Patrick (Moose) Crosby
for San Clemente City Council,
November 2010
For those of you who don't know me, and the rest of you who thought you knew me, here is a bit of my life history. I am telling you this not to be Braggadocios, although there may be a little of that, but the way I look at it, you history isn't a mere list of things you've done in the past. It is rather, who you are.
At the University of Chicago C, I had the extraordinary privilege of studying under two of the most outstanding intellects of the 20 century: Richard P. McKeon, and Paul Ricoeur. McKeon, himself a student of Educational pioneer John Dewey, was the primary architect of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. My other great teacher, Paul Ricoeur, held a chair in the divinity school at
What does this have to do with me? Well, at an informal gathering following one of his public lectures, Richard McKeon had this to say. "Here, at the University of Chicago, you have all sorts of experts in all sorts of fields. If I were a student today, I'd pick one, and figure out how he did it."
I took McKeon's advice. Only I chose two experts, not just one: McKeon and Ricoeurn (actually five, if you include Milton Friedman and Alan Gewirth and Alan Donagan). And what I figured out about both of these men was that what made them great was not their ability to provide final and consclusive answers old questions, but to formulate entirely new questions. This was what made their lectures stimulating and exciting. And after two years of sitting in the front row of McKeon's lecture hall, and four in the case of Paul Ricoeur (tape recorder running at all times), I began to get the hang of it myself. So no, I wan't born smart, not at all. I just had some incredibly great teachers, and a little bit of each of them inevitably wore off on me.
My Main Points: 1) We don't need anymore retail outlets, restaurants, bars, or boutique shops,
with jobs that pay on the order of $10/hr. We need instead six figure jobs that
pay closer to $50/hr. If only a few hundred extra people were making that kind
of money, the "multiplier effect" (a concept economists usually apply to the
banking industry) would be enormous. These people's patronage of existing
retail and and restaurants. We need more 6 figure jobs. How do we get them?
We go out hustling for them. We actively recruit the kinds of companies that
have those sorts of jobs.
2) More is less, less is more when it comes to police services.
3) The Sunday Morning Farmer's market puts $1000/week or more into the
pocket of one man. That money could and should be going to local food banks.
The city of Columbia South Carolina is one city that is doing precisely what I am talking about, specifically in the area of fuel cell technology. Cloud computing is another "emerging technology" area that might be encouraged to come to this city.
We could do something like that here, but there are many obstacles that would have to first be overcome. We'd have to streamline the building permit process, and no longer insist every building have a section that looked like a mission bell tower. No more Neuvo Bland . Creative high tech workers with Ph.D. degrees are not inspired with the sort of architecture, and their management knows this. In short, we'd have to stop living in the past architecurally. But as a reward, I think we'd get not only new jobs, but new buildings that make people stop and take notice. Restaurants and other small businesses would also stop failing.
The far, I am the only candidate that is calling for this to be done. It won't be easy starting this late in the game, when other cities have been doing this for decades. But it is our only hope for emerging out of the current economic downturn. When the economy does turn up (and there are slight indications it is about to), the new jobs are going to jobs for highly skilled people developing new ideas. That's never been done here before. But if it doesn't start happening soon, San Clemente will be a late participant in the recovery, if even that. More retail and service business will fail because people's unemployment benefits will have run out. But the current incumbents have no conception of this because they themselves have never been in the high tech world.
Would we need a new city manager to get moving in this direction? Heck no! When I asked him in a general meeting with council candidates, he's ready to go in that direction if give the go-ahead. He cannot do it on his own. And although I have had difference with Mr. Scarborough in the past, I think he is quite capable. If elected, I would not think of firing hims or any ohter city department heads. The only exception would be the local sheriff's station chief. His deputies can do no wrong. He will not hear complaints against any of his deputies. That has to change.
THIS is Architecture.
Raymond W. Evans House 9914 S. Longwood Dr., Chicago, Ill. 1908. Prairie Style Frank Lloyd Wright, architect On its beautiful hilltop setting, this Wright house was designed so family living areas radiate from a central fireplace. (Stone facing is not original)
So is this
Johnsom wax research tower, Racine, Wisconsin. Built in 1944, Click for Details
This too
Inside the Johnson Wax Administrative Building. 1941.
