Residents' wishes are evident on Town Center

Seven months ago I wrote that the Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee “must reach consensus on a plan or downtown development could be delayed for decades,” noting a divided report “would doom the wide-based support any…project needs to succeed.”

That’s still partly true for the committee, which soon begins a second year of meetings to develop “conceptual recommendations and guiding principles” for the historic Old Town area for eventual presentation to the City Council.

But if the 24-member group can’t report back with full or near unanimity or the proposals they forward are high-density or create unsolvable traffic problems, the newly realigned council is likely once again to assume active control of the planning process.

A new council majority—John Anderson, Jan Horton and Hank Wedaa—are critics of the downtown development plan created by Michael Dieden, Greg Brown and Walter Marks of the disbanded Old Town Yorba Linda Partners.

Only council holdovers Allen Castellano and Jim Winder favored the high-density mix of commercial and condominium projects proposed in 2005-2006, when the Partners held an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city.

Although blue-ribbon body members haven’t taken a scientific sampling of citizen opinion about Town Center, they do have 900-plus responses to an official survey.

And they can judge voter sentiment by 8,647 signatures on the Right-to-Vote on Land-Use Amendments petition, 9,790 and 9,771 signatures on petitions to overturn the past council’s Town Center zoning ordinances and 6,921 votes cast for Measure B.

Add to that telling mix 8,293 votes for Horton and 6,684 votes for Anderson in the November 2006 general election and 3,749 votes for Wedaa in this month’s special election, and the committee should have a good idea of basic wishes for Old Town.

That’s especially true since the money spent opposing the petitions, Measure B and the Horton, Anderson and Wedaa candidacies far exceeded the cash used to support them.

Committee members need to stop sniping at each other over where they live, who they supported in past elections and other matters to finally see the writing on the wall, as expressed by thousands of Yorba Lindans on three petitions and in three elections.


A FINAL NOTE

Blunt-spoken veteran Councilman Hank Wedaa quickly zeroed in on a major planning blunder during his return to the governing dais last week, when he criticized the Coffee Bean building at Yorba Linda Boulevard and Lakeview Avenue.

The no-setback structure was one of several recent ventures he disparaged as contrary to the sensible standards used by past councils in approving new business buildings.

Maybe the city should employ eminent domain and seize the out-of-place project to change the streets just enough to allow for nicely landscaped pedestrian walkways.

Some ideas for the Town Center area

Hundreds of residents have responded to a request by the Town Center Blue Ribbon Committee to contribute comments about revitalizing Yorba Linda’s Old Town area.

The 24-member blue ribbon body is charged with presenting “conceptual recommendations and guiding principles” for downtown to the City Council.

Most submissions reflect residents’ longtime divisions regarding Town Center plans, with many wanting no change and others seeking cosmetic alterations or small-scale revisions or wide-ranging redevelopment.

However, along with insightful ideas, some citizens propose changing not only Old Town, but the city’s character as well.

For example, many say they “love downtown Brea” and suggest mimicking that city’s restaurants, retail businesses, movie theaters and newly built residences. One person favoring Brea-type retail adds, “Contact me if you need help with civil engineering.”

Other areas inappropriately advanced for imitation are Fullerton and Newport Fashion Island, with a Fullerton fan seeking “nightlife (with) fine dining, dancing, live music performances and some bars.”

Bars are on the minds of others, who propose “at least one bar,” “maybe a pub or two,” “independent restaurants, bars, dancing” and, in capital letters, “bars and strip clubs.”

A more elaborate idea involves an area similar to Universal City with water jets—“Oh, what fun it could be”—and another is Solvang: “If thousands…would travel hundreds of miles to view…Danish buildings, why not our…Old Town and farmland?”

For style standards, one person advocates, “Forget about the Craftsman…and try to make Yorba Linda look classy and intelligent,” not “ho-hum or homespun,” while another says, “Look at Main Street in Disneyland for inspiration.”

Probably pleasing to Assemblyman and former Mayor Mike Duvall is the comment, “One nice style is the building just north of Bank of America” with “black and white trim—an insurance office, I believe.”

Bad business suggestions include “a Wendy’s fast food,” “a pool room,” “shopping center, mall, Target or Wal-Mart” and, for the prime property at the vacant northeast corner of Yorba Linda Boulevard and Imperial Highway, “a Sonic burger.”

And “rip the whole area down” is the defeatist attitude of some, who say: “Old Town is a disgusting place and should be torn down in its entirety”; “Scrap the downtown area…the stores are disgusting…downtown is like a hick town”; and “When the existing businesses give up, bulldoze the buildings and make it into a park.”

A FINAL NOTE

The survey also elicited this disquieting comment:

“Get a bulldozer and get rid of all those old buildings on Main Street and build a new shopping center where Mimi’s is. The old people who want to preserve those old things will be dead in 10 years and young people want new things…. Out with the old and in with the new.”

