Just for clarification, tailings is a mining term used to describe the left-overs after the process of separating the valuable fractions from the uneconomic fraction.

In this case it’s the stuff I’ve been thinking about for a while but it doesn’t seem to neatly fit into a special category.

1.  You know, like who OK’d the ugly strip of astroturf in the middle of the street near our primary intersection of Los Al and Katella? Come on guys, you know it ain’t cool.

2.  Next, I am compelled to mention the new McDonalds that held us all in the grip of anticipation for months. It’s still a box. It is still lacking plants and trees that could soften the look a bit. Pasting a few stones to the street-side façade does not make it any more appealing. It is still a box in a parking lot.

3.  And how is it that Seal Beach out did us again with a pretty decent looking In-N-Out and stealing a tax producing Denny’s? What’s up with that?

4.  And what’s going on with our soon-to-be medical office expansion? After a couple of years of complaining and parading Dr’s telling us how important it was to the quality of their patients health, the corporation (Tenet Health, unless they’ve been bought out) wanted to invest in modernization and new technology and expanded emergency room capabilities. Well, the last I heard, the first thing on Tenet’s agenda was to build 100’s of new offices. Seems to be a disconnect between what they said they needed and what they are actually going to do. I think the Los Alamitosians deserve an update.

5.  For a tiny City with small parks, it seems that they are still underused for casual non-sports related activities. I would like to see some relatively inexpensive improvements that would contribute to more diverse utilization. The enhancements would have to include a more user-friendly lawn at Little Cottonwood, a Par-course with exercise stations, and a few more picnic tables and/or benches at Cottonwood, Laurel, and Orville Lewis. It would also be worthwhile to look at offering owners a land swap for a park, however small, named after them, in perpetuity.

6.  I agree with the general goals of the St. Isidore Historical Plaza group. And I applaud their efforts. But I believe at this point in the process, the City of Los Alamitos needs to back away from its support tactics. We need to be cognizant that the current owner is still the Catholic Church, and it is still possible that a higher bidder will get the property. I would urge individuals and local organizations to get involved in this project, but question the City’s involvement and expenditures of our tax dollars in this pursuit.

7.  Not sure who deserves credit, but I would like to commend whoever was involved in the re-do of the City website. But I must also say that it is very, very long overdue, probably in the “years” category. It is clear, it is user friendly, links are effective, and it shows our City in the best light. This is one of the, seemingly, small attributes that contributes to City quality issues. Over and above its contemporary design, it is now easier for locals to access information as well as make contact with the appropriate person or department to address their needs. Job well done.

The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity.

- Lewis Mumford (1895-1990). American historian, philosopher, sociologist, critic.

Thanks for the “tailings,” Highlands Guy. Anybody got any comments, or any tidbits of your own?

Same slick, full color, big, card stock, professionally prepared, distorted attack piece as our Council Majority members supporters blasted out in Los Alamitos’ last two City Council elections.   Except. . . .

This time there was no hiding the source.  No “Citizens for the Protection of Los Alamitos” mailing the nasty hit pieces this time around.

Nope, this time it was “Paid for by Troy Edgar for Assembly 2012.”

And I suspect it was mailed to every registered Republican voter in our 72nd California State Assembly District, or at least every Republican registered as a “Permanent Vote by Mail Voter.”

After receiving three glossy, professional, full color flyers lauding Troy in the first three days after my Vote by Mail ballot arrived, I figured Troy’s campaign was on top of their game and Troy was as unbeatable as the Lakers used to be.

But then someone decided to take the gloves off.  And Troy sure didn’t stop them.   Update:  According to “Just Sayin’s” comment below, this was actually Troy’s second hit piece on Allen.  The first arrived nine days earlier.  Apparently my lovely wife got to the mail before I did on May 8th.

On the front of today’s  8 1/2 x 11 card stock flyer, only 4 words besides the address:  ”To Barbara with love.”  Below a framed  photo of Barbara Boxer, the Senator Orange County Republicans love to hate.   The photo rested on red satin with a rose across it.  

On the back, a black and white picture of  Travis Allen, one of Edgar’s Republican opponents, with the following, in huge type:

The U.S. Senate was on the line.

Carly Fiorina was within striking distance.  Yet, one week before the 2010 election, Travis Allen sent Barbara Boxer some love. . . a $250 campaign contribution. . .  . And he wants you to believe he’s a good Republican?

The back of today's Edgar hit piece, quoted above

Below, a color photo of a smiling Troy Edgar, and a quote praising him from Dana Rohrabacher.

