WHAT ARE YOUR KIDS BREATHING COSTA MESA?
(Another part of the Mansoor/Leece mandate)
According to news reports today, the European Union has just passed a tough chemical law that regulates about 30,000 toxic substances. (See LA TIMES, pg A9, 12/14)
This law is far tougher than any we have in the U.S.
It seems the Europeans are getting fed up with their citizens dying of cancer and other diseases caused by toxic substances.
Switch now to Costa Mesa.
As we've reported many times before, the way Costa Mesa has developed is backwards.
Our best land for homes is on the Westside bluffs. This land has some ocean views and almost constant moist ocean breezes. Instead of homes, Costa Mesa has a massive industrial area on these bluffs.
In fact, of the cities in the ring of cities (those cities that surround Costa Mesa and which touch some part of our land), only Santa Ana has more of its land zoned for industrial uses than Costa Mesa and Santa Ana doesn't have its industrial buildings on view bluffs between the ocean and people.
Here's a comparison that should make Costa Mesan's shudder. Costa Mesa has a whopping 14% of its land zoned for industrial uses and much of it is on our Westside bluffs.
Newport Beach only has 2% of its land zoned this way, and much of the industrial zoning in Newport Beach is on the Westside bluffs right next to Costa Mesa. Huntington Beach only has 8% of its land zoned for industrial uses and most of that is far inland.
The CM PRESS has long maintained that Costa Mesa needs a proper balance and that we should only have about 7% of our land zoned for industrial uses and most of this should be downwind of most of our population, not upwind as it is now.
In the just past election, many of the out of town industrialists tried to elect Bruce Garlich and Mike Scheafer to the City Council. They failed.
The voters of Costa Mesa gave a mandate to Allan Mansoor and Wendy Leece to clean up and improve this city. Part of that mandate is to move at warp speed to revitalize the Westside and make it a nice and safe place to live--with clean air.
We'll be watching to see if Mr. Mansoor and Ms. Leece, along with Mr. Bever, can finally break the stranglehold of out of town interests that have been screwing up Costa Mesa for many years and if they can turn our present Slum on the Slopes into the Shining City on the Hill that it should be.
For all their PTA type cooing talk, Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon have been very silent about cleaning up our bluffs. Could that be because some of their pals are the out of towners who tried to defeat Mansoor and Leece?
Could it be that Foley and Dixon really don't care about what our kids are breathing? Are they as much in denial about toxic chemicals as they are about illegal alien crime in our city?
No doubt, they'd give their usual lip service to saying that we should have a clean and safe city. The problem is that when it comes time to actually do something about it, they always seem to be on the side of the improvement obstructionists.
If you get a chance, ask Foley and Dixon why they don't seem concerned about what our kids are breathing. If they give you a phony PC answer (which is likely), ask if they'd like to see homes built on the bluffs to replace some industrial buildings as a step toward the transformation of Costa Mesa into the great city that it should be.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
