Who’s Your Nanny?
Staff editorial

Mission Hospital executive Peter Bastone wrote an article appearing in the Orange Grove column on July 11. [OC Register, “Housing shortage and a ‘brain drain.’] After a week with no comment from readers, perhaps no one felt his specious logic merited a response.

Bastone complains that young workers making $70,000 a year can’t afford a home in Mission Viejo. He stated, “Every city in Orange County shares the responsibility for facilitating an adequate supply of housing for Orange County’s workforce.” Bastone would like zoning and environmental restrictions eased to increase the housing supply.

Since when is providing homeownership the job of government? For whatever reason, young people today are apparently entitled to ownership that their parents slaved and saved for many years to achieve.

Bastone didn’t mention he lives in a $1-million-plus lakefront home in Mission Viejo’s prestigious Tres Vistas. Would Bastone like an affordable-housing project plopped next to his estate? The city could condemn three or four mansions as “blighted” and put aside pesky zoning to build a lakeside high-rise of affordable condos. Instead of the guarded gate locking Yuppies and other riffraff out, it could lock them in.

Consider Bastone’s line, “Unfortunately, anti-housing forces crying ‘not in my back yard’ make new housing politically unpopular in many cities.

The affordable-housing project wouldn’t be in Bastone’s back yard (which is the lake). It would be in his side yard.

Throughout the council’s three-year dance with two developers – UDR Pacific and Steadfast – Mission Hospital administrators repeatedly came to the podium to support more low-income housing in this built-out city. Back then, the battle cry wasn’t for Yuppies making $70,000, it was for the hospital’s minimum-wage employees. A planning commissioner in 2004 suggested the hospital should pursue creating housing on its own property if it were so interested in taking care of its employees. No response from the hospital on that one. Somehow, the hospital couldn’t understand that its hiring so many minimum-wage employees with little buying power wasn’t the government’s problem.

But, that was then. Now, Bastone laments Orange County has a “brain drain” because such workers as teachers, paramedics, firefighters and police employees are fleeing Orange County in pursuit of more affordable housing. Apparently, renting and finding roommates while saving money for a down-payment is a completely alien concept at Bastone Manor.

Na‹ve or misinformed people seem to think creating more housing will lower the price, and that’s incorrect. Cities with higher-density residential areas (Santa Ana, Garden Grove) don’t have lower prices because they have more housing, they have lower prices because they’re a mess. According to an Orange County mortgage broker, “Despite the current leveling off, Orange County communities building thousands of homes, condos and apartments have experienced rising prices along with other Orange County areas that aren’t building like crazy.” Cities can overbuild to the point the entire county becomes unlivable, and supply still won’t meet demand. Check the unlimited number of home-seekers streaming across the borders.

Immigrant families are willing to share – two and three families in units intended for one family. A three-bedroom home becomes a boardinghouse for 10 or more people, and unrelated adults combine resources to come up with down-payments. Consequently, a young professional making $70,000 doesn’t have the range of choices Bastone would apparently prefer.

The answer is clear, and it isn’t up to the taxpayer, who is already providing free healthcare, free education and free everything else to those who haven’t earned it. Bastone should put his $1-million-plus home on the market for, say, $85,000. He could show he’s willing to sacrifice instead of asking everyone else to bear the burden of buying homes for his employees.

Here’s a curve for Bastone. High prices are a good thing. They reward people who sacrificed and saved for years to buy a home. As a real shock, many of Mission Viejo’s homeowners bought their homes while making $70,000 a year or less. They commuted to work in places like Newport Beach, where they couldn’t afford to buy a home.

CUSD update - Capo Parent Sends a Message

Dear concerned Capistrano Unified School District parents and residents:

The OC Grand Jury transcripts related to the CUSD corruption investigation were released for public viewing on July 13. They're lengthy – approximately 1,300 pages – so it's taking media, parents and other interested parties a while to comb through them. I keep waiting to see something – anything – of substance in the OC Register about the testimony. The only article I have seen thus far is one by Sam Miller a week ago that offers only what we already knew – Fleming created the enemies lists. There is much more testimony that illuminates very serious problems at the senior CUSD administrative level, according to people who have been reviewing the transcripts. So, where is the coverage?

If you are concerned, as am I, that the OC Register isn't covering the story, I ask you to join in me in requesting that the Register assign an investigative reporter (not Sam Miller, our assigned education reporter who is not an experienced investigative or crime reporter). Many of you will remember the excellent investigative series last summer about the problems in CUSD by Investigative Reporter Tony Saavedra (aided by reporter Norberto Santana). It was when Tony was assigned to cover CUSD that many of the serious problems in CUSD were finally revealed to the public.

Therefore, I ask that you please email OC Register VP Ken Brusic at kbrusic@ocregister.com or call him at (714) 796-2226 to ask why we haven't seen any coverage of this issue (with the lone exception of Sam Miller’s article, which wasn't even news), and to respectfully request that an Investigative or Crime Reporter, such as Tony Saavedra or Ron Campbell, be assigned to cover the CUSD Grand Jury testimony (not the education reporter, Sam Miller). Please tell him that the public wants to know – and since the Register is our newspaper of record, we would like them to report on this. If you are a Register subscriber, please let them know that as well.

