Candidate Forum - Part 2

Last time we summarized the major goals set forth by the candidates for City Council and looked at how they would deal with Special interest money. Today we’ll look at views about a new City Manager, gross errors and lies, and enlightened moments.

CITY MANAGER DISCUSSION
Some revealing comments came when the moderator asked what kind of a City Manager would the new Council be looking for.

Francisco Barajas said he wanted a new City Manager to come from “a failing city” where the person had “turned it around”. I thought that’s a funny remark from someone who says the City is great. If our City is so great, why bring in someone who specializes in turning around failing cities?

When asked what she was looking for in a new City Manager, and what qualities HE should have, Leah Basile corrected the moderator and said “It could be a he or a she!”

Councilman Nick said he wanted to consider someone from the private sector. He is tired of how slowly the City gets things done.

GROSS ERRORS AND LIES

Several times during the forum candidates made mistakes. Some of these were merely mistakes and others were lies. I’ve grouped them into one category as it’s sometimes difficult to separate the lies from the errors. Here are some examples –

Wagoner – claimed there were no options for a no-kill animal shelter. In fact, Dr. Fred Saad offered his animal hospital as the site for our own animal shelter. Had Wagoner ever showed up at a Council meeting he would have known this.

Barajas – claimed that the “broken window theory of public safety” would somehow improve the problems with traffic congestion. (Don’t ask me to explain this, I’m just reporting what he said).

Barajas – claimed that Lake Forest is “known for our amenities”. With two notable exceptions, Lake Forest is known for our lack of amenities. We are the only City without a Civic Center, the only one without a Senior Center, the only one that doesn’t cater for Meals on Wheels, one of the few without a local no-kill animal shelter, etc. As I reported above, Barajas wants a new City Manager with success in turning around a "failed city". Why would you be looking for that kind of a manager if you really thought our City was "known for our amenities"?

Barajas - claimed that in 2012 the City reached out to residents of Portola Hills and the changes made to Saddleback Ranch Rd. were approved by them. Why, he asked, did they oppose the changes once they were being constructed? Leah Basile answered him - (1) Not every section in Portola Hills was invited and (2) the changes they made had not been discussed in 2012 (e.g., eliminating the bike lanes). Barajas should have known this had he been at all involved in City activities.

Semnani – claimed that the contract with OCAC to continue with the high kill shelter is “irreversible”. In fact any contract can be terminated, and to the extent that OCAC has failed to meet almost all of their past agreements, going forward when they miss their next agreed upon objective, the contract could be terminated.

Semnani – said the City paid $500,000 in “good faith” money to OCAC as a down payment on the contract. In fact the City hasn’t paid anything to date. Why on Earth would he say that?

Semnani – claimed there is a $100,000,000 “surplus budget”. Nonsense. The City had $106,000,000 in total funds and of this amount more than $60,000,000 is allocated to building the new Civic and Senior centers. That leaves about $40,000,000 most of which is allocated to our various reserves (General Fund, Economic Contingency, and Emergency). There is a budget surplus but it is relatively small compared to our operating expenses.

Robinson – said we have no space in City Hall to let Meals on Wheels operate from here. Nonsense. We have several rooms from which they could operate, and the best one is the Council Chambers that is almost always free.

Robinson – claimed that he voted against businesses that gave him money. I’ve looked at his voting record and his campaign contribution list and I can find dozens of cases in which he voted for someone or some business that gave him money, and no case where he did the opposite. Examples of Robinson giving and getting include Athens Services (street sweeping), CRR (waste management), Brookfield Land Services (developer), CREPAC (developer PAC), Shea Homes (developer), BIA of SOCAL (builder PAC), Foothill Village (developer), Meritage Homes (developer/builder), John Lewis (Lobbyist), RGP Consulting (Lobbyist), Griffin Structures (builder), Farino Construction (builder), Larry Smith (developer), WM (waste management), Trumark Companies (developer), Brookfield of LA (developer), Socal Hospitality (hotel operator), etc. etc.

Robinson – said he voted against 14 proposals offered by Councilman Nick because they were “illegal.” Nonsense. Nick’s proposals (e.g., sunshine ordinance, code of ethics, term limits, prohibiting city contractors from contributing to council members) were not illegal. Robinson may have disagreed with them, but they weren’t "illegal." Robinson offered not a single example of what he considered illegal.

Of course we can all make mistakes when we're at a Forum like this. What's interesting is that some people made no mistakes and some people made lots of mistakes.

ENLIGHTENED MOMENTS

The previous sections of these articles are all based on facts, but this section is purely subjective. These are the moments when the candidates stood out, either in a positive or a negative way.

In his opening remarks Frank Wagoner said he is upset that people are “obsessed with the animal shelter”. He returned to the subject often, saying (incorrectly) that there were no alternatives. He was also upset that people from “Portola Hills” are concerned with the welfare of people who live near Village Pond Park. He thinks people should only be concerned with what affects them directly. But he wants to be on the City Council where he can represent 80,000 people.

Farah Semnani said that he was a “good decision maker” and was “ethical” but didn’t explain why his signs were being placed illegally all over the City.

Dwight Robinson was falsely claiming that there was no space in City Hall to let Meals on Wheels use it to serve the needs of 100 senior citizens when Leah Basile interrupted and said “We can do better. Let’s be creative. These are our residents.”

When asked if the recall was a waste of money for the City, Leah Basile replied “We saved lives. How much is a life worth?” As a result of the recall, Saddleback Ranch Rd. was changed preventing inevitable damage to bikers, pedestrians, and drivers.

A speaker from the audience asked about what the City could do to reduce the pollution from all the big trucks that come up and down Bake Pkwy because of all the new home construction. Francisco Barajas started rambling about OCTA and traffic distribution, and Leah Basile said - "Let's sit down and talk about it. This is why we need a Parking and Traffic Commission."

Dwight Robinson was asked why people should trust him when he broke all of the 7 promises he made in his 2012 election (Personally I know of only 6 promises he broke, but...). Robinson refused to answer.

Tomorrow I’ll sum up.

Note - I don't control whether or not you can comment on these articles. That is completely under the control of The Patch.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner is not up for re-election in 2016.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 4 pm to 6 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a Town Hall meeting every quarter. The next meeting will be in November at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.