The group “Save San Clemente Open Space” neglects to weigh in on a conversion of open space just two weeks after a locally publicized open space issue.
[flashvideo filename=http://www.flatheadenterprises.com/streams/9Acres.flv width=”450″ height=”366″ /]
Lie to me. Persuade me to fight your fight. I’ve waited my whole life to save 9-holes of a private golf course. I’m passionate about being used. You know I only read the headlines. Your seductive catch-phrases and hooks have my complete attention, today. The facts aren’t important as long as we look good right now. Our children/grandchildren will celebrate our vapidity/shallowness. After all, we look good right now. Follow the herd. Always follow the herd. Good.
YES ON MEASURE C
Charles Mann and the group “Save San Clemente Open Space” want you to believe that Pacific Golf Club represents the Last Large Recreational Open Space in San Clemente. The city of San Clemente has one of greatest percentages of open space in all of California. Do you know how many cities there are in California? They will say anything, meaning they lie like crazy, to get your support.
[flashvideo filename=http://www.flatheadenterprises.com/streams/lastLarge.flv width=”450″ height=”366″ /]
[flashvideo filename=vids/openSpaceDefined_001_cowSpecs.flv width=”450″ height=”336″ /]
The faux-environmental group, “Save San Clemente Open Space”, blatantly misleads the residents of San Clemente by gathering their signatures on the premise that the voters should decide the fate of “Open Space”. Then when they get the opportunity to have the residents actually vote on the issue, they turn around and plead with the City Council to have them repeal their approval of the project. Thereby taking the vote away from the residents. The very tool they used to get us to sign in the first place.
This is a remix of an earlier clip, the sound is cleaned up a little and the correct logos are inserted at the end.
[flashvideo filename=http://www.flatheadenterprises.com/streams/yesOnMeasureC.flv width=”450″ height=”366″ /]
The legendary golfer, Gary Player, speaks to the San Clemente City Council.
[flashvideo filename=http://www.flatheadenterprises.com/streams/gPlayerSpeaks.flv width=”450″ height=”366″ /]
Gary Hopp exploits the emotions of Talega parents.
[flashvideo filename=http://www.flatheadenterprises.com/streams/despicable.flv width=”450″ height=”366″ /]
I’m going to shoot you in the face. I’m going to kiss you in the face. I only changed one word. Mr. and Mrs. Jones your daughter is dead. Mr. and Mrs. Jones your daughter is alive. Again, only changed one word. Charles Mann claiming victory after being ordered by Judge Warren Siegel to change 12 of 13 points in his “No on C” argument is ridiculous yet totally predictable. He and his golf buddies have been manipulating the media since they began their faux-environmental group in January of this year. This time they were called to the carpet and lost. How arrogant do you need to be to walk out of a courtroom after being handed your lunch and say you won? If you’re reading this, and you know Charles Mann, then you know what I’m talking about. Oh, by the way, Judge Siegel only changed one word in his ruling on 12 of 13 points, from innocent to guilty.
We all want to keep our jobs, right? And most of us, I would hope, have a desire to achieve beyond our current station in life. Sifting through the thousands of job-related decisions one makes each day, what percentage is truly for the good of the business and what percentage is completely self-serving? Maybe you don’t have a job like that. But if you’re a politician representing the city of San Clemente, you most certainly do. That specific consideration is waged on each and every decision you make. The question for you, as a political animal, is will the decision benefit the city more or benefit you more? Or, will it only benefit what you percieve as a positive political decision? At the March 20th, San Clemente City Council meeting I witnessed what I percieved to be political self-preservation at it’s clumsiest. Again, a predetermined G. Wayne Eggleston deliberated with image and image alone in mind. How else can you explain his reasons for voting against the rezoning of 7 acres of land from neighborhood commercial to residential. He stated that his two greatest concerns were;
a) the process in which the city undertook the project and
b) traffic.
a) It was made abundantly clear during the meeting that the process was standard protocol.
b) traffic,…Mr. Eggleston must have a very low opinion of his constituents intelligence, or as stated above, he only voted against the Amendment to make himself look good, or both. Who actually thinks that 135 units would dramatically affect traffic? Have you ever driven down Vista Hermosa? Have you ever been at the Vista Hermosa/La Pata intersection? As pointed out by Lori Donchek, the affected thoroughfares would retain “A” LOS (Level of Service) cIassifications. And at “A” classifications, motorists are able to regularly drive well above the posted speed limit. In a school zone, how safe is that? Mr. Eggleston shares some of the same charm and demographic as the late Liberace, and he has been equally successful in steering his following to support his agenda, but back to my original question; what percentage of the decisions are best for the city in which he serves and what percentage are solely for political self-preservation?
If you read the San Clemente Times “Letter to the Editor”(Mar.15-21, Vol. 2, issue 11) entitled “unplayable lies” by Jim Smith and you’re not a golfer, you didn’t get his attempt at being clever. Once again, just as with the flyers he and his clan littered your doorways and windshield wipers with, the half-truths and misleading statements came spewing forth like the projectile spittle of an onion-nosed, overzealous timeshare salesman. Mr. Smith stated that Pacific Golf has been open every day since July, 1988, and that one of the previous owners never filed for bankruptcy. Relevance please? Michael Rosenfeld didn’t file for bankruptcy either. But he did promise to keep the course open for the members, like Jim Smith who is a member, while he prepared a plan to make the club financially solvent. Mr. Smith stated that Golf Investment LLC does not own or operate any other golf courses. Golf Investment LLC is a limited liability company created specifically for Pacific Golf Club. The majority of the management team at Pacific has worked the better part of the last two decades for major “Golf Course Operators” and private golf clubs, mostly in California. Mr. Smith also has an LLC in which he operates just one business (which incidentally is not a golf course). Mr. Smith cited several clubs as examples of successful clubs he termed, “non-18 hole” business models. Of the courses he listed, all but two have hotels, homes, golf villas or condominium real estate attached. Only one has 27 holes, home of the Masters Tournament, Augusta National. If you visit his website, savesclopenspace.com, and read through the FAQ’s it becomes quite apparent that saving open space is not his objective. Hopefully, experienced golfers and all the citizens of San Clemente will recognize this ruse for what it is, a plain old lie.