Category Archives: In the News
Making a Difference: OWW to Offer Free Grocery Shopping and a Life Lesson
Operation Warm Wishes Presents: The Great! The Amazing Food Shopping Spree and Budgeting Lesson for Children in Need! A Shopping Spree like No Other! Monday, January 18th 2021
It’s more than food; it’s an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our children and families in need.
Each child will receive a $40 groceries gift card and a shopping list with items that must be purchased (cereal, pasta, canned goods, fruits, vegetables and bread – any of their choosing, as long as it does not over $40) along with coupons and healthy and inexpensive meal ides and recipes. Each child will be teamed up with a shopping coach and a calculator to help them shop and budget.
The purpose of this event is not to only provide children and their families with food, but to also give them a lesson on budgeting and working together.
Monday, January 18th 7am to 11am at Albertsons in the city of Tustin (13270 Newport Ave, Tustin, CA 92780)
To register your child and for more details please contact TyRon Jackson at (714) 363-6621 or www.OperationWarmWishes.com
It’s going to be great! It’s going to be amazing!
I’ll Have the Fancy Water, Please
Several months ago, Our Town Tustin wrote about the shady dealings with Poseidon Surfside and their 20 year push to build a desalinator in Orange County. The idea is to use land where a power generating station stands in Huntington Beach and suck water out of the ocean, several miles from shore to make clean, potable water at the expense of the marine ecology. Of course, everyone from the Sierra Club to the Surfrider Foundation has rightly objected to the project. The most important reason, however, is that Orange County simply does not need a desalinator as they are not and will not be short on water any time soon.
The company has made every play in the book to get their project off the ground, despite the enormous opposition. They even had their choirboy, Gavin Newsom, take out a major stumbling block to insure passage over the last hurdle. That stumbling block was Santa Ana Water Board member, William von Blasingame, an outspoken critic of the project. Newsom then replaced him with our very own City of Tustin Mayor Letitia Clark. Clark, a second term member of the city council, has so far failed to make a public statement regarding her position on the project.
Step back in time, once again, to OTT’s post regarding Gavin Newsom’s faux pax at the ritzy French Laundry, a restaurant in the Napa area. You may recall that Newsom attended a large gathering to celebrate a birthday of one of his close friends and lobbyist, Jason Kinney. Neither Newsom or, as far as we could tell, any of the guests were wearing masks or social distancing. Newsom made a lame apology for getting caught and hoped it would all go away.
There’s just one little problem.
It seems Newsom and Kinney are BFFs. And, until recently, an entry on his firm’s website boasted of his close connection with the governor saying he has been advising Newsom for over 14 years. That wouldn’t be so bad except Kinney is a professional lobbyist and has some big name companies he lobbies for. In fact, one of his biggest clients is Poseidon Surfside which, over the last year and a half, paid Kinney’s firm Axiom Advisors, $500,000 to bend the ear of the Governor and other officials. They also contributed $25,000 to Newsom’s inauguration party.
It’s not hard to put two and two together to realize that there is a rancid conflict of interest with Kinney’s friendship with Newsom. Unfortunately, it has been clear from the beginning of his term that Newsom believes he is invulnerable. In the same manner he has recklessly wielded his executive power over the Covid-19 debacle, he has worked to clear the way for Poseidon.
The desalination project is prime example of corrupt politics. Poseidon is owned by an international holding company that stands to make millions off this project for its (mostly) foreign investors. That is, of course, what international conglomerates do. Through Kinney’s firm they have invested heavily in lobbying efforts to see their project through. But the billion dollar project will be built at the expense of every resident and business in Orange County. And for what?
Current estimates put desalinated water from the project at $1800 an acre foot while current groundwater cost is about $600 for the same amount. Orange County now imports about a quarter of its needed water at almost twice the cost for groundwater. An MWDOC study stated that, even in the worst case scenario, Orange County would be short 23,000 acre feet in a drought year. The Poseidon project would generate a minimum 50,000 acre feet of water per year with no place to sell it. Yet, if this project is approved, ratepayers will be on the hook for drastic increases for water they cannot use.
Poseidon execs refute the study, saying the governor’s abandonment of the Delta Tunnel project means that Orange County could actually suffer a 100,000 acre foot shortage. Uh….no, the governor did not abandon the project. He did downsize the project to one tunnel but the water is still coming (eventually). And, the cost of the tunnel will be borne by the entire state and serve 25 million residents. It seems Poseidon stretched the truth a little.
So, where does this leave us? More precisely, where does it leave Mayor Clark? In past discussions, it was clear that the Santa Ana Water Board, which must pass approval for the project to go forward, was split on the issue. von Blasingame was simply the target Newsom aimed at. There are other dissenting voices on the project. Unless they have changed their minds, Clark may hold the deciding vote on the board.
Most cities in Orange County have shown little interest in seeing this project go forward. As far as we know, Tustin has not made a public statement on the desalination project, even though it would impact customers of the city water department. Clark’s position is likewise unknown. The Santa Ana Water Board has not agendized the matter for discussion or vote. When it does, Clark should do what is good for the city and county and join other dissenting votes to put this project to an unglorified end.
Saying Goodbye
You may have heard by now that former Orange County Sheriff, Sandra Hutchens, passed away a few days ago. Hutchens, the third female sheriff in California and the first in Orange County, was 66 at her passing. Current Sheriff Don Barnes wrote an eloquent press release of admiration and respect, calling her a mentor and friend. “She led the department with courage, grace and dignity.”
