|
 |
|
|
Mission Viejo NewsBlog “Dedicated to Keeping the California Promise” Carl Schulthess, Editor in Chief FrontPage You have received this NewsBlog in an email from a friend in Mission Viejo who believes that you will appreciate being properly informed about the important issues and events occurring in our fair city of Mission Viejo. The goal of the “Mission Viejo NewsBlog” is to share with our neighbors, knowledge of issues and events that will affect our quality of life and our property values. We will endeavor to do this weekly. This inaugural issue will focus on the City Council and their seeming unwillingness to protect the “California Promise” that we all bought into so many years ago. As the Mission Viejo NewsBlog matures, we will add more editorial subjects as listed below. If you have thoughts as to important subjects, please let us know. You will note that there is an Editorial Subject called “Electeds Point of View. This is an opportunity for each elected to explain their motives for a vote on a topic discussed in a previous NewsBlog opinion. If they choose NOT to explain their vote, then it is a fair assumption that he or she is voting their “Campaign Contributions” During the elections, we will provide FREE space to the candidates to answer pertinent questions and to express their views, provided that they renounce contributions from special interest groups. Our goal is to be “fair, balanced and transparent” in reporting ONLY the important news about Mission Viejo. Many of the following “Opinion Letters” were ignored by the Saddleback Valley News and have not been published. We promise to publish all pertinent opinions and not stifle any voices. We invite you to contribute to the Mission Viejo NewsBlog by either “Reporting” or Writing your “Opinion” about any subject related to Mission Viejo that is near and dear to your heart. Please forward this NewsBlog via eMail to ALL your friends and neighbors in Mission Viejo but also print as many copies as you like, to share with your non-computer friends. This NewsBlog is operated entirely by volunteers and is distributed Weekly at no charge to ALL Mission Viejo citizens via email. At some time in the future, we will add sources of revenue (NO Special Interests) that will permit some of the staff to be paid for their services. If you do not want to receive this Citizen operated NewsBlog, please tell the person that sent you this email. Please consider it your civic duty to let your elected City Council members know how you feel about the decisions they are making on your behalf. It is not an accident that their names appear at the top of this NewsBlog. Their votes are key to Keeping the “California Promise”. Only YOU can influence their vote. Your Elected City Council Members Trish Kelley tkelley@cityofmissionviejo.org The Council as a Group may be called at 949-470-3050 Again, please let your elected Council Members know how you feel about their actions. Remember, they are accountable ONLY to YOU, a citizen of Mission Viejo. You elect them to office to represent YOU and YOU pay their salary. The Mission Viejo character word for the month of September is RESPONSIBILITY. Insist on just that from your elected Representatives. They are Responsible to YOU Table of Editorial Content
Founders' Quote The Federalist Patriot "There! His Majesty can now read my name without glasses. -- John Hancock (upon signing the Declaration of Independence, 4 July 1776) The Founders' Quote Daily is a service of The Federalist Patriot; the most widely read conservative e-journal on the Internet. If you would like to have this highly acclaimed Digest of news, policy and opinion, delivered FREE by e-mail to your inbox, link to:http://FederalistPatriot.US/subscribe/ Many good men and women have died so this NewsBlog can be published and we can complain about our government without fear for our lives. Honor those sacrifices by getting involved in YOUR government. Carl Schulthess, Editor in Chief Staff Report City Council Meeting, September 19, 2005 Representatives of the developer UDR/Pacific Los Alisos L.P. got approval for their housing project on Mon., Sept. 19, with a council vote of 4-0. Council Member Gail Reavis was absent. The 250-unit condo project could be built by November 2006. The project includes 38 one-bedroom affordable units, for which the developer is asking a subsidy of up to $6 million from the city. For the rest of this report, Click on; Editorial Comment Mission Viejo NewsBlog Staff. What’s happening to local news coverage? Fledgling newspapers and TV stations in Orange County have come and gone. Saddleback Valley News has been publishing a smaller, regionalized version with pictures and letters reprinted from The Register. Is local news a thing of the past? For the rest of this editorial, Click on; Opinion Letters City Council Meeting, September 19, 2005 Mission Viejo residents had no representation on the council at the Sept. 19 meeting. The council voted 4-0 (with Gail Reavis absent) for a new high density housing development on the former Kmart site. Around 15 public comments came from residents who opposed the project, including four written comments. The one in favor was mysterious, with a resident saying he was speaking for someone who was speaking for an organization. The outsiders promoting this project were with the developer. For the rest of this report, Click on; My home is in close proximity to the commercially zoned area near the intersection of Jeronimo and Los Alisos, next to the Unisys site; immediately next to the parcel Steadfast Properties, of Newport Beach is attempting to coerce our City Council into re-zoning for residential use. As President of my Homeowners Association I am very familiar with the overwhelming problems in the area of Los Alisos and Jeronimo and the problems created by overcrowded neighborhoods because I live in one. For the rest of this letter, Click on; Mission Viejo, the “California Promise” What is happening to the “California Promise”? I moved from Santa Ana when the old orange groves were removed and replaced by apartments, then we moved to East Anaheim and the 91 freeway was build. In 1972, we moved to Mission Viejo because of “the promise” to live in a Master Planned Community where everything was spelled out, commercial, residential, schools, retail and light industry, no more surprises, it sounded like paradise. Most people moved to Mission Viejo for the same reason; the desire to live in a city that “ensured the orderly physical growth of the community.” Mission Viejo's long-range planning goals and master strategy are embodied in its General Plan. For the rest of this letter, Click on; I am a resident of Mission Viejo and wanted to voice my opinion regarding the cities plans for development near the intersection of Los Alisos and Jeronimo. I agree with much of the letter written last week by Kathy Miramontes, who objected to Steadfast's proposed housing development next to Unisys. I live near Unisys, and the problems of overcrowding, traffic, parking and vandalism have become huge burdens to homeowners. For the rest of this letter, Click on; As a homeowner in Mission Viejo, and a Target customer where ever they are located, I would like to say, with great enthusiasm, “CONGRATULATIONS TARGET!” for purchasing all 23.5 acres of the commercial parcel on Los Alisos Blvd. and Jeronimo next to Unisys. For readers who are unfamiliar with the issue, Steadfast has been trying for two years to build high-density housing on the site zoned for commercial use. It's a relief to our neighborhood to learn Target bought the whole parcel, although its store will occupy only 13 acres. It seems our city has stepped onto the slippery slope of providing more high density housing into our city, kowtowing to the demands of out of town developers and buckling under the pressure of the State and the do-gooder Public Law Center’s social engineering for more ‘low income housing’. (“City approves new housing”, SVN, Sept 23). Never mind a master plan that has served our citizens well for decades by providing a community where thousands of families have invested their futures. Never mind that population increase and traffic congestion in our city will only get worse, with no city plan for its improvement. For the rest of this letter, Click on; If you don’t like what we are doing in this NewsBlog, please tell me how to improve it. If you like the direction we are going, please forward this to as many friends in Mission Viejo as possible and sign up for a direct subscription by Clicking on; Carl Schulthess |
|