Road to Reelection Has Potholes

The Nov. 2 election is less than 70 days away, and council incumbents are running out of time to look good. The city is very busy resurfacing streets, filling potholes and trying to cover barren slopes. Oso and La Paz are undergoing major work, and traffic is held up on Marguerite because of landscaping.

For some residents who live in the heart of Mission Viejo, arterials on three sides of their neighborhoods are impacted. For city hall to repair Oso and La Paz at the same time shows egregiously poor planning.

Two weeks ago, this blog reported city hall’s careful consideration in the maintenance of the civic center parking lot. City Manager Dennis Wilberg stated, “The Public Services Department coordinated the efforts in advance with the many affected City staff, City Hall and Library patrons to determine the least intrusive days for the efforts to occur.”
http://www.missionviejoca.org/News/2010_Q3/2010-08-14/article1/article1.html

Apparently, city administrators (who don’t live in Mission Viejo) don’t like to be inconvenienced when parking their vehicles next to city hall. Meanwhile, some residents encounter traffic snarls no matter which way they turn when trying to leave their neighborhood.

The landscape work along Marguerite Parkway last week also drew fire from drivers. One resident commented, “When I was driving on Marguerite, I saw [city administrator] Keith Rattay standing out there with all the landscape workers. I rolled down my window and yelled at him, ‘What a waste of money!’ The street in front of my house has cracks two and three inches wide, and the city is tearing out landscaping and replanting it. Are new plants supposed to make me feel better?”

Between city council elections, taxpayer dollars are wasted on a Rose Parade float, easels, festivals and an electronic message board flashing character words. After neglecting the infrastructure during the non-election years, city hall is switching gears before voters can hit the reject button.

Just prior to the 2008 city election, a colossal example of incompetence was the Crown Valley widening project. After years of mismanagement, the city vainly tried to wrap it up prior to the election. When it couldn’t be done, council incumbent Frank Ury falsely proclaimed in his campaign literature that the roadwork was finished. Apparently, lies wrapped in glossy campaign mailers do the trick, and he was reelected.

The nationwide battle cry is “vote them out.” In Mission Viejo, council incumbents up for reelection are Trish Kelley and Dave Leckness. Also running is ex-incumbent Lance MacLean, who was recalled on Feb. 2. Joining Kelley and Leckness on their slate is Richard Sandzimier, who is MacLean’s appointee on the planning commission. With eight challengers running against these four, voters will have plenty to choose from.

Reader Comment

Dan, who lives near Crown Valley, emailed, “City Hall missed the boat eight years ago when they could have solved the worst traffic problem in the south end of town. The biggest traffic jam is on Avery and Marguerite. The state offered to fix the freeway interchange. Instead, the city wanted to put in auto dealerships and other businesses to make money. By not using the state’s help, they sacrificed the long-term solution. Years later, traffic is still a mess and many of the businesses have failed. I hope no one thinks the way to improve business is to stall traffic in front of stores.

“The city went after the tax revenue at a time they didn’t need the money. Now, they don’t have either one – a traffic solution or the revenue.”

Mission Viejo Taxpayers Vote Against MUKs
Guest Editorial

When asked by our fellow citizens on the street who they should vote for in the City Council elections among all those running for office, we gave this very simple answer. Vote out the MUKs!

Who are the MUKs, you ask. They are the existing city council majority members who have consistently approved spending money on projects, we, the majority of taxpayers, do not need.

Name a project we do not need, you ask. The Marguerite Tennis Center renovation. They want to add one (1) tennis court to the already existing seven (7) courts, at the cost of an estimated $3.7 million. This is typical of their thinking.

What are the names of the MUKs, you ask. Prior to the recall of MacLean, they were:
MacLean………Ury………Kelley.

After the recall election, MacLean was replaced by Leckness. Leckness voted after that election to give the lifetime insurance to the city council members, even though as a businessman he said he would not do that for his employees.

In effect, the MUKs are still in place, and MacLean is running again for city council in November. He and the other MUK members feel the additional tennis court is desperately needed. When asked of the city council why this desperation, they failed to come up with an answer.

The answer to the original question is simple! Since those incumbents do not speak for the majority of the taxpayers, the MUKs should be voted out of office in November.

Get the word out before we have more projects desperately needed like we described.

Thank you,
Voters United

Council Race Update

Adding interest to this year’s council race is Lance MacLean trying to win back his seat. Despite a flood of special interest money to keep him in office (including more than $100,000 from the deputies union), MacLean was recalled on Feb. 2. Unless outsiders spend another fortune on his comeback, he’ll likely lose again on Nov. 2.

In his ballot statement, MacLean vents his anger over being removed from office. He also rails against the “reckless” council decisions that led to a budget shortfall.