Never mind that Troy Edgar was a lifelong, active Registered Democrat until he switched to Republican about seven years ago, just before running for City Council.  (See the OC Register’s “O.C. Assembly front-runner was Democrat before public office.”)

Never mind that Allen’s a businessman who, like many, needs to pay his “dues” to the candidates most likely to win.

Remind anybody of the famous Toothbrush flyer?  Or all the nasty hit pieces on “Los Angeles Attorney Brad Sheridan”?

I’m not a political pro, but I really didn’t think he needed to resort to negative ads and distortions this time.  Maybe Allen’s been hitting Troy hard in Huntington Beach for being a former Democrat and not being from H.B.,  so Troy felt he had to strip back.

Still,  Edgar’s got a huge money and endorsement advantage, so it really seems like he didn’t need to go negative.

But he did.

Again.

And I think he just lost my vote.

Again.

 (5/16/2012, Los Alamitos)  The call came in at 10:42 this morning:

“There’s a  big turkey on Alice Jempsa’s front lawn!”

Not  knowing if I’d find Andrew Bynum, a Council Member, or something else, your intrepid blogger sprang into action.

Nobody’s going to give our former Mayor the bird if I can stop it!

I arrived just as  a huge hawk flew away from the Jempsa’s front lawn.  The bird was gone, but a strong, nauseating odor lingered on.   Looking closer, I saw a dead possum with multiple flesh wounds on the lawn just a few feet from the sidewalk.

A coyote attack?  I knocked on the door to get more details.

Los Al’s Cable Commission Chairwoman, local historian, and legendary teacher and Council Member answered the door, as professional and charming as ever.

I was surprised to learn that Alice had called Long Beach Animal Control, Los Al’s contracted animal services provider three days earlier, then called back on Monday and then once more but was still waiting for someone to remove the now reeking possum.

I offered to call as a neighbor, on the theory that more calls would get a more rapid response.   At 10:54 a female who refused to identify herself answered.

Lying dead for three days, being scavenged by birds, just steps from a busy sidewalk

After reporting the animal, and the location in Los Alamitos, I asked why it took over three days to respond:

“We prioritize our calls,”  she replied tersely.

“Surely over the course of three days you could have squeezed in a brief stop about a mile from your facility,”  I replied.

“We respond to mad dogs, coyotes, and strays first, and we only have one officer to  cover Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, and Signal Hill.”

“Even if you had packs of coyotes roving the streets, your officer had to drive through Los Alamitos during the past three days, and how long does it take to remove a small, dead animal that’s ten feet from the curb.”

“ If you don’t like that, you should contact your Council Member.”   The assumption that I was represented by a single Council Member made me wonder if she realized that Los Alamitos was an independent City that wasn’t even in the same County as Long Beach.

It also made me wonder if the good people at Animal Control were trying to shake down the taxpayers for more money by providing  poor service.

“Ma’am,” I responded, ” the animal is dead of unknown causes, it’s attracting birds of prey, it stinks to high heaven, and is just a few feet from a sidewalk kids will be using in a few hours to get home from school.  It’s a health hazard and should have been removed days ago.”

“I’ll tell the officer that a second neighbor called.”

“What’s your name?”

Click.

When I repeated the conversation to our former Mayor, she shook her head.    ”You’re at least the third person to call–a neighbor just down the street found a dead possum in her back yard that must have died about the same time.”  She also told me that  Los Alamitos contracts for service, not for any specific number of officers.  So Long Beach has an obligation to provide us adequate service, regardless of how many officers it requires.

Fortunately, by the end of the day, the possum was gone.

“How many Long Beach Animal Care Officers does it take to remove a dead possum?”  Apparently, only one. . . . but it takes three days.

If you call three times, along with two of your neighbors, and complain loudly enough.

No wonder Long Beach can’t control the coyotes ranging up the San Gabriel River bed to Rossmoor and Los Alamitos.

If it takes 3 days to pick up a dead possum, how long must it take to catch a live coyote?

The main number for the City of Long Beach’s Animal Care Services, which provides contract Animal Control services for Los Alamitos and Seal Beach is 562 570-3057.

The 24 hour Emergency Services number is 562 570-7387.

Their facility is located at 7700 East Spring Street, just across the San Gabriel River.

(5/15/2012, Los Alamitos) Thanks to Rancho a Go-go’s Master Chef Chris we’ve now got your Thursday night Los Alamitos Food Truck  line-ups right up to the 4th of July.

And, trust me (“I’m a Realtor!”), they are outstanding line-ups, featuring ten or eleven trucks every Thursday evening!

Check it out:

May 17, 2012

1. Rancho A Go Go
2. Fresh Fries
3. Lime Truck
4. Flip Truck
5. Taco Maria
6. Dogzilla
7. Burger Monster
8. Rolling Sushi
9. The Bakery Truck
10. Chunk N Chip
11. Trop Shave Ice

May 24, 2012

1. Rancho A Go Go
2. Fresh Fries
3. Lime Truck
4. Flip Truck
5. Lees Philly
6. Calbi
7. Garlicscapes
8. The Viking Truck
9. The Bakery Truck
10. Front Porch Pops

May 31, 2012

1. Rancho A Go Go
2. Fresh Fries
3. Lime Truck
4. Flip Truck
5. Piaggio
6. Home Skillet
7. Chomp Chomp
8. Brats Berlin
9. The Bakery Truck
10. Waffles De Liege
11. Trop Shave Ice

June 7, 2012:

1. Rancho A Go Go
2. Fresh Fries
3. Lime Truck
4. Komodo
5. Lees Philly
6. Taco Maria
7. Home Skillet
8. Flip Truck
9. The Bakery Truck
10. Tropical Shave Ice

June 14, 2012:

1. Rancho A Go Go
2. Fresh Fries
3. Lime Truck
4. Flip Truck
5. Tamarindo
6. Piaggio
7. Barcelona
8. Rajun Cajun
9. The Bakery Truck
10. Waffles De Liege

June 21, 2012:

1. Rancho A Go Go
2. Fresh Fries
3. Lime Truck
4. Flip Truck
5. Taco Maria
6. Dogzilla
7. Burger Monster
8. Rolling Sushi
9. The Bakery Truck
10. Chunk n Chip
11. Trop Shave Ice

June 28, 2012:

1. Rancho A Go Go
2. Home Skillet
3. Chef Joe
4. Flip Truck
5. Lees Philly
6. Calbi
7. Garlicscapes
8. Piaggio
9. Brats Berlin
10. The Bakery Truck
11. Front Porch Pops

Line-ups are subject to change.  Time’s about 5:30 – 9:00, tables available, U.S. Bank parking lot on Katella just east of Los Alamitos Blvd., wine  & beer to benefit St. Isidore’s Historical Plaza plus picnic tables & desert trucks across the alley at St. Izzy’s.

U.S.Bank, 10942 Pine St, Los Alamitos (click for map, directions), on north side of Katella just east of Los Alamitos Blvd.   A short and pleasant walk from most parts of Los Al (See our “Highlands’ Guy’s”  ”Walk?  Walk!  for some urban walking wisdom and/or motivation)

See a truck you like?  Any recommendations?  As always, your comments, diplomatically stated, are welcome!

 At a special Joint Commission Meeting tomorrow night Los Al’s Traffic, Planning, & Parks/Rec Commissioners will get additional information on possible modifications to the Communications component of the City’s Utility Tax.

The possibility was initially brought before the Commissioners by City Manager Angie Avery at last week’s Joint Commission Meeting that was primarily focused on the General Plan,.  According to Avery, the City’s  tax on communications users “is outdated because of new communications technologies and billing practices.”

Commissioners were told that many users of newer communications technologies aren’t paying the City’s 6% Utility Users Tax (UUT), while those still relying on older land line phone services are.  The resulting inequity has become the subject of lawsuits against large cities across the state, and the litigation is expected to soon filter down to smaller towns like Los Al, threatening the entire Communications component of the UUT.

Several Commissioners had technical questions Ms. Avery was not yet prepared to answer, so tomorrow’s meeting is an opportunity for Commissioners and others to be filled in on the details by our City Attorney, who is considered an expert in the matter.

Fortunately, Commissioners and residents who are also Sports fans will be able to use some of that newer technology to record tomorrow night’s Kings and/or Clippers playoff games and still attend.  By fast forwarding the commercials, the meeting should hardly take any time at all!

The proposal is to split off the Communications Users portion of the city’s Utility Users Tax, reduce the rate 10% from 6% to 5.5%, and broaden the tax to include newer technologies such as mobile phones, Voice over Internet Protocal, Satellite TV, etc.

Avery indicated the intent is for the changes to be revenue neutral, while making the law current to avoid it being invalidated by a lawsuit.

While some Commissioners expressed confidence in our City officials and support for whatever they worked out, others wanted to know specifics, and a number of interesting questions were raised, as you probably do if you’ve read this far.

Hopefully, most of them will be answered this  Tuesday night, 6 p.m. City Hall Council Chambers.

As always, your comments, diplomatically stated, are welcome, as well as questions you might have about the proposed tax changes.

Even if she “abandoned” you at birth, she carried you around for nine long, hot months, endured months of morning sickness and great pain to bring you into this world, and you wouldn’t be here today without her.

