Residents meet with the big wigs of Pala!

On Saturday, Jan 21, a community meeting was held at the Rainbow Valley Grange to get updated on individual efforts currently taking place against the noise nuisance caused by Pala Raceway and to organize/coordinate efforts going forward. 

Presentations were given by Eli Vedagiri on the scope of the noise problem; Robert Linn, Partner at Mulvaney, Kahan & Barry, San Diego on the status of legal efforts; Bud Swanson on the Noise Study Report issued by Pala; Tom Casey on the efforts with the County/Supervisor Horn; Dennis Sanford on the Rainbow Planning Commission Group and their efforts with State and Federal concerns; and Dee DiPietro on organizing moving forward.

In addition to 37 members of the community, the meeting was attended by Ryan Ouellette, CEO of the company that runs Pala Raceway.  Mr. Ouellette spoke of a few changes made to the track and his understanding of the noise issue.  However, he did not commit to any actions or a timeline.  As a result, Tom Casey, Bud Swanson and Mila Bonner, as representatives of the community, will be meeting directly with Ryan Ouellette to talk about specific noise reduction measures to be implemented and a timeline for implementation. 

Subsequent to the meeting, an email was sent to Shasta Gaughen, Pala’s environmental director, asking for a meeting with Dee DiPietro, Eli Vedagiri and Sheridan Traner, as community representatives, to discuss how Pala might assist us in resolving the noise nuisance issue.  Ms. Gaughen said that she was meeting with Ryan Ouellette next week to discuss the noise issue among other items and would be reporting to Chairman Smith and the tribal leadership to keep them aware of the issues. She has offered to meet with community representatives subsequent to the tribal leadership meeting with a tentative timeline for mid-February. 

A central group to coordinate various efforts, communicate to the community and focus on putting together an Outreach program to identify the homes and families that are affected by the problem was also proposed at the meeting.  This will be pursued until the noise nuisance issue is resolved, so please contact palaracewaynoise@gmail.com if you are willing to assist with efforts going forward or have any questions.