August 21, 2012 Message
Thank you Aliso Viejo!
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed,
it’s the only thing that ever has,” someone once said.
On Sunday, August 19th, a large group of thoughtful, extremely committed citizens of all ages,
businesses and organizations forever changed the face of Aliso Viejo by taking part in our city’s
first-ever Lip Dub. Each and every one of these individuals gave their all and had a heck of a
time singing and dancing in the streets of Aliso Viejo to show solidarity and community spirit
like I’ve never seen. It was awe-inspiring and it made me proud. This was an amazing effort that
I proposed to our residents and they heeded the call.
I want to thank every man, woman and child, group, organization and business for taking part in
our four-hour production that will showcase our great city to the world. It was such a grass-roots
visual to see Boy and Girl Scouts; the Aliso Niguel Marching Band and Aliso Niguel Drill; St.
Mary’s Drill; Aliso Viejo Chamber of Commerce; Canyon Vista and Don Juan Avila Elementary
schools; Aliso Viejo Little League all-star baseball, football, soccer and tennis teams; and kids
from the Boys & Girls Club, Pacific Ballet Conservatory and National Gymnastics. There were
“Moms with Strollers” and dad’s with daughters and sons on their shoulders. Soka students and
We Run OC Kids took part as did folks from City Lights. The list goes on and on and I thank
you all. I want to also acknowledge the sponsors who believed in this concept and who believed
in their city and what it stands for. I tip my hat to you all. As I always say, it is the people who
make Aliso Viejo so great.
Our Lip Dup video – a combination of lip-synching and audio dubbing – will be shown during
my State of the City on October 13th during our Founder’s Day Fair. I invite the entire
community to join us that day to see the fruits of our incredible labor. I want to thank Chip and
Kim McAllister of PeopleStar FilmWorks who produced this piece and the ever-talented Milo
Levell for choreographing it. Thank you to our staff and volunteers for their efforts. We were
fortunate that our hometown hero Olympian Kyla Ross was able to take part in our community
video. Thank you to her and her family for taking the time to also show their love of this
incredible community.
It’s hard enough to get two people to go in the same direction at any one time. And if we can get
about 1,300 people to come together to celebrate their civic pride, then that’s just the tip of the
iceberg of what can be accomplished in our community. Thank you one and all!
Mayor Donald Garcia
