A proposal from City Manager Dennis Wilberg recommends the Council endorse an Internet Sales Tax at its meeting on Monday. The issue is part of a State “legislative platform” proposed by the Council in concert with the California League of Cities.

Most other issues are designed to enhance local control. One item proposes opposition to plans which would go beyond the status quo requiring agencies to  justify the withholding of public records. Another favors federal and state grants to build low income housing. The list can be viewed by clicking here.

The City has a contract with a professional lobbying firm to represent it in Sacramento.

On Monday the City Council will adopt an ordinance identifying almost 1,000 parcels in Mission Viejo as Very High Fire Threat areas. The ordinance is required under state law to assist fire agencies in creating preventative measures.

The zone includes housing tracts north of the 241 toll road and along the eastern border of the City, including some homes in the upscale Canyon Crest and Stoneridge associations. The parcels will be indentified in a notice provided by the City to the County Recorder, County Assessor  ad OC Planning Department.

A city fire map and detail maps can be viewed by clicking here. The City also has the option of identifying parcels in High and Moderate risk areas (map), but staff is recommending against including those areas within an ordinance.

The San Onofre Nuclear Plant has been idle since Tuesday afternoon when a potential leak was discovered in one unit.  The other unit was already offline for maintenance and refueling.

Edison said the possible leak and small radiation leak created no safety threats and that ample power reserves existed to cover electric demand. The Company did not report when Tuesday’s problem would be fully diagnosed and repaired. 

During maintenance on the other reactor a large number of tubes were found to have advance wear, according to the LA Times. Edison is still analyzing the premature wear to determine which tubes would require repair or replacement.

In the late 1990s the City of Mission Viejo approved an $85 million bond issue, including principal, interest and fees for attorney’s, bond sellers, consultants, and accountants. The money was used in a redevelopment project to build two parking garages as part of the Shops of Mission Viejo renovation in the late 1990s. In a Register article, City Treasurer Cheryl Dyas reported the outstanding debt on the mall bonds was $25.4 million as of June 2011.

But in the article by Register Watchdog staff writer Teri Sforza, Dyas asserts that the debt doesn’t qualify under the legal definition of “outstanding long-term debt for Mission Viejo’s Redevelopment Agency because they were issued by a joint-powers authority formed by the City and its redevelopment agency.

So Mission Viejo’s “outstanding long-term debt” is only $2 million carried specifically by the redevelopment agency. The City’s total indebtedness for all activity of $44.5 million is an “irrelevant” number, she contends. The Register’s Sforza agrees, calling the number “meaningless.” Her original article reporting $2 million was under the column banner of OC Watchdog.

Indeed, redevelopment agencies statewide have been abolished by the California Legislature and Governor Jerry brown, with the concurrence of the California Supreme Court. It ended 60 years of mismanagement and faulty accounting, according to State Controller John Chang after auditing 18 California redevelopment agencies (not including Mission Viejo). Cities cited or designated as blighted mostly affluent commercial areas as well as inner city areas in true decline. Mission Viejo citizen activist Larry Gilbert explores the Mission Viejo Crown Valley corridor in a video to question its designation as blighted.

The City of Mission Viejo may consider the true mall debt as irrelevant, but the two parking garages are real world concrete, rebar and mortar financed by bonds purchased by a private investment entity which will want to get paid. It should be noted Dyas came aboard in 2011, more than a decade after the mall bonding.

Will the private investors be content to write off the debt if the state does not allow continued funding for existing redevelopment and/or other city taxing bodies? I don’t think so.

The City paid for the garages, but turned owner over the Simon Properties, the mall owner. If the city debt is irrelevant, will Simon Properties be required to pay off the bonds. I hope so.

Allan Pilger

Epilogue:

A wife catches her husband in an amorous embrace with another woman.

The husband looks at his wife and says, “The main question is whether you believe what you see or what I am about to tell you.”

I keep this little parable in mind as another citizen activist watch dogging over Mission Viejo City Hall.

The CUSD Trustees on Wednesday approved the expansion of Oxford Preparatory Academy (OPA) at Barcelona Hills Elementary campus near Los Alisos and Trabuco. The decision came on a 6-1 decision despite an opposite recommendation from CUSD staff.

The campus was shared by the two schools this year, but the action means the Barcelona students will be transferred to other Mission Viejo schools next year – Castille and Reilly.

OPA released the following statement:

While we all celebrate the bright future of our program that was secured tonight, we are also keenly aware of the devastating news that was delivered to our neighbors at Barcelona Hills. We all must be mindful of this in the coming months, and show respect, consideration and sensitivity to their community. Thank you for your understanding and compassion.

Oxford is expected to increase its enrollment from about 450 to 772 students next year. It says it has over 1,600 names on a waiting list.

Morris Silver (C) is presented with 55-year service recognition by Exalted Ruler LeCouvre (L) and Secretary Hart (R)

The local Elks Lodge has recognized members who reached various anniversaries with the organization. Morris Silver was the senior honoree present with 55 years of service to the Elks. Eugene Totera was absent but recognized for his membership spanning 60 years.

Exalted Ruler Gloria R. LeCouvre presided over the meeting, and Lodge Secretary Charlie Hart acted as master of ceremonies. Over 121 service pins were awarded.

Celebrating 50 years of membership were Tom Meany and Hartcel Hobbs. Forty-five year pins were awarded to Hal Friedlander, Stephen Janosik and long time bingo volunteer Frank DePrizio. John Fischle, David Roadway, William Donohoe and Gerald Logan received 40-year pins. Thirty-five year service pins were presented to George Wegner, Jim Elder, Richard Schneller and Thomas Sargent.

