Mar
3
Los Alamitos’ new Mayor, Troy Edgar
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, City Council, Dean Grose, Decency, Teamwork, Troy Edgar | 20 Comments
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Note regarding ads: At the suggestion of my I.T. department, also known as Nate, we now have some ads on this blog. We hope to offset server costs and maybe even pay for some additional reporters. These are “contextualized” ads that are placed by Google using their algorithms. I think that means that we don’t pick the ads.
If you notice any ads that you feel might be inappropriate, just let me know by posting a comment. BTW, any real estate ads aren’t mine.
Every penny of ad revenue will go into the blog, so if you see an ad that interests you, please feel free to explore further. On the other hand, I’m trying to live a little more by the “Golden Rule,” so let’s treat our advertisers the way we’d want to be treated: No rapid or random clicking, please. Thanks.
TV and print media setting up before the Los Alamitos Council Meeting (click photo to enlarge)
(3/3/09, by Dave Emerson & readers) Last night’s Los Alamitos City Council meeting was partly sweet and partly sour. Most of the sweet moments came from public comments where a rainbow of Los Alamitos residents made sincere efforts both to speak up against racism but sometimes also to thank Dean Grose for stepping down from both the Council and Mayor and to even point out some of the positive aspects of his life.
I hope to share more of that in a later post, but for now I want to focus on the sourest moment of the evening, one that still makes me feel sick in my gut just thinking about it.
The people speak:
First allow me to set the stage. During over an hour of public comments speaker after speaker exhorted Read more
Dec
24
Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah!
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, Inspiration | 6 Comments
back from left: Tres and Sarah, Nate, Blair and Beth; front: Ivy, Jet, Kate, Emma (click to enlarge)
(by Dave Emerson) Barb, Nate and I just returned earlier this week from a time in Tennessee with our newest grandchild, Ivy Grace, who was born just last week, and her family. We were joined by daughter Beth and her family. A child being born, a long journey, even paying taxes–not all that different from that first Christmas in some ways!
Certainly there’s nothing like the miracle of birth–a miracle we’ve been blessed with four times in the last three years as our four amazing grandkids entered the world. God has blessed us with a wonderful family, which helps put some of the craziness of the current economy and local politics in proper perspective.
The winter holidays help achieve the same thing.
Hanukkah: A celebration of light, freedom, and God’s power
As Christians, Barb and I find inspiration in the story of Hannukkah, and spent some time trying to help our kids understand the significance of the event. In John 10:22 we find Jesus apparently celebrating Hannukah in the temple when his teachings sparked an effort to stone him. While Jesus’ opposition by the religious power structure of his day ultimately resulted in his crucifixion, his appreciation of Hanukkah should motivate Christians of today to at least respect and learn from the events that preceded Christ by about 200 years.
Here is a summary of Hanukkah, or Chanukah, from the orthodox Chabad website: Read more
Dec
6
4 reasons I love So Cal (& Los Alamitos)
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, About Los Alamitos, Southern California | 1 Comment
(12/6/08) Today I’m writing as a native Southern Californian who’s lived here all of my 58 years, and maybe just a bit as a Los Al Realtor.
Every now and then it hits me what a very special place I’m privileged to live in. Today was one of those days. There are many things to love about Southern California, here are a few that hit me today:
- The weather: December 6th, 2008. Forecast high in Los Alamitos in the mid 70s. Low in the fifties. Crystal clear, warm, sunny day. I took my shirt off when I went outside to jog a couple miles. Try doing that in Chicago! We went to the Seal Beach Christmas parade last night in shirt sleeves. O.K., I’ll admit that we haven’t needed rain gear in years past for that one. But only once.
- The sunshine: Every year I tally in my journal the number of days I don’t see the sun. It averages about five. 360 days of sunshine a year, but with sea breezes! That’s because Los Alamitos is the perfect distance from the ocean–a few miles away, so the coastal clouds almost always burn off by noon, but close enough to keep the climate moderate year round. And close enough we can get to the beach in just a few minutes.
- The geography: Almost all Los Alamitos residents live about 12 minutes from the beach, and just a minute or two from a nice local park. An hour from the San Gabriel Mountains, which include a peak over 10,000 feet high and two major ski resorts. To the east, the San Bernardino Mountains include a peak over 12,000 feet high, several alpine lakes, and three more major ski areas. From the 605 freeway bridge over Coyote Creek I could see both mountain ranges clearly this morning, as well as Mt. San Jacinto, just South of Palm Springs. (Did I mention the deserts?) It’s not all that hard to snowboard (or ski) and surf (or boogie board) on the same day, but I would recommend a wet suit for the Pacific in winter.
The rivalry: Right now, I’m taking a break from the USC – UCLA game, where my Westwood alma mater is doing better than expected. . . so far. USC-UCLA is the only true cross-town rivalry among NCAA Division 1 schools in the country! Both schools are within the Los Angeles city limits, only about 12 miles apart. Many USC students live in Westwood, by UCLA. When I went to UCLA, it wasn’t uncommon for athletes from the rival schools to room together. My best friend in high school went to USC while I went to UCLA.
Rival banners are flying throughout my neighborhood. Three of the sixteen families on my cul-de-sac include UCLA alumni, but we have SC season seat holders anchoring the start of the street. My mother and I both graduated from UCLA, my son’s girlfriend hopes to go there. The managing partner of my real estate office is a USC alumn. Both schools are outstanding institutions with great traditions. And a great, but generally friendly rivalry. As a tribute to the Trojans, let me share the words to USC’s famous Fight Song, at least the way I learned them at UCLA (with apologies to my friends from “Figueroa Tech”):
Fight on! for USC.
