OC Blog

Anaheim Council Continues Disney Referendum Decision For 3 Weeks

The Anaheim City Council voted 3-2 a little while ago to postpone a vote on the Disney referendum until August 21.  Councilmembers Bob Hernandez, Lorri Galloway and Lucille Kring voted for the continuance, Mayor Curt Pringle and Councilman Harry Sidhu voted against it. 

Board Votes 5-0 For Moorlach Proposal

The Board of Supervisors just voted 5-0 to approve Item 27, Sup. Moorlach's proposal to "consider indicating intent to rescind the retroactive portion of the 3% at 50 pension increase to all Public Safety employees..."

Just as I predicted.

The original motion was amended so the matter will come back to the Board on September 18 rather than September 11. It was also amended at Sup. Bates request to allow for an independent review of Sup. Moorlach's case during the intervening seven weeks.

Board Hearing On Retroactive Pension Spike

I was watching the OC Board of Supes meeting online -- specifically Moorlach Chief of Staff Mario Maneiro's presentation on rescinding the retroactive portion of the 3-at-50 pension spike.

In addition to calling for the rescission of the retroactive spike, I thought I heard Maneiro say Moorlach proposed trying to fashion some solution with AOCDS to re-structure their retirement along the lines of how OCEA funds theirs (i.e. partly through employee contributions) in order to prevent the loss of pension benefits. At least that's what i thought I heard through the collateral noise here at Casa de Jubal.

Public comments have started and first up is Chapman Law School Dean John Eastman is the first speaker. Eastman makes two points worth mentioning:

Red County/OC Blog News Roundup -- July 31, 2007

Today's top stories from behind the Orange Curtain:

OC Court To Halt Traffic Ticket Processing In Mexico -- OCR and LAT
A wave of criticism prompted by a radio show leads the county's Superior Court to amend its contract for processing traffic tickets.

CUSD Testimony Goes Past Enemies List -- OCR
Grand jury transcripts posted here reveal how business is done in the county's second-largest school district.

How Big A Gamble is Garden Grove Casino Plan? -- OCR
The Gabrielino-Tongva Indian Tribe plans two upscale casino resorts with promises of huge dividends to the city, but some wonder if it will become a reality.

Affordable Housing Advocates To Rally At Disney Hearing -- OCR
Disney and a home developer have met for more than two weeks to try to reach a compromise on the housing debate, but its progress has yet to be disclosed.

Disney-Backed Measure Back Before Council -- LAT
Anaheim city council could put the measure restricting housing in the Resort District before voters or rescind approval of a 1,500-unit housing complex.

Community Leaders Call For Trustees Removal -- OCR
Petitioners gathering signatures to unseat Harald Martin from Anaheim Union board.

Ladera To Target Parking Scofflaws -- OCR
Sheriff's deputies to step up parking enforcement in Ladera Ranch.

Gore's Son Gets Drug Program -- OCR and LAT
Son of former vice president pleaded guilty to drug and marijuana possession.

Parking Face-Off Takes Toll -- OCR
Homeowner association sues a couple for parking a van in their driveway. Family members say they need the van to transport their gravely ill grandfather.

College Tour Gives Latino Students A Wider World View -- OCR
'This tour is the type of opportunity we came to this country for,' says the mother of one teen taking the seven-college trip.

San Juan Seeks More Data On Highway 74 Widening -- OCR
The city has hired a law firm to examine Caltrans' plans and perhaps sue to require an environmental impact report.

Frank Mickadeit: Scout Helpers May Ask For Reckoning -- OCR
Scout volunteers have questions

Court Yanks Outsourcing

Martin Wisckol reportsover at Total Buzz that the OC Superior Court will end the outsourcing to Mexico:

The OC Superior Court has amended its contract with Cal Coast Data Entry so that all traffic citations processed from the county will be worked on in Cerritos and Phoenix. KFI's John and Ken created a public outcry last week when they attacked the county for allowing a contractor to do the work in Nogales, Mexico.

Read the rest of the post here.

Where'd The Outsourcing Story Come From?

I'm a the only one who finds the timing of the traffic ticket outsourcing story suspicious?

Does anyone believe John & Ken found it one their own?

The OC Board of Supervisors is going to vote tomorrow on whether to rescind the retroactive portion of AOCDS' 2001 pension spike.

A few days before hand, John & Ken magically discover the outsourcing contract, post it on their website and hold the Board of Supervisors responsible and urge their listeners to call the supes.

The Brouhaha Over Outsourcing Traffic Ticket Data Processing

Tomorrow will be a big day at the Board of Supervisors. In addition to voting on Sup. Moorlach's request to rescind the AOCDS' retroactive pension spike, the Board will deal with the fallout over the OC Court's outsourcing of traffic ticket data entry to Cerritos-based CCDE -- which has the actual data entry performed at a facility in Nogales, Mexico.

Personally, I don't think the outsourcing is that big a deal, although I'd like to know whether CCDE has conducted its own back-ground checks on the Nogales personnel doing the data entry.

"A War We Just Might Win"

A friend e-mailed this to me. It's an op-ed in today's New York Times by two defense scholars who have been critical of the Bush Administration's conduct of the Iraq War. It's not an OC-specific issue, but after yet another anti-war editorial today from the defeatists at the OC Register, I wanted to submit this for our readers' consideration. I hope the weak sisters and defeatists in the Congress who seem poised to press the bug-out button will also read it and perhaps re-consider their haste to run for the exit in a panicked rush.

A War We Just Might Win
By MICHAEL E. O’HANLON and KENNETH M. POLLACK

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Al Gore III Pleads Guilty, To Enter Drug Diversion

From the OC Register:

Albert Gore III, the son of former Vice President Al Gore Jr., pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court this morning to unlawful possession of prescription drugs and marijuana, and was allowed to enter a drug diversion program.

If Gore successfully completes a 90-day residential drug program in Malibu his convictions will be stricken from his record.

Defense attorney Al Stokke said Gore, 24, received no more or no less than anybody else charged with similar crimes.   

You can read the rest of the story here. Good luck to Mr. Gore -- may he get that monkey off his back for good.

Thomas Gordon has a funny take at Orange Juice.

Touring County Parks With Sup. Norby

I found out the county Department of Harbors, Beaches and Parks would be giving Supervisor Chris Norby a tour last Friday of the San Juan Hot Springs at Caspers Wilderness Park and the Helena Modjeska Historic House and Gardens, so I tagged along.

The specific destination at Caspers was the hot springs, located near the Ortega Highway near Hot Springs Canyon Road that takes one to the Lazy W Ranch Camp. I actually drove past the back gate where I was to meet up with the rest of the party (Sup. Norby, HBP Director Parker Hancock, HBP Deputy Director Mark Denny, Deputy CEO Alise Drakodaidis, and HBP South District Supervisor John Gannaway) and wound up on a long drive through the canyon that ultimately dead-ends at the Lazy W. I was surprised to see a number of private cabin tucked away in the canyon on land leased from the U.S. forest Service decades ago. Most of the homes look like they were built in the 1920s and 1930s, and I envy the folks who own them.

It was a short hike to the top of the hot springs: