Charter proposal fails to draw trustee interest

Organizers of the first—and so far only—petition for a charter school in the Placentia-Yorba Linda school district haven’t been active since trustees denied their request in a 5-0 vote that went unreported by the media and local blogs late last year.

The charter movement is useful, especially for underperforming schools and specialized programs, such as the Orange County High School of the Arts, but creating an “on-line” charter school for “independent study” here lacks merit.

And the petitioners, none of whom reside in the district, might have realized the proposal was without educational value for this community, since they didn’t show up for a public hearing on their petition. No one, local or non-local, spoke on the charter submission.

The PYLUSD already provides plenty of opportunities for independent study. La Entrada has about 100 students (60 from Yorba Linda) in a 9-12 program, and Parkview, with 225 students (90 from Yorba Linda), has a K-12 program popular with home-schoolers.

The petition was sponsored by Newport Beach-based Charter School Development Systems, associated with Ed Futures, which claims to have developed more than 70 charter schools since 1995 and to now run five nationwide, one in California.

At least, petitioners were upfront about their tactics. They submitted identical proposals to 91 school districts in California, hoping for acceptance in 14 counties sharing borders with the state’s other 44 counties, which would allow them to operate statewide.

The petition was deficient in three areas, noted PYLUSD trustees: it lacked proper signatures, didn’t describe all required elements and, importantly, the “petitioner is demonstrably unlikely to successfully implement the program set forth in the petition.”

Petitioners wanted to begin operations in January with about 100 students, adding 100 in each of the next three years. But, trustees said, the charter’s budget assumed 100 percent attendance and an 82:1 pupil/teacher ratio, exceeding state requirements.

An internet search failed to discover a district that accepted the petition, so PYLUSD trustees who found the petition “not to be consistent with sound educational practice” wisely joined good company. Too bad limited funding had to be used in the process.

In more recent school board action, trustees accepted performance audits for 2008-09 fiscal year spending under bond measures approved by voters in 2002 and 2008. The audits previously were approved by a citizens oversight committee.

The audits, required because the bonds were approved under rules allowing passage by a 55 percent vote instead of a two-thirds majority, reassure residents that money was spent for purposes outlined in the measures and not on salaries or operations.

The 2002 Measure Y $102 million bond and the 2008 Measure A $200 million bond cost property owners $61.65 for each $100,000 of assessed value on 2009-10 tax billings.

Yorba Linda politics past and present

Politics present and politics past are worthy of attention this week:

First, the Tea Party movement and anti-incumbent sentiment played a major role in three individuals new to the political arena choosing to challenge Yorba Linda’s Congressman, Gary Miller, in his bid for a seventh GOP House nomination in the June 8 primary.

Contending on the Republican ballot in the 42nd Congressional District, which includes all of Yorba Linda’s currently registered 42,888 voters, are Miller, Phil Liberatore, Lee McGroarty and David Su—with all three challengers running to Miller’s political right.

Interestingly, previous Miller critics came from the left: the liberal Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named him one of the “20 most corrupt members in Congress” in 2006 and the LA Times ran negative editorials in 2007.

The criticism concerned Miller’s reporting of capital gains taxes from property sales to Fontana and Monrovia, alleged misuse of staff and questions about campaign expenses.

Miller beat Jay Kim for the GOP nomination in 1998, after Kim plead guilty to accepting $230,000 in illegal campaign contributions. They served on Diamond Bar’s City Council together, before Kim’s House win in 1992. Kim was mayor in 1991 and Miller in 1992.

Challenger Su, a sales rep, also hails from Diamond Bar, while Liberatore, a CPA, is from Whittier and McGroarty, a businessman, is from Chino. Sole candidates for the Democrat and Libertarian nominations are Michael Williamson and Mark Lambert.

Yorba Linda’s two Republican state Assembly members drew no primary challengers. Chris Norby, who replaced Mike Duvall, is bidding for westside GOP votes for a full term, and Curt Hagman wants eastside Republican ballots for a second.

Other lone candidates for party nominations include Democrat Gregg Fritchle on the eastside and Democrat Esiquio Uballe and Green Jane Rands on the westside. Yorba Linda voters are nearly evenly split between the east 60th District and the west’s 72nd.

City Councilman Mark Schwing also will be on eastside ballots, seeking a seventh term on the county Republican Central Committee as one of nine candidates for six positions.

Second, 45-year resident and 30-year City Council veteran Hank Wedaa is reluctantly moving to Anaheim, where he’ll live at the Canyon Hills Club retirement facility. He told me his worsening Parkinson’s disease is forcing a move from his East Lake home.

“Otherwise,” he said, “I wouldn’t move. I spent many years helping build the great city we have.” He’s taking 7,000 of an 11,000-book collection with him but disposing of the rest, including donating 700 rare aviation volumes to the San Diego Aerospace Museum.

Wedaa was elected to the second council in 1970, when Yorba Linda’s population was 6,500, and he finished his last of three stints in 2008, with the count exceeding 65,000.

City politics part of scholar's research

Some of the most highly charged political events in Yorba Linda history—actions associated with the 2005-06 failed Town Center redevelopment process—are now fodder for a scholarly study by a professor at Chapman University’s School of Law.

The 52-page paper, with 24,968 words and 270 footnotes, is titled “The Artifice of Local Growth Politics: At-Large Elections, Ballot Box Zoning and Judicial Review,” published Feb. 25 by Kenneth A. Stahl, who holds a juris doctorate from Yale University.

Yorba Linda issues Stahl uses to support his conclusions include the citizens’ initiative requiring a public vote on rezoning for major projects, petitions leading to the repeal of higher density Old Town zoning and outlawing eminent domain for economic purposes.

Stahl claims this city is “a classic example of a situation in which affluent homeowners and mega-developers fought over questions of growth and neighborhood quality, while those most interested in high-density housing stood on the sidelines.”

Stahl explains: “bridging the divide between development interests, who fill municipal coffers with much-needed revenue, and neighborhood groups, who are skeptical of the costs development may visit on their quality of life” is “an intractable problem.”

And he contends, “Each group eyes the other an implacably hostile adversary with whom compromise is impossible, a view that emboldens both camps to harden their positions in anticipation of bitter conflict.”

Stahl continues, “Making matters worse, each group is firmly convinced that it cannot receive a fair shake in dealing with local officials because those officials are captive to the demands of the opposing group.”

The result, says Stahl, “is a local political process that both groups perceive as illegitimate, and a highly polarized political culture in which an honest debate about the merits of growth is submerged beneath a deluge of pro-growth and anti-growth slogans.”

Stahl also notes courts uphold the people’s right to “enact land use laws by initiative or referendum” and reject arguments that ballot-box zoning is “an excess of politics with-out necessary apolitical counterweights.”

Stahl maintains “the judiciary should instead focus on correcting defects in the political process so that the balancing of competing interests can occur…in the legislative arena.”

Among reforms suggested by Stahl are replacing at-large voting with districts to give “more weight” to “neighborhood interests,” considering a “strong mayor” system and eliminating ballot-box zoning by abolishing the local initiative.

Finally, one Stahl nugget seems to summarize this city’s history: “even where slow-growth advocates have succeeded in electing sympathetic candidates to office, they have frequently seen those very officials experience a pro-growth conversion once they hear the siren call of development money.”

Business survey draws disappointing response

A city-paid survey of local business owners drew a disappointingly small 30 responses, “a sign of the overall apathy that is exhibited within the business community,” said Jim Resha and Heather Francine in a March 16 report to the City Council.

The survey was one task in a $20,000 contract with the Chamber of Commerce and Resha and Francine’s Integrity Commercial Brokerage. The pact was called “a first step in developing a multi-phased economic development strategy and marketing plan for the city” by Community Development Director Steve Harris when approved 4-1 in 2009.

Other contracted tasks include compiling a retail and office property database, preparing promotion and marketing materials for the properties and developing strategies to attract new businesses and retain and expand existing businesses.

Resha said a notice was mailed to 600 businesses, directing them to 13 questions on the city’s Web site. The survey also was publicized at council meetings, in news articles and on blogs. The city has 2,559 active business licenses, including 1,356 residential permits.

Resha and Francine’s report continued: “This perceived apathy is unfortunate,” since the survey “provided a convenient and anonymous opportunity to influence change.” But the information gathered “was helpful.”

“Signage continues to be an issue,” stated the report, which noted, “The perceived lack of support from various levels of city staff as well as council is a common theme throughout the survey results. An honest evaluation is necessary for Yorba Linda to reinvent…based on a reputation that has surpassed this survey.”

One interesting survey response: “There is an anti-business small but vocal group…who has the naïve and destructive attitude that Yorba Linda can exist without business—they want no development.”

And another response: “Please stop pursuing a downtown redevelopment plan that is unrealistic and unbelievably expensive. ...Do we really think a fair amount of citizens would support this? … Stop the silly spending! Exercise some fiscal responsibility.”

A FINAL NOTE

Is five-time Mayor Hank Wedaa planning a run for the top job in Anaheim? “No,” says the 30-year City Council veteran, explaining his Parkinson’s disease is forcing him to relocate to the Canyon Hills Club retirement community.

The 45-year resident is taking 7,000 of an 11,000-book collection with him but disposing of the rest, including donating 700 rare aviation volumes worth $18,000 to the San Diego Aerospace Museum. Wedaa flew in 30 missions over Europe as a WWII bombardier.

Wedaa’s not very happy about his upcoming move to Anaheim: “I like it here. I spent many years helping build the great city we have, but now I’m forced to move.” Wedaa was elected to the second council in 1970, when the population was 6,500, and finished his last of three stints in 2008, with the count exceeding 65,000.