The Buzz

Residents can quickly find out about earthquakes in Southern California by going to the USGS Caltech Seismic Net. The map showing the most recent big one (on Easter Sunday, April 4) can be viewed at http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/116-33.html . Mission Viejo is on another map, http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/117-34.html . Maps are updated within approximately 5 minutes of an earthquake or once an hour.

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Councilman Frank Ury and other city officials who don’t support Measure D (Mission Viejo’s Right-To-Vote initiative on the June 8 ballot) have been busy calculating the cost of elections as part of their anti-Measure D campaign. The cost of elections cannot compare with city hall’s talent for spending money. The Rose Parade float cost more than $400,000 for less than two minutes on TV. Two remaining council members who bestowed lifetime healthcare on themselves (Trish Kelley and Frank Ury) will receive benefits of approximately $275,000 each if they stay in office for one more term. The $275,000 in benefits Lance MacLean would have received, had he remained in office for another term, offset the cost of the special election to recall him.

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Ury’s political acquaintances from other cities continue to confirm that he’s sitting on the Mission Viejo City Council until he can run for higher office. That’s no surprise to those who have observed his council performance since he was first elected in 2004. Until the year he served as mayor, he opened his laptop on the dais and answered emails during meetings. According to his out-of-town acquaintances, Ury’s aspirations for higher office include the State Assembly and OC Board of Supervisors. He has a long wait for Assemblyman Jeff Miller and OC Supervisor Pat Bates to term out. It probably seems like an eternity to a councilman who isn’t real interested in Mission Viejo.

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The Capo USD teachers union (CUEA) says it will end the strike if the school board agrees to make the 10 percent pay cut temporary instead of permanent. The trustees are accused of being insensitive toward teachers because they can’t predict that the financial picture will improve within two years. If anyone wants to blame trustees, why not remember the former board members (hand-picked by ex-Supt. James Fleming) who failed to save for a rainy day? The old regime insisted that the district must have a $50M administration center and a $150M high school (“dump high,” built next to a landfill in SJC). The district couldn’t afford either project, even during good economic times.

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Is it true that city administrator Keith Rattay has a vision of turning Mission Viejo into an art community? The city already has an image of being family- and fitness-oriented, and perhaps Mission Viejo residents like things the way they are. The concept of an art colony might be a new way to sell city hall’s old obsession with the shopping center across the street (Big Lots, CVS, Stein Mart, Trader Joe’s, etc.). Instead of razing the stores and rebuilding them with ordinary apartments on top, city hall could promote the idea of having artists living in lofts above the stores. Doesn’t it sound exciting to have no-income artists living on the top level of “downtown” Mission Viejo?