Public Services Are Cut First

Mission Viejo City Hall might be short on cash, but it continues to roll out a glossy magazine. The fall/winter edition of “Mission Viejo Outlook” arrived in residents’ mailboxes last week. Even in the best of times, taxpayers should protest such waste – puff-piece articles with no substance.

Calling it a cost-cutting measure, the city recently reduced the number of Planning Commission meetings to one a month. While demand for permits and other approvals is down with the economy, essential public services should not be the first to go. Residents are enduring cuts, but City Hall is preserving its magazine and other fun stuff – staff parties, the character program and awards and gifts city employees bestow on each other.

The hidden costs of the Outlook magazine go beyond photographers, writers, editors, producers, printing and postage. Staff members – full-time employees with benefits – work on the magazine. Much of the rewritten drivel in the Outlook has already appeared elsewhere: online, Saddleback Valley News, the electronic message board and flyers distributed at the library and community center.

On page 7 of the Outlook, under the heading “Bulletin,” a photo of houses in a flood could have referred to the Planning Commission’s July 11 approval of UDR Inc.’s 320 apartments below an earthen dam on east Los Alisos Blvd. Instead, the article touts guidance from FEMA. According to Jay Leno, FEMA stands for Fix Everything My A**. The city certainly “fixed” north Mission Viejo with UDR’s project. The article on page 7, “Flood insurance may be right for you,” is timely with the Planning Commission’s 3-2 decision to approve the apartments and the council’s 3-2 decision to deny the appeal ( http://www.missionviejoca.org/News/2011_Q3/2011-08-20/article1/article1.html ).

The city looks hard up for material to fill the current 16-page Outlook. On pages 12-13, residents can read about Saddleback College students in a cooking class, which has nothing to do with the city. Pages 8-9 are about business renovations around town – private enterprise unrelated to City Hall. In contrast, the city’s big “accomplishments” are the pricey brown pots and banners along Oso and the further esthetic assault of Crown Valley. The pillars and medians are a mess. No wonder City Hall is attempting to slip in Saddleback College and the private sector – taking credit for things it didn’t do.

The real story – throwing away money while cutting public services – wasn’t published.