To view the City's slide presentation, click the image above.

This week, I had the pleasure of attending the Laguna Beach State of the City, presented by Mayor Bob Whalen during a luncheon held at the beautiful Montage Laguna Beach.

With Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen at the State of the City.

Hosted by the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce, this outstanding event highlighted the City's economic, cultural and community development initiatives, as well as key infrastructure projects and funding priorities. 

To view the City's Public Works video, click the image above.

The 2019 Laguna Beach State of the City Luncheon brought together a virtual "who's-who" of local community leaders, law enforcement personnel, industry representatives, nonprofit organizations, arts & culture institutions, businesses owners, artists, entrepreneurs, and civic-minded individuals.  

To view the City's Police Department video, click the image above.

Under the ever watchful eye of City and community leaders, Laguna Beach clearly has a bright future ahead! To view the Public Works video, click here. To view the Police Department video, click here. To view the slide presentation, click here. 

This week, I was pleased to attend and host a number of events during the 2019 California State Association of Counties (CSAC) Annual Legislative Conference in Sacramento. As 1st Vice President of CSAC, I have had many doors of opportunity opened for me to bring the concerns and issues of Orange County directly to our state legislators.

Speaking at the CSAC Legislative Conference in Sacramento.

While there, I met with many influential members of the Governor's administration, as well as Governor Gavin Newsom himself. Homelessness and housing continues to be a priority of mine and for the Governor. During a speech to the delegation of other County Supervisors from across the state, Governor Newsom expressed his desire to work with Counties and Cities to resolve the issues of homelessness, such as mental health care, starting with a revise of his annual budget that gives both Cities and Counties the necessary funding to increase housing and provide needed services for those experiencing homelessness.

With Governor Gavin Newsom (center), members of his administration, and my fellow CSAC Executive Committee colleagues.

According to the most recent statewide numbers, California has roughly 130,000 people experiencing homelessness. When I met with the Governor, he was very appreciative for the work Orange County is doing in regard to finding permanent supportive housing and applauded us for our Be Well OC initiative.

I also hosted a panel along with CSAC Executive Director, Graham Knaus, featuring key members of the Governor's Administration, including Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of California Health and Human Services Agency; Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of California Natural Resources Agency; and Kate Gordon, Director of California Office of Planning and Research.

Hosting a panel at the CSAC Legislative Conference.

As such, we spoke about resiliency plans to ensure California has the necessary resources and prevention tools to face future natural disasters like wildfires. Dr. Ghaly also discussed how counties need to explore innovative ways to help with the treatment and prevention of mental health issues for all our populations, from children and seniors to those experiencing homelessness.

While we made significant progress in advocating for Orange County's needs, there is still much work to be done. To that end, I will continue to work with our elected officials to turn these words into actions. I look forward to working with the Governor, our state legislators, City Elected Officials, as well as our wonderful nonprofit organizations and community stakeholders to bring results to Orange County on these pressing issues.

As reported in my newsletter last week, Orange County partnered in January to complete the 2019 Point-In-Time (PIT) count of the homeless. Over 1,150 community volunteers, as well as nonprofit and faith-based organizations, all 34 cities, and County government representatives, including my office and I, worked in tandem to implement a new methodology and technology to ensure everyone was counted.

With my staff at the 2019 PIT deployment center at Family Assistance Ministries in San Clemente.

The data collected during our 2019 PIT count contains valuable information the County and community stakeholders will use to ensure resources are distributed to best serve those experiencing homelessness.

The extrapolation method we used is HUD compliant and entirely acceptable. To that end, the County created a unique identifier and used a survey on a phone app. Volunteers went to areas where homeless people were and filled out the survey, adding points to the GIS map.

The results from the 2019 Everyone Counts process provide the most accurate data on the scope of homelessness in Orange County to date, as 6,860 individuals experiencing homelessness were counted across the County. Of those, 2,899 were sheltered while 3,961 were not.