MacLean promises: “If elected, I will create a Blue Ribbon taskforce to audit city operations to identify waste and inefficiency.” He had 7 « years to identify waste and inefficiency, and he was consistently in the council majority creating it.

Voters might not remember MacLean’s campaign promises when he ran in 2002. Back then, he said he would “create a top-down audit” to identify waste and inefficiency. After he was elected, he never mentioned it again. He also said he’d sell Dan Joseph’s $6,000 desk on eBay. After the election, he said it was a joke.

MacLean’s former backers in city hall have distanced themselves and engaged in spin. After defending MacLean in the recall, they now say they were only objecting to the idea of a recall and the expense of a special election.

Will MacLean use his entire campaign treasury attacking residents who voted for the recall, the 51 proponents who initiated his removal and current and former council members – even those who were defending him six months ago?

Voters on November 2 will have an opportunity to tell incumbents – and ex-incumbents – that their services are no longer needed.

Ury Trashed Trish in 2006

Two years ago, Councilman Frank Ury emailed the OC Republican Central Committee, attempting to block Trish Kelley and Lance MacLean when they sought the OC GOP endorsement for their 2006 reelection. Thanks to a community watchdog who provided a copy of the email from his files.

From Ury’s 2006 email to the Central Committee:

“You are now considering the endorsement for the Mission Viejo City Council race. JP Ledesma's volunteer efforts compare favorably with the criteria for endorsement, and I encourage a yes vote on his behalf.

”However Lance MacLean and Trish Kelley have never demonstrated the volunteer effort to rise to the level to earn this body's support. Criteria that the Committee itself established. You have all been sent the emails, I will not belabor the points made.

”Suffice it to say that MacLean and Kelley most likely needed directions to the Committee meeting last month. That is not a slight, but a statement of fact.

”This endorsement is more than supporting someone with an "R" by their name. All candidates running for the Mission Viejo City Council are registered Republicans. The GOP endorsement is a proactive statement recognizing and rewarding those who have been proactive in their support of the Party; registering voters, walking precincts, supporting our leaders NOT just during election years.

”I ask for a yes vote on Ledesma and also request that this Committee remain silent on any other support and let the voters of Mission Viejo make the final decision,
Respectfully.
/s/ Frank Ury”

In the 2010 city election, Kelley is the only incumbent seeking the GOP endorsement. Dave Leckness is a Democrat, and Kelley’s other running mate is Richard Sandzimier, who is registered as a Republican. Neither Sandzimier nor MacLean applied for the endorsement. Ury has endorsed Kelley, Leckness and Sandzimier.

The Buzz

When the community began, Mission Viejo Company VP Harvey Steam described its foundation: “What is ‘the California promise?’ You expect, when you come to California, that you’re going to have a certain kind of lifestyle and a certain physical beauty. It’s not available in every place, but it is available in Mission Viejo. And that’s why we call Mission Viejo ‘the California Promise.’ It’s kind of like a promise fulfilled.”

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The Mission Viejo Company kept the promise, and the company’s visionary leaders developed a Master Plan that attracted homebuyers. Who are the promise breakers? After Mission Viejo became a city, a string of council members turned the reins over to the bureaucrats who occupy city hall. Council Members Kelley and Ury, plus ex-councilman Lance MacLean, lined their campaign accounts with developer dollars to dismantle the Master Plan with zone changes. Among parcels now at stake are the Casta Golf Course, the retail center at La Paz and Marguerite and closed elementary schools. MacLean, Ury and Kelley have already shown they cannot be trusted to preserve the Master Plan.

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This blog has pointed to the city staff’s objection to a dog park as a primary reason one hasn’t been built. Last week’s dog park article drew a reader response, “I don’t agree there won’t ever be a dog park. City employees need something to do, and they’ll eventually want a dog park because many of them have no real work in city hall. Just like other city projects, a dog park will take years to build with huge cost overruns. The unstated cost will include 150 city employees all wanting a hand in the project. We’ll have street banners about a dog park, dog-park book markers distributed at the library, character posters about dogs, dog pictures on pillars, city employees wearing dog park golf shirts, a dog park festival with booths for celebrity dogs and telephone surveys polling every resident on what to name the dog park.”

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ACT for America will hold a general meeting on Mon., Sept. 13, in Mission Viejo. Chapter leader Bruce Mayall invites members to bring a friend. The group meets in the Norm Murray Community Center, Sycamore B Room, 24932 Veterans Way, in Mission Viejo. The meeting room is open at 7:00 p.m., and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30, ending at 9:30. Guest speaker will be Deborah Pauley. A $5 donation will be appreciated to cover costs.