“Man is something that shall be overcome.Man is a rope,tied between beast and overman - a rope over an abyss.What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.”-- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra --Nothing scientific can be racist and nothing racist can be scientific. (c)2000-2017 CM PRESS.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
CM PRESS # 92
SHOULD COSTA MESA BE MORE LIKE CUDAHY?
IS IT ALREADY THERE IN SOME WAYS?
http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/the-town-the-law-forgot/15731/
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Thanks for reading the CM PRESS.
Monday, February 26, 2007
CM PRESS # 91
Manatee County, Florida - Manatee County deputies have named a suspect in Friday's kidnapping of 13-year-old Clay Moore.
(snip)
Vicente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno at 3719 17th Street Court East in Bradenton. There was no one at the home when investigators arrived.
(snip)
An arrest warrant is now issued for Beltran-Moreno in the kidnapping of 13-year-old Clay Moore. Moreno is said to have multiple aliases. FBI and other local law enforcement agencies are helping with the investigation.
Beltran-Moreno is a citizen of Mexico who has been deported before.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
CM PRESS # 90
Here's a photo of Banning Ranch and the areas around it from the Sierra Club website: http://taskforce.sierraclub.org/banningranch/
On the left you can see a small portion of Huntington Beach, then the Santa Ana River and Newport. It's hard to see in this photo, but Costa Mesa is up on the bluffs. Go to the above link and navigate around a little and you'll get a better idea of where everything is.
Also, the Daily Pilot has a pretty good article on Banning Ranch in today's paper (2/25), http://www.dailypilot.com/.
WHY SHOULD ANY OF THIS MATTER TO IMPROVERS?
The CM PRESS believes that Newport should get land on the east of Costa Mesa such as Santa Ana Heights and similar pieces, but that Costa Mesa should get land on the west of our city such as Banning Ranch and an opening to the sea near the Santa Ana River.
We also believe that it would be acceptable to negotiate with Newport so that both cities get parts of Banning Ranch IF, and only IF, Costa Mesa were able to get the aforementioned opening to the sea. But if such a sharing of Banning Ranch were to occur, we believe that Newport should pay for the street improvements and maintenance, etc. of West 17th Street and a portion of other streets in the area. It makes no sense for Costa Mesa tax payers to have to pay for streets that will mostly be used by Newporters who pay their taxes to Newport, not Costa Mesa.
Banning Ranch is also in part of the area where a marina/beach/bay was once planned. Unless someone tries to revive that idea, such a possibility will probably die forever once something is decided for Banning Ranch--you can't put a bay through houses.
And speaking of homes, it's worth noting that because of the hundreds of old oil wells on the land, a major cleanup may be required. Even then, some people may be reluctant to buy homes built on top of an oil field.
Of course if a bay were put in, no one would have to worry about contaminated soil.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Friday, February 23, 2007
CM PRESS # 89
FIRM GETS DINGED BY FEDS FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST WHITES IN FAVOR OF HISPANICS (ARE YOU LISTENING COSTA MESA?)
As most readers probably know by now, the Costa Mesa City Council gives some of our tax money to charities in the city that do not look like the city.
In fact, some charities in Costa Mesa serve Hispanics almost exclusively, yet Hispanics only account for about 30-35% of the people living in Costa Mesa.We don't think this is right. These charities are using tax money from citizens of all races and ethnicities, so why aren't people of all races and ethnicities benefiting from their taxes?
As we've previously reported, one charity in Costa Mesa even told a white girl that she was the wrong color and refused to let her use their services. The feds pounced on that charity and forced them to stop discriminating.
In addition, the charities don't ask if the clients are legally in the country or not, so there is probably a percentage of the clients who are illegal aliens.
Discriminating in favor of one group hurts other groups.
To root out clever discrimination and to cut through various excuses for not serving all people equally, the feds demand that these charities receiving your tax money supply demographic statistics. And, the statistics from some of these charities in Costa Mesa should raise some red flags for the City Council as they do with us.
Before it gives away our money to the charities, the City Council gets recommendations on how much to give to each charity from the 3R Committee. This is supposed to give citizen oversight on how the money is used.
In fact, however, more than a few members of the 3R Committee have direct or indirect charity ties, or are friends with various charity bosses or are involved in liberal politics and liberal political groups and causes including several members who actively and publicly tried to defeat Mayor Mansoor and Councilmember Leece in the last election.
In other words, instead of providing oversight to make sure our money is used wisely and in the best ways possible, the mostly liberal 3R Committee mainly just rubber stamps some requests.
In the past when a few members of the 3R Committee asked the charities hard questions, the charities complained to their friends on the City Council and the hard questions were stopped.
Now, it's all love and kisses.
