The Buzz

The city staff has a new theme in its Crown Valley Display of Government Waste. After months of requesting photos from residents to put on pillars in the medians, city employees recently took down the grotesque graphics that were relevant on only one day of the year – Halloween.

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A blog reader emailed a comment after seeing the city staff’s new display: “Since I was driving and watching the road, I got only a glimpse of the photographs on the Crown Valley Parkway medians, and they were enlarged pictures of children. It looked as if the city may have had only a few photographs of groups, so they sliced up the photos to fill their gallery, one or two children per pilaster. If this isn’t an example of exploiting children, I don’t know what is. It reminds me of sinister warfare where children are placed on the front lines so the opposition will be reluctant to shoot. That’s what City Hall has done – put children on the front lines for political purposes. I next expect the city staff to recruit village idiots to praise the ‘wonderfulness’ of the photos, promoting a false sense of community acceptance of this travesty.”

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Homeowners who live near Oso Viejo Park are to be congratulated on their Nov. 16 victory against City Hall. After the three MUK majority council members (MacLean, Ury, Kelley) voted on Oct. 5 to put a dog park in their neighborhood, Kelley brought the item back to reverse the council majority’s decision. From the dais, she proclaimed it was because she heard the voice of the people. Brad Morton exposed her motives on his blog, http://missionviejodispatch.com/?p=12556 by revealing a lawsuit motivated the action.

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A Mission Viejo resident who watched the Nov. 16 council meeting said, “I was in disbelief that homeowners applauded Trish Kelley at the Nov. 16 council meeting after she spit in their face. She ignored their pleas on Oct. 5 in order to prop up Lance MacLean’s attempt to buy votes from a group of dog park supporters. After she disrespected homeowners on Oct. 5 and continued her stance until the outcry became overwhelming, some of the homeowners referred to her as a leader in their public comments. That explains why the city is abusive toward citizen after citizen and neighborhood after neighborhood. There are rarely repercussions when the city is dead wrong. Homeowners had to fight off this attack of their neighborhood for six weeks, and then they applauded one of the three council culprits who did it to them.”

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Another confused group is the dog park advocates, who have aligned with former councilwoman Sharon Cody. Kudos to the MissionViejoDispatch.com for pointing out that Mission Viejo’s dog park enthusiasts would have gotten their dog park by now if it weren’t for Cody’s stance against it. Groups and individuals have said for years that the logical place for a dog park is next to the animal shelter. Cody has used one excuse or another, including the idea that noisy dogs outside would disturb noisy dogs inside the facility. Anyone who has seen the dog park on Ridge Route in Laguna Hills can attest a dog park can be built without ado on imperfect plots if the city actually wants a dog park.

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Four red-faced MacLean supporters sat together throughout the Nov. 16 council meeting and endured yet another night of self-imposed embarrassment. A MacLean supporter made comments at the public microphone, saying all sorts of bad things would befall the city if voters remove MacLean in the Feb. 2 recall election. The MacLean hysteria includes the mantra of a “wasteful” $275,000 election. To the contrary, removing MacLean from the council would immediately stop the threat he could collect lifetime healthcare benefits. The council majority of MacLean, Ury and Kelley bestowed the benefits (costing $270,000 per council member) on themselves if they can survive three terms. The benefits can be rescinded immediately after the Feb. 2 recall election if MacLean is removed from office.