Another Monumental Waste of Money
by Dale Tyler

I recently learned that the OCTA Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) approved a nearly $400 million Commuter Bikeways Strategic Plan that would build new bike trails and upgrade existing ones. This comes in spite of OCTA being in the midst of a severe tax shortfall that is causing it to cut its operating budget significantly. Ironically, this plan, if adopted by the OCTA board, will use money that could have been spent on more freeways and roads that actually would be useful in moving people where they want to go.

The facts are that more than 98 percent of all miles traveled by people in Orange County are in private cars and trucks. A little over 1 percent of travel is in buses and trains. The fraction of those using bikes to commute to work is so infinitesimal as to be nearly meaningless from a transportation “work” point of view. The last is very important, because the OCTA is a “Transportation” agency, not Parks and Recreation. It is funded largely by the Measure M sales tax, which I campaigned against partially because I was sure OCTA would waste the money). The voters approved this tax because they were told that OCTA would improve roads and reduce congestion in the county. Bike lanes do almost nothing to comply with the demands of voters.

It is estimated by the OCTA's own studies that fewer than 5,000 additional people will use the bike trail system in Orange County if the $400M is spent. This comes out to at least $80,000 per new commuter. Truly, this is one of the most ill-conceived and wasteful programs to come out of the OCTA in some time. It surpasses the ill-fated Centerline, not in cost, for that would have run into the billions, but in terms of cost per person who use the facility. The estimate of 5,000 additional riders is probably quite a bit higher than reality, given that the OCTA funded study put little effort in substantiating that number. A better guess might be as few as 2,000, making the cost $200,000 per rider. It would be cheaper for us to buy them all Lexus cars and provide a driver for 10 years.

Next, there is the ridiculous cost per mile of the proposed bikeways. The CAC report lists about 125 miles of new bikeway that would be constructed under the plan. A rough calculation yields $3.16 million per mile. However, only a portion of this money is for completely new bikeways, called “Class I”. The majority of the money will be spent on “Class II” bikeways, which are often just bike lanes on existing roads used by cars and trucks. Given the cost of simply painting a white line on an existing road, the real cost of the new bikeways is probably closer to $10 million a mile, roughly the same as the cost for a freeway lane for one mile, which would carry at least 500 times more people per day.

At this point you might be asking yourself, “What is wrong with the OCTA CAC?”. That is a very good question. Instead of the Citizens Advisory Committee representing the people who actually need to travel in Orange County to their jobs and other activities, the CAC has a majority of Utopian, self centered socialists who think they can dictate how people will travel. The percentage of those on the CAC who favor alternative transportation such as bikes, buses and trains is much higher than the percentage of the CAC who favor making improvements that will benefit the 98+ percent of us who drive everyday. This is shameful and I believe the CAC should be reconstituted with 98% of those appointed being interested in improving freeways and roads.

The CAC was created by the original Measure M to ensure that the OCTA spent our tax dollars on projects that were going to help improve our congested freeways and streets. It may have started that way, but it has clearly become a hotbed of those who want to force you out of your car by making sure that money is spent on things that will do nothing to improve our freeways and streets. I'm sure that the CAC will tell us that they are “looking out for the poor, the downtrodden...”. This is hogwash. The CAC members who supported this plan seek nothing less than to impose their hatred of cars on the rest of us. Need proof? Go to a CAC meeting and ask why they approved this $400M plan. Their condescending response will make it clear how little they think of the taxpayers and how much they think of themselves.

I am not against bikes, bikeways or those who choose to ride bikes for any purpose, including commuting. I am against spending a disproportionate amount of taxpayer money to improve transportation for a few people. If cities and their citizens want to build bike trails for recreational purposes, let each city take money from its Parks and Recreation budget and spend that money on bikeways. Don't spend taxes set aside for transportation as the OCTA proposes for bikeways.