As far as we can tell, there is no one who is really looking out for your interests or whether or not your money is being spent in the best ways to help improve Costa Mesa. In fact, we think that some of your money is going in directions that are helping keep Costa Mesa an illegal alien sanctuary.
At any rate, here's part of a newspaper article from Arizona about a prison firm that was discriminating in favor of Hispanics and against whites and got caught.
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February 23, 2007
Prison firm pays settlement for pro-Hispanic hiring bias
East Valley Tribune
(snip)
The rejected candidates include 11 Asians, 66 blacks, 17 American Indians, and 370 whites. All of them were deemed qualified job applicants but were not hired, said William Smitherman, a spokesman for the Pacific Division of the Labor Department’s Federal Contract Compliance Program.
The Florence Correctional Center, which has 277 employees and houses 1,824 medium-security prisoners, also must undergo a future audit by federal investigators to determine if it has met the federal hiring standards.
If the prison has not changed its hiring practices by then, the company could face stiff penalties including fines or termination of its government contracts.
(snip)
An audit by federal investigators in March 2005 ignited the case after investigators found a high rate of non-Hispanics had been passed over for jobs as prison guards.
(snip)
Many times, federal race discrimination cases are aimed at employers who overlook minority candidates. This one was unusual because a majority of those who faced discrimination were white.
(snip)
(Link: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/84618 )
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
CM PRESS # 88
Dear Mayor Mansoor, Mayor Pro Tem Bever and Councilmember Leece:
Are you doing everything you can to make Costa Mesa as nice as other coastal communities, or have you lost your focus?
Are you getting distracted by minor things?
Have your elected positions gone to your heads?
Are you listening too much to your new best friends in the GOP who wouldn't give you the time of day before you were elected, but who are now instant experts on what you should do in our city?
Are you trying to be non-controversial and not rock the boat?
Has inertia started setting in so that you no longer have the fire you had when you were outsiders?
Are you relying too much on staff to do your thinking for you?
Are you just showing up at city meetings and rubber stamping whatever is put before you?
Are you listening too much to the whining of your political enemies and trying to avoid their criticism?
Have you lost your way?
Do you no longer see what needs to be done to get Costa Mesa back on track?
Have you forgotten that the improvers have a goal of making Costa Mesa as nice as our coastal neighbors? And have you forgotten that this means more than just fixing potholes?
Have you started focusing on higher political offices and no longer want to risk your political careers by actually doing the difficult things that have to be done to improve Costa Mesa?
Have you turned your backs on improvement activists in your appointments to some city commissions and appointed political hacks who know nothing about our city or improvement?
The CM PRESS certainly hopes the above don't apply to you three, but some in the improvement community are asking questions similar to the above.
/s/
CM PRESS
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
CM PRESS # 87
NOTE TO STEVE SMITH: IMPROVERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN GREEN
In his Daily Pilot column today (2/21), Steve Smith once again gushes about Mayor Pro Tem Eric Bever's recent call for more environmentally sound practices in Costa Mesa.
The problem with Smith's take on this is that Smith apparently wrongly thinks or hopes that Bever has somehow been convinced to go over to the other side (the dark side in some observers' views) and that now Bever is starting to be on the side of Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon and that with a little praise from Smith and other libs, Bever will stop trying to improve Costa Mesa in meaningful ways.
Now, we haven't spoken to Bever about this, but it's the CM PRESS's belief that Bever and most other big "I" and little "i" improvers have always been on the side of protecting Costa Mesa's environment. In fact, they've been in the forefront of this.
It's been the improvers who have constantly called for the cleaning up of the pollution from the Westside--not Smith's pals Foley and Dixon and their candidates Garlich and Scheafer in the recent election.
It is improvers who have called for reducing the massive industrial zone on the Westside bluffs by about half, i.e. go from the present 60 acres of industrial uses down to about 30 acres.
Foley and Dixon and their supporters, by contrast, want people to believe that the improvers' call to clean up the bluffs is some dark plan to chase some people out of the city. They say this because they're trying to divert attention away from the fact that a large part of Foley and Dixon's support comes from the out of town industrialists who are making gobs of money by keeping the bluffs perpetually mired in low end polluting industrial uses.
It's been the improvers who have constantly said that Fairview Park should remain a natural park and not be overimproved. It is improvers who have fought against putting in asphalt parking lots and similar things.
It's been the improvers who have constantly said that the area below the Westside Bluffs should be turned into what it naturally is--a bay with the ocean coming right up to Victoria. And, if this were to happen the ocean would clean up this land that was used for oil production.
It's the improvers who have been behind having the City of Costa Mesa invest in our neighborhoods by buying up decrepit properties and turning them into parks and green space.
Bever can speak for himself, but it's our belief that he's always been for a nicer environment.
Sorry, Mr. Smith, once again, you just don't get it.
