And a Few More Reasons to Re-Elect Jim Gardner

I've been looking at my performance and trying to isolate my major achievements. To date we discussed public safety, finances, business, and communications. Here's a summary of the major points -

FINANCES

• Saved $1,000,000 paying of the Alton Pkwy bond
• Saved $1,000,000 (or more) by avoiding costly district lawsuit
• Saved $500,000 by limiting focus of General Plan
• Earned nearly $1,000,000 by selling off empty lot near railroad tracks
• Earned $500,000 extra in interest income.

SAFETY

• Kept 400-bed homeless shelter out of Lake Forest
• Created advanced child safety classes
• Helped create First Responders Grab n' Go
• Helped create "transitory housing" ordinance to protect neighborhoods
• Pushed for Intersection Collision report
• Supported "Active Shooter" protocols
• Helped set up 3 Neighborhood Watch programs.

COMMUNICATION

• Developed Facebook Live so people can participate in meetings online.
• Produced a weekly video series called “The Mayor’s Minute”
• Created Pop Up City Halls. For community events
• Compelled written quarterly reports from the City Manager and from Council members and representatives who sit on various Boards.
• Compelled weekly reports from our Attorney’s office.
• Produced quarterly "State of the City" reports to communicate fully.

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

• Working with the Chamber of Commerce, we doubled our ribbon cuttings.
• The City now promotes Chamber events with hand-outs
• Created a South OC Entrepreneurs Academy in which multiple cities collaborate to produce a 12 month program for small business owners.
• Created the “Mayor’s Business Council”
• Expanded “Shop and Dine” from one week to a month long celebration.
• Celebrate our local businesses recognized by the OC Register as the "Best of OC".
• Helped attract furniture superstore AtHome to fill 80,000 vacant square feet in Town Centre Shopping Mall.

Today we'll look at quality of life and promoting excellence in the City.

IMPROVING OUR QUALITY OF LIFE

• Adoption Center. I helped bring the Orange County Pet Adoption Center to Lake Forest. Thanks to April Josephson for her hard work getting this done. I continue to support the program, help with their events, and recently fostered two cats. See the photo of me with April Josephson and Rose Tingle
• Local Animal Shelter. Despite the long term opposition of Councilmen Voigts and Robinson, we are trying to partner with either Mission Viejo or Irvine for our animal care services. Mayor Pro Tem Basile has been very supportive and the City Manager has been pushing this project.
• County Animal Shelter. For decades the City Councils in Lake Forest supported and defended the County’s animal shelter, even while experts and the OC Grand Jury decried the horrible conditions and the high kill rates. I fought hard for the County to give us a new shelter, and in 2018 we succeeded. Rose Tingle is about the only person in the County who worked harder and longer on this project than I did, though more recently Sharon Logan has done a lot of good work to get this done.
• For years I pushed for a Traffic and Parking Commission. Councilmen Voigts and Robinson opposed me every time. This year, with Andrew Hamilton off the Council, we approved a Traffic and Parking Commission that began in September. Curiously enough, Voigts and Robinson voted in favor.
• Affordable Housing. Last year I pushed for spending our affordable housing funds and actually building some affordable homes. I got Council approval, we entered into a contract and we expect some proposals in the next few months.
• Mayor Pro Tem Leah Basile and I got the dedicated right hand turn at Trabuco and Bake approved.
• Mayor Pro Tem Basile and I pushed to get City Hall open 5 days a week every week. Previously the City Hall was closed every other Friday.
• At my instigation we set up a Mayor’s Council for HOAs, bringing together the staff and Board members of the major HOAs in the city to plan how best to improve our lives. Mayor Pro Tem Basile, herself a President of an HOA, helped a lot.

PROMOTING THE CITY

• Leadership Award. To recognize outstanding volunteer achievement I initiated a Volunteer Leadership Award. The first one was given in May 2018 to John Irish for his work on the Parade Committee, the Parks and Recreation Committee, and the Traffic Advisory Group. We nick-named the award “The Drink” as a tribute to long-time volunteer Myron Drinkwater who passed away earlier this year. See the photo
• Mayor’s Award. In a similar fashion I wanted to recognize outstanding achievement by staff. I initiated and got approval for a “Mayor’s Award” and the first one will be given in December. Mayor Pro Tem Basile is helping with this project.
• Veterans Park. From an idea on Lake Forest Town Square, I championed the idea of transforming Village Pond Park into a Veterans Memorial Park. It should be opened in a few weeks. Col. Cagley sat on the committee with me when we did this project.
• As part of our change to Veterans Park, we upgraded and re-dedicated Heroes Park. Councilman Robinson, Col. Cagley, and Mayor Pro Tem Basile were helpful here. See the photo.

SUMMARY

It's an incredibly long list of achievements and in each case, the initiative or the idea had its origins with me or from Lake Forest Town Square which I created. Lots of people helped turn these ideas into reality, and I think I've indicated who they were and what role they played.

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 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 Oct 18 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).