Wouldn't you take a desk here over a private office just about anywhere else? Is there anything you could put up on the wall of your private office that would rival this eauty?
And not to slight Wright's arch-rival, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Yes, this too is architecture.
Crown Hall, by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, at Chicago, Illinois, 1950 to 1956.. On the campus of Illinois Institute of technology. There are no supporting columns in the interior of the building. That was quite an accomplishment at the time. It houses IIT's school of architecture, where Mies was once a faculty member.
THIS isn't. This is, in point of fact, "the new Huntington Beach." No, This building is not a prison. It just looks like one.
And if you think this is bad, take a drive along PCH between Newport and Laguna and take a look at all the new multi-million dollar "cookie cutter" homes. No, these aren't architecure either. If you think they are, go back and look above at what Frank Lloyd Wright did 100 years earlier
But current "old fuddy duddy" San Clemente City administration probably thinks it and those cookie cutter homes are beautiful. If they stay in power and have their way, new buildings going up on El Camino Real will be required to look very much this. Ask any architect in town, and odds are he or she will agree with me. They design "sucky" buildings only because they have mortgages to pay, and do do that, the city councils (here and eleswhere) with little or no taste need to approve their designs. They could and would love to do better, but the current council won't hear of anything but "Spanish neo-colonial" (or whatever they call it). Some buildings of this style aren't that bad; but most, to put it bluntly, are dull and boring. San Clemente deserves better. Let's face it, "Spanish Villiage by the Sea" was never anything but was romantic fantasy. This isn't Spain. San Clemente, for better or worse, isn't a village anymore. It is an American City. It's high time our new buildings started reflecting the best that modern American architects have to offer. Today, if you want to see buildings that are genuine works of art, you go to places like Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois. You don't go to San Clemente. It doesn't have to be that way.
In
the government of this commonwealth, the legislative department shall
never
exercise the executive and judicial powers or either of them: the
executive
shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of
them:
the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers,
or
either of them: to the end it may be a government of laws and not of
men. —
A
"government
of laws, not of men." Wow! What a concept!
Think
that might
be worth a try here, in
Welcome
to the
Moose
for
moose@sanclementemoose.com
Photo: Hubey 40
How
do we accomplish this?
First: By attracting more high tech, high paying (6 figures and up) jobs to our city (more below)
Second: with a 20 % reduction in the worst violators of this principle:
The Orange County Sheriff's Department.
An old English Proverb says "an idle mind is the devil's workshop. "
Hand-Book of Proverbs by H.G. Bohn (1796-1884).
In our situation, it's more a case of too many cops with too much time on their hands. They feel a bit guilty about getting paid a good salary (at least most of the time) to do a whole lot of nothing. So they make themselves feel worthy and useful by stopping and questioning random people they see on the street. "Why are you walking that bicycle?!" for example. (This is a real example someone told me. I didn't make it up). Is this such a terrible thing? If you beleive in the constitution, it is, because the constitution says they cannot do this-- no matter how bored they are, or desperate for something to do (more likely: making themselves appear to be busy. We all know that little job survival technique, don't we)? Also, they are sworn to defend both the state and federal constitutions. That is to say, whenever any peace officer in the state makes an "unreasonable" stop, he or she violates his or her oath of office. Many people today don't take such oaths seriously. I do. If you beleive in a free society, you should too.
How do we get them to stop? This is how someone, such as myself, with a highly mathematical system enginering background logically approaches any problem: Since the "problem" is too little real crime to keep these guys busy, it could be solved by encouraging more serious crimes, to give these guys something real to do. Obviously, that would be a bit like cutting yourself to avoid wasting some iodine you've just accidentally spilled (my dad used to tell a cornball old joke about a man, from a country I will not mention, who did precisely this). So we go to the other side of the equation to get the balance we seek. That is to say, we downsize the police force itself. By how much? Initially, I propose a modest 20 %. If the deputies still can find nothing better do do with their time than stop bicylists for minor equipment violations, or pedestrians who are simply walking along on a public street, I say: fire another 20%. But knowing which way the proverbial wind is blowing, I rather suspect that the deputies remaining after the first cut would find things objectively useful to do.
