If Explanation Doesn’t Fit, They Musta Quit
Staff editorial

Last week’s blog revealed that city employees trashed a hillside with hundreds of expensive, custom-built easels. A resident photographed the rubble, which could be seen from the road in back of Michaels craft store. City workers evidently dumped truckloads of easels, paper litter and other debris on city-owned property adjacent to the water treatment plant off La Paz and Marguerite Parkway.

This blog has criticized city officials for wasting tax dollars on a pricey photo display that had nothing to do with city government. Last week’s article reported hundreds of easels had been used by a city staff member, Keith Rattay, in his attempt to create a photo gallery of record-breaking length. An article in the May 2 Saddleback Valley News revealed the number of easels was 500.

A blog contributor reacted to information provided by Rattay in SVN. She said, “When I walked along the photo exhibit near the community center several weeks ago, I estimated up to 300 easels were in the display. I doubt there were 500. It demonstrates the failure of the project, and residents didn’t participate as claimed.”

Brad Morton’s Dispatch broke the story of trashed easels on April 22, and the city reacted by moving most of the rubble from sight by April 25. Residents who saw the pile of trash on April 22 said many of the easels appeared mangled, broken or disassembled.

Remarks by Rattay reported in the May 2 SVN conflict with an activist’s April 22 photos of trashed easels. “Five hundred easels were placed on the hillside due to lack of storage space, he [Rattay] said. They’ve since been moved to the city’s maintenance facility along the Oso Creek Trail near the Santa Margarita Water treatment plant. The city plans to keep half of the easels and donate the others to local high schools and churches, he said.”

Why were hundreds of easels carelessly dumped and then loaded up again and relocated a short distance away? According to Rattay, this was “due to lack of storage space.” Activists are following up on several aspects of Rattay's claims that don't make sense.

What does Rattay’s job description entail? Officially, he’s the director of public services. He seems unofficially to be the city’s director of pointless expenditures. Following the release of information about the wasteful project on Morton’s blog, a resident responded with a post that Rattay should resign.

According to city hall insiders, Rattay is the one pushing a clip-art tree as the city’s logo, “re-branding” Mission Viejo and coining a string of such hokey slogans as “Making Living Your Mission.” If Rattay were to depart from city hall, would the pointless expenditures end? Meanwhile, legitimate city projects fall well behind schedule and run significantly over budget. Is it any wonder when one the city’s top managers is doing everything but what he’s paid to do?