Yorba Linda pioneer Eldo West describes Santa Ana winds from winter 1909-10

 Early Yorba Linda pioneer Eldo West (1879-1969), the father of prominent novelist, essayist and short story writer Jessamyn West, was active in the formative stages of this community.

Eldo served twice on the Yorba Linda school board, first as a founding member 1912-15 and the second 1918-21. He was superintendent of the mutual water company 1914-21.

He moved his Quaker family from Indiana to Whittier before settling in Yorba Linda in 1910 for a 13-year residency before moving to Anaheim. His Yorba Linda home at the site of the present-day Jessamyn West Park burned to the ground in an arson fire in 1982.

According to the late historian Phil Brigandi, who was in contact with Jessamyn West before her 1984 death, Eldo, at Jessamyn's request, around 1955, wrote down several descriptive “notes” about Yorba Linda in the early 1900s.

Jessamyn used many of the descriptive passages as background material in her novels and short stories, including in the novel based in early Yorba Linda, “South of the Angels” (1960) that was set in the Yorba Linda of 1916.

Since the Santa Ana winds season is nearly upon us, here's Eldo's description of a 1909-10 event:

“My most vivid recollection of the first winter we lived in Yorba Linda is of the Santa Ana Wind that came howling through the canyon with a force that we feared would blow the house down.

“The first one struck with a surprising suddenness soon after we had gone to bed. The house shook, swayed, trembled and groaned. Every minute we feared the next gust would either turn it over or cause it to collapse.

“I went outside and got some 2x6 timbers that were left over from building and put them up as braces on the west side.

“They helped but still we were afraid the house would come down in a heap and trap us in the pile of lumber, so we gathered up our bedding and went outside to sleep on the leeward side of the large concrete weir box close by the house.

“The wind howled all night. Everything loose on the hilltop took off for lower ground and landed in the gullies somewhere westward.

“We didn’t sleep much, but we didn’t hear the house fall, and when daylight came we ventured back inside, glad to get out of the flying dust and debris.

“Our confidence in the stability of the house was strengthened, but we still had some fear and either during that Santa Ana Wind or a later one, we made our beds in the feed room of the stable where we used the barley hay to spread our bedding on and had a fairly comfortable night.

“And again the house stood. Our confidence in its ability to stand up against the wind was further increased. It would groan, creak and complain, but never left its base and always settled back after the hard gusts, seemingly as strong and stable as ever.”

Brigandi preserved Eldo's descriptions, labeled “Notes Concerning Yorba Linda,” including passages on agriculture, water and community development on the “OC Historyland” web- site.

New three-year contract provides salary increases to 122 municipal employee positions in Yorba Linda

 Salary increases are included in the three-year agreements reached with Yorba Linda municipal employees. Each agreement has been approved by the employee associations and unanimous vote by City Council members earlier this month.

The agreements are retroactive to July 1 and extend through June 30, 2027. First-year salary increase is 6%, with second and third year increases of 3%. The salaries and other terms are for all 122 employee positions.

First-year cost for the salary increases will be $626,262, with 80% from the city's general fund, 15% from the library fund and 5% from the Landscape Maintenance Assessment District fund.

The agreement with the city's largest body of employees, termed “miscellaneous employees,” was reached after several weeks of negotiations with Orange County Employees Association, which represents 76 employee positions in the city.

The 34-page agreement contains much of the same language as the previous three-year pact that ran through June 30, except New Years' Eve was added to the city's prior 12 holidays. An added section includes creation of an eight-member labor-management committee.

The section notes: “Meetings will be held to promote communication and cooperation between the parties to improve work quality and safety, and to address matters of mutual concern other than individual grievances.”

Provisions for vacation, two weeks for employees serving one to three years, three weeks for employees serving four to nine years and four weeks for employees serving 10 or more years, remain the same.

Monthly salaries for this employee group range from $4,401 through $!0,524 after five steps through June 30. The prior agreement gave 2% increases for each of the three years, and a 4% lump sum one-time payment the first year.

The same salary increases and much of the same language appears in the 28-page agreement with the city's mid-management employees covering 38 positions. First-year salaries range from $7,488 to $16,457 monthly for the group represented by the Mid-Management Association.

The city's eight management positions are not represented by an association or union, and they are traditionally granted the same percentage salary increases as the two other groups. Salary ranges are $16,437 to $19,860 monthly for each position, except for the city manager.

The positions include assistant city manager and directors for administrative services, community development, finance, library, parks and recreation and public works, with the latter also serving as city engineer.

In a separate action, council members granted the same 6% salary increase to City Manager Mark Pulone, who began his 11th year of employment with the city July 2. His $17,352 salary increase brings his total to $306,565 for the fiscal year ending June 30.

Terms in the 11th amendment to Pulone's original 2013 agreement remain the same. The amendment extends through Sept. 30, 2026.

Yorba Linda's Republican registration declines over the years; history of Trump vote in Yorba Linda, school district areas

 Voter registration numbers continue to show that Yorba Linda is the county's second-most Republican city, with 47.9% of 48,252 registrants choosing the GOP, but that number is significantly lower than the percentages for 2016 and 2000, 53.7% and 60.4%, respectively.

Yorba Linda's GOP plurality is behind only tiny Villa Park, where 52.1% of the city's 4,676 registrants are aligned with the Republican Party. Running close to Yorba Linda's GOP numbers is Newport Beach, with 47.7% opting for the GOP out of 59,630 registrants.

Brea and Placentia are the only other north county cities served by this newspaper to have a plurality of registered Republican voters, 37.7% out of 29,653 registrants in Brea and 36.3% out of 31,777 registrants in Placentia.

Democratic numbers prevail in Buena Park, 41.4% of 44,620 registrants; Fullerton, 39.9% of 78,023 registrants; La Habra, 41.7% of 34,115 registrants; and La Palma, 39.5% of 9,321 registrants.

Yorba Linda has the fewest “no party preference” registrations in north county at 20%, followed by 20.9% in La Habra, 21.9% in Placentia, 22.1% in Brea, 22.8% in Fullerton, 23.6% in La Palma and 24.3% in Buena Park.

The Nov. 5 general election will mark Donald Trump's seventh appearance on a Yorba Linda ballot. Long forgotten is his run as a Reform Party candidate in the March 2000 primary. His name remained on the California ballot after he announced his withdrawal from the election.

He received 45 Yorba Linda votes for the Reform Party presidential nomination. Twenty-eight votes came from registered Republicans, six from registered Democrats, two from Reform Party members, one from an American Independent and eight from non-affiliated voters.

In the June 2016 primary, Trump received 73.6% of the votes from registered Yorba Linda Republicans, and in that year's general election, he received 56.6% of all Yorba Linda votes.

In the March 2020 primary, Trump received 89% of the votes from registered Yorba Linda Republicans, and in that year's general election, he received 57.8% of all Yorba Linda votes.

In the March 2024 primary, Trump received 77% of the votes from registered Yorba Linda Republicans.

Interestingly, in the November 2020 general election, Trump beat Joe Biden in four of the five trustee areas that were established in 2018 for future board of education elections in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District.

In northwest Area 1, represented by Shawn Youngblood, Trump won by 268 votes; in southwest Area 2, represented by Marilyn Anderson, Biden won by 3,143 votes; in eastside Area 3, represented by Leandra Blades, Trump won by 3,865 votes; in central east Area 4, represented by Todd Frazier, Trump won by 2,679 votes; and in central west Area 5, represented by Carrie Buck, Trump won by 56 votes.

In 2022, a small portion of Area 1 was transferred to Area 2.