Welcome back, Hanford community and beyond! As your host, Rob Bentley, I'm thrilled to whisk you through the ins and outs of our vibrant city's happenings. We've got our finger on the pulse of Hanford City Council's latest actions. And for those hungry for local culture, our community calendar is a treasure trove of local author meet-and-greets, high school musicals, and volunteer ops that will get you out and mingling in no time. Then, buckle up as we zoom into the heart of our show with an exclusive update on downtown Hanford's KART Transit Center, courtesy of Heather Corder from King's County Public Transit Agency – hear firsthand how this transformative project will revolutionize downtown!
Cementing the future of transit in Hanford, we earmark the progress of the KART Transit Center, poised to redefine convenience and connectivity by 2025. Listen closely as we piece together the story behind the $35 million project, a mosaic of federal, state, and local funding sources that's as impressive as the state-of-the-art facilities it's erecting. Sports enthusiasts, stick around! We're serving up a full plate of high school athletic triumphs and tribulations, from basketball courts to soccer fields, and warming up for softball season with a special invitation for alumni to dust off their gloves. Every minute of this episode is threaded with the vibrant tapestry of our community – and we can't wait for you to join the conversation and help us broadcast the spirit of Hanford far and wide.
You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider Thank you for supporting the show!
Welcome back, Hanford community and beyond! As your host, Rob Bentley, I'm thrilled to whisk you through the ins and outs of our vibrant city's happenings. We've got our finger on the pulse of Hanford City Council's latest actions. And for those hungry for local culture, our community calendar is a treasure trove of local author meet-and-greets, high school musicals, and volunteer ops that will get you out and mingling in no time. Then, buckle up as we zoom into the heart of our show with an exclusive update on downtown Hanford's KART Transit Center, courtesy of Heather Corder from King's County Public Transit Agency – hear firsthand how this transformative project will revolutionize downtown!
Cementing the future of transit in Hanford, we earmark the progress of the KART Transit Center, poised to redefine convenience and connectivity by 2025. Listen closely as we piece together the story behind the $35 million project, a mosaic of federal, state, and local funding sources that's as impressive as the state-of-the-art facilities it's erecting. Sports enthusiasts, stick around! We're serving up a full plate of high school athletic triumphs and tribulations, from basketball courts to soccer fields, and warming up for softball season with a special invitation for alumni to dust off their gloves. Every minute of this episode is threaded with the vibrant tapestry of our community – and we can't wait for you to join the conversation and help us broadcast the spirit of Hanford far and wide.
You can find the Hanford Insider at www.hanfordinsider.com and on social media at @hanfordinsider Thank you for supporting the show!
Speaker 1:
On this episode of the Hanford Insider, we get an in-depth look into the new Cart Transit Center being built in downtown Hanford. Rob will give you a community calendar update and I'll be back to give you a recap of the last few weeks of high school basketball and soccer action. This is the Hanford Insider for Monday, january 15th.
Speaker 2:
Hey everybody, how's it going? Welcome to this episode of the Hanford Insider. I'm your host, rob Bentley. I'm glad to be back after a few weeks off. For those of you returning to the show, thanks for coming back. For those of you joining me for the first time, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:
The Insider is published each week at HanfordInsidercom and on your favorite podcast player. We talk about community events, city council news, we get an update on high school sports for my son, eric, who works in sports, and we always have a guest or two on the show to share with us. So this week the Hanford City Council will be meeting again on Tuesday night after a few weeks off for the holidays. A couple of the items that they'll be discussing will be a public hearing regarding water and storm water rate adjustments coming up next month, and they'll be approving a settlement agreement and released with former Community Development Director, darlene Mada. There are a few other things on the agenda and I'll be sure to let you know next week if there's anything significant In community news.
Speaker 2:
Representative David Valadeo's office has announced that Hanford West student Eli Kobine is the winner of the 2023 Congressional App Challenge for Congressional District 22. He was recognized for designing his own video game called 500 Rooms. Congratulations, eli, good job. It was also great to hear that Senator Melissa Hurtado's office has helped secure a million dollars in funding for a new fire engine for the Hanford Fire Department. This engine, plus the one recently purchased by the city, will be added to the city fleet this year. And I'd like to bid a fond farewell to a friend of the show, pastor Julie Kelly. Julie is stepping down as the pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Savior. It was great to have her on the show a couple times to talk about the soup kitchen and how the ministry helped the needy in Hanford.
Speaker 2:
Here are a few things coming up on our community calendar. The Hanford branch of the Kings County Library is having another local author, maeton Greene, and book signing on Saturday, january 20th, from 11 to 2. Find out more at kingscountylibraryorg. It's high school musical time this year. Pacific High School Theater Department is first up next weekend. They are presenting Les Misrov January 25th through the 28th at the Hanford Presentation Center. Coral Director Vivian Santos shared with me that student Tarek Walker, who was playing the lead of Jean Valjean, just got accepted into one of the leading musical theater schools in the country, the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and he got awarded their top scholarship. I know I'm going to go check it out. For showtimes and tickets, visit spbandorg. Kings County Community Action is looking for volunteers for their Home Garden's Community Garden cleanup on Saturday, january 27th, from 9 to 12. For more information, visit their website at kcoorg.
Speaker 2:
The 1776 Sons of Liberty will be hosting a debate featuring the candidates for Kings County Board of Supervisors District 5, the 20th and 22nd Congressional Districts and the 33rd Assembly District. The event will be held at the Hanford High School Presentation Center on Thursday February 1st at 6 o'clock. The annual Hanford Rotary Crab Feed will be held on Saturday February 3rd at the Esquire 8th Hall on Fargo. This year Tickets are available from Rotary Club members. The Hanford Fox Theater is now selling tickets for their Journey in Peter Frampton Tribute Band's concert on February 17th. Good seats are still available at foxhanfordcom. The Children's Storybook Garden and Museum will be hosting a Mad Hatter Tea Party on Saturday February 10th. Visit their website at childrenstorybookgardenorg for more information. Hanford Youth Soccer is now taking signups for their Spring Soccer League. Signups end on January 31st. Sign up today at hanfordyouthsoccerorg.
Speaker 2:
There are a lot of great events coming up in 2024. You want to be sure to mark your calendars now for these events. King's Players and Children's Storybook Garden and Museum Murder Mystery Dinner is on April 20th. The Chamber of Commerce Taste of the Valley is in the Pacific Center Park on April 26th. For those of you car show enthusiasts, I have two shows on the calendar so far. The Hanford West High School Band Bactors Cars on Campus show will be on April 27th and the Cardi G Museum of King's County Downtown Hanford Car Show will be on June 8th. So I'll be grabbing events as I see them on the Hanford Sentinel calendar and social media pages. If you have an event coming up and you'd like some help getting the word out, let's work together. Send your information to hanfordinsider at gmailcom.
Speaker 2:
So over the last few weeks I can't tell you the number of times I've been asked about the construction going on at the corner of Seventh and Harrison, downtown Hanford. It's a huge project. Following a tip from one of my listeners, I did some investigating and learned that the entire city block on the north side of Seventh between Harrison Brown Street will be the new Transit Center for CART. On this week's Community Spotlight, I'm pleased to welcome to the show Heavitt Quarter, who is the accountant auditor for the King's County Public Transit Agency. Welcome to the show, heather. Thank you Glad to be here, hey, heather. So we've got some exciting news for Hanford and everything that's going on in downtown Hanford. But before we get to the future, let's touch a little bit on the history of CART and how CART is continually evaluating the need for public transportation in the area.
Speaker 3:
Sure. So CART started in June of 1980 as a joint powers agency which was comprised of Kings County, hanford, lamoure, corcoran and Avonelle. But in 82, corcoran was able to meet their own transportation needs so they dropped out, they withdrew from the agency. Were governed by a five-member board of directors, two of which are from the Kings County Board of Supervisors, one from the city of LaMoure, one from the city of Hanford and one from the city of Avonelle, and so we operate eight fixed routes in the Hanford area one route between Hanford and LaMoure and three county routes to Avonelle, corcoran and Layton and two regional routes out to Vicelya and Fresno. So I can talk about the services that CART offers, which is we offer the fixed route, which is where the buses go around in a circle so you always know where they're going to be and what time they're going to be there.
Speaker 3:
Cart also operates the paratransit service and this is for individuals who are unable to use the fixed route services and they still need transportation. So if they can't get to the stop or they can't get to the transit center, you fill out an application and you can get approved for the service and we will pick you up and take you to where you need to go. Now, the other service that's like that, that doesn't need an application, is a service called GOCART. It's just like Uber where, except for the price is a lot less, so the bus will pick you up at your desired location and take you to the same location. Now, this is unlike paratransit. This is limited by city. So you have to go Hanford to Hanford or LaMoure to LaMoure with the GOCART service, but paratransit will take you from Hanford to LaMoure if you need it.
