Because of the 4th of July holiday we missed our first meeting in July, so this meeting is our sole July meeting. I urged the City Manager to hold a make-up session on July 10 but she assured me that we could fit all of the city's business into one meeting this month. Let's hope she's right.
TRAFFIC AND PARKING COMMISSION
The big ticket item is the appointment of the Traffic and Parking Commission (TPC) members. If you recall, I asked for a change in the process. In the past, the Council voted on each member. With a 20+ year history of partisan groups dominating the Council (e.g., Herzog-Dixon-Tettemer vs. McCullough-Rudolph, Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton vs. Nick-Gardner, Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton vs. Basile-Gardner), this process meant that one group of 3 Council members ended up choosing all 5 Commission members. So I offered a different process in which each Council member appointed a member, reducing the possibility of this gang-think voting that put one group in power on the Council and their sycophants on the Commissions.
No good deed goes unpunished. Some Council members took this idea and instead of choosing among all the applicants, saw this as an opportunity to appoint their favorite without interviewing everyone. In some senses, this process as implemented, is as potentially harmful as the process it sought to replace. I'll have more to say at the meeting.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
I already listed the applicants. Click Here.
NEIGHBORHOOD PARK UPDATES
We spent a year working with residents on the best way to improve 10 of our existing parks. I attended all those meetings and was impressed by the number of people attending and the quality of their input. All of that got translated into final ideas that we looked at one final time, and now the actual plans plus the budget come before the Council.
Find out what's happening in Lake Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Council allocated $7,000,000 for the projects and staff are recommending nearly $6,000,000 in what they call "Tier 1" which had wide community support and also took care of safety concerns. These are preliminary figures and the final costs, when you include demolition, removal, and unanticipated problems will probably come in at about $7,000,000. There are another $5,000,000 in "Tier 2" projects for which there are no funds.
GENERAL PLAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
We have a General Plan that an outside agency has been working on for the past 6 months. Recently we held 3 public workshops to discuss various issues. Awhile ago I asked why the process was so long in motion without a committee, so apparently that question spurred this agenda item. The General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) is "a citizen-based, ad hoc committee that includes residents, business and property owners and key stakeholders in the community. The GPAC will serve as one of the primary channels for the community to provide input and make recommendations on the General Plan Update."
According to the consulting group, the functions of GPAC are
- Ensure City staff and the consultant team are aware of and understand community concerns, values and expectations.
- Assist City staff and consultant team in identifying critical issues that should be addressed in the planning process.
- Identify areas of existing and potential conflicts and find ways to constructively resolve them.
- Capitalize on the creative ideas and insights within the Lake Forest community for input into the General Plan.
- Keep community organizations and interested citizens informed about the status of the planning process.
- Provide recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council supporting the General Plan.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT SUBCOMMITTEE
I have been meeting with Councilman Robinson, the Chamber of Commerce, and Economic Development over the past year in an attempt to update our policies and procedures. In that time
- we've doubled the ribbon cuttings in the City,
- initiated a multi-city "South OC Entrepreneurs Academy",
- established the Mayor's Business Council,
- increased Shop and Dine "week" to a "month"
- and attracted a major industrial giant to set up California HQ in our City.
There are some other changes "in the works" that it's too soon to talk about.
Tuesday night's report will focus on some of our future plans, including
- Block parties at Shopping Centers
- Retail Redvitalization
- Business Registration
- An innovative "Work and Live" option
We also have a 2 year"Action Plan" that sets out of goals and objectives.
WATCH IT LIVE AND PARTICIPATE
Reminder - if you can't make it to the meeting you can still watch and participate live. Click Here for more info.
After doing some research, staff tells me we are the only City in the U.S. that does this, and our staff are being asked to help other cities catch up.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest where he serves as Mayor. 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 Twitter handle is @DrJimGardner. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.
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 Aug 16 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).