Approximately 2,200 people completed all the survey questions. This gave us much better accuracy of the data, and we also spoke directly with homeless individuals about their specific needs and barriers to resources. As such, we gained valuable information about our homeless population in a one-day snapshot, as this is a hidden population that moves around. For example, if we did a count today, they would likely be in different places.

In prior counts, volunteers only interviewed about 300 to 400 homeless people and extrapolated the numbers based on countywide demographics. A factor that could have increased the numbers in this year's PIT is we counted families differently than in prior count methodologies, so they were definitely under-counted in the past.

In the 2019 PIT count, we asked our family solution collaborators to connect with their clients who were homeless on the night of January 24. Results showed 110 families were unsheltered, as opposed to in 2017, when we had only 20 families, because we just don't see as many families in a street count.

Individuals experiencing homelessness were broken into different demographic groups, including sheltered and unsheltered, veterans, transitional age youth, seniors and families. In addition, those surveyed were able to self-report if they had substance abuse issues, serious mental health issues, and if they had a physical disability, as well as other demographic factors.

We learned that over 50 percent of our homeless have been in Orange County for more than a year. They also have community ties, such as family, school or employment. Those questions are locally driven. We added them to get a sense of their community ties, as many do have ties here.

Furthermore, seventy-three percent have their last permanent address here, and 92 percent spend most of their time here, particularly in the North and Central Service Planning Areas of Orange County.

Of note, Orange County saw a 121 percent increase in the number of emergency shelter beds from 2017 to 2019. This was an increase in 1,390 beds in all.

As previously stated, people familiar with the homeless populations in their respective cities volunteered for the 2019 PIT count, with familiar and trained volunteers counting over 800 square miles. We may have missed a few, but when homeless individuals said they had already been counted, we felt we hit a saturation point.

With the 2019 PIT volunteers in South County.

On behalf of the County of Orange, I would like to thank everyone who took time from their busy schedule to ensure that Everyone Counts. Your passion to bring solutions and awareness to ending homelessness in Orange County is truly commendable.

The final report on our PIT count will be submitted to the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on April 30. To view the press release and an infographic on the 2019 PIT count results, please click here.

Construction by Caltrans will continue through May 24 on a project to improve the intersection of 7th Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in Laguna Beach.

The project involves building American with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramps and sidewalk, relocating controller cabinet, and upgrading the traffic signals at the intersection.

The shoulders and one lane on PCH will be closed from 9 AM to 3 PM, Monday through Friday. The project is expected to be completed before Memorial Day.

Caltrans appreciates the public’s patience while they perform this work. Portable Message Signs will notify drivers of closures and work times. Additionally, construction updates will be available via Twitter @CaltransOC and Facebook.com/CaltransOC.

The work schedule is subject to change due to traffic incidents, weather, availability of equipment and/or materials, and/or construction-related issues. For more information, please contact the District 12 Public Information Office at 657-328-6000.

Last week, my office attend a presentation by the South Orange County Economic Coalition (SOCEC), in partnership with Saddleback College, of the 2019 Economic Report, held in the Laguna Hills Community Center.

Authored and presented by Saddleback College, this data and market analysis focuses solely on South Orange County, a region that as of the end of 2018 contributed over $37 billion to Orange County's overall economy.

L-R: Paul Simonds (SOCEC), Kristen Camuglia (SOCEC), Joe Ray (Klein Education Systems), Derrick Calderon (Smart Cities Cox2M), Duane Cave (SOCEC), Dr. Barry Arbuckle (MemorialCare), Anthony Teng (Saddleback College), and Dr. Elliot Stern (Saddleback College).

Anthony Teng, Dean of Advanced Technology and Applied Science at Saddleback College, presented the annual report. Key highlights included:

• Real estate prices will rise slowly but inventory will be down and market time will increase.
• Transportation infrastructure needs to support economic growth.
• Younger adults cannot afford to live in South Orange County.
• Population is getting older, which will affect workforce and consumer service/product needs.
• Tomorrow's workforce needs training to meet middle and high end jobs.

