Well, the tumult of the historic 2008 elections
are over, and the people have voted overwhelmingly for change
-- except in Rossmoor, where nothing ever changes.
Los Alamitos School District Bond Issue
Not unexpectedly, the Los Alamitos School
Districts Measure K passed – with over 65% approval.
Because of necessary paperwork, the first bond monies will
not be available until late February at the earliest, but
this should have a very positive effect on local sports facilities
– not just for high school teams but for all the community
groups which use district facilities – which means pretty
much every local youth sports activitiy.
Rossmoor -
I expected the Rossmoor incorporation
measure to fail, but the 70-30 margin surprised me. (Fortunately,
in a Rossmoor election, the losers and winners still seem
to be quite amicable, which is good because generally I like
talking to my wife and in-laws.) I do find it amusing (ironic,
whatever) that not even a day had elapsed after the rejection
of Rossmoor cityhood that Orange County supervisor John Moorlach
ordered a comprehensive, through study to determine what the
county actually spends on services to “unincorporated
areas” (which includes Rossmoor). Call me crazy, but
shouldn’t this have been done before Rossmoor voted
on anything? Not nthat anybody will truly believe any numbers
the county comes up with.
The interesting thing now is to see how the new RCSD Board
shakes out. So much attention was paid to Measure U that the
election of three new board members was almost an afterthought.
Los Alamitos.
Ouch. For the second time in two years,
the citizens have shouted au revoir to a sitting mayor. Fred
Freeman took the hit in 2006 and Ken Parker did likewise last
week. (Does this mean the first vote of the new council will
be such that the loser gets to be the new mayor?) The big
questions here are whether the assumed new gang of four majority
(new council members Marilynn Poe and Ken Stephens and current
council members Troy Edgar and Dean Grose) take the high road
and put the community’s business ahead of personal vindictiveness.
And how long the new four person majority can maintain agreement
and unity before they turn on themselves. (I know, I'm a cynic.)
Seal Beach.
It looks like the Save Our Seal Beach organization
needs some life support of its own after voters passed a 25-foot
height limit on new construction.
November
3, 2008
Some more unsolicited opinions before the
elections.
This may be a wasted effort, because by
now 80% of you have probably already voted via an absentee
ballot, and 19% of you already have your minds made up and
are still trying to twist the facts to justify your conclusions.
But for that miniscule amount of voters who want to be further
confused, I offer the following ballot viewpoints.
Los Alamitos USD School Bond issue (Measure
K)
Despite some fact-challenged guest columns
in the Sun, this is a no-brainer Yes.
From a sports perspective, this
bond benefits the entire community. Our local schools are
also our main recreation areas. If passed, the district
will make two million dollars available on a matching funds
basis to improve recreation facilities on school campuses.
(For instance, if aquatics boosters raised $100,000 to improve
the LAHS pool, the district would match that with an additional
$100,000.) This plan rewards those groups who are willing
to help themselves. Public or private school is irrelevant.
If your kids play AYSO, Friday Night Lights, lacrosse, NJB,
youth baseball or softball (who practice at school fields),
this bond can benefit them.
More importantly, our schools are 40-50-years
old. If you owned a 40-50 year old house, you would definitely
be upgrading the roofing, wiring, plumbing, HVAC, etc..
Doing it NOW gets us 19 million dollars
in matching funds from the state.
While this may not be the best time to
float bonds (re: best rates), in the current economy, construction
work is slow –it’s a great time to strike deals
with contractors. This also means getting the job done sooner.
The return on investment ratio is very
good. Bonds will be assessed at $34.75 per $100,000 assessed
valuation. The cost per year to the average household is
comparable to a single tank of gas. A long time homeowner
(pre-1980) will pay less than $40 a year.
This is an investment that every homeowner
outside Leisure World will probably get back 10-fold in
real dollars when they sell their house.
The moral fairness of cutting out Leisure
World from this bond issue can be debated. But the practical
facts are that Leisure World residents will not benefit via
increased property values. Also, because LW properties are
owned by co-op associations, they are still assessed at near-1979
Prop 13 values – which means the actual money brought
in is minimal and thus not worth spending time and energy
on.
I rarely endorse election
items, but in this case Vote yes on Measure K.
