Let’s say the federal government offers to put a 13-foot tall monument in your backyard. They’ll pay $50,000 of the $60,000 cost if you’ll contribute $10,000. The height and nature of the design can’t be changed, and the structure may conflict with the natural setting, but you can place information on the monument describing the foliage in your yard or post other self-congratulatory information for guests to peruse. Deal?
Commissioners took the deal Monday, on behalf of taxpayers, by approving the installation of the controversial 13-foot tall ‘kiosks’ in MV’s backyard, Oso Creek Trail. The vote was 6-1.
The City Council approved the kiosks last month but then ran into unhappy feedback from some residents who use the trail. At a subsequent meeting the Council decided to refer the matter to the Community Services Commission, with Mayor Ury hinting something smaller might be more acceptable.
Chairman Brian Skalsky, an appointee of Cathy Schlicht and himself a hiker, opposed the injection of the large structures into the natural setting on the Trail in Mission Viejo’s backyard. ”I felt the 13 ft signs were not appropriate for the area and a more scaled down size would be appropriate,” he said.
Business signs are limited to less than half that height in the commercial parts of town.
Other Community Service Commissioners seemed swayed by staff’s opinion that the kiosks could not be redesigned, nor the money used for an alternate purpose, because the federal grant was predicated on a specific proposal and drawings. They also didn’t want to give up the ’free’ money. The grant is for $285,000 and the City will ante up $40,000. [Thank 'em or Spank 'em]
Yep, times are really tough when you have to spend money on something that really looks dorky, and costs way too much.
So what is really FREE about free money?…nothing is really FREE, and if you stop and think about it….who needs it, and they are really not appropriate…..any more than the ones on Crown Valley Parkway!
Stupid and disgusting. So what if you have to give up the “free money.” Money is never free. Someone, namely the American tax payer, will foot the bill for these hidiously ugly and unnecessary “kiosks.” Do the right thing for our community, which doesn’t want this to happen; and for our country that desperately needs money for essential projects in infrastructure and education. ‘Can’ this plan!!!
Why in the world would we want to add concrete to one of our few “natural” areas in MV? As it is, the “monuments” on Marguerite Pkwy and Crown Valley look like crypts ready to fill…any takers??
I do not understand the mentality of those that think an ad on a nature trail is a good thing. Could this money have been spent on say, community gardens or something that educates and involves hands on learning, instead of another piece of concrete?
And, note that we are taking money from the state just because it is there for the taking, and “throwing in ” another $40,000, like it is water?!
Like the float, if we have checks, we have money.
I am so dissapointed in this decision I can barely find words. I find the whole point of the Oso Creek Trail is to “escape” from the street traffic and to provide a small respite from the suburban sprall that encroaches on our daily life- even in beautiful Mission Viejo. I have, much to my dismay, a very limited knowledge of how our city government makes decisions, but I hope that they are able to reconsider this issue and keep the trail pure and simple without the blight these giant kisoks would bring. I understand that the prospect of a grant is enticing – but at what cost to our beautiful city? I urge the council to reconsider. Sometimes simple is best.
I am a liberal Democrat, and proud of it. But when I read stories like this, I finally begin to understand what “pork barrel” spending means to my conservative Republican friends……and I begin to feel a lot less proud.
Oh, so these kiosks can have information posted on them? So instead of showing flora identification along the trail like “Canyon Live Oak”, or “Matilla Poppy” or other local native plants, how long will it be before the MUKsters and their ilk on the city council try to generate revenue for the city by posting promotions for the elite auto dealerships in town, or stores at The Shops or the Kaleidescope? I have the same fear for the ugly new kiosks down the center of Crown Valley Parkway.
Another question. Just why is it that the design of the kiosks cannot be changed? What is the name and title of the person who made that decision, and why?
There goes $40,000 for something we neither need nor want. How unfortuante that we have to feel we need to capture and spend money just because it is available, even if we don’t like the product. I feel like the commissioners got snookered again.
I’ll paraphrase my friend Dave Patton on this one:
“Free crap is still crap.”
Regardless if this is beneficial to the community (public outcry obviously says no.), bureaucrateers have decided that a free handout from the Fed is worth taking advantage of.
I look forward to seeing what sort of creativity will be employed by vandals and riff-raff. Nothing attracts a tagger or graffiti person like structures that are twice as tell as a man.
No longer can we point to others and exclaim PORK.