As my wise and lovely wife once told me when I was complaining about some relatively minor pain, “If the men had to have the babies, the human race would be gone in one generation!”  

Of course, most mothers (certainly for my mother, and for the mothers of my children and grandchildren) those first nine months were just the tip of the iceberg, followed by a lifetime of caring, nurturing, and worrying, of  countless sleepless nights followed by  exhausting days, of putting her kids’ needs before hers until the day she dies.

So, as a humble man who still marvels at the wisdom, determination, grace and love that seems to be hard-wired into virtually every mother, despite her human imperfections, I say,

God bless you, Mom!

God bless you, adopted Mom!

God bless you, Grandma!

God bless you, Great Grandma!

None of us would be here today,

most of us wouldn’t be half the person we are,

Los Alamitos would not exist

without you!

Happy Mother’s Day!

And thanks. . . . for everything.

Walking is also incorporated into running events that take place all across the Country. And most recently the power and importance of walking is being talked about as a component of our own Los Alamitos General Plan.

I say, walk, but I guess I should add biking to the “other than car” milieu. The idea is that traveling around the City in a mode other than by vehicle is a desirable goal.

Getting from one place to another in the City without your car offers all sorts of advantages.  Advantagess for young and old, residents and non-residents, home owners and business owners.

A walkable and bikeable city would certainly make an important contribution to our quality of life kinds of issues. While some of the benefits are more on the fuzzy and feel-good side, some would probably come down on the side of increased safety and maybe even health.

As a member in good standing of the aging local population I sure would look forward to being comfortable in being able to get out of my house and interacting with my neighbors, not to mention strolling up to a local market or fast food joint.

How neat would it be to feel good about letting your kids walk to school or over to a friend’s house on the other side of town?

My theory is that the more local folks walking around, saying hi, and recognizing each other, the harder it would be for the bad guys to move among us unnoticed.

I’ll bet that our car only culture is a contributing factor to the out of control obesity and other related problems in the U.S.

Not sure if the logic is flawless, but let’s see if we can connect the dots.

•  According to the Centers for Disease Control the percent of obesity in the U.S. has increased from 10-19% (by state) in 1994 to 30%+ in 2008.
• In a recent study, the U.S. is first among 22 nations (including Japan, Spain, Poland, France, and Sweden) with the percentage of obese citizens.
• On another front there is a correlation between the hard numbers of people with Diabetes and the percent of people with Diabetes. Thus, as the population rises, so does the Diabetes rate. (CDC Division of Diabetes Translation).
•  And next we have the numbers that reflect a positive correlation between Diabetes and Obesity between 1990 and 2000. (Mokdad AH et al. Diabetes Care  2000;23:1278-83).
• Some time back National Geographic had an article showing what shares of the population in 17 diverse countries walk or bicycle to “purposeful”  destinations. It combined Often and All of the time numbers. Germany was at the top with 71%. Japan, South Korea, Australians, and Canadians were in the mix with up to 34%. At the bottom, you guessed it, with 26%, were the Americans.

This is where I’m going to take a bit of a leap of logic. We Americans are first in obesity (and related diseases), and the last in everyday exercise. I would argue that our life-style choice cannot be discounted as a factor in our generally, declining, health. And to take it one step further, I would put forth that we have engineered walking and bicycling out of our communities, with community design oriented almost exclusively to driving.

I guess my point is that when our City folks are chatting about the walkability and bicycle path component in the General Plan, they might want to consider the topic in terms of health and well-being, in addition to the less well defined values.

Walkers are ‘practitioners of the city,’ for the city is made to be walked. A city is a language, a repository of possibilities, and walking is the act of speaking that language, of selecting from those possibilities. Just as language limits what can be said, architecture limits where one can walk, but the walker invents other ways to go.
― Rebecca Solnit (1961-). Writer, Guggenheim Fellow. Lives in San Francisco.

. . . . And that’s just the way I see it.

If he keeps this up I may have to endorse him for  State Assembly!

First, we give you the 2 hour 7 p.m. regular meeting, which begins with about a half hour’s presentations including to our National Award winning Cheer Team and to a heroic Los Al Police Officer.

Scroll down to the one hour Budget meeting, as well as links to the agendas for both meetings.

Here’s the Los Alamitos City Council’s one hour special meeting on the Los Alamitos 2012-13 Fiscal Year Budget (the first of several):

(5/8/2012, Los Alamitos)  Last month’s combined Joint Commission meeting went so well all involved agreed to continue the process this Wednesday night, 5/9/2012.

