Magnet of Discontent
Staff editorial

Voters revolted in November 2002 and dumped former Councilwomen Sherri Butterfield and Susan Withrow. Within a year, former City Manager Dan Joseph was gone as well. With the departure of the old regime, residents expected peace at City Hall.

An old activist group, Committee for Integrity in Government, suspended operations. One segment from the former CIG became focused on relief from the incessant push for more housing and its related overcrowding and traffic congestion. Another segment of four or five people reorganized around Frank Ury, whose political ambition for higher office and association with county lobbyists are well known.

Despite changes in 2002 and 2003 at City Hall – heads on a platter – the activists following Ury continued being vocal about a wide range of topics from overhead power lines to boulders on street corners. In 2003-2004, they circulated a petition to get high-voltage transmission lines buried in Mission Viejo. The 220 kV lines on lattice towers weren’t under consideration for undergrounding, and residents in north Mission Viejo eventually voted overwhelmingly against taxing themselves to bury three new lines in the north part of town. Ury rode into office as a council member in 2004, claiming he would force SCE to bury its lines despite a California Public Utilities Commission decision to the contrary several months before the election.

The crowd following Ury dwindled to the original few, who continue to lash out at council members, city staffers and other residents at almost every council meeting. They’ve clustered again to support Diane Greenwood’s current council campaign. Beyond the controversy of Greenwood’s candidacy, the masters of discontent continue stirring up residents.

At the Sept. 25 Planning and Transportation Commission meeting, St. Kilian’s parish received unanimous approval for its proposed expansion on a somewhat secluded hilltop near Estanciero and Montenoso. Someone circulated a petition among neighbors, and seven residents from the neighborhood spoke against the project. Those opposed to the project said parishioners parked on their streets, and they said the parish had not adequately planned for increased parking needs. The commission agreed to ban parking of parishioners’ cars on the residential streets identified by the neighbors. This solution seemed agreeable to both the parish and the neighbors.

The issue should have ended, but it didn't. A resident who lives near St. Kilian’s – likely the one who started the petition – was at the Oct. 4 council meeting to question the commission’s Sept. 25 decision. She had previously rallied neighbors about parking issues – which was reasonable. What’s her problem now? She claimed the public wasn’t given adequate notice of the commission meeting. She additionally complained about the height of the building, which is shorter than the highly visible church tower the commission approved at Marguerite and Oso.

The council has no say in the matter unless someone appeals the commission’s Sept. 25 decision. As for the height of the building, it isn’t generally visible except when people deliberately go up a steep driveway to the church’s parking lot. Only three nearby homes are at the same level, and one is the parish priest’s residence. Is anyone complaining except the resident who lives on a street below and has no view of the church? How is the church’s presence bothering her?

The person creating the stir was highly visible in the 2004 campaign for Frank Ury, and she has Greenwood and McCusker campaign signs in her yard. Is it purely coincidental the most discontented people in town are in the same political camp?

The parishioners of St. Kilian have waited a long time and raised a great deal of money to fund their project. If anyone deserves relief from pointless attack, they do.