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Potential

May 16, 2013 in City Council, Highlands Guy's Thursday Columns, Our Future, Our Priorities, Planning & Community Development

(Los Alamitos, 5/16/2013) Our Thursday columnist hits the nail on the head once again!  by Highlands Guy: 

po•ten•tial:  adjective:

  1. Possible, as opposed to actual: the potential uses of nuclear energy.
  2. Capable of being or becoming: a potential danger to safety.
  3. Grammar . expressing possibility: the potential subjunctive in Latin; the potential use of can in I can go

I hate to say it, but Los Alamitos just isn’t there yet. By that I mean it has not yet reached its potential.

Think about it. With all its natural, cultural, and man-made resources it should be one of the best places to live in this little corner of the world.

At 33°48′8″N 118°3′52″W , it doesn’t get as hot as just little father in-land and it doesn’t suffer from the overcast days like the nearby coastal communities. The temperature rarely gets up to, or down to, any extreme number.

Coyote Creek keeps us safe from historical flooding. Freeway access in any directions is just a few of minutes away. Less than 5 miles to the sand. And although we’re in the middle of a concrete jungle, most neighborhoods are lined with trees.

First responders can be at your door within 5 minutes. The school experience is rewarding for students at the highest levels as well as those needing a little extra push. And we now have Read the rest of this entry →

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HG on Squishy Goals (More thoughts on Los Al’s 2013-14 Budget)

May 2, 2013 in City Budget, City Council Meetings, Highlands Guy's Thursday Columns, Our Future, Our Priorities

(Los Alamitos, 5/2/2013)In work in both the private and public sectors I’ve always been taught that  goals must be measurable.  So I was shocked to read the “goals” for our Council, City Manager, and others cited by our Highlands Guy below!

 Once again our Thursday columnist asks some very good questions, especially in light of this Monday’s 6 pm Council Session on the 2013-14 budget.  by Highlands’ Guy:

Yes, the Prologis/Cypress mess is still with us. And yes, there are still a lot of good neighbors from Cypress, from Los Al, from Rossmoor, from Long Beach, from Garden Grove still fighting the good fight.

But, as I noted last week, there are still other issues that must be prepared for and responded to with intelligence, insight and common sense. It is with this in mind that I offer some thoughts to our City Council on getting ready for the 2013/14 budget process that continues at the 6 pm portion of their Special Council Meeting this Monday, 5/6/2013.

Maybe the best way to determine if our city officials have been effective is to look at the “department goals” set down in stone in Read the rest of this entry →

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In Memorium. Again. Across the continent, yet close to home.

April 16, 2013 in 2013 Issues, National Issues, News you can use, Our Future, Our Priorities, Perspective

(Los Alamitos, 4/16/2013)”The Race on the Base” isn’t the Boston Marathon, but they have a lot in common.

Thousands spending months in preparation.

Friends and family coming out to cheer.

An event that pulls a community together.

Capped by a race, exertion, completion, exhileraton, joy . . .

but, until Monday, 4/15/13,  no one would expect. . .

an explosion

chaos

pain

blood

and death.

As someone who’s run in a few marathons, I can imagine myself or my brother-in-law running towards that finish line, exhausted but exhilarated  . .

or my wife and kids at the end cheering. . . and then. . . a huge blast, pain, confusion. . .

Another grim reminder to never, never take those we love for granted.

Our kids, parents, siblings, spouses, neighbors. . . Los Al PD, OCFD, yes, even our Council Members. . . .

But this post is above politics.

It’s a reminder to keep the victims, their families, our first responders, our military, our leaders and our nation in our thoughts and prayers and hearts.

It’s an opportunity for you to express your perspective and thoughts,

for us to affirm what matters most,

to reflect

to pray

to put life’s first priorities first

to never Read the rest of this entry →

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There goes the neighborhood? or worse?

March 21, 2013 in 2013 Issues, Highlands Guy's Thursday Columns, LART ("Los Al Race Track" property), Our Future, Our Priorities, Planning & Community Development, Safety, Traffic

(Los Alamitos, 3/21/2013)  (Dave E here:) Wow!  Until I read HG’s column for this week I thought the biggest impacts from all those trucks ProLogis wants to run down Katella and Los Al Blvd were more gridlock, resulting in more cut-through traffic in  both Dutch Havens, Carrier Row, and Apartment Row, noise pollution, and accidents and  fatalities from all those trucks

I assumed air pollution from today’s trucks was no longer a problem.  Sadly, I was wrong, as you’ll learn as you peruse HG’s latest article. 

by Highlands’ Guy:  In last week’s column, while talking about ‘just who are we’ I mentioned some data about local air quality that is at an unhealthy level much of the time due to how close we are to the freeway.

