Mark Schwing

Mark Schwing on the Issues

Mark Schwing at work

A number of very important issues affecting your quality of life will need to be considered by Yorba Linda City Council during the next four years.

EXPERIENCE: Several of the candidates for City Council are touting their experience. Mark Schwing has attended far more City Council meetings from 1998 through October 21, 2008, than any other candidate, incumbent or challenger. Mark has an excellent in-depth knowledge of city issues both past and present. He will be ready to ready to “hit the ground running” when he is elected to the City Council.

PROPOSITION 8 - Mark Schwing supports a Yes vote on California Proposition 8.

TOWN CENTER - I support a Town Center that reflects the historic values and vision of Yorba Linda that follows the guidelines developed over eighteen months by the twenty-four member Blue Ribbon Committee.

I see the Town Center being the home to additional restaurants, a coffee shop, boutique shops, antique shops and more. I see a parking facility that makes pedestrian access to the current Main Street and the future businesses easy and convenient.

I see a Town Center that will drawn residents from both west and east Yorba Linda downtown to enjoy an evening out or to shop a series of new and old businesses.

I see a Town Center that benefits Yorba Linda residents and not the profits of developers.

I see a Town Center that is not filled with high density, low income housing.

The Winder-Ryan Council wasted as much as $4 Million dollars of city taxpayer money on their failed town center project. They used eminent domain to take business properties away from the owners. The used the threat of eminent domain to force businesses from their properties and residents from their homes. The result is a blighted area with boarded up, dilapidated homes. Tens of thousands of property taxes have been lost forever.

Bonds sold for the purpose of building a parking garage and a new fire station are costing taxpayers approximately $800,000 a year in interest. These bonds were approved by the Winder-Ryan Council during late night Council meetings while the public was sleeping. Neither project has even reached the drawing board let alone be designed. The new fire station would be the only one in the O.C. Fire Authority paid for by city taxpayers.

Of the Winder-Ryan Council only Jim Winder is left. Ken Ryan didn’t run for re-election in 2006. Kerri Wilson was defeated in 2006 and again in the special June 2007 election. Mike Duvall is now a state assemblyman. Alan Castellano is not running for re-election. It is time to complete the change. Change the Council, not the City! Let’s complete the Town Center the way our residents want it to be.

PUBLIC SAFETY - At approximately $10 Million dollars, the police service contract with the City of Brea for Yorba Linda police services is the largest single item in the city’s general fund budget. The police services contract is like a big elephant in the room, everyone knows that it is there but no one wants to talk about it.

With the contract costing almost a $1 Million additional every year and crime rates increasing in our city it is high time we talk about and take some action.

Part 1 crimes against property such as Burglary and Thefts have increase 48% from 2004 through 2007 and they are still increasing. The police department’s response is for our residents to reinforce our homes and not leave anything in our cars. The City Council rarely if ever will even discuss it.

Our City has a little over a year left on the current five-year contract with Brea for police services. Alternate options were last studied in the 1994-95 time frame. It is time to do a new study of all alternatives including starting our own police department while there is still time to consider options before the contract ends. Yes, there are start up costs involved with having our police department. These must be quantified as well as the day to today operating costs for our own department.

Right now we have a city, Brea, whose resident population is approximately 40,000 providing police services for a city whose resident population is nearly 70,000. Logically that seems backwards but the population difference was not so great several decades ago.

Right now, we have the same number of patrol and motorcycle officer patrolling Yorba Linda as those patrolling Brea even though their population is some 30,000 less. By the way, Part 1 Burglary and Theft crimes have decreased in Brea over the years. Yorba Linda is patrolled by approximately (it varies with day and time) six motorcycle traffic officer and five patrol officers in the black and white sedans. Traffic accidents have decreased dramatically in Yorba Linda will the crime rate has gone up. Isn’t it time to place more emphasis on reducing residential crimes by shifting some of those motorcycle officers to neighborhood patrols in the black and whites?

Why won’t our existing City Council discuss these and other alternatives? With a retired Brea police captain on our council and another running for the council, they want to protect their friends and buddies still in the Brea department.

I believe it is a conflict of interest by having any former Brea police officer on our City Council and voting for a contract with their former department, especially if one has a daughter working for that department as is the current situation.

I promise to support a study of all police service options and to conduct public meetings to discuss all the ramifications of all those options.

THE CITY OF YORBA LINDA SUES ITSELF - I wonder how many members of our tax paying public know that the City sued itself over Measure B?

Back in 2005, about 9700 Yorba Linda registered voters signed a series of initiative petitions known as the “Right to Vote Initiative”. Faced with thousands more signatures than required to place the measure on the ballot, the City Council voted in public session to place the issue on the June 2006 primary election ballot as Measure B. Then in a session closed to the public the Council directed to the City Clerk to hire a special lawyer (other than the City Attorney) to sue the civilian resident proponents of the initiative. It turns out the proponents couldn’t be sued without also suing the City Council who voted to place the initiative on the ballot. So we had attorneys for the City Attorney’s law firm of B.B.&K defending the City against the special attorneys hired by the City Clerk and both sides being paid for by our City tax dollars.

When the opposing attorneys talked with each other by telephone about the case as they often did, the City was paying both law firms very high hourly rates with our tax monies. My understanding was that at least $75,000 of our tax monies went down the drain in this fashion.

When the case finally reached the court, the presiding judge threw it out of court admonishing the City for even bring the lawsuit in the first place. The City had to pay the legal defense fees of the civilian resident defendants in the case so even more tax dollars were wasted.

In the end, Measure B was passed by our voters and is now law in our City.

Note: The 2006 Measure B and the current 2008 Measure BB are two different issues and should not be confused. A Yes vote on Measure BB opposes the use of eminent domain for private economic gain any where within our City. I urge you to vote Yes on Measure BB.

If you wish to personally request Mark to address a particular issue that you do not see here, please send an e-mail to Mark at mark@markschwing.com