A month ago, after various interactions, each commission developed their own list of suggested priorities for the General Plan Revision.

All three Commissions wanted some sort of walk-able, bike-able district,  and Parks and Planning both placed a priority on maintaining & enhancing the City’s relationship with  the School District, a reflection of the value the community places on maintaining our outstanding schools.

Both Planning & Traffic Commissions wanted pedestrian bridges or other gateways defining the City’s entrance, such as the proposed walkway from Rossmoor across Katella to access Oak.

Both Planning & Traffic also liked the idea of moving City Hall, freeing up prime land for retain sales, with the Traffic Commission also wanting to “pursue the 4th corner with vigor.”

Much was not discussed, of course.  I still have difficulty reconciling the “walk-able, bike-able downtown” along Los Alamitos Blvd with Ganhahl Lumber as the “anchor,” or at least the biggest tenant.  ”Hey, honey, let’s walk down to Ganahl & pick up a few sheets of drywall & some  lumber!”  Considering the  number of home improvement and home design businesses along Los Al Blvd., some sort of a “home center” or “design district” might be workable.

Then there’s the issue of increasing density, traffic, and parking problems as Apartment Row and Old Town are built out once the recession ends.   Hopefully those issues will be addressed now, before developers are throwing large amounts of money at Council Members to get their projects approved.

The same goes for taking a stand to moderate the “mansionization” trend that began flowing across Los Al Blvd. from Rossmoor before the “Great Recession” slowed the building.   Greater set-backs, especially for second stories, height limits, maximum square footage, additional parking requirements are all tools that can be used to craft some sort of thoughtful compromise before the next boom cycle hits, as it inevitably will.

At the same time, there is a conflict looming between the high cost of home ownership and the desires of young families to locate in our school district.  Perhaps some sort of  multi-generational zones could allow additions structured so Los Al kids to move back in with the folks so the grandkids or even great grandkids can enjoy the fine schools their parents did.

Historical preservation in Old Town is another issue.  Too many of the classic older homes are already lost to development.  Perhaps a block or two could be designated for mixed use (residential & retail, perhaps) so some of our classic homes could become restaurants or shops, possibly even turning allies into “walk-able, bike-able” urban pathways or parkways.  Indeed, a retail designation might allow the restoration of St. Isidore’s as a restaurant or meeting & wedding hall.  Development of a city parking structure might enhance opportunities for retail and restaurants in a more walkable “downtown district” encompassing parts of Old Town and the Los Alamitos Corridor from Vons to the High School.

The possibility of relocating one of the LAUSD’s four secondary schools closer to the center or south of the district might deserve some consideration, both to mitigate traffic, ease the drives for those to the south, and free up valuable land for possible retail.

A broad overlay for the Base should also be done now, before BRAC is a strong possibility.   The plan should consider possible uses or leases of  currently vacant or underutilized Base land.   For example, a green beltway/buffer zone between the Base and our  residential neighborhoods of the Highlands, Carrier Row, Suburbia, and both Dutch Havens  might at least discourage the sort of building going on just behind some Suburbia residents’ back yards.  The proposed “Veterans Park” might be revived or expanded to include a regiional Sports Park for vets, their families, and local residents.  And what better place to develop walk-able, bike-able urban parkway than along the northern and western edges of the Base.

At a minimum, a call to zoning much of the Base Land for open space, public use,  even perhaps an agracultural zone are issues best tackled when the possibility of change is distant, not immanent.

So many possibilities, so much to discuss, searching for common ground and reasonable compromises that would allow Los Al to truly move forward with a vision of what we want our town to be 30, 50, and 70 years from now.

As Winston Churchill said, “He who fails to plan is planning to fail.”

What ideas do you think should be pursued as we look to our town’s future?

1. At 5 p.m. the council has it’s first meeting to discuss the proposed budget for the coming Fiscal Year, which begins 7/1/2012.  The staff proposal (link below) calls for modest cuts in most departments except police and Community Development.
2. The 7 p.m. regular meeting also has several items of interest, so, once again, we have this post up so the Council Watchers among us can report what they saw and what they thought.

So set your DVR for LosAl TV 3 from 5 – 7 and 7 – 10 or so, and/or show up in person, & let us know what you see, hear, & think!

That’s because this is the place for the Community (us) to report on what takes place in our always-interesting City Council.  

FYI:  Regular City Council meetings are rebroadcast the next morning at 7, and the following night at 7. They are also rebroadcast on Friday and Saturday mornings at 7, and Monday morning at 7.

As always, please try to be diplomatic,  use relatively family friendly language, and please briefly describe what you are commenting on before making your comment.  Not everyone has or taped TV3.