Jan

29

Joint Los Al City Council and Planning Commission Special meeting @ 5:30 Monday

Filed Under 2010 Issues, City Council Meetings, Planning & Zoning | Leave a Comment

(1/29/2010) A number of important zoning and planning issues will be on the table this Monday, 2/1/2010, when the Los Alamitos City Council meets jointly with the Planning Commission at 5:30, before the Council’s Regular Meeting.

Key issues on the agenda include the Read more

Jan

28

Los Alamitos needs your input on Katella/Los Al Blvd. study

Filed Under 2010 Issues, Planning & Zoning | 1 Comment

(1/28/2010, Los Alamitos)  The city is finally moving forward with the SCAG-funded Compass study of the Los Alamitos Blvd. and Katella corridors.

Part of the initial phase involves a very important Read more

Jan

27

Councilwoman Gerri Mejia digs in to prevent flooding

Filed Under City Council | 3 Comments

(Los Alamitos, CA)  Got an e-mail last week that I only got around to opening up today.  It was a link to a USA Today video on last week’s storms that I think you’ll find quite interesting.

It starts out with a Read more

Jan

27

State of the Union: Was that the President or Santa Claus?

Filed Under 2010 Issues | 4 Comments

(1/27/2010, Los Alamitos)  As tonight’s State of the Union address stretched on, with solution after solution to every problem that’s confronted our nation for the past 12 months, I was reminded of the old saying,  “When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.”

And when politicians go shopping, you can guess who’s money they’re spending.

By the time our politician-in-chief was 3/4 of the way through (hopefully), it was beginning to look like Read more

Jan

20

Updated sand & sand bag availability for Los Al, Seal Beach, Rossmoor

Filed Under Community News, News you can use | 3 Comments

5:45 p.m. Wednesday:  This just in:  Los Al Fire Station now has sand bags, just stop by the front entrance before 9:30 p.m. or after 7 a.m.  The sand at the north of the Los Al City Hall parking lot is supposed to be accessible 24/7, but you may need to bring your own shovel.

Sand and sand bags are also available at the downtown Seal Beach Fire Station (behind Walt’s Warf).  The worst downpour is expected mid morning Thursday.

1:30 p.m. update: Latest weather reports make it sound like we’ll have some pretty intense rain and winds around 3:30 – 4:30 today, followed by “the big one” mid morning tomorrow, Thursday.  More info below.

11:30 a. m. update:  Fire station & city hall out of  sand bags, city hall still has sand.  Other options might include heavy duty trash bags, pillow cases, or waiting & hoping Ganahl’s shipment finally comes in (details below)

(01/20/2010, Los Alamitos) Many Los Alamitos City residents are being auto-called by the Los Al Police Department with a warning of extremely heavy rains and possible flooding this afternoon.

The message warns that Read more

Jan

19

Los Al solid waste contract: Rolls Royce? Tax increase? Payback to Briggeman?

Filed Under 2010 Issues, City Council, George Briggeman | 13 Comments

(Los Alamitos, 1/19/2010)  As reported here earlier,  tonight’s Los Alamitos City Council meeting includes discussion and recommended approval of almost 200 pages of documents relating to the Request for Proposals (RFP) for solid waste collections services for 2011 – 2020.

It’s interesting that for at least the last 20 years our trash contract never went out to bid.  The hope was that an open bidding process would result in lower costs for Los Alamitos residents and businesses.

Some were, suspicious, however of Read more

Jan

19

Los Al drains overwhelmed? Rain’s over, water’s rising!

Filed Under 2010 Issues, Community News, News you can use | 6 Comments

(1:50 p.m., 1/19/2010, Los Alamitos)  Reporting from just west of Little Cottonwood Park:  After one of the most intense downpours I’ve witnessed, it wasn’t surprising to see local streets filled above the curbs with water about a half hour ago.

Nor was it a surprise when the water began receding after the rain stopped.

What was a surprise was that Read more

Jan

19

2010 Council priorities, new city engineer, trash bid on Los Al City Council’s Tuesday agenda

Filed Under City Council Meetings, Planning & Zoning | Leave a Comment

(1/18/2010, Los Alamitos)  After their 5:30 Special Meeting to interview 5 candidates for 3 vacancies on Los Alamitos’ Planning Commission (see “Resigned Los Al Mayor’s wife to interview for Planning Commission“), the Council will probably move directly into their first Regular Meeting of the decade at about 7:00 Tuesday night, 1/19/201.

Several interesting topics are included on a fairly lengthy agenda: Read more

Jan

16

Time to shut off your sprinklers!

Filed Under News you can use | 1 Comment

5/16/2010, Los Alamitos:  With 4 to 8 inches of rain forecast locally for the coming week,  Saturday night or Sunday morning might be an excellent time to shut off your sprinklers for a couple of weeks.

The storm is expected to blow in sometime Sunday, with sprinkles starting as early as mid-afternoon,  and last into next weekend, according to Weather.com’s 10 day forecast for Los Alamitos (forecast may be updated by the time you click).

Mountain areas of Southern California could get as much as 20 inches of rain!

But that doesn’t mean that our drought is over, since our drinking water mainly comes from vastly depleted reservoirs north of here.  Besides, you don’t want your neighbors laughing at you when your sprinklers are running  in the rain on Monday!

So allow extra time to get to work Monday morning, drive very carefully, and experience a week in Seattle without ever leaving Los Alamitos!

Jan

15

Resigned Los Al Mayor’s wife to interview for Planning Commission

Filed Under City Council Meetings, Commission Meetings, Dean Grose, Planning & Zoning | 5 Comments

(Los Alamitos, 1/15/2010)  Wendy Grose, wife of former Los Alamitos Council Member and Mayor Dean Grose, will be interviewed for a seat on the city’s Planning Commission at a Special Council Meeting this coming Tuesday, January 19th at 5:30 p.m.

Ms. Grose is one of five applicants for three open positions, including the one created several months ago when the Council removed former P.C. Chairman Art DeBolt from the Commission.  The other four applicants all have Read more

Jan

12

Haiti Earthquake Relief: What we can do today

Filed Under Inspiration, News you can use | 8 Comments

(1/12/2010)   As Californians we’re used to earthquakes, but not many reach the 7.0 magnitude of this afternoon’s disaster in Haiti.

Combine the huge earthquake with the poor quality of construction and readiness of the hemisphere’s poorest nation, and the projections of massive loss of life ring true.

Fortunately, helping out is as easy as a few mouse clicks.  What is needed most, especially initially, are Read more

Jan

10

Los Al P. C. to consider new county boundary line Monday, Jan 11

Filed Under Commission Meetings, Planning & Zoning | 8 Comments

Monday, 1/11/2010 update: Today’s Planning Commission agenda is now available online.   There’s not much on the agenda other than the county line adjustments described below.  Staff is recommending a public hearing be scheduled on that item on 2/8/2010. Also on tonight’s agenda is signage for the new Drug Store going in to office building being remodeled at 3401 Katella, across from Blockbuster.

Click here for the complete agenda.

(1/10/2010, Los Alamitos)   If you look at a map, you’ll notice that the County Line between OC and L.A.  that supposedly follows Coyote “Creek” doesn’t match the current flood control channel we euphemistically call a creek.

There are 3 specific areas along the Los Al border where the County line is on the wrong side Read more