Oct
28
Los Al Med Center meets with Community Activists
Filed Under 2009 Issues, Development, Los Alamitos Priorities, Planning & Zoning | 11 Comments
(Los Alamitos, 10/28/2009) (Intro by Dave Emerson:) There’s been plenty of noise and discussion lately about the Los Alamitos Medical Center’s future development plans. The LAMC apparently decided to be proactive and invited three of the “squeaky wheels” to their facility for a discussion this past Monday, 10/26/2009.
Those attendees have issued a very interesting report on that meeting. I was amazed to learn Read more
Aug
16
Council to consider mandating advance payment by youth sports groups tonight
Filed Under 2009 Issues, City Council, Education & Schools, Los Alamitos Priorities | 3 Comments
Youth sports: a big part of our community
(8/17/2009, Los Alamitos) In an interesting consent calendar item for their Monday, August 17, Regular Meeting the Los Alamitos City Council is being asked to require payment in advance from the many youth sports groups which use city or school district facilities.
This seems like a logical move from an economic viewpoint. The question is, have the affected volunteer groups, all committed to serving our kids, had adequate input in the development of this policy.
Under current policy, according to a Youth Permits Summary submitted to the Council, all of the local groups have been delinquent to one extent or another in making at least some payments over the past three years, including (in alphabetical order):
- Friday Night Lights
- Los Alamitos Girls Softball League
- Los Alamitos Youth Baseball
- NJB Basketball
- Pop Warner Football
- AYSO Soccer
- St. Hedwig Baseball
All but two of those groups are now current: AYSO still owes the city about 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.
Mar
2
Your Thoughts, Comments, and real time reporting on the 3/2/09 Council meeting
Filed Under City Council Meetings, Dean Grose, Los Alamitos Priorities | 73 Comments
Ready for overflow, 5 p.m.
(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:
Loading ...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
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
Dec
13
Agenda for Monday, 12/15 Los Al Council Meeting
Filed Under City Council Meetings, Los Alamitos Priorities | 14 Comments
(by Dave Emerson) Mon. 6 p.m.: to comment or report on the City Council meeting tonight, just click here.
Monday noon update: The city has now posted the agenda, so I’ve added some detail, like the 6 items under the consent calendar, and some links to additional city documents provided to the Council Members for background.
For whatever reason, Los Alamitos did not get the agenda posted on line before their “dark Friday” 3 day weekend, so I had to drive down to city hall and hand copy it from the posted board.
At least the Council is meeting, although Marilyn Poe has indicated that she’ll be out of town. There are some interesting items scheduled, althought the most interesting takes place in a closed session at 6 p.m.
Here are the highlights. My comments are in italics.
Los Alamitos City Council Agenda
Regular Meeting, December 15, 2008 6:00 p.m.
Highlights
1, Call to Order
2. Roll call
3. Closed Session
A. Employee Appointment: Interim City Manager and City Manager
I”m not clear what this is. Perhaps beginning a search process, finding a way to extend David Rudat, or searching for another interim? If you’ve got any insights, please share them as a comment below.
B. Conference with Labor Negotiators
Agency Negotiators [representing the city]: David Rudat and City Atty. Dean Derlech
Employees [represented by]: Police Officers’ Association and City Employees’ Association
Council Members Poe and Stephens were elected with strong support from the City Employees’ Association, which bought ads supporting them, and had members walking and knocking to support their candidacy. In a time of economic crisis for the city, I certainly hope that the new majority will not repeat the spendthrift patterns towards government employees we’ve seen at the state and county levels. Read more
Dec
12
Lessons for the Holidays from a car wreck
Filed Under Education & Schools, Inspiration, Los Alamitos Priorities, News you can use, Traffic | 1 Comment
Summer Thompson and her mother Sherri in 2007. Summer nearly died in a car wreck in 2006.
(by Dave Emerson) As the dad of a 17-year-old high school senior, I’ve got a story from the state of Washington I’d like to share with you. It’s not a local story, but it’s relevant to our family oriented small town that’s home to Los Alamitos High School.
This started out as a post about one comment from the discussion that took place here in the comments following my December 6th preview of this week’s Planning Commission meeting.
As I searched Google Images for a “bad car wreck” photo to illustrate a post about Steve’s December 10th comment, the above photo stood out from all the photos of mangled cars on the first page of “about 467,000″ images Google located for you and me. I clicked on the photo to find out more, and ended up reading a compelling two year old story from the Seattle Post-Intelligence.
If you’ve got a kid, or a grandkid, especially one who drives, you may find this story by the P-I’s Jim Moore as compelling as I did. Read more
Nov
6
Important Questions
Filed Under Election Issues, Los Alamitos Priorities | 1 Comment
Coming mid day Friday: Election review–my thoughts on what happened & why. The race was actually closer than it looked! See you then. In the meantime, we’re adjusting to our new post-election role, as indicated below. Would appreciate your feedback & input as requested, if you’re so inclined!
(by Dave Emerson) We’re in transition here at “LetsFixLosAl.com.” Moving from a combination candidates site and political blog to a place in cyberspace to learn and discuss what’s going on in Los Alamitos.
I’ve changed the tag line on the mast head to “Los Alamitos’ 24/7 virtual town hall meeting: Where good ideas bloom!”
As we’re switching modes, I’ve got a few more posts reflecting on the election in mind, but I also want to keep the focus primarily on moving ahead. With that in mind, I’ve got a couple questions, and maybe you can help answer them:
- Why did you vote (or not vote) the way you did in our Los Alamitos City Council election?
- What are the key priorities you would like to see our new Council focus on?
Of course, the right to a private ballot is one of the cherished principals of our democracy, so feel free to use a pseudonym if you want for your “name.” Even a generic one like “voter.” (Your e-mail is kept private).
I’m especially interested in voters who didn’t vote for me (and there are quite a few of them!), voters that only voted for one candidate, and voters who voted for Cat.
Even more important is where you’d like to see the council move now. Having that info with who you voted for and why could prove enlightening.
If there isn’t a “comment” box below, just scroll up and click on the headline for this post, then scroll back down. Polite and respectful, please. We want this site to be a place where all can discuss what’s going on in a cordial, respectful atmosphere.
A place where good ideas bloom!
