Forgotten Centers Survive

Those who drive along Los Alisos Blvd. might be oblivious to the season – there are no plastic Santas or lighted trees on corners. Street resurfacing, slope planting and other taxpayer-funded amenities – things city hall is actually responsible for – are lacking as well.

The last time city hall got involved on Los Alisos Blvd., it was to hold a business owner hostage. City staff members demanded that the Sonic Drive-in place a $10,000 rusty toy car near the corner. City hall said it would address the issue of day workers near Los Alisos and Jeronimo, but the day workers are still there.

Despite the lack of appropriate attention from the city, various retail centers are holding their own. At Los Alisos Blvd. and Trabuco, a dry cleaner and 7-Eleven are on the southwest corner, and the small center on the northeast corner is fully occupied. The center on the southeast corner is completely leased except for one space. It shows that, even in challenging times, good synergy in a center helps the merchants and provides neighbors with places to shop and work.

Mission Viejo’s Master Plan is based on decentralization. City hall – with its bureaucrats who have little interest in the local economy or the community – is backwards in its desire to create focus on a place known as the civic center. Aside from providing essential public services, nothing else is needed at the civic center. Errant staff members have gone off track, and an errant council majority has allowed them to ignore their obligations. How many city employees are coloring in “character” posters, planning the next party or duplicating a service that belongs to the private sector?

The more city hall attempts to centralize activity, the more it takes from the community of Mission Viejo – retail business, private sector services and propping all of it up with an excessive number of employees and taxpayer dollars.

The nation showed signs of waking up in the November election. The reaction stopped at the Rocky Mountains, but perhaps the next wave will reach the Left Coast.