You pay a fee; you get a degree!
You’ll be smarter than me, because I went to USC!
I went to USC! I went to USC!
Just kidding. Really. Not trying to alienate 2/3 of the city. Seriously, I think they’re both great schools, one public, one private, Just two of several dozen outstanding colleges and Universities that ring Los Alamitos, ranging from Cal Tech to Biola to CSULB to UCI.
I could go on and on. Diversity. Opportunity. Culture. Great churches and museums nearby. Great beaches. Great mountain biking. Outstanding schools, both public and private. A small town feel where local kids help sell Christmas trees to raise money for the youth center on land donated by Ganahl Lumber, and where you might just find the Mayor’s the volunteer helping you pick out your tree. That’s happened to me here in Los Al–I doubt many Los Angeles residents can say that.
Sure, we’ve got too much traffic, but locals figure out ways to deal with a lot of it. And hopefully our City Council will eventually make it enought of an ongoing high priority to eventually make some progress.
For me. Los Alamitos is a great place to live year round. If you live someplace else and want to move here, I just happen to know two good Los Alamitos Realtors.
Happy Holidays from Los Alamitos, Southern California’s “sweet spot!”
Oct
27
Candidate Forum cancelled again, this time it’s Poe & Stephens who are “too busy”
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, Community News, Election Issues | 3 Comments
5:30 p.m. Monday update on Backstory air times: As mentioned below, LATV-3′s Backstory will be presenting an expanded Election Special this eek and weekend in the runup to Tuesday’s election. The hour long program will feature on-the-street interviews with candidates for the Los Alamitos City Council.
Backstory airtimes are this Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at noon, and again next Monday evening, possibly before the City Council meeting. I would suggest using your DVR to record it this Wednesday. Air times may be sugject to change. Now for what happened to my one fianl attempt to put together a Candidate Forum:
(by Dave Emerson) The short version is, the October 28th Los Alamitos City Council Candidate Forum I’ve been working to arrange with the League of Women Voters was canceled because Marilyn Poe and Ken Stephens said they were “too busy” to participate.
However, candidate interviews should be airing later this week on John Underwood’s Backstory on LosAlTV. I’ll post times and dates here once I get them. I believe the program is being edited as I keyboard.
Now, here’s the more detailed version of my efforts to bring a Candidate Forum to the voters of Los Alamitos:
From day one, I’ve been the only Los Alamitos City Council candidate actually working to have a public, televised Candidate Forum.
The only candidate forum this year was the one sponsored by the Parkewood Residents Association
I want the voters to know who I am and what I stand for, but I also believe open discussion of the issues helps build community unity, helps us better understand one another, and is a step towards building that team spirit I so long for on the Council.
That’s why I’m the only candidate with an interactive website which welcomes real time posting of comments from every side of this debate, as long as the language is clean and the tone relatively respectful. (So far I’ve only had to edit out a couple words–good job, Los Al voters! I’d tell you what they were, but then I’d have to edit them out!)
I’m also the one of only two candidates who don’t have the benefit of over $20,000 of George Briggeman’s money to buy their Slate advertising (details in a later post) and fund “push polls” & attacks against their opponents (details at “Is George Briggeman funding the CPLA?“ and “GOTCHA!“) I’m also on of only two candidates who hasn’t already served on the Council (in Marilyn Poe’s case, for 12 years, from 1994 – 2006).
I was the candidate who initially contacted the Chamber of Commerce to find out when the forum would be, and learned that their staff was stretched too thin with Wings, Wheels, and Rotors to pull off the forum this year.
I was the candidate who followed up on the Chamber’s suggestion that John Underwood might be able to pull something together, and encouraged him to fill the gap.
I was the candidate who objected to Gerri Mejia’s suggestion at the October 6, seven hour marathon Council meeting that some candidates not participate if John was the moderator. (I later learned more about Gerri’s concerns, which had more validity than I initially thought, although we still disagree on the response.) Ken Stephens was at that 10/6 Council meeting; he could have stood up for the Forum, but he didn’t. Marilyn Poe wasn’t even present for that marathon–maybe a smart move, in hindsight.
I was the only candidate who continually updated my website on Tuesday, October 14, to get the word out to the voters about where and when the forum would be while John Underwood was looking for a new venue to comply with the Council’s controversial decision to avoid the use of the Council Chambers upon learning from the City Attorney of possible litigation risks.
I was then the only candidate who actually contacted the League of Women Voter’s to schedule a date for them to provide a moderator and a time keeper so we could still have a forum. (Interestingly enough, it turned out that at least one citizen, Jody Schloss, had also contacted them previously to enquire about available dates.) I then announced that date at last week’s Council meeting.
When I had reserved the date with the League on Friday 10/17 I e-mailed all the candidates to see if they were available. Ken Parker indicated he thought he could make it, but I hadn’t heard back from Ken Stephens or Marilyn Poe. When I saw Mr. Stephens during a break in the meeting, I checked with him, and was disappointed to learn that he felt he was just too busy walking neighborhoods and meeting voters to participate in the forum the League of Women Voters had scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, 10/28.
That just didn’t make a lot of sense to me. The forum was scheduled to take an hour and a half. In that amount of time, I can speak personally to maybe 10 – 25 voters, if I’m lucky. In a forum I’d expect at least fifty interested voters would be present in the audience, and they could compare all the candidates side by side. With it replaying on LosAlTV for a week before the election, hundreds of other voters would also tune in, no doubt. Let’s see–make my case to maybe 18 voters, or appear on a panel that would be viewed by hundreds. Seemed like a no-brainer to me!