Speaker 2:
So that's awesome. I know that you have a website that has all of your routes listed and especially, it has the information regarding the what we used to call dial ride, which I'm now called Uber. Of course, I know that the station down by the Amtrak area there has been a popular spot and we always see the buses there, but I imagine it's getting pretty crowded down there. What are some of the limitations that you have as you continue to grow and maybe outgrow this facility?
Speaker 3:
The limitations down there. It's a great site, right next to the Amtrak, but it's also some of our riders do have mobility issues and it's difficult to get across those railroad tracks and it's not as safe as we would like it to be. Also, there's a lot of noise pollution over there, as anyone in Hanford knows. You can hear the train running through it 50 trains a day, yes, and they do sometimes stop, and so our buses are trying to get out and come and go and they can't quite move from that area because the train is there.
Speaker 3:
The other thing is it's all outdoors and with the heat and the cold, and we have elderly folks, we have teenagers out there in the heat during the summer and the cold during the winter, and we'd really like to get a place where they can stay inside so that they're not as affected by the weather. Also, it only has 10 bays and we have like we have 42 revenue vehicles and so we have more route and, as I said, we have lots of routes that go in and out and all around and we are running out of space. We are running out of space. We can't have all our buses there because we have two minutes. We only have 10 bays, as I said, and so we need to move to some place that's bigger and some place that is more centrally located.
Speaker 2:
So that brings us to Seventh and Harris. That was obviously a site that was chosen after a lot of studies and everything, and I love the location, the availability to downtown that's awesome. Can you tell us about what we're seeing currently at the site and then what we can look forward to in 2025 when it finally opens?
Speaker 3:
Yes, so currently at the site, they just started doing the leveling and everything and they'll start working on the ground the foundation pretty soon. We started this project back in 2017 and we did site studies and we did all the environmental requirements and we've been working on this for a while. Once we get this all built, we're going to be lucky because we're going to have the transit center there and the admin will also be there, and we're also. King's View is currently on that site. We are going to build a place for them to be there, so they're not going to get moved. They'll still be. That's crazy. Yes, they'll have a newer site to be at and also we can this way, if people have any issues or problems, cart will be upstairs, admin will be upstairs and downstairs will be our contracted employees.
Speaker 2:
So that's great that you're able to allow King's View to still be on site and they'll just move from the old DMV building into your building. That's outstanding.
Speaker 3:
Yes, because a lot of their clients do use public transit, so it's a lot easier for them to come and go from the site.
Speaker 2:
So then is will the old DMV building be demolished later on in the process, then?
Speaker 3:
Yes, it will, but we want to make sure that Kingsview and its clients have a place to go, so nobody's stuck without services.
Speaker 2:
So tell us about the facility. What are we going to see there? I'm so excited.
Speaker 3:
It's going to be amazing. So we've worked with I don't know if you remember what was there before, but there were buildings there before that were over 50 years old and they were built boarded up and it was kind of a blighted area. But we're going to build. It's going to be two stories. One of our things that we think about this is that we want this transit center to be a place where people want to go, because usually in transit centers people are just moving through. But we want to be where people want to be. So we're going to have a huge indoor transit waiting room where people can wait. It'll have the times up. You'll can see the buses going out from the indoor waiting room. You can see where the buses can come and go. It's going to have bathrooms. It's going to have.
Speaker 3:
There are certain things that riders can't get from our contractors, so they'll be able to just come upstairs and get them from admin. Admin will be right upstairs from them. Also, kings County area of governments is going to be moving in there also, so we'll have all that. One of the really good things that's going to be there is the board center board meeting area, so that if you ride the bus and you want to say something at the board meeting, it'll be right there. Right now we're at the city of Hanford because Kings County is doing construction but it's a little more difficult to get to. So if we were able to put it right at the, we're going to put it right at the transit center and we're going to have training rooms there and break rooms for our drivers, because currently their break room is 120 square feet for 32 drivers.
Speaker 2:
That's crazy. Then that's that old train station building next to Amtrak. Yes, it is. It used to be out of Roosevelt School, out at the old Fort Roosevelt. That was actually one of the buildings that was brought onto that site for Fort Roosevelt, and when Fort Roosevelt closed down they thought that that would make a great spot for it to put it next to the Amtrak station. It is, it's an old railroad station. Yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 3:
That's really. I love the history. I love the history. But we are, when we do the, we checked with the city of Hanford and we worked with them and we want to make sure that it really fits into the downtown, that we really that it's seamless of where it is, and the bus depot will not be able to be seen from 7th Street, so they'll be in the back so that we can they can come and go quickly and not hold up any traffic on 7th.
