Repent at Leisure

Longtime residents might remember years ago when the city mailed activities schedules, primarily of recreation center offerings. Back then, the schedules focused on sports and fitness, with participants paying fees to cover costs. Schedules were printed in black ink on white newsprint, and they looked like government publications because that’s what they were.

The city’s Spring 2011 quarterly activities brochure arrived in mailboxes last week. The 24-page, full-color booklet, “Leisure Time,” should be called “Let Us Entertain You – With Your Money.” Increasingly, City Hall is competing with retailers, professionals and other entities instead of focusing on essential public services. The city has many full-time staff members dedicated to creating festivals, advertising the events and overstating attendance figures.

As an example of a “free” city event, an activity planned in April is “Up in the Air – Mission Viejo Takes Flight.” The description: “enjoy synchronized kites to music, disc dog shows, flying contests, food, exhibitors and entertainment.” This type of event generally draws the city staff, committee members, a few council members and city commissioners, plus 25 or so City Hall groupies who show up whenever they see the words FREE and FOOD in the same sentence.

Federal government officials have a new word for fleecing taxpayers. They call it “investing.” The city on page 2 of the current publication says of its Arts Alive Festival, “Mission Viejo celebrates an investment in the arts, economy, environment, education and a healthy civic life.”

What is City Hall “investing” in except deficit spending? Competing with the private sector does not “invest” in the economy. Trashing hundreds of custom-built easels in a county dump does not “invest” in the environment. There is nothing “healthy” about a bloated bureaucracy of 150 city employees whose jobs consist of coloring in character posters or planning a kite-flying celebration.

Is it true the city is on track to spend $2.4 million more than it will take in this year? The most obvious cause of the shortfall is the bad “investments” city staffers are making, plus the negligence of council majority members who fail to rein them in.