It could be that the Register is planning on doing something and is just taking its time. Unfortunately, I don't believe the Register will do anything more unless they are asked to do so by many South County residents who are interested in learning about what is really going on in CUSD. 

Please pass this on to your friends and family so that their voices may be heard too.

Thanks for your support!

Listed below is a glimpse of the testimony from parents who have taken the time to drive to the courthouse in Santa Ana and review the transcripts. I have not yet read any of the transcripts myself, as they are only accessible by reviewing them at the courthouse, but several parents I know have been reading them, and here's what they've reported thus far:

Based on the testimony of Fleming's former assistant Kate McIntyre, who by the way, is still a very highly paid secretary for the district, the "enemies list" was brought into a cabinet meeting that was attended by Suzette Lovely, who is now our acting superintendent. According to McIntyre's testimony, the list was passed around and Lovely added comment about one or more names on the list. So, if true (and I repeat, I have not yet read the testimony myself), not only did she know about the list the whole time Fleming was denying the existence of it, she actually contributed to it. By the way, Ms. Lovely just received a salary increase totaling 7 percent.

We already know from the list(s) themselves, and as has been reported from the Grand Jury testimony, that both Kate McIntyre and CUSD employee Bobbie Thacker created these political list(s), using our private education files, on district time and using district resources. The use of private education files for non-education related purpose(s) is a felony. They knew about the existence of these lists while Fleming was denying it publicly – and yet they stayed silent, even while parents were telling the trustees at board meetings how they believe their children had been retaliated against as a result of being on the list. It's looking doubtful that either of these employees will be punished for their role, let alone be reprimanded by CUSD management.

There's much more about other serious issues in CUSD, and I'll forward it to you as it comes out, but in the interest of brevity, I'll stop now. We are making a difference, but we still have a ways to go. Thanks again for your support!

The Buzz column, July 20

The July 20 OC Register reported Orange County received a Homeland Security grant for $13.8-million – about one-third of the $39 million the county requested. Perhaps Sheriff Mike Carona tapped the county’s grant money to buy his new toy, a supersize RV resembling a yacht on wheels. The “recreational vehicle” – that’s what it is – is equipped with such things as a 50-inch plasma screen. If this pricey bus isn’t enough to make taxpayers sick, consider the name, “Samantha One.” Has the sheriff not gotten enough mileage from the tragic death of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion?

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How does a neighborhood rid itself of renters who are dealing drugs? Here’s a message from savvy blog readers, who said, “First, we reported the drug use and trafficking to the police, who arrested the suspects. Then, we got the phone number of the homeowner, who knowingly or unknowingly had rented out his property to people who seemed pretty questionable. We gave all the neighbors the phone number so they could call the owner and complain about the tenants. It must have worked, because the drug dealers are moving out.”

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Several blog readers who are following the Capo school district turmoil have asked for a Website address to review the grand jury testimony. At this time, the document is available only at the courthouse in Santa Ana. The report must be read while there, and copies cannot be purchased. Information coming from those reviewing the testimony makes a couple things clear. First, the Waldrip Report (the district’s self-investigation of wrongdoing that found no serious problem) was a sham. Second, the four remaining Fleming-era trustees are toast. Whether they resign, get recalled or run for reelection in November 2008, they’ll be gone.

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Other frequently asked questions: 1) Where exactly is former CUSD superintendent James Fleming? 2) Is Deputy Superintendent David Doomey (which should be spelled DO-me) still on the payroll? Fleming is still around, especially with his next court appearance on Aug. 10. Lawyers speculated at his July 13 arraignment that his trial could take 14 to 16 days. If convicted of three felony charges, Fleming could serve up to four years in prison. David DO-me, whose unofficial title could have been deputy liar, resigned at the end of the school year.

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The city’s budget, which the council passed July 2, has been criticized as irresponsible. Other complaints relate to the council’s approval of the electronic sign at La Paz and Marguerite (passed 3-2 with MacLean, Ury and Kelley voting yes). A letter in the July 20 Saddleback Valley News requests the council not proceed with the new sign. Residents should realize the council has decided, and the contract to install the sign was approved. This council rarely brings back an item, and when it does, the situation can get worse. A memorable example is Trish Kelley bringing back the defeated redevelopment deal to pass it against overwhelming community opposition. The electronic sign was rejected in previous years when only MacLean and Kelley supported it. Ury this time added his vote to pass it.

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Here’s a report about the July 2 council meeting from someone who attended: “Very few people were in the audience, and most of us waiting to speak came specifically to object to the electronic message board. I was surprised the agenda item for the sign was addressed last when people were waiting to speak on it. When the consent calendar came up, there was dead silence with no council member pulling any item. As you know, members of the public are no longer permitted to pull items for discussion. Finally, John Paul Ledesma pulled the sign item for discussion. Before he pulled it, I thought for a moment the sign would be passed unanimously as part of the consent calendar. By the time the sign was discussed, it was the very last item with no possibility of delaying it any further. This reminds me very much of the days of Butterfield and Withrow.”