(Los  Alamitos, 8/16/2012) Interesting agendas are now posted for a 5 p.m. Special Council meeting to interview and appoint or reappoint various Commission  Members and the 6 p.m. regular monthly Council Meeting.

5 pm Special Meeting:

Vacancies are on the Cable (1),  Personnel Appeals(3), and Planning(2) Commissions.    The seven applicants are:

1. Steven Hammond (Cable)
2. John Underwood (Cable
3. Daniel Patz* (Personnel Appeals)
4. Marilyn Bates (Personnel Appeals)
5. Cathie Salai* (Personnel Appeals)
6. Ben Sutherlin* (Planning)
7. John Riley *(Planning)

Click here for the agenda for the 5 pm Special  Meeting, followed by the staff reports and applications.

Click here for the agenda for the 6 pm Regular Meeting followed by attachments and staff reports.

As always,  your comments and insights, diplomatically expressed, are welcome!

(Los Alamitos, 8/16/2012)Today our creative Thursday Columnist takes an interesting look at all manner of  Medal-worthy performances in Los Alamitos.  I’ll start by suggesting H.G., along with Ted A of the News-Enterprise,  is well worthy of the Gold for best local columnist !

by Highlands Guy:

Gold, Silver, Bronze, that’s what its all about. At least to the Olympic athlete, who could be a giddy 17 yr old who still watches Nickelodeon and gets an allowance, or a 30-something, divorced multi-millionaire.

These three medals appear to be the most important metals in the lives of the athletes, their coaches and trainers, their parents, their shoe/uniform suppliers, and all sorts of hangers-on. And, of course, the spectators in the stands waving Old Glory.

Since we are still in the throes of the Games, it might be a good time to see how our local folks might fare in a medal run. The disclaimer is that all decisions are one sided, and do not make any pretense about being objective.

But on the positive side, you won’t have to put up with pictures of emotional parents in the stands, any sport with animals or 14 yr old divers, or hugging and chest bumps after every point, or uniforms that would be more appropriate on Spiderman.

On a serious, authentic note, the Highlands Guy’s gold medal has to be shared by everyone connected to our very own pool at the Joint Forces Training Base, where the real gold medal winners in water polo trained:  Tumualalii Anae, Betsey Armstrong, Kami Craig, Annika Dries, Courtney Mathewson, Heather Petri, Kelly Rulon, Maggie Steffens, Jessica Steffens, Brenda Villa, and Lauren Wenger. [ad]

I guess our connections are kind of like being the fourth cousin, twice removed, from a distant friend, who’s great-grandfather married her aunt’s gardener’s step-sister.

The gold (the color of money) medal for the biggest business in Los Alamitos that can do whatever it darn well pleases, goes to, drum roll please, Los Alamitos Medical Center.  The parade of Drs and corporate (Tenet) mouthpieces decrying the need for new technology, a larger emergency room, and more patient spaces was dramatic.

So, what’s the first thing they are going to spend money on that has been rubber stamped by city personnel?   More parking and Drs offices. Have you seen the empty Dr’s offices all over town. Hello, is anybody at City Hall paying attention?

But wait, we have more gold to go around. The medal for the business in Los Alamitos that has bought its way into our hearts (and plaques, and shade coverings, and 50th anniversary commemorations in perpetuity) goes to Southland Credit Union.

The silver medal in this category is awarded to the City Council for authorizing city personnel to spend time, energy, and professional expertise in a never-ending search for dollars.   I firmly believe the focus needs to be on city programs using city funds. Then the citizenry can make more reality based decisions related to city funds vs city expenditures

The bronze medal goes to me and all you guys reading this.  The citizens of Los Alamitos can consider themselves winners, kind of, because they live here where things are pretty good.

But by no means, do they (we) deserve the gold:

• The business community is floundering;
• the city council is dysfunctional;
• although housing values are a bit up, crime is also on the increase; and
•  the city coffers are getting smaller and smaller every year.
•  But, the most significant factor in not deserving the gold, is that there are so few willing to step up with their time, energy, expertise and moral convictions that can put us in gold medal contention in 4 years.

I’m not sure what entity is in charge, but someone in the city surely lost the medal race for center dividers. I had to add this one as a result of my drive to work this morning down Los Alamitos Blvd and, looking out my window, saw weeds at eye level.  And it sure seems that the choice of plants is inappropriate and the maintenance in most of the dividers is not up to par. It is just one more (albeit small but highly visible) city item that is NOT being properly addressed.

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.”

- Pierre de Coubertin (primarily responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1894)

…And that’s just the way I see it.

As always, your thoughts and perspective are welcome.

(8/16/2012, Los Alamitos)  Over the past few weeks eight candidates pulled papers to run for the two Los Alamitos City Council seats that are up for election this November.  In the end four did not actually file to run, Incumbent Marilyn Poe,  non-related Thomas Poe,  R. Craig Sabo, and “Decline to State,” who turned out to be one Gina Biri (more on her later)

That leaves us with four candidates:

• Traffic Commissioner and long time Los Al resident Richard Murphy, from Rossmoor Highlands.
• Four year Los Al resident resident Demi Devaney, from the east end of Apartment Row (Green St.)
• Five year Los Al resident and incumbent Council Member Ken Stephens, also from the east end of Apartment Row (Howard Ave.)
• Resigned former Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose, from Old Town West.

Gina Biri, our mystery candidate, apparently chose not to run.  She doesn’t maintain much of a web profile but is enough involved in our community to take the time to “like” a News Enterprise article on a Youth Cener fund raiser.  From what I could glean from MyLife.com without coughing up $16, Ms.  Biri is 22 years old.  Would have been nice to have the Under 40 crowd represented on our Council.  (Wish I could step up to the plate on that one, but that ship sailed for me long ago!)

So, we get to chose up to two from the foursome listed above, although some voters  choose to increase the power of their vote by voting for only one. [ad]

Who do you think would make the best Council Member(s)?  The worst?  Why? As always,  please keep the language family-friendly and  try to be diplomatic.