Street Report Reveals New Issue

At least 200 specific streets have been surveyed and found to be in need of repair and resurfacing. Last week, the survey added a section of streets east of Marguerite Parkway, north of Crown Valley and south of Felipe.

The condition of 24 streets in this area ranges from “some damaged segments” to “all-over cracking.” The streets are Jardines, Tossamar, Benisa, Cipres, Ayamonte, Tajo, Nogal, Sombras, Beniform, Encinas, Cordova Canyon, Monzano, Huerta, Cedros, Rosario, Pineula, Principe, Pinocha, La Fuente, Setenil, Nubles, El Retiro, Miraflores and Colmenar. Jardines, Tossamar and El Retiro are long streets with some damaged areas.

According to a city graphic, “Residential Resurfacing and Slurry Seal Program,” streets listed above are in a section of town that won’t be treated until Fiscal Year 2013-2014. Many of the streets are already in such condition they should be repaired this year.

Residents noticed an odd phenomenon that some of the longer and more heavily traveled streets are in better shape than the less-traveled short ones. It gives rise to the question of whether all streets in the section were resurfaced three to four years ago in the city’s seven-year plan. The less-traveled streets are all gray to light gray and worn. From the above list, even the streets in best condition (and darker in color) are in need of slurry-sealing this year.

Does the city inspects all street work conducted by contractors? If so, have all streets been visited by a city employee after a contractor claims an entire section has been resurfaced? Residents are reporting that street repairs are superficial and/or substandard. For example, cracks are reemerging within a year after a street is slurry-sealed, as if underlying damage was covered over without being repaired. Cracks that are “treated” with a decorative line of tar are reopening within a few months. As for aesthetic results, a spider web of tar on cracks only emphasizes the damage.

Streets Update: More Repairs Needed

Mission Viejo residents are expressing astonishment that city hall is relying on citizens to report streets in need of repair. Of 150-plus staff members on the city payroll, substantial numbers of employees are busy working on celebrations, parties and character posters. City administrators say they have “no one” to check on the condition of the streets.

Following are recent additions to the list of streets in fair to poor condition:

• Amberwood: entire street is all cracked up. Horizontal cracks are in front of every house.
• Tamerind: entire street is cracked up; deep, wide cracks are reemerging from patchwork.
• Whitespring: deep, wide cracks; mosaic-like pattern of cracking; entire street is damaged.
• Somerset: entire street is cracked; cul-de-sac has wide and deep cracks with weeds.
• Larkspur; entire street is cracked up; ineffectively patched; crumbling edges.
• Meadowbrook: all cracked up.
• Meadowbrook and Tamerind intersection: cracked up; deep and wide cracks with weeds.
• Devon and Somerset intersection: all cracked up.
• Devon: all cracked up; long areas of mosaic-like cracking.
• Devon and Portsmouth intersection: serious cracking, deep cracks.
• Portsmouth: all cracked up; area of sunken asphalt with mosaic-like cracking.
• Portsmouth and Sheffield intersection: all cracked up; deep cracks with weeds.
• Sheffield: entire street has cracks; many horizontal cracks; mosaic-like cracking.
• Leicester and Portsmouth intersection: cracked up; pothole; mosaic-like cracking; weeds.
• Leicester: entire length of street is cracked. Mosaic-like cracking.
• Leicester and Darlington intersection: mosaic-like cracking; pothole.
• Leicester and Exmoor intersection: cracks.
• Exmoor: entire length of street is cracked; weeds; crumbling edges; mosaic-like cracking.
• Leicester and Cheshire intersection: extensive cracking and some crumbled areas.
• Cheshire: longitudinal and horizontal cracks; entire length of street is all cracked up.
• Darlington: areas of mosaic-like cracking; weeds; cracks are tarred over and reopening.
• Darlington and Exmoor intersection: extensive cracking.
• Florestra: appears to be recently slurried (last year?), but all cracked up with deep cracks.
• Sebastian and Florestra intersection: extensive cracking with weeds.
• Sebastian: if the street was recently slurried, cracks are re-emerging and reopening.
• Soria: all cracked up; edges are cracking.
• Sebastian and Soria intersection: cracks with weeds.
• Spadra: appears to be recently slurried (when?), but surface is rough and showing wear.
• Via Angelina and Casitas intersection: all cracked up.
• Casitas: entire length of street is all cracked up; weeds; tar-covered cracks are reopening.

PALs Update
by Julie Collier

Dear PALs,
 
A parent from Vista Del Mar is offering an invitation to all PALs. Please read her email below and the invitation (link). This will be a positive and focused discussion to help enlighten us and find ways to help. If you are interested in attending, I would encourage you to come with an open mind and respectful behavior. There will most assuredly be people there who do not agree with your opinion, as there are a wide variety of viewpoints.

As a community, it is essential we listen with respect to every issue and opinion involving the teachers and students of CUSD. As I have stated before, no matter what the outcome is, there are no winners. I look forward to seeing you there.

Julie Collier
Parents Advocate League

Subject: Invitation to Town Hall Meeting on Mon., April 12, at 7:00 p.m.