The OCTA has a history of wasting money on non-essential projects. From Centerline, which was defeated by citizen pressure to Metrolink which is the taxpayer subsidy of relatively wealthy people who pay fares less than 5% of the actual cost to ride to this new bikeways plan, OCTA seems determined to waste our sales tax money on foolish projects. Even the new OCTA South County MIS contained over $2 billion to put the Metrolink tracks in a tunnel under the I-5. The OCTA is a tax wasting machine.

I urge you to call the County Supervisors and tell them to stop any further tax money being spent on the Commuter Bikeways Strategic Plan. We need to send the OCTA a message: “Stop wasting our taxes!” Also, since some of this money will be spent in Mission Viejo, call the city and let them know we don't want our tax dollars wasted on such foolishness.

Community of Characters

Residents who receive the city’s email updates saw a particularly odd announcement on May 21. The city’s Community of Character Committee will hold a casino party for teenagers as a fundraiser. While so-called “proceeds” will go toward a good cause, the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, couldn’t anyone come up with an appropriate way to raise funds?

The casino party is at least consistent with the committee’s cast of characters. The city’s Community of Character program began when Councilwoman Trish Kelley introduced the concept in 2003. She promised it wouldn’t cost taxpayers a dime, and volunteer work and corporate donations were to fund all activities. Within months, a city hall insider said the character program was “sucking up an enormous amount of staff time.” The pretense of no costs to taxpayers ended long ago, and the overhead includes full-time staff members engaged in creating and coloring character pictures.

Here’s a story about the character committee’s mix of “vice and virtue” on another blog, MissionViejoDispatch.com

Anyone who has tried making money with a casino party knows it’s not easy. With the stated cost of $10 per student to participate in games, win prizes, have refreshments and “much more,” are taxpayers not paying for yet another party at city hall?

Recall Update

A volunteer reported from a storefront at 3:15 p.m. on Fri., May 22. He said, “I’m calling from the epicenter of the Lance MacLean Recall. Former councilwoman Sherri Butterfield was here a few minutes ago. First, she was interrogating me, and then she started telling those walking by not to sign the petition. She was being so rude that people were signing the petition who might not otherwise have taken time to sign it. After they signed it right in front of her, she walked away in a huff.”

Another volunteer reported on the previous day that a 2002 council candidate, John Maginnis, was acting up at another storefront. The volunteer said, “He tried to prevent people from signing by creating a scene. He was saying ‘It’s a lie! It’s a lie!’ People were either ignoring him or signing as he was trying to stop them. The highlight was when he tried to grab the pen from a woman’s hand who was signing, and she had a very bad reaction to him.”

On May 16, a MacLean supporter distributed an email, which was immediately forwarded to those organizing the recall. The lengthy email explains that MacLean is “being unfairly targeted with a recall when he voted with the majority” in favor of the $400,000 Rose Parade float, doubling his pay, giving council members lifetime healthcare benefits after three terms and approving all the cost overruns on the community center.

The email doesn’t condone any of the majority’s votes but emphasizes that MacLean didn’t act alone. As a problem for MacLean’s no-fault campaign, to say everybody’s doing it is an admission of guilt.

While three majority council members have routinely misrepresented taxpayers, MacLean acted alone when he assaulted a co-worker at UCI and then attempted a cover-up by lying to an OC Register reporter about his age and middle name. Closer to home, MacLean told a fellow council member to “shut the hell up” during a meeting, and his neighbors have described him as a hothead they’d like to recall from their neighborhood. MacLean’s anger issues distinguish him from the other guilty parties who vote as a bloc.

With 93 days to go in the signature drive, a recall organizer gave an update on the total number of signatures, “We had more than 6,000 prior to Memorial Day weekend. We’ll reach the target of 9,300 in June and keep on going to make sure we have enough to offset duplicates and others that don’t count.”

