City Council Preview - March 1

Yesterday we looked at the workshop on affordable housing that starts at 5 pm. At 7 pm we’ll start our regular Council meeting. Here are some of the items on the schedule –

CDBG GRANTS (Item 6)

Nearly a year ago I asked the staff to do a better job analyzing the federal monies that the City distributes to local agencies. Apparently no one listened or cared because we are getting back the same report we got a year ago, with no improvements.

Here’s what the staff proposes to give out to 7 organizations for a total of $59,861 -

• · Age Well Senior Services $7,500 (Case Manager to help 16 people over 62)
• · Camino Health Center $14,100 (rent to provide health services to 1300 low income residents)
• · Fair Housing Council $6,000 (variety of services to help 120 residents)
• · Families Forward $9,261 (food for 925 low to moderate income residents)
• · South County Outreach $8,000 (food and other services to 1800 very low, low, or moderate income residents)
• · SVUSD $10,000 (staff salaries for before and after school care to 12 low income children through the Learning Connection Plus)
• · Vocational Visions $5,000 (job training for 42 residents with developmental disabilities)

In addition, staff proposes to give out –

• · Capital Expenditures - ADA Access Ramp Improvement Project - $153,100
• · Housing & Neighborhood Improvement
• • Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program - $235,257
• • Neighborhood Pride Paint Program - $30,000
• · Administration Expenditures/ Program Administration - $53,000

The ADA money will create 18 more ramps in the city, but there is no indication of how many ramps have been done and how many remain to be done.

The housing rehab money will be used to provide 7 to 8 loans for people to upgrade their homes. With an additional $90,000 coming up from past loan repayments, this will be $300,000+ for this program. Though the report says “The Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program is an important element in the City’s efforts to preserve and enhance neighborhoods…” there is no information about this program (e.g., who is eligible? How successful is the program? Etc).

According to the staff report, the $30,000 paint program will provide “free exterior painting to approximately 5 homes…” (which seems like a lot of money per home). The applicants are drawn from a lottery and must be owner occupied and quality as low to moderate income. Click Here for more info.

WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS (Item 7)

The City is seeking to update our ability to build wireless communication towers.

CAMPAIGN SIGNS (Item 8)

The City is seeking to update our use of campaign signs. The Council removed the last campaign sign ordinance due to changes in the law, but it was pretty obvious to everyone that the old ordinance didn’t work. In fact the system was deeply flawed long before we had any ordinance. When I first ran for office in 2008 Marcia Rudolph warned me not to invest in signs because they would be stolen. She was right. More or less, 50% of my signs were stolen every time I ran. Others have reported similar numbers. When the signs aren’t being stolen, opponents are knocking them down or putting one of their own signs right in front of yours. For a while there I thought Andy Hamilton’s signs were having an aggressive love affair with my own, because they were always touching with Andy on top.

In the last election I asked everyone who was running to voluntarily agree not to have any signs, thus avoiding the costs, avoiding the hassle, and not putting resources into something that was not educational. Better to spend your money on a flyer that informs people, rather than blatantly say VOTE FOR ME. My colleagues, Voigts and Hamilton, were the only ones to dis-agree, and hence we had signs plastered all over the City. But this came back to haunt us as a City. Voigts and Hamilton were very upset that a Mobile Gas Station owner didn’t put up their signs, and they harassed him at a meeting in which he wanted to apply for a license to sell beer and wine. Needless to say he didn’t get the license. Dwight Robinson was reported to have threatened a business owner if he didn’t take down signs that didn’t support Hamilton and Voigts, a charge he never denied.

There were so many other problems with the signs that we could spend an entire article on this one topic. Scott Voigts put up his signs long before the time when they could officially be put up, but was never penalized. Voigts also put his signs up on poles and street lights, against the ordinance, but was never penalized. They stayed up for nearly a year, despite constant reminders by Tracey Tingley. Voigts placed his signs on private property which was similarly against the law, and when Adam Nick removed his illegally placed signs, Nick was portrayed as the villain, not Voigts.

The bottom line is that it’s good that we did away with the old ordinance (which I opposed, to no avail) and we should continue to outlaw campaign signs in the public right-of-way while nonetheless respecting the rights of property owners to display signs, within reason.

KINDNESS (Item 10)

Andy Hamilton is intent on resurrecting his “Kindness” initiative, which has been agendized so often now it looks to be a permanent fixture. The plain fact that it hasn’t been discussed reflects the absurd nature of the request. As if dressing a wolf up in a lamb’s costume is somehow going to stop the wolf from biting, a proclamation that Lake Forest is a City of Kindness will fool no one who has attended a city council meeting, or seen Scott Voigts violate the law with impunity, or witnessed Council members yelling at the residents, ordering them not to speak, cutting them off in mid-sentence, interrupting them in the middle of their 3 minute public comment sessions, etc. Will proclaiming ourselves a City of Kindness somehow feed the Lake Forest senior citizens who go without a hot meal because my colleagues refused to let “Meals on Wheels” use vacant city hall space? Will proclaiming ourselves “kind” mean that the people hired to intimidate petition gatherers will stop their heinous and unlawful actions? Will saying we’re a kind city nullify the fact that recall supporters are ordered to stand in the cold, dark and rain while opponents, including Voigts, go around campaigning inside City Hall? Will wrapping ourselves in the cloak of kindness somehow disguise the fact that Voigts, Hamilton, and Robinson hired the sleaziest political operatives in the County who sent out outrageous, racist, and slanderous flyers?

If we want to be known as a city of kindness, let’s see if our City elected officials can, in fact, act in a kindly manner. That would be a good start.

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 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 on March 26 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.