entire town Busted for Yard-Sign abusement

The Judge declared the entire town "GUILTY!"
of election-time Campaign Yard Sign Abusement.
The Judge - clearly not amused.
It was precedent setting.
The charming, sleepy seaside village was the
first known city-wide civil-case brought against
abusers of a candidate's good name, in ink, stuck
in the ground for everyone to read. Libelous affronts.
Rampant and pervasive proliferated across the
village faster'n hot ashes during a Santa Ana.
How very nasty the sleepy town's pre-election
yard sign-habit / circus, had festered into.
According to eyewitness reports: sign-abusement
by folks both private...and surprisingly, some
Public Official'doms?, vaulted from childish
pranksterism, into full blown angry campaign
signage buffoonery.
Finally - 1 fed-up 'good' public official, wanting
to stem the evil tide of sign-slanderousness,
so lasciviously libelous in content, the 'good'
official yanked a particularly offensive cardboard
character assassinator from its improper rooting
i.e. placed illegally, and was promptly busted.
Busted for doing, "the right-thing."
This happens when strident subversives are
allowed to spew unchecked. Subverting good-laws
in their warped march towards righteous misbehavior.
Twisting truth to lies in the service of bad-natured
self interests. And innocent folks get battered.
On the Plus-side: had the arrest of the town's 'good'
public servant not happened, there'd been no public
Hearing, where it was revealed (on TV), certain
elected officials were witnessed running amuck
in trucks, committing all kind'a campaign-sign
skullduggery for who knows how many election
cycles (the sleepy seaside village's dirty little
secret...until now?).
So - dear tourist, should you visit that quaint and
charming, sleepy little seaside village, and notice
what looks to be upstanding citizens down on
hands and knees scrubbing curbs, sidewalks,
clearing debris (wearing bright orange safety
vests), stop and say "Hello!"
It may be a city councilperson. Or a local land
developer. Who knows who you'll meet.
Apparently the whole town was in on the fun.
Well, maybe not everyone.

LTE - LATimes - The Region - Nov. 17 08

Susannah Rosenblatt's "behind OC's toll road issues"
was accurate if not wholly formed. How could it be?
TCA's (OC's toll road purveyor) have a 25-year head
start on spinning-out TCA's toll road illusion / yarns.
Their big electric road signs warn us: take a toll road,
or our lives won't last as long. What TCA never reports:
they're broke (no question). Upside-down. Like housing
and our economy - BROKE.

Difference is: TCA ain't ever gonna recover.

Their "Star" toll road, the 73 thru Laguna, never has been
right-side-up, since day-1. Now TCA's 241, the supposed
healthy one is worse off than Laguna's 73. How you say,
"in the tank?" Yet, TCA is adding lanes (???) to both the
73 and the 241 (as toll traffic plummets), while hobbling
freeway and arterial improvements via Non-Compete
agreements. That TCA would pave thru a state park for
no good traffic reason, in a direction I-5 traffic doesn't want
to go, at $15 one-way - predicted by OCTA MIS-07 Study:
the least traveled pavement in South County by 2030,
makes TCA scream, "Fixing I-5 thru San Clemente takes
100's of homes!" What they don't report: OCTA (grand pooh
bah of OC transportation) recommends adding the
necessary lanes to I-5 thru SC utilizing "Context Sensitive
Engineering" aka no "Takings," erasing TCA's bogus 241
extension entirely.

Sad fact: majority of OC-electeds pray daily at TCA's alter
of "failed" toll roads, at our expense: the majority of OC
commuters who never drive toll roads; makes one wonder -
who is steering OC?

We all know the direction. The question is, why go there?
And or, when is 25-years of a failed transportation model,
enough? In 2008? 2009?, or 2030?

public-litter versus the common-good

This is the sign Brenda Miller removed (thank you Brenda) from
public property, where it was illegally placed.

Who would not call this slanderous material?
Placed illegally on public property, who would not call this the
worst kind of personal-attack-graffiti.