Dear All,

You are invited to a Town Hall Meeting (Take Two) on Mon., April 12, at 7:00 p.m. at the Bella Collina Towne & Golf Club in San Clemente (located at 200 Avenida La Pata in San Clemente). Please click (here) to view the flyer. The purpose of the meeting is to provide a partnership with parents, teachers and the Board and our richly diverse community, to educate students and to assist them in realizing their full potential as responsible, productive and contributing members of society by providing an educational environment in which students are challenged, excellence is expected and differences are valued and by collectively modeling that behavior and holding ourselves to the same standard of conduct.

I am aware of the plans for a student strike, and I have mixed feelings about it. I am a huge advocate of keeping these issues away from our kids. In my opinion, the fiscal crisis is not their issue or problem.  I don't want my kids worrying about adult issues. I understand the passion behind the strike though – trying to encourage both parties to put aside their political agendas and come to the table for the betterment of our children's education and the future success of this district is a noble one. However, during a time when the district is in such a colossal fiscal crisis, I don't think keeping our kids out of school is the answer; honestly, I think it will only have a negative effect on our children's education. Simply, less time in school = less education.

So, my kids will not be participating in the strike; instead, I am encouraging parents to attend the town hall meeting on Mon., April 12, to respectfully talk about what we can do together to get through this mess. Please help me keep adult issues at the adult level!

Thank you for taking the time to read my email, and I look forward to seeing you on Monday, April 12.

Respectfully,

Dana Lush

New Republican Group Forms
Press Release

The Mission Viejo Republican Club (MVRC) met on March 30 to discuss the new club’s focus. Among other activities, club members will organize a voter registration drive and participate in Get Out The Vote (GOTV) for Republican candidates.

MVRC will provide an opportunity for its volunteers to meet other Republicans and work together toward common goals. The new group comprises Tea Party Patriots, SOC912 activists, Leadership Alliance members, ACT for America supporters, Saddleback Republican Assembly members and Republican Women Federated members.

MVRC joins other South Orange County Republican organizations, including units of the California Republican Assembly. Other groups include Aliso Viejo Republican Women Federated and Capistrano Valley Republican Women Federated.

MVRC members will participate in the Mission Viejo Tea Party on Thursday, April 15, at La Paz and Marguerite from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.

For additional information, contact Frank Fossati, publicity coordinator, Mission Viejo Republican Club, at frank.fossati@cox.net

The Buzz

Tea Partiers will rally in Mission Viejo on Tax Day, Thurs., April 15, on the corners of La Paz and Marguerite from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. Signs will be available, but participants are invited to create a sign of their own or bring an American flag to wave. Saddleback Republican Assembly is organizing the peaceful protest against overgrown government and wasteful spending.

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What happened when Trish Kelley’s planning commission appointee was denied membership in Saddleback Republican Assembly last month? According to observers, he created a scene at the check-in table at the start of the meeting. He began cursing at the SRA president and told a state-level officer to “f--- off.” The planning commissioner and his friend (who is ineligible for membership because she’s not a registered Republican voter) sat at a table apart from most other members. They ignored the guest speaker and passed notes back and forth throughout OC Supervisor John Moorlach’s presentation. One of them would write a message, and the other would stifle a laugh, as if reading something hilarious. An SRA member who saw the notes said they were childish and not funny. One of the messages said, “I’m bored.” Who sent these two to disrupt the meeting and disrespect the guest speaker?

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Question from a Buzz reader: “Why is the city attaching pie pans to utility poles and street lights around town? I was driving on La Paz and noticed something was taped to the utility poles. The writing on the pie pans was too small to read while driving by, but I later saw that it has something to do with the city’s art event.”

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It’s true. The city attached signs to the poles. Doesn’t the city try to discourage residents from taping signs to utility poles? Garage sale and “lost dog” signs are removed quickly, and the city hires contractors to remove all signs posted by residents. The premise (that junk on the poles is unattractive and a distraction to drivers) should apply equally to residents as well as city staff members.

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Check out an article on Brad Morton’s Mission Viejo Dispatch about the council cutting expenses because of falling revenues: http://missionviejodispatch.com/?p=15873 The council cut another $500,000 on April 5. At the same meeting, the council majority approved more than $100,000 for bleacher shades on baseball fields. After the city staff bragged about planting 400 trees last year, particularly along Crown Valley Parkway, $50,000 was cut from the cost of watering the medians. Interdepartmental First Aid was reduced by $1,500. Pie pans for utility poles were not cut in the most recent budget adjustments.

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No expense has been spared in putting banners up and taking them down. An activist tracked the city’s banner mania a couple years ago and discovered that taxpayers are dinged $10,000 every time the banners are changed, and that doesn’t include the cost of the banners. The banners were being purchased with no-bid contracts, and the related descriptions were too vague to determine what was being paid for.

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The annual Fun With Chalk street-painting event will be held at the Community Center on April 24-25. The popular event is in its 12th year. Those attending can watch artists create their chalk masterpieces on the asphalt.

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Competing with and/or distracting from the chalk festival will be a range of city staff activities, including an exhibit funded with taxpayer dough for the staff pseudo-greens. The king of pseudo-greens, Keith Rattay, displayed his earth-friendly style on April 22, 2008, when city contractors trashed 500 custom-built easels on public property. To memorialize the occasion, photographs appeared on blogs of the easel heap, along with trashed signage in a county dump: “Be a green machine.”