Even on a warm Saturday afternoon the Parkewood forum attracted a good crowd
I then decided I’d better check in with Marilyn Poe to make sure she’d participate. Marilyn was still out of town, so I got her cell phone number from a relative and called her while she was on the road in Arizona. She pointed out that the forum would be airing later than we originally planned, and that many of our permanent absentee voters would have already voted, a fact I had pointed out earlier that week. Eventually, Marilyn also decided that she was just too busy to participate, much to my dismay.
All of this “too busy” was a bit interesting to me, since I was the one spending the time to try to coordinate the event. All that Marilyn and Stephens had to do was show up. I still had to locate a venue, a sponsor, and a TV crew. And now I only had two candidates participating, and who knows if Ken Parker would still want to participate if half of the candidates had already dropped out. The deciding factor for me was that I didn’t think it was fair to the League of Women Voters to tie up their moderator and timekeeper any longer if there was still doubt that the event might take place. So I told Marilyn I thought I’d better cancel if she wasn’t participating, and she agreed with that decision.
However, there was one thing Marilyn Poe and I did agree on during that phone call: We both wanted John Underwood to do some sort of candidate interview program for LosAlTV as quickly as possible. I’d been encuraging John to do so ever since his forum was scratched by forces beyond his control, but he was still “licking his wounds” from that battle, and Ken Parker had already told me he was too busy to even do that. Finding common ground with Marilyn, however, I asked her if I could e-mail John with the date she would be back in town, along with her cell number so John could contact her.
As a result, John began taping his candidate piece for his Backstory program last Saturday. Happily, Ken Stephens changed his mind and agreed to participate.
So, the good news is, we’ve at least got a candidate show on TV. And we now have evidence that, with a lot of effort, even our candidates can find some common ground and work together. Because the only way great things are ever accomplished is if people put aside their egos and decide to work together as a team for the common good.
We can always hope.
Oct
20
A businesslike approach to city government
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, Teamwork | Leave a Comment
(by Dave Emerson) I’ve worked in a variety of settings over the past 42 years, from high school jobs in construction and at Marie Calendar’s to college jobs at General Motors and Westwood Village Mortuary to many years as a school teacher and in real estate. I’ve always tried to do my best whether I was the boss or the busboy.
Early in my real estate career I felt like I learned a lot from Tom Peters & Robert Waterman, Jr’s 1982 book, In Search of Excellence, Lessons from America’s Best Run Companies.”
The authors identified 8 common characteristics in successful companies:
- A bias for action, active decision making – ‘getting on with it’.
- Close to the customer – learning from the people served by the business.
- Autonomy and entrepreneurship – fostering innovation and nurturing ‘champions’.
- Productivity through people- treating rank and file employees as a source of quality.
- Hands-on, value-driven – management philosophy that guides everyday practice – management showing its commitment.
- Stick to the knitting – stay with the business that you know.
- Simple form, lean staff – some of the best companies have minimal HQ staff.
- Simultaneous loose-tight properties – autonomy in shop-floor activities plus centralized values.
Part of # 8 was a set of core values that permeated all levels of the company. McDonalds’ QSCV (Quality, Service, Value, Cleanliness) was one example. As I tried to develop core values for my budding real estate business, I decided on four core values of my own for my business ventures, based on who I am & my own priorities. A quarter of a century later I still find them a good fit for both my character and for business success.
I want to make you a “raving fan” of city hall!
So that you might better understand me, the sort of candidate I strive to be, and the sort of Council Member I would hope to be, here are those four core business values:
- Integrity: By that I mean honesty and consistency in what I say, in what I do, and in who I am. No hypocrisy, no excuses, no inconsistencies. Treat others the way you’d want to be treated. Be the same person wherever you are. It’s an ideal I don’t always achieve, but it’s a goal I strive and pray for. Integrity’s a quality that’s often deprecated in a sales environment, and I’m beginning to learn that it’s a quality that’s frequently tested in the political arena. It’s also essential to build the kind of team spirit I’m striving for at City Hall. If I am elected, I intend to keep this blog open for your comments so you can help hold me accountable.
- Excellence: Perhaps best described by Cub Scouting’s motto: “Do Your Best!” Seeking to be outstanding in everything you do. In real estate sales, we always seek to “under promise and over deliver.” Our goal is to turn our clients into a base of “raving fans.” I believe this should be one of the goals of city government as well. One of my goals is to make you a “raving fan” of city hall! Like most goals, it starts with the elected officials leading by example.
- Innovation: I’m a creative guy, and I love coming up with new solutions to “challenges” (in real estate, we try to avoid the word “problems.”) Our current world of technology provides almost limitless opportunities for innovative ways to reduce expenses and improve service simultaneously, and I’m not talking about voicemail. I hope you’ve found this web site innovative, especially when compared with the websites of other local candidates. Innovation has to be purpose driven and monitored closely, but it can be an amazing tool for success in any business, including the business of making the city of Los Alamitos reach it’s full potential.
- Service: To me, that’s the bottom line, and it’s a core value that is also a fundamental of my personal faith. Jesus said it well, as expressed in a song our kids used to sing at church: “If you want to be great in God’s kingdom, learn to be the servant of all.” (See Matthew 20:25-28) Again, it’s an ideal, but one worth striving for, one that brings both fulfillment and achievement.
Those are some of my core business values. When I’m at my best, they motivate and saturate my work. They’ve helped me build two very successful small businesses from scratch, and they’ve helped me get to a point where I can phase back my business activities to focus more on the people’s business, if I’m fortunate enough to get elected.
Oct
15
Playing hardball in Los Alamitos
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, C.P.L.A. & L.A.T.A., Election Issues, Teamwork | 19 Comments
This week’s gotten off to a rather crazy start.
