The Buzz column, April 27

City activists were noticeably absent from the April 23 Planning Commission hearing on affordable housing. A blog staffer called one of them, who commented, “Several years ago, activists came out in force against more housing, and we succeeded in delaying two projects that still haven’t been built. If Palmia’s HOA or the residents near Oso want to prevent a new project from going in near their homes, they need to rally the troops.”

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Coverage of the April 23 Planning Commission meeting in Saddleback Valley News looks as if the city staff wrote it. Among misleading statements: “Eight people spoke during the commission meeting, some of whom opposed the rezoning.” Here’s the rest of the story. Every person who spoke in opposition was a Mission Viejo resident. Every person who spoke in favor either lives in Santa Ana or didn’t state their city as required. Every Mission Viejo resident made reference to defending his or her quality of life. Every outsider indicated an interest in financial gain from building welfare housing in Mission Viejo.

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One of the April 23 speakers in favor of affordable housing who didn’t say in which city she lives is a manager at Mission Hospital. She said low-income hospital employees need a place to live and, apparently, taxpayers should finance housing for minimum-wage hospital workers. It is always interesting to see how special interest groups line up to spend other people's money. Perhaps if the hospital paid its workers a reasonable wage, then they would not have to grovel at the public trough.

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The Three Stooges connection: a blog reader pointed out the overlooked significance of having a city attorney named Curley. Bill Curley’s remarks fall short of quality entertainment – throwing pies and hitting people on the head with a frying pan.

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Councilman Frank Ury’s former fan club members finally get it. Ury campaigned for office as a fiscal conservative promoting open government, which ended abruptly after he took office. After more than two years of voting against nearly everything his fans support, his April 16 remarks about public speakers hijacking the council’s agenda may have ended the honeymoon.

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An insider shed light on the depth of Capistrano Unified School District’s turmoil, saying, “Interim Supt. Charles McCully began with a good attitude, talking about honesty and restoring trust. When he realized CUSD is a big mess, he just wanted to get the heck out of there as soon as possible.”

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