On the Agenda, March 20, 2012
The City Council will be met with a full agenda when it convenes on Tusesday, March 20, 2012.
Closed Session
Items 1 and 2 appear to be the same as the past couple of meetings. with the council conferring with the city attorney on possible litigation. Additionally, there are five claims to be considered, all but one from private parties. The fifth is a claim from the Estancia Homeowners Association in Tustin Ranch.
Item 4 – Exiting Litigation includes the two lawsuits between the city and Tustin Unified School District. The oldest of these two lawsuits is scheduled to be heard early April in Santa Ana. The case between the city and T-mobile is also set for discussion but we have no other information regarding it at this time.
Public Hearing
Two public hearings are scheduled.
Item 1 Tentative Parcel Map and Conditional Use Permit is a request by the owner to allow redividing of three current parcels into four in order to facilitate the sale of the individual offices as medical condos. This is the medical complex behind the Pharmacy and Chipotle on Newport Avenue. If your doctor’s office isn’t back there, you may never even have known it was there. In any case, the use will not change and the city is requiring certain conditions to be met to bring the facilities up to date.
Item 2 General Plan Amendment and Specific Plan Amendment to MCAS. The only issue we have with the approval of this plan is the loss of open area in the form of a 9 acre park that was included in the original neighborhood plan. This was also a concern for the Planning Commission last month. And, although the housing remains basically the same, it does change some aspects in allowing up to 30 percent of the total units to be rentals (read apartments).
Consent Calendar
The usual items. Expect a few to be pulled for discussion, including:
Item 6. Destruction of Records – Well, we don’t really expect this item to be pulled. We just wanted to remind the city about a prior major destruction of documents years ago that resulted in a recent fiasco.
Item 12 Administrative Support and Successor Agency Approval of Administrative Budget – Looking over the budget for the Successor Agency, one has to wonder why they have allocated $300,000 for City Attorney services. There is pass-through to three other attorney offices. Looks like the lawyers will continue to get rich from RDA, uh, I mean, the Successor Agency.
Item 15 Council Followup – This item may be pulled just because it was an item of concern for Councilmember Gavello at a previous meeting. It seems to be mostly informational concerning the construction at Jamboree and the 405 Freeway.
That’s it. Unless the Smart Meter folks show up, it seems to be pretty run of the mill in Our Town Tustin for the City Council meeting.
Posted on March 19, 2012, in Local Government, Politics, Tustin City Council and tagged City Attorney, planning commission, Smart Meter, Tustin Unified School District. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
Our Town Tustin 
Hi Jeff,
I would love to come back and speak about the Smart Meters to the Tustin City Council and will probably update them soon. Unfortunately, we have been busy working with folks who can actually impact the deployment of a Smart Meter on someones home. It’s a local, state, federal as well as international issue that is not going away and encourage you to read through my facebook/twitter feeds and website http://www.StopOCSmartMeters.com
We gave the Tustin City Council hundreds of documents outlining the privacy, security and health impacts of the Smart Meter. The Council proved to be impotent to any sort of action or discussion on the matter. So much for seeing to the welfare of the community….
I think one of the reasons why there was not much action taken by the council is because there is little they could do, one way or the other. This issue is actually one that should, and I believe is, being looked at by the PUC. On a side note, I finally got mine a few weeks ago. I haven’t noticed any of the concerns shared on the anti websites.
But, I thank you for commenting (and being a good sport). You are always welcome to share your views here.
From what I understand with the meters that have been installed, only one frequency is currently switched on – the one that transmits between homes and relays data back to SCE. RF problems commonly occur when the meter is close to a person for a long period of time (i.e., on a bedroom wall) or in bank situations when there are multiple meters (i.e.,.apartment/condos). Of course, time exposed and personal sensitivity (immune systems) are factors as well.
I do not believe that the other frequency has yet been turned on. This one will be directed inside the home creating a home area network (like wifi). The HAN will communicate with appliances and electrical stuff so that you will be able to see in real time what is drawing electricity (and eventually gas and water). There will be apps and you can control your utility components wirelessly from anywhere….and so can anyone else…if hacked into your system.
The billing has not changed yet either and I am not sure when SCE will impose the new Time of Use rates where the cost will fluctuate during the day. For instance, the 2 to 6pm slot will be the most costly. Not only that but if they determine that we are all using too much energy then they can selectively turn off your appliances (called Demand Response). This happened to a friend of mine’s 80 year old Palm Springs friend. His wet clothes sat in his dryer because it would not turn on…wrong time of day.
Since the meter has been installed your private electrical usage has now been collected and stored. Why should you care if someone knows when you turn on the lights? Most people don’t care…unless the information is used against them. Take a look at this Wired Magazine article at http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/03/petraeus-tv-remote/ The CIA is giddy with all the free surveillance they are now able to collect without the hassle of warrants.
Okay, I’m done ranting. Perhaps it’s just a warm up for another Council meeting.
By the way…your website and Tustin updates are a great source of info and humor…I especially like your play by play drama among the strong personalities! Keep up the good work and watchful eye.