Prop U – Rossmoor Cityhood –
I’m torn on this one. Neither side
has made a real compelling case.
WEAK ARGUMENTS AGAINST
CITYHOOD:
• IT’S NOT BROKE, DON’T
FIX IT. This assumes things stay the same. Things NEVER
stay the same. They didn’t when Rossmoor turned down
incorporation and annexation attempts before. Los Alamitos
incorporated and grabbed the Highlands. And then Seal Beach
expanded and grabbed Rossmoor Center and what would become
the Target Center and College Park East, etc. The only thing
that has stayed the same is that the state has been taking
more money from us and giving us less.
• OTHER THAN PROPERTY TAXES, WE
HAVE NO TAX BASE. Other small communities in similar situations
have succeeded (can we say Villa Park, Laguna Woods?) Incredibly,
this very same argument was used against the incorporation
of Irvine in the early 1960s. It wasn’t true then
and it’s not true now. Between Rossmoor Village sales
tax and cable TV franchise fees we can bring in close to
half a million dollars a year. If
• THE COUNTY HAS TO PROVIDE SERVICES.
Yes, they do, but they don’t have to continue to provide
them to the financial extent they are now.
WEAK ARGUMENTS FOR
CITYHOOD:
• BETTER LAW ENFORCEMENT: The slow
response time argument is a non-issue. No crime in Rossmoor
over the past 15 years would have been prevented if we were
a city. Also, for priority one emergencies, we have reciprocal
agreements with surrounding police departments that benefit
us and them as well.
• TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
Last time I checked, I got to vote for OC Supervisor and
state representatives, etc., people who vote on my taxes.
I am represented.
• BETTER TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT: I
think this issue appeals to a very small percentage. I live
on a busy street (i.e., it has a yellow line) and it’s
not an issue with me or with anyone I know.
• PERMITTING AND INSPECTING: Most
contractors I know prefer dealing with Orange County than
with local city inspectors.
• INCREASED PROPERTY VALUES BY
BEING A SEPARATE ZIP CODE – First, this sounds snotty
and elitist. It may make the Rossmoor median value look
better in the weekly home sales reports (which combine Los
Al and Rossmoor), but I doubt it makes any difference in
actual comps and market price. Besides, if we really
want a zip code, we can apply for one.
• LOCAL CONTROL: Los Al and Seal
Beach have local control. Those are not good examples of
the system working better. The reruns of recent Los Al City
Council meetings are probably the most effective argument
against cityhood. Also disturbing to me was the recent RCSD
Joel Rattner- Brown Act controversy. Rattner, a RCSD Board
member, attended a Finance subcommittee meeting as an interested
citizen. He had a legal right to do this, but some RCSD
staff and board members were worried that his presence would
give the appearance of violating the Brown Act. Granted,
Rattner can be frustrating, but for RCSD Board members to
be more adamantly concerned about appearances than someone's
actual rights and law is very disturbing to me.
VALID ARGUMENTS FOR CITYHOOD:
We will be eligible for more state and
federal grants.
We would have more of a presence at regional meetings, and
because of the participation of our community, I think we
would become one of the influential players in West OC.
Bottom line: I totally understand the “no
on U” side’s positions. However, my gut feeling
is that history and recent state and county actions tell me
that if we don’t incorporate now, it will bite us in
the keester. It may not be for five or six years, but my fear
is that by then it may be too late for Rossmoor to maintain
our own independent identity. I’m leaning towards a
yes vote, but I don’t think it will pass and I hope
the "No on U" side is right in their assumptions
because we have far more to lose re: quality of life if they're
wrong.
LOS ALAMITOS CITY COUNCIL RACES –
Okay, I'm still trying to get a handle
on the fact that a Los Al candidates forum was cancelled because
a city attorney opined that politics may be inappropriate
in a city council chamber. Last time I checked, that was pretty
much all that took place in there. Too bad the attorney is
not up for election because if anyone deserves to be thrown
out of office, he may be the one.
But he's not up for election, so we go
with what we got. And what we've got is that this election
threatens to be a lose-lose for the citizenry of Los Al. Whoever
wins, there could be a very lingering temptation to exact
payback. This will further solidfy the partisanship that currently
permeates and hinders the council. Hopefully, whoever wins,
the council will go the Rodney King route and bite the bullet
and work hard to get along and get things working.
