Blame Sacramento

Are residents aware Mission Viejo is a “Million Tree City”? That’s amazing – trying to create an urban forest in a dry climate (average yearly rainfall 14 inches). Alongside the urban forest, many of the city’s slopes consist of dirt and weeds.

Major portions of the city are maintained by Homeowner Associations, not city taxpayers. For those unfamiliar with what belongs to whom, if a slope is barren, it is likely owned by the city. Drive through any neighborhood in the largest HOA in town, Mission Viejo Environmental Association, which has well-maintained slopes and cost-effective management.

Along with noting the barren city-owned slopes, residents frequently complain the city tears out entire areas of established vegetation. The city then says existing plants are being replaced with drought-tolerant ones. The excuse is perpetual regardless of how many times the same areas are replanted. Given Southern California’s climate and the cost of water, why has the city ever planted vegetation that is not drought tolerant?

The city employee who has been promoted to director of public services is Keith Rattay ($166,000 in annual salary alone), and he’s a plant guy with training in landscape architecture. Rattay’s trademark is pricey junk, including brown pots, banners and outhouse-style pillars. If he’s not the one driving the city’s million-tree obsession, where did it come from?

For anyone who has tried to make sense of the city’s contracts with landscaping contractors, good luck. Change orders become a significant part of overruns when no one is watching the store. As an example, the city claimed for years that many plants were “donated” for Tierra Nativa. What a coincidence that a slew of change orders followed “donations.” Tens of thousands of plants that supposedly would be planted by volunteers sat in pots along roadsides and trails for weeks until city contractors could plant all of them.

The waste continues, and council majority members don’t grasp that money cannot be spent and still remain on the books. To reconcile losses, reserves are down significantly from three years ago. The city’s contingency funds have been spent, and unfunded liabilities are growing. Last month, the state demanded $4.8 million in redevelopment funds that the council majority tried to hide, and that was on top of another state claw-back when the city misappropriated more than $2 million of the state’s money for the Oso widening.

In Councilman Frank Ury’s Dec. 28 guest column in Saddleback Valley News, he blames Sacramento for Mission Viejo’s financial woes. Sacramento has its own shortcomings, and so does City Hall.