Post election: Mr. Baker was elected by over 8,000 SC voters
and Mr. Mann received over 7,000 SC votes of endorsements
placing him 4th in a field of 9.

2 percentage points from victory and 12 percentage points
ahead of 5th place.

Clearly, between 1st and 4th-place, in this council election,
it was neck and neck to the finish.
2%, the difference 1st to 4th.

It is my firm belief, Brenda did exactly what needed to be
done (by any thinking SC official) - removing this sign from
our pre-election public landscape.

For the Record, she did it in broad daylight, 1-block from
SC's Sheriff's office. Then turned the trash-talking signage
into SC's City-yard, receiving a receipt for same.

City-yard on Pico is where campaigners go to retrieve lost,
stolen, or in any way salvaged campaign signage.

In my humble opinion: anyone approving of this sign's
blasphemous character assassination message is as
confused and misguided as whoever funded its production.

Elections get heated.

08, on every level - was particularly heated. But it's over.

The economy remains terrible for everyone and getting worse.
Open Spacer's battle developers and visa versa.
Tempers are understandably on edge.

Regardless, our common sense goal must always be,
in dire times, and in good times, keep your wits about you
when others are losing there's. Don't stoop to base instincts.
It solves nothing.

This sign is blatantly slanderous.
Who in their right mind does this?
Anger, and paranoia, its only message.

Unwarranted character assignation on two of SC's selfless
valued public servants is both pathological and dangerous.

That Brenda would be sited for removing it from its place of
obvious illegal placement - reprimanded for doing it - ticketed
for doing it - publicly humiliated for doing "the right thing," is
wrong in every way imaginable in an orderly society.

Aren't we all encouraged to remove litter from our public landscape?

For those who know and work with Brenda: her neighbors,
friends and colleagues, Brenda only ever fights the good fight.
Conscientious to a fault, and law abiding. The Law is her
avocation and occupation. Brenda is a treasured value to
this city, both privately and publicly.

So - rather than being publicly harangued for "doing the
right thing" for all of us, Brenda needs an apology for the
unfair treatment she's been subjected to. Immediately.

Take a long hard look at the sign.
Study it.
Now imagine your name, or the name of your favored
candidate emblazoned in quotes across it.

Try and imagine how you'd feel reading it, if your most
valued-candidate - whoever that is, was labeled "Hypocrite."
How would you feel?

You know how you'd feel - Violated.

Now imagine, finding this slanderous signage placed
illegally on public property - not private property.

A twofer: Violated and Illegal.

City Sign Rule 1a: never plant yard-signs on public property.

If it was 'your' candidate being slandered, most likely you'd
thank whoever removed it.

One might assume, local law enforcement and or code
enforcement officers would have the same good sense to
remove it. That didn't happened.
It was allowed to stay, and slander.

If this brand of dangerous personal public slander, against
anyone - your candidate, you, or any candidate, in any election,
is allowed to fester, it will proliferate and spread.

Without strict civic oversight, local elections will spiral down
into nothing more than base hooliganism in the name of free
speech. Are we there now? This signs says yes.

That's not America. And it's not San Clemente.

Brenda Miller is not who's at fault here.

Let's hope SC's current leadership recognizes freedom
of speech is not freedom to slander. Otherwise the noun
"Hypocrite" will soon enough define us all.

The election is over. Times ahead are challenging beyond
compare without the negative efforts of an overambitious
mischievous few who apparently know no bounds in
employing antisocial tactics.

We suffer these fools equally.

Brenda Miller did the right thing, and is chastised for it,
while someone else does 'wrong' intentionally, for effect,
and there's no penalty? Hmm.

Question: what's lettered in Gold, in Council Chambers,
above our San Clemente Seal - "Who Do We Trust" - in?

Will we act accordingly?

One can hope.

ladling soup to power, on SC pier

None of us need be reminded, the plus and minuses
of good political-power versus political-abuse.