First was the roughly 3 1/2 hour special City Council meeting Monday night. At least the Council voted to retain Interim City Manager Dave Rudat, a decision that reportedly was never in serious doubt, despite a lengthy closed session that must have been discussing something. It was interesting to see the Citizens for the Preservation of Los Alamitos turn out in force to support continuing a course of action that had been set by the current majority when they voted to hire Rudat. Guess it proves there actually are things we can all agree on! Unfortunately, his time is limited, although options are still being explored.
Things got even more interesting during the second half of that same meeting. After a lengthy discussion (no surprise there), the Council voted not to allow the use of the Council Chambers for the Candidate Forum, a move I opposed for several reasons, including the fact that many absentee voters are already voting.
For many, this was a raw abuse of power by the Council majority, for others it was an honest effort to avoid a moderator they perceived to be biased, for others just politics as usual. For me, it was a major disappointment.
There’s an interesting discussion about this beginning with the 4th comment on my “Memo to the C.P.L.A.” post. “Sharon” wrote: “the sitting council does not care what the people want, only their own agenda; to fire all who disagree with them and to keep their activities and finances as hidden as possible.” “P-dex” responded that he was”tired of your antics, lies and hate.” Not quite the civil discussion we strive for, but at least a candid exchange of views without profanity. I also went into greater detail on my perspective there.
Well, after the Council meeting was over, John Underwood, the reporter and LosAlTV producer who had worked so hard to pull the Forum together, was befuddled about what to do with the reporters, crew and candidates he had all lined up to go the next night. Based in part on the City attorney’s position that any authorized producer could produce a forum that LosAlTV would air, and at the apparent urging of at least one reporter, it was decided to continue with the scheduled forum but in a new venue, since the Council had denied the use of the Council chambers for the forum on the 14th.
Marilyn Poe thought the St. Isadore Parish Hall would be available, so that became “Plan A,” so I awoke yesterday morning expecting to participate in a forum that night, and posted that info on this blog. As the day went on, the location was switched to Rossmoor Park but things seemed to be a go. Then I got a call late in the afternoon that Underwood was “pulling the plug” due to “pressure on some of the media and crew.” Possibly more hardball, maybe just politics.
I went down to City Hall at 7 to see if anyone would show up, and found a small group of citizens. Several had shown up thinking the forum was still on, others were already aware. CPLA leader Chuck Sylvia was there. Interestingly enough, although I disagree with the CPLA’s approach, both Chuck and his wife Carol are on what I consider good speaking terms, at least so far. “Do you see now that it’s impossible to work with these people?” Chuck asked me. I certainly disagreed with the cancellation of the Forum, but I had to wonder how much of it was in response to some CPLA tactics.
A little earlier in the day, I received an e-mail from a Parker supporter bemoaning the destruction of a large Parker banner that had just been put up. “These people are from the devil,” she wrote. “Are you sure you want to be in politics? It’s a thankless job run by crooks. . . . yes, EVEN in the 2nd smallest city in OC.”
Well, I really don’t particularly want to be in politics, just want to try to do my part to get our Council members and citizens to work together more often and have civil discussions rather than civil wars when we do disagree.
Perceived mistreatment tends to breed payback, which can lead to the same downward spiral that’s seen in ongoing conflicts everywhere from our homes and courtrooms to the nations of the Middle East to the gang violence of L.A.
I try to start each day with some inspiration from the 2,000 year old wisdom of the Jewish and Christian writers of the Bible. Back when I was a teacher at Bell High I enjoyed teaching an English class on “The Bible as Literature,” and I find it amazing how little things have changed over the last two millenia. Lately I’ve been reading from St. Paul’s second letter to his young understudy Timothy, who was the pastor of a group of Christians in Ephesus around 66 A.D.
Apparently there were some trouble-makers in Timothy’s church, and I’ve found Paul’s advice to the young pastor amazingly relevant to my situation as a newbie “politician” in a somewhat divided community:
“Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know they breed quarrels. And [you] must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patient when wronged, correcting [your] opponents with gentleness.” (II Timothy 2:23-25a)
Easier said than done, but good advice I’m trying to follow. As any married person knows, offenses are bound to come in any relationship, but the rewards of overlooking them far outweigh the temporary ego boost of retribution. It takes grace and forgiveness to make any relationship work, but it’s worth it. That’s the ideal, & I’m trying, by God’s grace, to live up to it a little bit more every day.
Sorry if I turned a little “religious” on you in this post, but sometimes it helps people understand where I’m trying to go if they understand where I’m coming from. Among the greatest lessons I’ve learned is how much better it is to be gracious and forgiving and to move forward than to be angry and bitter and to keep looking back.
Oct
9
Meet the Emersons!
Filed Under About Dave Emerson | 3 Comments
Emma, Blair, Beth, Nate, Barb, Dave, Sarah, Jet, Tres
We all know Los Alamitos is a great place to raise a family, and we all want to keep it that way. Let me introduce you to my favorite Los Alamitos family, which now spans three generations.
Our daughters, Sarah and Beth, were just eight and six back in May of 1988 when we were thrilled to get our slightly above full price offer accepted on the four bedroom home just off of Farquhar. Barb & I had been dragging the girls around for weeks, looking at every new listing that popped up, and apparently little Sarah had had enough of this crazy house hunting. As we were driving over, we asked her to pray for God’s continued guidance in our house hunting. With that “faith of a child” she prayed, “Please, God, let this be the right one.”
Her prayer was answered, and we’ve been blessed to live in this wonderful, family friendly community ever since. That night, on the very day of the broker open house, we were one of three competing offers. As I ran out the door that evening to present our own offer to the Blackwell family and their Realtor, I stopped and grabbed a family photo of our two adorable little girls, their adorable Mom and me.
