Dec 15 Council Meeting - the Bad News

There is good news and bad news from last night’s City Council meeting. If you’re like me you prefer the bad news first, so here goes. Tomorrow we’ll discuss the good news, which is good news indeed.

DEVELOPERS WIN AGAIN

The vote was never in doubt. My 3 colleagues (Voigts-Robinson-Hamilton aka “The Gang of 3”) who have been generously funded by the developers voted once again to give the developers what they wanted – not merely a re-zone, not merely the addition of 52 more homes to a City bursting at the seams with new homes, but the ability to avoid building affordable housing. Instead of getting the 7 or 8 affordable homes the City is entitled to, “The Gang of 3” voted to allow the developers to pay a mere $400,000 as a fee to get out of building the homes. With $400,000 you can’t even build 1 affordable house, much less the 7 or 8 we could have had. What makes this decision even more suspect is that my colleagues never hesitate to mention that we need more affordable homes in the City, yet when they have a chance to actually do something, they do the opposite. C’est la vie. No one ever expected anything else from them, and they didn‘t disappoint. They have a 100% record of approving everything asked by any developer, and 100% record of taking money from any developer who offers.

I am not against development per se. I believe with nearly 5,000 new homes being added in a small section of the City, where the population will increase by 50%+, we should see how the current homes are absorbed before adding even more homes. We have already gone well beyond the areas identified by the City’s OSA project, and we really have no idea of the impacts on traffic, schools, utilities, and infrastructure. The models used for predicting these impacts are imperfect, have little predictive validity, and in some cases have already been abandoned. Reality is the best model, and I’d like to see how well the 4,000+ homes already approved and being built impact us before we add even more. My colleagues say “What difference does 52 more homes make?” That’s what they said when they approved Brookfield (147 more), Trumark (75 more), and Baker Ranch (250 more).

FOLLOW THE MONEY

Not only had Meritage, the developer, spent $10,000 to help elect Voigts and Hamilton in 2014, the Building Industry Association Political Action Committee or PAC was there to support the project and remind the Gang of 3 that the BIA was also a heavy financial supporter –

• · Hamilton $1000 10/11/14
• · Hamilton $1000 10/16/14
• · Voigts $1000 6/20/14
• · Voigts $500 1/30/12
• · Voigts $500 10/25/10
• · Robinson $1000 8/24/2012

My colleagues will tell you that getting tens of thousands of dollars does not influence their votes. The votes don’t look that way, but this is what they will tell you.

VOIGTS LIES AGAIN

Scott Voigts lies have been so numerous that I’ve devoted entire articles to discussing them. At one point I had to develop a unique classification system since there were so many and he used so many different varieties (bold faced lie, white lie, etc.). Last night he lied twice (that I can prove). The first time was in response to a public comment from Foothill Ranch resident Tracey Tingley. She claimed that Voigts had received the benefit of $10,000 from developer Meritage in the 2014 election, and that the City had on file a form to that effect. Voigts denied it. Ms. Tingley, to her credit, got angry and went home, got the copy of the form, and brought it back and confronted Voigts later in the meeting. Faced with undisputable proof that he was wrong, Voigts claimed he was unaware of the brochure and the expense. Bear in mind that brochure was heavily mailed (even I got a copy), was written by Voigts’ BFF and mentor Dwight Robinson, and included campaign photos of Voigts and Hamilton. FWIW – this was the first time Robinson admitted his role in the flyer, and did so reluctantly after persistent questioning by Councilman Nick.

Voigts’ second lie came later in the meeting when I was speaking about Voigts’ qualifications to be Mayor Pro Tem in 2016. I pointed out that among many other character flaws, his lies were an embarrassment to the City. I gave the example of his lie when he claimed, as Mayor and from the dais, that he didn’t wear a wire trying to entrap Councilman Nick. Voigts claims that he said he “didn’t wear 2 wires”, but if you go back to the videotape of the meeting he clearly says “I did not wear a wire”.

Voigts’ lies are no longer news. The old adage “dog bites man vs. man bites dog” applies. Yet I found it very interesting that Andy Hamilton objected to my raising the issue of Voigts lies when considering whether or not Voigts should represent our City as Mayor Pro Tem. Speaking only for myself, having a person who is a chronic liar is not what I’m looking for as a representative of the City. Hamilton apparently doesn’t feel the same way. Only a few months ago Hamilton got the chance to voice concern that his sponsor, Dwight Robinson, publically called a fellow Councilman a “moron”, “imbecile”, and a “vengance seeker” among other critical comments. Hamilton wasn’t worried about that either.

FWIW – Robinson’s company gave Hamilton $1000 on 9/24/14 for his election campaign, and Voigts “boss” Don Wagner spent $10,000 on Hamilton on 10/21/14. Once again, Andy will tell us that getting financial support does not influence his votes.

NEW MAYOR

The Gang of 3 divided the pie and chose Andy Hamilton to be Mayor and Scott Voigts to be Mayor Pro Tem. No one ever doubted they would move the hats around among themselves, though there was some speculation that Robinson might get the nod. I discussed Voigts and Hamilton as Mayor yesterday, and Portola Hills resident Leah Basile discussed Voigts and Hamilton separately. If you didn’t read these articles already you might want to read them now.

Last year under Voigts with Hamilton as Pro Tem, we had our worst year ever. Our City became a laughing stock and the people rose up to launch a recall movement. Never before have so many residents come to City hall to voice their indignation, and never before have they been treated so shabbily. With the “Voigts-Hamilton” show still in charge, I fear we have another difficult year ahead of us. Last night both Voigts and Hamilton were up to their old tricks, harassing speakers, interrupting speakers, and trying to keep the audience from laughing, applauding, and even speaking. At one point Hamilton started asking questions of the people in the audience, and then objected to the fact that they answered him. Someone pass the valium – 2016 is going to be a long year.

Tomorrow let’s look at the good news.

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 Jan 30 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.