Homeless Shelter in Lake Forest? Part 1

THE SECRET PLAN

I just learned about a secret plan that will put a homeless shelter in Lake Forest within 6 months. The plan is simple –

1. Defeat me
2. Elect Mark Tettemer
3. Build the shelter with no opposition

If you think that’s impossible, just think back a few years when the Board of Supervisors decided to build a MAXIMUM SECURITY prison on the grounds of Musick Jail, and our City Council voted 100% to support the project. (Click Here) Irvine City Council opposed the project arguing “violent criminals, including murderers, rapists and drug traffickers, can potentially be housed at Musick for up to a week.” Irvine sued, but our City Council, with Mark Tettemer, allowed them do it.

Only after years of opposition from me did the Sheriff finally relent and reduce it to a “Medium Security” jail. Right now that $100,000,000 Medium Security Jail is under construction only a few thousand feet from homes in our City.

A few months ago, I successfully fought off efforts by the Board of Supervisors, the Republican Party leadership, and just about everyone else to build a 400-bed homeless shelter on the outskirts of our City. (Click Here) I stood up for us, and with the help of Mayor Pro Tem Leah Basile and the City Manager, we derailed the project – or so I thought.

Now they hope to defeat me in the election, put Tettemer in my place, and along with Voigts and Robinson, the Council will roll over just like they rolled over with the MAXIMUM SECURITY prison.

Here are the details as I have them so far. I’m sure there are more to come.

Our City Manager said recently that the homeless situation “Is the most dangerous threat to Lake Forest since the Airport Issue” and she’s right.

Regardless of your thoughts about Mark Tettemer or me, or even about Sonny Morper and Neeki Moatzedi, the future of our City is at stake and your vote literally will determine our future quality of life.

THE BACKROOM GOVERNMENT

Just in case you think this type of action on the part of Government officials is unusual, think again. As alluded to earlier, the City Council on which Mark Tettemer sat made a deal with the Sheriff and the Board of Supervisors to put Maximum Security cells in a prison they were constructing on the grounds of Musick Jail, and then denied the existence of the Maximum Security cells. Or consider the secret deal between the developer Brookfield and SVUSD that gave the kids who lived in Brookfield preference over the kids who lived elsewhere in the City, a fact denied by the Voigts/Robinson Council until I revealed the language in the Developer Agreement. Or consider the collusion between the City and the Shea Baker developers to deny the City a dog park even though it was required as part of the original deal, and it only happened after I confronted the City with the specific language in that Developer Agreement.

It is a sad fact of life that Government officials collude, make deals, lie, distort, and otherwise obfuscate the truth in their desire for power and with little or no regard for the welfare of the citizens.

THE DETAILS

As you know, about 6 months ago I defeated the attempts by the Board of Supervisors, the Republican Party political leadership (most of whom are from North and Central County), and Irvine’s Mayor Don Wagner to build a 400-bed homeless shelter in Trabuco Canyon, only a few mile from our City.

THE PLAYERS

Lisa Bartlett, the South County Supervisor, was getting lots of pressure from the other 4 Supervisors because they claimed we (Lake Forest and the other South County cities) weren’t doing our part because all the big homeless shelters were in Central and North County. She was desperate to find a place.

The Republican Party leadership, especially Fred Whitaker who represents Orange, were equally upset that the large shelters were in their part of the County. Whitaker, you will recall, has interfered in Lake Forest for years, spending tens of thousands of dollars to try to get a City Council that will report to him directly (Click Here). Not so long ago, he recommended endorsing Mark Tettemer and the specific reason to endorse Tettemer was that he would do what he was told. I was chastised because I would not blindly obey their wishes, and I put the interests of my residents above the interests of the Party. Now keep in mind, if you didn’t already know, local races, like City Council, are supposed to be non-Partisan, but Whitaker specifically asked his colleagues to throw out the rules of conduct and turn local races into Partisan races.

Don Wagner is the third major player in this drama. Wagner is the Mayor of Irvine and Scott Voigts works for Wagner. (Yes – our City Council member gets his paycheck from Don Wagner) Wagner has been promising Federal Judge Carter that Irvine would build a homeless shelter to serve South County, so Wagner was one of the moving forces behind trying to get the 400-bed homeless shelter built in Trabuco Canyon so that he wouldn’t have to build one in Irvine. (Click Here)

BTW – when our quality of life was being challenged with the threat of the Trabuco Canyon homeless shelter, did it ever occur to you why Scott Voigts and Dwight Robinson never said a word? Here we were facing “the most dangerous threat” to the City, and these two guys were deadly silent. Why? Because they take their orders from the Republican Party leadership, and Voigts, even more so, as he takes his orders from his employer – Don Wagner.

THE NEXT STEP

Unbeknownst to me, the search for a South County homeless shelter continued. My name came up over the next few months and the major players bemoaned the fact that I interfered with their plans and stopped the 400-bed shelter from going in. Alternatives were suggested, but there was no viable option.

All the while the federal court time clock was ticking and South County still had not created a homeless shelter to match the ones built or being built in Central and North County. In response, I produced a research paper that showed that there is no need for that kind of shelter in South County and I went on the offense again defending what we in Lake Forest are doing. Copies of these documents are available on request and tomorrow I’ll produce a summary of that report in Part 2 of this series.

The Party Leadership and the Supervisors decided that if they could remove me they could go ahead with their plans. So they needed someone who would obey their every wish – enter Mark Tettemer, the man who went along with the Supervisors to build a maximum security prison on the grounds of Musick Jail.

Endorsed by the Supervisors and the Republican leadership, their goal is to get me out and get Tettemer in, and then put a homeless shelter right here. My sources say that a site has already been selected, right in the middle of the City. Without me on the Council, and with Tettemer, Voigts, and Robinson on the Council, Lake Forest will be the site of a major homeless shelter serving the entire South County.

PLAN B

I’m not the only solution to their problem. They are grooming Neeki Moatazedi and pouring money into her campaign. Even if I am elected, and Sonny Morper is defeated, they will have the majority on the Council and Neeki will vote with Voigts and Robinson to roll over and let the homeless shelter be built.

THE IMPACT

What will that do to our crime rate? Our property values? Our quality of life?

If either Tettemer or Moatzedi is elected, Lake Forest will have a homeless shelter within 6 months. That's the plan.

It’s not the only thing Tettemer has up his sleeve. The developers are pouring thousands of dollars into his campaign in order to get his vote on the Nakase project – to build 800 more homes in the middle of the City.

• More traffic
• No new schools
• Plenty of money for Tettemer, Voigts, and Robinson.

SUMMARY

Lake Forest has never been in more danger than we are right now, and we need to save Lake Forest from the onslaught of the homeless and from more traffic and more over-crowded schools.

This election will determine whether independent people sit on our Council or the City Council is controlled by special interests who have no concern for our quality of life. They will give us a homeless shelter and more traffic and more overcrowded schools because they don’t live here, and the City Council members will give them the vote because that’s where their money comes from.

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 in January.