SEAL BEACH --
Even I don't dare
to go there. Seal Beach politics are a separate universe.
Okay I've done my civic duty to alienate
people. Time to get off my soapbox.
May 28, 2008
Rossmoor Cityhood Redux -- letting the people
vote -- of all the nerve
By LARRY STRAWTHER
Local Sports/Local Life Publisher
It seems very quiet on the community front
-- except LAFCO has decided to leave the decision of incorporating
to Rossmoor residents themselves, much to the apparent dismay
of many opponents who are apparently aghast at letting the
issue come to a vote of the people.
I have to admit I myself am not entirely
comfortable placing my destiny in the hands of a population
that put David Archuleta into the American Idol finals, but
I can only hope those voters not only came from somewhere
else but are having to take out second mortgages to pay for
the obscene numnber of multiple votes they made on their cell
phones.
In any case, it'll will be interesting
to see which way the wind will blow in Rossmoor this time.
Over the years Rossmoor-avians have turned down numerous chances
for cityhood, starting in October 1957 when Rossmoor only
had nine actual registered voters. Not being resistered didn't
stop a lot of new residents from signing a petition
for incorporation . This failed attampt was followed in
December by a half-hearted and equally unsuccessful attempt
to be annexed by Long Beach. In June and July of 1959, Rossmoor
made its second real try at incorporation, but the Rossmoor
Homeowners Association withdrew its petition after a RHA Meeting
showed a 34-2
vote against cityhood.
1960,
1961
and other years saw subsequent incorporation (1966, pt 1,
2,
3
& 4)
and annexation attempts, and in the process Rossmoor lost
what became the Rossmoor Highlands, the Rossmoor Center, the
Old Ranch Town Center (aka Target Center), the Old Ranch Golf
Course, College Park East, Spaghettini's, Bixby Office Park,
and most of the Naval Weapons Station north of Westminster.
We did however manage to keep the Rossmoor Wall -- which I
suppose is a fair trade. more
April 10, 2008
Rossmoor Cityhood -- a/k/a the best darned
uninformed opinion around
By LARRY STRAWTHER
Local Sports/Local Life Publisher
I unfortunately missed the Rossmoor LAFCO
workshop in early March. I had two kids sporting events to
attend that night so I figured I’d watch a rerun of
the meeting on TV. This didn’t happen because by the
time I finally found an up-to-date airing schedule, LATV had
stopped rerunning it.
So this brings up my first question: Why
isn’t LATV re-showing that hearing at least once a week?
That decision is far more important to this community than
the Harman report or the 19th rerun of the Los Al City Council
meeting in which the council members walk on eggshells trying
to slam one another without it looking like they’re
slamming one another (hint: it’s not working), or even
a Los Al basketball game rerun from January. (I can say that
and I’m announcing the games, or maybe I’m saying
that specifically because I’m announcing the games.)
Anyway, people who obviously don’t
know better have asked me my opinion about Rossmoor incorporation
and the workshop. Not being one to turn down a challenge,
I refuse to let a small detail like not attending the workshop
get in the way of having an opinion about it, so here goes.
First of all, before anybody says the
comments at the meeting meant anything, remember -- only 500
attended – and probably 10% of those were from Los Alamitos
city council and staff. Okay, a slight exaggeration –
make it 9% -- but the numbers there indicate very little beyond
that this issue hasn’t exactly captured the public’s
fancy, and so the true sense of the community is hard to determine.
However having now thoroughly studied all the irrelevant,
superficial aspects of the issue, I can say I am firmly in
the camp of indecision. more
Local newspaper coverage to get even thinner;
Press-Telegram slated for big cuts
Trying to make do in an extremely shaky
time for the newspaper industry, the Long Beach Press-Telegram
will merge many functions with its corporate sister entitty,
the South Bay Daily Breeze and reduces its local reporting
staff to 10 reporters.
This means that the Los Al, Rossmoor and
Seal Beach communties which already are often overlooked by
the big three newspapers -- The Times, Register and Press-Telegram
-- will be overlooked even more in the upcoming future.
