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Death and Taxes
courtesy of the Back Pew
Apologies for not doing my usual writeups on the latest Planning Commission meeting but tax day is rearing its ugly head and I want to stay ahead of the curb for once. My tax forms sent off, electronically of course, I can focus on our local issues. Here’s a recap of what has happened in the past few weeks.
Police Highlights
Although there wasn’t much on the agenda, the March 17th Tustin City Council meeting went on longer than expected. A good chunk of it was taken up by a presentation by Police Chief Charles Celano. Celano who gave a “year in review” PowerPoint on the most recent activities and plans of his department.
Notably, crime is down thanks in large part to the CTAPS crime analysis program implemented under former chief Scott Jordan. In his typical low key style that I’ve come to like, Celano lauded both sworn and professional staff of his department and laid the blame for the general reduction in crime squarely on their backs. He delivered well-deserved praise for his people for their work.
Celano has had to weather his share of criticism in the past. It wasn’t too long ago outside rabblerousers invaded the city council chambers in an attempt to discredit the department. There were also attempts to turn low key events into high profile lawsuits (wonder if the plaintiff is the same Reznek from Huntington Beach fame).Those efforts have, so far, fallen far short due in large part to the professional efforts of the department.
Who’s Fault?
Prior to the police presentation, citizens spoke during the public comment section of the meeting to garner support from the city council for a proposed Community Facilities District for the Columbus Square area of the Tustin Legacy properties. A sizable group of residents were in the chamber as one of them, Paul Callahan, spoke about the Heritage School situation.
As you recall, new residents are paying for a school they can’t use. Heritage Elementary School was supposed to open in 2011. When the school district finally announced the opening of the campus, it was to say they would be moving Hillview Continuation High School and Sycamore Adult School to the new digs.
That, of course, didn’t set well with the residents, who had moved there expecting to send their kids to local schools, or the Tustin City Council. The city council, which had a longstanding feud with the school district due largely to former councilman Jerry Amante and his puppet John Nielsen, wielded more taxpayer money by suing the school district again. Claiming the Columbus Square kids would have to go to other schools with predominantly minority populations, the city whined the residents were being cheated.
Someone should have mentioned the demographics to Nielsen and Amante before they shot their mouths off, not that it would have done much good. Nielsen, for his part, got up in a subsequent city council meeting and groused about being called a racist. Hey, if the shoe fits….
Since those dark old days, the city and the school district have kissed and made up. That was due in large part to Amante’s departure and Nielsen’s apparent inability to garner enough support to keep the fight going. The winners and losers were Tustin taxpayers.
All the while, though, the good folks at Tustin Unified School District were enjoying the public flogging of the city council, 
even as they plotted their own evil scheme against the residents by moving Hillview and Sycamore.
So, here we are in 2015 and the school district, no doubt feeling the pressure, has announced their intention to open the Heritage campus for its original purpose as an elementary school… in 2016. Yes, the district wants another year to get things as they should have been all along. I know it’s shocking but school district officials actually lied to the residents and taxpayers in the area when they said the Hillview move to Heritage was temporary. I mean, how long does it take to build a tennis court or two?
Apparently, it takes 5 years. Oh, and don’t expect Hillview to move out right away. We heard it through the grapevine that the school district has no intention of moving Hillview out before they open the site to elementary school age children. It will be a co-campus with both continuation high school students and elementary students sharing the grounds. We can’t find out for sure because the school PIO, Mark Eliot, has refused to answer our past emails (and, we gave up trying).
City Manager Jeff Parker shed some light on the issue at the end of the city council meeting.
“In part of that process was that we’ve already sent a letter to the school district saying we’re in line of thought that they move forward with the CFD [Community Facilities District]. A Community Facilities District is something that the school district actually forms, not the city. So, I wanted to make sure the public understands the process there.”
Parker wanted to make sure folks know who to blame in case something screws up. In following comments, he also made sure everyone knew the city remains a majority property owner in the area and, of course, it is the property owners who cast votes to form a CFD. That shouldn’t be too difficult to sell, even to the residents. They are, after all, desperate for a school they can actually use. Maybe the city should make the re-opening of Heritage as an elementary school exclusively, as a condition for their vote. In fact, that may be what the city is laying the groundwork for as Parker disclosed the working group that will “set the guidelines” for the CFD. In any case, don’t expect things to go that smoothly.
What they should be doing is working above board to insure the residents who desperately need these schools are informed. In reality, what will probably happen is the city attempting to influence the school district AGAIN in how they run their schools. Surely, transparency can’t be on their mind as the “committee” consists of TUSD and city officials with no representation from the affected residents. And, while I think it was underhanded of the district to actually pull the bait and switch the city earlier accused them of, it is just as reprehensible to believe the city should have any say in how schools are run. Leave that to the experts.