If you want to do some good with your column, Mr. Smith, then try to convince Foley and Dixon to go really green by reducing the industrial uses on the bluffs. Go ahead, Mr. Smith, call Foley and Dixon and see if they'd get behind this. Laugh out loud. You know they wouldn't.
We won't hold our breath until you make the call, Mr. Smith, or honestly report what Foley and Dixon tell you--but we do try to hold our breath whenever we're on those bluffs. The air blowing over those factories isn't very green.
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Those are our very green opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Monday, February 19, 2007
CM PRESS # 86
BEANFIELDTROPOLIS
(Morlocks & Eloi for a new age)
At a recent meeting, the Costa Mesa City Council approved plans for five high-rises and more than 1,200 new residential units near the Orange County Performing Arts Center across from South Coast Plaza--the area known as South Coast Metro.
Missing from the approval was any demand on the developers to provide affordable housing in the project area or even outside the project area but in Costa Mesa.
Some wonder where the Morlocks will live who will service the needs of the rich Eloi, living in the new buildings high above the nitty gritty things that make everything work, if these Morlocks can't afford to live in the project area. *
Never fear, dear readers, as you have no doubt already guessed, several movies have suggestions for just such a situation. The Morlocks can live in the equivalent of dimly lit tunnels down below the shining spires--which is to say they can live in old Costa Mesa and Santa Ana.
But first, some gaps need to be filled in our speculation to properly set the stage and to explain that just used term "old Costa Mesa."
Could it be, as I've written before, that a new city may be aborning in South Coast Metro?
Imagine a Costa Mesa that stops just south of the San Diego Freeway. Imagine a Costa Mesa that has lost most of its tax revenues. Costa Mesa was long ago cut off at the legs so that we can no longer stick our toes in the Pacific Ocean. Now, will the top half of Costa Mesa also be cut off?
To understand why this is possible, even without all the inside baseball, just look at a map of the area. Draw a rectangle on the north side of the San Diego Freeway paralleling the freeway from the Santa Ana River on the west to Main Street on the east and extending up to around Segerstrom Avenue, or maybe even up to Warner Avenue in some places.
What do you have?
A rectangle that is a multi-million dollar cash cow that straddles the border between Costa Mesa and Santa Ana. This area is developing its own identity separate from the two cities in which it is located. And, having such an identity is a logical step to full city hood.
This rectangle that you just marked off will not only have the new high-rises and thousands of people living there, it already has South Coast Plaza, IKEA, and many other smaller centers and even the new Furniture Center along the San Diego Freeway as well as a law college and many homes in the area west of South Coast Plaza. It also has a huge chunk of Costa Mesa's annual tax revenues.
And, speaking of the new Furniture Center, doesn't that sign with the ball on top along the 405, just somehow look like what you'd expect to see in a 1930's vision of a futuristic city that also has elevated pedestrian walkways connecting up buildings as you see at South Coast Plaza? Don't you half expect to see flying cars landing in the area?
Anyway, imagine that the financial and political powers in the rectangle are getting a little tired of having to deal with Costa Mesa and Santa Ana politics every time they want to build something. You know, things such as having to fight off the constant calls for the developers to donate almost $20,000 per residential unit that they want to build in order for Costa Mesa to be able to build affordable housing--as we heard at a City Council meeting.
Maybe the powers that be have decided that the path of least resistance is to go the way of the City of Industry.
Not clear what this means? Read on.
The City of Industry is about 11.9 square miles in size–about the size of Costa Mesa–but according to the 2000 census, it only has 777 residents.
Costa Mesa, by contrast, and to be precise, covers 15.7 square miles and has, according to the 2000 census, 108,724 residents.
The City of Industry was formed in 1957 to keep surrounding cities from grabbing land in the area for tax revenues.
So, could there really be some developers and others meeting in the present equivalent of smoke filled rooms talking about having the rectangle described above becoming its own city with its own bought and paid for city council that’ll dance to the right tunes?
Sorry, but I don’t know. I'm allergic to smoke filled rooms and their present equivalents and I wouldn’t be invited to any of the meetings even if there were such meetings. The dead swan on the Daily Pilot’s 103 most influential whatevers list has more clout than I do.
But, as a lowly and ever humble observer of the local scene, it just seems logical to me that someone with a financial interest in South Coast Metro would be thinking about this. I mean, what am I, a genius and the only one who can see what is so plain to see? I don’t think so.
If someone wanted to make a move to start a new city out of the rectangle, what would they do? Well, they’d have to have a large enough voting population living in the area to ask for city hood (say, a couple of thousand up-scale people living in new high-rises along with the people living in homes on the other side of South Coast Plaza).