Californians Say ‘No Way’

On the eve of the May 19 Special Election, Mission Viejo residents rallied on the corners of La Paz and Marguerite to remind everyone to vote. From 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., more than 100 people held signs, waved flags and sang along with Diamond Tom, a Mission Viejo musician. The rally was organized by members of Saddleback Republican Assembly.

Rally participants said reaction from drivers was overwhelmingly favorable. Most participants were holding signs that encouraged voters to say “no” to all six propositions on the ballot.

Statewide, all five of the budget propositions were easily defeated. Only Prop. 1F won, with voters deciding that state officials’ pay should be frozen during a budget crisis.

Below are state and county totals. While California voters rejected the five budget propositions at a 2:1 ratio, Orange County voters rejected them by 3:1. Compared with the rest of Orange County, Mission Viejo voters rejected the budget measures at a higher rate, and they approved the sixth measure by a narrower margin.

While the outcome is known, results are not official. In Orange County, the number of ballots remaining to be counted as of May 22 was 8,162 provisional ballots, 220 mail-in ballots and 96 paper ballots.

Statewide results:

Prop 1A (spending caps, taxes)
Yes 34.2%
No 65.8%

Prop 1B (payments to schools)
Yes 37.5%
No 62.5%

Prop 1C (lottery borrowing)
Yes 35.4%
No 64.6%

Prop 1D (diverting child development funds)
Yes 34.3%
No 65.7%

Prop 1E (reallocating mental health funds)
Yes 33.6%
No 66.4%

Prop 1F (elected official pay)
Yes 74.0%
No 26.0%

Orange County results:

Prop 1A (spending caps, taxes)
Yes 23.9%
No 76.1%

Prop 1B (payments to schools)
Yes 26.7%
No 73.3%

Prop 1C (lottery borrowing)
Yes 26.5%
No 73.5%

Prop 1D (diverting child development funds)
Yes 26.1%
No 73.9%

Prop 1E (reallocating mental health funds)
Yes 25.6%
No 74.4%

Prop 1F (elected official pay)
Yes 63.4%
No 36.6%

The Buzz

Capo school district trustees will appoint an interim deputy superintendent of personnel on Tues., May 26. The current one, Suzette Lovely, is leaving June 5. The board meeting agenda doesn’t state who the replacement will be, but compensation will be $800 a day, maximum $14,000 per month, for consultant services. Also leaving CUSD are Deputy Supt. of Education Sherine Smith, Information Officer Scott Sexsmith, Principal Jerry Vlasic (Moulton Elementary) and Principal Kevin Rafferty (Chaparral).

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Reader feedback: “Did low voter turnout contribute to the failure of five propositions in the state election? If so, those who are celebrating the outcome shouldn’t feel disappointed about the number of people who stayed home.”

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May 20 was a big political night in Mission Viejo. Casta del Sol Republicans joined with the Saddleback Republican Assembly to host Sir Eldon Griffiths in Casta’s Vista Room. Following the program, SRA members elected a new board of directors, including Matt Corrigan as SRA’s new president. On the same evening, the Casta Democrats reported a good turnout at their club’s meeting.

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San Juan Capistrano’s council recently issued a Stage 1 water emergency, asking that residents voluntarily cut back on using water. Meanwhile, Mission Viejo’s city hall planted 400 new trees along Crown Valley Porkway and added irrigation to medians.

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A blog reader emailed about Mission Viejo’s Artes de la Vida in April, “It looked like thousands of plants had been brought in that residents were supposed to plant. I’d estimate that residents planted about 37 of them, and the rest had to be planted by city contractors. The initial cost is minimal compared with watering and other forms of maintenance. Taxpayers are dinged for life with all the watering, tree-trimming and other maintenance. When costs are estimated for a landscape project, all they consider is the relatively small initial costs.”

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As a follow-up of the reader’s comment about Artes de la Vida, taxpayers should ask why this contractor plant-a-thon is being presented as a resident-driven event. Were the costs of contractor planting charged to Artes de la Vida or were they slipped into landscaping contracts over a period of months?