Does Mission Viejo Have an Image Problem?
Staff editorial

At its April 7 meeting, the city council learned that Mission Viejo’s application to enter a float in the 2009 Tournament of Roses Parade has been accepted. The council first discussed the notion early in 2007 and approved $300,000 for the project. Given the city’s usual margin between budgeted and actual cost, the final price tag of the float could be $600,000 to $900,000.

Some residents questioned the idea when it was discussed in 2007, wondering why Mission Viejo would participate in the Rose Parade. City Manager Dennis Wilberg was quoted last week on another blog, saying the float would improve community spirit. The budgeted amount of $300,000 should buy a lot of community spirit, but has anyone complained about a lack of community spirit? Some Rose Parade floats are designed to enhance the sponsor’s image, but does Mission Viejo have an image problem?

Wilberg is a longtime participant in the Tournament of Roses. According to Wilberg, City Attorney Bill Curley has participated for years as a float decorator. Neither Wilberg nor Curley is a Mission Viejo resident, which brings up a question as to why city taxpayers are being tapped for a float in a Pasadena parade.

Float sponsors in the Rose Parade include corporations that presumably have huge advertising budgets. Corporate participants in the 2008 parade included such companies as Trader Joe’s, Honda and Kaiser Permanente. City-sponsored floats in 2008 included Anaheim and Burbank, which are clearly vying for tourist dollars.

These examples emphasize the question: if not to indulge the hobbies of those with influence in city hall, why is Mission Viejo participating?

When the item was discussed during the April 7 council meeting, Councilwoman Trish Kelley appointed herself and Councilman Lance MacLean to the parade ad hoc committee. This might shed light on why council members voted to approve $300,000 for a project that, thus far, makes no sense. Does Ms. Kelley think she’ll be riding atop the float, waving to the crowd like Miss America?

Mission Viejo doesn’t have rundown neighborhoods, cut-and-shoot zones or rampant graffiti. The real image problem in Mission Viejo is in city hall. The council is a laughingstock to other cities for miles around. The catfights are legendary between the two councilwomen, and assault and battery charges against McLean recently hit the news.

City hall staff members have shut out residents on deciding anything important. The design of the float, however, should be chosen by the citizens who are paying for it. The residents’ choice would be obvious: the two councilwomen standing at the top of the float, taking swings at each other for the entire length of the parade. Add the three councilmen slinging mud at each other, surrounded by key city staffers trying to look indifferent while getting splattered.

The price is high for a Rose Parade float, but if the entire world sees what Mission Viejo residents have to put up with, it might be worth it.