Council Circus Update

Campaigns for the 2012 council election have begun. Residents should brace for a yearlong siege, including the usual hit pieces funded by unions and apartment builders.

Two opposing city factions have gone at it for years. One side originated with deposed councilwomen, Sherri Butterfield and Susan Withrow. Although the old queens were trounced in 2002, like-minded ones on the current council are Trish Kelley and Dave Leckness, who vote in the majority with Frank Ury for big government and waste.

Those who oppose the old/new queendom include community watchdogs. Council members who either emerged from the watchdog group or generally support limited government include former Council Members John Paul Ledesma and Gail Reavis and current members Cathy Schlicht and Rhonda Reardon.

While the two political sides are generally known, voters might be unaware the third political force is the city staff. As soon as the old gals were dumped in 2002, city administrators quickly looped in their replacements, Trish Kelley and Lance MacLean. Instead of the reform voters expected, Kelley and MacLean were soon pushing the same social engineering and high-density housing projects.

City Hall as the third political factor is the most formidable of all, and it has seized the taxpayers’ checkbook. While the two warring groups on the council (majority of Ury-Kelley-Leckness versus minority of Schlicht and Reardon) are busy opposing each other, the staff sacks the city with the majority dutifully voting for staff recommendations

The resulting damage includes deteriorating infrastructure and dwindling reserves. After years of deficit spending, City Hall stopped mailing its glossy-covered financial statements to residents. City revenue is either spent or obligated by the time it is collected, and financial statements haven’t mentioned the amount of debt, which is substantial.

While drivers on arterials might be dazzled by roses and artsy junk on the medians, many areas of town show decline and neglect. Look at the residential area south of Trabuco Hills High School, the area east of Marguerite between Crown Valley and Felipe and many of the neighborhoods along Los Alisos. Many large areas of the city have barren slopes, trees that are ready to fall down, deteriorating streets and lax code enforcement.

The happy festivities at City Hall continue, and residents are too busy and/or disgusted to demand accountability and reform. Ury is up for reelection in 2012, and residents should vote him off the council. However, the only challenger who is aggressively campaigning is Wendy Bucknum, who thinks and acts just like Ury. With challengers like Bucknum waiting in the wings, the city election of 2012 is unlikely to bring improvement.