Let’s rename it – Nightmare on Elm Street!

“Let’s go branding…says the OC Board of Supervisors!” Yahoo, where is the rodeo and what cows do we put that hot poker onto? We warned them that this
was a dumb idea….that it was not going to be popular. We told them that companies like Saatchi & Saatchi or Ogilvy & Mather, even McCann Erikson….are required to care and tend to “Brands”. No, even our buddies Bill Campbell and Janet Nguyen bought off on this stupid expense to the county…..without even the most minimal chance of reward for this insignificant effort.

They put poor Orange County CEO Tom Mauk on the job, to find out how much changing every sign, all the stationery and every door placard in the county will cost to change out. How many months that will take will be interesting to watch..if nothing
else. What great minds thought of naming everything after “The Real Housewives of
Orange County”? You don’t need much imagination to figure that out. A simple lunch
with a low impact County bureaucrat and one or two of the Supervisors….with ego’s
bigger than their IQ’s…..might be a great start.

Call us dinosaurs with a solid regard for history, logic and common sense…if you
must dismiss us for being “behind the times” – but we don’t think so. Here we are
in the middle of one of the most explosive economic meltdowns in US history and our
elected officials are worried about the Orange County image? How about being more
worried about our investment portfolios, Public Pensions and Health Plans, paying
for employee raises built in to the current contracts, replacing retiring employees
with new rather than old employees with lucrative “independent consulting contracts”? How about worrying about the reductions and erosion in our tax base
and the fall of Assessed Valuations of Property throughout the County. How are we
going to pay for Public Services, Public Safety, Public Health Services and what
happens when the County goes bankrupt again? Just look to San Diego County if you
need a poster boy for the future of Orange County if we keep up the current nonsense.

Back to the issue at hand; changing the deck chairs on the Titanic…even changing
the name of the Titanic to Old Iron Sides….will not do the trick. Only hard work and a series of cutbacks will start the process. Vigilance and determination to meet the challenges ahead..without laughing it all off…….as if “the world” needed another colorful Happy Face? We implore the Orange County Board of Supervisors to listen to the huge majority of their constituents and put that new, bold, branding idea on hold for say….oh three or four years! We don’t need to rush to judgement do we? We do need to select a Big Ten Ad Agency…..don’t we? We want to do this stuff right.. don’t we? We are pretty sure that televisions shows get replaced every 2.5 years on average. We doubt seriously, we want to change the name of the county again, say in another 2.5 years….do we?


About Ron & Anna Winship

Independent News Producers/Writers and Directors for Parker-Longbow Productions. Independent Programming which includes a broad variety of Political, Entertainment and Professional Personalities. Cutting Edge - a talk show...is the flagship of over 30 URL websites developed or under development. The Winships have been blogging for the Orange Juice since back when nickels had buffalos on them, and men wore onions attached to their belts, because it was the fashion back then.