Third: Assure free city elections. What? Don't we have that now? No, absolutely not. You see, a large percentage of the electorate has no idea who the city council candidates are, or of what any of them stand for. So they vote on the basis of name recognition. That is to say, they vote for whoever's campaign signs they've seen most. So, if you are a candidate and you want voters to see your signs, where do you put them? On freeway onramps, of course! But wait a minute, there is a city ordinance that says you cannot do this. What happens if a candidate defies the ordinance? Well, that depends upon just who that candidate happens to be! Supposedly, code enforcement officers will remove any and all them immediately. What is more only a code enforcement officer can legally remove it. If an ordinary citizen removes such a sign from a freeway onramp, he or she gets cited with a criminal code violation.
Suppose now, a code enforcement officer (eventually) sees such a sign. And suppose it's a sign for a good buddy incumbent council member. Think that officer is going to want to risk offending that council member? Heck no. Think that even if the council member himself is caught in the act, he's going to get cited? Think his illegal signs will even be removed by code enforcement? Oh, sure, after the election (that will save the council member himself the trouble of doing it).
This, in essence, is how I maintain Mayor Dahl "stole" the 2008 election. I also maintain that a strong supporter of Dahl tore down signs for other candidates. Why should he have bothered? Because, in effect, he gets paid to do it through a very lucrative city permit enabling him to rent much Avenida Del Mar Sunday mornings, for $60/wk. and then "tax" his vendors 7% of their sales. This same friend of Mayor Dahl's openly welcomed mayor Dahl, and reserved space for his campaign truck at the Farmers Market. Other candidates were kept out of the area. This is a blatant violation of the Fair Political Practices Act.
Just a side note. Steve Knoblock was another incumbent candidate who ran a completely clean campaign as far as I could see. He certainlydid not resort to the kind of shenanigans Mayor Dahl and his Farmer's Market buddy did (in addition to the above, people were told to "hide their children" if I so much as walk down Del Mar when Dahl's buddy was there). So yes, character assassination is another part of "corruption, San Clemente style" and even the Sheriff's Dept. has been involved in it. Some people think there is nothing that can be done about this sort of thing. I disagree.
Fourth: Preserve the old, arxchitecturally speaking, bring in the new.
Is the old Mirimar Theater an architectural Marvel? No. Never was, never will be. Is it a living Monument to San Clemente's unique History? Absolutely. For that reason, it must be preserved. And fellow preservationists beware: the more new buildings go up looking vaguely similar to the Mirimar, the more socially acceptable it becomes to tear the old original Mirimar down. "Why do you need the Mirimar when you have this beautiful new building a block away that is of the same architectural style?" is how the argument will run. I, of course, reject any such argument. This is why new buildings should look like new buildings. Yes, the Mirimar would stand out among more modern buildings that aren't "Spanish neocolonial" in style. But that's a good thing, not a bad thing. Think about it.
_____________________________________________________________
Who Am I? Why am I called Moose?
My name is Patrick Crosby, and I've been
a
After a year high school in my local
Catholic parish, where
I went to St.
Theresa of the Little Flower grammar school and
endured the hated
"Moose" moniker and getting picked on for years, I went to
Chicago
Vocational High School (then CVS, now CVCA) where Dick Butkus
sat in front
of me in Miss Kotney's geometry class. Neither he nor anybody
else picked
on me any more, and I was respected for my knowledge of electronics.
(My old
shop mate, Tommy
Campana
wound up "out-geeking" me in the end, however, with his invention of
Blackberry Technology. Sadly, his years of chain smoking did him in
before he
ever got to see the Billion dollars netted by his patent.
One big difference between him and me: I was always pie-in-the-sky, he
was
always down to earth. Another was that his passion for technology
increased
while my interests moved into entirely different realms).
