New Thinking for Shopping Center Updates
Letter to the editor

There has been much discussion recently on updates for some of our shopping centers in Mission Viejo. Some arguments have been made that our centers do not need updates and are fully occupied. Time and change do affect this – over time, dating and age take a toll. All infrastructure and shopping centers in our city need updating, and it is part of the equation for a successful city. The problems are not easily solved, as some centers have multiple owners, and updates are difficult.

The most important thing to remember is that these improvements have to be made without the use of redevelopment funds. Redevelopment works as a penalty to schools, as they receive a smaller portion of tax revenue. The pass-through of redevelopment penalizes schools so that owners get a break on property improvements. It is very important that our council gets good advice from our citizenry on ways to improve our centers without the use of redevelopment funds. Our citizens have excellent ideas, and it will take creative thinking and divergent ideas to process this problem-solving equation. I trust our citizens to come up with the best solutions.

I hope our Planning Commission will come up with ideas for the council to consider on ways to improve our centers, bring them up to date and make our city a better place to live and work for all our citizens. We also have to remember that our city was built on the Master Plan of the Mission Viejo Company. Many of our citizens oppose mixed-use and residential overlays in commercial zones. Residents would not support residential zoning in commercial areas as an alternative for Mission Viejo.

James Edward Woodin
Mission Viejo

Kaleidoscope is a Happening Place
Letter to the editor

Even if I had been looking for a shortcoming at Kaleidoscope, I couldn’t find one. The restaurants are superb, and the other businesses are great. I’ve tried to decide which restaurant is my favorite. Islands is a real asset to the center, and we’re lucky to have El Torito Grill. Anyone who thinks Mission Viejo doesn’t have interesting restaurants has not been to Kaleidoscope lately.

I walked by the “kids’ places” – Howie’s Game Shack and Nine Star, which were rather quiet. The only young people I saw at the center were with their parents, and everyone was enjoying the atmosphere. Some people have commented about the design of the building, but the artsy look defines what it is – a destination for entertainment. Is an entertainment center supposed to look like an office building?

The idea to add security cameras is a good one. Just knowing the cameras are there makes a difference in almost any public place. Having the cameras running can keep adults as well as teens in line without a lot of policing.

It is great to see Kaleidoscope has turned to a happening place as hoped for. The center has taken many years to build up business, and it was slow for a long time. Kaleidoscope is developing a good image as a place to go, and the property managers have done a good job with it.

Nadine Harder
Mission Viejo

Mannequins of Change
by Bo Klein

About this time during every election year, Congress and state legislatures posture mannequins of change in the windows of voters’ minds. By the last-minute review of proposed bills at year’s end, the politicians dress the future of the community for the seasons ahead.

One has to question the validity of our lawmakers cramming hundreds of proposed laws before fellow politicians at midnight hour, knowing a full debate is impossible to analyze the merits of bills that primarily originated from paid lobbyist actions. Each politician window-dresses his own proposed laws, attempting to get them passed … or does he? Is simply proposing a bill for a lobbyist group or some community group sufficient for the politician’s reelection? To get elected originally, most politicians design their campaigns to uproot an incumbent by offering a change or law that purports to improve something voters think they want. Does simply offering the concept of change sustain the voter? It does in Mission Viejo.

Comparing promises and reality years later, one is left with a long list of incomplete tasks in our city. The last time this writer checked, the Edison power lines were still overhead in our city despite the dismal failure of the politician who proposed the change of burying the lines. A very big failure, yet the politician is now a city councilman, and his success is based on his failure. Basing a successful career on one’s failures can only be done in politics.

Another example of comprehensive failure is Councilwoman Trish Kelley’s 2002 campaign promise to establish sensible senior transportation for a reasonable cost. Actually, she never promised her plan would be sensible or cost-effective. Because she failed to think about those aspects, she had no real plan other than using the concept of change to get elected. But, hold the bus, she again at year’s end with her campaign in progress proposes her "plan" to sustain the voter. She attempts to ride her failure to a successful reelection. One could point to numerous other examples where such year-end agendas bring out the bag of empty promises.

Incumbent council members have a huge advantage over their challengers by playing the time game with the agenda of public meetings. Just like Congress, if too many proposals are made at year’s end by a council member, some won’t make it to this year’s council meeting for debate and vote. The agenda is carefully managed as if it were a history book in the making – it actually is. If an item doesn't make it on the agenda, it doesn't occur later or it’s not supposed to in principal. An incumbent like Kelley can drag out an already debated issue and personal failure such as senior transportation, attempt to place it on the agenda with a smile and again campaign with superficial sincerity, claiming she deserves reelection. She has no new issues to drag before the public even after hanging around City Hall for nearly four very volatile and disappointing years. Councilman Lance MacLean is no doubt still trying to figure out a way to re-agendize a gym proposal in order to get his name back in print like an old and washed out Hollywood actor seeking a role – any role. The point is, to suggest an agenda item is almost as good as getting a law passed when it comes to deceiving the public during an election year.

Staff controls the city agenda far more than any council member or commissioner. If the city manager thinks a crackpot idea, such as a gym, were proposed to be on the agenda, he could easily stall staff reports and prevent the item from reaching the agenda. Ideally, from his perspective, both the crackpot idea and the ousted incumbent who proposed it would go away on Election Day. However, a candidate for reelection – Kelley, for example – can still request her agenda item prior to election time and, while not getting it agendized, campaign on it. The days are still numbered for that incumbent, just like agenda items are.

It’s a campaign of control: who has it, who doesn’t have it and who's losing it.

