Mission Viejo Buzz - 01/26/08

The Buzz column, Jan. 25

A reader sent a tongue-in-cheek comment upon seeing the city’s renderings of its road widening project: “My reaction to the Crown Valley Parkway debacle – Wow! There's such a lineup trying to get into the mall, almost like South Coast Plaza at Christmas. Having another turn lane will make it so much easier for the multitudes of invisible shoppers.”

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The Jan. 25 Saddleback Valley News presented a front-page story, “Senior housing proposal is being tweaked.” The article says the city director of community development expects the city to complete its investigation of the Sunrise “proposal” late this spring. Wait a minute! In the next paragraph, the mayor is quoted saying, “ … we don’t have a proposal yet before us.”

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The city might be confused because Sunrise has approached each council member individually, and probably the city staff as well – but the public isn’t supposed to know. Community activists intend to start gathering signatures for a ballot initiative before the city officially sees a proposal to rezone the Casta del Sol golf course. The Mission Viejo Right To Vote initiative will give residents the opportunity to reject any zone change that doesn’t benefit the community. Passing the initiative would likely put an end to replacing open space, recreation zones and commercial zones with more high-density housing. Zoning decisions shouldn’t be made by council members who accept campaign donations from developers.

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Reader comment: “I’d like to see a law passed so council members couldn’t take donations from city vendors or hide donations by running them through Political Action Committees. It would put an end to incumbents having a huge financial advantage over challengers in elections. When council members invite city vendors to their fundraisers, it’s like blackmail. Pay to play.”

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Community members are invited to Capistrano Unified School District’s School Safety Expo from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tues., Jan. 29, at the CUSD Education Center, 33122 Valle Road, San Juan Capistrano. Tour the CUSD Emergency Operations Center and the Mobile Command Center, and learn about programs to keep students safe during an emergency. Meet the Safe Schools/Healthy Students partners, including the OC Sheriff’s Dept. School Resource Officers, the SMART Team, the Parent Project, and PRYDE. Learn about the voluntary drug testing program, alternatives to suspension, and the anti-bullying campaign.

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A blog reader forwarded an OC Discussion Board comment posted by a parent in response to the announcement above: “Maybe we should report [Trustees] Draper and Benecke to whomever is in charge of that anti-bullying campaign!”

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An item appeared on Brad Morton’s blog, http://missionviejodispatch.com, about a city traffic meeting, to be held in the Saddleback Room at city hall, 8:30 a.m., Fri., Feb. 1. The public is invited to hear a presentation during the Traffic Committee meeting about traffic circles. With the city’s history of failing to solve any traffic problem, should it take on a new road construction project?

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Residents reported a huge traffic tie-up on Alicia Parkway during the evening rush hour on Thurs., Jan. 17. Two of the three eastbound lanes between Trabuco and Marguerite were blocked off. Those stopped in traffic were amazed to find no road hazards, no workers on the scene or any other reason for closing two lanes. Road workers had placed a large steel plate over the area where they had been working. When they quit for the day, they apparently forgot to do something – open the lanes.

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Reader reaction to last week’s coverage of the dog park: “One thing I noticed about the requirements from the beginning is that the city said a dog park wouldn’t be next to homes. It’s very strange to see the only remaining choice, near the community center, is next to homes. I have read that the city employees don’t want a dog park, and this gravitation to the one remaining choice next to homes looks like citizens are being set up to fight with each other. I don’t know how anyone came up with a price of a million dollars, but that’s strange when Laguna Niguel built a dog park for less than $100,000.”