Traffic Lights, Adult Stores on Council Agenda

For 5 Things today, we're taking a look at the agenda for the City Council meeting, which is tonight at City Hall at 7 p.m.:

1. When a proposal to synchronize traffic lights on El Toro Road through six different cities came to the City Council last meeting from the Orange County Transportation Authority, . "I'm really upset with this," Councilwoman Kathryn McCullough said at the time. "It's a band-aid; it's not a fix." The council directed staff to gather more info, and tonight that info will be presented. One interesting development: The other five cities involved—Aliso Viejo, Laguna Woods, Laguna Hills, Laguna Beach and Mission Viejo—have already agreed to a memorandum of understanding about the project. Lake Forest is the only holdout.
2. Remember when the council from opening in town, for fear of them getting too close to areas that will soon be developed with houses? The city staff is asking the council to extend that ban for 10 months and 15 days, in order to potentially draw up a new ordinance that addresses the planned homebuilding in Lake Forest.
3. A quarterly look at the the City Council members' travel expenses shows that council members debited $1,580.64 to the city between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2010. The approved total budget for such expenses is $35,000. Councilwoman Marcia Rudolph charged the lion's share of the money: $669.88.
4. The city's Redevelopment Agency Board—whose membership bears an eerie resemblance to that of the City Council—will consider allocating $1,386,000 to buy a four-unit apartment building on Saguaro Street to be used for affordable housing. The purchase price for the building is $925,750, and the agency is in escrow to buy it.
5. A few budget numbers from the city's latest quarterly financial report: In 2010, the city took in $11.7 million, spent $32.6 million and transferred $0.4 million between funds.