Residents go back in time with council choice

Once again local voters rejected a recommendation from a lengthy list of past and present officials representing Yorba Linda, as they reached back into city history to tap a member of the 1970s low-density city councils to return to the governing dais.

This Tuesday 28-year council veteran Hank Wedaa will take his eighth oath of office and settle several lingering disputes, including a proposal to open closed-door ad hoc council committee meetings to public scrutiny.

Wedaa’s win is another blow to the political establishment, most of which lined up behind former one-term council member Keri Wilson’s comeback bid after her November 2006 defeat.

Wilson listed 27 current and former officials representing the city as federal, state and local leaders as supporters, including Mayor Allen Castellano, Councilman Jim Winder, six past mayors, four water district directors and school trustee Karin Freeman.

By contrast, only popular Councilman John Anderson, two past mayors and a one-term water district director endorsed Wedaa. Winder, who supported Wilson, signed Wedaa’s nominating petition and gave him a $200 donation.

Wedaa carried 16 of 27 precincts with a total 3,749 votes to Wilson’s 2,944 and Victoria Gulickson’s 1,616. (Two tiny precincts recorded no votes and one recorded four votes, while 53 voters apparently cast write-in votes or left ballots blank.)

Wilson won the eastside’s 92887 Zip code count with 945 votes to Wedaa’s 785 and Gulickson’s 382, but Wedaa captured the westside’s 92886 Zip code with 2,964 votes to Wilson’s 1,999 and Gulickson’s 1,234.

Absentee ballots split 2,697 for Wedaa, 2,117 for Wilson and 1,106 for Gulickson, while Election Day votes broke 1,052 for Wedaa, 827 for Wilson and 510 for Gulickson.

Although the 20.4 percent turnout of 8,362 from 40,957 registered voters is the smallest in city history, the result is significant, when taken in context with recent political events.

Wedaa’s win—along with the Anderson and Jan Horton council victories, the Measure B success and the high signature count on Old Town zoning and Right-to-Vote petitions—represents a major change in local politics from the past two decades.

The grassroots Yorba Linda Residents for Responsible Representation has proven that campaigns can be won with small contributions and lots of legwork by committed volunteers, instead of outside-the-city financing and professional consultants.

A FINAL NOTE

Full reports won’t be available until July 31, but filings show the three candidates raised $67,610 through mid-May to win 8,309 votes, about $8.13 per ballot cast.

Wilson raised $35,214, including $14,200 in personal loans; Wedaa $27,396, with $10,000 in personal loans; and Gulickson a self-financed $5,000.

The largest contribution was $5,000 to Wilson from Capo Industries, a Chino-based aerospace parts manufacturer.

Election held on higher ground

Imagine on-duty Brea police officers refusing to reveal their names or coaches and referees at youth sports events concealing their identities with masks or the Yorba Linda Star omitting bylines from news stories and publishing anonymous columns and unsigned letters to the editor.

Ridiculous, right? If these scenarios actually happened, you’d hear howls of protest from residents and the city’s elected and appointed leadership.

Yet similar behavior often occurs during election campaigns in the form of anonymous street signs, unsigned advertisements, phony e-mails and less-than-truthful Web sites and blogs posted by shadowy figures.

Sadly, before ballots are cast, city leaders and politically active citizens condemn only the anonymous actions that attack them or their candidates, as they ignore or even promote unsigned smears against opponents.

Of course, residents might dismiss this complaint because the issue just involves politicians slamming each other, and negative campaigns have become the accepted norm with anonymous attacks just another tool used by cynical political operatives.

However, these misdeeds hurt the entire community.

For example, low voter participation might have more to do with residents turned off by unsavory political practices than, as Councilman Jim Winder suggested at a recent council meeting, people happy with city government.

And a “hit your opponent with anything that sticks” attitude might explain why so many real leaders in the community won’t seek elective office. A common complaint from voters is the lack of truly outstanding choices on the ballot.

Also, a community that provides youth with excellent schools and many sports, cultural, religious and recreational opportunities should model for them a higher level of political discourse.

The next City Council election is in 2008, when three seats will be on the ballot, including those now held by Mayor Allen Castellano and Mayor Pro-tem Jim Winder, who will be completing second terms, and the individual elected Tuesday.

Voters supported a three-term limit for council members by a 15,087 to 6,906 vote in 1996. But they’ve twice supported a two-term limit: 17,604 to 4,817 in 1992 and 13,008 to 8,517 in 1996.

Maybe some potential top-tier candidates are listening so Yorba Linda voters will have better options next year.

A FINAL NOTE

Newsweek’s 2007 high school rankings are based on the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate and Cambridge tests taken by all students at a school last year divided by the number of graduating seniors.

Valencia High School moved up to 477 from 690 in 2006 and 869 in 2005. Esperanza High dropped to 692 from 499 in 2006 and 403 in 2005. El Dorado High wasn’t ranked in any year.

Longtime Yorba Linda resident Jim Bell, who began his teaching career at Valencia in 1976, is completing his first year as Tiger principal.