The Buzz

Residents continue to voice their disapproval of the council majority’s decision to waste $300,000-plus on a Rose Parade float. City hall’s latest puff piece, the fall 2008 issue of Leisure Time, dedicates a full page to recruiting volunteers for the ill-conceived project. City staffers would like to keep up the fa‡ade of “engaging the community.” Na‹ve residents who want to stack poppy seeds for the float should expect to receive a free glass of Kool-Aid, along with their taxpayer-funded meals, bus rides and commemorative junk.

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Mission Viejo residents who live in the Capo school district get to experience two corrupt administrations. In CUSD, some parents have worked for years to uncover misappropriation of funds. Former Supt. James Fleming is facing felony charges, and some residents anticipate he will plea bargain to avoid a prison sentence. Among other issues, Fleming is charged with using taxpayer funds to interfere with an election. Is that not what Councilman Lance MacLean did by initiating a lawsuit against two council challengers last week? By furnishing false information to an Orange County judge regarding easel costs, perhaps MacLean and city administrator Keith Rattay can go down the drain together.

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What if city hall can come up with a list of volunteers – even a handful – to demonstrate Rattay didn’t entirely fabricate his claim 150 volunteers built easels? Would it lower the much-debated costs of easel building? No, it wouldn’t. Activists already know the total, and that number isn’t going to get lower, period. If volunteers participated, the costs would go up because volunteers can’t work independently. They need supervision, direction and general herding, which city employees or contractors have to provide. Additionally, city hall has a practice of serving meals and giving freebies to staffers and participants, which raises costs. One of the groups mentioned by some city staff members as “volunteers” could include children so young they need a babysitter. If staff members were pressed into so-called volunteer service, hourly employees get overtime – it’s the law.

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Absent from the fall 2008 Leisure Time puff piece is city hall’s slogan that’s been slightly adjusted by activists: Make Lying Your Mission. Blog reader comment: “I didn’t read every word, but I scanned the brochure and noticed that the city staff’s phrase “make living your mission” has disappeared. This is an about-face after the previous brochure had it on every page. I hope city employees are getting the picture that residents are rejecting the re-branding notions as unacceptable to those who live here.”

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As discussed in another article this week, Council Members Frank Ury, Lance MacLean and Trish Kelley are working together to keep Ury on the council and bring in their shill, Rich Atkinson. The council majority has earned the voters’ disrespect and, in some cases, wrath regarding rezoning, bringing in more housing and traffic, approving cell towers in neighborhoods and breaking campaign promises. It’s time for them to go – ALL of them. Blog staffers support ridding the council of Ury and rejecting Atkinson. Challengers Neil Lonsinger and Cathy Schlicht are the best choices for the city in the November election.