Dog Park or Musical Chairs?

During the Nov. 16 council meeting, Councilwoman Trish Kelley rescinded her vote for a dog park after she voted for it on Oct. 5. She initially had voted with Lance MacLean and Frank Ury to approve a dog park in Oso Viejo Park (Ledesma and Schlicht opposed). Homeowners near the park quickly mobilized to push it back out of their neighborhood. Faced with a lawsuit filed against the city by one of the homeowners, Kelley claimed she had “heard the residents” and changed her mind. More likely, she heard the city attorney estimating his fees for defending the council majority’s bad decision.

MacLean was sullen throughout the Nov. 16 meeting. He looked down as Kelley accepted accolades from homeowners for reversing her vote after trampling their rights on Oct. 5. Kelley threw MacLean a bone during the Nov. 16 discussion, asking the city staff to proceed quickly to find another dog park location. The election to recall MacLean is Feb. 2, and he’s running out of time to court any dog park advocates who still don’t understand how he tried to use them. Throughout his six years on the council, he showed no sign of supporting a dog park. To end all doubt, he told a dog park enthusiast, “You will never get a dog park in Mission Viejo.”

During the Nov. 16 meeting, former councilwoman Sharon Cody suggested a dog park could be built on undeveloped land south of Gilleran Park. The site is on the east side of Felipe Road near Fieldcrest. In addition to other constraints, along with the objections of nearby homeowners and sports field users, building a dog park on the parcel’s rugged terrain would probably be cost-prohibitive. Cody’s goal has not been to find a workable site but to divert dog-park proposals from the vicinity of the animal shelter.

Longtime dog park supporters commented to this blog about the Felipe site:

Bo Klein said, “The only positive aspect would be its central location in terms of the city’s north and south borders. The cost would probably make it unreasonable and, for that reason, I think it’s just another smokescreen. For at least six years, I’ve asked why a dog park can’t be located at Lower Curtis Park. I’ve believed all along the city staff wants to reserve Lower Curtis for a corporate yard or other use, and that’s why they won’t discuss a dog park there.”

An animal shelter volunteer said, “I looked at the Felipe site and walked it. The cost of grading and other work needed to develop it would be astronomical. An access road would be needed off Felipe, along with a parking lot. It isn’t a realistic suggestion.”

Two blog contributors also walked the area, and one of them emailed, “Trish Kelley might succeed at fooling a few people about the prospect of a dog park on Felipe. If she can float this idea for a couple months, she might get as many as 10 votes for MacLean to save his seat. This game of musical chairs over a dog park has gone on for years. The people currently at the forefront are just new players who don’t know MacLean.”

Blogger Interviews Council Candidates

Two candidates are vying to replace Councilman Lance MacLean in the Special Election on Feb. 2. Dale Tyler was first to complete the filing process on Nov. 17, and Dave Leckness returned his papers on the last day to file, Nov. 19.

City watchdog Larry Gilbert writes for the county blog, OrangeJuiceBlog.com, and he interviewed both candidates. Read his Nov. 9 interview with Leckness at http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/11/interview-of-dave-leckness-mission-viejo-recall-election-candidate The article had drawn 38 comments from readers as of Nov. 28.

In the interview, Gilbert describes Leckness: “His key objective is to ‘promote small business growth’ as they were losing customers. Dave could not point out anything that the city could do to that end.” Leckness admitted he hadn’t signed the recall and didn’t know what it was about. He couldn’t answer questions about current city issues. For example, he said he didn’t have knowledge of the Mission Viejo Right-To-Vote Initiative or the dog park.

On Nov. 28, Gilberg posted his interview with Dale Tyler, which can be found at http://orangejuiceblog.com/2009/11/interview-of-dale-tyler-mission-viejo-recall-candidate/#comments . As one reader commented, the interview is long. It is also thorough.

When asked what he would do if elected, Tyler indicated that he would begin by rescinding the lifetime medical benefits council members had bestowed on themselves and roll back their pay increase. Three council members (MacLean, Ury and Kelley) were the majority members who gave themselves lifetime medical benefits, which they will get if they serve three terms on the council. The timing was noteworthy, as the vote was taken immediately after the November 2008 election. The salary increase came more than a year ago when the council majority members voted to double their stipend. Again, the timing was an issue, with many residents losing their jobs and worrying about the economy.

Savings to taxpayers by rescinding lifetime medical benefits has been estimated at $270,000 per council member. The cost of the special election to remove Councilman Lance MacLean has been estimated at $275,000.

Recall Update

Mission Viejo residents got their first taste of Councilman Lance MacLean’s effort to avoid being recalled in the Special Election on Feb. 2. MacLean’s anti-recall signs appeared on the corners of several intersections on Wed., Nov. 25.

A political newcomer emailed a reaction to this blog: “I saw MacLean’s red and black signs on the street corners. For his colors, he chose red for violence and black for darkness! I won’t have any trouble remembering who he is.”

