The City recently received a letter of invitation from the Tournament of Roses to enter another float for next year’s 2010 parade. City Manager Dennis Wilberg shared the letter with the Council Monday evening, but stated he would “politely decline” the invitation unless any council member wanted to suggest otherwise. No council member responded.
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Mr. Gilbert’s exposure of the out of control spending on the 2009 Rose Parade float should be commended for saving the tax payers from continuing this type of waste in 2010.
After months of incessant effort by city hall, the spin about the float has collapsed. How could city officials abandon this “wonderful community-building, image-enhancing experience” that was seen by bazillions worldwide? The proceeds from national TV coverage must surely be rolling in with all the tourists descending on Mission Viejo.
THANK YOU to the blogs and watchdogs for calling this colossal waste what it is. I agree with Joe that Larry Gilbert deserves credit for exposing the fraud — false claims of “thousands of participants” and hidden costs. I’m grateful for all the revelations on the respective blogs, OrangeJuiceBlog.com, MissionViejoDispatch.com and MissionViejoCA.com. The process of raising awareness is time consuming, but it’s happening.
I don’t understand! If the Rose Parade Float was an excellent experience, great exposure for the city, and was not a complete waste of taxpayer money, why wouldn’t we do it every year? I was under the impression the council was proud of their “investment” and would jump at the opportunity to showcase the city every year?
As a former publisher I frequently posted “Media Watches”on the mix of rising blogs and declining newspapers.
The blogs Connie mentioned (the last one is MissionViejoCA.org, not .com) successfully informed the community of the wasteful effort to promote a built-out city with no tourist attractions with a parade float. The city council and staff meekly backed out of the ludicrous idea of fielding another taxpayer-subsidized float.
Meanwhile the Register and Saddleback Valley News unsuccessfully tried to hype the parade float as a good taxpayer investment in community spirit. Included was an attempt to contradict Larry Gilbert with reference to a dubious Register online poll on the float.