Pop-Up City Hall Is a Hit

The City held our first “Pop-Up” City Hall on Saturday during the annual garage sale of the Beach and Tennis Club. About 50 people stopped by, talked with City staff (Jonathan Volzke), Parks Commissioner Jim Rosenberg, and I and picked up various pieces of City Literature. There was also a giant City map that turned out to be very useful for more than a dozen questions.

Of most concern to the people were –

• Homeless people living in the City. Most people were aware of this from reports or had seen the recent increase first hand. No one had encountered any problems, but all wondered what the City was doing. Some were compassionate about homeless people and others were fearful that their increased presence would bring with it increased problems. I’m busy working on this problem and will have something to share in the next few days.
• More homes in the City. Several people were concerned that the sale of Nakase Nursery had gone through and 800 new homes were going to be built. We explained that the project is at the proposal stage and would have to go through the Planning Commission and the Council before approval, if any, was given. We indicated that public input could be given once the proposal is set on the agenda, which we anticipated would be early next year.
• Veterans Park. Since the Beach and Tennis Club is located close to the Veterans Park, many worried when it would be finished – right now we expect it to open in late Summer/early Fall.
• Pets. Several people asked about our progress in getting a local no-kill shelter. We reached out to half a dozen cities and so far we received one positive reply and we are following up on that opportunity. I’ll keep you posted as we progress.
• The costs of TLC. Two young kids came by to complain about the high costs of TLC.

We want to thank the Beach and Tennis Club for hosting our event, especially Linda Groscot who helped make it happen. We also want to invite other HOAs, churches, or community groups to invite us to your event. We hope to do this once per month, eventually covering every part of the City. This is just one more of my efforts to involve more people in government.

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 Twitter handle is @DrJimGardner. 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 May 17 at 7 pm at the Lake 1 Clubhouse (Ridge Route).