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Archived News / Press 2000
June: Bakersfield: Here We Come
June: Project Focus: Orcutt Area Specific Plan and Annexation
April: Daniel Lewis Middle School Newsletter
April: Ken Vomaske Joins Cannon
Spring: Cannon comes home to Cal Poly
February: Back to Class for Cannon Engineers
Archived News
Current News
June: Bakersfield: Here We Come
It's official! The Bakersfield division of Cannon opened for business June 14, 2000.
Robert Chambers will be the Senior Project Manager and Director of Bakersfield Operations. Robert is familiar with the region, having lived for 10 years in Bakersfield. He will be accompanied by Jim Hansen, Senior Mechanical Engineer, who will lead our food processing group, and Hollie Butler, Office Manager. Both Jim and Hollie are from Bakersfield.
The office will be full service, providing service to our current markets including development, energy, military, schools and institutions, and food processing. By opening another office, we hope to better serve our existing clients and expand the geographic areas we serve.
The office is located at 5005 Business Park North, Suite 102, Bakersfield, CA 90339.
This is just the onset of our expansion beyond the walls of the San Luis Obispo offices, Bakersfield is the first, there is more come.
June: Project Focus: Orcutt Area Specific Plan and Annexation
As I'm sure you've noticed, the City of San Luis Obispo is growing and changing, but one thing has stayed the same: the Cannon planning department is right in the midst of things, helping the community grow in the best way possible. One current example is the Orcutt Area Specific Plan and Annexation.
It all started back in 1995, when Andrew Merriam found himself at a City Council meeting sitting near to Jeanne Helphenstine a daughter in the Righetti family. Now, after two years of intense effort years, Cannon has submitted the Orcutt Area Specific Plan to the City for formal review.
Preparation was not easy, coordinating with 13 different property owners (3 of which are our clients) and multitudes of agencies. And though the planning phase is not yet complete, Andrew says it has been "one of the most exciting projects in which the planning department has been involved. We were provided the opportunity to push our creativity and negotiating skills in order to achieve what was best for our clients, best for the community, and best for the environment."
The Orcutt Area consists of approximately 270 acres and is bounded by Orcutt Road, Tank Farm Road, and the railroad tracks. When complete, the project will consist of approximately 700 residential units, which will include low to moderate income housing up through estate lots; a small "main street" commercial building area; a 15-acre neighborhood park; and nearly 90 acres of creek area and part of Righetti Hill.
The plan is scheduled to go before the City Planning Commission and then to the City Council in mid 2001. Andrew hopes to have approval for the specific plan and annexation at that time. Construction of Phase I of the project is expected to begin in 2002 and continuing through 2016 and possibly beyond.
April: Local Engineers Visit Middle School
Daniel Lewis Middle School Newsletter (April 2000)
"Do you use computers?" "What classes do you have to take to be an engineer?" These are some of the questions that the students in Ms. Kiel's 6th grade Gate class asked two local civil engineers.
The engineers, John Falkenstien and Laurie Lucas of Cannon in San Luis Obispo, visited Daniel Lewis Middle School on Monday, April 3rd, to discuss engineering, what engineers do, and how to become an engineer. The class watched footage of the Narrows Bridge in Tacoma, Washington, and asked questions about how and why it collapsed in 1940. The real-world discussion included basic information like what makes bridges stay up and what is learned when a bridge falls down. John and Laurie were able to demonstrate how a suspension bridge works using a bridge made of paper construction.
The 1-hour interactive discussion was met with lots of enthusiasm from both the engineers and students. "We always have fun interacting with kids. Kids, especially, are excited by the concept of making things happen," said John Falkenstien. He went on to say that he was especially happy to have Laurie Lucas join him in the classroom, "she is such a terrific role model for all the students, especially girls."
April: Ken Vomaske Joins Cannon
(San Luis Obispo, CA) Ken Vomaske, PE, has recently joined Cannon, an engineering, planning, and surveying firm located in San Luis Obispo. He is an Electrical Engineer and is experienced in control systems, power distribution systems, energy management, and SCADA implementation.
Prior to joining Cannon, Vomaske was the Senior Project Engineer for TOSCO. His 14 years of experience include ten years as a pipeline project manager and design engineer, two years in telecommunications engineering, and two years as a frontline supervisor.
Vomaske is a graduate of Cal Poly with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He is also certified in Advanced Management.
With Ken on the team, Cannon has expanded their services to offer electrical engineering in addition to civil and mechanical engineering. Established in 1976, Cannon continues to provide engineering, planning and surveying services to clients throughout California, Hawaii, Oregon and Arizona. Their staff of professionals includes registered civil, mechanical, and electrical engineers, structural designers, certified land use planners, and licensed land surveyors.