Getting
back to Dick Butkus, who was probably the second most economically
successful
of the people I went to school with (a billion dollars is a tough
match!).
Supposedly he'd already graduated 2 years before my arrival, but I
remember him
telling me he was just there for the one class when I asked
him what his
"major" was. "I just play football" he told
me. Really nice guy! But I never saw him outside of class. He
was a 6
years older than me. At CVS, I lost the hated moniker "Moose"
because it was in another corner of the city and nobody knew it. Nobody
laughed
either when Miss Kotney called "Butkus!" out at roll call
every
day either, badly mispronouncing it. At the school I'd transferred
from,
everybody would have split a gut. It wasn't that people were
afraid of
this big guy either-- the mind set was just entirely
different. It wasn't
a name anyone recognized back then, and most in the class
probably didn't
even know it was this great big guy. It was more a matter of the fact
that kids
needed to go through special hoops to get into this school; they were
all there
because wanted to be. They were there to learn, not put other people
down. How
many such high schools are there anymore? Later I attended
I moved to
Why
am I qualified to be a member of
the City Council?
First of
all, I have lived in the
City
for some 18 years, so on that basis alone, I have some sense of both
where it's
been and in what direction it currently is headed. I have lived here
during a
time when the city had its own police department, and seen the
change that
occurred when the city began contracting police services from the OC
Sheriff's
Department (initially, it wasn't all that bad). I was
also a
frequent
visitor long before that, going all the way back to 1977. This gives me
even
more perspective. I remember the old Greyhound Station and later the
Bank of
San Clemente occupying the spot of the current B of A and Starbucks.
I even onced purchased sparkplugs on the location BC
Surf is
today.
But more important than retail establishments, I have seen a
number of
young people grow up and mature in this town (mainly through surfing
and living
near the Pier). I have also known a few, sadly, who never
quite made it to
full maturity, and spent many hours asking how, in at least one case, a
healthier social environment might have made a difference. Personally,
I grew
up in a very different sort of social environment: Mayor Richard J.
Daley's
Such a scandal would have been the downfall of any less
skilled
politician. It turned out, however, to be Richard J. Daley's
greatest
triumph. First he hired the Department Chair of UCLA's
criminology
department, O.W. Wilson to head up a "Blue Ribbon Commission" to deal
with the problem. Then, he hired the commission’s head to be
the
department's new chief. Smart move, eh? Within weeks if not
days of
Yet, despite all the corrupt judges,
commissioners, and so forth
he was instrumental in having appointed (Daley's secret of success:
keeping
himself clean while surrounding himself with crooks who would never
dare cross
him-- O.W. Wilson being the sole exception), Daley had a grand vision
for
Chicago. As a result, decades after his death, the Chicago of today is
a place
well worth visiting, whereas Newark, New Jersey, for example, probably
isn't.
I mention this history because I
believe there is an
important lesson here for
Why isn't anyone else talking about a new library? or teen center? For one very simple reason: no private developer has any interest in building either of these. Why? Because libraries and teen centers don't make any money. Why am I talking about it? Because personally I don't own any property I want to develop. Nor do any of my campaign contributors, because I don't have any campaign contributors. It cost approximately $1700 for a candidate for city council to have a 250 word statement in the voter pamphlet. I will not have any such statement for this reason (even if someone gave me the money now, it's too late). Thus I cannot be bought by a developer, or anyone else, because I have nothing to sell. Mine is a zero-budget campaign. Even this website (which costs about $10/month to host) is one I've had for the past 3 years to promote my music anyway, so it's not a campaign cost. Why am I doing it this way? Because I believe such zero-budget campaigns are the future of American democracy. Otherwise, Will Rogers' old quip about America having "the best politicians money can buy" will remain true, and ultimately lead to our demise.
