Wednesday, February 28, 2007

CM PRESS # 93


REPORT FROM THE PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION

Commissioner Terry Shaw votes against Mesa North!

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007--This was the first meeting of the new Parks and Recreation Commission.

The members of the commission are Chair Bob Graham, Vice Chair Kurt M. Galitski, Commissioner Mike Brumbaugh, Commissioner Mark Harris, Commissioner Terry Shaw.

PAULARINO PARK


The CM PRESS briefly brought the Commission up to date about the problems residents in Mesa North have had with their passive Paularino Park being used by sports teams whose members defecate in the bushes and in the tot lot and who cause dangerous conditions for residents who want to use the park for its intended passive purposes.

We also related how Recreation Manager Jana M. Ransom (call her (714) 754-5654) had met with citizens of Mesa North, and left them with the impression that trees, and possibly boulders, and various other things would be added to the park to ensure that Paularino remains a passive park and is not used for dangerous team sports, but that nothing appears to have been done on things that citizens thought would be done.

Then, later on in the meeting, Commissioner Brumbaugh made the excellent suggestion that a tree that is to be removed from Wilson Park be placed in Paularino Park. This passed on a 4 to 1 vote with Commissioner Terry Shaw voting against the residents of Mesa North.

Shaw made no comments before or after the vote as to why he was voting against Mesa North, but this vote may be an early indicator that Shaw is going to be against real improvement in our city.

In addition, in light of the CM PRESS's earlier comments at the meeting about how citizens in Mesa North, via their Community Association, let it be known that they would like to have more trees and boulders, etc. in Paularino Park, Shaw's vote can probably be interpreted as an intentional insult to Mesa North citizens.

When Commissioner Mark Harris asked staff about the general progress of the plan of putting in trees and boulders in Paularino Park, Bruce Hartley, who handles these matters for the city, replied that he had not received any direction from City Council to move forward with the project, so nothing was being done!

Hartley's comments were contrary to what the CM PRESS thought was happening. We believed that Council had, in fact, given direction to staff and that staff was working to put these features in Paularino Park.

Then, when Commissioner Harris asked Ms. Ransom about possibly using the field at Paularino School for soccer (something that Mesa North residents are also against because of the closeness of homes), Ms. Ransom said that she had talked to a man who comes to City Council Meetings and that he has an "in" with the apartment residents and that they were going to talk to those residents about what they want.

The apartments that Ransom was referring to are the Fillmore slums where there have been a number of shootings and where there is gang activity and where many suspected illegal aliens are believed to be living. And, our guess is that the man who Ransom mentioned with the "in," is a guy who doesn't live anywhere near Mesa North, but who has tried to get the city to let soccer be played at Paularino Park.

So, are we left to conclude that the quality of life of the citizens of Mesa North, a neighborhood with more than 700 single family homes, is going to be left in the hands of the few who live in the Fillmore slums--including some who probably aren't even in this country legally?

Is this the way the City of Costa Mesa wants to treat citizens?

How about it City Council--did you give direction to staff or did you not? Are you going to ensure that the citizens of Mesa North get to safely use their park for its intended passive purposes or are you going to let sports teams kick citizens out of the park so they can use the park--which has no sports fields--for team sports?

Are you going to let sports teams, as they did before, tell a grandmother holding her infant grandson in her arms, to get off the only sidewalk in the park because the sports teams are playing soccer across that sidewalk?

If you check on this with Ms. Ransom, City Council, don't buy the business about there not being "organized teams," using the park as she stated at the meeting tonight. That's a red herring.

Most of the teams who are using the park may not be part of regular soccer leagues, but they are still teams with two sides each running and trying to make goals. They are putting little children and others in danger by their activity.

And whether or not they're part of a league or formal team, the members still urinate and defecate. You don't have to be part of a league or formal team to do that anymore than you have to be part of a league or formal team to kick a ball into a toddler's face or into a passing car on busy Paularino Avenue.

Paularino Park does not have a sports field. These soccer players should obey our laws and apply to the city to use sports fields as do the regular soccer leagues.

Even if you don't live near Paularino Park this issue should be important to you. There are parks in almost all of our neighborhoods in Costa Mesa that are small passive parks similar to Paularino Park. If the City lets this type of dangerous activity go on in Paularino Park, your park may be next.

Here's the email address of the City Council:
op2council@ci.costa-mesa.ca.us

If the above email address is dead, try the City's email directory and the link should work: http://www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us/contact/email.htm

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