Hello and welcome.

Jeff Stone here admiring the great views in the Third District.

To the North you can see Mt. San Jacinto, and the hills that surround Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet San Jacinto Valley, with the majestic crown of Idyllwild. To the east you’ll see French Valley and just south east is Lake Skinner and further south the rolling hills of Temecula Valley.

Today we are going to highlight and showcase the Third District and one of my main focuses, which is getting people back to work, creating jobs and business opportunities.

Speaking of great opportunities we are standing on top of the new Loma Linda Medical Center in Murrieta and you can see nearly the entire 3rd district from this viewpoint.

Southwest Riverside County has always been underserved in appropriate access to hospitals, and we are particularly proud to have the Loma Linda Medical Center open for operation this last April in Murrieta where local residents can find some of the best healthcare around. Some services provided here include: 24-hour Emergency Care, Cancer Center, GI Lab, Heart & Vascular services, Interventional Radiology and Vascular Surgery, Digital Imaging Center, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Operating suites – Five Operating Rooms, Orthopedics, Pain Management, Physical Rehabilitation, Urology, and Women’s Health Services.

Furthermore, the Temecula Valley Hospital broke ground June 20, 2011 and is located on Temecula Parkway. The new Southwest Healthcare System campus will initially have 140 beds, 5 story acute care hospital. The new facility will feature all private rooms, 20 bed intensive care unit, 6 high tech surgical suites and an emergency room.

The investment in the Southwest Riverside area is tremendous, from $100 to $150 million dollars and 2,500 indirect jobs in the creation of this hospital and over 500 permanent jobs, which is another example of putting people and business to work. This project will ease the healthcare shortage and better serve the community by bringing great healthcare closer to home for Southwest residents.

It’s our goal to make sure that all residents have access to quality healthcare in Riverside County and we are very excited to partner with the upcoming UCR Medical School. We are doing our best to bring a nexus of healthcare to the region.

The Hemet-Ryan Air Show proved yet again to be a successful community event by bringing the valley together which is an example of the great pride the Hemet / San Jacinto citizens have in the Hemet Ryan Airpor. I invite you to check out Hemet Ryan Airport landscape rendering which will improve the esthetics in an effort to attract more business and industry to this strategically placed airport.

Most importantly, for seven years I have been pushing hard for the expansion of the 215 freeway and now it is happening and this expansion will assist with economic growth making more efficient to access the March Air Base which allows for more accessible jobs in Riverside County. This project will add one lane in each direction in the median from Nuevo Road to the I-215/I-15 junction.

The second phase of I-215 widening is expected to begin construction in 2013. (Watch for the 55 mile per hour speed limit during construction)

The expansion of Winchester Road (SR-79) from two lanes to 4 lanes and continues with the final phase getting ready to start. Construction will begin by the end of this year. The final portion will be built in 2 phases, starting at Domengoni Parkway and working southerly to Thompson Road. This corridor serves as a primary connection between the Temecula/Murrieta area, the Winchester/Hemet/San Jacinto area and the pass area.

We are now part of San Diego’s Foreign Trade Zone which provides reduced regulations and tariff’s for participating companies and eases the export of products from Riverside County for the worldwide market. Abbot Vascular became the first business to join the zone in Riverside County and as a result, they will enjoy substantial savings on imports of products.

The Third District is well known for our great wineries, but you may not know that the Third district is also a richly endowed agricultural area that is home to many other types of agriculture. Eggs, potatoes, melons, and avocados are just a few of the many varieties that contribute greatly to the County’s economic health. We have farmers in our district that export large amounts of their produce outside US borders - generating millions of dollars in economic activity.

We have a wonderful wine country that is an economic development opportunity that will preserve open space, bring jobs, enhance the ambience and protect the rural lifestyle of the wine country. I believe as the country and state recover the Temecula Wine Country will be a strong economic driver for Riverside County.

We have diverse economic resources that can jump start the economy and in the future prevent the reliance on one specific industry to weather the fluctuation s in the economic cycles.

Supervisor Jeff Stone