Cross country teams in Vacaville have hit a snag and will have to pay thousands of dollars to use city facilities for their races this year. That’s the reality brought about by the expiration of a joint-use facilities agreement between the Vacaville Unified School District and the city effective July 1.

The guiding principle of joint-use facilities is that they provide a better standard of service than would otherwise be possible for all users and potential users, says one champion of joint use partnerships. A joint-use facility should be “better than the sum of its parts.”

At the most recent Los Baños Unified School District meeting on July 9, trustees voted to approve a joint-use agreement between the district and the city of Los Baños.

The Yucaipa City Council approved a joint use of facilities agreement at the meeting Monday, July 13, between the city and the San Bernardino Community College District for the Olympic-sized pool to be constructed as part of the Aquatics Center on the Crafton Hills College campus.

As California decides how to use its federal stimulus dollars, a group of advocates is pushing for investments that advance California’s long term environmental goals.

Youth Leaders from South Los Angeles and Baldwin Park not only learned about the benefits of joint-use in reducing obesity and city costs, but they recently played an active role in the process by formulating letters of support for Assembly Bill 346.

As California leads in obesity rates, it also leads in discovery of the multitude of environmental issues complicit in the phenomenon.