UPDATE: Orange County Planning Commissioner says Bustamante is NOT qualified to head the O.C. Planning Department!
“Tim Neely, the county’s director of planning, is retiring and word is Santa Ana Councilman Carlos Bustamante is the heir apparent to succeed him. Carlos is currently the director of administration for the OC Public Works Department. Congrats to Carlos on the likely promotion,” according to Matt/Jubal Cunningham over at the Red-faced County blog.
I find it hard to believe that ANYONE would think that Bustamante is a good choice to head the O.C. Planning Department. Of course Matt has been shilling for him for years, so this is part for the course.
How ridiculous is the notion of putting Bustamante in charge of anything? Let’s count the ways…
- Bustamante was compelled to quit two state commissions after his infamous “water bra” comments. Click here to read about his utter humiliation (L.A. Times).
- Bustamante has taken money, thousands of dollars, from developers, then voted on projects involving those same developers (OC Weekly).
- Bustamante is a director of the Santa Ana Business Bank, which has seen its share value plummet from $10 to $4 in less than two years (NASDAQ).
- Bustamante has violated the Santa Ana Code of Ethics on numerous occasions (Orange Juice).
- Bustamante famously compared himself to Forrest Gump at a fundraiser chaired by Miguel Pulido and Curt Pringle. Click here to read about that fiasco.
- You can find out a lot more about this guy by reading “Who is Carlos Bustamante?“
- You can also access dozens of articles we have published about Bustamante at this link.
At the very least, it is ridiculous to put Bustamante in charge of planning when you consider how much money he has received from developers and county contractors over the years. This is a massive conflict of interest and a complete abomination! But it is exactly what I would expect from our lame County administrators. They also thought it was a great idea to remodel the Supervisors’ lobby while announcing layoffs of County workers…
Art, you’re missing the point.
I’m sure that Carlos is a nice man – he has always seemed congenial when he has appeared at County Planning Commission meetings. But really, this job needs to be held by a professional land use planner, or a public works engineer with experience in planning. As far as land planning is concerned, the Director should be an expert on State and County zoning and housing regulations, and especially the half-dozen specific plan area regulations. The DDA with the Rancho Mission Viejo is a volume all by itself. Also the Director now has the responsibility of approving new “by right” affordable housing projects on his own authority.
Bustasmante has held an interesting assortment of County jobs over the last six or seven years in various departments, but nothing that would qualify him replace Neely.
Meanwhile the planning staff has been reduced to a small fraction of its previous size and now more than ever needs experienced, practical leadership.
Art, Carlos beat you in the election that means that Carlos is more qualified than you are in anything you do. That is for sure.
The Director of Planning for the County of Orange is a very important position. I see nothing in Councilman Bustamante’s resume that qualifies him for this position.
His educational background is not in planning and one would think we would want someone that has some sort of formal training as well as educational knowledge of planning to serve in this position.
If Jubal is correct and Carlos does indeed get the promotion then it is clearly all about politics.
Does anyone know who actually makes the hire? Is it the Board of Supes?
If anyone has any constructive comments on how the position should be filled, including the recruitment and selection process, those comments should be directed to Thomas Mauck, CEO, County of Orange. One of the first decisions to be made would be whether to open up a recruitment to both county and non-county employees, or limit it to just county employees. Given the comments posted here that the county planning staff has been greatly cut back in numbers, opening it up to outsiders – such as City Planners – might have merit.
I would think that Janet Nguyen would be pulling for her best buddy and GOP mole in the Democratic party Count Chocula. He is a Planner and is unemployed. Come on Janet! Where is that famous patronage your are so well known for?
I guess Janet has left her hack The Planner AKA Count Chocula on the side of the road under that bus again. Poor guy.
Dave,
I suspected as much. Thanks for confirming that Bustamante is NOT qualified to head the O.C. Planning Department!
Readers – Mr. Zenger is a member of the O.C. Planning Commission. As such his assessment of Bustamante’s qualifications is one we should heed.
As for Bustamante, he reminds me of the guy who used to run horse shows, then was appointed to run FEMA. We all know how that worked out. Perhaps when the O.C. Planning Department goes up in flames Jubal will say “You’re doing a great job Busty!”
#4,
Great point! Readers, you may email the County CEO, Thomas Mauk at thomas.mauk@ocgov.com.
cas ob,
The Planning Department has shrunk tremendously. Part of that is the result of the spending/billing mess Matthews got into seven years ago; part of it reflects the shrinking size of unincorporated County territory. If anything this makes the job of the Director relatively more important since the great volume of past conditional permits requiring executive action by the Planning Director remain.
It is also a practical reality that some of the “islands” like West Anaheim, North Tustin, OPA, Rossmoor, Sunset Beach, and of course the canyons, will remain unincorporated for the foreseeable future. Collectively these areas represent a fairly good-sized city.
(A qualification I missed above is a thorough, practical understanding of CEQA and the ability to avoid losing lawsuits!)
There should definitely be an outside search for a new Director with the appropriate minimum qualifications in place.
BTW, several years ago I promoted the idea of outsoursing the whole planning function. It seemed to make sense as the staff size was shrinking and so was unincorporated land. I still believe there is merit in this idea, but I believe the Director would have to be a County employee with the ability to execute the myriad agreements put together in conditional approvals over the years. I doubt this arrangement would be acceptable to the union, but hope springs eternal.
So far Jubal’s gushing story about Busty has ZERO comments over at Red-faced County. Is anyone still reading that blog?
So far Jubal’s gushing story about Busty has ZERO comments over at Red-faced County. Is anyone still reading that blog?
I doubt it. He’s pretty rude to other posters, as has been noted on several occasions. Who wants to be put on notice all the time by his arrogant retorts?
Red Vixen said: “Who wants to be put on notice all the time by his arrogant retorts?”
THAT is the ultimate “pot calling the kettle black” statement.