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The Buzz The Mission Viejo Planning and Transportation Commission met on Mar. 12. Anyone reading the OC Register might think the only outcome was a decision to delay speed bumps. A big reason for lack of newspaper coverage in Mission Viejo is the way the city manager has quashed objective reporting by OCR and Saddleback Valley News. As an additional issue, the combined newspapers now have one reporter covering Mission Viejo, and he is also the reporter for Laguna Hills. Cities as large as Mission Viejo need a real newspaper. *** During the Mar. 12 meeting, Planning Commissioner Bob Bruchmann was barred from participating in an Agenda Item after he violated the Brown Act. He wasn’t on the dais, nor was he in the audience. Bruchmann had emailed his fellow commissioners advocating that UDR should be allowed to dump its affordable housing units. Bruchmann is Councilwoman Trish Kelley's appointee – he’s not new – and he’s been trained on rules, which apparently didn’t sink in. As another outcome of the meeting, the Commission approved, with a 2-1 decision (Bruchmann was absent and another commissioner is in the hospital), a land swap with the county to proceed with a $1-million dog park. How did OCR/SVN’s reporter miss all that when he was sitting in the room? *** During a meeting of a political club last week, a council member invited residents to participate in a workshop about the condition of city streets. Several residents responded that they would like to be involved. Somehow, years of input and voluminous information from residents – public comments during council meetings, detailed reports sent directly to City Hall about the poor condition of hundreds of streets by name and the outcry of residents about deterioration of the street in front of their home – have not motivated City Hall to maintain the streets. Residents have never demanded streets “in tip-top condition.” However, they have demonstrated that the city’s seven-year cycle for resurfacing is inadequate. Additionally, the ongoing neglect is far more expensive than implementing a five-year cycle. *** Heads-up to residents about the Mar. 19 council meeting: Agenda Item #12 proposes a land swap with the city giving seven acres to the county in return for three acres for the $1M dog park. Residents have repeatedly suggested the city already owns land suitable for the project, Barbadanes Park, a portion of which could be modified to accommodate a dog park at minimal cost. However, containing the expense and scope of the project or actually finishing it wouldn’t benefit City Hall’s bureaucrats. The dog park issue has engaged the top tier of city employees since 2002, and it helps 150-plus city staffers look busy. Also note Agenda Item # 13, “Mid-Year Budget Review for FY 2011/12.” Within this item is a vote to update positions and salary ranges. Note sub-paragraph #2: Adopt Resolution 12-XX Updating the City’s Authorized Positions and Salary Ranges Schedules for Authorized Job Classifications. *** Councilman Frank Ury and Mission Viejo’s city treasurer are on the city’s ad hoc committee to dissolve its redevelopment agency. Also on the committee are Bob Breton and Pat Imburgia, appointed by OC Supv. Pat Bates. On the downside, all members are subject to the influence of Ury. However, it will provide countywide political players a chance to observe. The committee is subject to public scrutiny, and its members must abide by the Brown Act. Elected officials who have known Ury for 20 years might still be under the mistaken impression he is a conservative. His record on the council shows he supports bureaucracy, special interest, self-dealing and closed government. As examples of the latter, he voted to disallow the public from pulling items from the consent calendar, and he made the motion to cease recording closed-session council meetings. *** Reaction to Gov. Moonbeam’s tax deal: “Brown Surrenders on Ballot Tax Measure,” by John Wildermuth. “If there was ever any doubt that Gov. Jerry Brown is mighty worried about the chances of passing his tax initiative come November, he eliminated it Wednesday when surrendered to the ‘something for nothing’ wing of the Democratic Party... .” *** Mission Viejo Republicans are asking about the unusual circumstances of having 22 candidates running for the GOP Central Committee in the 73rd Assembly District. Redistricting accounts for an increased number of incumbents, but it doesn’t explain the high number of challengers. A candidate who lives in Aliso Viejo is saying he drew many of the challengers into the race with the objective of removing incumbents. |
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