Others who saw MacLean’s signs mentioned his peculiar message, essentially, “Keep MacLean – No new taxes.” Since MacLean was an advocate for the largest proposed tax in the city’s history (Measure K on the November 2004 ballot), when did he become an opponent of tax increases? He even wrote the ballot argument for the tax, which voters rejected in the election.

Following last week’s revelation of who signed the nomination paper for candidate Dave Leckness, longtime council watchers expressed surprise. One of the city activists discovered on Nov. 23 that former councilwomen Sherri Butterfield, Susan Withrow and Sharon Cody were three of the first four signatories for Leckness.

A recall volunteer who gathered signatures said it was puzzling that Butterfield opposed the recall and then signed the nomination paper for MacLean’s replacement. The volunteer said, “Sherri was fighting the recall at storefronts throughout the summer. She threw a fit on several occasions in front of Pavilions and tried to stop residents from signing the petition. She was defending Lance and saying how wrong the recall was. Now, she’s promoting her own candidate. I wonder what voters will think when they find out that Sherri and Susan are involved in the campaign of Dave Leckness.”

When Mission Viejo voters threw Butterfield and Withrow out of office in 2002, the message was clear. Both incumbents lost by a landslide, getting 5,487 and 4,781 votes, respectively. To put their totals into perspective, the candidate who finished last in the 2008 city election received more than 7,000 votes. Following their humiliating defeat, Butterfield and Withrow kept a relatively low profile until Butterfield was at storefronts fighting for MacLean last summer. Ironically, MacLean was among the candidates who unseated her in 2002.

While MacLean wasn’t always among Butterfield’s political friends, she has consistently been at odds with city watchdogs. The only other candidate running in the recall election to replace MacLean, Dale Tyler, was among those who led a legal challenge in 1999 in which Butterfield and Withrow were found guilty of violating the Brown Act. Former Councilman Bill Craycraft was also found guilty, but he didn’t sign Dave Leckness’s nomination paper.

From results of the phone survey of Mission Viejo residents last month, Butterfield may have learned that MacLean has no chance of surviving the Feb. 2 recall election. Is that when she decided to recruit her own candidate? With Butterfield, Withrow and Cody being three of the first four signatories on Leckness’s nomination paper, did they push him into the race?

In an interview on OrangeJuiceBlog.com, Leckness demonstrates his lack of familiarity with issues (described in another article on this week’s blog). He’s already indicated he doesn’t know about city business or current events. Perhaps he has no idea why he shouldn’t trust three women who seem to know so much about city politics.

The Buzz

The city staff’s Crown Valley gallery on the median pillars was supposed to display photographs taken by Mission Viejo residents. After months of delay because residents wouldn’t participate, the city ended up putting photos on display taken by those who don’t live in Mission Viejo. The show must go on.

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Casta del Sol residents enter their community through four guarded gates. A Casta committee has been studying whether or not to install automated gates at three of the four entry points as a cost-cutting measure. Read the details on Brad Morton’s blog, http://missionviejodispatch.com/?p=12794 . The matter could be decided soon by a vote of the homeowners.

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Two situations just outside Casta del Sol’s boundaries either could or will affect traffic and security for the homeowners association. The adjacent Casta golf course is still for sale, and residents are closely watching the property after Sunrise Development made overtures to rezone the course to housing last year. Sunrise’s plans abruptly ended in August 2008 when it hit financial skids. The city council majority recently approved a $4-million expansion of the tennis center at Marguerite Pkwy and Casta Drive. Are Casta residents aware that this project will impact their main access road? The expansion plan to add 300 parking spaces, build basketball courts and fill the gulch south of Casta Drive with 3,000 truckloads of dirt will bring big changes to the currently quiet area.

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A Buzz reader remarked about residents who considered running in the Feb. 2 Special Election to recall Councilman Lance MacLean. The election consists of two questions on one ballot: Should MacLean be recalled and who should replace him? Two candidates entered the race, Dale Tyler and Dave Leckness. Two other residents “pulled papers” to run but didn’t file. A reader emailed, “I saw that the two people who didn’t file were named Jeff Weekly and Kevin Dailey. What happened to Yearly?”

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Capistrano school district has endured years of upheaval. A former superintendent and one of his assistant superintendents (James Fleming and Susan McGill) were indicted on felony charges in 2007, and they await trial. Their next hearing will be Dec. 11. All seven of Fleming’s old-regime trustees were recalled, voted out or they didn’t run for reelection. Following three elections in which “reform” candidates won by a wide margin, the teachers union and some parents are still engaged in the battle for control of the district. The current debate centers on how trustees should be elected. CUSD voters can decide in June if they want to vote on only the trustee who will represent their area of CUSD or if all voters should vote on all seven trustees. A CUSD parent has spoken during public comments at several council meetings, recommending that Mission Viejo voters support the current method of voting for all seven trustees. Blog staffers agree.

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Comment from a Mission Viejo resident who lives in Saddleback Valley Unified School District: “Is it true Dr. Dore Gilbert is retiring as a trustee of SVUSD? Maybe Mission Viejo residents can decide on a candidate they can support to run for his seat. Can we try to get better representation on the school board?”