“They are the people who built and made the Elks the charity organization it is today.” said Exalted ruler LeCouvre.

Secretary Hart explained, “Pins are awarded for five-year increments of service. We affectionately call it ‘Old Timers Night’and it is always a fun filled get-together with storytelling from the older members about the early history of our Lodge.”

The Diablos and Cougars face off Wednesday in a battle of basketball powerhouses. Both are undefeated in South Coast League play.

Mission’s overall record is 18-1 and Capo is 17-2, but the Diablos are ranked 2nd behind the Cougars in the CIF Southern Section Division 1A. Statewide Capo is ranked  18th by Maxpreps and Mission 25th going into Wednesday’s showdown.

The Diablos have won 18 consecutive games. Its only loss was the opener against Mater Dei, the number-one ranked team in California. Capo also lost to Mater Dei, by exactly the same margin as Mission. The Cougars other loss was to Crenshaw, the 65th ranked team in the State.

Mission has shown the strongest offense with 1,320 points over 19 games compared to Capo’s 1,176. Capo, however, has limited its opponents to 884 points while Mission has yielded 1,006.

The Cougars will have home court advantage, but the final game of the season on Feb 9 will be a rematch on the Diablos’ floor. Tip-off Wednesday is at 7 p.m.

Mission Viejo and Laguna Niguel are affluent, family-oriented cities with strong public safety, upscale homes and neighborhoods, excellent schools, and quality parks and recreation offerings.

Parents work hard to maintain their homes, homeowners associations mostly take care of neighborhoods, and public school districts provide perhaps the best education in the state. Abundant parks and recreation centers were mostly built by private, planned development in both communities, and in part by the County of Orange.

But the City Halls in Mission Viejo and Laguna Niguel take credit for making the two communities great places to live.

Both cities for the past few years have used taxpayer dollars for True North Research to conduct biennial surveys that show that residents are overwhelmingly pleased with the quality of life in their communities–99 percent in Mission Viejo and 98 percent in Laguna Niguel rated city life as excellent or good.

True North Research, in a presentation early January before the Laguna Niguel City Council, heaped praise on the leadership of the council and staff for the scores. The city, it would seem takes credit for parents’ hard work to provide their children with quality lives and education. [Happiest In Laguna Niguel].

“These are amazing scores, some of the best I’ve ever seen,” True North’s Timothy McLarney remarked at the Jan. 11 Laguna Niguel City Council meeting. This gives the illusion that Laguna Niguel stands out, rather than producing similar scores to neighboring, upscale communities like Mission Viejo.

True North made similar, glowing comments at previous Mission Viejo City Council meetings on survey results.

But McLarney went even further in praising the City of Laguna Niguel: The high scores “don’t happen by accident. They are earned,” he was quoted in the Register. This would be like A.C. Neilsen Co. in reporting American Idol as the top-rated TV show: “These ratings don’t just happen, they’re earned–Stephen Tyler, you are one, smokin’ dude!”

True North isn’t the only survey company pumping out glowing survey results for cities. The Dispatch reported in Oct. 2008 that a different survey company revealed 98 percent satisfaction with community life in Tustin.

Satisfaction with public safety directly corresponds to the affluence of Saddleback Valley cities and Irvine, which are perennial among the safest communities in the nation. They share the honor with affluent cities in other parts of the country.

Ironically, the City of Mission Viejo’s push for high-density housing will challenge quality of life standards with overcrowding schools, more traffic congestion and more crime, starting with un-patrolled apartment parking garages.

In a Dispatch comment on self-serving surveys by government and business, following a city-sponsored survey in Mission Viejo, I noted:

“…last night Jay Leno mused on his Tonight Show how the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition reported a study showing that chocolate is a “super food” more nutritious than fresh fruit. That got a chuckle, but Jay got a big laugh when he said, the study was done by “HER SHEY.” Duh.:

At least Hershey put its own name on the research center.

Allan Pilger

Mission Viejo’s former Library Director Valerie Maginnis has stirred controversy in Boulder, Colorado by firing a 50-year volunteer. Maginnis left MV last year to accept the same position for Boulder.

A Boulder citizen sent a comment to the Mission Viejo Dispatch stating, “You can have [her] BACK!”

The volunteer, Judy Volc, has been reading to Boulder’s children for half a century with Storytime for Kids. She told the City’s Daily Camera, ”While I was working, I taught children’s literature at CU and (the University of Denver); I spoke at national conferences. It’s not like I don’t have a pretty good reputation in the field. It’s really what I do. It’s always been about the books and the kids. It’s really tough.”

Maginnis told the DC reporter she wanted to hire staff instead of using volunteers. She praised Volc’s service, but explained, “I can’t hold volunteers accountable. I can hold staff accountable.”

Volc offered to read on days when it wouldn’t interfere with the staff schedule, but Maginnis declined. Judy’s last day with Storytime will be this Wednesday.

A police chase ended this afternoon about 1:30 p.m. with a collision between a deputy sheriff”s vehicle and the car of the fleeing suspect. The collision occurred on Muirlands just north of Turf Avenue.

There was substantial damage to the suspect’s blue sedan, but deputies reported there were no injuries.

About eight Sheriff’s cars and one OCSD SUV were on the scene. There was no immediate information regarding the reason for the pursuit.