A Vision for Lake Forest - Involve More People

Few people in Lake Forest know the City as well as I do. I’ve walked every single street several times and visited all of our Parks. I attend virtually every City Council meeting and many meetings of the City Commissions, as well as being a Parade Committee member and a frequent guest at the City’s workshops. I’ve written more than 1,500 articles about Lake Forest and read just about every important document from the staff.

My son and his wife and my grand-daughter call Lake Forest home, and I’m on the Board of Lake 1 HOA as well as working with various groups such as The Garden Club, Soroptimists International of Lake Forest, South County Outreach, etc.

So I have a unique perspective on the City, and this week I want to offer my vision for the ways in which I think Lake Forest can become an even better place to live.

Today I want to focus on Involving More People

Lake Forest has an abundance of wealth in our people. When I sat through the many interviews for appointments to the Planning Commission I was struck by how many people were well qualified for this vital role in our government.

Our Council needs to take advantage of this pool of talent. We need to establish Committees or Commissions to deal with some of the challenges which we face, which the current City government is not able to adequately address. Here are just a few examples –

TRAFFIC COMMITTEE

Everyone knows our traffic is a big problem, yet the Council refuses to create a Traffic Committee. The City keeps promising that their solutions will alleviate the traffic problem, but the problems just get worse. We need a new approach and a Traffic Committee is a good place to start. Many other cities use them, why shouldn’t we?

Click here for my last article on this issue

NON-PROFIT COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

Almost every city has a non-profit community foundation that looks after the people and problems that fall through the net. They raise millions of dollars to use locally, and allow a tax deductible way for people to invest in their community. The Council keeps voting against creating a foundation and they say everything is all right. Yet we have problems trying to raise enough money for a Boys and Girls Club, our schools have many needs that aren’t being met by a declining school budget, etc..

The Council is wrong to deny our City the advantages of a Community Foundation.

Click here for my last article on this issue

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION

We have a real problem with crime in our City, despite the denials from Council members Voigts, McCullough, and Bass. The statistics can’t be ignored. Our crime rate is much higher than most of our neighbors. Even worse, the growth in our costs of public safety are rising at a rate much higher than our neighbors, and now consumes nearly 40% of our budget.

There’s a lot we can do, from re-vitalizing the Neighborhood Watch program (that was allowed to go dormant), to actively recruiting STARS civilian personnel to reduce the burden on patrol officers, to a greater focus on prevention by working in the schools.

A Public Safety Commission would allow us to bring together all parts of the community to help make our streets safer.

Click here for my last article on this issue

ANIMAL WELFARE COMMITTEE

After years of wrangling it looks like Lake Forest is about to get our first dog park, but the truth is, the place is so small it can really only be considered a “pocket park”. With more than 9,000 licensed dogs in the City, a park that can accommodate a dozen dogs at a time is hardly adequate for a City of 80,000 people. We need to plan for more parks and we also need to take a look at the County contract for animal care. For the same amount of money we pay the County, we could operate our own local shelter with higher quality and better service. So it’s time we took the pet people and brought them together so they can help plan a way for the City to do a better job.

An Animal Welfare Committee could coordinate with private groups and co-fund or operate many programs in the City.

Click here for my last article on this issue

BOTTOM LINE

A City’s wealth is not in its buildings but in its people. We have hundreds of bright, talented, and energetic people in the City who are prepared to roll up their sleeves to make Lake Forest a better place to live.The Parade Committee is a good example of how a few volunteers can help make one of the best parades in California. Instead of voting against new committees, the Council should embrace the use of volunteers.

About Jim Gardner

Dr. Jim Gardner is the editor of CITY WATCH on The Patch and a contributing editor to OC Politics and Voice of OC. He is running for City Council in Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook.