A Hot Topic: Incorporation

Incorporation in the Saddleback Valley is the hot topic of the year. Why? Because now the involved citizens realize that they need concerned representation in their own area.

But that parochial concept called “local control” has to be re-thought in suburban Orange County. The Saddleback Valley area has a natural boundary and universal issues. The trees must be preserved everywhere. The freeway system impacts all communities.

We are a valley of hills with a similar environmental and geological impact; developers want to put buildings on them. And nowhere else in Orange County is there so much money to be had. The issues transcend El Toro, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills and Laguna Niguel.

First, we need vision. Elected village aldermen for districts can be the initium (beginning) of local control. And they won’t be in the pocket of a big developer in this computerized age; this new city could have regional representation on a one-man, one-vote basis. No other county city has the potential for better development under local citizen control.

Incorporation of a large city will return local control over the above-mentioned problems. Incorporation of a large city on a basis of regionalized representation would prevent any one developer from controlling the destiny of our environment and growth.

THOMAS M. WHALING

El Toro