Anaheim’s First 2017 Meeting: Appointments, Agendizing, People’s Homeless Task Force.

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Well, once again I’ve written a long comment that my colleague Greg insists should be its own post.  But bear in mind, this is just a REPORT – not one of my works of art! – Vern

Most importantly, Jordan is off OCWD, and replaced by Councilman Vanderbilt, a guy who so far has gotten most of his info on Poseidon and Cadiz from THIS BLOG. Dodged a bullet.

Still, it’s irritating that David I was kept strung along thinking Zenger could get on.  Clerk Andal said tonight that there was some policy that it had to be a Councilmember OR a City Employee. She’d told me no such thing before, but to have David send an e-mail to the council.

Oh well, James will be good and Jordan’s gone. Faessel (in about the first thing he’s done so far that I disagreed with) tried to keep Jordan on, because he’s “got a good relationship with OCWD staff” and some other weak reasons.

James, in his usual tradition, vows to refuse all pay for his OCWD work, hoping to set a good example that pubic service should be done for free (which actually some folks can’t afford to do.) Jose half-jokingly asked him to instead accept the pay and give it to a scholarship for a high-school student to study water policy. Don’t know if anything will come of that.

The other interesting thing – Cunningham had fretted on the Klepto-Blog that the divvying up of boards and commissions may (or may not) be an exercise in revenge and retribution, and at some points it did seem a little that way, mostly at the expense of Lucille. She had had four posts, and lost them all. The one she really REALLY wanted to keep was OC Sanitation District. She was on track to be the chair of that board, and claimed that it was important for Anaheim to have someone with the seniority and leadership there, and she made a long list of things she wanted to accomplish on that board. I was practically thinking that *I* would have voted to keep her there.

But Denise INSISTED that SHE wanted that board, and would not be denied, and had the votes of Tom, James and Jose. I asked someone close to her why she was so insistent; that person whispered back to me that “all the shit Lucille just listed, if she was ever really gonna do it she would have already done it by now. We need new people, new ideas.”

Here’s the list:

  • Fire Training JPA – was Kring with Vanderbilt alternate; is now MORENO with Vanderbilt alternate.
  • 4 Corners Transp. Coalition – was Jordan, is now KRIS MURRAY
  • OC HAZMAT Emergency Response Authority – was Kring, is now BARNES
  • MWD – was and is still FAESSEL.
  • OC Sanitation – was Kring with Vanderbilt alternate, is now BARNES w/ Kring alternate
  • OCWD – was Brandman (who showed up hoping to stay on), is now VANDERBILT!
  • Santa Ana River Flood Protection – was vacant (previously Jordan) is now MORENO. Alternate was and remains Rudy Emami.
  • SCAG – was and remains KRIS MURRAY; alternate was Jordan and is now Kring.
  • Transportation Corridor Agency – was Kring, is now MORENO. Alternate was Vanderbilt, is now Kring.

Lucille had a sort of refrain, each time a seat got named off – “That group meets in the DAY a lot” – hoping to scare folks off I think, but not succeeding. She will have a lot of free time in the days now.

And my sad Elton John knockoff about Jordan came true:

“Don’t let the sun go down on me!
Jose Moreno’s face is what I see in District 3.
Just allow me four more years, on the OCWD (nanananana, nanananana)
Cuz losing both those seats is like the sun going down on me!”

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We also had several dozen folks there from the newly, loosely formed coalition which me and Renee Balenti have taken to calling the “People’s Homeless Task Force,” all with the same basic three demands:

  • Repeal the anti-camping ordinance
  • Re-open all park restrooms 24-7
  • Open safe zones in each Council District for camping. (It being unfair to District 3 and its councilman to concentrate even more poverty there. District 5 has a good possibility by the river/railroad tracks off Ball Road. We’re looking for good places in the other four districts.)

I also asked the Mayor to schedule a special meeting for this issue, but he didn’t.

Jose placed the following on the agenda for the next meeting, Jan. 24:

  • Review camping ordinance
    • Has it worked?
    • Repeal it or not?
  • Who exactly are the homeless?
    • How the hell do they pay their tickets?
    • What happens when they don’t?
    • What is the cost to taxpayers of enforcement?
  • Study the idea of safe zones, and keeping the bathrooms open.
  • ALSO – update on why STR regulations are not being enforced
  • Review a 1988 change order resolution that Zenger had come to talk about, which gives Public Works Director huge spending authority.

Denise agendized for Jan. 24:

  • Update on parks situation in her district
  • Update on Beach Blvd Specific Plan.

Vanderbilt agendized:

  • Update on Angels negotiations
  • Update on post-six-district neighborhood councils.

The People’s Homeless Task Force will be back in force on the 24th!


About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.