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EYE ON SJC/PAGE
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CD |Local Student Wins Scholarship Contest
Marina Esquivel Cisneros, a Saddleback College student from San Juan Capistrano, recently won a scholarship from The Association for Community Affiliated Plans as part of a national contest.
The award is for $5,000. ACAP established the scholarship in 2011 to help an enrollee of an ACAP health plan who is pursuing higher education and a career in health care or social services, a news release.
“Marina is a member of CalOptima Health, an ACAP member health plan based in Orange, California. In her essay, Marina details her interest in pursuing a career in health care based on her dedication to serving the community and the caring example of nurses who served her grandmother,” the news release said. “She is currently completing her prerequisites for nursing school at Saddleback, and she plans to transfer to pursue a nursing degree in fall 2023. Marina is also a Health Scholar at Mission Hospital and works shifts serving patients.”
Cisneros reportedly wants to be a role model for other students in her community, aiming to return after her training and practice nursing in San Juan Capistrano.
“Marina’s story exemplifies the passion that the ACAP scholarship celebrates,” CalOptima Heath CEO Michael Hunn said. “Her enthusiasm for giving back to her community is an inspiration. CalOptima Health is proud of her successes thus far, and we look forward to her many future accomplishments.”
CD |Teen Wellness Center Looks to Open Support Space in SJC
The Wellness & Prevention Center—a local organization that helps teens lead healthy lives—recently celebrated a $100,000 donation from the James Henry Ransom Foundation that will go toward a youth service and support space.
The space will be called allcove and most likely located in San Juan Capistrano, Wellness & Prevention Center Executive Director Susan Parmelee said. The Wellness & Prevention Center plans to open allcove in August 2023.
“A young person might stop in to feel connected to other youth through an art or gaming activity, seek advice about academics or careers, meet with a mental health or medical professional or to just find a moment of calm from the pressures of the outside world,” an informa-
Ambuehl Elementary School crossing guard Steve Behmerwohld was recently recognized by the Capistrano Unified School District for a suggestion on traffic flow at the school during pick-ups and drop-offs that has improved traffic conditions on campus. Photo: Courtesy of the Capistrano Unified School District
tional flyer said. “Orange County allcove will be an Innovative partnership between the University of California, Irvine and the Wellness & Prevention Center, who will open up a hub-and-spoke model with allcove centers on the UC Irvine campus and in South Orange County.”
The center is intended to feel like a welcoming sanctuary where kids can always return and will be designed for youth by youth, the flyer said.
The James Henry Ransom Foundation aims to help adolescents with their mental and behavioral health and is named for James Ransom, a teenager who killed himself after undergoing personality changes following a concussion sustained in football.
CD |Capo Unified Recognizes Steve Behmerwohld for Keeping Kids Safe
San Juan Capistrano resident Steve Behmerwohld is well-known in the community for his volunteer service, including as a crossing guard at Ambuehl Elementary School.
The Capistrano Unified School District recognized Behmerwohld for his efforts to help kids safe during a Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 9, with an “Extra Miler” award—an honor given to people who make a positive impact in CUSD.
Behmerwohld suggested the congested two-way traffic flow at the school for student pick-up be retooled so students have a safer time walking to campus. Specifically, he suggested the school entrance be turned into an entry point only, creating two lanes—one for pick-up and drop off-only, and the other for vehicles to be able to access parking spaces. Traffic has reportedly flowed more efficiently, and people can now park more easily, after his suggestion.
He has worked at the school for eight years.
Behmerwohld declined to comment on the award. He is also a volunteer with the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society, frequent participant in and sometimes-host of Coffee Chat and has also served on the city’s Parks, Equestrian and Community Services Commission.
CD |OCTA Begins Construction to Stabilize Tracks in South San Clemente
Emergency construction has begun to stabilize the train tracks in southern San Clemente, where movement was recently detected, prompting a monthslong suspension of commuter rail service, the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) announced Nov. 14.
According to the county’s transportation agency, the work is expected to be completed in February, but noted that the timeline of the project is subject to change because of inclement weather, as well as “the securing and manufacturing (of) necessary construction materials.”
