Thanksgiving is a good time to appreciate the farsighted actions of past civic leaders.

Placement of the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda was due to the efforts of a core of residents, including Roland Bigonger, the city’s first mayor, who, beginning in 1968, worked diligently to preserve a deteriorating presidential birthplace.

(This column is based on two interviews conducted by Dennis Swift in 1988 for the oral history program at Cal State Fullerton and articles in past issues of the Yorba Linda Star, and summarizes a talk I gave at a recent meeting of the Nixon library’s Docent Guild.)

Bigonger, who arrived in the community in 1955 and worked as a letter carrier while attending law school, served twice as mayor in terms 20 years apart, during which he took several key actions which led to the library locating in Yorba Linda.

The first was creating a Richard Nixon Birthplace Foundation in 1968. Joining Bigonger in the endeavor were his council colleague and drug store owner Burt Brooks, dentist Dr. Bob Meador, Star newspaper publisher Bill Drake, grower Hoyt Corbit, Chevrolet dealer Hurless Barton and, later, Roy Knauft and Nixon’s sister-in-law Clara Jane Nixon.

The birthplace was owned by the cash-strapped Yorba Linda School District, so foundation members helped with roof repairs, painting, Pepper tree trimming and placing a monument sign in front of the home with stones from the 50 states, Bigonger told Swift.

“Probably if the school district did not own the house that he lived in, it would have long since been demolished and we would not have the home that he was born in,” he noted. A grammar school opened on site in 1926, replaced by Richard Nixon Elementary in 1954.

“Watergate put a crimp in our style… [and] we maintained quite a low profile,” Bigonger remembered, but the foundation collected about $125,000 and bought the home and 1.1 acres from the school district in 1977. (The Star put the price at $225,000 for 1.3 acres.)

The Nixon school closed June 1981, and trustees voted to sell the remaining eight acres in October 1981. Bigonger, who left the council in 1972, started pressing the council to buy the land, but the members refused.

Instead, council approved a condominium project for the land, and the school district was prepared to sell the property to a developer. An irritated Bigonger then ran for one of two council seats on the ballot in 1986 and placed second.

“One of my purposes for running was to see if I could convince among the inside what I could not do on the outside,” Bigonger said. “I found that there was some opposition on the council,” perhaps “personality conflicts towards the president…or whatever….”

Bigonger met with Nixon in March 1987, as the separate Library Foundation “became disenchanted with San Clemente” and asked if Yorba Linda would buy the acreage for a library and museum.

Longtime City Manager Art Simonian also met with Nixon in 1987 and told Swift: “He made a commitment that the project was coming to Yorba Linda. That is really when the decision was made.”

The city paid $1.3 million for the land, demolished the school and graded the property, as a merged Birthplace and Library foundation built the facility and restored the home.

Black Gold Golf Club revenue shows uptick

Critics who often tag the city-owned Black Gold Golf Club as a “black hole” due to the amenity’s annual subsidy from strained municipal coffers might be relieved to learn the club’s bottom-line has improved markedly in the first three months of this fiscal year.

Of course, Yorba Linda’s true-conservative adherents to limited government still decry city ownership of a golf course as an anathema to private enterprise--whether or not the club is profitable--but a turn-around could be good news for a cash-strapped city budget.

A report on Black Gold, including a wrap-up of the 2010-11 fiscal year, is scheduled for a Dec. 6 City Council meeting, according to City Manager Steve Rudometkin. Officials also should consider setting a timeline to end the city subsidy and pay back city loans.

Expenditures at the course for the 2011-12 fiscal year are estimated to be about $5.8 million, not including a $1 million depreciation charge, against projected revenue of about $5.2 million, resulting in a $635,900 subsidy from the city’s general fund.

Actual subsidy for 2009-10 was $79,782 and estimated subsidy for 2010-11 $479,875, not including depreciation, according to figures in the city’s 2011-12 operating budget. The latter subsidy might be lower due to higher-than-projected 2010-11 revenues.

Loans to Black Gold from city funds since 2000 total almost $4.8 million, noted a June report by Finance Director Dave Christian. Loan interest through 2006-07 totaling $1.1 million was paid by Black Gold, but interest was waived 2007-08 through 2010-11.

Waived interest was $350,000, based on an average yield the city could have earned in the Local Agency Investment Fund. Interest charges were resumed beginning 2011-12.

Here’s a look at Black Gold figures for the 2010-11 fiscal year and first three months of the 2011-12 fiscal year, as passed on to me by golf course General Manager Scott Heyn:

--Total revenue, in round numbers, for the 2010-11 fiscal year was $5.2 million, nine percent short of the budgeted $5.7 million but only two percent shy of the actual $5.3 million for 2009-10. (Heyn’s “actual” was $5,314,506, while the city listed $5,293,239.)

Heyn reported, “The first six months were extremely slow and put the club significantly behind budget and prior year.” But, he added, “The last seven months saw a significant improvement from the pace that the club was on at the beginning of the fiscal year.”

Indeed, the final three months showed revenue only four percent behind budget and just one percent behind the previous year. As Heyn noted, “The finish to the year allows the club to be extremely positive about the future….”

Rounds played in 2010-11 totaled 48,846, down 2.7 percent from the prior year’s 50,211, but the 14,671-round total for April, May and June 2011 was up 2.8 percent from 14,265.

--Total revenue for the first quarter, July, August and September of 2011, was $1.6 million, up 16.7 percent from the prior year. Total rounds played was14,274, up 10 percent from the previous year.