They might also want to have a mass transportation infrastructure (say, like Centerline) to bring in the Morlocks from Santa Ana and the old Costa Mesa (which in our extrapolative and metaphorical speculation has become like the worst of the Westside) to do the menial job of shoveling coal into the huge machines down in the dimly lit tunnels below the park like setting and shining towers and spires reaching to the sky where the Eloi live.
And, so what if the Morlocks emerge in the night and eat some of the Eloi?
That's the tradeoff the rich Eloi are willing to make to have someone else do the menial jobs of keeping the machines working in order for their Disneyland like plastic world to keep running smoothly. Besides, it's mostly the poorer cousins of the rich Eloi who get eaten.
Of course, the poorer cousins of the rich Eloi--the middle class Eloi--are not pleased that they are the ones who are mostly eaten by the Morlocks while the rich Eloi live in mile high fortresses in the sky. But who cares what they think?
But, back to a more straightforward view of things. One of the points being made here is that starting a new city would require long range thinking, and pieces would have to be put in place a few at a time before anyone caught on to the long range plan.
At some point, anyone who wants a new city would have to go to LAFCO (Local Area Formation Commission) and give them their several thousand dollar fee to explore the possibility of splitting this area off from Costa Mesa and Santa Ana. That’s pocket change to some of the developers in the area.
After that, the middle class Eloi could just sit back in their lounge chairs watching TV while living in the shadows under the overpasses and elevated roadways that crisscross old Costa Mesa and which connect up a gigantic and ever growing John Wayne Airport and various rich Eloi enclaves to Beanfieldtropolis.
And, as we contemplate our new, smaller, less wealthy and less desirable Costa Mesa where English is no longer the lingua franca and as we wonder how it came to be that this chunk of land--with a great climate and a geographic location between tony Newport Beach and tony Beanfieldtropolis--came to be as it is today, we scratch our heads and wonder how all those tiny little decisions of the Costa Mesa City Council could have somehow added up to what we now have. And, six words pop into our heads: "cumulative effect of many small decisions."
Of course, the above is all speculation and mixes fiction with fact. Still....
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* No, not Moorlachs as in Supervisor John M. W. Moorlach. Yes, I know the two names are pronounced the same and, yes, I am aware of so called synchronicity, but the Morlocks in H.G. Wells' story and later movie were big, and Supervisor Moorlach (not Morlock) is, oh...ah...right, I see what you mean, well never mind. And, yes, I am aware that the machines wouldn't be run by people shoveling coal into them. Geez.
-30-
Thursday, February 15, 2007
CM PRESS # 85
According to an article in the OC POST today, the ACLU has complained to the Tustin School Board because the representation of Latinos and African Americans in gifted student programs is not close to their percentages in the community
The ACLU says that for the 2005-06 school year, 8.6 percent of students enrolled in the gifted student program were Latino and 1.4 percent were black.However, also according to the ACLU, Latinos make up 43.1 percent of all students in the district and blacks make up 2.6 percent.
(Link to the article in OC POST: http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_1581301.php
SO WHY DOES THIS MATTER TO COSTA MESANS?
As the CM PRESS has constantly pointed out, the City of Costa Mesa gives our tax money (from HUD CDBG funds) to some non-profits in Costa Mesa that are completely out of whack with the statistical breakdown of people in this city. This isn't just our opinion. These non-profits are required to supply statistics of who they serve. You can view these stats yourself at City Hall. Just ask for Mike Linares on the Fifth Floor and tell him you'd like to see the HUD CDBG stats. These are public records and are covered by the California Public Records Act.
Costa Mesa reportedly has between a 30 and 35 percent Latino population, yet we have non-profits receiving tax money whose client lists are close to 100 percent Latino. You'll see that when you look at the stats.
The CM PRESS has called on the City of Costa Mesa to end what appears to be discrimination based on race/ethnicity and not fund non-profits that don't look like Costa Mesa unless they have iron clad reasons for not serving all people in this city in at least something like their statistical representation in the city.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
CM PRESS # 84
WATER BRIDGE
This is a picture of a water bridge in Germany--a river and boats crossing over a bay via a man made bridge.
The CM PRESS isn't asking for an engineering marvel like this below our Westside bluffs.
We're just asking that someone poke a crummy stick in the dirt so the ocean can refill the silted over bay that exists between the Santa Ana River and the bluffs.
Is it such a big deal to let a little bit of the Pacific Ocean come back where it naturally belongs--touching some of Costa Mesa's land?
If a marina or a beach or a bay is dug below our bluffs--and you won't have to dig far--then the folks in Marina Highlands and Newport Terrace may have the pleasure of setting lobster pots instead of possum traps and all of Costa Mesa will benefit by being a true coastal community.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
CM PRESS # 83
ALL FIVE CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS AGREE THAT ONE OF THEIR TOP PRIORITIES IS FIXING POTHOLES.
HUH?
