Report to the People - April 2015

This report covers the period from March 1 to 31. It represents the views of Councilman Gardner and does not necessarily reflect official City policy. These reports are produced monthly. Past copies are available on request.

INVOLVING PEOPLE

One of my main concerns is to involve more people in our local government.

Office hours are every Tuesday from 3 pm to 5 pm. You’ll find me on the first floor. Inquire at the Clerk’s office. In March a dozen people stopped by with inquiries about the impact of new homes on schools, problems with parking and street sweeping, Mello Roos, etc.

Town Square – Lake Forest Town Square has 180 members, all of whom are LF residents or business owners. They are providing extremely valuable input on issues facing the council as well as general issues. Please join. We need your help and involvement. Go to Facebook and search for Lake Forest Town Square – be careful not to sign up for the Illinois version.

Listen and Learn – In March I met with the Portola Hills HOA and Foothill Ranch Main HOA, and in April I will meet with the Forest Gardens HOA. If you have a group and want to share your concerns, e-mail me and let’s get together.

Mini Town Meetings –Our next meeting will be Saturday April 18 from 2 to 4 pm, at FHR Library. The Council agenda for the following Tuesday (April 21) will come out on Thursday (April 12), so you can preview the agenda and then come to the meeting and give me your opinions about the issues that will come up at the meeting. This is our chance to discuss issues in a forum that allows for more give-and-take compared to the formal environment at City Hall.

SPECIFIC ISSUES

Promoting the Arts in Lake Forest - Working with the Saddleback Art League and Modjeska Playhouse my Council colleagues agreed to consider actively promote the arts in our City. This means hiring local artists (and entertainers) for our City events, using the City Hall and Sports Park to have local art shows, etc. In conjunction with this, I am planning to put together a list of artists in Lake Forest so that the City can use locals when they book entertainers for City events. If you’re an artists (musician, singer, entertainer, balloon artist, face painter, sketch artist, etc.) please send me an e-mail.

Village Pond Park – The feeding prohibition ordinance was passed on March 17. It goes into effect on April 17. I am working with the City Manager to see that it is done right.

Dog Park(s) – I submitted plan changes for the small dog park being built on Baffin Bay. The design would have promoted aggression, and the suggestions I made will lower the possibilities. We should open before the end of the year. Since this is such a small park we are still looking for other sites to add more neighborhood parks.

Land Use – Slowly but surely I have been getting the City to provide a picture of all the land which the City holds. Land use decisions (e.g., dog park, community garden, community pool, etc.) are being made in isolation without any consideration for what we have in our inventory. With a complete picture of all the land we hold we will be able to make better decisions. This will come up at the 5 year Strategic Planning session in a few weeks.

Seniors – Can you believe it? Lake Forest does not have a “Meals on Wheels” program. Instead nearly 100 seniors who live in Lake Forest have to be served by volunteers from RSM, MV, and LH. I’m working with the City to remedy this situation. And I began meeting with the Senior Advisory Group as we move forward toward designing and then building our senior center. I hope to have an update on this project in the near future.

Traffic – I have been talking to the TCA trying to convince them to offer an incentive for all new residents to use the 241 instead of the 5. This will reduce traffic from FHR and PH who come through the City to reach the 5. So far the TCA is interested, but nothing final yet.

Voting – Many people were upset by the voting process for Commissioners that inadvertently concealed the individual votes by each Council member. I spoke with the City Manager and we agreed to adopt a policy going forward that reveals each vote by each member.

Investments – We are earning a paltry 0.3% on our millions of dollars of investments. Councilman Hamilton and I are working to improve this asap. We expect to see a new policy by the end of the month and we hope to more than double our investment income.

NETWORKING

In March I attended the following meetings/events. This involved more than 200 hours and the City didn’t have to pay a dime.

• · Mar 2 – Read Across America (Olivewood School)
• · Mar 2 – Parade Committee meeting
• · Mar 2 – Listen and Learn - Portola Hills HOA
• · Mar 3 – Office Hours
• · Mar 3 - City Council Meeting
• · Mar 6 – Kiwanis
• · Mar 6 – Lake Forest Economic Summit
• · Mar 7 – Home Depot Water Efficient Sale
• · Mar 9 – Listen and Learn – Foothill Ranch Main HOA
• · Mar 10 – Office Hours
• · Mar 10 – Relay for Life Open House
• · Mar 11 – Senior Advisory Group
• · Mar 13 - Kiwanis
• · Mar 14 – Town Hall Meeting
• · Mar 17 – Office Hours
• · Mar 17 – Chamber of Commerce
• · Mar 17 - City Council Meeting
• · Mar 18 – Meeting with Meals on Wheels
• · Mar 19 – League of California Cities workshop
• · Mar 19 - Parks and Recreation Commission
• · Mar 20 - Kiwanis
• · Mar 20 – City Leadership Luncheon
• · Mar 20 - Audubon Society
• · Mar 21 – Kiwanis Garage Sale Fundraiser
• · Mar 22 – Meeting with Mission Viejo Council member
• · Mar 23 – Biaggio’s Restaurant – Support Marine Battalion
• · Mar 23 – Meeting with Laguna Hills Council member
• · Mar 24 – Avoiding Employment Related Litigation
• · Mar 25 – Meeting with Director of Community Services
• · Mar 25 – Meeting with City Manager
• · Mar 26 – Water 101 workshop in Newport Beach with Supervisor Bartlett
• · Mar 27 – TCA seminar with Supervisors Bartlett and Spitzer
• · Mar 28 – Bunny Blast at El Toro Park
• · Mar 28 – Soroptimists Bras for a Cause Fundraiser
• · Mar 31 – Office Hours
• · Mar 31 – 5 year strategic planning workshop

The City Council meets at 7 pm on the first and third Tuesday of each month. Please try to attend so that your voice is heard and your presence is felt.

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 2 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every moth. The next meeting will be April 18 from 2 to 4 pm at the Foothill Ranch Public Library.

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