The Buzz

City staffers held their much-heralded float-decorating kickoff meeting last week at the community center. With all the publicity, the city may have expected hundreds of residents to show up. Fifty organizations had been invited with the usual come-on: FREE FOOD! An attendee described the actual turnout: 20 staff members; 10 people associated with the city (council, commissions and city Foundation); 10 vendors or food providers; one council candidate trolling for votes (Rich Atkinson); the float contractor and a few others connected with businesses that the city pressed into participating. Grand total: 60 were in attendance, and only 15 of them were resident float-decorators.

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Council Members Trish Kelley and Frank Ury think they’ve done such a bang-up job on the council that they want a raise. They don’t deserve one, but council members need the money. Councilman Lance MacLean has failed to get his dream P.R. job after being forced out of work at UCI for assaulting a co-worker. Ury keeps his employment or unemployment well hidden, but he’s real eager to provide his friend Tony Ingegneri with a $200,000 commission in the city’s sell-off of antenna leases. Councilman John Paul Ledesma got into the real estate business about 15 minutes before the housing market began its free fall. All council members who vote to enrich themselves should be voted out at the first opportunity. For Ury, that’s Nov. 4.

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Isn’t the current pay of $500 a month a paltry amount for serving on the council? It would be if it were the only compensation. Council members can choose to receive health insurance or an additional $825/month, and they are paid handsomely for attending the Fire Authority, toll roads and other agency meetings. The total compensation for being appointed to agencies can be thousands or tens of thousands of dollars annually, and that’s no exaggeration. They also can get a free lunch or dinner each time they go to a city flop that attempts to “engage the community.”

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An Oct. 2 emergency meeting of the city’s Financial Investment Advisory Commission revealed the city’s reserves are approximately $5 million, not $50 million as proclaimed by Ury in his campaign blather. In his campaign ballot statement for the Nov. 4 election, he claims his proudest moment includes “growing Mission Viejo’s budget reserves to record levels.” It should have said shrinking, not growing, as the record level apparently fell $45 million if both Ury and the city treasurer’s numbers are credible. The discrepancy of $45 million between the two claims is well beyond fuzzy math.

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It’s a little too late to come up with a name for the city staff’s $300,000 Rose Parade float, but a thoughtful resident suggested “Mission Viejo Takes a Bath.”

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How did two council candidates get advance notice of questions that would be asked during the Oct. 2 taping of the Cox forum? Incumbent Frank Ury and challenger Rich Atkinson’s answers indicate they had time to research and rehearse prior to the forum. Given that one of the obscure questions was about water districts and Roger Faubel is on a water district board of directors, was he the one who gave Ury and Atkinson an edge? In return for any favor from Faubel, would Ury and Atkinson like to pledge their support for Faubel’s client, Sunrise Assisted Living, in carving up the Casta del Sol Golf Course?

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Atkinson’s ballot statement says he will “carefully consider the impact that future developments like the proposed changes to the Casa [sic] Del Sol Golf Course will have upon residents.” Casa means house. It may have been a Freudian slip, but residents can bet their unobstructed view that Atkinson will fall in with Ury and MacLean to build housing on the golf course. Atkinson’s statement, even without the slipup, is vague enough to send residents a warning not to vote for this guy.