Despite my ugly mug, that family photo was the deciding factor for the Blackwells. Typical Los Alamitos residents, they were as concerned with maintaining the quality of the Los Alamitos neighborhood they were leaving as they were about their bottom line. My three cuties iced the deal.
Although it was only a few miles from our first home in Lakewood, Los Alamitos seemed in some ways like a whole different world, and a wonderful place to raise a family. Three years later our son joined the clan, and my office was relocated from the fourth bedroom to a remodeled former dining room.
Both our daughters ended up graduating from Biola University in La Mirada, and just when I was getting used to not writing monthly college tuition checks, Beth announced her engagement to Blair. A year later it was Sarah and Tres.
Then came our first two grandkids, Emma and Jet, in spring and summer of 2006. As I was going through my pre-grandparenthood trauma my neighbor Kevin assured me as soon as I held my granddaughter I’d love being a grandpa, and he was right. This spring Katelynn joined her big sister Emma, and Sarah’s expecting Ivy early in December. And Nate’s working on his college applications as he moves through his senior year of high school.
What a blessing family is. And what a blessing to be able to raise them in a safe, family-oriented small town like Los Alamitos.
Oct
6
Hizzoner’s Sign: Much ado about nothing?
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, C.P.L.A. & L.A.T.A., City Council Meetings, Community News, Election Issues, Teamwork | 8 Comments
The sign being appealed & the old "monument" sign at ground level
You’d think I should be thrilled with the Citizens for the Preservation of Los Alamitos, especially former Mayor and Council Member Charles Sylvia and his wife Carol. After all, they’re spending a lot of time reporting on their “research” on the two incumbent Council Members who are up for reelection, and I’m running for one of their seats.
I think they raise a number of valid issues, including the current majority’s ongoing spending down of our reserves, the dramatic turnover of staff, excessive travel spending, and Ken’s votes to increase both OC Sanitation Department fees & his pay as a Sanitation Board Member.
However, apart from traffic issues, the main motivation for my campaign is to get our Council to work together as a unified team, with mutual respect, even when they disagree. Too often, it seems to me like the C.P.L.A. is just pouring fuel on a fire that’s already raging out of control.
Take Mrs. Sylvia’s letter to the editor in last week’s News Enterprise about Mayor Ken Parker’s new sign for his recently relocated tax and accounting business. When I first scanned the letter, it impressed me as taking a step towards a more reasonable, fact based approach, and I actually called Carol to commend her for her new, less abrasive approach, as well as to thank her for an earlier suggestion that proved helpful.
Then, late Thursday, I picked up my candidate’s packet for tonight’s City Council meeting, where agenda item 9A is a public hearing on that sign, and I got a clearer picture of what’s going on. I was appalled.
Turns out there are several significant inaccuracies in Mrs. Sylvia’s letter. Now, to be fair, I don’t think that was entirely her fault. She didn’t have all the info in that Council Packet in front of her about a week earlier when she wrote the letter (that’s one reason I prefer electronic media like this blog over print media, with last week’s news). Still, we all tend to believe what we want to believe, and this may be another example of a divisive feud perpetuating itself. It also turns out that it was actually Council Member Troy Edgar who appealed the Planning Commission approval of the sign.
I think Mrs. Sylvia’s letter, Council Member Edgar’s appeal, and even the sign itself are three more examples of the “Hatfields vs. McCoys” feud that’s been dividing our Council for the past ten years.
I’ll print most of Mrs. Sylvia’s letter below, in a quote box, with excerpts from the staff report relative to this item on Monday’s Council agenda interspersed in bold italics, and my comments in [brackets in bold regular type]. [A link to the full staff report appears near the end of this post] :
[News-Enterprise headline for letter:] How did Parker get sign privilege?
Editor:
Anyone interested in witnessing Mayor Parker’s latest display of POWER and his disregard for our laws should take a drive down to the building at 5122 Katella (across from the racetrack). There you will see his Parker & Associates sign on the west side of the building. [see photo above] How do you know his sign is non-conforming? Because it’s the only one ON the building. Everyone else had to put theirs on the monument sign in front.
[from staff report, page 3:] All proposed signs [in the application for Parker's sign] comply with the size criteria specified in the Zoning Code. Pursuant to Section 17.28.090(3B) of the Zoning Code, the applicant is permitted to have a maximum of 24 square feet of wall signage per tenant (up to a maximum total aggregate of 50 square feet) for each building frontage. The applicant proposses 19.,13 square feet per frontage.
[Back to Carol Sylvia's letter:] How did he get that special privilege? By stacking the Planning Commission with his friends, especially Art DeBold, the chairman. Remember Art DeBolt–he’s the one-term councilman the electorate bounced in 2002. Mayor Parker must have heard the sign was being appealed, because he had it installed right away without getting the proper permit or paying the fees like everyone else.
[Staff report, p. 2:] The applicant approached the City with a request to install several wall mounted tenant identification signs on the subject property. . . . [staff research revealed factors that] require that the applicant receive approval of a Planned Sign Program by the Planning Commission in order to install the proposed signs. . . . [p. 3] An application for building permits for the two wall signs was submitted prior to the matter being considered by the Planning Commission. Processing of the building permit request was delayed pending consideration by the Planning Commission. In addition, when the Plannng Commission action was appealed to the City Council [on the last day of the 20 day appeal period by Council Member Edgar], that action further stayed the processing of the building permit application. . . . On September 8, 2008, one of the proposed wall signs was installed despite the fact that building permits had not been issued. Staff contacted the property owner [Abdul Mozayeni, not Ken Parker, who is a new tenant who requested the sign] who conveyed that the installation was done in error by the sign contractor.
