
Another day and another email from the mysterious group, “Irvine Villages for Fiscal Responsibility” but the same message — Irvine Mayor Steven Choi plans to waste up to $150 million of taxpayer money on a huge library that only he seems to want and it’s everyone on the council’s fault — expect for Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Lalloway who is again absent from the targets of scorn despite having voted to study the feasibility of Choi’s folly.
Here’s the email that was sent January 28:
Dear Irvine Resident:
Because of you Irvine City Hall received dozens of letters asking the City Council to STOP Mayor Choi from spending millions on a new library and leaving Irvine taxpayers on the hook for tens of millions more. But Mayor Choi has not received the message as he continues to move forward with his ‘legacy pet project.’ We continue to need your help before the February 10, 2015 City Council Meeting to stress to Mayor Choi and the City Council to end this economic boondoggle. We ask you to please send Mayor Choi, Councilwomen Beth Krom and Lynn Schott a message by writing a letter, email or calling their offices and stating your opposition and asking the Mayor to remove his ‘library pet project’ from getting special treatment for approval by his colleagues at the February 10, 2015 City Council meeting.
_______________________________ |
Again, we have to state we love libraries. But we need to be realistic in this time of municipal financial strife. Almost daily the news reports that another California city that is embroiled in financial mismanagement and scandal. Irvine does not deserve to be in this category.
After the $200 million dollars that Larry Agran and his colleagues squandered on NOT building the Great Park can Irvine and our fellow taxpayers afford another at-least $150 million on a municipal Library our city does not need? To top it off, the only remaining elected official from the Larry Agran-majority left on the Council, Beth Krom, voted to second Mayor Choi’s motion to conduct a study for a multi-million dollar plan, to build a municipal library for what Mayor Choi calls his ‘legacy.’ Councilwoman Krom is known for voting and supporting wasting millions of taxpayer funds as she was a vigilant supporter of Larry Agran’s during their mismanagement of the Great Park spending fiasco that has led to an investigation. After all, that is why we elected a new council majority to straighten out the finances, complete the audit and work more cohesively together on a plan for the Great Park that includes goals, transparency and a better structure of accountability. Regrettably, at the City Council meeting on January 13 Mayor Steven Choi ignored this progress when he agenized for the City to conduct a study to build a municipal library no matter the cost for what Mayor Choi calls his ‘legacy.’ Stand with us and demand that no politician or his ‘pet projects’ are ever more important than the financial health of our City ever again. Thank you. |
Wow, a whole paragraph on Beth Krom when she has little to do with Choi’s idea for a large central library. And for “landslide Lalloway” and “landslide Lynn,” winning my fewer than 300 votes is hardly a right wing mandate for a hard right turn in the city’s governance.
Steven Choi’s legacy as an elected official in Irvine will always remain his disrespect for the Speaker of the House in wearing his city council badge and Photoshopped images of Nancy Pelosi as Josef Stalin and posting for photos with a Tea party member holding an image of Pelosi as a Nazi SS officer. He has refused to apologize to Irvine’s Jewish community over this action time and again. And no amount of glad-handing is going to ever erase the Mayor’s bigotry demonstrated in 2009 simply because he lacked the capacity to understand how Obamacare would affect his small business.
Until the mayor decides to actually publicly apologize for his actions that night, we’ll keep posting this photo of him:
I can’t believe they are trying to act like Council Member Beth Krom is responsible for any of this. This is clearly from the friends of Jeff Lalloway who want to take some hits at Mayor Choi. I bet if voters knew about this before the election he wouldn’t have won re-election.
a-ha! it seems like the address for this group is the same one used by Dick Ackerman’s lame “Irvine Cares” group from the last election cycle….. who’s your daddy here Dick?
Well, the Irvine company can foot the bill for the library. Segerstrom foot the bill for the performing arts center in Costa Mesa. A lot of big money business people can do this. I think the more construction jobs the merrier.
There is a world of difference between a Performing Arts Theater regularly used by people and a 150 million dollar “white elephant” that is not needed nor wanted by the citizens. Then there is the large operating expense the library would bring to the City which would be funded by the taxpayers. Don’t hold your breath waiting for the Irvine Company or any other donar to anti up on the “Tower of Babble.”
I personally see no problem with the Council directing the City Manager to come back with a priority list and projected costs. Then each Council Member will have to decide where the see the library on the priority list and hopefully it will be at the very bottom. Frankly, the library boondoggle is smacking of the Larry Agran days and not deserving of being built by a conservative City Council. Remember Council Members, smaller and less costly government is the best.