Jan
23
At last: Last Tuesday’s Council Video
Filed Under 2012 Issues, City Council Meetings, Decency, Teamwork | 1 Comment
(Los Alamitos, 1/23/2012) I’m told downloading CSMP’s videos to YouTube take as long as the video, which means it took someone over four hours to put this online. Thanks, Larry!
You can click here for the Agenda, if you want to follow along or note the high (or low) points excerpted from the agenda below.
You can enlarge the size by clicking the rectangular box in the lower left corner, or go to full screen mode by clicking the icon just to the left of the rectangle.
Probably the items of greatest interest would be:
5. PRESENTATIONS
A. Presentation of Certificates of Appreciation to the Los Alamitos High School Girls Volleyball Team for winning the 2011 CIF Division 1 Championship
B. Presentation by Colonel Read more
Jan
18
Los Alamitos’ “Council Member Cellophane”
Filed Under City Council Meetings, Decency, Teamwork | Leave a Comment
(1/18/2012, Los Alamitos) From J.M. Ivler’s Council Comments last night:
There is a wonderful song from the musical Chicago called “Mr. Cellophane,” where a man laments that he can’t be seen, and is non-existent.
We have Council Member cellophane here in this chamber. When this council member speaks, it is as if nothing has been spoken. When a request is made, it is as if nothing has been said.
The words exist, because we can see them in the meeting minutes, but alas, it’s like attempting to get light from a black hole in space, it just never happened.
If Mr. Edgar says “I want Read more
Jan
14
Council to consider prosecuting Council Member Kusumoto: Agendas for 2 Tuesday Los Al Council Meetings
Filed Under 2012 Issues, City Council Meetings, Decency, Teamwork, Trash contraact, Troy Edgar | 16 Comments
(1/14/2012, Los Alamitos)The first meetings of the New Year gives our divided City Council a clear choice between making a new start by finding ways to work together, or to further waste our city’s resources on fighting battles that further divide the town they all call home.
M.L.King Jr. Day has pushed Monday’s 7 p.m. regular Council meeting back to Tuesday, and the need to fill five commission vacancies has added a special meeting at 5 to interview eight candidates, including four incumbents.
The agenda for the 7 p.m. Regular meeting includes:
- “Discussion of violations of law related to published letter [from Council Member Kusumoto] regarding Read more
Jan
5
H G: Changing of the Guard
Filed Under 2012 Issues, Highlands Guy's Thursday column, Los Alamitos Priorities, Teamwork | 1 Comment
(Los Alamitos, 1/5/2012) Once again, our Highlands Guy brings up a new topic. . . and nails it! Well worth reading. . . and sharing! (bolding mine. . . Dave E)
By Highlands Guy: A good friend recently attended the Los Alamitos City Commissioners dinner.
It is an annual event to gather together local folks, volunteer and paid, to look at successes, generate ideas for the coming year, and put faces to those that communicate with each other via email and telephone.
It is a low budget, simple dinner to say thanks to your neighbors who spend time making our community a better place to live.
During the speeches and introductions of each Commission member, my friend noted that one characteristic that made an impression on her was, quite frankly, the Read more
Dec
19
Your reporting & comments on tonight’s Council Meeting, 12/19/2011
Filed Under 2011 Issues, City Council Meetings, Decency, Teamwork, Your reporting & comments | 15 Comments
(Los Alamitos, 12/19/2011) It’s here. . . the last regular City Council meeting of the year, the last for City Manager Jeff Stewart, the last for Ken Stephens as Mayor. And it’s got plenty of interesting items on the agenda.
Will a new spirit of peace break out? Will Troy Edgar back up his words with actions?
This is the place for members of the public to Read more
Dec
15
H.G: Can’t We All Just Get Along…Maybe Not
Filed Under 2011 Issues, Highlands Guy's Thursday column, Teamwork | 2 Comments
(Los Alamitos, 12/15/2011) Once again our “Highlands Guy” makes some excellent points while suggesting some simple ways to move forward, and to make Los Al a better place to live.
Whether the members of the City Council agree with each other or whether there are deep divides in community thinking is not the point. And really, whether the CityCouncil gets along with city staff is not the point.
The bottom line point is if our leaders, paid or elected, are Read more
Dec
14
A time for peace. . . .
Filed Under 2011 Issues, Teamwork, Trash contraact | 1 Comment
(12/14/2011, Los Alamitos) An interesting discussion is taking place in the comment thread to my Sunday evening post, “Time for Kusumoto & Mejia to un-recuse?”
I’m moving what started as a response to that conversation here, to continue a discussion on ways to make the most of a unique opportunity made possible by the convergence of several key events:
- The unanimous appointment of Angie Avery as City Administrator with a three year contract and widespread support.
- Judge Banks ruling that the Council Majority “voted to break the law” when they went with the fifth highest trash bidder.
- The Council majority’s unanimous decision to seek both a possible settlement while filing an appeal to protect the city’s interest in response to that lawsuit.
- A series of published statements by Mayor pro tem Edgar indicating his desire not to “go about it unilaterally” but to “use this opportunity to heal things that are much deeper than a lawsuit.”
- The annual Council reorganization, scheduled for this Monday’s Council meeting.
As the Byrds sang, quoting Read more
Dec
11
Time for Kusumoto & Mejia to un-recuse?
