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LETTERS to the EDITOR
Welcome Wagner
Dear Editor: The Orange Park Association
Board unanimously voted in Feb- ruary to endorse Don Wagner for State Senate, and urges you to vote for Don on March 17. Don has been a big supporter of our community and has strong ties to Orange. Recognizing the traffic speed issues the equestrian com- munity has faced, he authored an Assembly Bill that is a huge benefit to OPA. It was signed into law, which ensures that our speed limits will remain safe and
not be allowed to be increased, as they would have been under the old traffic law. This is VERYim- portant to the safety of our eques- trian community. Please vote for Don Wagner.
Laura Thomas Orange Park Acres
Dear Editor: Don Wagner has represented
his constituents well in Sacramen- to. He has been very responsive to the concerns of North Tustin. He has proven he can work with Democrats to accomplish
Foothills Sentry
legislation. Let’s keep him there. There will be a small turnout
for almost any special election. This makes each vote much more important. Unless Don receives a majority of votes, there will be a runoff of the two largest vote re- cipients (of three candidates). To avoid a runoff, we need to get out the vote for Don Wagner.
Rick Nelson North Tustin PAC
Board blows it
Dear Editor: A few random thoughts on the
OUSD bond discussion held on Feb. 26, prior to the regular board meeting: Those who voted for Mea-
sure K focused on how to pass another bond without address- ing any of the concerns of those who voted against it. Those who voted against it focused on how to address their concerns so they would vote for the next one – aka, a standstill. It was clear that nobody on the
board wanted to address any of the concerns that Measure K op- ponents voiced. None. That means they are either too lazy, or can’t. Board members are politicians,
not operations specialists. They have no idea what ingredients go into a cake. All they care about is the icing. That’s why Measure K was based on $74 million per school, not a detailed project plan with estimated, actual and contin- gency costs. The entire analysis presented
The Orange Unified School District (OUSD) Board of Trustees recently made a right decision in opposing the Old Town Preservation Association (OTPA) regarding the Killefer school site. According to the news media, the (OTPA) seeks the Kille- fer school site as historic building and it can not be demolished. The site has 1.7 acres in the City Orange which was declared as surplus school site in 2008.
1. 2. 3.
The building in question (541 N. Lemon St) is one story 74-year old which has been vacated over 10 years and without EIR, it may require extensive repairs to meet the city/state building codes. Since the school bond K failed to pass on the last November election, the OUSD needs the money. The teacher’s salary has not been raised for over 4 years and it is more important for school student’s education than the OTPA intention. As the community, let’s support the OUSD’s effort to oppose the OTPA. It is suggested the OUSD should apply for the old building demolition permit without delay from the Building and Safety Dept., City of Orange. ( Hopeful the newly elected City Council Kim Nichols the former OUSD Board President will support the controversy issue).So that the site will be cleared before the closing escrow and let the OUSD have the $5.1 million income from one of the real estate devel- oper high bidders.
P.S. It is disappointed that after more than one year peace and quiet regarding the Peralta school site, the OUSD Board majority under the leaderships John Ortega and Tim Surridge once again place the 19.6 acres for sale. The controversy over the zone change from school to residential zone will be brought up by the concerning neighbors due to heavy traffic along Meats and Tustin Avenue and other issues. (Advertisement)
was nothing more than “How can we market to, and parse the popu- lation better next time, so we can pull it off?” The focus on selling surplus property is absurd. That is a short-term fix. It will buy time, but will fail because it does not address the structural problems of expanding salaries and benefits. We could all pay our bills easier if we sell our cars, but then what? One speaker said that those
who opposed Measure K were telling lies. She asked the board to educate people better. I wanted to ask her, “what lies, specifical- ly?” She did not mention any of them. To me, “educate the public more” simply means “market the project better and drown out the facts presented by the other side.”
Scott Logue North Tustin
Dear Editor: I was quite disappointed that
the Peralta Golf Partnership, aka Super Sports, lease with Orange Unified School District ended on a 4-3 vote at the last board meet- ing. Trustees Ortega, Surridge, Ledesma and Wayland voted not to extend the lease with Trustees Moffat, Singer and Deligianni- Brydges voting to extend the lease on a month-to-month basis. There were two options to consider: Option one, extend the lease month-to-month with OUSD receiving a net of $200K per year. Option two, OUSD would set
up a “licensing agreement” di- rectly with Super Sports' exist- ing tenants for a gross amount of $309,360. The important ques- tions regarding the major oper- ating expenses/repairs/insurance OUSD could incur for option two were not addressed or even known, nor was there a plan for who would run the driving range, putting area, baseball field, gym- nasium and pro shop. Most troubling was that OUSD officials had already talked with
the Super Sports tenants about a direct “licensing agreement,” fully anticipating the Super Sports lease would be canceled. It appeared that the board major- ity had planned to dump Super Sports and at no time was the Su- per Sports owner allowed to state his case. There was no mention that 20 years ago, Super Sports had taken the run-down Peralta property that was being used for gang meetings, drug deals and vagrancy and turned it into some- thing that is appreciated and used by the community. Super Sports added value to Peralta by using its entrepreneurial skills to fulfill a needed niche in Orange.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Rather than crushing that en- trepreneurial spirit, a better al- ternative would have been for the district to request a new bid process via an RFP (Request for Proposal). This would provide transparency, restore faith in the board majority, enhance the dis- trict image and assure other ven- dors they will be treated in a dig- nified manner. I remain hopeful that theOUSD
board majority will reverse its short-sighted decision and get the facts so that a thoughtful and fair lease can be secured for Peralta.
Michael Fischer Orange
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Dear Editor
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