Council incumbents already raising funds

Last year's campaign for three City Council seats logged the most expenditures of any council campaign in Yorba Linda history--even surpassing the heady days of developer donations that dominated several election cycles in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

So it's not surprising some of this city's incumbent politicians are already approaching the starting gates for the 2014 and 2016 campaigns by opening committees to raise funds for contests that could alter voting blocs on the governing body.

Late last month Mayor Tom Lindsey opened a new committee to gather and spend cash for the 2014 election, when seats now held by Lindsey and John Anderson will be on the ballot.

Lindsey, who had closed his 2010 committee in January, is a more experienced politician since he ran in the 2000 election, placing eighth out of 10 contenders for three seats.  For 2010, he teamed with Anderson and ran second out of six candidates for two seats.

But the pair are unlikely to re-team in the 2014 contest due to differences on past issues, including a successful Anderson push to replace a 42-year Brea policing pact with a less expensive Sheriff's Department contract.

Lindsey is one of the few winning candidates to end a campaign with money in the bank and no loans to be forgiven or repaid from future collections.  When he closed out his 2010 effort, he donated a leftover $125 to a foundation supporting Placentia-Yorba Linda schools.

Anderson closed his committee in January but filed a required “short form” in July, declaring he anticipated collecting or spending less than $1,000 in 2013.  In the January closing, he used donations to repay $11,249 he loaned his campaign and forgave a remaining $2,251.

Two incumbents who won seats in 2012 have open committees for potential 2016 runs.  Gene Hernandez renamed his committee “Hernandez for City Council 2016” and reported a $200 Southern California Edison donation, $787 cash and a $3,000 balance on a self-made loan.

Hernandez and Craig Young paid $50 state fees to operate committees in 2013.  Young lists a $1,346 cash balance and an outstanding $21,500 loan by his Corona del Mar-based firm, The Lincoln Partners.

Fifth-term Councilman Mark Schwing, another 2012 winner, closed his committee in July.  He used donations to repay $1,894 he loaned his campaign and wrote-off the remaining $15,117.  His last contribution was $150 from Southern California Edison, nine weeks after voting.

Trying to match cash infusions from “independent expenditure” committees, such as $78,839 by Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs to support 2012 candidates and $21,047 by Orange County Jobs Coalition supporting Hernandez, is one factor favoring early fund-raising.

Just one deputy union-endorsed candidate won, as Schwing topped the field and Nancy Rikel and Ken Peterson lost.  But an approach involving fewer expensive-looking slick mailers might bring different results in future elections.

The most recent state filings show three deputy union committee balances totaling $773,694 available to spend on a wide variety of state, county and local election and lobbying activities.

Residents participate in park plan process

More than 1,000 Yorba Linda residents have participated in surveys, interviews and focus group discussions aimed at completing an updated “master plan” to guide this city's parks and recreation programs into the year 2030.

The wide-ranging views of these participants are incorporated in a draft version of a document that will replace a 1982 plan adopted when the city had half of its present population, if the new plan wins City Council approval, anticipated by year's end.

In addition to a community-wide written and web-based questionnaire, the wisely extensive outreach effort involved sports leagues, service clubs and business groups, senior citizens, cultural and other specific-interest organizations.

The process is led by a city-hired consultant who is also working with a council-appointed committee to update the city's General Plan, a state-required document outlining land-use policies and potential property development.

(Future columns will examine aspects of the new General Plan, which will update the city's original low-density document endorsed by voters in 1972 and revised in 1993.)

Among key stakeholders involved in use of park facilities are youth sports leagues--baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, softball and volleyball. Annual participation is estimated at 6,000-7,000 individuals, about 60 percent of city youth aged 5-18.

Comments from leaders of 11 sports organizations noted the need for more fields due to scheduling conflicts, better maintenance on some fields, lighted fields, a soccer-lacrosse complex and a third gymnasium.

Leaders of other organizations, including service clubs and business groups, cited needs for neighborhood parks, maintenance of existing facilities, sports facilities, public meeting rooms and locations for events and performances as priorities.

A community theater, concerts in the park and art fairs were needs noted by cultural leaders, with all wanting “art in public places” and “opportunities for local artists to display their work.”

The interesting community-wide survey involved about an equal number of people from the east, central and west portions of the city, along with non-residents who use local programs.

One of 18 questions asked “What is the one program, class or special event you would most like to see added in Yorba Linda to meet the needs of the members of your household?” with 70 percent responding “None, Yorba Linda offers everything our family needs.”

But other answers cited music, theater, dance and art needs, along with “a large multi-use park that serves the entire community,” expanded trails, neighborhood parks, sports complex, preservation of open space and an equestrian center mentioned as highly desired park types.

Based on answers to two questions, the consultant suggested “the city could get a minimum 60 per cent yes vote on a tax assessment of at least $15 per year” for park projects, such as maintenance, upgrades, open-space preservation and providing programs and activities.  

Parks 'master plan' gets needed update

 Yorba Linda's 31-year-old “master plan” for parks and recreation is in the process of a much-needed update, with a 294-page draft version making the rounds of city groups with purview over 1,072 acres of parkland and more than $5 million in annual operating expenses.

The document has been viewed by two City Council-appointed bodies, the General Plan Advisory Committee that is overseeing updates for the parks plan and the overall General Plan and the Parks and Recreation Commission. Council action is expected by year's end.

The city's population has doubled to about 65,000 since the1982 parks plan was adopted, and expectations are the number will rise to 68,000 within five years and continue to grow at a rate of one to two percent each year for the next 20 years.

According to the draft plan, an understanding of population size and expected growth are key factors in planning for “the appropriate number of recreational facilities.” Continuing changes in population categories also are important elements in planning for future use.

For example, the largest percentage increase in population is among senior citizens 65 years and over, with the 7.7 percent share in 2000 expected to grow to more than 16 percent before 2018. One projection estimates the city's age 55 and over population at 33 percent by 2025.

Currently, census figures put the city's senior population aged 55 and over at 18,678. Other population figures in city recreation programming categories include 3,094 for preschool and toddlers to age 5; 14,495 for youth and teens aged 6-19; and 29,150 for adults aged 20-54.

Compared to a previously established goal of providing 15 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents the city has 1,072 acres, more than the 975 acres required under the formula.

But the city is deficient by 183 acres in meeting a recommended standard of 325 acres for neighborhood and community parks, mini-parks and greenbelts, since the 1,072-acre total includes 611 in three regional parks, 75 in school facilities and 219 at Black Gold Golf Club.

Of course, added parks and programs would require more money, and the draft document noted current funding levels probably “will be insufficient to acquire, develop, maintain and operate recreational programs at existing and new park sites to meet anticipated demands.”

The city would continue to require developers to provide land or fees to fund parkland acquisition and improvements and establish joint-use agreements with other agencies.

And stated in the plan text are recommendations to consider new sources of funding, such as “the sale of bonds, user fees, assessment districts and other sources that may be identified at a future date for park development and maintenance.”

Also suggested is consideration of “revenue bonds and park bonds with a voter-approved assessment to fund specific facilities that would serve the entire city.”

Results from the plan's survey of 1,000 residents and other details will be covered in future columns. 

New policies for students, staff at schools

Students and staff returning to campuses in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District soon will follow newly revised policies regarding tobacco products, discrimination and truancy, as school leadership wisely responds to rapid changes in technology, culture and law.

The district's five elected trustees approved first readings of the three policy revisions at the Aug. 20 meeting, with routine second readings scheduled at a Sept. 10 session.

Trends in tobacco technology have led to an expanded definition of tobacco products to be placed in the district's prior declaration of “tobacco free schools” for students, staff and all adult visitors, with a specific ban naming e-cigarettes, among other tobacco-related items.

Previously, the policy prohibited “the possession and/or use of any tobacco substances by students, staff or non-student adults while on school grounds, in school buildings or at school-sponsored activities, or while under the supervision and control of school district employees.”

Now, the revised policy adds as “prohibited products” any “containing tobacco or nicotine, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, miniature cigars, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew, clove cigarettes and betel.” Also banned are “vaporizing delivery devices such as electronic cigarettes.”

Enforcement will include actions outlined in separate suspension and expulsion policies.

The revised non-discrimination policy adds several specific terms, including “gender identity” and “gender expression,” to the text that “guarantees equal employment and opportunity for advancement to all,” reflecting newer provisions in the state Education Code.

Previously, the “equal employment opportunity” policy listed “race, religious creed, national origin, ancestry, physical handicap, age or sex” as the banned basis for jobs or promotions.

Now, a lengthier list includes “the person's actual or perceived race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, med- ical condition, genetic information, veteran status, gender, gender identity, gender express-ion, sex or sexual orientation.”

Other new provisions outline various types of employment discrimination and “unwelcome verbal, physical or visual conduct” that could adversely affect employment opportunities or work performance or create “an intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment.”

Penalty for an offending employee or a worker who “aids, abets, incites, compels or coerces” another person to engage in banned behavior can be severe, “up to and including dismissal.”

The “attendance and excuses” policy adopted in 1968 and last revised in 1979 added seven sentences focusing on accurately tracking and monitoring attendance, developing strategies for prevention and early intervention and collaborating with community agencies.

Schools will work with students and parents to identify factors contributing to absenteeism and truancy and act with various agencies “to ensure that alternative education programs and nutrition, health care and other support services are available to intervene as necessary when students have serious attendance problems.”

But “as required by law,” habitual truants will be referred to an attendance review board, a county truancy mediation program and/or a juvenile court.