Foothills Sentry October 2020

October 2020 Page 17 Foothills Sentry Local Business Owner "I am pleased to endorse Ana, Carrie and Tiger for Orange Unified School Board. They are the kind of ethical, hard-working and fiscally responsible leaders OUSD needs." Educator / Nonprofit Director Ana has decades of experience creating bilingual educational programming will aid parents in developing their child’s social and emotional skills, especially as children return to the classroom environment. As an educator and proud OUSD parent and aluma, Ana knows what students, parents, teachers, and staff need to be successful. Visit: anapageforousd.com Community supported, classroom teacher endorsed. Parent / Business Owner Carrie has been a trusted leader in our community for over 13  years. She has invested thousands of  hours volunteering and  advocating for students in  our OUSD schools. Carrie’s experience will bring much-needed perspective to effectively identify weaknesses, bolster strengths, and creatively solve problems to move our district forward. Visit: carriefororangeunified.com Technology Instructor / Parent Tiger will bring a new, innovative and forward thinking vision to our schools for the benefit of our students, parents, teachers, staff, and community. Tiger believes in fiscal responsibility. Tiger will work hard to attract and retain the best teachers in Orange Unified as well as expand our district’s  focus on  science, technology, engineering, arts and math programs. Visit: tigercosmos.com OUSD Parent Leader "Ana, Carrie and Tiger provide a wide array of experiences and perspectives that will benefit our students in Orange Unified. As a fellow OUSD parent, I appreciate their commitment to the well-being of all OUSD students." Nicol Jones Ron Esparza California Teacher of the Year "Ana, Carrie, & Tiger have our students’ interests at heart. Their willingness to roll up their sleeves and be visible in our community is exactly the change we need." Linda Horist OUSD SCHOOL BOARD Trustee Area 3 OUSD SCHOOL BOARD Trustee Area 6 OUSD SCHOOL BOARD Trustee Area 2 Paid for by Carrie Lundell for OUSD School Board 2020 FPPC #1425612, Tiger Cosmos OUSD School Board 2020 FPPC #1426848, and Ana Page for OUSD School Board FPPC #1429486 Guest Commentary A review of our city council’s mistakes and long-term consequences By Laura Thomas Owning a business in Orange, living in Orange, serving with the Chamber of Commerce, and be- ing actively involved with com- munity issues has given me a unique vantage point of city hall, the city council, and the commu- nity at large. Our city is at a crossroads, es- pecially as we transition into the district elections mandated by the court. Residents are upset by a long list of grievances that in- clude: short-term rentals, changes to the Design Review Committee, Chapman expansion, potential land-use changes for the mall on Tustin Avenue, and, not the least, the dumpsite at the former Sully- Miller site. I have witnessed three ma- jor mistakes made by our city council over the years, and I am perplexed that the resulting con- sequences have never been con- nected to these council errors: 1. The city council reversed the planning commission’s decision to close the Sully-Miller site. In 2002, the planning commis- sion voted to shut down the Sully- Miller site. The landowner, Han- sen, appealed to the city council and proposed to continue opera- tions for three years and then shut it down. But in 2003, the city council reversed the planning commission decision and allowed the operation to continue without accepting Hansen’s offer to close the site in three years. Both Mark Murphy and Mike Alvarez were on the council. Had the city council simply accepted Hansen’s proposal, the entire mess that has transpired on the site would have been avoided. The consequence of this short- sighted decision has allowed this site to illegally convert into a dumpsite, which city hall con- doned. For over 12 years, resi- dents have had to endure Milan’s bad behavior. Citizens are fed up with the council’s lack of leadership and have taken matters into their own hands. The county and the state have now intervened. 2. The city council updated the General Plan but failed to in- clude East Orange. In 2005, our city started the General Plan update but ignored all of East Orange, including its responsibility to address the proper land use of the Sully-Mill- er site since mining had ceased. This was the obvious time to re- claim the land to its former state and ensure that the zoning re- mained consistent with the open space vision of our General Plan and the Santiago Greenbelt Plan by rezoning it open space. The majority of the site is designated “Resource” in our General Plan. Resource allows for mining, ag- riculture and open space. But, nowhere in our General Plan does it support changing the resource designation to “Housing” despite assertions otherwise by develop- ers. The consequence of this short- sighted decision has created un- necessary conflict, confusion and uncertainty. It has forced citizens to fight city hall and exercise their referendum rights to put Measure AA on the ballot. 3. The city council was not pro- active on district elections. There is confusion as to why the city council was forced to increase to seven members with voting by districts. In 2017, the city was notified that it was in violation of the California Voting Rights Act. However, the city council failed to address the issue head on. In fact, it exacerbated the situation when faced with a vacant council seat by setting up a special elec- tion in 2019, which got canceled by the courts. The consequences of the coun- cil’s insensitivity and lack of inclusion resulted in a lawsuit against the city to instate voting by districts to protect the inter- ests of Latinos. The costs to the city were $340,000 just for the plaintiff’s attorney fees. The sub- sequent change failed to include term limits for which Orange res- idents voted to enforce in 1996. And now, Mike Alvarez, who has termed out, is running for re- election. Our city is in turmoil. Citizens are angry as they watch develop- ers drive the issues in our town, with little concern for residents and our quality of life. The con- sequences of these shortsighted decisions need to be reversed. The only way to do that is a change of leadership. We have new people stepping up and are willing to serve without pay. I recommend we stay away from recycled politicians and vote in community-minded leaders for our city council. Laura Thomas has been an Or- ange resident for 38 years. She served two terms as president of the Orange Park Association.