The Buzz

A letter writer got it backwards. On Sept. 6 James Fernandez said in a letter to the OC Register, “In Mission Viejo, activists made sure there are no Christmas displays on public property.” To the contrary, activists fought to have Christmas displays on public property, and they won. It was then-city manager Dan Joseph (fired in 2003) who led the effort to remove the Nativity Scene from the Four Corners at La Paz and Chrisanta. The letter can be found at http://www.ocregister.com/articles/-137409-ocprint--.html

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Saddleback Valley News dropped letters about local politics long ago. Since 2009, its editor has reprinted letters that are addressed to the OC Register. Letters that are critical of Mission Viejo City Hall do not appear in SVN. In August, a letter from a Mission Viejo resident slipped into the OC Register about one of the city’s deteriorating areas. Ray Estrada’s Aug. 26 letter described a neighborhood near Trabuco Hills High School, comparing it with Santa Ana, http://www.ocregister.com/articles/-135836-ocprint--.html . Was the letter reprinted in SVN with all the other letters from Mission Viejo residents who wrote to the Register about state and national politics? Of course not!

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Count down the days until the next presidential election, Tues., Nov. 6, 2012. As of this writing, it is 59 weeks or 415 days away. To track the number of months, weeks, days, hours and minutes, go to the official countdown, http://www.7is7.com/otto/countdsamp.html

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A blog reader said he thought he saw something on the city’s electronic sign about “downtown Mission Viejo.” Considering how difficult it is to read much of anything on the sign (except “Follow us on Twitter”), no one else has mentioned it. Occupants of City Hall are about the only folks in Mission Viejo who are unaware the city has no downtown. If it had one, the logical place would be the area with greatest concentration of businesses, and that’s Crown Valley Parkway.

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Does anyone remember when the sales pitch for the electronic sign was to put important announcements on it? Councilman Frank Ury claimed the city would no longer need to print its magazines and mailers because “everything could be announced on the sign.” How is that working out?

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A bookstore would be a great site for a readers’ festival. Book promotion belongs in the private sector. If a city government actually intended to support the business community, a focus on books would bring customers to a mall (or the Freeway Center if Borders were still there). Somehow, city administrators decided they should close the library on Oct. 1 to have yet another party. Shutting down a city service demonstrates that city officials fail to grasp the purpose of municipal government, and the council majority of Trish Kelley, Frank Ury and Dave Leckness can’t be bothered with accountability.

Here’s a resident’s take on the Oct. 1 city party: “From the city website: Bringing hyperbole to a new and nauseating level.”

The Mission Viejo Readers' Festival brings books to life and families and individuals together for a daylong spectacular event featuring celebrity and author readings, book signings, entertainment, food and much more. Many well-known authors, including Linda Evans, Molly Shannon, Jamie Ford and Robin Preiss Glasser, will be in attendance for this year's festival on October 1, 2011.

The Readers' Festival started in 2009 with the intention of bringing together the people who create books with the people who love to read them. The festival was an immediate success and has become the largest and most prestigious readers' festival in Orange County, attracting as many as 5,000 book lovers each year.

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A city government has no purpose of entertaining residents or using taxpayer funds to throw a “daylong spectacular event.” Instead of doing their jobs, city officials think they’re entertainers and teachers – spending city funds on classes, tutoring and personnel pretending they are educators. In 2010, a Mission Viejo city official admitted that two full-time employees had spent a year planning the first Readers’ Festival. If school districts became so confused they started repairing streets or if water districts began opening animal shelters, perhaps voters would wake up about incompetent elected official who allow tax dollars to be misspent.