The last item, as a reminder, Linda Jennings of the Tustin Preservation Conservancy, appeared at the city council meeting to announce the formation of a GoFundme account for the restoration of the Jabberwocky. This Tustin landmark was restored from the ground up by the owner using local historic architect, Nathan Menard and other folks. There’s about $10,000 that was not covered by the insurance. Linda reminded folks they could help by donating whatever they could afford to the restoration effort by going to the Jabberwocky site (or see the link in our sidebar) . So far the effort has raised over $3,000 toward their goal.
On the City Council Agenda – March 3, 2015
Welcome to the Monday morning edition of Our Town Tustin. It was a quiet weekend around the home office. We were originally supposed to cook in the American Legion Riders annual chili cookoff but the impending (but never appearing) rain kept us at bay.
And, this morning, we awakened to some disturbing news just outside our city limits. The El Zocalo Mexican Steakhouse on Tustin Avemue and First Street was the scene of a shooting. The suspects and victims were arguing when at least one suspect pulled a gun and began blasting. Patrons of the steakhouse subdued the suspect and held him for police. According to Channel 5 news, one person died at the scene and four people were sent to Western Medical for treatment.
The Tustin City Council should have a fairly easy week with a light agenda. On the Closed Session, The city council will look at three Liability Claims -Sara Barba, Joseph Lujan and Rudy Gomez. The city is also in discussion with the School District over MCAS land. It’s unclear whether it is the land swap deal they were working on.
Besides the usual items on the Consent Calendar, Item 6 – Rename the Future 31.5 Acre Tustin Legacy Park, would ask the city council to rename the future sports park to Veterans Sports Park at Tustin Legacy. We’ve been following the progress of the proposed Veterans Memorial at the park for the past few weeks.
Renaming this sports park will allow the city to name the future linear park the Legacy Park. We think it is a nice touch and probably deserves some special recognition from the city council. Just don’t let the two-face John Nielsen talk about it. His past record, aligning with Jerry Amante, shows he has little care about our veterans beyond using them to further his own political agenda.
In other business on the Consent Calendar, City Hall will be getting a new HVAC system at the cost of $250,000. According to the staff report, the money was budgeted during this fiscal year.
The sole item under Regular Business is Item 6, Water Deposit Policy and Adoption of Resolution No. 15-10. This resolution will allow the Tustin Water Department to collect additional deposits from those they deem as deadbeats.
Now, I can’t remember how much of a deposit our household paid when we moved in to Tustin. I’m not sure if they still have my money or not. The current fee structure for deposits is, basically, “first and last month”. In other words, if your average water bill is $100, you would pay a $200 deposit with a $50.00 minimum required.
Under the proposed structure, the new deposit schedule could cost a customer from one to two-and-a-half times their average bill. In addition, if a customer fails to pay on time twice in a two year period, they will be required to furnish the maximum deposit.
Of course this new fee structure, which city staff claim will protect the city, will actually hurt the most vulnerable among our residents. Those with little or no credit will be hurt the most while the well-to-do get away with a returned, minimal deposit. So, how is this helping the city to accomplish any goal?
Well, there is one. The deposits are held by the city and may be invested. So, the City Treasurer will get to play with your money while they while away their time at the stock market. In the meantime, folks who struggle to pay their water bill each month, much less a long term deposit, will have their money tied up for at least two years. That’s real customer service for you.
Hopefully, the city council comments will be short and sweet so we don’t have to listen to them drone on about their exciting time at other community meetings. If they do, just remember that, in almost every case, they are touting their ability to make money from their positions as councilmembers, through the stipends they receive for the extracurricular activity.
Another Election? Well, Yeah…..
We’re in for it now. If you haven’t been keeping up with the cutthroat politics of Orange County, the latest folks to announce candidacy for office are former OC Board of Supervisor and fortuneteller extraordinaire, John Moorlach and conservative-but-approachable-by-Democrats, 68th District Assemblyman Don Wagner. They are, of course, vying for Mimi Walters’ seat. Walters has since left for the bright lights of Washington.
Wagner has served in the Assembly since 2010 and sits on several key committees, including the Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security, Revenue and Taxation and Judiciary where he serves as Vice-Chair. And, although Wagner did not receive the endorsement of the OC Republican Party, his rating on the California Republican Assembly is 94% and he received the 2014 endorsement.
Moorlach, on the other hand, has been hashing through Orange County in his typical systematic fashion. In fact, Moorlach’s campaign slogan says it all: “Focused and Understandable”. With Moorlach, though, it ought to be “Focused and Boring”, as that is what it is like to listen to him plod on about any issue he may be talking about.
