The Buzz

A reader lampooned the city for moving Santa’s Workshop from the Four Corners: “I think it is especially touching that the latest issue of the MV Leisure Time has a photo of Santa's Workshop at the Four Corners. I haven't looked yet, but I hope it has an announcement that Santa will be in a different locale this year. We MUST educate the children to COME TO THE GOVERNMENT for ANYTHING they want and to realize that ‘Christmas’ is not a Christian occasion; it is merely ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO GET STUFF. Maybe we can create an official ‘Praise Government Day’ so that EVERYONE recognizes and acknowledges our fabulous government, FROM WHICH ALL GOOD THINGS COME.”

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Reader comment on banners in the parking lot near city hall: “The word ‘Tradition’ is written among red roses on banners. Is the city staff telling us that a Rose Parade float will become a yearly production? City employees don’t respect our real traditions, so the word has no reference to what we value. Traditions city employees are known for include wasting money on things like easels, mismanaging projects like Crown Valley and throwing constant parties for themselves with taxpayer-furnished food. I have never been inside city hall or at a city event when I didn’t see employees carrying plastic plates of food while walking around aimlessly. Following the city staff’s yearlong 20th anniversary, will they start celebrating their 21st anniversary with another yearlong party? It looks like they’re already paving the way for their next float.”

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Countywide, the Registrar of Voters had 47,434 remaining ballots to count after the new totals were updated on Saturday. Among those uncounted, 2,165 are mail-in ballots and the other 44,587 are provisional ballots. In response to questions about whether or not all ballots will be counted, it looks as if they will.

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What did Mission Viejo residents do during the Nov. 13 preparedness drill, the Great Southern California Shakeout? The Nov. 14 OC Register covered activities at Saddleback College, which can care for 1,000 people in an emergency. This blog has often stressed that city hall is ill-prepared for any kind of an emergency, and the city’s caretaking would be limited to city employees, not residents. The city’s Emergency Operations Center (Saddleback Room) could proudly relay emergency information to all 152.3 city employees while county agencies – Sheriff’s Dept., Fire Authority and the county EOC – deal with emergencies. The Sheriff’s Dept. some time ago warned in a memo (distributed at city hall) that residents should be prepared to fend for themselves in an emergency.

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To head off misinterpretation, here’s the drift. City hall should bluntly state its emergency plan is for the benefit of city employees. It shouldn’t lead anyone to conclude it has emergency supplies for residents or other means to be helpful. It shouldn’t pretend that a top employee who makes more than $100,000 a year for being in charge of emergency preparedness is functional. City hall didn’t inform the city about the Shakeout drill, and residents are not wired into the reverse 9-1-1, www.AlertOC.com, or any other warning system. City hall lacks an emergency plan for residents.