Somebody Stop Them

While the threat of losing the Casta golf course caused uproar among residents, top city employees didn’t seem to care one way or another. The golf course isn’t within view of city hall: out of sight, out of mind. When Sunrise hinted it might give a portion of the golf course to the city for a park, officials weren’t interested. The offer was probably a hoax anyway, but the city didn’t want a 70-acre lawn with water hazards. A municipal golf course may have appealed to residents but not the city staff.

City officials’ attention is instead focused on the vicinity of La Paz and Marguerite. At noon, city employees emerge from city hall in search of food. Several eateries are nearby, but wouldn’t it be nice if the employees had a pedestrian atmosphere, upscale shops and a wide variety of restaurants? And shouldn’t Mission Viejo residents accommodate them?

The very idea that top administrators might have to hoof by Big Lots could put them in a funk for the rest of the day. They might need to console themselves with a spending spree: 500 easels, 500 disposable cameras or a $362,000 Rose Parade float.

Very few residents agree with city officials’ plans for the retail center despite the come-on of upscale shops and alfresco dining. Informed residents realize they don’t get to pick and choose what appeals to them. A pedestrian atmosphere isn’t for the benefit of those who live nearby and need to shop; it’s for city hall employees who are walking and not buying. Real shoppers can’t carry bags of merchandise or groceries for a quarter-mile down a promenade. Mission Viejo residents don’t walk or ride bikes to shopping centers. And forget about open-air restaurants anywhere near the creek. The stench from the “water treatment facility” precludes outdoor activity of any kind, including breathing.

Residents also don’t get a say in how owners will upgrade their property. Councilman Frank Ury brought the Urban Land Institute to city hall, and its study found that the proposed upgrades would involve apartments on the top floor of stores. Otherwise, the upgrades aren’t financially feasible. The plan is to raze the buildings and rebuild with multiple stories, mixing shops with housing. The apartments alone are deal-breakers. In addition to too much traffic in the vicinity and no place to park, the site is in the Capo school district. Newhart Middle School doesn’t need more students, particularly economically disadvantaged ones. Students from the poorest high-density neighborhoods of San Juan Capistrano are already bused to Newhart and other Mission Viejo schools.

When the La Paz/Marguerite intersection was reworked more than 10 years ago, the area looked like a war zone. Completion of the intersection took so long that some businesses permanently closed because customers couldn’t get to stores and they wouldn’t tolerate the inconvenience. No one should invite the city to apply its incompetence to a major remodel of a retail center, particularly after the three-year-long mess along Crown Valley. The Right-To-Vote Initiative, if passed, would give voters the chance to stop such a project – which they should do.