Life Without the Gang of 3 or Any Gang

Yesterday we started to imagine what life might be like come September when we had three new people on the City Council. We came up with three ways in which the Council might be different –

• · Saving millions of dollars by applying true fiscal conservative principles.
• · Reducing corruption by outlawing bribes and kickbacks.
• · Gaining more participation from people at all levels.

Today we’ll continue our trip to the near future. Bear in mind that the future is in our hands today. To have a better future the recall needs to get enough verified signatures and the election to replace the Gang of 3 needs to put in 3 honest and independent people. To simply replace the Gang of 3 with more people who are controlled by special interests would be shameful. Once the 7,882 signatures are verified, we need to pay attention to who is running to replace the Gang of 3. But let’s not jump the gun. They’ll be plenty of time for that next month. Right now let’s think what might happen if we work hard and succeed in the recall and again in the election.

ENHANCED IMAGE

The image of Lake Forest has suffered for the past several years.

• · We are the only City in the entire State to have a Council member (Peter Herzog) resign because he couldn’t work with the other Council members.
• · We are the only City in the entire State to have a referendum (to stop the Brookfield and Trumark developments) and a recall (to oust the Gang of 3) in such a short time.
• · We are the only City in the State where the Mayor puts the residents in “time out” because he is unhappy with the fact that they speak with each other, or, dare I say it, applaud or laugh. Or where the Mayor simply walks off the dais because he is unhappy.

But their behavior from the dais is only a part of the story. Their behavior outside City Hall has been equally disturbing. According to reports from residents…

• · In 2014 Mayor Robinson threatened a business owner with loss of business if he continued to display campaign signs that didn’t support his Gang members.
• · In 2014 Mayor Robinson threatened a Grandmother and her children and took away the flyers they were putting on cars because the flyers did not support his Gang members.
• · Mayor Pro Tem Voigts has been campaigning against the recall inside City Hall and at City events, behaviors that are specifically forbidden. He always was reported to be giving out flyers at local schools, a violation of Article 3, Section 51520 of the Education ordinances.
• · Mayor Hamilton has been going around secretly recording people and then posting the videos on the Internet without their permission.

None of these reports were denied or refuted, and there are far more examples of their poor behavior.

I can’t imagine that any person replacing the Gang of 3 could bring worse behavior than these three people have brought. They have disgraced the City and made us laughing stocks. It will take some time to repair our image, but it would start with a new Council and with these three men out. Getting rid of them would also send a message to special interest groups – “Lake Forest Is Not For Sale Anymore”

MAKING GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABLE

Consider some of these recent actions –

• · They forgot to put in the disabled ramp when they built Tamarisk Park, and retrofitting the ramp cost us a pretty penny.
• · They forgot to put out the right RFP to get an alternative to the current street sweeping contract, and we lost $200,000 in potential savings.
• · They built a dangerous road (Saddleback Ranch Rd) and then had to stop construction, tear it out, and re-do it, and we spent another pretty penny to make up for that fiasco.
• · Our Police contract went up $900,000 a year, we got no new employees, and our crime rate went up 29% last year and continues to go up this year.
• · Village Pond Park has been overdue for new construction for more than 6 months and there is no progress in sight. Meanwhile, in 9 months, only 3 citations have been issued and the place remains filthy and unusable.

Is there no end to the mistakes being made? Has anyone been held accountable for these errors?

The Gang of 3 tells you that everything is all right. They offer no changes. In fact they resist changes. They lie to you about what’s happening. They voted to give the City Manager a $10,000 bonus on top of $300,000 compensation.

We need a City Council where the staff is held accountable for their behavior. A Council that will insist on excellent performance and not merely accept what’s put in front of them.

PUTTING LAKE FOREST FIRST

Every time I brought up the idea of putting Lake Forest businesses first when we consider how we spend our $40,000,000 budget, the Gang of 3 voted not to help our own businesses. Mayor Hamilton even wrote an article for the OC Register in which he argued forcefully against helping our own businesses. He said "Changing Lake Forest’s bidding process to provide local bid preferences is bad policy." Yet many cities do exactly this.

We spend less than 2% of our budget on our own people and businesses. This is the lowest percentage since the City was incorporated. Prior to the Gang of 3 taking charge, we were spending closer to 5%, but now we are down to less than 2%.

Why is the Gang of 3 opposed to helping our own people and businesses? For one reason, most of their money for their campaigns comes from outside the City, so they are beholden to outside people and businesses for their election. For another reason, all of the Gang work outside the City, in contrast to Councilman Nick whose business is right here on Lake Forest Drive.

I hope a new Council would look favorably on Lake Forest people and businesses and work to keep our money in the City. Spending our money here at home increases our tax base, keeps our businesses running, and strengthens our economic base. But this won’t happen without the Council’s endorsement and support.

No one is saying that our own people and businesses should get contracts just because they are here in our City. We still want the same quality and costs and services, but we need to reach out to our own people and enhance their ability to compete. And when the differences between two competing bids are small, we should be favoring our own people and businesses because the money stays here.

Tomorrow let’s summarize.

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 August 13 at 2 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library

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