The Buzz

Reader reaction upon seeing truckloads of material dumped in Lower Curtis Park: “What are they building? This is not any ordinary storage project for fill dirt. After the city tried (unsuccessfully) to flatten the mounds by grading, I noticed bike riders discovered Mission Viejo’s newest BMX obstacle course. The city should just tell everyone what they’re doing instead of trying to keep something that big a secret.”

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Residents who read the city manager’s explanation of activity in Lower Curtis Park said it was nonsense. He claimed the mounds of dirt were coming from the Crown Valley Parkway widening project. Residents continue to report that no excavation is taking place on the project. Drivers on Crown Valley have said they see little progress, and they rarely see anyone working on the road. After three years to widen a road and no end in sight, it’s not a project, it’s a career for those involved in it.

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With the city paying a contractor, Jamey Clark, $9,800.49 a month to inspect its parks and other public property, is he not obligated to report vandalism to the police? As a curious practice, Clark gets paid to remove graffiti and make repairs, but the addresses of alleged crime scenes don’t show up on the OC Sheriff Dept.’s blotter. As two possibilities, he could either be aiding city hall in underreporting crime in “The Safest City in the Universe” or padding his invoices by billing for nonexistent problems. For $9,800.49 a month, he should also notice if truckloads of material have been illegally dumped in Lower Curtis Park by unknown culprits, as a city employee claimed in the Aug. 15 Saddleback Valley News.

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A hot topic of conversation this week in Casta del Sol was Sunrise dropping plans to build housing on the golf course. Residents were asking if Sunrise’s PR guy, Roger Faubel, conducted a poll and found overwhelming opposition to the project. As another polling question, Faubel should have asked if anyone who opposes housing on the golf course is voting for Councilman Frank Ury in his bid for reelection. When Casta del Sol, Finisterra on the Green and Cypress Point residents vote on Nov. 4, they should remember that Ury chose to support Sunrise instead of representing the residents.

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What was the rush among some council members to discuss selling off the city’s cell-tower leases at a loss? A resident who made public comments at the Aug. 19 council meeting said the city was contemplating a “fire sale” of contracts that bring in approximately half a million dollars a year in revenue to the city. The only person clearly benefiting from the sale, Tony Ingegneri of ATS, would get a commission for selling the leases. He was proposing that he and city staffers should make the decision about which leases should be sold. If this doesn’t make sense so far, consider that Ingegneri and Councilman Frank Ury appear to be working together, and Ury could use a boost to his campaign treasury. If the underlying purpose of the proposed sale was not to enrich Ingegneri at the city’s expense, it defies explanation.