 Michael McConaha, administrative analyst for Placentia, explains how the prosed overpassess and underpasses could affect residents in Del Cerro Mobile Park during a public hearing on the grade seperation project in July. ROD VEAL, FILE PHOTO
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2009: A look ahead
PLACENTIA Here are just a few of the issues to watch in the city on the dawn of 2009:
BUDGET CRUNCH The city is continuing to struggle with its cash-strapped general fund, which is $5.5 million in the red. Revenues are likely to also come in lower than projected for this fiscal year because of the economic downturn. City Hall already had a round of layoffs, and more service cuts are possible. City Administrator Troy Butzlaff is trying to grow revenues by hiring an assistant city manager to help with redevelopment and creating a controller position to handle grant applications. He also started a city tow yard for 30-day impounds.
Still to be finalized is what the city will end up owing to the California Department of Transportation for misspent grant funds. Right now, Caltrans officials are saying the city owes $12 million, but that number could be further reduced as early as January. Butzlaff is also attempting to get private contractors from the failed transportation projects to cover the reimbursements through their professional liability insurance.
MAJOR TRIAL The Cathy Torrez trial, where three men are facing charges in the murder of the 20-year-old girl, is likely to start this year. A jury trial date is set for Aug. 24. Because the trial is far removed from the crime itself, things have been moving slowly. Torrez was stabbed to death in 1994 and found in the trunk of her car. Police at the time had said that rain washed away most of the forensic evidence, but the case was re-opened in 2007 after improvements in technology yielded genetic evidence. Her boyfriend at the time, Sam Lopez, 35, and his cousin, Xavier Lopez, 35, pleaded not guilty to murder charges in October 2007. Sam's brother, Armando Lopez, 36, pleaded not guilty to accessory to murder charges. The trial is in the preliminary phases. Jack Early, defense attorney for Xavier Lopez, has said that because the case is "a million years old," it's taking a long time for the defense attorneys to catch up with the tens of thousands of pages of evidence that police have accumulated. Making it more complicated, is the fact that there are three defendants, each with their own lawyers.
YOUTH MOVEMENT Jeremy Yamaguchi, elected in November to the City Council at age 19, will learn the political ropes throughout the year as he votes and acts on difficult city issues. Yamaguchi, the 2007 Citizen of the Year, did not run on any one particular platform and did not cite any legislation during the campaign that he would like to see enacted.
NEW HIGH SCHOOL Even though the Yorba Linda High School now under construction is not going to serve Placentia students when it opens in the fall, the effects will be felt at El Dorado and Valencia highs. In particular, El Dorado should see some of its overcrowding issues alleviated as its Yorba Linda students will now attend the new school. The school board is expected to see a recommendation from the Boundaries Advisory Team in February. Maps of proposed boundary areas are available on the district's Web site at: www.pylusd.org.
TRAIN PROJECTS Designs and construction plans are likely to be finalized this year on all of the overpasses and underpasses being proposed in this city at rail and road crossings along the Orangethorpe Corridor. That should make clearer which homes and businesses would be displaced by the construction. A couple of the projects are even scheduled to begin construction late in the year.
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