Tangled Web, Part Two

The taxpayer-funded Easelgate fiasco hit newspapers and city blogs on April 22, 2008. City administrator Keith Rattay fabricated one story after another regarding a city-sponsored photo gallery involving 500 easels.

Was it Rattay who initially envisioned a photo display of record-breaking length as part of the city’s yearlong 20th anniversary party? A community activist photographed hundreds of custom-built easels from the event trashed on city property. To dodge accusations that the city had wasted money on easels, Rattay said “120 volunteers donated more than 800 hours building them.” City records showed that a contractor built all the easels. After activists found up to 200 discarded easels in a county dump, Rattay continued to claim all 500 were either “stored for future use” or they’d been donated to schools.

Before Rattay could spin his way out of Easelgate, the city staff was fully engaged in another taxpayer-funded fiasco. In January 2008, Councilman Lance MacLean had pushed for a city-funded Rose Parade float, and the council approved spending $300,000 (with a 4-1 vote; Reavis dissenting).

As with phony claims of community participation in the easel project, city officials now state that “thousands” of residents have worked “thousands” of hours on the wildly popular float. The number of volunteers is highly questionable, and the community-at-large decries the wasteful project.

The extent of misinformation about the float has grown beyond all attempts to get the truth out. The Dec. 27 OC Register printed yet another city-generated article with no attribution, saying the cost is $30,000 and the float’s tub (“lake”) contains 10 tons of water. The dimensions of the pool have changed numerous times, and the depth was recently reduced to a maximum of 5 feet. Such a shallow pool would preclude the diving exhibition that’s been advertised from day one. A reader sent this blog notice that the city’s initial specs had underestimated the weight of the float by 64 tons. After this blog published the city’s error, the tub’s width and depth were scaled back.

On Jan. 1, Mission Viejo’s financial boondoggle will slosh along the parade route. Beyond leaving a bad taste, the float will leave a substantial hole in the city’s shrinking bank account. The acknowledged figure of $360,000 doesn’t include six months of staff time or the enormous costs that will likely be hidden as recreation and maintenance expenses.