Clover Died While Waiting For Dog Park. Will Hunter?

I used to think it was too bad when a large group left a city council meeting, but I’ve come to realize it means that our community is very strong. The council’s job is really not to mess that up. Unfortunately neither Cathy Schlicht or Rhonda Reardon are bright enough to have figured that simple fact out.

How Long, Oh Lord, How Long?

The latest episode of the longest running city council agenda item, the dog park, focused on . All the government agencies involved approved the swap. The dog park was put on the agenda in 2003, by Council Member Trish Kelly. Let’s face it: a dog park is a three or four meeting deal, and had it been built then it wouldn’t have cost what it will today. So why wasn’t it?

That answer is simple. Their names are Brad Morton, Larry Gilbert, Francis Holtzman, Cathy Schlicht, Dale Tyler, et., al. They have been against every major project that enhances life in Mission Viejo. These projects included the , the , the , the , the recreation center remodels, among many other projects. All of those projects were eventually completed at our expense for a lot more money than they would have originally cost.

What this group does is stall every major project until it cost an obscene amount of money. Then they start complaining about how much it will cost; after the project is completed they use the project's original estimate to complain about “cost overruns,” which they actually caused by their stall tactics. Gilbert is doing that today about the community center on a local blog.

At the same time, Gilbert, Reardon, Schlicht and their pals have willingly spent your money on the following projects:

• $270,000 to recall a city council member who was running for re-election eight months later;
• $250,000 on a ballot measure that would take away private property rights from Mission Viejo citizens;
• $750,000 to block housing for anyone making $73,000 a year or less;
• $40,000 on a nuisance lawsuit against the city by City Council Member Cathy Schlicht because the rest of the council disagreed with her;
• $600,000 plus for stalking a former Mission Viejo City Manager.
• $50,000 to research a roundabout on the corner of Oso and Marguerite, which would have meant bulldozing a church on one corner and a businesses on two others. You can sit at the stoplight and easily see the problem with a roundabout.

Anyone who would spend that kind of money on those projects is really not concerned with spending your money. That is an extremely stupid argument; Schlicht and Reardon must know it is intentionally insulting to every voter in Mission Viejo.

If we listened to this group in the past, we wouldn’t have a library, a city hall, an animal shelter, the recreation centers, the tennis center, the community center, and the list rolls on and on and on…instead, we be all sitting on Kmart folding chairs in vacant, weed-infested lots.

Their actions simply make civic projects Hollywood-blockbuster expensive. In short, Gilbert, Morton, Schlicht, and Reardon waste your money. All they did last night at the council meeting is stall a worthwhile project once again; they insured that the dog park will cost an obscene amount of money.

The dog park will be built. Mission Viejo has more homes with dogs than any other city in Orange County. You do the politics.

What I find interesting is that all the projects they object to have one thing in common. The library, the Murray Center, the animal shelter, the city hall, the dog park, the recreation centers, the tennis center, and even the shade covers over the little league bleachers all bring people together. They allow people to talk and get to know each other. You have to wonder why they are so afraid of that, because when people come together, when they talk, when they get to know each other a strange and wonderful thing happens: a real community becomes possible. A strong vibrant community.