Suppose all this happens, and San Clemente's youths start earning advanced degrees more and more, from the world's best universities/. How will they put this knowledge to use? Well, the fact of the matter is that there aren't many jobs here now for people with advanced degrees, never really were, and at the rate things are going, never will be because San Clemente is on the fast track to economic never-never land. While a small percentage of the population might be able to prosper by sell real estate, and offering health services, the majority cannot. The phrase "Living off the land" never did (at least, never for very long) living off land vlaue appreciation. Ultimately, most people living n the area and paying those high home prices must make significant contributions to the nation's GDP-- they must produce or do something of significant economic value, but what?
In many parts of the state, and other coasal communities such as Santa Cruz, "high tech" research and development has been the answer. Here, the answer has been fancy restaurants, boutiques, and outlet malls. Well, you don't need to be a nobel prize lauriat economist to figure out that resaurants and outlet malls won't gut it. High tech research and development facitites, with jobs that pay in the 6 figures, rather that $10/hr. are ultimately what will be required if anyone other that affluent retirees are to continue living here. What has city government done to make that happen? Nothing. That is the fundamental reason why the City of San Clemente needs a fundamental change of vision.
Why
am I running for Council? Two basic reasons:
1. The current council wants to lead us in the direction of more homes and retail establishments, but doing nothing to provide jobs in the area that pay salaries adequate to afford those homes, plus patronize those establishments. For most people living here now, especially our college bound youth, that is tantamount to saying, "Enjoy living here now while you can. By the time you're grown and have a family, you will have to look elsewhere." Decades of neglect by city government, and squandering of prime land for such frivolous things as outlet malls, will make it far more difficult than it would have been in the past to lure high tech development companies here. But we have too at least make an attempt.
2.
San Clemente is plagued with some very serious corruption.
Not
even city council elections are fair. Incumbent members of the city
council, up for reelection can (and have) placed "illegal" signs on
freeway onramps and other such places with impunity. The fact that
under a city ordinance, it is a misdemeanor for anyone but a city
worker to remove such sign assures that illegally placed signs of
incumbents do not get removed at all. Furthermore, to put it
succinctly, I am tired of city budget balancers masquerading as
sheriff's deputies. To put it even more bluntly and succinctly, I'm
sick and tired of bogus citations-- like for alegedly not having a
bicycle light at night, when in reality, the light is so bright that
some legally blind people could probably see it.
T
What
I mean by "Form Follows
Function."
Lest anyone think I am a complete
negativist, let me assure
you that the very opposite is the case. It is of little use to complain
about
something if you do not have a better alternative to propose. That's
where
"form follows function" comes in. It is an expression generally
attributed to the great architect Lois Sullivan (who was designing
"skyscrapers" before the term had even been coined, and was a mentor
of Frank Lloyd Wright). He initially stated it, in 1896, as "form ever
follows function." Later, it was shortened to the 3 word version
commonly
used today. A good online discussion by Jan
Michl
discusses the phrase's history and meaning. It is a wonderful
article,
however Jan Michl neglects to tell you that the dictum, in 3 words,
actually
summarizes the functionalist philosophy of Aristotle. In his
treatise On
the Soul, Aristotle explains that although a knife cannot
quite properly be
said to have a "soul," if it did, cutting would be
its soul,
because cutting is the function of a knife. In this
way, Aristotle
explains that in his universe or system of thought, rationality
was the
soul or essence of a human being-- that is to say,
a healthy and
properly functioning human being (Aristotle never said "all men are
rational," as he is sometime misquoted, out of context, as having
said).
Why do I know so much about Aristotle and functionalism?
First, because I
grew up in
What does this all mean in the framework
of city planning?
and approval of new buildings? It means simply that if you want to do a
really
good job in laying out and planning a city, you first need to tabulate
a list
of functions which need to be performed in that city: schooling for
children,
health care for everyone, food and water distribution, sanitation,
entertainment, and so forth. And when you zero-in on one of those
function, say
schooling for children, you compile a list of sub-functions and
properties that
will be conducive to learning: ease of access, adequate lighting, an
overall
cheerful feeling, and so on. But of course, being a city with a nearly
80 year
history,
Basic Positions:
- The City Code needs to be changed so as to be in conformmity with the state Fair Political Practices Act. "Special Event Permit" holder must no longer be allowed to censor political speech on Public Streets, such as Del Mar.