ROSSMOOR: LAFCO report says Rossmoor can
survive as a city
An official report generated by LAFCO -
the Local Agency formation Committee — says that cityhood
for the unincorporated community of Rossmoor is fiscally feasible
if residents are willing to pay a utility tax of seven cents.
St. Isidore Open House gives new life to
an old church
Nearly
100 parishioners and community residents gathered at St. Isidore's
Church in Los Alamitos to celebrate an agreement with the
Diocese of Orange that lets them lease the property and raise
money to buy it – church included
The church, constructed in 1922 to serve
the many Spanish speaking farmhands and sugarbeet factory
workers of the small community, was closed by the diocese
in 1999 because it wasn't earthquake safe and needed a costly
retrofit.
Parishioners, many who had grown up in
the church and the tight-knit community, joined with community
leaders to form a non-profit, and draft a plan to re-open
the church as a community chapel and create a resource center
next door. Last July, the group struck a six-year agreement
with the diocese to lease the three buildings on the property
– the first of which was renovated and re-opened Sunday
– and raise $1.2 million to buy the lot. (more
from OC Register)
LOCAL PEOPLE: Under Wendy Puzarne, Intern
Program Growing At Jewish Community Center
Grunion Gazette: By Kelly Garrison; Features
Editor— Jewish Family & Children’s Service
(JFCS) Executive Director Wendy Puzarne started her career
in social work with an internship.
Less than a decade later, she was hired
for her current position and now helps supervise that intern
program, which today is one of the fastest growing parts of
JFCS. Since her experience interning, Puzarne said, the program’s
number of participants has more than doubled and has given
many students the opportunity to develop invaluable career
skills. (complete
article)
LOCAL BUSINESS: Trend Printing
names Yandell Chief Operating Officer
Feb. 11, 2008 -- Folio Magazine - New York,NY,USA
-- Los Alamitos, California-based Trend Offset Printing has
named Ed Yandell chief operating officer.Yandell will manage
the company's manufacturing and engineering functions. Previously
he was chief operating officer at Creel Printing in Las Vegas....
READY, SET, PLUNGE
Feb. 9, 2008 -- Long Beach Press-Telegram
- Long Beach,CA,USA
Members of the O'Malleys Plungers rush into the cold ocean
water, hoisting their toilet plungers into the air at the
3rd annual Seal Beach Polar Plunge on ...
February 7, 2008 - OC RegisterEight Seal
Beach residents are vying for an open seat on the City Council,
and one is likely to be chosen at Monday's meeting.
The candidates are David W. Sloan, Charles
L. Cohen, George A. Early, Rebecca Allie, Jose G. Osuna, William
P. Peterson, Darse E. Crandall and F. Kurt Bourhenne. They
will be interviewed by council members from 2 to 5:30 p.m.
February 6, 2008 - LB Press-Telegram --
George Lucas made Mel's Drive-in a legend just before it died.
The San Francisco restaurant was about
to be demolished when the filmmaker was scouting for locations
for "American Graffiti," but the destruction was
pushed back while he made his rock 'n' roll classic with Ron
Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Suzanne Somers, Harrison Ford and
other future stars. As the hit movie opened, the bulldozers
were razing the restaurant, part of a small chain that had
first opened in 1947.
50 YEARS AGO: 2 Planes from Los Al Air Base
collide in mid-air, over Norwalk; 47 killed
February 2, 1958 - LA Times — A military
version of a DC-6 airliner and a patrol plane collide in midair,
showering five square miles of Norwalk with flaming wreckage
and bits of metal. The main portion of the C-118 plunges into
a gas station at Pioneer and Firestone boulevards, careens
across the street and starts a fire when it slams into a gasoline
supply dump at the sheriff's substation. The P-2V comes to
rest in the parking lot of the Santa Fe Springs fire station.
In addition to the victims on the two aircraft,
Edith Hernandez, 23, 12303 Jersey St., is killed by falling
metal when she runs outside to check on the safety of her
children.
As emergency personnel from across the
area converge on the scene of the disaster, thousands of spectators
swarm the area, bringing the Santa Ana Freeway to a standstill.
The crash, which ultimately claimed 48
lives, prompted a congressional investigation and a Navy ban
on low-level flights from Los Alamitos Naval Air Station.
