Dribs and Drabs

Goings on LWV Issue 24 October 09

*Wasn’t it fun watching the first “real” meeting of the new Third Board? Several of us took bets as to who would fall asleep again the next time: Lucy Shimon or Mike Straziuso. Shimon won hands down since she spent more time apparently asleep than Straziuso who actually admitted he was taking a lot of pain medication and wasn’t really “himself”. He did promise that the next meeting he would be demonstrating his very active participation. Does that mean he’ll be using the vicious mouth he has demonstrated before his election to the board? I wonder if he drove himself home.

I don’t know what Lucy Shimon did at the DAR meetings but sleeping on the dais wasn’t one of the recommended behaviors as a rule. Nice to know we have her full attention. I can hardly wait until she’s been through a cycle or two of meetings and see just how exhausted she really gets. Of course, it’ll be interesting to see if she’s just another ride-along board member who will do as she is told by her much touted “mentors” or if she’ll actually begin to function on her own. Anybody want to lay a quarter on it? That’s about all any of us will have left when they finish letting our pockets be sucked out if they can’t pay more attention than demonstrated on Tuesday, October 20.

*Did you love Milt going on and on about the elaborate “plan” in case Swine Flu shuts down the PCM offices? Maybe they should watch and see what happens on Capitol Hill since they all have the flu. Somehow I don’t think it needs to be turned into the scare fest Milt seems to be trying to make it. Get a grip and deal with it just like the rest of the world. How about the same kind of attention to transparency and accountability?

*How do you like the letter in the Globe today from Margo and Bob Bouer? (Bob Bouer is the brother of Arlene Stuller who is wife of Erwin (his onerous) Stuller, president of GRF.) They used the 2370 Via Mariposa address yet their letter is an unpaid advertisement for living at the Regency and they are still using the Mariposa address! They moved out of the Via Mariposa address and it was foreclosed on some weeks ago leaving the bank holding the bag and probably unknown thousands owed to Third Mutual in BACK ASSESSMENTS. The MEMBERS of Third are probably now stuck having to deal with that loss. A little too smelly-tidy for my taste. In fact right now the Via Mariposa property is listed as “lender owned” and is listed for $159,000. The multiple listing service number on the property is S588150. But what the heck….call ‘em, go visit them, they’ll buy your lunch; or so they say in their ad…er letter to the editor.

*That brings up the issue of the Globe editorial staff and the fact that they printed the letter with the address incorrect. This isn’t the first letter Bouer has written and had printed by the Globe about living at the Regency which is across El Toro Road from the LWV Community Center. It must be tough to have to use hard earned editorial skills only to have it seem you must cater only to the whims of management and the “special people” management approves of. In the meantime there is an advertisement for a group that has been left out of this week’s Globe at the apparent whim of the editor or would that be on orders given from above? Another feeling that there are special rules for special people.

*A miracle has occurred in a certain cul de sac. Earlier, during late summer, when the slurry crews were out making havoc everywhere they went, questions arose as to the need for the slurry schedule places where it obviously didn’t need re-slurrying. There was at least ONE question about why places that had damaged asphalt were just slurried and no attention given to repairing the problem underneath. We got the standard long winded and circular non-answer from Kathryn Freshley about how her father worked for the County back in Indiana when she was a child, etc. I guess that makes her the corporate oracle on asphalt repair. But nothing of any value. Pictures of the cul de sac I mentioned above were posted. By golly, out of the blue the concrete swale was repaired and now there is actual repair to the substrate going on and new asphalt being laid. Unfortunately, this much needed repair comes AFTER it had been slurry sealed this summer. This is a MONUMENTAL waste of money….your money.

Freshley had told us how competent they were in their re-sealing campaign because they depended on the recommendation of the VENDOR (who of course, has NO financial interest in how much slurry is laid. I also have a bridge for sale) for the needs of LWV. Hmmmm, do you suppose that somebody actually went out and with their own eyes took a look at a few streets and decided that MAYBE, just maybe, the vendor wasn’t doing the job and once again PCM wasn’t DOING THEIR JOB and the boards weren’t doing their job? Why? Because there is NO OVERSIGHT! Unfortunately no oversight means YOUR MONEY is just sucked out of your pocket at PCM’s whim and it’s OK with the boards!

Where in the world was Larry Souza who was the M&C Chairman for Third at the time? Oh, that’s right…his only job was to bang on the desk and tell people to “fix their own damned faucets because HE did.” We wouldn’t want any M&C chair to actually get it out of that chair and go and LOOK at these huge money sucking projects. Nah, that might mean accepting the responsibility that is theirs whether they want it or not. Just as we wouldn’t want any other board member to get off his or her duff and take a look around without depending totally and completely on STAFF REPORTS which are simply one side of any story or one opinion. In a future column I will talk about double blind testing and researcher bias. It might shed a little light on staff reporting.

*The machines for the All American Asphalt company are now parked in the red zone outside Gate 10 by the nursery gates. Interesting how a PCM vendor can park in a red zone but any other human being in an automobile will get moved and possibly ticketed for parking anything in a red zone.The OCSD has been called.

* I have pictures of the asphalt work and of the machinery all parked in the red zone on the Laguna Woods City street by Gate 10. Interested in seeing them? Just ask.