No Improvement at CUSD
Staff editorial

Lack of funds for a theatre at Capo Valley High School is another sign of Capistrano Unified School District’s financial woes. CUSD has collected enough tax dollars in Mission Viejo to pay for the finest theater at Capo High, along with the finest gymnasium at Newhart and permanent classrooms as well. With the district’s long history of shell games and buffoonery, students continue to do without. After initial denials from CUSD officials, documents surfaced, indicating tax dollars collected in Mission Viejo were diverted to the new $50-million administration center in San Juan Capistrano.

The 2005 effort to recall all seven CUSD trustees was based on the need for responsible leadership and accountability. While the recall failed for a variety of reasons, two incumbent trustees (John Casabianca and Sheila Henness) were dumped by voters in November 2006, and a third incumbent (Crystal Kochendorfer) didn’t run. Following former superintendent James Fleming’s messy departure in 2006, residents may have thought CUSD’s biggest problems were over. The current budget crisis (e.g., no contract for teachers and the failed attempt to sell district real estate) caused some residents to say the district is incapable of digging itself out.

Where is Fleming now? Is he calling in plays to his longstanding incompetent shills (Trustees Sheila Benecke, Marlene Draper, Mike Darnold and Duane Stiff)? The policies and practices of Fleming’s regime continue despite idle talk about change from Interim Superintendent Charles McCully. For many years, Fleming got the blame or credit as master puppeteer, shell-game designer and liar-in-chief. Some of those who worked in the recall say nothing has changed. Fleming’s unofficial heir appears to be Deputy Superintendent David Doomey, who publicly acknowledged administrative wrongdoing by saying, “Mistakes were made.” For reasons that defy explanation, Doomey is still on the payroll.

The four old-regime trustees have a majority vote to maintain the Flemingdom, minus the old king. These four were apparently not rattled by the Election Day ousting of their peers. It will take at least one more election to dump the remaining officials who have been called weak-minded, incompetent and corrupt. Instead of proving themselves up to any leadership task, it’s clear the trustees have no plan regarding the current financial dilemmas.

A plea from a CUSD resident was published in the blog last week, saying it’s up to parents and other community members to raise cash for a theatre at Capo High School. That’s the sad truth. Looking at CUSD’s big, bleak picture, a theatre is such a luxury it’s not going to happen any other way.

The Buzz column, April 13

Some residents criticized the city’s long delay in releasing information about the high number of vehicle thefts at the mall. With the city staff focused on the happy-face word of the month, perhaps no one had time to write a press release about crime.

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Other city news – also kept under wraps – the Public Law Center prevailed in its lawsuit against the city regarding affordable housing. As a result of losing the lawsuit, the city will have a limited period of time to rezone another parcel. If city council members had not caved in to developers for the sake of grabbing campaign cash, the PLC would have had no grounds for a discrimination lawsuit. If no new housing projects were approved in Mission Viejo – a built-out city – there would be no basis for saying new housing was discriminatory because it lacked three-bedroom affordable units.

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Following San Juan Capistrano’s appointment of two councilmen (Lon Uso and Mark Nielsen) to work with Mission Viejo on an east-west alternative to Ortega Highway, Mission Viejo’s council appointed Councilmen John Paul Ledesma and Frank Ury to work on the project. SJC has thus far avoided widening Ortega, and Mission Viejo is likely to get the brunt of traffic from development of the ranch. Some Mission Viejo activists would prefer that the talks end between the two cities, as Mission Viejo lacks negotiating strength. Focus should instead turn to the county and Caltrans to widen Ortega Highway.

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Who was telling the truth about the power-line issue in 2004? Then-candidate Frank Ury appeared before an organization with his anti-Southern California Edison campaign message. Ury stated SCE had an axe to grind against Mission Viejo residents for making an issue of burying three new power lines. Ury stated, “Edison is going to shut off the power to Mission Viejo at the first opportunity,” implying that SCE would either create a phony power outage or turn out the lights while providing power to cities with SCE-friendly attitudes. Nearly three years later – with a lot of scorching-hot weather – Mission Viejo has experienced no such outage.

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Last week’s Buzz reported a less-than-favorable reaction of readers to the city’s “Spring” banners along Marguerite Parkway. Another reader remarked: “After the council gave $100,000 to Roger Faubel to ‘educate’ drivers on Crown Valley that traffic wasn’t moving, City Hall is educating drivers that it is now spring in Mission Viejo.”

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Question from a reader: “Is Mission Viejo going to address the impact of the real estate market on city finances? Laguna Beach’s city government is already talking about falling prices and how decreased sales will affect the city budget.” In Mission Viejo, where the disaster-preparedness plan consists of handing out rose-colored glasses, a downturn in the market won’t likely be addressed.