The Buzz

City watchdogs support fiscal responsibility, accountability and integrity in government. When corrupt elected officials and their shills attack watchdogs as being “anti-everything,” look at what City Hall is trying to cover up.

`***

During the April 2 council meeting, Councilman Frank Ury complained about the lack of leadership. Consider the irony with Ury sitting in the center seat as mayor. He made the statement after things didn’t go his way during the meeting. He’s tried since 2005 to help UDR build high-density housing on the former Kmart site on Los Alisos. In January 2011, he told his Planning Commission appointee, Steve Spillman, that tearing down the old Kmart building was a priority. Ury’s own “leadership” has been to enrich his campaign financiers. Ury’s effort to relieve UDR of its affordable units failed with a 3-2 vote on April 2. UDR’s profit margin (including potential sale of the rezoned property) declined with this setback.

***

Quail Run homeowners and others who live near the proposed dog park site on Felipe do not accept that a dog park should be forced into their neighborhood. In 2010, residents who live adjacent to a proposed dog park site of Oso Viejo Park went through the same process. When the council majority voted to build a dog park in Oso Viejo Park, homeowners sued the city. Councilwoman Trish Kelley was the first to back off, changing her vote to no. Quail Run residents have a blueprint, thanks to Oso Viejo Park neighbors who successfully stopped the project. A reasonable place for a dog park is – and always has been – next to the animal shelter. Some residents have pointed to Barbadanes Park, suggesting a dog park could be created there at a relatively low cost.

***

An alert Mission Viejo resident spoke during the April 2 council meeting, questioning city staff’s recommendation to approve $358,344 for a “remodel” of a meeting room in the library. A discussion among councilmembers showed that most of them hadn’t visited the library to see the room. The project is redecorating, not remodeling. Adding wallpaper and decorative stuff – Disneyland-style trees – is not a remodel. City Hall’s excuse for the expense of $358,344 is to make it more attractive for storytelling. With all the storytelling in City Hall, taxpayers should expect the cost to double or triple if the project goes forward. Councilmembers Frank Ury and Trish Kelley were ready to vote for it without seeing the room. Beyond the city staff’s deception of calling it a remodel, renderings depict the room with specialized furniture for children while the proposal includes no furniture. The agenda item was tabled for 30 days. City Hall staffers can now write speeches for shills to read at the council meeting, attacking those who disagree with spending $358,344 to decorate a room.

***

Motorists on Crown Valley Parkway are encountering new A.R.T. – Another Rattay Travesty. Posters on stone outhouses look like an explosion in a paint factory. The garish visual assault further uglifies the medians. Money that was misspent on A.R.T. could have been used to maintain the shaggy palms along Crown Valley Parkway.

***

An environmentalist visited the proposed dog park site on Felipe and stated the open space is protected habitat. She said, “It looks as if it has been weed-abated. Some of the coastal sage scrub formerly thriving on this parcel has mysteriously disappeared. When a government agency contracts for weed abatement, some crews either don’t recognize the vegetation or they’ve been given no direction.”

***

Reminder from Mission Viejo Chapter Leader Bruce Mayall, ACT for America: Robert Reyto, D.D.S., will be the group’s featured speaker on Mon., April 9, 7:30 p.m. Reyto’s topic will be “The Myths and Realities of the Qur’an: what every infidel needs to know about Islam’s sacred texts.” Doors open at 6:45 p.m., and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30 p.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m. The meeting location is the Norman P. Murray Community Center, Sycamore B Room, 24932 Veterans Way, Mission Viejo