City Hall Soaks Taxpayers
Staff editorial

During the Sept. 2 council meeting, the council voted 4-1 (Reavis dissenting) to approve a $300,000 contract for the Rose Parade float. Approximately 16 people were apparently summoned to the meeting by city officials to demonstrate they’ll applaud almost anything. It was reminiscent of the days of former councilwomen Sherri Butterfield and Susan Withrow. Their groupies would show up and bark on command when the old gals needed a show of support for yet another city hall boondoggle.

In a city of nearly 100,000, the positive news is that very few residents swallow the bilge served by City Manager Dennis Wilberg and Public Works Director Keith Rattay. These two liars-in-chief recently made fools of themselves by talking with reporter Lindsey Baguio, who quoted them in the Saddleback Valley News. Wilberg lied about the debris and tons of soil dumped in Lower Curtis Park. He said the material came from the Crown Valley Parkway widening project, which has virtually no excavation going on. Almost immediately, another city employee, Mark Chagnon, offered a conflicting story and more lies to Saddleback Valley News indicating the primary source was other street repairs. Rattay has lied virtually every time he’s opened his mouth about Easelgate.

During the Sept. 2 council meeting, Realtor Jim Flynn, a buddy of Councilwoman Trish Kelley, spoke in favor of approving the float contract. Flynn bragged about his successful real estate business and claimed that a Rose Parade float would attract new residents – as if the city had a new housing tract. To the contrary, Mission Viejo is built out. If Flynn deems himself so successful, why does he want a subsidy for his business instead of offering to donate toward funding the float? Two other Realtors also commented favorably about the float, including Councilman John Paul Ledesma.

Those who made public comments against the float said it’s a bad idea that promotes Pasadena, not Mission Viejo. One speaker said the contract price is much higher than the amount other cities are paying for Rose Parade floats. A possible explanation is that this city is letting residents participate in menial tasks of arranging dried flowers. Allowing volunteers to participate seems to raise the price. City staffers may have learned from the League of Cities or other bureaucracy-building organizations that they should involve residents to give their bad ideas an appearance of community acceptance.

Wilberg stated that the city had received more than 500 responses from those wanting to work on the float. Wait a minute! Is Rattay counting the volunteers? Rattay claimed 150 volunteers built easels for the city’s 20th anniversary spend-a-thon and, thus far, not one person can be found who participated as a volunteer. Check out “Easelgate Update” on this week’s blog for the rest of the story.

Those who saw the Sept. 2 council meeting watched the unveiling of a rendering of the city’s proposed float. The design wasn’t impressive for a $300,000 float, and the theme appears to be a mishmash of random thoughts. The concept includes Lake Mission Viejo – a behemoth tub filled with water to be driven down Pasadena Avenue. The design also includes Rattay’s signature dead tree – a gigantic wrought iron clip-art tree that’s completely out of place – plus bicyclists and bears. One of the reasons the float looks like such an odd collection is that it has no purpose, and it’s been conceived by city hall staffers who have no connection with the community.

Because they have no real jobs, many of the city’s 152.3 employees will need something to do after Jan. 1. Wilberg and Rattay were shortsighted when they embarked on float-building, which will take only a few more months. Maybe they’ll next decide to build a pyramid.