THAT'S LEADERSHIP?
Say you own a company that is losing market share to competitors and you hire a new guy to turn things around.
Would you be concerned if the new guy then tells you that his highest priority will be to change the light bulbs in the restrooms? Would you question his priorities and his leadership abilities?
At the City Council study session held yesterday (2/13) all five City Councilmembers put fixing streets (read potholes) at or near the top of their priority list for this year.
Now, we at the CM PRESS dislike potholes as much as the next guy--they screw up the CM PRESSMOBILE--but two things come to mind in this regard.
First, fixing potholes and similar things is routine maintenance. We have city employees, led by a very competent and very much on top of things City Manager, who handle these things.
Second, when we spend $ 251,104 for a City Council--which is what the Council costs us each year in salaries, benefits, etc.--we should expect bigger things.
Sure, the Council should push staff to fix potholes, if they're not being fixed, but that's about a five minute conversation. End of issue. Move on to the next one.
Now, we aren't naive at the CM PRESS and we understand that saying you want to fix potholes is a safe political thing to say and gets a nod of approval from some in the city. After all, who would complain that potholes are being fixed?
However, in the larger scheme of things, fixing potholes is little more than window dressing. It's like kissing babies. This is the sort of thing we would expect from Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon who never seem to come up with anything substantive, but we expect more from the Council majority.
Could we please have some Generals along with some Privates? Could we please have some leaders who will take on some of the more difficult issues and who will improve this city in major ways?
Costa Mesa needs a major transformation to be the great city that it should be. To do this is going to require some heavy lifting on the part of the City Council and it's going to require leadership and courage.
The liberal establishment in Costa Mesa is against improvement. Oh, members of this group, who have been calling the shots here for at least two decades, will say they want improvement, but when you hit them with the actual things we need to do to improve this city, they demur and then begin calling names.
So, what are some of these big issues that are worthy of the time and effort of the City Council--of leaders? Well, in our opinion, they include:
1. Undergrounding the 55. This is already being talked about, but the Council needs to keep pushing.
2. Find an alternate location to John Wayne Airport. Most people are still just talking about capping flights at JWA. This is a losing strategy and a big mistake. It is nothing but a finger in the dike.
3. Revive the Marina idea.
4. Remove or thin out the functionally obsolete buildings that are breeding grounds for gangs and crime.
5. Help the Westside Bluffs evolve to more residential uses.
6. Encourage more high end commercial development along West 19th Street, West 17th Street, and along Placentia.
True leaders would be thinking about some of these big things, while not letting the small things go unattended, and they'd be using the power of their offices to get the conversation started about these things and in trying to forge public/private partnerships to get some of them done if appropriate.
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YOUTH PROGRAM
In the story today in the Daily Pilot about Katrina Foley's muddled Youth Program idea, Jennifer Perry, who is described as "Estancia High School government teacher" is quoted as saying: "I'm so disappointed to hear that members of our community don't want our youth participating in government."
No, Ms. Perry, that's nonsense. No one is saying that they don't want our youth participating in government.
What some people are saying, however, is that this program doesn't make much sense. Our youth can participate just as all other people participate. They can attend meetings. They can write letters. They can speak out. They don't need to be patronized with a feel good program.
And, why isn't the school district, that pays you, Ms. Perry, paying for and teaching civics as it should be? It's not the job of the municipal government to pay for this.
In fact, Ms. Perry, Foley's plan is so confused that it is not clear whether it's supposed to be an official city committee or a civics club or a group hug.
If it's supposed to be an official city committee, then the City Council needs to set it up and it needs to have a proper purpose and it needs to be under the same rules as all other official city committees. If it's supposed to be a civics club, then the school district should set it up and fund it on school property. If it's supposed to be a group hug, then the students can do that all on their own.
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AND SPEAKING OF KATRINA FOLEY...
The CM PRESS was at the City Council study session where the above mentioned Youth Program was discussed. We saw, maybe, five students there and a couple of them spoke about the program.
Then, later, the CM PRESS went to the School Board meeting where there was a discussion about reconfiguring the schools. And, Katrina Foley showed up. Foley told the Board that she had just come from the Study Session where the City Council heard the opinions of eighteen students. Maybe Ms. Foley is not good at counting.
FOLEY SAYS SOMETHING STUPID
Ms. Foley also told the school board that they should stop intradistrict transfers of students.
Frankly, that would be a mistake. What's happening now in Costa Mesa is that upwardly mobile people are still buying homes in Costa Mesa neighborhoods with failing schools only because they don't have to put their kids in their local schools, but can enroll them in Newport Beach schools.
