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City Hall insiders anticipate the city will be sued by the Public Law Center, with papers served this month, as a challenge to the low-income element of UDR/Pacific's housing project on the former Kmart site. This comes as no surprise, as Eileen McCarthy during the Sept. 19 council meeting informed the city of the law center's dissatisfaction with UDR/Pacific's treatment of affordable housing. ****** Did the city really spend $900 on balloons for the Sierra Rec Center opening last month? If so, does someone in City ****** After subtracting all the city dollars that are encumbered, appropriated, earmarked, obligated, owed or already spent, would there be enough money left to build anyone's pet project? Between comments from council members, city staff and residents, everyone seems to have a different view of the city's wealth. The city's funds have become so convoluted because of a lack of proper planning by the council that city staffers cannot give simple answers to what should be simple questions. ****** Is anyone trying to hide how much money the city has in unencumbered reserves that haven't been appropriated? ****** Councilman Lance MacLean may have learned his council protocol from former Coun-cilwomen Butterfield and Withrow. During the Nov. 21 council meeting, he attempted to prevent Joe Holtzman from taking a turn at the public microphone by saying Holtzman had been late submitting a request to speak. Holtzman protested from the audience, claiming that MacLean was sitting on his request slip. Holtzman prevailed and managed to get in a few remarks about Mission Viejo High School's championship football team. Mission Viejo residents can more easily find a story in USA Today (Oct. 10) than local papers about the Diablos' phenomenal winning streak. For information on this truly remarkable team, check out ****** At the Nov. 21 council meeting, MacLean also tangled with community activist Larry Gilbert when Gilbert spoke from the public microphone about the joint use of Saddleback Valley USD facilities with the city. MacLean upbraided Gilbert, saying, "I cannot believe the unmitigated audacity that you have to come up here and start negotiating with the Saddleback school district. You have no authority on behalf of this city to go out and negotiate." The meetings have become almost as interesting as the good ol' days of Sherri and Susan. ****** Also attending the Nov. 21 meeting to mix it up with Gilbert was PTA member Barbara Casserly, who attempted to defend an email to get support for a gymnasium at Newhart. The email (published in the blog Nov. 12) had previously been criticized for offering children free pizza and soft drinks if they attended the Nov. 7 council meeting. A Newhart teacher also apparently made an offer, "extra credit" for students who attended. Why is anyone bribing students to attend council meetings? While former council majorities had their shortcomings, they appeared to know the difference between school facilities and city facilities. City facilities were the ones they tried to put their names on. ****** It's official. City Manager Dennis Wilberg announced at the Nov. 21 council meeting that Roger Faubel will take the $100,000 contract after all for public outreach regarding the Crown Valley Parkway widening project. Councilwoman Gail Reavis asked interim City Attorney Bill Curley about the legal procedure for a contractor to refuse and then rescind his refusal. An interpreter should have been called in to translate. Audience members groaned audibly when hearing the remarks by Curley, who might have been better off saying, "Urn, I don't know." Curley responded to a later question about how much he's paid: $160 / hour. |
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