It is California's worst air disaster, The Times says.
When Bill Yee sits on his living room
couch, he's in Los Alamitos. But when Yee steps into his backyard,
he enters new territory: Long Beach , in Los Angeles County.
CHARITY: What's the status of the Casa Youth
Shelter non-profit embezzlement?
The OC Register gives the latest. (Friday,
Jan. 25, 2008)
PEOPLE: Gen. Combs named Los Al area Chamber
Man of Year;
Los Al Chamber selects Gen. Combs as Man
of the Year.
OC Register - Jan. 25, 2008 - Chamber honors awards JFTB commander
Brigadier General James Combs who is currently developing
a base master plan in conjunction with surrounding cities.
January 15, 2007 - OC Register -- The City
Council on Monday accepted the resignation of Councilman John
Larson and will seek to fill his vacancy in the coming weeks.
Former mayor Larson resigned recently citing
health reasons. He represented District Two, which includes
Leisure World and College Park West neighborhoods. His term
would have expired in November.
Stingrays love Seal Beach, according to
a feature this month in the National Geographic. Of course,
this is probably not news to the average 251 persons each
year who suffer stingray-related injuries in the area near
the mouth of the San Gabriel River, which is warmed by the
nearby energy producing plant.
The Los Alamitos City Council has approved
plans for a $2.3 million, four-acre park along the Coyote
Creek flood channel, with funds in large part provided by
the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy.
The park would be in the area behind Oak
Middle School and the adjacent trailer park, north of Katella
and south of Cerritos Avenue.
OC Register - Dec. 13, 2007 - An electrical
failure in the attic of a Seal Beach business was the cause
of a three-alarm fire last week at a Main Street .
Dec. 12, 2007 - OC Register - Crowds were
lined up for the 5:30 am opening of the Seal Beach diner in
the landmark Parsol building at The Shops at Rossmoor.
OC Register - Dec. 4, 2007 - Ken Parker
is the new mayor of Los Alamitos and Gerri Mejia is the new
mayor pro tem, the City Council decided Monday at
Dec. 13, 2007 - OC Register
PEOPLE: Sir Speedy's McCleans named Los
Al Citizens of the Year
- Local Sir Speedy franchise owners Allan
and Lauri McClean have been named the Los Alamitos Citizens
of the Year by the Cypress College American Foundation.
Seal Beach elects new mayor, pro tem
OC Register - Costa Mesa,CA,USA - Dec.
12, 2007 -- The city council Monday night voted Charles Antos
to be mayor in a 3-0-2 vote and unanimously voted Michael
Levitt as mayor ...
Grab your surfboard,
then your umbrella
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA - As the sun
came up in Seal Beach this morning, body boarders and surfers
perched on top of a 12-foot sand berm, wearing sweatshirts,
drinking coffee and ...
Seal Beach gets $1.5 million to restore
First Street trails area
OC Register - November 30, 2007 - Hoping
to renovate the area where the San Gabriel River meets the
ocean near First Street, Seal Beach has received a grant from
the San Gabriel and Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains conservancy
to upgrade trails and riverside from the beach to the 405
and 605 freeways. But the city will still need more help from
the state.
Nonprofit puts trees in Seal Beach park
Orange County Register - November 28,
2007 - Trees for Seal Beach plants 30 of them in a field once
home to an elementary school torn down because of health concerns.
Seal Beach settles in behind completed berm
OCRegister - Santa Ana,CA,USA
And the big wall of sand south of the Seal Beach pier confirmed
it. It protects the nearby area from a winter "trifecta,"
according to Seal Beach City ...
A county commission is expected to decide
today whether the unincorporated community of Rossmoor would
be better off joining with Los Alamitos, Seal Beach or staying
the same.
The Local Agency Formation Commission will
review the recommendation of its staff to place Rossmoor and
its municipal services under the jurisdiction of Los Alamitos
– putting it on a path to annexation.
:GENTLY USED and NEVER USED
Women's & Men's Clothing, Shoes, Women's handbags, Jewelry
and
Upscale Household Items
Sparkling Cider, Tea, Coffee, Sandwiches and Cookies will
be served
LOS
ALAMITOS: