Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/author/bpho/page/2/)
Two recall movements in two neighboring cities are on the move against elected officials this year – one in Westminster that’s guaranteed a recall election and another in Santa Ana that has gathered the signatures but won’t find out until next month from county officials whether it can move forward.
Council members Kimberly Ho, Charlie Nguyen, and Mayor Tri Ta — who comprise a majority voting bloc dubbed by critics as “the Gang of Three” for frequently clashing with minority council members over ethics and power at City Hall — are now officially at risk of being unseated.
A number of Orange County cities this year saw heightened levels of political disarray and verbal nastiness among their city councils, and at times the anger boiled over to the public they’re supposed to represent.
Council members at the beginning of the meeting unanimously agreed to drop discussion on the deal for now, hours after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mary Strobel ruled the Council could vote to approve the agreement but couldn’t finalize it before the end of the year.
The ruling possibly ties Garden Grove’s hands on the golf course, with city officials now prohibited from finalizing any development agreement for the golf course likely until after an expansion of the Surplus Land Act — which goes further in restricting the ways cities can’t find exemptions to the law and circumvent it — takes effect next year.
Tomorrow, after a week’s delay by city staff who cited a lack of enough information, the Garden Grove City Council will vote on a development deal to hand over the 100-acre Willowick Golf Course, located in west Santa Ana but owned by Garden Grove, to a for-profit development company over five decades.
Staff say increasing minimum wage and looming employee pension costs will make the admission price increases necessary.
Fair officials appointed Michele Richards, a former executive staffer who’s promising a new era of transparency for the state agency amid years of controversy leading to the October ousting of Richards’ predecessor, Kathy Kramer.
At their next meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 17, Garden Grove council members will decide whether to lease the 100-acre Willowick Golf Course to hotel development company McWhinney over the next five decades, with currently no information from city staff on exactly how much in dollars the developer would be paying annually for the property.
Garden Grove city officials today will decide whether one of the last remaining open green spaces in a working-class area will be handed to a for-profit developer for decades, despite an ongoing local court battle over whether city officials actually have the legal authority to do so.