- An
immediate 20% Reduction in police deputies on duty at given time. Too
many deputies have way too much time on their hands currently. This is
not only a waste of money, but it leads to serious abused of law
abiding citizens' 4th amendment rights by bored deputies looking for
something to do.
- No
- No
Offshore Oil Drilling (an up and
coming hot issue. I was an active member of "Save Our Shores" in
- No
to the proposed LAB North Beach Development Project. The property
proposed for sale was taken under eminent domain rules from the
previous owner to provide parking.
- I
favored the Building Height
Restrictions Ballot initiative 2 years ago for Shore cliffs, and worked
a little with the good folks who won that one.
- Teens
and young adults in this town
have nothing to do at night (except for... we all know what). Sports
activities are great, but they're not enough. Some young people just
aren't athletically inclined. They all need a drug and alcohol free
environment to do homework together, play games, or whatever, much like
a student union building on a college campus. (The Boys and Girl's Club
in town does a great job up to for kids up to about age 12. I'm talking
about an older group that would include Saddleback College
Students). Most college union building (which generally
include a small performing arts hall) are named
after benefactors who donated the money for the building. I
don't know if there's anyone who would be willing to endow the needed
funds for such a center here, but it will certainly never happen if the
city never expresses an interest in it happening. In the mean time, who
knows? Maybe that old bowling alley could even be put to some use? One
has to admit, it's in an excellent location. And at least of
this moment, there's 120 city owned parking spaces near by!
More
on the 241 Toll Road
One of the hot issues of the last
campaign was the 241 Toll Road
extension. People asked me the3n where I stand on it. As I've
said above, I
oppose it, but my opposition is, I believe, a little more carefully and
tightly
reasoned than some other statements of opposition which I have read
(although I
do not generally disagree with any of those
statements). Let me explain.
Even
before we
get to the destruction of Trestles, San
Onofre State Park,
the Donna O'Neill Conservancy, and endangered species,
the desecration of
Native American Burial Grounds,
and all of that, I am strongly opposed, on deep philosophical grounds,
to the very
concept of "private ownership of roads." This, along with
such
notions as private ownership of the radio frequencies (first proposed
by Ayn Rand
in about 1961) is one of the darlings of a school of socio-political
thought
called Radical Libertarianism.
One of the most intelligent
and articulate spokesmen for the school of thought, sometimes
called
"anarcho-capitalism," is my old friend from college
days, David Friedman.
In addition to having at
least two Ph.D.s that I know of (physics and economics), David is the
son of
Another far less
intelligent, but better known advocate of extreme "privatization" is
fiction writer and popular essayist, Ayn Rand (former Fed
Chairman Alan Greenspan having been a
part of
I am opposed to such privatization because
contrary to what the
proponents claim, it attacks the very foundation of individual freedom
and
rights-- that foundation being the "Common" (sometimes expressed at
"commonweal") which we all share. Private ownership of such vital
necessities as airwaves, the water
supply, and roads are thus even more
insidious than the ills we
have been hearing about re the 241 because they quite literally
turn your
most fundamental
constitutional rights into market
commodities. That
means: they can be bought and sold. Bad enough, as
Lincoln once
observed, that we only have as much justice in a courtroom as we can
afford, we
now have, with the rise of privatization, only so much freedom
(such as
the freedom to communicate and travel, surf great waves, and otherwise
enjoy God's
and/or Nature's gift too us all) as we can afford. Beneath all the
other
discussion, this is the true battle being fought here. It is
the
underlying disease of which the destruction state parks and the like
are merely
the symptoms. In order for it to be won, the people opposing 241
must become fully cognizant of the true and radical nature of the
battle they
are fighting. Simply put, in creating the TCA in 1986, the State
legislature
created a monster which is no longer under legislative or any other
form of
democratic control. The TCA is a government of men, not of laws. It's
very
right to exist, therefore, must now be called into question.