The Buzz column, Jan. 5

More than two months ago, Mission Viejo residents began noticing increased noise levels from airplanes, particularly over the north part of the city. County and agency officials claim there are no changes in flight patterns, but residents say planes are flying at lower altitudes. Air traffic increased directly over the city during the October fires, but that should have diminished when the smoke cleared. A resident of north Mission Viejo said, “The noise increase is obvious, and it’s day and night, including after the curfew at John Wayne Airport.”

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To 2008 predictions for Mission Viejo, blog staffers should have added council meetings of record-breaking length with Trish Kelley as mayor. When she last served as mayor, some meetings ran beyond 2:00 a.m. Kelley can’t seem to remember what the city staff told her to say. She constantly stops proceedings to ask a city staffer or the city attorney what to do. It would take less time if the staff took over the meetings, and the outcome would be the same.

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If residents living near the Casta del Sol golf course aren’t already on high alert, they should be. The developer (Sunrise) wanting the golf course rezoned for housing is proceeding with plans to buy the property. Residents should not be assuaged with false rumors that the developer became discouraged or walked away.

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In addition to Sunrise’s threat of development on the north side of Casta del Sol Drive, two potential threats remain on the south side, adjacent to the Marguerite rec center and Nadadores facility. One threat is from the city itself, with talk of extending walking trails through the undeveloped parcel. Casta residents have already protested trails because of security issues. Several years ago, at least one developer targeted the parcel for housing, causing a strong negative reaction from Casta del Sol homeowners.

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Mission Viejo city staff members claim that the City Outlook newsletter is the primary means of informing residents about the city’s emergency preparedness. The information in the newsletter contains laundry lists from various government agencies but nothing specific about Mission Viejo’s (nonexistent) plan. The city pays one of its high-level employees more than $100,000 annually for emergency preparedness, and the city has no plan except to rely on county agencies.

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The city staff’s new logo – a tree – took the blog’s artist about 15 minutes to replicate, combining two clip-art pieces. Blog staffers gave the artist only a description – no visual references – to see how much effort went into the graphic design of the city’s $52,000 “image” contract. Residents continue to laugh at the slogan, “Making living your mission.” A Buzz reader emailed, “In addition to the lame idea, the wording is the type of English I hear when talking with a computer tech from Bangladesh.”