A recent article right here in Let’s Fix Los Al about the planned imposition of a massive trucking facility, raised yet another red flag in the environmental arena.

Then, in Monday’s city council meeting I learned about Prologis, the mega-corporation that is imposing the huge truck terminal across the street from Carrier Row.

After thinking about these two issues, it dawned on me that there is a direct relationship between our air quality and Prologis. Thus, my theme this week will be to see if there are dots to connect that need to be Read the rest of this entry →

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Trees, Parks, Explorers & Garden top Community Give-Back Survey

March 16, 2013 in City Budget, City Council, City Council Meetings, Our Priorities

(Los Alamitos, 3/16/2013)  Looks like our residents prefer trees and gardens to free trips for Seniors or a digital reading board at Laurel Park.   At least when it comes to “giving back” their tax dollars, according to the 105 residents and families who returned the surveys.

The Community Give-Back Ad Hoc Committee met and discussed the results of that survey, which  was distributed to all Los Alamitos residents.

Residents were asked to select their top 5 choices out of the 10 choices provided, and city staff Read the rest of this entry →

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Who Are We. . . Really?

March 14, 2013 in 2013 Issues, Highlands Guy's Thursday Columns, Our Priorities

(Los Alamitos, 3/14/2013) Dave E. here.  I’m pretty sure you’ll be surprised by something you read in this post from our Thursday columnist.  I was.  More than once.

by “Highlands’ Guy:”   Los Alamitos is many things to many people. I guess it depends on the perspective from which you are looking.

Are you searching for a new location to expand your business? Are you a teacher only dealing with kids that get a lot of support at home?

If you’re a Rossmoorian you may think about Los Al in very different terms than many others.

If you’re a bad guy, you may look at Los Alamitos as easy pickings – just look at the Read the rest of this entry →

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Truck terminal, “Give Back,” Minute Format, San District all on Monday’s Council Agenda

March 14, 2013 in 2013 Issues, City Budget, City Council Meetings, LART ("Los Al Race Track" property), Our Priorities, Traffic, Your reporting and comments

money-from-heaven(Los Alamitos, 3/14/2013)  The agenda for Monday night’s 6 pm Los Alamitos City Council Meeting & following Closed Sessions are now up, & there’s something of interest for everyone, including 4 significant “Discussion Items:”

  • Cypress’ “33 acre Katella Industrial Development,”  which I’m assuming has to refer to that 300 – 400 bay truck terminal
  • A recommendation to fund the top four ranked programs from the Community Give-Back survey
  • A discussion of summary vs. action minutes for Council meetings
  • Selection of “top proposers for City Attorney services.”

But before all that discussion comes three interesting  Read the rest of this entry →

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Kat’hell’a and Cypress’ gift to Los Al

March 11, 2013 in 2013 Issues, City Council, Cypress, LART ("Los Al Race Track" property), Our Future, Our Priorities, Planning & Community Development, Safety, Traffic, Vision

prologis plans4cyp (2)“Gift?”

Before we begin, let’s first acknowledge that Cypress doesn’t loath Los Al. They did this to their own community when they put Shaw Carpets in on Valley View.  This is not a personal affront to New Dutch, Carrier Row and Apartment Row.

Now a few things of note.

  1. The development is over two times as large as Shaw Carpet.
  2. Based on the diagrams (see right), it looks like there are about 300-350 truck bays.
  3. Based on the diagrams all access and egress is via Katella.
  4. Based on the diagrams they will be unable to exit East on Katella without

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Response to sex offender lawsuit, School resource officer on Tuesday Council Agenda, 2/19/13

February 18, 2013 in 2013 Issues, City Council Meetings, Our Priorities, Safety, Your reporting and comments

money2(Los Alamitos, 2/18/2013)  Yesterday we gave an overview of our Council’s mid-year Budget Review set for 5 p.m. tomorrow; now it’s time to preview the intriguing agenda for tomorrow’s 6 p.m. Regular Meeting.

Tomorrow we’ll get up a post for you to report & comment on what you saw on both meetings (both should be on LosAlTV3).

A fast start:

The good news is the  Read the rest of this entry →

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Making the most of the “Community Give-Back”

January 5, 2013 in 2013 Issues, Our Future, Our Priorities, Your reporting and comments

(Los Alamitos, 1/5/2012, by Dave Emerson)  Attention Los Alamitos residents!

Our City Council is going to “give back”  $358,000 of our tax money, and we’ve only got until January 15, 2013, to supply our input.

That’s a whole lot of money.  In fact, it might actually amount to more than one third of Los Alamitos’ actual cash reserves. . . Read the rest of this entry →

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