[Again, back to Carol Sylvia's letter:] The City issued a “Stop Work” order to no avail since the sign is still there. [Carol, it was a "Stop Work" order, and the work stopped, pending the hearing of the appeal, which is scheduled for tonight's Council meeting.] If the sign stays, we can expect more and more signs to go up on office buildings and why should anyone bother with getting permission, getting permits, or paying fees? For that matter, why bother with the Planning Commission on anything? [The building owner, Mr. Mozayeni, did apply for permits and apparently paid the fees. The Planning Commission did approve the application. The building owner was not aware that the decision had been appealed, and stopped work as soon as he was aware of the problem. If the Council reverses the Planning Commission tonight and refuses to allow the sign, which the City Interim Planning Director states is in full compliance with all applicable codes, there is no doubt that the sign will be removed.]
[Again, back to Carol Sylvia's letter:] This is Mayor Parker’s second display of his POWER and lack of respect for the law. . . . [Actually, it would be Abdul Mozayeni's first display of his POWER and lack of respect for the law. . . . except that he's abiding by the city's request to stop work pending the Council's decision on Troy Edgar's appeal tonight.]
[Again, back to Carol Sylvia's letter:] . . . . When did telling the truth get to be dismissed as slimy politics? [When the C.P.L.A., Ken Parker, Carol Sylvia, Art DeBolt, on anyone else starts telling half truths and exaggerations instead of sticking to the issues that really matter to Los Alamitos' future.]
Well, that’s what I think. I’m passionate about avoiding a poisonous electoral environment in Los Alamitos, but I’m not intending to disparage anyone’s motives here.
The Citizens for the Preservation of Los Alamitos are also passionate about their beliefs, both as an organization and individually, and I respect them for that. What troubles me, as I’ve indicated before (see “Memo to the CPLA: Could you please be more forthright?“) is the lack of respect for our elected officials, which is also disrespectful of the many citizens who voted for them and still support them. We all need to work harder at disagreeing more agreeably, because civil discussion is essential to the preservation of Los Alamitos!
I’m also distressed by Council Member Edgar’s appealing the Planning Commission’s decision, for reasons that appear to be more related to the upcoming election than anything else. I believe Troy Edgar and Dean Grose have been treated badly by the current majority, just as Council Member Parker was treated badly by the previous majority during his first term. But that’s no reason for either of them to abandon reconciliation and respect for retaliation.
Frankly, we all should expect better from all parties involved.
As promised, here is the link to the full staff report on tonight’s public hearing on Council Member Edgar’s appeal of Ken Parker’s landlord’s sign application.
Please feel free to add your comments in the comment box below. No box? Scroll up & click the headline. Please keep your tone polite & respectful and your language “family friendly.” Everyone’s view is welcome here! Let’s see if we can start finding common ground and building briges, or at least set some positive examples. Thanks.
Oct
4
God bless America!
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, Teamwork | 2 Comments
Dave and Barb hoping for an Angels' comeback
(by Dave Emerson) Barb, Nate, & I to the Angels vs. Red Sox game yesterday for my birthday along with Paul, Ginnie, and Kevin Smith from Rossmoor Highlands. Our Angels didn’t exactly give me the birthday present I was hoping for, but they did show a lot of heart and never gave up. They could still win three in a row starting Sunday in Boston, and then move on to that Freeway Series we all dream of.
During every game in the playoffs, “God Bless America” is sung by the crowd before “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the traditional 7th inning strech. Angels fans and hated Red Sox fans join together to celebrate the nation we are privileged to be a part of. One of the greatest blessings I enjoy is be a citizen of this amazing country. All too often I take it for granted, when I really should thank God for it every day.
The highlight of the A.L.D.S. for Angels fans?
There’s something inspiring about interrupting a riveting ball game to sing that song along with 45,000 of my best friends and worst enemies (so to speak). It’s one more reminder that we need to beware of letting the things that can divide us become bigger than the things that unite us. That goes for a country, a family, a neighborhood, and, yes, a City Council.
Irving Berlin wrote it during the dark days of World War II, but it’s words still ring true today:
God bless America!
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
through the night with the light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairie,
To the ocean white with foam,
God bless America, my home sweet home.
God bless America,
My home sweet home.
Sep
23
8 Priorities for our City Council
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, Election Issues, Teamwork | 3 Comments
Priority # 2: Improve traffic flow!
(by Dave Emerson) In an earlier post (“8 key issues in the Los Al Council Race”), I said “clear, mutually acceptable priorities” are critical to our City Council’s success. Some of the current chaos at Council meetings results from not having a clear set of priorities that both our citizens and our Council Members agree on.
Such priorities are developed over time as we explore the challenges and opportunities facing our town together respectfully and candidly. As an initial step in that direction, here’s my take on seven of the most important priorities for our next City Council. They’re in approximate order of importance.
They’re offered as a starting point for discussion, because no one individual or group has a monopoly on wisdom. More important, the Council must set priorities with broad public support to avoid the ongoing factionalism that has plagued Los Al for the past ten years.
Your comments can continue the discussion and interaction that’s necessary for my priorities to evolve into our priorities, the “clear, mutually acceptable priorities” that help build an effective team approach to moving our town forward.
1. Safety. I guess that’s just the Scoutmaster in me: Safety is Job 1. We live in one of the safer towns around, but maintaining and improving safety here should always be a top priority.
Safety includes everything from crime prevention to traffic and pedestrian safety, especially for our kids, to safe play equipment and playing fields without gopher holes at our parks.