I spoke to a couple of Council members about this when I was first brought to light. Their whole point was that the money from the feds could not be redirected to anything else, even if it was trail related. I mentioned the trails that are in disrepair, they said no – It has to be this and only this.
They then mentioned that it would help to stimulate the local economy. So I asked, will this project & money be awarded to a local MV contractor employing US citizens living in MV to build this? I got no reply to that one.
So as usual it’s up to the citizens to watch this project to ensure it does go to local contractors. If not we need to document that and make it a point of public debate.
In the long run this $10,000 investment by the city will be overrun by the costs of maintenance of these kiosks. So what does that mean? It means that we took $40,000 from us tax payers to build something we don’t want or need, in these very difficult times. We should really be ashamed of ourselves. I feel that we are robbing people of need somewhere that should get this money.
[Editor's Note: The City estimates $8,000 per year for maintenance on the kiosks and signs.]
Here we go with another “Bridge to Nowhere” project. What a waste.
I prefer that we keep the nature trail as natural as possible. There are already quite a few unnatural structures on the trail.
Return the money and hope that it is used for something more important in this shaky economy.
How the heck do we stop this council from doing stuff like this?
We do not have vast reserves, times are tough, and they are spending money without regard to what the residents want.
$8,000 a year to maintain kiosks – what an outrage!
For heaven’s sake, VOTE THEM OUT NEXT ELECTION – recall Ledesma NOW. Let’s have a fiscally sound council. This has been going on too long.
Let’s all thank our grand kids because we are borrowing the money from them to waste on needless things like this.
There is no free money. It’s all borrowed and our kids and grandkids will have to pay it back. When will this nonsense stop?
Where are our leaders for smaller government?
So Mission Viejo has so much extra cash in the treasury that we can afford to spend $40,000 up front for something contrary to its’ nature trail setting AND we can continue to maintain this “pork” every year at an estimated cost of $8,000 (probably much more – truth be known) How about spending that money on street maintenance or any one of a dozen other projects that would truly benefit the residents of our city. Let the federal government have their little grant back and let’s look for a return to sanity in Mission Viejo – even if it is only a small step in the direction of sanity. Every journey must start with the first step!
What part of “Nature Trail” does the city council not understand? A $40,000 “contribution” for the kiosks, and another $8,000.00 per year for maintenance, extracted from taxpayers who do not want them, is fiscal irresponsibility.
Surely the initial $40,000.00, and the $8,000.00 per year into perpetuity, could be spent on items the citizens (Taxpayers) of M.V. truly want.
Most nature trails, or arboretums that I have encountered, have SMALL signs in the ground near the plants giving the common and Latin names, and perhaps some additional information. That is all that is necessary, and its a lot less expensive.
The Bureaucrat that thought this pork barrel project up and insisted the funds could only be used for kiosks, without any changes, needs to be identified. He or she can’t be fired, but their political appointee boss, or the politician who appointed them can be removed.
“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”
This is a typical federal funding operation. The give some of our money (stolen from us in the form of taxes) back with all kinds of restrictions and limitations on how we can use it. And if we don’t agree, they won’t give it back.
Little by little, our individual rights and freedoms are being chipped away by our government.
I wonder what the boost to the local economy will be. Other than that we will hopefully pay someone to tear it down as soon as it’s built.
What is it about “we don’t want it” this City Council and Community Services Commission don’t understand? Give the money back! Whoever asked for money for the purpose of building those kiosks should be refunding the city for the time it is wasting in taxpayer dollars.
Lets spend more money on crap we don’t need. God, I’m sick of these idiots. Please start thinking like real common sense people, instead of self-serving Jerks (Commisssioners). Money for nothing is still nothing . WHY WASTE NOW? Change is coming so beware.
Note – these monstrosities are topped off with the dreaded sign of the Iron Tree – a symbol that no citizen of our city has accepted to represent Mission Viejo.
I think an inquiry should be conducted immediately, so at least the public has the facts.
Which staff member came up with the idea of the kiosks on Oso nature trail?
What process transpired? Did a staff member come up with the idea and then seek the federal grant funding? Or did the staff member see the grant funds advertised, and then come up with the idea of the kiosks in order to apply for the grant money?
What kind of projects do the grant funds specify, exactly?
If the federal grant money was to be used only on projects which “beautify” the city, then I wonder what other factors were considered by staff; ie “energy consumption,” “maintenance costs,” “environmental impacts.”
There is something amiss in this whole fiasco, and I think the city should provide the public with the facts.