If parents are forced to put their kids in bad schools in Costa Mesa, you can expect an increase in the flight out of this city of upwardly mobile citizens.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
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Here's our link:
http://cmpress.blogspot.com/
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007
CM PRESS # 82
CITY COUNCIL NEEDS TO GET INVOLVED TO CLEAR UP THE CONFUSION ON THE WESTSIDE
It became clear at the No-Planning Commission meeting held last night (2/12), that there is much confusion about the City Council's intent regarding improving the Westside.
The particular issue at hand was the proposed conversion to condominiums of 51 industrial units in an industrial park on a four acre parcel on the southeast corner of 17th Street and Placentia.
The owner of the industrial park wants to convert his park to industrial condos, and he apparently wants to keep them completely industrial, and not let them be used for live work--as in artists moving in and living and working in the same "loft" units.
The owner's stated intent to keep them exclusively industrial appears, on its face, to be at odds with what many improvers believe the City Council's intent was when it put in dual zoning--both residential and industrial--over all of the same properties, including this park.
No-Planning Commissioner Eleanor Egan was on the side of the improvers and said that the project should be turned down because, in her view, it did not meet what she believes is the intent of the City Council regarding the evolution of the massive Westside industrial area to more residential (and retail store) uses.
City employee and Development Services Director Don Lamm addressed the Commission and said that his understanding of the Council's intent with the dual zoning was to not give preference to either residential or industrial zoning but to simply let things develop as they may.
The CM PRESS view is similar to that of Commissioner Egan's. We believe that the Council's intent was to nudge along the evolution to more residential uses and that this intent was communicated in many ways, not the least of which was the fact that the area already had industrial zoning--for many years--but the Council then brought in residential zoning to overlay all the industrial zoning.
To us that Council action looks like a clear signal of legislative intent and is a strong signal that the Council wants the area to take on more of a residential nature. After all, if the Council wants the area to remain exclusively industrial, why would it put in residential zoning on top of the industrial zoning?
Following the reasoning in the immediately preceding paragraph, one is logically led to the conclusion that any requests that come before the No-Planning Commission that would frustrate the intent of the Council to move toward residential should not be approved.
When the vote came, it was Eleanor Egan and Sam Clark on the side of helping bring in residential uses, and Donn Hall, Jim Fisler and Jim Righeimer on the side of keeping it industrial.
Now, to be completely fair, Donn Hall did try to go along with Commissioner Egan by asking that the matter be continued for further study. However, staff told the Commission that it must decide one way or another because state law mandates that a decision must be made within fifty days of when the application is made.
Of course, no one on the Commission bothered to ask what would happen if a decision were not made within the fifty day time limit. Our guess is that if there were no decision, it would count as a turn-down of the applicant's request and he would have to wait six months to resubmit an application.
And, to be fair to Jim Fisler; he did argue that the intent of the Council would be satisfied because one of the conditions of approval to allow the conversion was that prospective buyers would be notified of the dual nature of the area.
However, Fisler's position is not nearly as strong a position as the one taken by Commissioner Egan. For example, if the owner of the property, as he has stated, wants to keep the units exclusively industrial, he can make that happen by controlling the Condo Association.
So, say you buy a unit and you want to live in half and do your art work in the other half. The Condo Association can tell you that you can't do that. End of the argument. No live work. No residential.
At any rate, this is an issue that is now ripe, and the City Council really should wade into this and stop all the confusion that may be hindering the revitalization of the Westside and clearly indicate what it wants to happen in that area. Then, it should have staff do the necessary paperwork--and put it all in clear and concise written form--to avoid any future confusion.
A good place to start with clearing up the confusion would be to ask Commissioner Egan to share her research on this issue with the Council.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Here's our link:
http://cmpress.blogspot.com/
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Monday, February 12, 2007
CM PRESS # 81
FIRST NO-PLANNING COMMISSION COMPOSED COMPLETELY OF COMMISSIONERS WHO HAVE TIES TO IMPROVEMENT MEETS TONIGHT
There is a no-Planning Commission meeting tonight, Monday, 2/12, starting at 6:30 p.m. in City Council chambers.
This will be the first no-Planning Commission meeting with new no-Planning Commissioners, Sam Clark and James Righeimer.
These two will join regulars Donn Hall, Eleanor Egan and Jim Fisler on the dais.
Something that may have gone unnoticed to many is the fact that this will be the first no-Planning Commission on which every member, in one way or another, and whether they know it or not, owes his or her seat to the improvers and what they started about seven years ago.
Notwithstanding the above, it would be incorrect, right now, to say that this is an "Improvement Commission," because many of the members do not directly come out of that movement.
However, even those who don't come out of that movement received a nod from improvers or those elected by improvers as potentially being on the right page to help improve Costa Mesa.
Time will tell whether or not this Commission will just be a caretaker commission or will be activist and work hard to make our city the great place it should be.
You can count on having improvers watching every official move of the no-Planning Commissioners to find out what they're really made of.
