Here’s a preview of some items of interest coming up for the May 21 City Council meeting.
TERM LIMITS
Thanks to Councilman Adam Nick, the idea of term limits is coming, at last, to the council. I’ll have a special blog on that topic on Monday.
VILLAGE POND PARK
The city council and the Parks Commission are concerned about the conditions in Village Pond Park, so it’s good to see things moving along after all these years. At the Tuesday meeting the council will be asked to approve a $29,555 contract to Nuvis Landscape for “conducting workshops to engage the community in the development of a Consensus Master Plan for possible renovation of the park. In addition, the firm will provide an estimate of probable costs…”
Thank you city council for your efforts, and especially Council woman McCullough who has been the most vociferous in her call to “clean up the park.”
BTW – this is such a big issue that we’ll be devoting an entire blog to this topic in the near future.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The City proposes to give our Chamber of Commerce $15,000 for a series of program that include:
• “Lunch and Learn” roundtables that “feature presentations on effective marketing strategies, best hiring practices, and the benefits of supporting the local economy and reinvesting in the community. Additionally, the Chamber and City would continue to cross promote each other..."
• “Shop and Dine Lake Forest”
• “How to Do Business with the City” workshop to teach local residents and business owners how to get a bigger slice of the City’s $35,000,000 pie (of which we now get a miserly 5% at best).
In a previous blog I covered this proposal when it came before the Planning Commission, so interested readers should view that blog.
BUSINESS FRIENDLY
The Planning Commission just reviewed our signage and promotion procedures including the use of live entertainment and their recommendations are coming to the Council. Here’s a brief summary of what they propose –
• Increase the time businesses can display their special event banners• Increase the types of displays used in special events (e.g., small balloons, flag banners)
• Allow mega-stores to use mega banners instead of the current “one size fits all” policy.
• Increase the amount of window space that can be used for display purposes.
• Allow outdoor live entertainment on a regular basis
Here’s your opportunity to encourage the Council to move forward making our City more business friendly. OTOH, we have a certain quiet enjoyment of life in Lake Forest, and any changes that are more business friendly shouldn’t detract from that quiet life, so there is a thin line that needs to be walked.
It was only a few years ago that the City chased down Mr. Pickle and banished his greenness to the hills of Laguna, where he had to stand, forlornly by the 5 freeway to advertise his sandwiches. Now the City is continually trying to be more business friendly, and we have our new Mayor Scott Voigts and our even newer council members Adam Nick and Dwight Robinson to thank for this metamorphosis.
SUMMARY
The council meeting for May 21 promises to have a large number of items of interest. Try to attend and let the council members know your thoughts. If you can’t attend, post your thoughts here.
