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(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

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(March 25, 2009, by Dave Emerson)  I tend to prefer more hard news than we get from the News Enterprise, the only local paper that serves all of Los Alamitos.   I suppose that’s a matter of personal choice:  Some readers probably want even more “soft” news.  N-E Editor Brian Smith and I both know it’s impossible to please everyone.

Today, however, I think an our ever congenial Brian has an “attaboy” coming his way.  Primarily because of the amount of space he devoted to “Letters to the Editor” today.  Not only did he print Read more

Please note:  Our newest reader poll, on how you think the Los Alamitos City Council should fill former Mayor Dean Grose’s vacant Council seat, is near the end of this post.  Your input is needed!

(3/12/09 by Dave Emerson)   The topic of how to select someone to fill out Dean Grose’s City Council term is  sure to be on the Agenda for the Monday, March 16th Los Alamitos City Council Meeting, so let’s take a look at the options our Council will have  (We should have the agenda up for you sometime Friday, depending on when we receive it.)

There are actually three options available:  Two could be completed as quickly as the Council wants, the other would take at least Read more

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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.

(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

(3/2/2009, intro by Dave Emerson, comments & reporting by you!)  This is where you, the Los Al citizen (or website visitor) have the opportunity to report what you see at tonight’s historic Los Alamitos City Council meeting, along with your impressions, thoughts, and comments.

To follow along on the agenda, click here.

If you’re watching at home on LosAlTV3, you can post your observations in real time.  Please describe what you’re commenting on, as some readers don’t have LosAltv.

If you’re at the meeting, or watching a rebroadcast, please report in after the meeting or comment after viewing.

11 p.m. update:  Now that Dean has stepped down  Marilyn, Ken, and Troy have ignored pleas from the public and made Troy mayor, we’re putting up a new poll and closing our two prior ones:

As always, please maintain a civil tone and polite language.  This blog, like Los Alamitos, is still striving to be family friendly.

Just click “read more” to post your comments or view others’. Read more

(3/2/09, 2 p.m., by Dave Emerson)  Before saying anything else I again want to thank Dean Grose for resigning today both his position as Mayor of Los Alamitos and also his seat on the City Council.  Over the years Dean has done a lot for the city, but I think this was his finest hour.

Whether former Mayor Grose’s resignation leaves the city better or worse off, however, remains to be seen.  The problem is that the Council majority that  elected Dean to the Mayor’s position is still firmly in control of both who the next Mayor will be, and also who will fill the remaining two years of Dean’s Council term.

That problem is compounded by the total lack of candor or leadership over the past week by two members of that majority:  Troy Edgar, who proclaimed himself “giddy” shortly after nominating Dean, and Marilyn Poe, who seconded the nomination.  The last time I saw Marilyn was Friday morning, when she dodging into the back door of the city offices to avoid reporters.   As far as I can tell both of them have been dodging the media when their city needed them the most.

The  foxes are still guarding the henhouse.

Dave here with a mid-meeting update.  Turns out, it doesn’t matter to Marilyn, Ken Stephens, or Troy what you think.  Whomever  they answer to, it’s apparently not the people.   After numerous pleas from the audience, including mine referring to the overwhelming support for Gerri in the above poll, Marilyn nominated Troy, Ken Stephens immediately seconded the motion, and the vote was taken and the chairs switched quicker than you could say Briggeman!

The good news is, Troy was served with a recall petition shortly thereafter.  I think Poe may need to go too, especially if the Council appoints a new Council member to replace Dean that Gerri doesn’t go along with.  It’s now all too obvious that the foxes are still guarding the henhouse (see below)

I’m reminded of the expression about “the fox guarding the henhouse.”  Let’s say there are four foxes guarding the henhouse, three on the outside and one inside.  Say the farmer catches the inside guard eating the hens.  What good would it do for the farmer to get rid of the inside fox, but leave the other three outside as guards?  Especially if they’re also in charge of picking the replacement for the inside guard!

I’m going to do a little “thinking out loud” here,  before discussing what city staff told me Read more

(3/2/2009, by Dave Emerson) I just got the word from city hall that tonight’s City Council meeting will be held in the Council Chambers, and no one will be allowed to stand in the Council Chambers.

There will , however, be seating provided outside the Chambers, with television and speakers provided.  I’m told that request to speak sheets will be placed on the table in the foyer as well as the plastic box on the wall.

If local residents don’t want all the inside seats taken by reporters, they probably need to show up early.

I’m working on additional information, and hope to have more for you early this afternoon.  In the meanwhile, if you have information or thoughts to share, click “read more.” Read more

Son Nate just added some new “plug-ins” to this blog, and I’m so excited about it I’d say I was “giddy” except that was the word Concil Member Edgar used when he nominated Dean Grose to be Mayor.

You’ve now got three new ways to share and stay connected with what’s going on here at LetsFixLosAl:

1. The “subscribe” button at the upper right lets you subscribe to the RSS feed from LetsFixLosAl.  (If you understand what that means and how to do it, maybe you can share it with the rest of us in a comment below.)
2. At the bottom of each post we now have a “share this” button that makes it easy for you to share a specific post using email,  your favorite social networking method, or posting it on your own blog or profile.  This one’s pretty simple, but you do have to click the “share this” button.   I just used it to e-mail a link to myself, without coaching from Nate.
3. Under the “submit comment” button under the comment box on each post is a box you can check if you want to be notified by e-mail when additional comments are posted.