And, you can count on the CM PRESS to report on good and bad decisions as they are made.
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CORRECTION TO DAILY PILOT ABOUT NO-PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
In it's Planning Commission Preview appearing in the Pilot today (2/12), it was incorrectly stated that the owner of the West 17th and Placentia industrial park [51 units on 4 acres] "could develop [the present industrial units] with live-work units [read artist's lofts] but the proposed condos will be residential only."
In fact, the present owner has stated that he wants to keep the units as industrial only. This does not please some in the community who want to see a transition of the Westside to a higher and better use.
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CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION--TUESDAY, 2/13, 4:30 p.m.-- CITY HALL
At the City Council study session starting at 4:30 p.m. in conference room 1a, the Council will discuss Katrina Foley's Youth in Government Program ("Foley Youth" to some wags). This program, which the majority on the Council previously voted to receive and file (which means, throw it in the trash), was brought back for discussion at this meeting at the request of Foley.
Some observers believe this program, that will use $3,800 of your tax funds for eighteen students to "learn" about government, is little more than an attempt by Foley to help develop a voting base and/or cadre of precinct walkers for the election in two years in which she is expected to run again.
Observers point out that it seems that Foley is constantly coming up with programs and plans that appear to be attempts to endear her to sports teams, PTA types, charity bosses, and assorted liberals by using your money. In other words, some believe that she's trying to build a liberal political base with your dime.
Remember the controversy when Foley donated part of her Councilmember discretionary funds to non-profits and was told that's not a proper purpose for those funds?
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SCHOOL BOARD MEETING--TUESDAY, 2/13, 7 p.m.--DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS
The NMUSD Board will meet at 7.p.m. at district headquarters, 2985-A Bear Street to decide what to do about our schools that are failing to produce sufficient numbers of students who can pass standardized tests to put these schools in the passing grade with the feds.
It seems the feds are saying that students should learn something in the schools. This apparently does not please the NMUSD.
Note, 2985-A Bear Street is on the south east corner of Bear and Baker Street about a half mile west of Bristol.
Even if you don't have kids in school, this is worth your time. Home values are partly linked to the quality of our schools, and the quality of our schools is directly related to the number of illegal aliens in our city.
Go and watch how the mumblers on the Board try to work around Costa Mesa being turned into an illegal alien sanctuary city by liberals who are trying to obstruct the improvement of Costa Mesa.
Listen as some in the education establishment gush over each other in this mutual admiration society but fail to say anything of substance.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
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Don't forget to bookmark our site and check back daily. Also, please feel free to pass on this link to your friends who want a nicer Costa Mesa.
http://cmpress.blogspot.com/
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Friday, February 9, 2007
CM PRESS # 80
CAMP PENDLETON IS THE RIGHT PLACE TO PUT A NEW AIRPORT TO TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF JOHN WAYNE!
Not only was former Mayor and present Planning Commissioner Donn Hall ahead of most people in the plan to put a marina in below the Westside Bluffs, he was also about twenty years ahead of most people in suggesting that a small portion of Camp Pendleton could be used for an international airport.
Consider:
Los Angeles International Airport has 3, 425 acres
John Wayne Airport has 501 acres.
Camp Pendleton has 125,000 acres and 17 miles of coastline.
As you can see, if a tiny 3 % of Camp Pendleton is turned into an airport, this would amount to 3,750 acres or 325 acres larger than LAX and it would be 3,249 acres larger than JWA. Also note from the map above, that planes could take off over the ocean.
Donn Hall pointed out that because Camp Pendleton extends from the 15 Fwy to the 5 Fwy, that a road from the 15 could serve the needs of the expanding population in that area. In addition, Mr. Hall noted that Amtrak goes right through Camp Pendleton, and thus can easily bring passengers from Orange County as well as from San Diego County to the airport.
So, why aren't our political leaders moving at light speed to get something going to put a real airport on Camp Pendleton and save Costa Mesa and Newport Beach from being gobbled up by JWA--an airport that should be used only for small planes?
Sorry, we don't have an answer. Maybe they're too shy or are afraid to bring this up with our Congressmen?
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YOUTH FOR FOLEY?
Those who want the City Council to fund Katrina Foley's plan to give $ 3,800 of our money to a youth in government program serving 18 students, are expected to be at Tuesday's (2/13) City Council study session starting at 4:30 p.m. in Conference Room 1a at City Hall.
Will the City Council buy Foley's plan? Will they be afraid of looking as though they don't like kids if they say that this is not the proper function of City government? Or, will they understand that this is a waste of our money and show some backbone in telling Foley that if she and her liberal pals want this plan, then they should pay for it out of their own pockets?
