Who Deserves This Government?

 “In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.” Joseph de Maistre wrote it in 1811, but Alexis de Tocqueville often gets credit.

The council election is over, and those sacking the city can safely reappear. The council majority is intact – Frank Ury, Trish Kelley and Dave Leckness – and developers wanting high-density housing are counting on their votes. Prior to the Nov. 2 election, this blog pleaded with voters to reject council members and challengers who wouldn’t defend Mission Viejo’s Master Plan.

Potential sites for apartment compounds include the following. Two condo projects have been approved, but the current housing market doesn’t warrant condo-building.

• The former Kmart property on east Los Alisos Blvd., near the Palmia gated community
• A parcel near the former Kmart property on Los Alisos Blvd.
• The shopping center at La Paz and Marguerite (Big Lots, CVS, etc.)
• Casta del Sol Golf Course
• Undeveloped land near the animal shelter
• The parcel adjacent to Target on Los Alisos Blvd.
• Closed elementary schools: O’Neill and La Tierra
• The Unisys Property on Jeronimo Road near Los Alisos Blvd.
• Viejo Elementary School (CUSD has discussed closing this school)

Homeowners had an opportunity in the June Primary to protect their property values by supporting Measure D. If the measure had passed, voters could have overturned bad land-use decisions. A campaign to defeat the measure – fooling voters to vote against voting – was funded with large donations from a Realtor PAC.

The assault on the Master Plan has resumed, including an attempt to increase the density of a project that was previously approved. Refer to Brad Morton’s blog, http://missionviejodispatch.com , for a review, particularly of Ury’s effort to help his developer friends.

As an example from the Registrar of Voters’ ballot tallies, Palmia residents overwhelmingly reelected Ury in 2008, defeated Measure D in June 2010 and reelected Kelley and Leckness in November 2010. Without Measure D, homeowners will have to rely on their so-called representatives on the council to protect their safety and property values from high-density projects. Council decisions are imminent, and Palmia residents could be the first to learn how their decisions at the ballot box will work for them.

If anyone is so delusional to think there’s no difference between a low-density neighborhood and an apartment compound, just ask any policeman in Mission Viejo where the biggest problems occur.

When apartments are built on the abovementioned sites and traffic is at a standstill, perhaps some people will remember the watchdogs who held signs on street corners prior to the November 2010 election: “No Incumbents.”