John Moorlach
Moorlach, who at one time stated that he had no intention of making a career of politics, spent most of the last year exploring runs for Lt. Governor, Congress and a few local offices before settling on the Senate for his next career move. And, now that he has settled on our district, he is wasting no time seeking and obtaining coveted endorsements.
While the CRA gave a high rating to Don Wagner, it was Moorlach who got the local CRA Unit’s endorsement. I’m not sure what that amounts to in votes, considering the whole Orly Taitz-Deborah Pauly (I’m still banned from her Twitter account) Orange County bunch. So, is the CRA local unit endorsement worth much? And what other endorsements does Moorlach have besides his old bedfellow, Shawn Nelson? We really don’t know because, Moorlach’s campaign website doesn’t list his endorsements.
On the other hand, Wagner proudly shows off his list. And, while it may not contain anyone on the Lincoln Club list of who’s-who, it is certainly impressive (if you’re impressed by that sort of thing). The list does include both Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Sandra Hutchens. It’s interesting that the two other chief (and public safety) elected officials in the county both nixed the pedantic Moorlach for Wagner. Looking back on Moorlach’s eight years in office, it’s easy to see why.
Don Wagner
Along with those high power endorsements comes a slew of local elected officials from around the county including 37 local officials and 27 state elected officials, many from local districts. Both U.S. Representatives Ed Royce and Mimi Walters, whose senate seat these two are vying for, have endorsed Wagner.
Along the popular lines (face it, even endorsers only get one vote), Wagner wins hands down. Moorlach’s Facebook page shows a whole 621 likes. Wagner has a handy 2400 likes. Some of those who like him include TUSD Board Member, Jonathan Abelove and FCA procurator Richard Nelson. I’ll give them both points for keeping their Facebook pages current.
Likewise on Twitter. Both candidates are maintaining a presence but Wagner outguns Moorlach with over 1658 followers. Wagner also has twice the number of tweets and followers as Moorlach. Moorlach’s latest tweets are about his recent podcast on OC Talk Radio. Don’t get all excited, now. OCTR is an internet only show that I reported on previously. Our own Jerry Amante also hosts a show there.
Among other things he talks about is how he single-handedly led Orange County out of the bankruptcy (I kid you not). He also mentions how desirable it is to work in The Real OC – sure, if you are a government official and not a rank-and-file county employee. Yes, his conversation is based in the ethernet and has no basis in reality. But, you can say anything on (internet) radio, right? What he doesn’t mention is his effort to extend his term(s) on the OC Board of Supes with his failed endorsement of Measure N. He also attempted an end run by getting his fellow board members to go along with a similar measure. Not even his buddy Shawn went along.
Then, there is the Rossmoor debacle….
What it really comes down to is, who would be the best representative of our interests in the California Senate? Unfortunately, we have no Democrat (unless you count the idiot from Huntington Beach who is running as a write-in candidate), (little l) libertarian, or green party candidates running. It’s been a given, perhaps falsely , that our district is solid Republican. I think that ground is slowly giving way.
And, perhaps that is what Don Wagner sees. He has been accused by the ultra-conservatives of not being “Red” enough. He actually takes a more liberal line on such issues as immigration reform and pensions. And, God knows, he actually took campaign money from a police union in direct violation of the mystical Scott Baugh Manifesto (along with Janet Nguyen, whose “secret” campaign contributions from OCEA are famous).
But, he also has the respect of and influence with many legislators, both Republican and Democrat. He knows how to cross the aisle to get the job done. If you are a Democrat or even a liberal thinking Republican, doesn’t it make sense to work with the other side rather than toe the line just because?
With Moorlach, who has an ethics problem when it comes to his own pension, you don’t get any of this. No experience, not even popularity. He couldn’t make up his mind what he wanted to run for until he found something he could afford (because he knew he’d have trouble raising campaign funds). He refused to give up his pension while making county employees out to be union thugs for not giving up theirs. He falsely claims to have repaired the bankruptcy when, in reality, he did nothing more than foretell what many already knew – and what many argue would not have occurred if the county had waited a few more days (we’ll never know, will we?).
Clearly, Moorlach’s methodical approach appeals to the rich and powerful in the county. He has spent his entire career schmoozing with the elite. He has blocked the formation of ethics commissions. He has wasted millions of dollars in ridiculous IT contract escalations with no viable results, all in the name of “public-private” partnerships that haven’t worked.
The choice between a career, professional politician with an eye toward progress and that of a pedantic, condescending and unethical dilettante is obvious. The special election for the California State Senate District 37 will be held March 17, 2015. Sample ballots have been mailed and absentee ballots (oh, when will they combine them?) should be out soon.
This will be another special, low-turnout election that will be decided on by the absentees. With three Republicans and a write-in candidate, it is quite likely no one will receive the requisite 51 percent and we will be subjected to a subsequent election in May. Do your part to see that doesn’t happen by voting for Don Wagner.
