Jul
5
Council to consider ousting Commissioner Sheridan & also reversing Planning Commission @ 7 Tuesday
Filed Under 2010 Issues, City Council Meetings, Decency, Traffic | 6 Comments
(Los Alamitos, 7/5/2010) This week the “5th of July” holiday resulted in the City Council’s meeting being pushed back to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, but it appears that the Council majority, fresh from their victory over ratepayers on the trash contract, is not taking any holiday from Read more
Nov
11
A salute to our Veterans
Filed Under Decency, The Base | 5 Comments
(LosAlamitos, 11/11/2009, Veterans’ Day) In our living room sit two neatly folded American flags sit in triangular flag holders, presented graveside to my mother and Barb’s mother by a crisply uniformed officer “on behalf of the President of the United States and a grateful nation.”
About 200 yards south of my house is the wall enclosing our Joint Forces Training Base.
When I pull up to the 4-way stop sign nearest our home, there’s a good chance that one of the other cars at the intersection will be driven by someone in military uniform.
In a sense, every day in Los Alamitos is Veterans’ Day, and well it should be. Indeed, in a sense, every Read more
Sep
15
Gas & a beer? Our new Planning Commission will drink to that!
Filed Under Decency, Planning & Zoning, Traffic | 165 Comments
Police nationwide use staged accidents like this to send students a message about drunk driving. Looks like our Planning Commission had a different messge to send.
(9/14/09, Los Alamitos, by Dave Emerson) Last night the Los Alamitos Planning Commission voted 5-0 to allow the sale of beer and wine for “carry out” use at the Shell station at the corner of Los Al Blvd. and Katella, roughly a half mile from Los Alamitos High School and 605 freeway onramps and just around the corner from both our Middle Schools and several elementary schools.
In an action one observer described as “bizarre” Read more
Sep
14
Fill ‘er up & grab a six-pack on the way to the 605?
Filed Under Commission Meetings, Decency, Planning & Zoning | 10 Comments
Scene last April in Fullerton where DUI cost 3 innocent young lives including Angels ace rookie Nick Adenhart. Too high a price for a little extra revenue?
(9/14/09, by Dave Emerson) Los Alamitos city staff is apparently recommending approval of the request for a license to sell beer and wine for off-site consumption by the Shell gas station on Katella at Los Alamitos Bl. I’m not so sure they got that right.
Initially, I was conflicted on this one, but the more I thought about it the clearer the choices became and the stronger my Read more
Sep
3
D.A. files charges against former Los Al Man of the Year
Filed Under Community News, Decency | 18 Comments
(9/3/09) The Orange County District Attorney today filed charges of grand theft and money laundering against Los Alamitos C.P.A. Patrick David Dugan.
Dugan, who served as Treasurer of the Los Alamitos Rotary Club for ten years until discrepancies were discovered in May, 2008 by Club President and City Council Member Dean Grose.
According to the D.A.’s Press Release, Dugan is accused of stealing Read more
Apr
9
Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart killed by drunk driver at 22
Filed Under Decency, Inspiration, National Issues, News you can use, Southern California, Teamwork | 3 Comments
(4/9/2009, Los Alamitos, by Dave Emerson) In a shocking reminder of the fragility of life, 22 year old Angels starter Nick Adenhart and two of his friends were killed by a 22 year old drunk driving with a suspended license early this morning, just after pitching six shut-out innings in his first start of what was looking like a break-out season.
Adenhart graduated from Williamsport High School in Silver Spring Md. in 2004 and was expected to be a first-round pick in the baseball draft that year, which would have made him an instant millionaire. Unfortunately, Read more
Apr
8
Oh no! Racist hate crime in Los Alamitos making news
Filed Under 2009 Issues, Decency, Los Alamitos Priorities | 23 Comments
(4/8/2009, Los Alamitos, by Dave Emerson) Driving back from my office at lunchtime today I noticed Channel 7′s TV truck parked in the Los Alamitos City Hall’s lot.
Thinking “What now?” I pulled into the lot to ask KABC’s Gene Gleason what brought him to our fair town today.
“Hate crime.” With a possible gang connection, unfortunately.
Apr
3
4/6 Agenda: Council reschedules nominee interviews to accommodate 2 nominees & William Graham services
Filed Under City Council, Decency, Teamwork | 6 Comments
(4/3/09, by Dave Emerson) In yet another show of consideration, the Los Alamitos City Council has resheduled the interviews of candidates to fill the remainder of Dean Grose’s term.
Originally scheduled for this Monday, April 6 at 6 p.m., the interviews have now been removed from the Council Agenda (posted below) & the meeting time moved back to 7 p.m.
