BAD CITY EQUALS=BAD SCHOOL SCORES
IMPROVE THE CITY AND YOU AUTOMATICALLY IMPROVE SCHOOL SCORES
Let's get the terminology correct right away. When you hear people talking about bad schools, you need to correct them and tell them that what we're really talking about is "bad student scores," which means that the students are scoring too low on tests and their low scores are causing the schools to get failing grades.
That's what we're seeing in Costa Mesa.
Costa Mesa's schools and teachers are every bit as good as the schools and teachers in Newport Beach.
The problem is that our students aren't testing as high as the students in Newport Beach. The problem isn't with the schools, but with the students. And, why is this the case? Because Costa Mesa's schools are full of the children of illegal aliens and Newport's aren't.
And, our bad school scores are helping keep Costa Mesa from improving.
Say you're a young, upwardly mobile professional couple living back in the snow and cold, and say you're also the parents of a couple of grade school kids and further say you're now planning on moving to sunny Orange County.
One of the first things you'll do is check on the quality of the schools in various communities near where you'll be working. After all, as a responsible parent, you want the best education for your kids and you want them to have a leg up on life.
Would you move to Costa Mesa's Westside?
On the plus side, on the Westside you may be able to find a home that's close to the beach so you can bicycle down there.
On the negative side, there's a massive industrial zone taking up the best land in the area and there are slums and there are three schools--Pomona, Wilson and TeWinkle that are about to be taken over by the state because the student scores are so low.
You might be able to put up with the industrial zone and even the slums--so long as they're down the street and around the corner--but you know you don't want your kids in a slum school. So, maybe you'll decide to move to Mission Viejo or Irvine, or, if you have the money, Newport Beach.
In other words you may bypass Costa Mesa completely.
And, Costa Mesa will have lost a chance to attract another family that might be an asset to the community.
That, dear friends, is one of the things that we've been seeing in Costa Mesa.
We're not only not attracting upwardly mobile people, we're seeing many of those who already live here flee to safer communities with better schools and a higher quality of life.
And, it is people who make a difference. A city is its people.
Not being able to compete for upwardly mobile people with some other cities does not please citizens who understand that Costa Mesa has incredible potential to become one of the nicest ocean close communities in the state.
The Point: To improve the schools we need to improve the demographics. It's no more complicated than that.
So, how is that done?
1. Build the types of homes that attract upwardly mobile families.
2.Thin out the slums.
3. Replace some of our industrial buildings with homes.
Yes, if we build them, they will come. Why? Because we have the ocean right at our doorstep, while cities such as Mission Viejo and Irvine don't. In the heat of summer, Costa Mesa is naturally air conditioned via ocean breezes. Mission Viejo and Irvine swelter.
But there's more here.
Even though improvers have been successful in several past elections and some things are moving in the right direction, there is a feeling among some citizens that there may be some in City Hall who are not helping matters.
Oh, some of those who aren't helping will smile and shake hands with folks who want improvement, but at the same time, they may not be taking the aggressive steps necessary to invite in home developers and they may not be doing all they can to get things moving in the right direction. Call it a passive resistance to improvement.
Cities that want to improve, tell staff that they need to do more than just sit back and wait for developers to show up--they need to call them on the telephone, email them, mail them, invite them down to view our city and its potential, invite them down for luncheons, build relationships, set up meetings between the developers and the Mayor.
This is not a time for business as usual. This is a time to move Costa Mesa forward by major bounds. This is a time for everyone in City Hall to start marketing our city.
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AIRPORT CREEP
The Daily Pilot has yet another story in today's paper about Newport trying to hold John Wayne Airport to certain growth limits.
Unless a new airport is found, and found fast, Newport is just dreaming and JWA will continue to grow.
It's a simple matter of supply and demand. We have too little supply and too much demand for air travel. Flight caps won't work for long and anyone who is half bright knows that.
And, please don't pretend that airports in Palmdale and Ontario will take the pressure off JWA. That's a bunch of crap. The answer is to start planning on building a new airport on the northern part of Camp Pendleton. Period. To do that, we need to start getting more than local city councils involved. We need to get our county, state and federal elected officials thinking and talking about such an airport. It can be done, and it needs to be done.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
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