Summary

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In this recap we cover an award of construction contract for City Hall server room, sewer CCTV van purchase and policy guidance with respect to city interest in public rights of way. 
 

GW: See also an LTE by John Thomas regarding comments published by Tom Johnson of Stu News. 

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PUBLIC COMMENTS

 

Gene Felder asked if any City Council members approved the monies spent for the “contextualization” of the police cam video for former city manager, Shohreh Dupuis mobile phone’s traffic ticket. 

 

GW: About $50,000.00 in city fund were spent for attorney’s fees in an effort to block public records requests concerning this incident. Did the City Council approve this funding, I do not think we did. 

 

Christine, representing the Be Well team said  their goal is to do repeated interventions and be in touch with 7-7 every day. (in September combination?

 

Laura Parisi informed us that the city has paid off a 2012 bond resulting in 723 resident no longer seeing this tax on their property tax bill. 

 

Michele Highberg spoke about her org. “Just Gather”. The org. is offering a six-session program on how to develop gratitude for one’s personal happiness. 

 

Michelle Monda expressed thanks for closed session agenda item # 3, regarding  two parcels in South Laguna. She said she was also glad to hear that Mr. Whelan supported bringing zoom back. Furthermore, she made mention of the city's website having all of our beaches 26 listed and why that needed to be there.

 

GW: For some time, S. Laguna residents have lobbied for the city to consider buying these parcels which are across the street from an existing park now used by both kids, people and dogs.

 

Jacob Cherub made a pitch for bringing back Zoom. He also said that Visit Laguna should be transparent about the money they get. He was glad to see that the neighborhood congregational church's affordable housing project now had 55 units from the 72 previously proposed. Lastly, he was concerned about spending millions of dollars of taking on the liability costs for Laguna Canyon Rd.

 

 

Staff: Dave Kiff expressed his thanks to those attending the community development workshop update. A path forward was discussed to alleviate project application backlogs, plans to streamline processes and update our sometimes-antiquated zoning and building codes. 

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CONSENT ITEMS 

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ITem # 5 - Award of Construction Contract for the City Hall Server Room Upgrades:   Unanimously approved by consent. 

 

Summary: All of our IT infrastructure and software applications reside in a server room at City Hall. Upgrades for new data center racks, electrical, cooling, communications infrastructure and reconfiguration were approved totaling $350,000.00. 

 

GW: While these upgrades are needed, we should be developing a IT Cloud Migration Plan within a Master Technology Plan. We only do a bit of cloud computing  using the cloud to store computer files, and data, and by utilizing Microsoft cloud-based software for desktop applications.

 

With cloud computing one can mirror software applications at other cloud sites in case of a catastrophic event.  If the main hosting site goes down another is available to keep the software application running. 

 

Migrating software applications to the cloud as many of us do by using Microsoft 365 improves security, makes software upgrades easier, and hopefully lower, long-term staffing costs. Consider cloud-based computing like outsourcing. We rent the hosted application instead of buying it. The Application Service Provider model (ASP) is now standard IT practice and growing.  Wisely, CM, Dave Kiff has spoken of  his desire to develop a Master Technology Plan which would include IT application outsourcing. Cloud computing is in everyone’s future. Our city should take the lead or risk being left behind. 

 

Item # 9: Sewer CCTV Camera Van Purchase – Passed 5-0

 

Background: The sewer system consists of 85.71 miles of gravity sewers (approximately 2,937-line segments), 2,674 manholes, 9.44 miles of force mains, and 25 lift stations. Previously the city outsourced sewer inspections to an outside firm but with the goal of reducing the number of sewer back-up, Public Works recommended buying our own inspection system housed inside a van, in this case our first fully electric Public Works truck/van. 

 

GW: Over just the last few years the city has paid out over 2.8 million for residential sewer backups determined to be the fault of the city.  Hopefully investing in this system will reduce that number significantly. Most of the public would never know about these payouts but I feel the public should know. We should have issued a public report on the causes of these spills and steps being taken to make the sewer system more resilient. We can and should do better. 

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REGULAR AGENDA

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Business # 13 – Policy Guidance with Respect to City Interest in Public Rights of Way: Remanded back for changes 5-0.

 

Background: The city owns hundreds of public rights of way along streets, paper streets and other small parcels that may be adjacent to residential or commercial property. Currently, the city rightly requires someone who wants to use that property to go through a lengthy process to use it for private use or have the city relinquish the property, in which case it can be claimed as real property by a private, adjacent party. 

 

The intent of this item was to develop options that guide the city’s process for these requests. Council determined that the city should continue to favor retention of city properties but directed staff to work on better defining options for private uses. The City Attorney said there is an existing state law that allows for a private party to petition the city to abandon city owned property. 