Uh-Oh, Is That A Boo-Boo?
As expected, last night’s Tustin Planning Commission meeting was lackluster to say the least. City staff did manage to stretch the meeting by presenting a comprehensive discussion during the public hearing phase of the meeting. How much does one need to know about an existing business that wants to expand its business endeavor?
Far from a shoe-in CUP, even the applicant showed up to ask questions, mostly regarding signage. During the discussion we discovered the city has an odd idea of what constitutes a window sign (black is the color of my sign). The Commissioners had no problem passing the CUP, pleased with the notion the business is staying in Tustin.
It was kind of nice to hear Community Development Department guru, Elizabeth Binsack, discuss the increase in interest in commercial filming in Tustin. Saying that people like the Old Town Tustin area because it reminds them of other places(?). Okay……., moving right along….
OC Supes Too Close To Call
We got a bit of disconcerting news in this morning’s internet read. The Liberal OC and others are reporting that Lou Correa is losing the race for Orange County Supervisor, by two votes, to Janet Nguyen protegé Andrew Do. That’s a scary thought that we would have to put up with an all Republican Board for another four years.
Fortunately, all is not lost. Although the turnout was less than 20 percent of the eligible voters in the district, there are still provisional votes to count. As well, Correa’s bill, SB29 chaptered last year, allows for late arriving vote-by-mail ballots to be counted under certain circumstances. In any case, Correa has enough money in his coffers to force a recount, as he most likely will.
It’s a Numbers Game
That brings us to our own upcoming off-year election. Senator Mimi Walters is now Congresswoman Mimi Walters, having won the seat last year. In her wake, she leaves us with a tough choice between Republicans.
Former county supervisor, John Moorlach, is breaking his former promise of years ago to run for the 37th Senate Seat. Moorlach, when he was running for Orange County Supervisor mentioned he was not a career politician as he inferred the BoS seat was his only goal. Well, this comes from a typical two-faced politician who also kept his pension intact to the last moment while cursing public employees for having the nerve to take theirs. At that, Moorlach’s pension, since his days as county treasurer, was paid for completely by the taxpayers while most public employees pay their fair share.
Moorlach likes to put on this “aw shucks” face while he speaks of ethics. Indeed, his own behavior has shown he thinks ethics are great…..for everyone else. His poor record regarding the handling of crooked and morally incompetent employees as well as his attempt to keep multi-million dollar IT contracts with his business cronies while costing the taxpayer huge sums, demonstrate his functional inability to govern.
Don Wagner, the other guy, makes no qualms about it. He is a career politician and has his sights set on the same seat. The difference between him and Moorlach is that Wagner is not ethically corrupt. Well, he is a Republican, but hey….
Wagner is also an attorney but we won’t hold that against him. Some of my best friends are attorneys (the rest are cops). He began his political career as a trustee of the South OC Community College district before winning the 70th Assembly District Seat. In that capacity, he has already served the Tustin community and has a deep understanding of legislative practices and our needs.
Wagner has been successful in getting several bills he sponsored or co-sponsored signed into law. Many of these benefit or protect folks in commercial transactions and matters of wills and trusts. No specific bills for Tustin but, he did get a bill signed slowing down traffic around horses in Orange Park Acres.
With no Democrats or Libertarians entering the race, the choice comes down to the lesser of two evils. Wagner is a true proponent of transparency in government while Moorlach’s idea of transparency is rather opaque, as can be seen by his eight (long) years on the county Board. I think the choice is clear, who should represent us in the Senate.
Of course, if Wagner wins the seat, Moorlach would have another seat to go for. There are actually three candidates – we just didn’t bother to mention the third non-viable candidate. So, the primary election takes place on March 17, less than two months from now. If no one wins 51 percent of the votes (we suspect one of them will), it will go to a final vote, with even fewer voters turning out for that, on May 19th.
Uhoh, Where’s Jerr-i-o?
If you have wondered what happened to the infamous Il Duce II, Jerry Amante, the former mayor is still hanging around. A hat tip to The Liberal OC for warning
letting us in on Jerry’s whereabouts (like the Lib, we keep our friends close and our enemies closer – also in front of us). It seems Jerry is hosting an internet radio show called The City Square on PodBean. The show is apparently a production of the Association of California Cities-Orange County. You might remember that Amante was a key player in getting Orange County to take their ball from the bigger Associated Cities sandlot and start a league of their own.
Now, Jerry gets to tout his baby to an audience of tens of listeners who stumble across the internet address, mostly by accident. If you want a laugh, listen in to the podcast. With Jerry’s distinctive rant, you can tell when you are on the right station.
Our Town Tustin 