Mission Viejo Buzz - 02/09/13

The Buzz

The Mission Viejo Chapter of ACT for America will hold a general meeting on Mon., Feb. 11, at the Norm Murray Community Center in Mission Viejo. Doors open at 6:45 p.m., and the meeting starts promptly at 7:30 p.m. Guest speaker Jamie Glazov’s topic will be “United in Hatred for America: The Left’s Dangerous Romance with Tyrants and Terrorists.” Glazov is the author and editor of Front Page online magazine. The Community Center is located at 24932 Veterans Way, Mission Viejo. Note the venue change to the Palo Verde Room. Sign up for ACT for America chapter announcements at www.act4oc.org

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This blog has published numerous articles about Mission Viejo’s City Hall as a bloated bureaucracy with an excessive number of employees – many with no responsibilities relating to core public services. Incredibly, the number of people on the city payroll has mushroomed to 271. The city of Rancho Santa Margarita has 60 people on its payroll – mostly seasonal or part-time contractors and fewer than 25 permanent, full-time staffers. Brad Morton posted details on his blog, including the cost to residents, http://missionviejodispatch.com/budget/city-hall-bloated-with-employees/#comments

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How do 271 people in City Hall manage to look busy? As an example revealed during a council meeting last year, the city’s Readers Festival completely absorbed numerous employees, including two full-time staffers who spent an entire year planning the event. Last month, the city mailed out its quarterly publication, “Leisure Time,” with 24 pages of programs created, presented and/or managed by City Hall. These include inane activities of little interest to residents. Particularly ridiculous are the ones with no point whatsoever or clearly not the business of government (“Mission Viejo Takes Flight” and “films of character”). Many of the activities compete directly with and undercut businesses. For example, cake decoration and crafts are offered by Michaels, sewing is offered by Moore’s, children’s activities abound in the private sector and makeup techniques are available at department stores trying to sell cosmetics. On page 4, Business Workshops include developing a winning business plan. It is difficult for a business to win in Mission Viejo with such strong competition from City Hall.

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The public can get a look at the wasteful $400,000 decorating job in a room in the library by checking out a photo on page 6 of “Leisure Time.” Residents who visit the library to see how the tax dollars were spent will discover the room is kept locked.

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A Mission Viejo conservative activist, Dan, sent the following link that explains the difference between an assault rifle and a semi-automatic rifle. Dan says about the push for an assault weapons ban, “After watching this military expert, you will ask yourself WHY? What are the real political reasons?” www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=8C-CLsMRcA0

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During the Feb. 4 council meeting, Councilwoman Trish Kelley presented an item about Mission Viejo’s upcoming 25th anniversary of cityhood. When the city staff wants to waste a great deal of money on a party, they have learned to give an appearance the council signed off on it. The two council members who are willing to put their names on practically anything are Trish Kelley and Dave Leckness. In 2008, the city staff’s 20th anniversary party had very little to do with the community. Here’s an example from this blog’s coverage of Easelgate, the city staff’s fiasco in which administrator Keith Rattay made false claims about the costs and community participation in a photo display. Activists combed city records to demonstrate a city contractor (not “150 volunteers”) built 500 poorly designed easels to display photos, which were mostly taken by city staffers (not residents).

Easelgate Update, July 26. 2008 -- On July 23, the city released public records requested on July 10 by community activist Lisa De Paul-Snyder. She went to city hall on July 25 to review files she requested regarding city contractor Jamey Clark, who apparently constructed 500 easels at $45 an hour. Clark’s contracts aren’t the only point of investigation, but the huge amounts he charged between January and May are among the few places a city administrator could have hidden costs of the city’s 20th anniversary photo display, now estimated at more than $90,000. http://missionviejoca.org/News/2008_Q3/2008_07_26/article2/article2.html

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City watchdog Joe Holtzman sent information about how to get on the delay list for the gas company’s installation of Smart Meters. Joe added, “Remember, if you do not get onto the list, your gas bill will go up – just like the electric bill.” Information is provided by the Consumer Power Alliance, which has been alerting consumers about Smart Meters since 2009.

1. Option - If you do not want a battery-operated transmitting device attached to your gas meter for their wireless network, or if you do not want your current very safe, 30 to 50 year lifetime Bakelite meter removed at the discretion of the utility, So Cal Gas Is offering a free Deferred Installation Plan. CALL 877-238-0092 to apply. Wait for the Advanced Metering Prompt, and select speak to representative; it’s an easy process.

2. PLEASE NOTE: This is not an Opt-Out. As you recall, the Gas Company Opt-Out Proposal has not been approved by the PUC, since it was challenged by CPA, because it would have meant SCE customers would have been charged two opt-out fees for gas and electricity, when PG&E and SDG&E customers would only pay one opt-out fee for both gas and electricity. In addition, opt-out fees have not been finalized, so collecting fees would be a waste of time and money for both customer and utility, and, as you know, CPA has led the call for free opt-outs via socialization.

3. CPA fully endorses TURN”s assessment that the Gas Company’s priority should be repairing pipelines, per the PUC’s Ruling after San Bruno, since gas leaks are a major concern in California’s arid climate’s avid production of fire zones. In addition, some experts are concerned about the batteries being compromised by hot weather and earthquakes – and a real life potential threat to the consumer and environment.

4. If safety is important to you, please consider the Deferred Installation Program. Remember that,if you sign up for Deferred Installation, you will also have to apply for Opt-Out later.

5. Should you experience any problems with the Gas Company Deferred Installation, please contact CPA at admin@consumerspoweralliance.com , and we will inform our attorneys, headed by Mr. Tobin, who are handling this matter.

6. Donations should be sent directly to James M. Tobin; Tobin Law Group; 1100-D Mar West Street; Tiburon, CA 94920. Please designate that it is for the CPA Legal Fund.

7. Thank you for your support.