Sheriff Hutchens took office in a time of strife and crisis in the OCSD. The former sheriff had been tried and convicted of federal charges of witness tampering, stemming from a year long investigation of corruption in the department. The department, to say the least, was left tattered and worn.
Hutchens was appointed for the remainder of the term and went to work immediately to repair the damage done by her predecessor(s). She made substantial changes to the department that left many conservatives wondering about her ability to lead. She was, after all, a product of a liberal Los Angeles County law enforcement agency. But, she was determined to restore the honor and dignity of the deputies who worked for her.
When the federal courts found in favor of the gun-toting crowd in 2014 (Peruta vs. San Diego), Hutchens complied by relaxing the standards for which a concealed weapons permit would be issued. She gained further favor and respect with the conservative crowds when, after the courts overturned the initial order, she left the looser standards in place.
Hutchens’ instincts helped her give the department direction and purpose again. She made changes to the jails to keep prisoners and deputies safer and more accountable. She brought the department into the 21st century regarding the use of electronic databases for record keeping – records that could not be altered. She withstood attacks from the DA’s office and criticism from the Board of Supervisors. Where there was praise, it went to staff; when there was criticism, she readily took the blame. She had high ethical standards and expected the same for those who worked for her.
I met Sheriff Hutchens when she first took office in 2008. I was a board director of the union that represented the sheriffs special deputies and most civilian employees of the department. I found her to be affable, intelligent and respectful of others. She was genuinely interested in the welfare of her employees and it showed. Her demeanor commanded respect, not fear. I liked her.
Sheriff Hutchens retired in 2019 I think due mostly to her long standing battle with breast cancer. She was diagnosed in 2012 and she successfully fought it into remission. She successfully ran for two terms as Sheriff, choosing not to run for a third. Unfortunately, cancer became the ultimate winner and, after a brief relapse, she succumbed to the disease over the weekend.
OC Sheriff Don Barnes said, “She restored our pride, gave us back our dignity and rebuilt trust with the people we serve. She kept her oath, kept her promises, and ended her time in office leaving this agency better than when she started.”
I agree. RIP, Sheriff.
Masks, Curfews & Smirks
It seems like only yesterday we were sitting at the restaurant table, enjoying a glass of wine, laughing with friends and celebrating birthdays. Oh, wait that wasn’t us. That was Governor Gavin Newsom who, as has been typical, ignored the rules he has been touting for 8 months and had a grand old time with friends at the The French Laundry Restaurant in Yountville (that’s Napa for you peasants).
Never mind that he got caught red-handed with photos of him going bare-faced and everything. He actually had the nerve to go on television and , with his most insincere smirk, said that he “owned” the mistake and that was that, you should just forget about it because we all make mistakes, right? Right…..
So, I did something I rarely do, I actually watched the conference where he apologized, gave alarming statistics and said something to the effect that he was “studying” the use of curfews by Germany and Saudi Arabia. That was actually double speak for “we’re going to implement curfews in California,” because -two days later- he did.
In implementing his order for the curfew, Newsom said, “It is crucial that we act to decrease transmission and slow hospitalizations before the death count surges. We’ve done it before and we must do it again.” Now mind you, I’m not sure this applies to Newsom or the elite in Orange County. Although Tustin issued a press release, it basically referred to the governor’s press release. Perhaps the Chamber of Commerce can shed some light on this.
Of course, there are a couple of questions. For one, it has been my observation that most businesses are already closed by 8pm. I work on the other side of the county several nights a week and often find myself looking for someplace besides the usual fast food joints to get a meal on the way home. It is a rare night when anyone is open. So, I kind of wonder just how much this curfew will accomplish. Does Covid-19 actually become more virulent between the hours of 10pm and 5am? Will I need to double mask?
Then, of course, there is enforcement. Countywide, Sheriff Don Barnes has reiterated his long standing view on the issue. “At this time, due to the need to have deputies available for emergency calls for service, deputies will not be responding to requests for face-coverings or social gatherings-only enforcement,” read a statement from the Sheriff’s office. Barnes had previously said his deputies would take an inform and educate approach to mask enforcement.
Here in Tustin, things are a bit vague. Back in March, when we shutdown the county, the city issued a press release stating that non-essential businesses must be shut. Other than that, there was no discussion of enforcement or any other action to be taken by the police or code enforcement. if TPD arrested anyone for violating the shutdown, I’m not aware of it. The governor’s strike teams didn’t even show up, darn it.+
I suspect, as of Saturday night, it will pretty much be business as usual from 10pm to 5am. Most businesses in the city already close much earlier than that. I doubt the SWAT team will descend on the outdoor patio of Roma d’ Italia if there are a few lingering customers finishing off their wine. And don’t expect your mother-in-law who likes to take late night walks through old town with her corgie to suddenly disappear when armed men dressed in black suddenly fly out of an SUV and whisk her away. Not gonna happen.
Chief of Police, Stu Greenberg, has not issued a press release regarding the curfew. I doubt that his office will, as much as I doubt he will direct his officers to take any enforcement action at all. That’s not to say if you are out and about past 10pm and are acting like an idiot you won’t be stopped. I’m sure at that point the fine officers of our city will pay some attention to you. But, walking your dog after 10pm. Well, that’s essential, isn’t it?
Our Town Tustin 