The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

The CotoBuzz Journal

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

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April 2007 Issue

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!

It is Official: Coto de Caza Mounties are here!

A CZ Master Association BOD decision making framework

March 9, 2007

According to the March 9, 2007 issue of the Orange County Register’s The CanyonLife, the Mounties have mounted a "coordinated patrol effort on Saturday, March 3, on the county’s trails in the hills around Coto de Caza and Holy Jim Canyon. The high visibility effort is in response to residents' concerns raised about people causing problems and conducting illegal activities on the trails” – Apparently no one has bothered to check out the detailed public safety statistics regularly published by the CotoBuzz Journal – or they have, but prefer the “visibility” part?

On a related story, the same issue of the OCR contains an article titled Mailbox Thieves Cause Concern and describes how Las Flores resident Teri Derby “..called the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to file an identity theft report, and filed a stolen mail report online with the U.S. Postal Service”. We contacted Keystone Management,the CZ Master Association’s property manager on March 2, 2007 with concerns about service providers regularly accessing resident’s mailboxes, including ours! To date, no one representing the CZ Master Association has done or said anything. In our case, we contacted one of the suppliers, who immediately replied with an apology. As a result, we are developing a violator's list to include all sorts of violations, including intellectual property and other breaches!

As Monk would say: “Here’s the thing”. On the one hand, local government officials, including the CZ Master Association board of directors, are using precious Sheriff’s resources for “visibility” purposes, “in response to residents concerns raised about people causing problems and conducting illegal activities on the trails”, when the OCSD’s own research show that crime and vandalism prevention resources within the Coto de Caza community could be used elsewhere. Similarly, the CHP data screams for an aggressive public safety program. In fact, we have asserted that if ALL the public safety resources available to the CZ Master Association for public safety were allocated to patrol Coto de Camel Dr., Vista Del Verde and San Miguel, the community would be 100% better!

On the other hand, valid complaints about service providers illegally accessing residents mail boxes are filed with Keystone Pacific and the CZ Master Association board of directors, but there is not even an acknowledgement, so what is the message?

As R. L,. Ackoff writes in his book The Future of Operational Research: In real life, decisions “instead of being made by an idealized decision-maker, real organizational decisions emerge from complex social and political interactions that are anything by rational! - much more complicated in this association's case as one needs to consider the anti-social behavior of certain members, self-described as professional fighters - a-la ear-biting Mike Tyson, perhaps?

Bob Varo and Jerry Mezger choose to see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil because they are completely incompetent polly annas who don’t want to make waves for their friends at the country club. Remember, Varo/Mezger fired the CHP because their friends were concerned that they might be cited for DUI’s coming out of the club on the way home. Varo/Mezger do not really support pro-active traffic enforcement in Coto as evidenced by their words and actions. The CHP was brought back because of two tragic deaths and the rise in accidents that was obvious only after our Members stormed a Board Meeting in absolute anger and disgust by Varo/Mezger’s actions. The reality is that if we want real security in Coto, we need more black and whites on our main streets be they CHP and/or Sheriff in combination. Our money being spent on Universal patrols for the most part is a complete waste of money. We would be far better off buying more CHP time and/or if ever feasible directly more Sheriff’s time. Varo and Mezger will not vote to do so, however, because their friends at the country club would not support it. Let’s face it, Varo and Mezger do not represent the 3550 Members of CZ. Instead, they represent the dues paying Members of the Country Club. It is what it is. Joe Morabito