Speaker 2:
If you're hearing Heather pause, it's because we're in the conference room here at Cart looking at these beautiful pictures. Make sure you stop by our social media sites on Instagram and Hanford Insider on Facebook and you can see the just wonderful plans that they have. I'm sorry, go ahead, Heather, Nope.
Speaker 3:
That's, that's, yeah, it's just. It's going to be a great place for people to be. I think it's going to be very good for our riders and it's going to enable them to. It's going to the central location. We're going to change our routes. We'll have more fixed routes and less wait time at the center.
Speaker 2:
So I know one of the big things that the Kings County Area Public Transit Agency is doing is constantly evaluating the need for transportation. I know you talked about some needs that were being met in Avonel. Can you expand on that a little bit?
Speaker 3:
Yes, so we're always evaluating public transit throughout the year. Staff, what takes rides the bus every month and or every two months and does surveys on there about what people need, what people want what, what, that kind of thing, and gets feedback, that sort of thing. Cart has two public hearings a year so that people can come and talk about their needs to the board, or they can write in or they can call in throughout the year. If people call in and say you know, we need another ride out to Avonel, that sort of thing, we add it to our list. One of our shining accomplishments that I'm very proud of is the fact that we were expanding the service in Avonel and we thought we knew what they wanted and so we went out there to talk to them and so they could be as excited about this new service as we were. And it wasn't a service they wanted and it wasn't a service they needed. But what we did is we listened to them and we listened to what they actually needed and what they wanted, and we were able to make that happen. We were able to roll out. We call it Avonel shopping cart and we pick people up in Avonel and we bring them to Hanford and we let them do their shopping and then we take them home and we help them with their bags and they're allowed to bring more bags than they are on the regular Avenel route and we make sure that we have everybody because Avenel is a really tight community and so they don't mind waiting.
Speaker 3:
One of their fears was For Avenel is they get on the bus, and they got a leave by two o'clock. They have to be on that bus whether their prescription is ready or not, and anyone who shops in hamford knows that sometimes prescriptions aren't ready, right, and so what? But Avenel is a tight community and they all know each other and so they don't mind waiting for heather to get her prescription and so that bus doesn't leave until we have all our people back. That's so nice. Now it is, and it relieved a lot of stress on them because they weren't rushing. They all know each other, they all know what time it goes back. If somebody's running a little late, it's okay, and we're able to carry their grocery you know as many groceries as they need and they thought they really enjoy it and they really like it and, uh, I I'm very proud that cart was able to offer this service to them. So that's what we do when we do unmet needs. Even though we think we know what you want, we always listen to what you really do want.
Speaker 2:
So a service that cart offers that maybe not a lot of people know about is the ability to ride cart up to medical appointments Up in fresno. Can you tell us a little bit about how that works?
Speaker 3:
Yes, we have a service. A bus goes up to fresno on Wednesdays and Fridays twice a day on Wednesdays and Fridays and it goes to a variety of medical facilities up in fresno and selma.
Speaker 2:
So these are certainly exciting times for uh car and all of the transportation Uh needs in kings county and especially hamford, with the building of this new transit center and I know that uh it is built with the city actually is not a part of this, it's actually been funded, and so can you tell us a little bit about the cost of it and then maybe wrap it up with a, an idea of when it might be completed and how to find out more information?
Speaker 3:
Yep, this is a pretty big project. It's a 35 million dollar project. Uh, cacapta applied for, and received, 19 million dollars as a federal grant. Then we used our appropriations of federal monies for another five million. Um, we also worked with valedio to receive a five million dollar earmark and we are using two million dollars of our reserve and four million dollars of state apportionment. So we kind of, you know, puzzled all this stuff together so that we could make something nice for the community. Um, they just broke ground and so we should be 18 months from now we should be done in june of 2024, and we'll probably be doing a opening. And I encourage everybody to watch our facebook we have social media and go to our website, which is cartbusorg, to see all the updates that'll be coming out. And, uh, the executive director has said that we can have a party when we open up, so I'll be sure to invite you and put it all on the the website so everybody can come.
Speaker 2:
Well, that's fantastic, heather, thank you for coming on the show, and it's been a pleasure meeting you and finding out about the exciting plans. Thank you for having me, and now it's time for Hanford Insider Sports with Eric Bentley.
