We have come from humble beginnings and have made it a long way. Check out the original story of our city found on a historical archive of the original joint chambers page for South Orange County.
Aliso Viejo Orange County’s Newest City
by Carol Tagayun
Left to right: Asst. Sheriff George Jaramillo, Sheriff Mike Carnoa, Mayor Carmen Vali, Mayro Pro Tem Cynittia Picket, City Council Member Greg Ficket, City Council Member William Phillips, City Council Member Karl Warkomski, and Lt. Rich Paddock – Aliso Viejo Chief of Police Services.
After only 13 days in business, Orange County’s newest city, Aliso Viejo, made its first public presentation before members of the South County Chambers’ Governmental Affairs Committee at its July meeting. Newly elected Mayor Carmen Vali and Interim City Manager Bill Woollett described the status and the future plans of the new city in terms that made it easy to understand how this area made it to city hood on its first try.
Incorporated July 1, Aliso Viejo has already hired staff, drafted a 2-year budget, located space for a City Hall, and begun to draft its general plan. Woollett, a veteran of many years of public policy making, and who worked 30 years ago in the startup of the City of Irvine, joked that he is now being employed by a City Council, whose average age is that of his children, rather than his peers. They certainly represent their community, however, which is also extremely youthful. He went on to say that this City Council had long been involved in community and city hood efforts, and their experience has allowed me to learn the issues facing their community through experienced eyes.
Woollett drew parallels between advantages enjoyed by Irvine and Aliso Viejo at startup by virtue of their being planned communities. With build out expected at 18,000 to 20,000 housing units, it is most important that we come up, early on, with the draft of a general plan. This draft will be presented at a number of community meetings, and we hope that residents will come to these meetings, and ‘blue sky’ their ideas of what Aliso Viejo should be.
In response to a question regarding the economic health of the new City, Mayor Vali replied that while there is some concern regarding the continued viability of some of the dot com companies located in Aliso Viejo, Housing prices continue to rise, and it is impossible to get a seat in an Aliso Viejo restaurant on Friday or Saturday nights without a reservation. Both of these things tell us a lot that is positive about our city.
Chamber business owners and possible future business owners were encouraged by Mayor Vali’s statement that the present budget wasn’t built on income from issuing business licenses. In thanking the Governmental Affairs Committee for hosting them, Woollett indicated that he would advise the new city council to form a close relationship with the South County Chamber, as the Chamber’s importance to the city would be hard to overstate. ‘In my experience, there is no elected official immune to letters and visits about their issues from Chamber members’.
Composed: 07/18/2001 | Modified: 07/18/2001