Foothills Sentry March 2022

Foothills Sentry Page 6 March 2022 a connection between itself and Orange Park Acres in District 6. OPA wants to retain Santiago Creek as a natural boundary. Additional draft maps were submitted for consideration prior to the February council meeting. Despite the influx of alternate maps, public comments emailed to the city overwhelmingly favored Map 119. Recognizing the citizen-defined equity of that map, Arianna Barrios motioned to accept it, with a second by Councilmember Ana Gutierrez. The council majority, Jon Du- mitru, Chip Monaco, Kim Nich- ols, Kathy Tavoularis and Mayor Mark Murphy, did not like Map 119 and voted, instead, to accept Map 121. That map maintains the East Orange mega district, puts the Village At Orange in District 4 and residents behind it in Dis- trict 3. District 2 ends up with 42% Latino voters; District 5, with 36%. A concerned resident Of all the second round maps submitted, Map 121 has the most “interesting” provenance. Levitt described it as a combination of Maps 119 (the public favorite) and 105 (a council choice). It was submitted, Levitt said, by some- one who wanted to be identified as a “concerned resident,” instead of by name. The lone public com- ment supporting Map 121 came from the Orange Taxpayer’s As- sociation. Not to be confused with the Orange County Taxpayers As- sociation, it is an “in name only” organization that is not registered with the state, has no address or phone number, and has not been active since 2018. The last post on its Facebook page (four years ago) was from Jon Dumitru. Dumitru is the councilmember who introduced Map 121 as a better choice than 119. He noted the Latino voting populations it reflected, and said he didn’t like 119 because it “tied in communi- ties with different life experiences and combined high density with single-family environments.” See "Orange council" continued from page 1 “Communities of interest are how people feel,” Barrios pointed out. “People feel very proprietary about their communities. We’re not seeking perfection, but bal- ance. Map 121 doesn’t achieve that goal.” Map 121, Gutierrez, said, removes a strongly Latino neighborhood out of District 5 and into 4, where “voters will be disenfranchised.” She stressed that she liked the maps that re- spect natural boundaries and com- munities of interest. Combining Districts 4 and 6 in East Orange defies the natural boundary of the creek, she said. “We have to listen to the residents.” One voice fits all Chip Monaco, advocating for Map 121, pointed out that making East Orange a single district makes sense because there was no greater common interest there than the Sully-Miller property. “That single piece of property is the largest issue,” he said, adding that the proposed District 6 is geographically large, but its population is what counts. “The community of interest in East Orange [Sully-Miller],” he said, “is stronger than anywhere else. One individual [councilmember] is needed to balance those interests.” Monaco’s one individual theo- ry, however, did not apply to the Village At Orange area. When addressing residents’ concerns about a District 3-4 split in that area, he assured them that having the mall in one district and neigh- bors in another would give them “two council members to advo- cate for them.” Before the council voted, Lev- itt alerted members to several is- sues in Map 121 that related to the Fair Maps Act. An apartment complex had been divided into two districts, as had Adams Av- enue and several other residential streets. “I’m not saying we can’t justify that,” he said, “but need to point it out.” Map 121 was accepted by a 5-2 vote, with Barrios and Gutierrez opposed. The map will likely be tweaked and returned to the coun- cil for final approval in March. It must be finalized by April 17. TUSD educators win Rotary Club Good Idea Awards The Tustin-Santa Ana Rotary Club honored 13 educators in the Tustin Unified School District with Good Idea Awards for 2022. The purpose of the Good Idea program is to encourage class- room teachers’ ideas and meth- odologies and to recognize the efforts of TUSD teachers. The club awarded more than $4,300 in grants to individuals for the development of qual- ity educational programs in the classroom or school. Either a new concept, or a supplement to an ongoing project, was eligible. The winners will use the money to purchase materials, supplies or equipment. Individual awards varied in amount, according to the requirements of the projects. Among the awardees are Maximiliano Maldonado, visual and performing arts teacher at Tustin High School, for “Photography - Pinhole Camera"; Kelly Morgan, fifth grade teacher at Peters Canyon Elementary, for “Strengthening Social, Emotional and Visual-Spatial Skills Through Engaging Gameplay”; and Andrea Willoughby-Jones, English teacher at Tustin High School for “Tiller Buddy Book Sharing.” CPOC hosts judicial candidates The Conservative Patriots of Orange County (CPOC) will host a panel of judicial candidates running in the November election at its Thursday, March 17, meeting at the Santa Ana Elks Lodge. Registration opens at 10:30 a.m.; the meeting begins at 11 a.m. Lunch ($30) will be served; reser- vations are required. Tickets may be purchased at conservativepatri- otsoc.org or by calling Peggy Ba- ranyay, (714) 828-1289. The Elks is located at 1751 Lyon St. Conservative Patriots President Deborah Pauly, left, and educa- tor Peggy Hall, guest speaker at the group’s February meeting.