Etched across our crowded landscape, daily reminders:
good planning versus "what were they thinking?"

We live in the future tense, too often hobbled by bad
planning from before. The results of self-interest
trumping the public-good.

On San Clemente Pier this past Sunday (Oct-5-08),
at SC's annual Chowderfest cook-off, the 5-Time
Individual-Best-on-Pier winningest chowder recipe
Won Again!

Ladled out by S.C.A.T. - SC'ians Against Toll-Roads.

S.C.A.T.'s message: a toll road thru SC is bad-soup
for SC - for the environment - and won't help traffic
a lick. Still TCA keeps its foul toll-stew boiling away
no matter toll road rider-ship's a thing of the past:
gas too high - no more Wall St. backstop - no more
local development fees pouring into TCA's tolling
house of mirrors. OC Toll roads are out of gas.
Their last-ditch ponzi hope: pave to San Onofre.
Scam a couple more Billion in construction-bucks.
Bulldoze hemorrhaging Bond-debt down the road
to the year 3000. Do the math. Who reading this
today will be here to protest?

S.C.A.T. says "STOP." Stop Now.
Bad road-recipe. Dump it.
Can't afford toll.
Tastes really yucky.

One visiting Boston lady (on her 3rd helping)
ran up to S.C.A.T's table exclaiming, "No Competition!
You're the Best Chowder Out Here. I Need More!"

So, Congratulations S.C.A.T. Your winning recipe for
San Onofre and San Clemente remains miles ahead
of the competition and will never leave a bad aftertaste
to our kid's future.

S.C.A.T wins #6
Toll Road - 0

(you are what you eat)

jer

Toll Road to Nowhere, we agree

Thanks to the LATimes for the editorial headline
I've been waiting to read for 10-years,

"Toll Road to Nowhere" - Oct 8, 08.

The follow-up headline should ink:
"A Toll Road Agency to nowhere good."

OC's TCA/Transportation Corridor Agency aka
toll road purveyors, have met their larcenous match -
the economy and high fuel costs, causing TCA's
price-managed toll-traffic to vaporize, as panicky
Supervisors cut toll fares on the 91's vacant toll
lanes now that TCA's once lucrative development
fee stream, fed from OC home-building has gone
bone dry. TCA's mythical traffic-relief via toll roads
is hot on the heels of Wall St's dive into the abyss.

OC's Private Investor Highway model only ever
worked on Wall St spread-sheets, causing OC and
Riv-County commuters to stall-out on decades long
politico-mischief & mass transit prejudices - their
only commute choice: private-interest, quick-buck
car-commuting to lands further and further out with
no way home today, except on overtaxed freeways
at $60 to $100 a tank fill-ups.

Result: TCA's 51-mile toll-folly basks empty in So-Cal's
sunniest clime thanks to 30-years of shortsighted
development greed and political-gaming, driving
us nowhere fast, with no train in sight.

So, throw the bums out?

OC's harsh transportation reality leaves little choice,
because "They" - OC's brain trust (gone-bust) believe
everything's just fine. Going according to plan.

Ironically, TCA plans to widen their empty toll roads
to nowhere. So who pays? Who always pays.
Stop TCA before they pave again.
Stop TCA, period.
And let our traffic flow.

OC Reg: Mimi Walters - a wave of misinformation,
Guest Column, Sunday, Sept. 14, 08
----------------------------------------------------------------------

a citizen response:

Used to be, mustachioed men in stripped suits
and tall hats sold Snake Oil. Now women can too.

Mimi Walters is credited with describing San Onfore
State Beach Park (our state's 5th most popular) - our
Yosemite of Surfing, as "nothing but dirt and weeds."

Mimi's open space ignorance is bliss - and convenient,
with her goal to pave a toll road thru San Onofre (if open
today, its toll fare would be $15 one-way). Even OCTA
knows no one's going to drive it. Same as no one's
driving TCA's 'busted' 73 now - or the suddenly
tanking 241.