Council Campaign Update, Sept. 5
Staff editorial

A resident commented last week, “It’s going to be a nasty city election.” He had just received an email blast from council candidate Diane Greenwood’s campaign manager. Shortly thereafter, two Greenwood supporters launched additional personal attacks.

For anyone who thought the 2004 city election broke records with personal attacks and mud-slinging, it could get worse. A group of four or five people set the negative tone in 2004. The group consisted of those who sit in view of the council chambers camera during meetings and make comment after comment – negative and hostile if not malicious remarks. They attack council members, city staffers, community members – anyone who gets in their way.

The ironic outcome is that no one on the council ends up doing the will of the power-seekers. After the hostile bunch “helped” Ury get into office by trashing his opponents in 2004, he quickly distanced himself from them. Privately, Ury remarks about their lunacy. They’re now campaigning for Greenwood.

During the past week, Greenwood’s team elevated the attack. First on their hit list was an affable candidate who had back surgery a month ago. When he didn’t gather his own nomination signatures by having people come to his bedside, one of Greenwood’s team members wrote “he didn’t have the wherewithal to get his own signatures.” The candidate or any registered voter can legally and ethically gather signatures on nomination papers – it’s a formality.

Two days later, Greenwood’s manager blasted another candidate who had changed his voter registration from Democrat to Republican 18 years ago. According to the email, being a Democrat is apparently a criminal act. Greenwood’s manager put into motion a smear campaign, sending an email to all political higher-ups in the county. The manager mentioned privately to others he wanted to make sure the county’s Central Committee didn’t endorse anyone beyond John Paul Ledesma, who also had to fight for the endorsement after Councilman Frank Ury made it difficult for him. Greenwood as a recently re-registered Republicrat likely realized the futility and didn’t try to get any party’s endorsement.

Somehow, voters are supposed to be confused into thinking Greenwood will look stellar if other candidates are hacked to bits. Wouldn’t it be more impressive if the campaign manager wrote about his own candidate’s credentials and skills? Therein lies the problem – what credentials and skills?

The issue of changing political parties is significant when a candidate switches just before running for office. Greenwood changed parties less than a year ago when she started talking about running for city council, and that’s suspect. Changing one’s voter registration 18 years prior to running for office is not in the same category. Ronald Reagan is among many examples of politicians who changed parties, but not immediately before running for office.

Voters have a chance to decide on a lot of things in this election. One decision is whether Lance MacLean and Trish Kelley have kept even one of their campaign promises from 2002. The blog has presented a history of council votes to demonstrate that both incumbents sold out the residents on the most important city issues. Beyond overwhelming negatives, the incumbents have been either unwilling or unable to bring about any positive outcome for the city.

Voters also have the opportunity to shut out the cell of the nastiest people in town. Too bad if Greenwood has no helpers except those who try to intimidate or destroy everyone in sight. The hostility and destruction are defining her campaign.

The Buzz column, Sept. 6

Is it true the council discussed mixed-use zoning of La Paz and Marguerite during the closed session on Aug. 21? If so, which council members are supporting mixed use, as well as creating a redevelopment zone? Neighbors who strongly oppose affordable housing on top of retail stores would gladly yank such members off the council on Nov. 7. As another issue, the discussion of mixed use was not agendized, and it’s worth finding out if a Brown Act violation occurred. The discussion allegedly took place when City Manager Dennis Wilberg’s performance was the agenda item of record.

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Currently under investigation is a series of potential Brown Act violations by the Capo school board. Former Supt. James Fleming’s evaluation was on the closed-session agenda when the trustees allegedly discussed a wide scope of unrelated topics.

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Will any criminal charges result from all the D.A. and so-called independent investigations of the Capo school district? Insiders say the main problem is having one government agency investigate another government agency. Additionally, a former employee of a district contractor is doing some of the investigating. A slap on the wrist or a good scolding may result.

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The most fortunate aspect of the Sept. 5 council meeting was its brevity, but a breakthrough should be mentioned. The phantom council candidate showed up for a short time – Justin McCusker. He stayed for 10 minutes, left and returned at the end. Perhaps he’s been reading the blog, which has reported he’s never attended a council meeting. He’s still never attended a council meeting, but he can now proudly say he’s been inside City Hall.

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A City Planning Commissioner at the Sept. 5 meeting announced that the city’s Web site should be updated to include the financial advisory commission, which meets four times a year. Anyone who has a suggestion about the Web site can call City Hall. There’s no need to take council time or put a suggestion into the public record. But wait – what a coincidence – Councilman Frank Ury toward the end of the meeting introduced his financial advisory appointee, who got an on-camera acknowledgement in the audience. Residents should start estimating the cost to the city when Ury introduces a political friend during a council meeting.

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Yet another nasty email came from council candidate Diane Greenwood’s “team” following the Sept. 5 council meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, two people complained that “historic boulders” had been moved from various city street corners during city landscaping improvements. If anyone wonders what a historic boulder is, it contains fossils. According to the city manager, city workers moved the rocks from city corners to Oso Trail. The email referring to the council exchange said speakers had been treated in an unbelievably unprofessional manner by an arrogant and disdainful MacLean. A review of the tape revealed no such treatment. MacLean, however, did indicate he was baffled that the council discourse was focusing on moving of rocks from city corners to city rock piles.

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A quick historical reference indicates Mission Viejo was previously a cow pasture. After the community was formed, boulders were placed near some of the street corners as scenic decoration. No boulders are being moved from their original locations. Those who became emotionally attached to the boulders (and gave names to them – this is not a joke – check the Sept. 5 videotape) can still visit their rock friends on the trail.