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The Buzz During the Jan. 25 council meeting, Councilman Frank Ury blurted out a comment, either without thinking or as an attempt to disguise his record. He claimed to be part of a “first” effort in the city to end redevelopment. Watchdogs have for years said redevelopment should end, but residents have never had a majority of representatives on the council who wanted to end it. The council majority, including Ury, attempted to preserve redevelopment, even after the state took steps last year to end it. As a defining moment, Ury was in the 4-1 majority in 2011 to continue redevelopment in Mission Viejo under its new name, the Mission Viejo Housing Authority. Only Councilwoman Cathy Schlicht voted against it. *** The Jan. 27 Saddleback Valley News, page 21, published notice of a public hearing on Feb. 6. From the notice: “The City of Mission Viejo City Council will conduct a public hearing for the purpose of considering a proposed Ordinance designating Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones within the City of Mission Viejo as recommended by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The proposed Ordinance will impact several areas along the City’s eastern boundary, and areas northerly of the Foothill Transportation Corridor (SR 241) and in vicinity of El Toro Road.” Residents have two weeks’ notice to determine the impact on private property owners and/or ask what circumstance called for a public hearing at this time. *** Remember the slogan “It’s the economy, stupid,” used by Bill Clinton in 1992? Political strategist James Carville coined the phrase for Clinton’s presidential campaign. The slogan could rise again in 2012 to highlight Barack Obama’s dismal economic record. Congressman Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is adding another slogan, “It’s the Senate, stupid.” As part of DeMint’s leadership in the Senate Conservatives Fund, he is emphasizing four key races in the 2012 elections: Josh Mandel in Ohio, Ted Cruz in Texas, Don Stenberg in Nebraska, and Mark Neumann in Wisconsin. http://senateconservatives.com *** From OC Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s Jan. 27 newsletter, BOS Chair John Moorlach presented the State of the County. It’s not rosy: “Among the many important issues and challenges facing the County this year are the ongoing pension liabilities, continued slumping property values, the taxes on which the general fund is dependent, and Proposition 172 sales tax revenue. The County also faces multiple interactions with the State, including realignment to the local governments, especially in public safety, the statewide dissolution of redevelopment agencies and the vehicle license fee (VLF) takeaway. Moorlach’s presentation can be found at *** Karen England, executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute, sent an announcement last week regarding the Initiative to Repeal SB 48 after a referendum failed to stop its blatant historical revisionism and political agenda. England says, “As you know we are about to launch the statewide task of gathering over 700,000 signatures to qualify an initiative that will deal with SB 48. After coming just short of the signatures necessary to qualify for a referendum, the coalition of organizations committed to stopping SB 48 sensed the public was not finished with this issue and, given more time, we could effectively stop this damaging legislation. The initiative is called the CLASS Act to Repeal SB 48. CLASS Act is designed to repeal the following three elements of SB 48.
SB 48 requires schools to teach positive lessons about multi-sexual lifestyles and bans them from saying anything negative, even if there were truly negative historical facts about these same groups. Various "historical figures" would be included based only upon their sexual orientation rather than focusing on their actual historical contributions to society. |
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