Heyn called the latest results “a tremendous success in every area of the club.” He added, “The main focus of this success can be seen in the food and beverage department, as well as in green fees, rounds played and range usage.”

Two Congressmen vie for Yorba Linda votes

Two popular politicians--“popular” in the sense that they’ve already won a total of 45 elections between them--are facing off in a rare “battle of the incumbents” showdown to represent Yorba Linda for a two-year term in Congress in a newly configured district.

Representatives Gary Miller and Ed Royce are battling for the Republican nomination in the new 39th Congressional District, which includes Yorba Linda with five other cities in Orange County, five in Los Angeles County and one in San Bernardino County.

The district, with a population of 702,905, has a strong GOP voter registration edge, 41 percent to 33 percent Democratic and 22 percent declined to state, so a Republican who wins the June 5, 2012, primary is a likely winner in the Nov. 6 general election.

Miller has represented Yorba Linda in the House since 1998, when he replaced Jay Kim, who pled guilty to accepting illegal campaign contributions. Royce has been in Congress since replacing the retiring Bill Dannemeyer in 1992.

Royce once represented a tiny portion of Yorba Linda, until the 2000 redistricting removed 572 registered voters on Yorba Linda’s west-end from his district. Royce has won 26 primary and general elections, six for state Senate and 20 for Congress.

Miller has won 19 primary and general elections, two for Diamond Bar City Council, three for state Assembly and 14 for Congress. Look for a “who’s more conservative” or “more ethical” campaign theme this time, since few issues divide the candidates.

Also intriguing is the chance that both Miller and Royce could appear again on the November ballot, if they place first and second in the newly designed “open primary,” even though a repeat battle is not likely due to the number of Democrats district-wide.

Native son Richard Nixon won the Republican and Democratic nominations in his 1948 re-election race for a House seat under a cross-filing system permitted by a past election law, and one-party November ballot choices could result from the new “open primary.”

Miller and Royce have used their Congressional franking privilege to send newsletters to constituents, hosted “town-hall” meetings, appeared at “meet-and-greets” in local homes and contacted the district’s City Council members for endorsements.

A FINAL NOTE: Worth a mention are a few key votes at Yorba Linda council meetings lately, but it’s still too early to signal a seismic shift in normal council voting alignments.

John Anderson and his 2010 running-mate Tom Lindsey have taken markedly different positions on such important matters as exploring options to the Brea police contract, an arts venue on city-owned Town Center land, the firing of Planning Commissioner Mark Abramowitz and repealing the three-term limit for council-appointed commissioners.

Sometimes Lindsey is the lone “no” vote (on firing Abramowitz and removing from consideration an arts facility on city-owned Old Town land) and at times he’s joined Jim Winder on losing votes (a Brea police contract matter and commissioner limits).

Occasionally, Mark Schwing has been the swing vote on important items, such as joining Lindsey and Winder on approving a “red-ink” 2011-12 operating budget. On key issues, Nancy Rikel remains a reliable vote for Anderson’s positions.

Affordable housing impacts on the community

Yorba Linda’s affordable housing plan, which includes identifying 14 properties totaling 53 acres for potential rezoning to allow 1,027 higher-density, multi-family housing units, will have a number of impacts on the community if the units are built as envisioned.

The impacts, including population growth and consequences for police, fire, school, park, water, sewer and trash services, are noted in a 64-page “Findings and Facts in Support of Findings and Statement of Overriding Considerations” for the 2008-14 housing program.

Voters will cast “yes” or “no” votes on rezoning 11 of the properties next November, but even if a majority opposes the higher densities, court decisions and state law might allow low-income units to be built by assigning other entities to take over city planning tasks.

Here’s a look at some of the impacts from 1,027 new units, as stated in the report compiled by a city-hired consultant and presented to the City Council last month:

--An increase in population of 3,500 persons or a net increase of about 3,460, since the 14 properties have 13 single-family homes with about 40 current occupants. A census report lists the city’s 2010 population as 64,234, but the city website claims “over 68,000” now.

The Southern California Association of Governments has projected the city population to grow by some 5,700 persons over the next decade and by about 7,500 between now and 2035, so the new housing “would not induce substantial population growth in the area.”

--Although 3,460 new residents would result in more police service calls and public interaction, the present officer-to-population ratio of .71 per 1,000 would drop by less than one percent and “would not have a negative impact on police protection services.”

Also, the added residents would reduce the current firefighter-to-population ratio of .89 per 1,000 by less than one percent. But the Fire Authority indicated the new units “will have a direct impact upon fire protection services,” as Station 10 needs “a new facility.”

Station 10, on Lemon Drive in Old Town, closest to many of the potential new units, might benefit from a mitigation measure requiring developers to supply “pro-rata fair-share funding” for improvements for adequate fire facilities, equipment and personnel.

--The 847 units allowed on 12 west-end properties would generate an estimated 364 students for the Placentia-Yorba Linda school district, including 164 elementary, 94 middle and 106 high school students.

The 180 units allowed on two eastside parcels in Savi Ranch would bring approximately 40 students to the Orange school district, including 28 elementary, five middle and eight high school students.

Since some schools are now operating over capacity, new students “would result in significant impacts to schools,” but mitigated by developer-paid school-impact fees.

--The parkland-to-resident ratio would remain nearly the same, about two acres per 1,000 residents, already below the city’s four acres-per-1,000 standard; water use would rise an estimated 493,687 gallons per day, already “accounted for” in Yorba Linda Water District plans; and adequate capacity exists for an estimated extra 293,500 gallons of sewage and 13,526 pounds of solid waste daily, the report noted.