Following the presentation, a panel of experts expanded on the findings with how the trends shown in the data were impacting their respective fields. Panelists included:

• Dr. Barry Arbuckle, President/CEO, MemorialCare
• Derrick Calderon, Director, Smart Cities Cox2M
• Joe Ray, Southern California Regional Manager, Klein Educational Systems

To view the PowerPoint presentation, click here. To view the report, click here.

OC Waste & Recycling will be celebrating International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) May 5-11. The focus of ICAW is to educate the public about the important benefits of recycling organic waste into compost.

Throughout the week, community groups, business and organizations will raise awareness on the benefits of using compost to improve or maintain high quality soil, to grow healthy plants, reduce the use of fertilizer and pesticides, improve water quality and protect the environment. 

Each year the Composting Council Research & Education Foundation chooses a theme to promote the week. The theme for this year is Cool the Climate – Compost!

Follow OC Waste & Recycling on social media @OCWaste all week long for information, tips and resources on composting!

OC Animal Care is hosting two emergency training sessions April 28 to teach interested foster volunteers how to bottle feed kittens. Kittens will be on hand for volunteers to practice bottle feeding at the two training sessions set for 10 AM and 2 PM at OC Animal Care, 1630 Victory Road in Tustin.

As of April 23, more than 750 kittens under two months of age made their way to OC Animal Care. Each arriving litter of kittens need someone who can care for and feed them every two to four hours until they have grown to at least two pounds and are ready adoption.

Staff relies almost entirely on the generous members of our community who are willing to foster these young kittens in their own homes and provide the love and attention needed until they are old enough to be adopted. Without these volunteers, OC Animal Care is significantly limited on the number of kittens that can be saved and given the chance to live a full and happy life.

Staff is looking for long- or short-term Guardian Fosters to join the program and help save the lives of the most vulnerable population in the shelter. Guardian Foster homes offer short-term placement for kittens who come in late in the day and need additional time to find long-term placement.

OC Animal Care also reminds the public to Wait, Watch, Win! The best way to combat the influx of kittens into the shelter is to leave kittens who are safe with their mom until they are eating on their own or are at least five weeks of age. This gives the kittens a better chance of survival.

• Hosted a meeting in Mission Viejo with South County city elected officials and staff to discuss the results of the 2019 Point-In-Time count of the homeless.
• Met with representatives of the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles, two of the world’s busiest seaports, which act as a gateway for international trade in North America.
• Attended the Laguna Beach State of the City luncheon.
• Participated in the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) Board of Directors meeting.

Meeting with South County city officials and staff regarding the 2019 Point-In-Time count results.

With representatives of the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles and my Senior Policy Advisor, James Dinwiddie (right).

With Mayor Bob Whalen at the Laguna Beach State of the City.

With Bill Green, South Coast Water District Board President, at the Laguna Beach State of the City.

With Mo Honarkar, the owner of Laguna Beach Company, at the State of the City. 
(Photo courtesy of Mary Hurlbut for Stu News Laguna)

• Attended the Diversity & The Creative Economy symposium in Laguna Beach.
• Attended the Laguna Beach State of the City luncheon.
• Participated in the Laguna Niguel Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee meeting.
• Presented a certificate of recognition in honor of the grand opening of Bistro Provincia in Dana Point.
• Presented a certificate of recognition in honor of the grand opening of Lightning Fit in Dana Point.

My Community Relations Advisor, Sergio Prince, with Laguna Beach businesswoman Heidi Miller and Police Chief Laura Farinella at the Diversity & The Creative Economy symposium.

With Laguna Beach Councilwoman Sue Kempf and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Dicterow at the State of the City.

With Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Paula Hornbuckle-Arnold at the State of the City.

L-R: With Laguna Beach business and community leaders Sam Goldstein, Hasty Honarkar, Mo Honarkar, Chris Keller, and Karyn Philippsen at the State of the City.

Presenting a certificate of recognition in honor of the grand opening of Bistro Provincia in Dana Point.

With Dana Point Mayor Joe Muller and Mayor Pro Tem Paul Wyatt (right) at the ribbon cutting for Lightning Fit.