Measure D, Simply Put

Measure D, the Mission Viejo Right To Vote, gives the power to rezone property to the people. In short, it protects the Master Plan from rezoning abuse by a council majority.

 Measure D refers only to major land-use changes, and it does not impact businesses, schools, churches or hospitals about use that has already been approved. It also has no effect on expansion, remodeling or adding services unless the land use would change (e.g., rezoning from business or open space to residential).

Examples of change that would not be affected by Measure D include the hospital adding an oncology wing, a church expanding facilities, a school adding an auditorium and a business renovating its facility. All four of these examples appeared in a mailer paid for by the opponents of Measure D. A photo of Richard Sandzimier appeared in the lower right corner of the mailer, with his quote that the Measure D’s outcome would be “financed by us taxpayers,” and that’s also false. If the opponents of Measure D didn’t lie, they would have no argument at all.

Voters might additionally be thrown for a loop by the Orange County Register’s editorial, No on Measure D. While false claims in mailers are difficult to stop, newspaper readers should expect some degree of unbiased truth in the paper. A blog reader offered an explanation: “The exact words printed in the Register can be directly traced to Councilman Frank Ury. Ury said the same thing – same wording. The Register employee is Brian Calle, and he is a friend of Ury’s.”

When a newspaper quotes a councilman, ethics call for attribution or quotation marks. As a related matter, Ury was decreed a liar in April by Superior Court Justice Luis Rodriguez for making false and leading statements about Measure D. Coverage can be found at http://missionviejodispatch.com/?p=15820 The stunning news didn’t get a mention in the Orange County Register – no surprise there. Despite numerous attempts by Measure D supporters to get equal space, not one word has been published in the Orange County Register to expose Ury’s lies or OCR’s bias.