The Buzz Column, Sept. 7

Capistrano Unified School District has a new interim superintendent, Woodrow Carter. The process of his selection, however, continues to be a mystery. The minutes of the meeting had not been published within a reasonable time following the announcement. Just prior to Carter’s selection, some parents believed Charles McCully would again be named as interim superintendent. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case. One parent suggested Carter should hold a forum for everyone to ask questions without the structure of a board meeting or prepared statements.

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Reader reaction to Councilman Lance MacLean’s “Guest View” column in Saddleback Valley News on Aug. 31: “MacLean is catering to developers and acting like he’s representing the residents – no way on the latter. He continues to press for more housing in Mission Viejo when there’s no room. What’s next, treehouses? I don’t see how he can claim he’s concerned about traffic coming through Mission Viejo from the east when he’s so bent on adding more homes right here in our city.”

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Mission Viejo residents who make public comments at council or other public meetings should be aware it’s their right to speak. Quite a few speakers thank the council profusely for the opportunity as if it were a privilege. Note that the mayor and commission chairs generally thank those who take time to come to the meetings and speak from the public microphone.

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Anyone awaiting more indictments of CUSD officials might have to wait awhile longer. One observer said, “The D.A. has a conviction rate of approximately 95 percent. I think the D.A. has already made the charges that are easy to prove, and we should expect convictions. Everyone is waiting to see if former superintendent James Fleming would like to make a deal and implicate others. With so many fishy real estate transactions and contracts, I hope we don’t have to wait for another ‘disgruntled former employee’ to find out what happened.”

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The city manager’s report during the Sept. 4 council meeting included an update on the Crown Valley Parkway widening project. Translation for expected completion date: we have no idea. Whatever happened to the $100,000 paid to Roger Faubel to educate residents stopped in traffic to expect delays? The fee was apparently not enough to keep the P.R. Website updated. Some residents thought they might have seen a fancy die-cut brochure, which probably blew most of the money. The projected completion date of June 2007 has slipped just a bit to early spring or early summer 2008. The timeline for improving the Oso / Marguerite intersection has slipped a bit also, as it won’t begin until after the Crown Valley Parkway widening project is finished.

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While the current council agreed some time ago on the need to upgrade the city attorney, no agreement was reached on who should get the job. Consequently, Bill Curley hangs on. During the Sept. 4 council meeting, Curley revealed that he improperly drafted a proposed ordinance restricting city park use to recreation without council approval and risked exposing the council to accusations of a Brown Act violation as well. As lawyering goes, Bill has been successful at creating work for himself, but the city lacks responsible legal counsel.