If you are not exactly sure where downtown Los Alamitos is located, don’t worry, you’re probably not alone. The lack of an identifiable downtown, or town center, is at the heart of a bold new plan considered by the Los Alamitos City Council this week.

The cities of Seal Beach and Los Alamitos will not likely be the next Orange County cities to jump on the “rule of law city” bandwagon. Costa Mesa and the City of Orange recently passed similar motions and Seal Beach Councilmember Charles Antos requested a measured be considered at the council meeting on Monday of this week.

There are not many opportunities for new homes in Old Town Seal Beach—and even fewer for a development of up to 43 detached single family homes. In fact, the much debated former power plant site, locally known as the DWP property, is about the only beach front choice. But, development on this nearly 11 acres has been held up because the property owners and the city could not agree on how to proceed. That might be changing.

With revenues coming in below budget and the end of this fiscal year less than three months away, the Los Alamitos City Council last night rejected the city staff’s revenue forecast, but approved spending reductions. In rejecting the forecast, council avoided the politically unpleasant task of authorizing use of reserves to cover what the staff believes will be an even larger revenue shortfall.

In an exclusive interview on Tuesday, Seal Beach City Manager David Carmany told www.OC180NEWS.com “In a number of these operating enterprise funds, I’m going to be proposing reductions.” He said the water rates are the first on his list, followed by the sewer rates. He expects to present lower water rates at the March 22, 2010 City Council meeting.

At Monday’s Seal Beach City Council meeting a parade of speakers testified about last week’s flooding--known as Lake Bridgeport—and the adequacy of the city’s pumping/flood control system. Resident Joan Lyon Was “devastated” at the loss of her prized Corvette, which was totaled by the flooding. City engineer Michael Ho confirmed to www.OC180NEWS.com the storm water system was not built to the specifications in the city’s general plan.

At what would normally be an uneventful annual passing of the chair of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, open warfare erupted between Supervisor John Moorlach and Supervisor Janet Nguyen. The first volley came during the vote for the slate of incoming chair and vice chair. Without specifically naming Nguyen, who was the nominee for chair, Moorlach expressed concerns about the management style of the incoming chair and voted against her election. With no further discussion or dissention, The slate was elected 4/1. Moorlach’s little salvo could have been the end of it, but Nguyen fired back a broadside at the end of the meeting.

At last night’s city council meeting, the City of Los Alamitos presented its financial results for the fiscal year ending 6/30/09 and for the first quarter of the current year. Although revenues continue to fall, the general fund had a surplus last year and is expected to be balanced for the year ending 6/30/10. But, reflecting the recession, sales taxes are 17.3% less than the previous year and the drop off is expected to continue.

Earlier this year, by some informal and clearly unofficial measures, the people of unincorporated Sunset Beach wanted to join the City of Seal Beach. The folks of Sunset Beach were pushed toward Seal Beach because of a looming threat they would be forced against their will to join Huntington Beach. Seal Beach said resoundingly, no thanks. Now, some of the residents of the Island Village portion of the City of Long Beach are contemplating switching their allegiance a bit easterly and joining up with Seal Beach. In the not too distant past, the 12,000 residents of unincorporated Rossmoor also wanted to join Seal beach. Again the answer was no thanks from Seal Beach.

Last night, the Seal Beach City Council Chambers were packed with a crowd anxious about the fate of the McGaugh pools. Since it was just one meeting ago that the city council seriously considered demolishing the much loved pools, and determining what to do about the old and badly leaking pools was again on the City Council’s agenda, the swimmers came out in force. They were not disappointed by their city government.

Amid current year budget cutbacks, a spending deficit, and expected “draconian” cuts in services next year, the Los Alamitos City Council voted last night to cancel the Fourth of July fireworks show unless the community donates the $15,000 needed to cover the costs of the event. Even though the net costs represent only about $0.75 for each of the approximately 20,000 people who attend the show, there is no way for the city to recover those costs from the attendees because the show is on the Joint Forces Training Base, JTFB.

The battle to develop, or not, depending on your point of view, the last large beachfront property in Seal Beach is moving into a new phase tomorrow. The City of Seal Beach will hold the initial meeting of the “DWP Specific Plan Advisory Committee” on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 6:00 pm, in the Council Chambers. The city is labeling this an “organizational kick-off meeting”. At stake is the future of approximately 10 acres of prime beachfront land on the West end of Seal Beach.

A long standing, but not entirely public, feud between a popular Seal Beach City Councilman and the City Manager burst into the public view at last night’s council meeting. Councilman Gary A. Miller, for the record, accused City Manager David N. Carmany of a conflict of interest, misrepresentation, and concealing important information regarding the city’s decision to tear down and replace a fire station. Although there were several accusations which were presented at the meeting, the most specific revelation was about the identity of an architectural consultant who was paid $585,000 by the city.

Last night the City of Los Alamitos held its annual city council organizational meeting, bringing to a close a turbulent council year which brought the glare of the national news spotlight to this small Orange County city. In council action entirely devoid of the controversies which dominated council meetings earlier in 2009, veteran council member Marilynn Poe, previously the Mayor Pro Tem, was elected the new mayor.

At their meeting Monday night, the Los Alamitos City Council approved the first step in the expansion plans of Los Alamitos Medical Center. In a 4/1 vote, over the objections of councilwoman Jerry Mejia and a couple of public speakers, the city council approved plans for an environmental impact report, EIR, and a reimbursement mechanism by which the hospital will pay for the study.

Corrected 9/16/09, 12:21 pm, see end note.

In what appeared to be a rather incongruous move, during Monday's meeting, the Seal Beach City Council voted to authorize eminent domain proceedings against a small piece of beachfront property. AT the meeting, the property owners' attorney, John Murphy, offered to donate the property to the city at no cost to Seal Beach. After Murphy testified, and with no discussion or questions, the council voted unanimously to move forward with the eminent domain proceedings.