Rancho Palos Verdes Councilmember Anthony Mesetich recently sent out the following newsletter to city residents that I thought I would share with you:
"I would like to thank my colleagues and the residents of Rancho Palos Verdes for the opportunity to serve as your Mayor in 2012.
I am pleased with the progress that our new council made last year with the ten goals established as our guiding roadmap.
As Mayor it was both gratifying and challenging at times, but nevertheless our council moved forward on many significant issues affecting the city and its residents. Among those issues where we made significant progress are:
Public safety and a FOCUS on crime prevention:
- Staff and the Peninsula regional law enforcement committee delegates (current Mayor Brooks and myself) identified several new crime prevention programs that were of no or low cost to the city such as:
- Deputy Sheriff's hosting crime prevention seminar series citywide and at HOA's.
- Door hanger program with crime prevention tips.
- Bicycle Patrol along Western Ave and PVDS- which added an addition of 729 additional patrol hours to our city.
- Volunteer's on Patrol are providing an additional 1,920 patrol hours to our city at no cost to our residents.
While crime has increased in LA County by 11%, the most recent statistics for the last quarter of 2012 for Rancho Palos Verdes:
- Residential Burglaries are down -51%,
- Vehicle burglaries are down- 48%
- Theft from Vehicles are down -30%
- Larcenies/Theft are down -19%
- Grand Theft Auto is down - 33%
I wish to thank my council colleagues and regional law enforcement colleague, RPV Mayor Brooks, for their support for these new initiatives that have made a difference in our city.
San Ramon Stabilization Project:
- Design plans are 100% complete
- The Army Corps of Engineers awarded the city its final permit on December 3rd to commence the project.
- Final contractor selection will be completed by the city council in early March 2013.
- Construction is likely to proceed by the end of April.
This is the largest infrastructure project in the city's history (approximately $18 million) and is on schedule to be completed by fall 2014.
Citizen Involvement:
- The RPV Planning staff has worked with many interest groups and homeowners in preparing policy reports for Open Space Hazard and GIS
- Public provided input in the council rules of Procedures and Protocols.
Public Infrastructure:
- Current city budget provides funding for a new dewatering well(Abalone Cove)
- Energy Audit of City Facilities
- A $1 million storm drain lining project in fiscal year 2012-2013.
- Continued road paving to keep up the quality of RPV streets to a 78 percentile.
Government Efficiency, Fiscal Control and Transparency:
- RPV underwent an Organizational Performance Assessment in 2012 to determine the efficiency of RPV staff and city performance
- Information made available on the city website that includes staff salaries that resulted in the State Controllers' Office issuing its certificate of Compliance to the city in early 2012.
- Use of a Hybrid Zero Based Budgeting system that the council used to identify and scrutinize $10 million of line items in the city's budget for 2012-2013.
Western Ave Commercial Corridor:
- In early 2012 the city was awarded a $100,000 grant from SCAG for the improvement plans for Western Ave.
- Creation of a citizen's committee to provide feedback to the consultants working on the Western Ave revitalization plan.
- These grant monies will be used to develop plans and opportunities for the improvement of Western Avenue for beautification, traffic improvement, bicycle access, and pedestrian walk-ways.
City Reserve Policy:
- The RPV Finance Advisory Committee reviewed the city's General Fund reserve policy and determined it was sufficient at 50% of expenditures.
Southern California Edison Issues:
- The council had three public meetings in 2012 in which Southern California Edison was asked to explain why there are so many power outages on the Peninsula and in particular- The city of Rancho Palos Verdes.
- Of particular concern were the fires in the preserve and what measures Southern California Edison was taking to address the prevention of fires in that area. Additionally Edison was questioned on what improvements to their infrastructure were they going to make in order to bring better service to our residents. The City Council asked Edison to work with RPV staff to develop a plan to improve service and work on ways to prevent fires in the open space preserve.
Trail Policy:
- The city reviewed its trail policies within the Preserve area and held two large scale public meetings. The city council approved a policy for users in the Preserve and will be reviewing those policies on a periodic basis.
Finally the city was able to settle its four-year old lawsuit with Donald Trump and opened a dog park in the fall of 2012 on city hall property called Rancho Caninos dog park."
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