The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

CotoBuzz Journal

Community Journalism, Newsletters and Blogs Covering South Orange County, CA

December 2006 We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and the Coto de Caza Board of directors and report the facts!

Community Public Safety Round Up – October 2006

November 3, 2006

The Morgan Quitno Awards for the 2005 Safest Cities are out and the awards (overall, regardless of population) go to: Mission Viejo in fourth place, Lake Forest at number six and Irvine in 11^th place.

We had to take a second look, because these figures seemed eerily familiar. And in fact, there was a reason these figures are familiar. This is exactly what we published in the November 2004 issue of CotoBuzz: “It should be comforting to know that recently Three Orange County cities are among the safest cities in the country, according to an annual ranking based on the FBI's 2003 crime statistics. Mission Viejo and Lake Forest were ranked the fourth- and sixth-safest cities, respectively. Irvine ranked 11th. And just as quickly, reality sets in when comparing Coto de Caza crime figures with those of its non-gated neighbors (source: CNN Money)” - Cotobuzz Nov., 2004

Another city that is consistently ranked at the top of the safest cities’list is Thousand Oaks, coming in at number 7 for 2005. “As the mayor pro tem of Thousand Oaks, one of the safest cities in the US might say: "Public safety is our primary concern. We will do everything in our power to keep our city safe"” CotoBuzz, Nov., 2004. “"That's fantastic," said Mayor Lance Maclean via telephone Sunday. "This speaks to the quality of our residents and dedication to public safety in our community." Reports Kathryn Nguyen in the Orange County Register article titled Irvine, Lake Forest also achieve high rankings in survey. Published October 30, 2006

We have consistently argued that public safety is not an accident, but a commitment involving the community, elected officials, and local law enforcement agencies – a message the Coto de Caza board of directors have received with disdain. Accordingly, the crime rate in the community continues to exceed that of other neighboring communities, gated or not.

On a related subject, the CHP Public Arrest log for the Week Ending 10-30-2006 shows a total number of arrest of 20, including the arrests of Trabuco Canyon resident R. Gregario and Ladera Ranch resident 20-year old D. Lamitie. Ladera Ranch has now tied Mission Viejo as the top 10 community with most arrests.

COTO DE CAZA DATE –Cotobuzz Nov., 2004

Population: 13,597

Crime about crime data	City Stats	Natl. Avg.	Rank from Lo to Hi (out of 1260)
Personal crime risk (index based on 100 average; lower is better)	59	100	777
Property crime risk (index based on 100 average; lower is better)	41	100	282

According to the conclusion of the international conference on private urban governance, more then half of all new homes in the U.S. are guarded in some way. This might seem like a somewhat extreme reaction on the American anxiety, but the whole trend towards gated communities could actually be a good thing and a revival of the old Greek ideal of the city-state

The Nobel Peace Prize and Coto de Caza Budget Process
Just over one week ago, Muhammad Yanus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work making small loans to poor people with big dreams. Something he started to do in his native Bangladesh some 30-plus years ago.
Several Web sites have sprung up in the last few...

REQUEST TO COTO DE CAZA BOD TO RENEW CHP CONTRACT FROM MR. MANIAN'S NEXT OF KIN
To: Coto de Caza Board of Directors
From: A. Manian
Subject: REQUEST TO RENEW CHP CONTRACT
I understand that the CZ Master Association board of directors is seriously considering terminating the CHP contract for pro-active traffic control by the end of...

You Can Foley Some People Some of the Time, But You Cannot Foley All the People All of the Time.
Trickle down economics: Incompetent/corrupt politicians bankrupted Orange County once. Writing is on the wall to do it again!
First, Orange County is driven into bankruptcy by incompetent/corrupt politicians. In the “lessons learned” category...

COTO DE CAZA SIGNATURE BLOCK PROPOSAL
To make sure Coto residents understand what they get when they see a signature block as the one listed below, we are proposing a disclaimer that should be included within that signature block:

Topic ONE here