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Dear Santa, Our Christmas Wishes for Ramona

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Ramona Sentinel invited community leaders to share their Christmas Wish for Ramona in a Dear Santa letter or note. Following are the responses from the community leaders who did.

Dear Santa,

My Christmas wish for Ramona would actually be “three” projects being completed and funded.

1) Emergency Evacuation Route be finalized between the county and Ramona Municipal Water District after four years of jumping hurdles!

2) Secure the rest of the funding from the county and San Diego Association of Governments for the improved intersection on Highway 67/Dye Road at our BIG meeting in January.

3) Design and build a Community Landmark Sign between 10th and 9th streets like they have in Little Italy, San Diego, and Encinitas — that spans over Highway 78, and be able to put banners on to promote Ramona events (Caltrans is now supporting it!).

Jim Piva

Chairman, Ramona

Community Planning Group

Dear Santa,

For all the boys and girls of the Ramona Unified School District, I would request the very best Christmas season ever! Heaven knows we could use that!What would such a season look like? Let’s start with increased support for our local moms and dads so that they have plenty of time and resources to work with their children on schoolwork, to provide for their basic needs at home, and to continue inspiring them to achieve their very best at school each and every day.Second, let’s ask for increased support from the state’s legislators and resources so that we can staff, supply, and maintain each of our schools in a way that truly promotes, encourages, and inspires students to prepare for high school graduation, leading to productive careers as future citizens, taxpayers, and leaders.Finally, Santa, we could use a healthy dose of goodwill — to be spread evenly among our local residents, employees, business owners, and students so that all Ramonans can practice the values we cherish most — showing love for our neighbors and having peace in our daily lives.If you could deliver these gifts this year, Santa, then it truly would make Christmas of 2012 a season to remember!

Bob Graeff

Superintendent, Ramona Unified School District

Dear Santa,

My Christmas Wish for Ramona is that we never lose that small hometown love that comes out when we open the streets for the children at Halloween, when we pull together and help each other after the major fires that ripped threw our town. We should never give that up.

God Bless and Merry Christmas. Say a prayer for our men and women who cannot be with their families.

Nat Prassel

Commander, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3783

Dear Santa,

We at RMWD wish everyone take a moment this holiday to appreciate the beauty of our community, the love of our friends and family and hope that all Ramonans are blessed in 2013 with courage, health and happiness.

David Barnum

General Manager

Ramona Municipal Water District

Dear Santa,

A Christmas Wish for Ramona Village Design:We have recently come to a pivotal event with the community of Ramona coming together in support of the Town Center Form Based Code Plan. My wish would now be for new development, as it occurs, to enhance the walkability and scenic aspects of our town, which in turn would then help to define and enhance our community character.I would also wish that the process itself will now become a much more user friendly one and that new projects won’t take so long to get off the ground as they have for the past several years with the former old, outdated and cumbersome regulatory process. We now have a vehicle in place for Ramona to grow into a vibrant community within its town center.I’ve said for years that we have so many examples of what NOT to do — just drive down the hill in any direction. We now have custom tailored zoning and new Design Standards that are Ramona Specific. My wish is that these tools will help to fine-tune our town into a real showplace of form, scope and scale defining our community character.

Rob Lewallen, Chairman

Ramona Village Design

Dear Santa,

On behalf of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association:The members of the Ramona Valley Vineyard Association are proud to be part of the Ramona and backcountry community. Here is our holiday toast to you — “May your world be filled with warmth and good cheer, this Holiday Season and throughout the year!”Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

John York, President

Ramona Valley Vineyard Association

Dear Santa,

Now that the Library is built, my Christmas Wish is that the rest of the RICC (Ramona Intergenerational Community Campus) be developed, starting with a new Senior Center.It was the original dream that at the RICC, we would see seniors, teens and young children all interacting to enrich the lives of each generation.

Joan Gansert, President

Friends of the Ramona Library

Dear Santa,

Please bring our Ramona Bulldogs a football championship — they are great and deserve it!ANDMay all of us in Ramona find inner peace and happiness in this joyous holiday season !

Doug Kafka, President

San Diego Country Estates Association Board

Dear Santa,

Our Christmas wish(es) for Ramona are:

  • For all Ramonans to enjoy our first mural, stopping to find the heart icon in it, if you haven’t already.
  • To those who believe in our mission of encouraging economic vitality through an outstanding outdoor visual arts program, to consider volunteering to help by becoming part of the fundraising team, the historian, grant writing, coordinating students to paint mini murals on utility boxes, helping to organize events, and a host of other tasks.
  • To enjoy four more murals to be installed in the New Year, and for everyone to stop to look for the heart icon in each of them.
  • To begin to see some results of our efforts by increasing tourism, seeing people stop to look at our murals and go into our shops, instead of driving through to Julian and the desert without paying any attention to Ramona
  • For peace, safety and joy throughout the holiday season and the New Year.

S. Elaine Lyttleton, President

Ramona H.E.A.R.T. Mural Project Board

Dear Santa,

A Christmas Wish for the Ramona Bluegrass & Old West Fest:Our festival is coming up on its fourth annual this May 4th and 5th. We are experiencing major growing pains and need a lot more help to keep it all on track. We are bringing in national music acts now, and our growth will be increasing as time goes on.My wish for this festival is that we get some more great Ramonans involved in putting it on. I wish that we become as large as our sister festival, Summergrass, which happens every August. I wish that we become known as one of the premier “Jamming Festivals” in the West. I wish that we have so many folks coming to camp during the festival that we’ll need to expand our camping area. I wish that more and more families come and continue to make the kids a huge part of this.I wish that we become known as one of the premier “Workshop Festivals” where kids of all ages can learn to play these fine instruments and become part of the various jamming groups. I wish that we continue to grow so that we can bring in more of the wonderful musicians from across the country to play in Ramona. I wish that more and more newbies come and get introduced to this wonderful form of music.I wish that our “Old West” part of the fest continues to grow and define itself while showing the history of what it was like to live in the Old West. I wish that we continue to work together with other Ramona musical events and make coming to Ramona for the music a must for folks from all over the area.I wish that this festival helps to define Ramona as a musical destination. But most of all, I wish that this festival brings prosperity to the many fine businesses of our town who we have as partners in this endeavor and that with the horses, wine, murals, grasslands, scenic beauty and the great folks who live and work here, it helps this community grow as a destination.

Rob Lewallen, Co-Chair

Ramona Bluegrass & Old West Fest

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