Crown Valley Parkway Gets the Mark

City administrator Keith Rattay has lately invoked his power to further the standstill of construction on Crown Valley Parkway. According to a community member following the project, Rattay has changed his mind numerous times about landscaping. Among his latest demands, palm tree varieties were switched, with taxpayers incurring costs estimated at $10,000 per mature Mexican fan palm tree (up to $150,000 for trees on Crown Valley). Onsite workers were said to confirm that Rattay’s daily flip-flopping over vegetation is delaying completion of the project.

On Mar. 5, drivers who tried to navigate Marguerite Parkway south of Crown Valley crept along because of lane closures. A crane was parked on the road, hoisting more of Rattay’s palm trees into position on Marguerite.

Crown Valley was already an eyesore of clashing design elements before Rattay piled on. Blog readers have commented about the metal debris on a corner next to hospital buildings, installed when the hospital apparently opted not to pay for an art object. Another reader commented last week, “Many people who are going to the medical offices are already sick, and they don’t need the aggravation. Then they have to look at manure-colored walls and cow pies stacked into pillars on Cow Pie Parkway. Even well people are throwing up in their cars.”

Rattay seems to have a penchant for trees, and he may have found the clip-art of the wrought-iron tree that was foisted on residents as part of the city staff’s 20th anniversary spending spree. BrandStrata, the company that was hired to tell residents what Mission Viejo’s logo should be, took time during a council meeting to inform everyone that “the city has a lot of trees.” It could be that BrandStrata had the tree clip-art picked out for Lake Forest, which would be a logical choice for outsiders who don’t know that Lake Forest doesn’t have a forest (and not much of a lake). However, Lake Forest wasn’t so foolish as to hire BrandStrata. Perhaps no one at BrandStrata knows Mission Viejo means “old mission,” but more likely Rattay couldn’t find clip-art of a mission.

Aside from the "Mark of the Iron Tree," which is now stamped on every sheet of paper coming from city hall, Rattay has a special pox for private property owners. He holds them hostage during any process requiring a city permit until they agree to his “design” demands. This blog published reports when Pavilions and Gateway owners/managers balked at demands on how their property should look. Pavilions was ready to upgrade its interior for the pleasure and benefit of its customers but canceled its remodel after an encounter with the city staff. An insider confirmed, “Rattay is out of control.”

Rattay’s "color bowls," flat basins that were a fad of the mid-1990s, are popping up in Mission Viejo as if a Tijuana pot-maker had a fire sale . They’re along the sidewalk at the lake’s southern edge, peppered around the mall, along Alicia next to the new Rubio’s and, well, everywhere including the city’s Rose Parade float.

City property belongs to the taxpayers who live here, and Rattay isn’t one of them. He lives in Irvine. Former council members were dumped from office after they tried putting their names on public facilities. Rattay is more like a stray dog marking his territory, but with about the same reaction from the rightful owners

Initiative Qualifies for Ballot

On Mar. 6, Mission Viejo resident Dale Tyler received word that the Mission Viejo Right-To-Vote Initiative qualified for the ballot with 2,000 signatures to spare. Tyler, who created the initiative, patterned it after a similar one approved by voters in Yorba Linda.

More than 100 Mission Viejo residents began gathering signatures last August. The number needed to qualify the initiative for the next general election was 6,142 (10 percent of the city’s registered voters). Tyler delivered approximately 11,000 to the city clerk on Jan. 26, and the Orange County Registrar of Voters determined 8,327 were valid.

While proponents are thankful the initiative qualified, they will review the findings at the RoV’s office and look at each petition to see why 3,854 signatures were thrown out. The RoV said 1,158 were duplicates, which is an unusually high number.

Prior to Jan. 26, volunteers verified signatures with a CD from the Registrar of Voters, and their results indicated the initiative would qualify for a special election. The minimum to qualify for a special election is 9,213 valid signatures (15 percent of the city’s registered voters).

The first opportunity for the initiative to be on the ballot is the California Primary Election on June 8, 2010.

Lance “F-bomb” MacLean Goes on Record

After Councilman Lance MacLean was charged in October 2007 with assault and battery on a UCI co-worker, he succeeded in keeping it quiet for a while. In February 2008, a Register reporter discovered court records regarding the October incident and gave the councilman a call. MacLean responded by falsely claiming his middle name is Ralph, not Robert, and he lied about his age. On Feb. 15, 2008, Mission Viejo Councilman Lance Robert MacLean’s assault and battery charges were reported in the Register.