Now we’re going to let you try out our new reader poll plug-in.  A few paragraphs below is a question that’s pretty relevant ahead of Monday night’s City Council meeting where Mayor Grose has announced he plans to resign as Mayor but NOT as Councilman.

But first, you might want to check out what the whole world can learn about our Mayor on CNN, and yet another flawed attempt by the Mayor to explain himself.

Just click here and scroll down to the TV screen shot of reporter Michelle Gile holding a mike out to Mayor Grose, as shown here.

What has he learned?  “I’ve learned that you don’t forward e-mails because no matter what type of e-mail it is or what kind of a joke it may seem like, it could be offensive to somebody.”

Really?  “no matter what type of e-mail it is?”   I’ve forwarded quite a few e-mails and so far I don’t think I’ve offended anyone. STILL doesn’t get it!

On this poll, you can check as many boxes as you’d like.

Thank you for participating.  (3/2 11 p.m. update:  Since Dean has now resigned from both and Troy was elected Mayor tonight in a unbelievable, cold blooded act of unbridaled power and disdain for the people by Marilyn, Ken, and Troy, we’re closing this poll and opening another on the “Your comments on the 3/2 Council Meeting” post.

I’d encourage you to also vote in the OC Register’s poll on exactly what, if anything, Mayor Grose should resign from.  It would be good to have more actual Los Al residents and businesses represented on that poll.  (The first option is Mayor, the second is both Mayor and Council, and the third which can be misunderstood the way it’s phrased, is he shouldn’t resign from anything.)

Please click “more” to post and/or read comments, let us know how you like our first poll, and suggest future polls. Read more

(2/28/09, by Dave Emerson)  This Monday’s Council meeting looks to be perhaps the most important in Los Alamitos’ 49 year history. Mayor Dean Grose has announced he plans to resign the Mayor’s post at the meeting, but not his Council seat, and apparently not his seats on a number of important state and County commissions and boards either.

Unfortunately, the agenda, which is posted below, has at least one unpleasant surprise, which will hopefully be corrected Monday.

Some citizens would like to see the meeting moved to a larger venue–stay tuned. As it stands now, you’d better get there early if you want a seat,  or even room to stand and watch. If you can’t come early, throw a lawn chair in the trunk and be prepared to sit outside in case they have speakers out there.

This will be our small town’s first opportunity to counter the tsunami of bad publicity that has overwhelmed us the last few weeks as a result of  Mayor Dean Grose’s tasteless e-mail and inadequate responses. (I would like to use stronger words, but I’m trying to be diplomatic here.)

Since our “leaders” in the Council majority have failed to speak up, it is also the first chance for we, the people of Los Alamitos to commence the damage control that  Troy Edgar and “Our most trusted voice” should have fired up three days ago.  (Ken Stephens’ response was rather tepid, but he at least returned Jaimee Fletcher’s call.  Marilyn Poe  literally ran from the press and, Read more

(Los Alamitos, CA, 2/28/2009)  As writer and creator of the only blog  devoted exclusively to the city of Los Alamitos, allow me to give some local perspective on the sad saga of our Mayor, beginning with the surprising answer to a question many locals have been asking since Grose announced his “resignation” Thursday night:  What did Dean Grose actually resign from?

It took a fairly rigorous cross-examination by Michelle Gile of Los Angeles’ CBS stations channel 2 and 9 to get the answer directly from the Mayor’s lips, but it’s now clear that Grose’s “resignation” announcement is a lot less than you might think.  To this local observer, it’s really just more evidence that Los Alamitos desperately needs Dean Grose to really step out of the limelight, and take with him Read more

As handed to me by Los Alamitos City Staff today and e-mailed to several media outlets late yesterday (Thursday) afternoon:  (Please note: To avoid disruption, grammatical and spelling errors in the original text are not identified with the traditional Latin “sic.”)

A Statement From

Los Alamitos Council Member and Mayor

Dean Grose

February 26, 2009

First, I would like to offer a public apology to Ms. Keyanus Price, a business woman in Los Alamitos.

This past Sunday, Feb. 22nd, I received a shared email which I opened and forwarded on to small group of friends.  Since the internet became a mainstay of every household, jokes fly about without thinking of those who might be offended.  I didn’t create or originate this e-mail which was sent to me for what I thought to be humor, and regrettably I passed it along.

Read more

(by Dave Emerson)  Today, I needed Twitter.  And our city needs some relief.

Got a call around 10 from a TV reporter, did a little research for her, met her at City Hall.  Ended up on a chase through town in search of a cross burning.  Fortunately, there was none.  Back at city hall reporters from the 3 main local papers were loitering for a possible news conference while city staff tried to figure out what was going on and a police officer kept a watchful eye on the situation.  Your tax dollars at work.

Eventually city staff appeared with copies of the Mayor’s “statement” from yesterday.  (I hate hard copies that I can’t just paste in!  I’ll try to get it up later tonight.  It’s 7 paragraphs long, mostly attempts at explaining and or justifying the Mayor’s actions.

Also found an interesting statement from Mrs. Grose explaining why she’s no longer Read more

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