“We are attempting to get this emergency work done as quickly as possible, with safety continuing to guide all of our actions,” OCTA Chairperson Mark A. Murphy said in the announcement.
Following a storm surge that hit Southern California, transportation officials reported movement on the track that sits just below an ancient landslide, triggering Metrolink and Amtrak’s decision in late September to halt all passenger rail service between the Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo station and the Oceanside station.
During a special Oct. 3 meeting, the OCTA’s governing board gave the agency the green light to hire a contractor on an emergency basis and begin the roughly $12 million project that will have crews driving large metal anchors into about 700 feet of the slope adjacent to the railroad track to prevent it from pushing the track further toward the coast.
According to OCTA, construction crews will be working on weekdays from about 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Metrolink recently announced that it has resumed limited weekend service to the San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano stops, as well as the San Clemente Pier, for the Orange County and Inland Empire-Orange County lines. CD
COMMUNITY MEETINGS
THURSDAY, DEC. 8 Design Review Committee 4:30 p.m. The San Juan Capistrano Design Review Committee will hold a meeting open to the public. The Nydegger Building, 31421 La Matanza Street. sanjuancapistrano.org.
FRIDAY, DEC. 9 The next print issue of The Capistrano Dispatch publishes.
From left: Business partners Rod and Shannon Markum and Nick Vernola (and Michele Vernola, not pictured), both married couples, have opened a Saladworks franchise location in San Juan Capistrano, which serves salads, smoothies and other healthy offerings. Photo: Collin Breaux
BY COLLIN BREAUX
People looking for a nutritious bite to eat can stop at the new Saladworks location now open in San Juan Capistrano.
The East Coast-based chain eatery opened a franchise location in the Del Obispo shopping center at 31876 Del Obispo Street, Suite 102—near Aspire Dental—on Monday, Nov. 21. Menu items include salads, smoothies and acai bowls. The restaurant is considered “healthy quick-serve.”
“We’re super-excited to be here in this shopping center,” co-owner Rod Markum said. “It’s super active here—lots of not only foot traffic but auto traffic. Our neighbors have been fantastic.”
Markum was born and raised in San Juan, and very happy to open a business locally.
“I’ve lived here in San Juan my whole life, up until recently. I grew up in town,” he said. “Right here behind us used to be the old San Juan drive-in movie theater. My grandparents owned a house on the other side of this shopping center, so I grew up playing baseball and football right here. Now, we have a business right where I used to play in the playground. That’s kind of fun.”
Markum said the San Juan location is comparable to Chipotle in which customers can order salad ingredients at the counter.
“On top of that, we’re a co-brand with Frutta Bowls, so we also have smoothies, acai bowls, paninis and sandwiches and all those things, on top of salads,” Markum said.
This December will mark two years that Markum and his other business partners have worked on opening the Del Obispo spot.
“We got the ball rolling in December 2020, which was in the midst of (the COVID-19 pandemic),” he said. “From there, we found out there’s supply-chain issues. People from contractors to county agencies were working at home and not full-staffed. What we thought would be an 8- to 12-month process doubled in time because of that.”
Momentum picked up in the middle of this year, according to Markum.
“I think the great concept’s that hitting us here in South Orange County is the healthy quick-serve. We just don’t have that,” he said. “We have the burger places and the sandwich places and all the different stuff, but to have the healthy, quick option is something that’s unique to our area. It combines a lot of things. There’s a wide range of things you can get healthy and quick.”
Store hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
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Resident Erin Beyer said she also noticed a drop in prices when looking at her water bills over the past year.
“Turns out that over the past 12 months, compared to the previous 12 months, my water bills are 14% less when I added up the whole year. Obviously, I probably had one or two high months in 2021 and the same in 2022, so I added the whole year and used that as a comparison.” she said. “I actually didn’t really expect the rates to go down, especially as other utilities are all increasing.”
Beyer said that when considering how her gas bill “is triple” in comparison to a few years ago, she was happy with SMWD’s water services “so far.”
“We appreciate the city trusting us to do this,” Ferons said. “We think we made good on a lot of promises.”
