Ready, Fire, Aim

The city is short on cash, and can anyone guess how it happened? The misdirection and leadership void are obvious. Council meetings are run by Mayor Hee-Haw, who revealed on another blog that his mantra is “ready, fire, aim.” Did his lifelong problem begin when he started reciting his A-C-B’s?

Phones rang in Mission Viejo a couple weeks ago, as city-contracted pollsters asked residents to choose whether they want to spend tax dollars on things like streets or if they prefer feel-good activities. Since the city cannot afford both, the occupants of City Hall hope to get off the hook by a finding enough residents who don’t care about infrastructure.

During city elections in 2008 and 2010, voters allowed Frank Ury, Trish Kelley and Dave Leckness to remain in office. These three council majority members are poised to approve apartment projects at the north and south ends of Mission Viejo. Slow-moving traffic will get slower, and new students will join overcrowded classrooms.

Residents had an opportunity in the June 2010 Primary Election to stop overdevelopment with Measure D. Instead, they listened to campaign lies funded by special interest and out-of-town money. The poster girl for the “No on D” campaign became Wendy Bucknum. She’s been rewarded by the council majority with an appointment to a city commission. Residents of other cities report seeing her making the political rounds as a prospective council candidate with Ury.

Bucknum and Ury are two so-called Republicans who campaigned for a Democrat in the 2010 city election – documented with photographs of the Democrat’s signs in Bucknum’s yard. Isn’t Bucknum’s employer the scandal-ridden property management company ( http://taxdollars.ocregister.com/2011/01/06/ex-laguna-woods-manager-boss-paid-for-prostitute-with-pdm-funds/71930 )? The Jan. 6 OC Register article describes lawsuits between the company’s employees and former employees, including charges that a manager used company funds for a transvestite prostitute.

Is anyone associated with the council majority NOT elbowing his or her way to the city trough?

On Feb. 21, the city will hold a public hearing with regard to selling 8.5 acres of open space to housing developers. As a parallel example, the cash-strapped Capo school district put four real estate parcels on the market several years ago. In 2009, Mission Viejo liquidated bonds to meet payroll during the same month the council majority approved the Rose Parade float, costing the city more than $400,000.

Running out of cash is no deterrent to council majority spendaholics when they can liquidate such assets as revenue-producing investments and open space.