In a well-written and amusing OC Weekly article last week [“Lance MacLean has learned that Mission Viejo’s political players always go for the throat,” Mar. 4], reporter Spencer Kornhaber airs both sides of the story. Kornhaber provides insight about MacLean’s character through the councilman’s own words, spelling out f-bombs and other expletives. The following paragraphs include MacLean’s quotes from the article.

When four UCI policemen wrestled MacLean to the ground and handcuffed him after his attack on a co-worker, his words were quoted in the UCI Police Department crime report, “Get the f--- off me; get the f--- off me.” MacLean in the Mar. 4 article dismisses the police report as “largely a work of fiction.”

MacLean asserts that the recall effort initiated in February 2009, not his behavior leading to assault and battery charges, interrupted his career path following his 2007 departure from UCI. He says, “I’m having a hard time getting a job. Look at all the blog sh-- out there [about me].”

MacLean told Kornhaber about his early days on the council when he first learned the dais is literally bulletproof. MacLean remembers thinking “What the f--- did I get myself into?” MacLean lamented to Kornhaber that he has no life insurance if a Mission Viejo resident decides to murder him. He gave murder as an example of a job-related risk after being asked about bestowing lifetime healthcare benefits on council members for 12 years of part-time service.

Read the OC Weekly article, http://www.ocweekly.com/2009-03-05/news/lance-maclean-mission-viejo/1

SRA Tells MacLean to Resign
Press Release

Mission Viejo, CA, March 3, 2009 – During the Mar. 2 Mission Viejo council meeting, a member of the Saddleback Republican Assembly read a resolution asking Councilman Lance MacLean to resign. Mission Viejo resident Matt Corrigan, who serves as SRA’s first vice president, presented the seven-point resolution, concluding that MacLean should spare residents the ordeal of recalling him. On Feb. 2, MacLean received notice that 51 residents signed a document initiating his recall.

Corrigan read SRA's resolution, which had been approved by its membership on Feb. 19. The resolution follows.

Preamble: Saddleback Republican Assembly carefully and deliberately considered Lance MacLean's candidate statements prior to endorsing him in 2002. SRA finds his performance significantly out of compliance with his campaign promises and written responses to SRA’s endorsing body. SRA holds MacLean accountable for his broken promises, failed leadership and abandonment of conservative Republican principles.

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean authored, promoted and sponsored Measure K, a tax increase, after promising no tax increases, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean posed as a fiscal conservative but doubled his council stipend and bestowed lifetime medical benefits on council members at
taxpayer expense after 12 years of part-time service, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean exhibited financial mismanagement by voting for budget items leading to $11.8-million in deficit spending last year, and 

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean falsely promised to relieve traffic congestion but approved housing projects bringing in more congestion and overcrowding, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean said he espoused SRA values but was charged with assault and battery on a co-worker, and he lied to a reporter to hide his identity, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean promised to represent his constituents but turned against and maligned them, calling them racists and elitists in the L.A. Times, and

WHEREAS, Lance MacLean has fully revealed his true nature as a big-government bureaucrat who promotes social engineering and supports Redevelopment after denouncing it when he requested SRA’s endorsement,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Mission Viejo Councilman Lance MacLean employed deception to receive SRA’s endorsement in 2002. He should now resign his elected position on the Mission Viejo City Council to save taxpayers the time, effort and expense of recalling him.

Council members generally don’t respond to public comments. MacLean, however, spoke for approximately 10 minutes, claiming he was answering SRA’s charges. He referred to the statements as “rumors, exaggerations and untruths.”

MacLean didn’t mention three of the resolution’s seven points: his attempt to raise taxes with Measure K; the assault and battery charges against him; and maligning residents by calling them elitists and racists in the LA Times. He also failed to address the resolution’s conclusion that he had used deception to get SRA’s endorsement by posing as a fiscal conservative.

MacLean acknowledged two of the charges. He said he was reinstating a former city policy when he bestowed lifetime healthcare benefits on council members after 12 years of part-time service. He said voting to double his council stipend was justified because the city had incorporated 20 years ago. Although he’s served only six years, he indicated the increase reflected 20 years of deferred raises.

As his defense for supporting redevelopment, he said, “I’m not a fan of redevelopment, and I didn’t form the redevelopment agency.” He voted three times to give redevelopment cash to an auto dealer after stating he opposed redevelopment during an interview to get SRA’s endorsement.

To SRA’s charge that MacLean had voted to spend $11.8 million more than the city took in last year, he tried to explain that the community center expansion and the Crown Valley Parkway widening were two-year projects. The definition of “deficit” is to spend more than is taken in within a specific period, which is what MacLean voted to do. The community center expansion ran three times over budget, and the road widening is well over budget and still unfinished after three years.

To the complaint that he has added to traffic problems by voting for high-density housing, MacLean said the housing projects he approved have not yet been built.

MacLean concluded by telling residents they should call the city staff if they have questions about complaints against him in the recall. However, city employees are legally prevented from commenting on recall or other campaign issues.

Following the meeting, Corrigan stated, “MacLean said that Saddleback Republican Assembly didn’t give him an opportunity to respond. This is fallacious since he has had many opportunities to respond after being served with the recall notice on Feb. 2. He has responded to OC Register and OC Weekly, and of course various times using the ‘bully pulpit’ of council member as evidenced Monday night.”

The Buzz

Last week, the city clerk notified proponents who initiated the recall of Lance MacLean that she’s requiring corrections in their petition. Probably more a surprise to MacLean than anyone else, none of his complaints about “blatant lies in the petition” were rejected as blatant lies by the city clerk. Her comments were about the use of bold type (which isn’t permitted), typos and format issues. That’s it. The corrected petition will be resubmitted on Mar. 9, and the city clerk will have 10 days to approve or reject it.

***

Supt. Woodrow Carter’s shrinking fan club may have been rocked by a Mar. 3 OC Weekly article that can be read online, http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/apples-and-oranges/woodrow-carter-in-your-facial/ While Carter was making speeches about cutbacks, he was using taxpayer dollars and trading his influence for spa treatments, wine tasting, star-gazing and decadent getaways. When called for a response, he declined to comment. Contributors to this blog have already recommended that CUSD trustees should fire him immediately. Additionally, the D.A. should investigate him for rewarding lobbyists, failing to report gifts and double-dipping for meal costs. Following a decadent weekend, he rewarded the firm that paid for it with a lucrative architectural contract.

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According to a Register article, http://www.ocregister.com/articles/district-capistrano-year-2327662-teachers-administrators 27 CUSD district-level administrators will receive pink slips next week. For parents and others who have been suggesting “chop at the top,” the board of trustees got the message. However, district-wide pink slips comprise 407 jobs, which also include 262 classroom teachers, 27 counselors, 26 resource teachers, 22.6 music teachers, all 17.5 middle school assistant principals, all 11 elementary school assistant principals, all 6 high school activity directors, 5 special ed teachers, 2 principals, 1 psychologist and 1 Chinese language teacher. The trustees will later decide which positions to eliminate.

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Does anyone remember when a school had no administrators except for a principal who was sometimes a part-time teacher?

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In an election year, council incumbents say things like, “Isn’t it great that Mission Viejo has coordinated traffic signals?” Between elections, city staff members claim that Mission Viejo’s signals are impossible to coordinate because blocks are not evenly spaced or some pesky pedestrian is always trying to cross the street. Amazingly, the council on Mar. 16 will consider an agreement with the Or. Co. Transportation Authority to synchronize lights on Alicia Pkwy. So, the job the staff was paid to do that couldn’t be done will now be done by someone else.

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After years of ignoring requests and complaints from an HOA regarding parking and safety issues, the city’s Public Works staff met with homeowners to discuss options. A young skateboard rider was hit by a car in the HOA’s neighborhood, and parking issues may have contributed to the fatality. The staff meeting with the HOA was apparently so unusual – actually responding to needs of residents – that it made the city manager’s insider newsletter last week, “The Week That Was.”

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The city manager’s newsletter was almost another Week That Wasn’t, with only four paragraphs summarizing five working days for 152.3 employees. As other news on the manager’s one-pager, the Potocki Center will be used by the Bureau of the Census for training workers; the city is participating in a child-safety and resources program (that sounds expensive and without criteria for measuring outcome); and Lake Mission Viejo held lifeguard tryouts at the Sierra Rec Center.

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How much truth is conveyed in the Mar. 8 Register story touting Mission Viejo’s “sizable reserve fund” of $26 million? If Mayor Frank Ury and city employee Irwin Bornstein are simply turning zeros into happy faces, the truth will be known soon enough as the economy continues downward. Inconsistent with the happy talk was the city’s attempt a few months ago to sell assets. The council majority tried to liquidate cell antenna leases but couldn’t find a qualified buyer, and it sold two bonds in October to prevent a “budget situation.” In the private sector, a “budget situation” is known as spending money that one doesn’t have.