FUNCTIONALLY OBSOLETE SLUMS CAN'T BE FIXED WITH PRETTY FLOWERS
The liberal brain is a twisted brain, dear friends. It is not logical. It's neurons are all too busy giving each other teary-eyed group hugs and thinking up new euphemisms and cookie baking types of busy work to avoid doing the heavy lifting.
Turn to the column by Alicia Lopez today in the ultra-liberal Daily Pilot, whose publisher is Thomas H. Johnson, late of Irvine and now of Newport Beach, for an example of a liberal brain's neurons doing a group hug.
The subject of Lopez's column is the Mission-Mendoza slum in Mesa del Mar, where ultra-liberal Katrina Foley lives.
This slum has been going downhill for years, probably in direct proportion to the number of illegal aliens who have moved into the buildings there. It's been the scene of drive-by shootings and much gang activity. And, it's getting worse with each passing month.
Without the Mission-Mendoza slum, Mesa del Mar would be one of the nicest neighborhoods in our city. With it, the whole tract suffers. A cancer on your arm, if not removed, won't just kill your arm, but your whole body.
Now, here's the real problem with the Mission-Mendoza slum: It is functionally obsolete.
When something is functionally obsolete, it means that it can't be fixed and it has to be replaced. That's the hard truth that liberals such as Foley and Lopez don't want to see.
What do I mean, specifically, about the Mission-Mendoza slum being functionally obsolete and why does it have to be replaced?
The slum is a couple of long streets with barracks style fourplexes lined cheek by jowl up and down the streets. Behind the barracks style fourplexes are small garages and alleys. As I've written before, it reminds me of some of the Marine barracks where I spent some time, such as at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. And, I have to tell you, that's not the type of living that people would choose if they had other choices.
What we need to understand, before going on, is that cities are in competition with each other for residents. You may not usually think of it that way, but that's reality. Upwardly mobile people are often picky people. They may drive you nuts with their constant complaints about this and that, but they are often the squeaking wheels that make things nicer for everyone. They want modern residences with modern amenities. They want good schools. They want a low crime rate. They don't want slums. They don't want gangs. They don't want charities on every corner.
When such people look at Costa Mesa, today, they may not give our city a second glance. Instead, they may move to Irvine or Newport Beach. And, dear friends, that means we will have lost more people who would have helped float all of our boats just a little higher.
Now, say you're a landlord and you own a building in the Mission-Mendoza slum. You need to rent out your units or you're not going to be able to pay your mortgage. You're competing for tenants with owners of nicer apartment buildings.
Young professionals want amenities such as pools, tennis courts, health clubs, a nice neighborhood, and more. They don't want to live like sardines. They don't want to live in a military barracks. You can't offer the things that they want in your Mission-Mendoza building. This is the year 2007, not 1967. Tastes change. Your building hasn't. It can't. Why? Because your building is irrevocably tied in to all the other buildings along the street. Even if you fix up your one building, you can't change the fact that it's just sitting there right next to a hundred similar buildings all packed closely together.
As a result, you're not going to be too careful in putting people into your units and you're probably going to overlook things such as multiple families and gang members renting your units. All you want is to get the monthly rent checks so you can enjoy your life, perhaps, in Newport Beach, far from the slum.
There's the recipe for a downward spiral, dear friends. There's the reality we face in Costa Mesa. There's the reality of Mesa del Mar and why it's not going to improve unless and until public opinion in that neighborhood rejects the huggy-kissy nostrums of people such as Katrina Foley.
Here's what Lopez wrote in her column today that is a pretty good illustration of the liberal brain's neurons having a group hug: "Are we really just supposed to push everyone along until they find another city to be poor in?"
Nope, Ms. Lopez, and that's not what anyone is suggesting. What many of us are suggesting, however, is that it's time for us to start making our city the kind of place that can compete with other cities for residents who will make Costa Mesa the great city it can be. We think that Costa Mesa, given its ocean close location, should be more like our coastal neighboring cities and less like Santa Ana.
And, as we've written hundreds of times, the downscale conditions we see here are maddening in a city such as Costa Mesa that should expect more, if for no other reason than the fact that we are the coastal close, slightly less pretty sister of Newport Beach.
Furthermore, the old saying, "If you ask life for a penny and it gives you a penny, don't complain," has some applicability here.
Some of us in Costa Mesa are asking for more than a penny. Some of us aren't happy with crime and failing schools and other problems not of our making. We want the best for ourselves and our families and we're not going to aim low because to aim high might upset some. We want to be the best we can be. And, if we're still not as good as others, we will have at least moved a little forward. And, in doing so, we will have brought others forward a few more steps.
That's how we all improve, Ms. Lopez, both in our personal lives and as a society. It's a little like a caterpillar on a twig. A small part moves forward and then the rest is pulled along. Liberals, however, would have the caterpillar not move any part forward lest the hind part be inconvenienced.
A few last words about this liberal nonsense of "pushing people out." Frankly, I'd like to live on Balboa. I can't afford it, so I live where I live. Did those who live on Balboa push me out? I don't think so. They just have desirable properties that are too expensive for me. And, why are their properties so expensive? Supply and demand. There's more demand for ocean close properties than the supply of such properties. Those who are willing and able to pay the price, get those properties. Those who aren't willing to pay, or who can't pay, don't get them.
If I couldn't afford to live where I live now, then I'd move to where I could afford to live. That's the way it works in a non-socialist country. We're not assigned our housing. We make such decisions based on our own circumstances. And, that's a system that's worked pretty well in this country.
So, should we simply and artificially try to maintain slums in Costa Mesa because if the slums are gone, some people will have to move to where they can afford to live? That's not a good solution for any city. Such short term false compassion, in the long run, leads to the deteriation of the whole city. And, dear friends, that is what we're seeing in Costa Mesa right now. Doubt it? Check all the relevant statistics of our city. They're an eye opener. If you don't have the time to do that, then just check the school scores. They're an important indicator of the quality of any community. Our schools are at Third World levels.
We can do better in Costa Mesa. We need to ask for more than a penny or we're going to see more and more gangs and crime and other problems.
We need to make our city a place to be, and not a place to flee.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
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Here's the link to our site: Pssst, pass it on and stick it to the libs who don't want people to read the truth and thus be motivated to improve Costa Mesa.
http://cmpress.blogspot.com/