Speaker 1:
Quite a bit to catch you up on from the last few weeks. We'll start with Girls Basketball, where Hanford High went 2-3 over their last five games, with the two victories being a low-scoring triumph over Morrow Bay and a 12-point win over Dainuba. Hanford West was in action eight times, picking up five wins over that span, with a pair of blowout wins versus McFarland and Kingsburg, two close victories versus Summit, Charter and Golden West and a narrow 65-62 victory over LeMore. In similar fashion, Sierra Pacific was in action eight times and also won five of their eight Of their five wins. The only close game came against Burroughs, 51-49. The victories over Palmdale Space Academy, LaSelma, Kerman and Emanuel all came by 16 or more points. The win over Emanuel was coach Amy Bush's 200th win in her ninth season at Sierra Pacific. Her overall record is now 267, an amazing 75% winning percentage, including a section and state championship to her credit.
Speaker 1:
On to the boys side, where Hanford High took the court nine times since we last updated you. The bullpups went four and five in those contests. Three of their five losses came by less than six points and the victories over Kingsburg, Delano and Golden West all came by 10 or more. The bullpups also added on an eight-point win over Tulare Union. Hanford West played nine games as well. Unfortunately, they weren't able to pick up any wins in their five games during the Clovis Elks Classic Tournament, but they bounced back with a pair of two-point victories over Roosevelt and Kerman and a 57-44 victory over Crosstown Foe, Hanford High, before dropping their most recent game to Soma. Sierra Pacific went three and five in their most eight recent contests, but the three wins all coming in blowout fashion over Dos Pueblos, Lompoc and Reedley. Despite dropping five of their last eight, the Golden Bears are still above 500 on the season, with a 10 and eight overall record From the court to the field.
Speaker 1:
Let's talk some soccer. Starting on the boys' side, Hanford West was in action twice playing to a 1-1 draw versus CVC and then falling to Sierra Pacific, which means on to Sierra Pacific, where it was a 3-0 victory for the Golden Bears over the Crosstown Huskies. However, they dropped their other match to Kerman 1-0. Hanford High took the pitch four times over our break. Unfortunately, though unable to pick up a win, though they did battle Menachi to a 1-1 draw, they lost their contests to Golden West, Dinuba and Solari Union. Now let's move to the girls' side, where all three Hanford teams currently have a winning record. We'll start with the Huskies, as Hanford West dropped their two matches to Kingsburg and Soma. Despite that, though, the Huskies record still stands at 7-3 on the season. Sierra Pacific split their two contests with a 3-1 loss versus Soma, but an impressive 7-1 win over Emanuel, and now the Golden Bears find themselves at 8-5-1 overall. And it was a flawless past three games for Hanford High, as the Bullpups shut out Menachi, Dinuba and Solari Union by scores of 6-0, 1-0, and 1-0 respectively, to now improve to 8-4-4 on the year.
Speaker 1:
And since we're in the midst of winter sports, that means softball is right around the corner and Hanford High and Hanford West will be holding alumni games. All former players are invited to participate or even just attend. The Hanford West Girls' Game will be on Friday, January 26th. You can contact the Hanford West Athletic Boosters for more information. And for Hanford High, the Bullpups game will be on Saturday February 3rd. And if you want to get in contact with Coach Miles Myers, he'll give you more information, as always. If you're a fan or a coach, please reach out. We would love to hear from you and cover your team. I'm Eric Bentley and this has been your Hanford Insider Sports Report.
Speaker 2:
Well, that's it for today's show. I hope you enjoyed it. If you enjoyed the show, I'd like to ask you to leave a review on your podcast player or on our website. It helps me with the growth of the show. If you'd like to join the Hanford Insider email list, stop by our website at HanfordInsidercom to sign up for updates. I also need your help getting the word out about the show by liking and sharing on social media or telling a friend For more information about the show. You can find this podcast on Facebook, instagram, threads X and YouTube at Hanford Insider. If you have a show idea, be sure to email me at HanfordInsider at gmailcom, and I'll get going on. Be sure to turn into next week's episode. My special guest will be Julie Martella, who is a great friend of mine and a fellow podcaster. She will share with us her journey and podcast Navigating Widowhood. On January 29th, I'll have the much anticipated interview with upholings about their current project, northstar Courts low-income housing project of the corner of 11th and Northstar. Thanks for listening. See you next week.