their parents. She’s also invited local businesses, such as the Lewis Group of Companies to hold their company meetings at the center.

“We realize we can’t keep doing business the way we’ve done in our past,” said Randall Lewis, principal of the Lewis Group of Companies, a major developer in the region. “If we don’t change the way we run our businesses and plan for apartments and shopping centers, we’re going to run out of water.”

Lewis, speaking at the grand opening of the center on Saturday, encouraged other business owners to hold their executive meetings at the center.

“Have your group meetings here,” Lewis told a large crowd, that included business owners and state and local elected officials. “It would be the best way to share the (water conservation) ideas with your organizations.”

Information: call 909-626-2711, or visit www.cbwcd.org