Filed Under 2011 Issues, Los Alamitos Priorities, Teamwork, Trash contraact, Troy Edgar | 10 Comments
(12/11/2011, Los Alamitos) Monday night the Los Alamitos City Council has their third scheduled Closed Session on the trash lawsuit in eight days.
Troy Edgar is starting to sound like a candidate for a peace prize, and I mean that in a good way, because there’s a lot of wisdom in his words:
We all think we are right. Whether we are right or not, the community deserves better. Going about it unilaterally doesn’t seem like it’s in the best interests of the city. If we can use this opportunity to heal things that are much deeper than a lawsuit, I say, ‘Let’s do it.’”
While some have questioned Mayor pro tem Edgar’s Read more
Dec
5
Avery unanimous choice: Your reporting & comments on tonight’s Council Meeting, 12/5/11
Filed Under City Council Meetings, Teamwork, Your reporting & comments | 2 Comments
(Los Alamitos, 12/5/11) 7:30 p.m., breaking news: Our Council tonight unanimously approved the 3 year contract with current Parks and Recreation Director Angela Avery to serve as Los Alamitos City Manager beginning next month. Kudos to one and all for a timely and unanimous appointment from within!
Tonight’s Los Alamitos City Council meeting is bookended with closed sessions, but the agenda for the public portions has several items of interest (Click here for Friday’s report on the meeting’s agenda).
At 7:05 the Council moved out of the closed session, with Mayor Stephens indicating the results of the closed session relating to Angie Avery’s pending appointment would be discussed later in the meeting.
Interestingly, Council Member Poe Read more
Nov
16
“Can’t we all just get along?”
Filed Under 2011 Issues, City Council, Teamwork, Trash contraact | 1 Comment
(Los Alamitos 11/16/11)For our readers who may not receive the News Enterprise, below is my submission on this coming Monday’s City Council Trash Contract vote that was published today as a Guest View)
Once again a not-so-civil war seems to be breaking out in Los Alamitos. What’s really going on? The roots of the current conflict go back over 50 years!
Nov
6
“A way forward?” An open letter to Troy Edgar
Filed Under 2011 Issues, City Council Meetings, Teamwork, Trash contraact, Troy Edgar | 2 Comments
(Los Alamitos, 11/6/11) About 3 and a half weeks ago, two days after Judge Banks ruled that our Council majority voted to “break the law,” I e-mailed Mayor pro tem Edgar my thoughts on the tremendous opportunity I felt the court’s ruling provided for him.
Troy has been quite busy lately organizing his bid for Congress, but I still hope he’d have time to respond, or at least consider taking a different approach this time.
I guess at Monday’s City Council meeting we’ll see exactly what approach Troy and his fellow majority members will take, but given the staff proposal for rewriting the law Judge Banks said they broke and Read more
Sep
15
Highlands Guy: Are You Ready For The Big One?
Filed Under Highlands Guy's Thursday column, Teamwork | Leave a Comment
(9/15/2011, Los Alamitos) Like most Americans I have had my head in the sand for a long time. This is like some other aspects of real life, where I know something ‘intellectually’ but do not translate it down to practical terms. Fires, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, crime, gas pipe explosions, nuclear leaks.
What are you and your Read more
Aug
28
Congratulations to H.B’s World Championship Team!
Filed Under Inspiration, Teamwork, sports | Leave a Comment
Victory at last!
(8/28/2011, Los Alamitos, Orange County, California) Does it get any better than this?
World Series, Championship Game.
Score tied, 1 – 1.
Bottom of the last inning of regulation play.
The newly crowned U.S. Champion, Huntington Beach’s Ocean View All Stars are at bat.
They have never made it to the Little League World Series before.
They have never led in this game. They have never even Read more
Feb
17
A New Approach to Our City Governance
Filed Under 2011 Issues, City Council, Highlands Guy's Thursday column, Teamwork | 3 Comments
(Los Alamitos, 2/17/11) Wouldn’t it be great to see the entire audience at a Los Alamitos City Council meeting cheering their approval.
According to our Highlands Guy’s column this week, that’s exactly what we should expect, and it’s not that hard to achieve!
The bolding’s mine, but the ideas are his application of successful business concepts to our town:
By Highlands Guy: Our city leaders, whether employed by the city or elected, need to approach Los Alamitos residents as customers. Not as challengers, not as adversaries, and not as obstacles to their own agenda or political ambitions.
To take this one step further, they need to make their customers happy. And to accomplish this they need to produce a quality product whether in the form of a program, an event, a contract, perhaps financial stability or other quality of life issue. And they must demand that anyone doing business in or with our city also deliver the highest quality product. Because we are, after all, partners, and we are all judged by Read more
Jan
18
Update & your reporting & comments on tonight’s Council meeting
Filed Under 2011 Issues, City Council Meetings, Los Al Medical Center, Teamwork | 2 Comments
(1/18/11, Los Alamitos)The latest word is that ever-conscientious Council Member Kusumoto is delaying his trip to Sacramento for new council member training so he can participate in tonight’s Council Meeting Public Hearing on the Los Al Medical Center 25 year Site-specific Expansion Plan.
Once again, we’re taking our semi-wikipedia approach to Council meetings, letting you, the people, do the reporting. Whether you watch it live at 7 p.m. in person or on LosAlTV3, or tape delayed later today or tomorrow, please take a few minutes to post the most significant things you saw and your Read more