Foothills Sentry - July 2021

NEWS INSIDE East Orange • Old Towne Orange • Orange Park Acres • Villa Park • Silverado/Modjeska Canyons • North Tustin A Monthly Community Newspaper July 2021 *********ECRWSSEDDM**** Residential Customer Letters To The Editor Page 4-6 Canyon Beat Page 7 Service Directory Pages 11-13 Prof. Directory Page 13 Classifieds Page 13 Real Estate Page 14 Obituaries Page 14 Sports Page 15 The Best News In Town Since 1969 TALK OF THE TOWN OTPA hosts update on issues of interest in Orange historic district. See State of, page 3 FOLLOW US at Foothills Sentry BEST IN CLASS School district salutes high-achieving graduates for great grades and grit. See OUSD, page 6 RUN IT UP THE FLAGPOLE Or not. Orange council would rather revise city ordinance than display the rainbow Pride flag. See Orange, page 2 CAN’T TOP THIS Despite shortened seasons, high school athletes bring home first-time trophies. See Community Sports, page 15 PROMISED PARK PENDING Delayed by details, deferments and the pandemic slowdown, Crawford Canyon Park may soon go out for bids. See Construction, page 8 See "OPA" continued on page 2 Mary’s Kitchen to lose license The City of Orange will not renew its license agreement with Mary’s Kitchen, located on the Struck Avenue parcel that has housed the facility since 1994. Mary’s Kitchen, founded in 1984 by then 82-year old Mary McAnena, provides meals, cloth- ing, showers and laundry facili- ties for the homeless. It does not, the city found, provide referrals, transitional housing, jobs, men- tal health or addiction services. And those services are what Or- ange County is focused on to ease homelessness. No longer an answer County health experts see sim- ply providing meals as “enabling” homelessness, not solving it. Gloria Suess, who is the hands- on director at Mary’s Kitchen, reports that she and her many vol- unteers from groups throughout the area are “extremely upset.” We are a “motherly group,” she says, stressing that the Kitchen serves as a navigation center, try- ing to help clients with housing and other services. She reports that she submitted a services proposal and even of- fered to buy the parcel of land. The bottom line, she believes, is the affordable housing develop- ment that is to be built nearby. Changing client base Both Suess and the city agree that the clientele has changed. Few of the individuals who fre- quent Mary’s Kitchen are from Orange. When people are re- leased from county jails, they are referred to Mary’s Kitchen. Agencies throughout the south- land send people to Mary’s Kitch- en. “We’ve had two assaults on police officers this year,” Orange Police Chief Tom Kisela reports. “Someone held a knife to a worker’s throat. They want to stay close to where the food is, so they stay in the neighbor- hood. They break into businesses. We’ve had 84 calls this year re- lated to Mary’s Kitchen.” The facility is next to the police station. People jump the fence be- hind the station, defecate in the bushes, even do drugs, the police chief explains. “What started out to help the homeless in Orange," Kisela says,"has spread to very few peo- ple from Orange.” Still worthy The city has talked to volun- teers and underwriters, hoping to keep the spirit of Mary’s Kitchen alive. “I knew Mary McAnena very well,” Mayor Mark Mur- phy recalls. “I remember when she came to me back in the 90s, put her hand on my arm and said, you’ve got to help me find a place where I can feed my boys.” The license agreement calls for a 30-day notice to quit; the city sent Mary’s Kitchen notice to ter- minate the license in 90 days. County approves waste hauler over OPA’s objections to skyrocketing costs By Tina Richards The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved 10-year contracts for waste hauling and recycling services for unincor- porated county islands, leaving many horse owners in the county portion of Orange Park Acres an- gry, frustrated and astonished at the lack of regard shown them by Third District Supervisor Don Wagner. When OPA county residents learned that the county was poised to sign a contract with Waste Management (WM) that would nearly triple the rates for manure pick up, they contacted Supervisor Wagner’s office and asked that the contract be recon- sidered. Waste Management is the current contractor for that county island and charges $280 a month for pick up three times a week. It does not, however, recycle the manure, which is a state mandate that will start being enforced in January 2022. WM’s proposed new rate was $831. City strikes a bargain In contrast, three-times-a-week manure collection in the City of Orange portion of OPA is $88.96. The city contract is with CR&R. Part of the rate difference be- tween the city and county is due to how the contracts are bid. The county has divided itself into nine trash hauling districts, with the canyons and OPA being lumped together. El Modena is a separate district. In a letter to Don Wagner, OP Association President Sherry Panttaja wrote, “We believe the county islands in Orange (OPA and El Modena) should have been grouped together when request- ing bids for the trash contracts. Our OPA City of Orange neigh- bors who require bins for manure collection are able to participate in the ‘stable bedding recycle program.’ This program supports recycling objectives, helps the environment and saves residents money.” When the county requested bids for proposals for each of its nine districts, the OPA incum- bent hauler, Waste Management, renewed its bid for that location. Ware Disposal, who has serviced El Modena for 14 years, hoped to re-up for that area as well. CR&R submitted bids for both OPA and El Modena. Trash talking CR&R's bid for the canyons/ OPA district was lower than Waste Management’s, but still significantly higher than that of its City of Orange customers. Its proposed fees for El Modena were higher than Ware’s. County staff, considering com- pliance with state organics recy- cling mandates as well as costs, recommended CR&R for El Modena and Waste Management for OPA. When the trash con- tracts were discussed at the May 25 Board of Supervisors meeting, Wagner focused on Ware’s loss of the El Modena contract and asked that staff take another look at it. He stressed that Ware had a great track record and that chang- ing haulers could be disruptive to residents. He also mentioned OPA’s concerns about costs, but when asked by the board chair if he wanted to continue those con- Carole Walters, second from left, was named Citizen of the Year by Orange Elks Lodge 1475 at the June 8 city council meeting. Walters is recognized for “going above and beyond” as the community service chair of the Orange Emblem Club 418, working in conjunction with the lodge. With Walters, from left, are Past Exalted Ruler Danny Salas; Elks recording secretary Jan Genelle; and trustee John Russo. Orange Unified School District’s Class of 2021 was the first to collect its diplomas at the newly renovated Fred Kelly Stadium. Graduates from Orange, Villa Park, El Modena, Canyon, Richland High Schools and Parkside Educational Center were celebrated in separate events held June 9 and 10. Photo courtesy OUSD