2. Improve traffic flow and reduce “cut-through” traffic on residential streets. This isn’t easy, but it’s important, and there are many areas where improvement is possible. See my post on “7 Ways to Cut Local Gridlock” for my general approach and my post on Farquhar for some specific examples.
3. Maintain and build our sales tax base. Sales tax is our largest single source of revenue, generating almost three million dollars most years. The current council has shown some commendable unanimity on this priority. Good job–let’s keep it up!
4. Long range planning. Our culture tends to overestimate what can be accomplished in a short time and underestimate what can be accomplished over a longer time. If we can define what we’d like our city to look like in 20, 40, and 60 years, we have a better chance of steering things in that direction. However, if we aim at nothing, we’re sure to hit it!
This would involve community participation through a variety of venues and the promotion of creative, long range thinking. More freeway access and better freeways, perhaps light rail or a monorail system down Katella or using existing abandoned rail easements, a quality regional sports park for our youth and adults, possibly on the base, possibly using some of Cypress’ Race Track land. More trees, bikeways, more uniform signage, possibly a village or early California theme throughout the town or just in the business districts. That’s just some of my ideas–just imagine what we all might come up with if we put our heads together! The possibilities are practically limitless. Why shouldn’t Los Alamitos be “the little town that could!”
At the same time, the current economic slowdown is the perfect opportunity to review both our general plan and our building codes. The time to review development standards is while the developers aren’t busy! Do we have adequate open space, parking, and traffic mitigation requirements in our multi-family neighborhoods? We should also review our setback and height requirements in both multi and single family neighborhoods, with an eye to avoiding the blight of mansionization. Doing it now, while few builders are active, reduces outside influences and lets our residents have the primary voice in what our neighborhoods will look like in ten, twenty, and thirty years.
5. Communicaton. It’s often too hard for residents to make a suggestion, find an answer, or have a disucssion. There’s lots of room for civic interaction on important issues in cyberspace, in print, on LosAlTV, and in community forums and town halls. An on-line suggestion box should be featured on the city’s website, which could also use interactive blogs from the City Manager, Chief of Police and Mayor, among others. Effective 2-way communication is another critical element to effective team building.
6. Resident (and business) services. I’ve found city staff to be courteous, pleasant, professional, and helpful, but it’s still often hard to get answers. I think we need an “Troubleshooter Team,” possibly composed primarily of volunteers, who are available by phone or e-mail to help with problems from coyotes to noisey trucks unloading behind Vons early in the morning. All too often I find that nobody’s really responsible for or responsive to the concerns that voters have brought to my attention as I’ve been canvasing our neighborhoods. You shouldn’t have to bring your injured dog to a City Council meeting to focus city staff on a resurgence of coyotes!
7. Build strong working alliances with our neighboring communities and other governental agencies. Sure, we have things that divide us, but we have plenty of things in common as well. Prudence and discretion are required, but so are diplomacy and sincerity. Lots more gets accomplished when we work together than when we fight each other. We can’t make our neighbors work with us, but our goal should always be to identify and build on common ground for mutual benefit.
8. Be thrifty and wise in spending your money. I believe elected officials need to be at least as careful spending the taxpayers’ money as they should be spending their own. Get the most out of every taxpayer dollar. (Maybe even drive themselves to the airport sometimes.) Get matching funds or grants wherever possible.
The budget the council just approved has a significant structural deficit that’s only going to get worse as we work through the current economic downtown. It would be prudent for the Council to review the budget now to find ways to save, rather than to put off the hard decisions and burden the 2009 -2010 budget.
Well, that’s my take on priorities, one month into the current election, 20 years into living and working in Los Alamitos, and 50+ years into living in the general area. But I’m just one guy, and setting priorities is a community project.
You can share your thoughts and ideas by simply completing the Comment box below. If there’s no box, just click the blud “Comment” or “Comments” below the headline at the top of this post. Your comment posts instantly, so it’s a good idea to re-read it before hitting “Submit.” Please try to keep the language “family friendly” and the tone constructive and respectful. The goal is to find ways to work together for the betterment our our fine little town!
Sep
13
One candidate’s notebook: The 5 hour filing that took 40 years
Filed Under About Dave Emerson, Election Issues, Teamwork | Leave a Comment
I began the process of filing to be a candidate for Los Alamitos City Council about five hours before the deadline. The fastest filing in city history, I’m told. An interesting five hours, I must admit.
But in some ways the process began over 40 years ago. Maybe it goes back to my days as a student at Lakewood High where I helped organize one of the school’s largest on-campus clubs, was active on the speech and debate team. . . and lost when I attempted to run for City Council on a platform of allowing off campus lunch and unlocking one of boys’ restrooms that the administration had decided wasn’t necessary. (Both campaign themes were vetoed by the Administration.)
I know it includes my time on the speech team at Biola University and my years at UCLA while John Wooden was showing the world the value of teamwork. Also years serving on an effective team of young, committed teachers in an inner city school, and then as a real estate broker, where I got paid for bringing people together.
I know my passion for local politics goes back over a decade, when our town was mired down in multiple lawsuits against Cypress, Seal Beach, and even one hapless Rossmoor resident whose back yard bordered on a city tree. Back then Los Alamitos had a lot fewer stop lights and shopping centers on our borders, and we could still buy strawberries in front of the field on Katella.
My interest grew from 1998 – 2002 when Barb and I had two neighbors on City Council who lived within half a block of us. I thought both of them really cared for the city, worked hard, and each one had some really good ideas. . . as well as a few not so good ones. I was surprised to watch a rivalry develop between my two friends which eventually grew into a pretty serious 3-2 split of the council as the new millenium began.
