Ballot Box Legislating - City Hall Edition

Picked this up from the Daily Pilot. Good for Alicia Robinson for getting this out quickly.

Coming up in February, Newport Beach registered voters will get to vote on lots.

• Who they want to represent their Political Party for President
• These propositions.
• And now...If the wonderful, large, expensive City Hall will go next to the Newport Beach Central Library...on land previously designated by previous City Councils and the Irvine Company AS A PARK.

Like it or not, there it is.

Something else to fill our mailboxes come January.

Something else the Newport City Council will have no say in, effectively tying their hands on a decision that a City Council should have a say on.

Something else which will divert the City's attention from the John Wayne Airport expansion and the proliferation of the Sober Living/Rehab Homes issues.

Welcome to our nightmare.

Newport Beach planning ruled by mob.

My guess, 23% voter turnout (only that high because of the Presidential primary). Any takers on the voter turnout wager? How about an over/under on the % voter drop off between the Presidential primary and this City Hall Initiative.

READ MORE - Ballot Box Legislating - City Hall Edition

Neighbor Watching - Santa Ana Edition

Sometimes you have to look outside of the City in order to better understand your own.

In today's LA Times is this article about the Santa Ana City Council telling one of their commissioners, who happens to be a blog site operator, to either stop criticizing the City Council on his blog or stop being a commissioner.

Hmmm...interesting.

On one side, the First Amendment.

On the other, thin skin on the Santa Ana City Council.

Sounds like the Santa Ana City Council want their commissioners to be Yes-Men/Women and agree with everything and every decision they make. Kind of like a Party-line kind of things.

Heaven forbid if they disagree with something the City Council does right?

But I suppose that kind of thinking can be expected when each Councilmember individually appoints their commissioners (like Santa Ana and Irvine) as opposed to the entire City Council having to vote on each commissioner collectively (like us in Newport Beach).

You don't have to go any further than our Newport Beach Planning Commission to find free-thinking and free-speaking Commissioners.

But then again, none of those seven men operate an opinionated and at-times inflammatory blog website...with pictures.

You can have your own opinions, just so long as you are not criticizing your City Leaders?

But who's opinions would you rather hear? Someone who is involved with the City Government they are opining about? Or someone who sits on the outside looking in?

I mean, Free Speech does have its limits right...?

In Santa Ana, it appears that Free Speech does.

READ MORE - Neighbor Watching - Santa Ana Edition

Manic Monday

Maybe its from the lack of sleep from having young kids...

In today's Daily Pilot Pol Position article is this, a collaborative piece written by committee (Councilmembers Leslie Daigle, Mike Henn, and Keith Curry, along with Phil Batchelor, who is the City’s financial consultant on the Services and Benchmarking Initiative).

The article essentially tells me that the City set up an initiative (Services and Benchmarking Initiative) as part of the Finance Committee (for which the three aforementioned Councilmembers are on) to ask the public (in the form of a 600 resident poll) if our City Government is doing a good job?

I guess it does. Crime is relatively low. Our lifeguards save lives. Our streets are clean. We don't have potholes. Our trash gets picked up. Most building plans (like retaining walls) take less than a year to get approved. Businesses pay extra taxes (called Business Improvement Districts) to operate in the City. The basic operations of the city work well. Traffic flows relatively well.

Except...if you live next to 4 Rehab homes on your street. Or if you own a business (just like 10 other businesses within 5 miles) next to politically connected/active residents. Or you live under the Airport Runway. Or if you have kids who will be affected by the Debt-Increasing/City Government-Growing/White Elephant-Building ways of our City Council (to be fair, the results of those types of actions will not be felt by our current City leaders because we have plenty of money today...but 30 years from now, who will be left to pick up the tab?).

But then again, those criticisms don't really have anything to do with City Staff.

The most interesting part of the article?

"Operational expenses have grown from $98 million to $150 million in five years and less than a nickel of every new General Fund dollar is going to projects."

We pay a lot for our City Staff so it would make sense that our City Staff does a great job. It's not their fault they get paid well. They do what everyone employees does. They ask for, and receive, more money and more benefits...

Problem is that we have (and have had) City Councils with a spending problem. Spending soo freely that they are forced to borrow to upgrade our infrastructure. Whether its a new Library, or a new White Elephant (City Hall), borrowing is the way.

My guess...the polling will come out saying that our City Staff is doing a great job and worth every dollar they receive today...and tomorrow.

READ MORE - Manic Monday