Float Sinks for 2010

During the Mar. 2 council meeting, City Manager Dennis Wilberg announced that the city had received an invitation to participate in the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade. He said he would decline the invitation unless the council wanted to pursue it. No council member responded.

Perhaps the burden of creating hype and soliciting positive testimonials grew too heavy for city staff and council majority members. The claim of “thousands” of volunteer float-builders became cloudy when a community member submitted a request for public records asking for names and city of residence. The answer came back with last names and city redacted. Only first names were provided. The staff was more responsive this time than it was a year ago to a similar request for names of “hundreds” of easel builders. At that time, city administrator Keith Rattay claimed the list of volunteers had been “thrown away” after public records revealed that a contractor had charged the city for building 100 percent of the easels.

With costs already at $400,000, invoices are still coming in for the float and related festivities. The city staff also ran up bills for “elegant” catered dinners and the rental of two RVs from a limo company, allegedly used for a weeklong tailgate party. The figure of $400,000 doesn’t include the city’s highest-paid staff members and other city employees who participated.

When the OC Register posted a story about Mission Viejo’s float on Jan. 7, it included a poll. Readers had three choices when answering the question, “What do you think Mission Viejo got from its investment in a Tournament of Roses float?” With more than 12,700 votes cast as of Mar. 14, Mission Viejo residents panned the float: a) Nothing, except the bills – 81%; b) A greater sense of community – 16%; c) An improved image and a higher profile – 3 %.

View the results: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mission-viejo-float-2275593-city-parade?orderby=TimeStampDescending&showRecommendedOnly=0&oncomments Page=3#slComments

Those tracking the Register’s Jan. 7 poll say that someone is still trying to make the outcome appear favorable for the float. Last week, a surge of votes came in for one category, “A greater sense of community.” The surge amounted to hundreds of votes, but the total is now high enough that percentages aren’t moving more than a few points. The category “Nothing, except the bills” was at 85% when most of the voting ended.