Where did TCA's toll payers all go?
They're at the gas pump paying $4 a gallon.
A scary enough toll.

Here's what Mimi calls dirt & weeds: The Donna O'Neill
Land Conservancy, the San Mateo Watershed, San Mateo
Creek / the Panhe village site - the Acjachemen People's
sacred ground, dating back 10,000 years.

All totaled, they make up the last, intact, naturally perfect
coastal watershed (open space treasure) along southern
California's coastline - Tijuana to Ventura.
Lose that to a an unaffordable toll road and we lose SoCal's
last consistently healthy coastal waters / San Onofre.
Some leadership.

Mimi admits to loathing "Labor," then flies the Union label
when it suits her toll road pitch.

Truth to Power: With SoCal's sagging highway infrastructure
requiring a decade's worth of make-over, there's no shortage
of highway-work / construction jobs on OC freeways and
arterials going forward.

Ironically the state park Mimi would plow asunder is not even
in her Assembly District - or her County. Maybe it's Mimi's road
map that's clogged with dirt & weeds?, because blindly paving
away priceless State Park land and watershed for a toll road
no one would drive, rather than solving OC's real world
transportation issues: how to get OC commuters to work
'affordably' today, tomorrow, and when gas hits $9-bucks
a gallon, smacks of 100-Proof Mimi pitching TCA snake-oil.

Don't drink it OC.
It's bad medicine.

Smart Pizza

Saturday, August 23, 2008

If the toll road don't fit - go to Sonny's.

To: sunpostnews/ local SC-daily

In response to Sue Waltman's criticism:

Sonny's Pizza 'not being smart' opposing

the toll road. That widening I-5 would be

the result, stems from a lack of information

(or misinformation) on Ms Waltman's part.

Fact: toll road or no toll road, widening I-5

thru SC is a done deal. Currently I-5's

widening-plan calls for 3 1/2 new lanes.

Fact: there's plenty of room. No homes

need be taken. OCTA and Caltrans

implement 'Context Sensitive Engineering

Rules' in cases such as SC, where homes

and business sit close to freeways.

Note: all Caltrans Freeway projects,

(planned 25-30 years in advance) right of

way (roadway foot-print) exceeds amount

of actual paving - meaning: a close look

at I-5 here (available space) - additional

lane-width-requirements meet Caltrans

12ft-max standard so there's room to widen

I-5 without destroying SC. Rumors to the

contrary are TCA myth, designed to snare

SC'ers into TCA's superfluous toll road net.

Apparently Ms. Waltman swallowed TCA's

bait - hook, line and sinker (she's not alone).

OCTA's 07-MIS (Major Investment Study)

reveals a 241-south extension to I-5, by

2030, would be the least traveled pavement

in South County. At upwards of $15 a one

way toll, no wonder. That's why, OCTA -

OC's Transportation "Authority" says -

"toll road, or no toll road, know I-5 thru SC

must be widened to accommodate SoCal's

future North-South 'Free'way traffic."

Reality: A Trestles toll road would do

nothing to alleviate I-5's traffic.

What Ms Waltman's question should be,

"Well then, why pave the toll road?"

10's of 1000's of smart, pizza eating,

commuting SoCal citizens ask the same

question.

Sad Fact: governmental bodies can, do

and will make dumb policy (they're only

human). It's up to us - informed, voting

citizens to bring high flying politicians

down to earth where we live, breathe,

eat smart pizza, and commute.

Fact: 8 of the 9 SC City Council Hopefuls

running for council election today, oppose

the toll road in its current nonsensical,

destructive path to Trestles.

May I suggest: Sonny's is not only the

best pizza in town - it's the Smartest.

Remember - we are what we eat.

Jerry Collamer, SC resident, is an active

participant in OCTA's South County Major

Investment Study Stakeholders Working

Group representing Wild Heritage Planners.