It's good to know what happened
Eighteen months ago I wrote a column describing documents that showed several city leaders were involved in an aggressive, behind-the-scenes campaign to keep residents from signing petitions seeking a public vote on two Town Center zoning ordinances.
In December 2005 the City Council approved higher density zoning for the downtown area but rescinded the action in February 2006 after residents gathered 9,790 and 9,771 signatures on two petitions in 21 days during the Christmas-New Year holiday period.
The column was based on material supplied by Greg Brown, a principal in Old Town Yorba Linda Partners, which had an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city.
The documents included extensive notes Brown took during closed-door meetings of the Town Center Ad Hoc Committee and letters and e-mails among developers, consultants, lawyers and council members during 2005 and 2006.
Brown later gave the same documents—which also showed city leaders involved in a failed effort to defeat the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land Use Amendments initiative either through the courts or at the ballot box—to Councilman John Anderson.
Anderson has now passed on the documents to Jan Horton, who was elected with him in 2006; Hank Wedaa, who returned to the council in 2007; and Allen Castellano and Jim Winder, holdovers from the council that voted for higher Town Center density in 2005.
And based on a 5-0 vote at last week’s council meeting, the Brown documents are likely to become evidence in a long-sought independent investigation into what Anderson says are “unresolved issues” from the Town Center controversy.
While the unanimous action only calls for city staff to develop a “request for a proposal” for the inquiry, council discussion reveals that there are three solid votes from Anderson, Horton and Wedaa to find answers to the question, “How did this happen in our town?”
The three strongest advocates for a local look into the matter are wise to refrain from a witch-hunt and not entirely focus on criminal behavior and possible criminal sanctions.
But an essential element of “moving on” from past controversies is knowledge of what actually happened at the time, so that the same mistakes are not repeated over and over.
My earlier columns on the issue—or others too old to be at ocregister.com/yorbalinda—can be read at jimdrummond.blogspot.com by clicking on October 2006 under archives.
A FINAL NOTE
Mayor Jim Winder’s second public statement regarding the departure of 42-month City Manager Tammy Letourneau confirms Councilman Hank Wedaa was correct when he said Letourneau’s 5-0 dismissal came at her request.
A dismissal without cause entitled Letourneau to walk away with a $209,592 severance, $21,864 higher than her previous year’s pay, thanks to the recent raise voted by Winder, Allen Castellano and Jan Horton but opposed by Wedaa and John Anderson.
The community and transparent government would have been better served if Winder had made his more complete explanation at the March 18 council meeting rather than waiting until April 15.
In December 2005 the City Council approved higher density zoning for the downtown area but rescinded the action in February 2006 after residents gathered 9,790 and 9,771 signatures on two petitions in 21 days during the Christmas-New Year holiday period.
The column was based on material supplied by Greg Brown, a principal in Old Town Yorba Linda Partners, which had an exclusive negotiating agreement with the city.
The documents included extensive notes Brown took during closed-door meetings of the Town Center Ad Hoc Committee and letters and e-mails among developers, consultants, lawyers and council members during 2005 and 2006.
Brown later gave the same documents—which also showed city leaders involved in a failed effort to defeat the citizen-sponsored Right-to-Vote on Land Use Amendments initiative either through the courts or at the ballot box—to Councilman John Anderson.
Anderson has now passed on the documents to Jan Horton, who was elected with him in 2006; Hank Wedaa, who returned to the council in 2007; and Allen Castellano and Jim Winder, holdovers from the council that voted for higher Town Center density in 2005.
And based on a 5-0 vote at last week’s council meeting, the Brown documents are likely to become evidence in a long-sought independent investigation into what Anderson says are “unresolved issues” from the Town Center controversy.
While the unanimous action only calls for city staff to develop a “request for a proposal” for the inquiry, council discussion reveals that there are three solid votes from Anderson, Horton and Wedaa to find answers to the question, “How did this happen in our town?”
The three strongest advocates for a local look into the matter are wise to refrain from a witch-hunt and not entirely focus on criminal behavior and possible criminal sanctions.
But an essential element of “moving on” from past controversies is knowledge of what actually happened at the time, so that the same mistakes are not repeated over and over.
My earlier columns on the issue—or others too old to be at ocregister.com/yorbalinda—can be read at jimdrummond.blogspot.com by clicking on October 2006 under archives.
A FINAL NOTE
Mayor Jim Winder’s second public statement regarding the departure of 42-month City Manager Tammy Letourneau confirms Councilman Hank Wedaa was correct when he said Letourneau’s 5-0 dismissal came at her request.
A dismissal without cause entitled Letourneau to walk away with a $209,592 severance, $21,864 higher than her previous year’s pay, thanks to the recent raise voted by Winder, Allen Castellano and Jan Horton but opposed by Wedaa and John Anderson.
The community and transparent government would have been better served if Winder had made his more complete explanation at the March 18 council meeting rather than waiting until April 15.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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