At last Monday’s Special session during Council Comments Debbie Feldman had requested that the candidate interviews be rescheduled because this comming week is Spring/Easter Break for Los Alamitos USD schools. She noted that nominee Brad Sheridan Read more
Apr
1
Updated with Service Info: In Memory of William John Graham
Filed Under City Council, Decency | 5 Comments
Bill & Barbara on their first date
4/3/2009 update on services from Javier Mejia:
(4/1/2009) The following comment was posted by Javier Mejia as a comment Tuesday afternoon, 3/31/2009:
William John Graham
Passed away at 2:22 this afternoon. Bill was born in Long Beach, CA June 21, 1929 to Harry and Ruth Graham. He grew up in Long Beach and graduated from Poly High School in 1947. He was a U.S. Marine and a veteran of The Korean War.
Bill met his beloved wife Barbara and they were married for 56 years. They purchased their home in the City of Los Alamitos in 1956 where they raised their six children, Billy, Kathy, Donna, Robert, Gerri, and John. They were also blessed with 13 Grand children, and 6 Great Grand children, many of which still reside in Los Alamitos. Barbara preceded Bill in death in December of 2006. They were Born Again Christians, leading many others to the love of Jesus Christ.
The Memorial Service information will be announced at a later date.
Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts.
Los Alamitos has lost a great man. America has lost another veteran and a hero, as are all who are willing to sacrifice their lives for our nation and our freedom. Let’s continue to hold the family in our thoughts and prayers as they work through their treasure of memories and their profound loss.
I hope that someday Read more
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
Mar
2
Dean’s resigned twice, what’s next?
Filed Under City Council Meetings, Dean Grose, Decency, Los Alamitos Priorities | 6 Comments
Los Alamitos City Hall at 5 p.m. tonight (click photo to enlarge)
(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.
Who would you like to see fill out Dean Grose's term as Mayor?
- Gerri Mejia (74.0%)
- Troy Edgar (19.0%)
- Marilyn Poe (3.0%)
- Leave it open for now with Marilyn serving pro tem (3.0%)
- Ken Stephens (0.0%)
Loading ...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
Mar
1
Sunday Sermon: Words to build your life on
Filed Under Decency, Inspiration, Sunday Sermon | 1 Comment
Sharing timeless wisdom with his friends
(3/1/09, by Dave Emerson) LetsFixLosAl.com is primarily about news and politics in Los Alamitos, but we occasionally take some time, often on a Sunday, to focus on matters of far greater importance. If content that is largely spiritual in nature offends you, you may want to simply click on any of the other recent posts from the list at the upper left, or use the “search” window at the bottom of the left column to search this site for posts of interest. After the events of this week here, I certainly don’t want to be accused of being insensitive!
I believe I posted our first “Sunday Sermon” after hearing an especially convicting message from a local pastor. I tried to pass on some of the things he shared. It’s been a while since I’ve put up a Sunday sermon, but I figured the old blog could sure use one after this week.
Some reader comments got me thinking about a post on prayer and the need for it for our city, it’s leaders, businesses, and citizens, especially ahead of what could be a chaotic Council meeting.
I also thought about a post on humility and the lessons we can all learn from this weeks tragedy.
But I finally decided on some timeless excerpts from what most people consider the greatest sermon every preached. There’s enough wisdom here to last a lifetime, and some of it’s quite relevant to our current situation.
It took place on a hillside in Israel almost two millenia ago, but it’s wisdom is truly timeless. It was recorded for us by an eye witness, one of those to whom it was addressed, probably with the help of some of his colleagues. From what he tells us, it sounds more like a casual hillside talk with a group of followers that gradually grew to a large crowd.
Lots of people claim to live by this, the “Sermon on the Mount.” Personally, I don’t think that’s humanly possible. If I could live by 50% of it, I think my life would be an unbelievable success.
Here’s how the author, who was an embezzling tax collector before being recruited by Jesus, sets the stage [Matthew 5:1-2 from The Message translation]:
When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
Feb
28
Agenda for March 2nd Los Al City Council Meeting
Filed Under City Council Meetings, Dean Grose, Decency | 1 Comment
Coming Monday to a City Council meeting near you, courtesy of our City Council majority
(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
Feb
27
Complete Text of Mayor Grose’s “Resignation” Statement
Filed Under Dean Grose, Decency, National Issues | 7 Comments
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.
Feb
27
The circus comes to town, courtesy of our Council majority
Filed Under Dean Grose, Decency | 16 Comments
Channel 2/9 set up for live feeds from Los Alamitos City Hall on Friday (click photo to enlarge)
(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
