Mission Viejo Buzz - 06/29/13

The Buzz

The Mission Viejo Chapter of ACT! for America will hold a General Meeting on Mon., July 8. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. The meeting starts promptly at 7:30 p.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m. at the Norman P. Murray Community Center, 24932 Veterans Way, Mission Viejo. The guest speaker will be Eyal Aranoff, co-founder of the Fuel Freedom Foundation. His topic will be “Bankrupting Jihad Inc. with $3.00 a Gallon Auto Fuel!” Aranoff is a fuels-choice advocate who will describe a practical path to cheaper, cleaner, American-made fuels.

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Councilman Frank Ury’s political life story: “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” Ury wants to run for higher office, but he can’t find an opening. Meanwhile, he’s on the front lines taking hits while enriching PR firms, consultants, developers, contractors and every other trough-feeder. A consultant recently threw him a scrap by mentioning his name as a potential candidate in the frenzy following Cong. John Campbell’s retirement announcement. The June 30 OC Register named Mimi Walters, Don Wagner, John Moorlach, Pat Bates, Dick Ackerman, Steven Choi, Diane Harkey and Harry Sidhu as possible candidates for Campbell’s seat.

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Several months ago, City Manager Dennis Wilberg proclaimed in his newsletter that residents are benefiting from the new right turn lane at the intersection of Olympiad Rd and Alicia Pkwy. He says restriping the northbound lanes on Olympiad solved the traffic backup of vehicles waiting to turn east. Residents responded: WHAT backup was he talking about, and what traffic study determined any need for a turn lane? A few cars waiting for a green light is not a backup. The city eliminated the bike lane (on OLYMPIAD Road!) to create a right-turn lane. In addition to endangering cyclists, the city created another issue. Almost without exception, drivers at that location don’t stop before turning right on red.

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On July 25, 2012, approximately 400 people attended a meeting at the Norm Murray Center to hear about a proposed water purchase for south Orange County. Attendees learned about an attempt to pump the Mojave Desert dry and the corruption of those involved: http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2012/07/cadiz-the-desert-water-pimps/ At the center of the controversy was Cadiz Inc., which was back in the news last week: “Lawyers’ fees to defend challenges to San Bernardino County’s involvement in the Cadiz water-harvesting project in the Mojave Desert have climbed again, to a total of nearly $1.5 million. County supervisors this week approved an additional $500,000 for Downey Brand, a Sacramento-based firm hired to fight Cadiz-related lawsuits by several environmental and conservation groups, a labor union and a salt mining operation. The project would pump water from an ancient underground water basin and pipe it to cities across the state.” http://www.pe.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20130620-san-bernardino-county-cadiz-water-project-legal-fees-climbing.ece#slcgm_comments_anchor

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Here’s another reference to Cadiz from last week, forwarded by a community watchdog with the comment, “The money boys will be getting a windfall on their Cadiz stock - and in the meantime, Cadiz gets a broader ratepayer base to sell its tainted water.” http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20100628005848/en/conservation/groundwater/water

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Post from Larry Gilbert, “Connecticut legislature vs California – Thinking about our Connecticut Capitol tour, I was surprised to learn that they have 151 members in their House of Representatives and 36 State Senators, yet with only 3.6 million residents they are one-tenth the population of CA. So what's the solution? Break up our legislature and create smaller districts where we can have a bigger impact on our local representatives and whose campaign costs would decrease enabling more qualified candidates to participate or remain lean and mean with our current representation where Republicans will remain in the minority.”

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On June 26, Art Pedrosa posted an article, “More OC Crony Capitalism” on OC Politics Blog.
http://ocpoliticsblog.com/more-oc-crony-capitalism/#more-13652 Week after week, the same players are in the spotlight. Voters should take note of candidates connected to this group.

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The next Mission Viejo city council meeting is Mon., July 1. The agenda can be found at http://dms.cityofmissionviejo.org/sirepub/pubmtgframe.aspx?meetid=2092&doctype=agenda

A city watchdog forwarded comments on the following agenda items:

  • Item No. 7 – selling our Rule 20A SCE funds to Newport Beach.
  • Item No. 17 – consultant for MVTV – Eric Winters was the only one to respond.
  • Item No. 19 – consultant for property tax
  • Item No. 23 – $1 million + MV Housing Authority budget with $50, 000 for lawyer Celeste Brady
  • Item No. 26 - $60,000 for Townsend Lobbyist services – how much of this money will end up in council candidates’ campaign accounts?
  • Item No. 27 – adoption of budget
  • Item No. 28 – dog park
  • Item No. 30 – school crossing guards
  • Item No. 31 – ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS – of what value is the staff report?

The good news – no unconstitutional police fines are on this agenda.