Chamber and committee critics have it wrong

Two different city groups--the Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee and the Chamber of Commerce--have come in for some harsh criticism lately.

Detractors say the 24-member “blue ribbon” body is unwieldy and moving too slowly in developing recommendations regarding the future of Town Center.

But careful work on the committee’s part is essential to molding a true community-wide consensus for revitalizing the downtown area with new restaurants and shops, while preserving Yorba Linda’s historic low-density environment.

Fortunately, the City Council wasn’t involved in selecting committee members, so the diverse group includes both supporters and opponents of the plan proposed by the now-dismissed Old Town Yorba Linda Partners developer team.

And some members didn’t have strong feelings one way or the other on the controversial concept to add high-density residential and commercial units to sleepy Old Town streets.

So the new council must take any accord reached by the serious-minded members of this committee as probably the community’s best chance to create a more vibrant downtown.

But committee members, after a year or 18 months of work, must reach consensus on a plan or downtown redevelopment could be delayed for decades. A divided committee report would doom the wide-based support any proposed project needs to succeed.

Also unwarranted is some of the criticism aimed at the Chamber of Commerce, which was organized in 1913 to promote local commercial interests. The chamber’s business-oriented agenda, obviously, won’t always match what’s best for Yorba Lindans.

A recent example is chamber participation in aggressive developer-funded efforts against the petitions seeking a public vote on the now-rescinded Town Center zoning ordinances.

Even some of the chamber’s own members criticized the action because it was initiated by the group’s board of directors and wasn’t subject to a vote of the general membership.

But the chamber does play a key role in promoting the city and providing information to prospective residents and businesses, so the council should continue to pay some of the administrative costs associated with the chamber’s valuable work.

The annual $16,000 chamber contract is certainly cost-effective, since providing the same services at City Hall would involve greater expenses for salaries, benefits and materials.

However, the chamber needs to restructure its popular election forum and include school trustee and water board candidates. Also, the group needs a moderator who doesn’t comment on a candidate’s hairstyle, speaking accent or money-saving signs.

A FINAL NOTE

Nearly all of the community’s established leadership, including elected and appointed city and school officials, endorsed Keri Wilson and Doug Dickerson in the past election.

But five-time Mayor Hank Wedaa, whose 28 council years is a city record, put his fame and a bit of his fortune on the line for top vote-getter Jan Horton and running-mate John Anderson.

Wedaa was the only big political name to support both winners. He also wrote and paid for a full-page Yorba Linda Star ad severely criticizing Wilson and Dickerson.

Longtime Wedaa ally and former three-term Councilman Mark Schwing, who endorsed Anderson, said he was “pleased with the election results.” He also noted, “Jan and John won in both west and east Yorba Linda. They deserve a lot of credit, as does YLRRR.”

Schwing also confirmed a previous report in this column that he’s a candidate to fill Mike Duvall’s soon-to-be-vacated seat, whether by appointment or special election.