 

GW: The city should not abandon property or allow temporary use unless circumstances justify it, and fair compensation is paid to the city. I live at Bluebird and Summit and there is a paper street (Bluebird) that could possibly be built out allowing transit to Van Dyke, just above that T intersection. An adjacent property owner has an interest in acquiring that property and incorporating it as their property. 

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This may allow for greater yard space or possibly to extend the home. While it is unlikely that this paper street will turn into a road because it is very steep, it is also possible that it could or have other unforeseen uses. I believe retaining permanent ownership is the preferred option but also think there are circumstances that make licensing of the property beneficial to both parties. Relinquishment should be the very last option.  

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IN OTHER NEWS

 

 

An Unfortunate Bias Against Candidate Weiss?

 

GW: An elected official can be subject to a lot of abuse and I have seen my share over the last four years, and am stronger for it. I can take honest criticism and have apologized for things I have said that were inaccurate or hurtful. The I draw the line when it comes from the press, even in an Op Ed. 

 

Tom Johnson of Stu News has recently criticized me for mischaracterizing Laguna’s violent crime statistics. Proven wrong he continues to make inaccurate statements in hopes of smearing my reputation for reporting facts. 

 

A few people, like John Thomas have come to my defense and asked Tom to correct his mistakes. Instead, he doubles down on his inaccurate statements. 

 

Below you can read Mr. Thomas’s LTE published in Stu News today. Tom’s article  can be read here: 

https://stunewslaguna.com/fair-game-101524/

 

LTE by John Thomas, Stu News, October 22, 2024

 

Tom Johnson still refuses to correct his statement about George Weiss…why?

 

In his October 8 opinion column “Fair Game,” Stu News publisher Tom Johnson promoted his opinion of his favorite candidates for the Laguna Beach City Council. 

 

To his credit, Tom Johnson readily disclosed up front his bias against George Weiss saying, “Truth be told, I haven’t always been a big fan…”

 

But the problem is that, in trying to justify his choice of others over George, Tom Johnson missed an important fact when he wrote: “One of George’s biggest faults is that he often seems to be guilty of throwing out random comments that cannot be substantiated. Several recent examples have been when he talked about the crime level in Laguna Beach as being on a par with cities like Anaheim and Santa Ana, which is absolutely unfounded.”

 

The problem with Tom Johnson’s remark is that George Weiss’ statement about the rate of violent crime is substantiated by data and is not “unfounded.” It is based on published data. George Weiss’ statement is substantiated by data provided by the California Department of Justice (DOJ). 

 

DOJ draws this data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, which reports crimes per 100,000 population at the city level. According to DOJ data in 2023, Laguna Beach had 114 violent crimes so, on a per capita basis, Laguna Beach ranked third in Orange County behind Anaheim and Santa Ana with a violent crime rate of 5.02 per thousand population.

 

In the subsequent October 15 edition of “Fair Game,” rather than correcting his statement, Tom Johnson doubled down by writing 900 words that included a listing in detail of the very crime data from the California Department of Justice that substantiates George Weiss’ statement. But he didn’t correct his earlier statement that George Weiss statement was “unfounded.” 

 

How can Tom Johnson, on one hand, recite the actual DOJ data then, on the other hand, still say there was no data behind George Weiss’ statement?

 

Tom Johnson may not like what the data says or how it is said, but credible data supports George Weiss’ remark. When social scientists or other commentators discuss crime data in a comparative way, crime rate/population is the conventional format. It’s just data. And then it’s math. This many violent crimes, this size population. So Johnson’s continuing objection to the fact that George used this format makes no sense. 

 

Maybe Tom Johnson would be happier if George had simply said that the violent crime rate in Laguna was more than 5 per thousand population in 2023. And left it there and didn’t put it in context of how we compare of other Orange County cities. 

 

Or maybe Tom Johnson would have preferred George Weiss to have said that Laguna’s 5 per 1,000 is higher than the U.S. national violent crime rate in 2023 of 3.6 per 1,000 population.

 

The bottom line is that it is inaccurate and misleading for Tom Johnson to say that George Weiss’ comment about Laguna’s violent crime level is “unfounded.” There clearly is a foundation of credible data supporting George Weiss’ statement so why is Stu News unwilling to make a simple correction? Is this politics trumping accuracy? 

 

Tom Johnson freely admits his bias against George and everyone is welcome to have their own opinions. But, despite that, doesn’t a community newsletter have an obligation to stick to the facts, even when voicing opinions?

 

John Thomas

Laguna Beach

 

 

Also the crime statistics I published have been verified by John and are published on the Fullerton State U. website. 

See this chart which supports what I published in July, 2024. And also read the data from a more simple chart that is attached. 

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