I remember thinking that these are two smart, nice, caring people–why can’t they work together? I was one of the few people who voted for both of them–but I’m also one of the few people who voted for every one of the current five members of our Council. And I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who voted for Ken, Cat, Gerri, Dean and Troy and then filed to run in the current election against two of them.
In 2002, Art Debolt was off the Council and Ken Parker and Fred Freeman replaced Ken and Art as the minority of two that was all too often ignored and rendered irrelevant by the majority of Ron Bates, Alice Jempsa, and Marilyn Poe. It seemed then, as it seems now, that all our Council Members are relatively decent, intelligent, and committed citizens of our little town who could get a lot more done if they learned to work as a team. Kind of like the Lakers during that dismal last year of the Shaq and Kobe years. A talented group that fell far short of their potential due to their failure to work together.
In 2004, the minority became the majority as Ron Bates suddenly resigned and was eventually replaced by “Cat” Driscoll, a popular, diligent concerned neighbor and grass roots organizer who helped mobilized the community to fight development in Cypress. And something strange yet predictable happened.
The new majority behaved just as badly as the old majority.
I was hoping Parker and Freeman would be gracious in victory and be gracious to Poe and Jempsa now that Cat Driscoll gave them that critical third vote to become the majority. Instead, an aggressive house-cleaning of the various Council controlled Commissions began the day after the election. Within 24 hours I was approached by an exuberant Parker supporter proclaiming “To the victors go the spoils!”
Actually, to the victors goes to opportunity to be gracious to their opponents and to steer the Council and the city away from years of squabbling to a new team spirit of working together for the good of the community. Unfortunately, the bitterness from the previous years of oppression was too much.
I can’t say I would do any better if I were in that situation back then: I didn’t go through what Parker did for the previous four years. In hindsight, I know what should have been done, but being gracious isn’t the default setting for most of us.
Please understand: I’m not saying that either side is evil, or perfect. What they are is the same as what you and I are: Human. Imperfect. With some good ideas and some bad, some good tendencies & some bad. That’s actually why we do need each other: Why we need to work together.
In any case, a great opportunity to begin functioning as a team instead of adversaries was lost. Both sides had blown it. And have continued to blow it right up to the present. Not all the time, but most of it. In fact, when three new faces joined the Council two years ago, after we were back to the same 3-2 split in less than a year, with the still-dominant Parker/Driscoll majority effectively rendering Grose and Edgar almost irrelevant all too often.
A great opportunity was lost, but not forever. My passion to join the Council comes from my belief that the opportunity to work as a team can still be seized, and must be if we are to enable our town to reach it’s full potential.
We’ll end this saga here for now, but I’ve written several other posts about local politics and our City Council, including “8 key issues in our Council race,“ “Olympic Silver for Los Al” and “Another wild Council meeting.”
Please feel free to add your comments to any post instantly by completing the comments box below. If there’s no box, try clicking on the headline above, or the blue word “Comment(s)” below it. All opinions are welcome here, but please keep the tone respectful of all our local citizens and politicians, and the language relatively polite.
Thanks for visiting!
Sep
3
Gophers in the outfield!
Filed Under About Dave Emerson | Leave a Comment
The baseball field at Little Cottonwood Park
I love Little Cottonwood Park here in Los Alamitos.
I’ve been jogging there for over twenty years. If you look real close, you can still find a one mile course marked off in 1/4 mile segments. I used to push our son around it as I ran–now he could probably push me.
I love the playground equipment that our Council had installed there a few years back. Several climbing walls, two age-appropriate play areas, even a bench for “Papa Dave” and “Mimi” to rest as we watch our grandkids play where we watched their mothers play 20 years ago.
But there are at least four things I don’t like about Little Cottonwood Park, and if you look closely, you can see at least two or three of them in the picture above.
See how many you can find–or think of, if you’re familiar with Little Cottonwood. I’ll post my answers in a day or two, along with some more photos, and some thoughts about dealing with the gophers that are invading parts of our city. You can post your thoughts and answers now, simply by clicking on the blue “Comment” or “Comments” under the headline above.
This picture shows are some of the things about Los Alamitos I want to help fix. I’m not saying our past or current City Councils haven’t tried to fix at least some of these things. I’m just saying that they haven’t succeeded yet, regardless of which “block” held the majority votes.
This is a “Web 2.0″ site, where you can participate as freely as you want, and where your comments post at the speed of light without censorship–as long as you maintain a polite tone and keep the language “family friendly.”
Because ultimately we all need to work together to make Los Alamitos as nice a place to live and raise a family as we want it to be.
Aug
17
Let’s fix Los Al!
Filed Under About Dave Emerson | 4 Comments
I’m running for the Los Alamitos City Council this year primarily for two reasons:
- I’m tired of being stuck in traffic before I’m even a half mile away from my home here in Los Alamitos.
- I tired of watching our City Council Members spend too much time fighting each other and not enough working together.
I’m a big believer in teamwork. The things that unite us as citizens of Los Alamitos are greater than the things that divide us. I hope to contribute to a city council that works as a team for the good of our community as a whole. Not two teams that fight amongst themselves.
This website is designed to serve as an electronic town hall. Anyone and everyone is encouraged to post their thoughts, questions or opinions. All I ask is that you keep the language and tone appropriate for our family-friendly small town, and try to be concise.
I’m especially interested in hearing what you like about Los Alamitos as well as what things you think need to be fixed. You can use your real name or a “handle” or nickname for this blog. Just post your comment below. (If you don’t see a “comment” box below, then just click on the blue “Leave a Comment” at the top of this post.)
Together, we can fix Los Al!