Spring: Cannon comes home to Cal Poly
From Cal Poly Magazine Spring 2000 - by Dave Wilcox (JOUR'86)
Four years removed from his days as a Cal Poly civil engineering student, Mike Cannon (CE '83) knew his time had come. The owner of the four person San Luis Obispo firm where Cannon worked intended to close up shop.
Only 27, but confident he could turn around the company's fortunes, Cannon didn't hesitate.
"I said, 'Roger, don't close it," Cannon, now 39, recalled recently. "There's something here. I'll buy it from you."
Thus, Cannon was born, a firm that has blossomed into one of the most successful engineering companies on the Central Coast.
Call it "earn by doing."
Cannon now guides a firm of more than 80 employees that has been retained on major projects, including Unocal Corp.'s clean up of Avila Beach and the nearby Guadalupe Dunes and construction at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
One of the company's most exciting projects is the ongoing construction of Cal Poly's new sports complex.
"It's exhilarating," Cannon said of his firm's engineering of the sports complex. He calls it a "civil engineer's dream project" that's especially meaningful because it's at Cal Poly. When finished, the complex will include a lighted baseball stadium, a softball field, and six playing fields for intramural sports.
Pride mixes with gratitude as he reflects on the opportunity.
"I want to say, 'Look, this is the school where I learned engineering and now I'm part of a team that's going to build a major facility for you."'
But that's hardly the extent of Cannon's contributions to his alma mater.
He sits on the Civil Engineering Department's industrial advisory board, made up of professionals from throughout California. Board members help the engineering college shape its curriculum to better reflect "real world" technological advances, so graduating students are better prepared to enter jobs with a shorter learning curve.
Additionally, Cannon is one of the most popular guest lecturers each quarter in the Civil Engineering Department, speaking to students in the upper division Professional Practices course.
"We give him the honor of being the final lecturer of the quarter," said Professor Jay DeNatale, who coordinates the guest lecturers. "All the things that make a speaker great, that's Mike."
Student evaluations bear that out, said DeNatale. "He's an extremely popular lecturer. He speaks from experience. He lives what he's talking about."
Cannon's service to Cal Poly earned him the honor last year of the Civil Engineering Department's Medallion Award. "It was humbling to be recognized by the department with such a prestigious award," said Cannon. "The education I received at Cal Poly was instrumental in achieving my goals and I believe in giving back time and energy to the university."
Besides the sports complex, Cannon is also engineering Cal Poly's first apartment style dorms, a $29 million project that university officials expect to begin housing second and third year students beginning fall quarter 2002.
Cannon is setting his sights on even bigger challenges, even as his firm tackles increasingly complex projects.
"We're certainly not going to stop in San Luis Obispo."
February: Back to Class for Cannon Engineers SLO Firm Participates in E-Week Activities
SAN LUIS OBISPO - Young minds sparked by tangible examples of real-world problem-solving are often inspired to pursue certain careers because of that initial exposure.
Someone can talk all day about recycling, for instance, and have little impact. Demonstrate the concept, however, by throwing pieces of paper into a blender with water and then pouring the goop onto a screen to dry overnight - voila, recycled paper -- and the memory lingers.
Inspiring students is the idea behind Cannon sending engineers into county classrooms as part of National Engineers Week 2000, beginning Feb. 20.
Cannon, one of the Central Coast's leading engineering firms, is participating in Engineering Week 2000 in San Luis Obispo in conjunction with CELSOC (Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California.)
Besides the classroom presentations, Cannon donated money to the San Luis Obispo YMCA for an E-Week activity hosted by that organization.
Engineering societies and companies, government agencies and universities nationwide are sponsoring a range of events throughout the week. Established in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, the week is designed to focus public attention on the contributions made by engineers and to encourage students to pursue careers in the field.
It is held annually near the date of George Washington's birthday. The nation's first president was a military engineer and land surveyor.
Mike Cannon, president of Cannon, is one of the company's engineers venturing into the classroom during the week.
A Cal Poly graduate, Cannon said students are an ideal audience for Engineering Week's message: "Turning Ideas Into Reality."
"Young minds, especially, are excited by the concept of making the impossible possible," said Cannon. "They are more likely to imagine how something might be built, for instance, than to think of reasons why something can't be done."
The schedule for Cannon engineers includes a full day of presentations Feb. 23 at Laguna Middle School, speakers during the morning on Feb. 25 at Los Ranchos Elementary School and a noon presentation on Feb. 28 at Vineyard Elementary School in Templeton.
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