City Council Preview for Sept 16

Tonight the City Council will have a light agenda, which seems self-defeating where there are so many major issues that have not been addressed and so many that were raised in 2013, postponed, and still haven‘t seen the light of day. Here’s a brief list of those “Voigts Void” issues from 2013 –

ALCOLHOL USE

More than a year ago the Council admitted that their lack of preparedness for dealing with analyzing whether or not stores that sell beer and wine should be allowed in Lake Forest on areas that are already over-saturated. In the meantime, tens of thousands of dollars have been wasted, hundreds of hours of staff time and the use of outside lawyers have been deployed, and businesses have been seriously inconvenienced. Even as late as a few weeks ago when I raised this issue at the Council meeting, the Council still chooses to delay dealing with this important issue.

Readers of this column know that the more stores that sell beer and wine the more crimes in general, violent crime in particular, and DUIs will result. That’s a fact! Readers also know that compared to our neighbors we have more access to alcohol than they do, on a per capita basis. Now finish the puzzle – Lake Forest has one of the highest crime rates among our neighbors, probably at the very least, as a result of our relatively higher access to stores selling alcohol.

Here is a major issue (selling alcohol) that influences our crime rate, our safety, and our physical well being and the Council refuses to deal with it. Here’s an issue that is costing the city lots of money because we haven’t worked out a good procedure for assessing need, but the Council can’t be bothered, and instead goes home early. Here’s an issue that has consumed hundreds of excess hours of staff and Planning Commission and Council time, yet more than a year after they thought it prudent to address it, they have failed to do so.

VILLAGE POND PARK

Everyone knows that the problem with Village Pond Park (VPP) is the over-population of ducks and geese. And everyone knows that this problem is caused in large part by the excessive feeding that takes place. The problem of over-population has made the park unpleasant and only a few years ago resulted in a major botulism outbreak, which fortunately was contained thanks to the help of local residents (with little support from, the City or the County). In their wisdom (I’m being sarcastic here, Sheldon!) the Council is moving ahead with a $1,000,000 facelift to the park, almost none of which addresses the problem of feeding the animals.

Nearly a year ago the staff proposed an ordinance to prohibit feeding the ducks and geese at VPP, but the Council, once more, refused to act. The main culprit this time was Councilwoman McCullough who wasn’t prepared to move forward.

BOTTOM LINE

Surely on nights when the agenda is light the Council should be addressing these and other major issues, instead of packing up and going home early. If they want to stay home, perhaps the three Council members who are running should decide to withdraw from the race. This way they won’t have to show up at all and they can leave the “heavy lifting” to people who are m ore capable and more willing to do the work.

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