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
CM PRESS # 79
WHY DIDN'T LINDA DIXON OR KATRINA FOLEY ANSWER THE PILOT'S QUESTION? (No, this is not a picture of Dixon and Foley)
In Thursday's (2/8) Daily Pilot, Costa Mesa's five Councilmembers were asked a simple question by the newspaper: "Would you support a citywide program that requires developers to provide affordable housing?"
Mansoor, Bever and Leece all answered the question correctly by essentially saying that such a program--which was before the City Council two meetings ago--would cause the price of housing to rise for those who do not qualify for the subsidized affordable housing as the developers simply add this tax under a different name to the rest of their units.
Mayor Pro Tem Bever also used the actual number of $ 19,000 per new housing unit that some in the city want developers to pay for each housing unit they build. In other words, if that plan had been put into effect, and if you wanted to buy a new home, you could expect it to cost $19,000 more than it should in order to subsidize affordable housing someplace else in the city.
Mayor Mansoor correctly told the paper that "This will hurt the very middle class you are trying to help."
Councilmember Leece spoke of market driven approaches to help with affordable housing.
These were good answers.
But, the real story here is that ultra-liberal Councilmembers Linda Dixon and Katrina Foley did not respond to the paper's question.
Wonder why?
Here's our opinion. Dixon and Foley are largely supported by liberals in the city who are in favor of forcing developers to provide affordable housing. At the same time, Dixon and Foley need to stay in the good graces of mega-developers such as the Segerstrom Company--which is involved right now in developments in South Coast Metro. The housing tax of $19,000 per unit would cost these developers many millions of dollars initially before being passed on to home buyers. And, by adding this amount to each unit, the units might be priced right out of the market.
So, it appears that Dixon and Foley were, as usual, trying to have things both ways by not answering the Pilot's question.
We doubt that Dixon and Foley fooled anyone with more than a two digit IQ by ducking the question, but what it did was give them cover both with developers and their liberal pals and kept them from actually having to take a stand for something.
We see you Dixon and Foley. You can't hide.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Thursday, February 8, 2007
CM PRESS # 78
INSTANT UPSCALE CITY--JUST ADD WATER!
(DIG OUT COSTA MESA'S SILTED-OVER BAY)
Take a drive down PCH into Huntington Beach and cast your eyes over the area near the Santa Ana River and our Westside Bluffs and the bridge further north on Victoria.
What's that area that is mostly full of dirt and scrub brush look like to you?
Right. It looks like a basin--a bay-- a bay that has been silted over.
And, that's what it is.
The area below our Westside Bluffs starting at about Victoria Street on the north, PCH on the south and the Santa Ana River on the west is a silted over bay. That area should be full of water, not dirt. I mean, where are we? The desert?
We've got the ocean right next door to Costa Mesa and some "leaders" in this city are acting as though we're a thousand miles inland as they push various projects that they claim will improve our city, but which often means turning our back on our greatest natural asset--the ocean.
That silted over bay should be dug out, and the ocean should be allowed to reclaim that dusty bowl. Then, the present bridge across the Santa Ana River at PCH, which connects up Newport to Huntington Beach, should be made longer and raised high enough for the passage of boats.
If the dig is done correctly, Costa Mesa's bay can be a self-flushing and self-cleaning wonder that will secure our city as a true ocean community. This will lead to increased property values, more revenues and a nicer city.
A lot of newer citizens of Costa Mesa are probably unaware that Donn Hall, who now sits on our Planning Commission, is a former mayor of Costa Mesa and that he's the guy who spearheaded a marina plan a couple of decades ago--only to have the plan squashed on a two to three vote as the liberals on the council killed the marina.
Before that vote, the marina seemed to be a done deal. That's why we have a neighborhood in Costa Mesa near Victoria Street that is called Marina Highlands and why there's a landlocked part of Newport Beach at the end of West 19th Street called Newport Terrace. Those neighborhoods are there because there was going to be a marina full of water right next to them where now there is just dirt.
Instead of improving our city back then, the libs worked overtime to turn Costa Mesa into the landlocked illegal alien sanctuary city that you see today.
Well, this is a new day. With the advent of the improvers and their success in our elections, the marina/bay/beach idea can be given new life.
It just takes some political will and some smarts to get the ball rolling.
Here's the City Council's email address in case you want to tell the Council to start digging our bay (Note: This blog's software has kept this email address from being clickable in the past, so if this happens just cut and paste it into your own email address book and use it from there).
"CMCouncil@ci.costa-mesa.ca.us"
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
CM PRESS # 77
THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL AND THE
FAILING PLAN FOR FAILING SCHOOLS
So, what's the big plan to keep the state from taking over Wilson Elementary (94.2% Hispanic and 2.8% White), Pomona Elementary (93.5% Hispanic and 2.8% White)
and TeWinkle Middle School (68% Hispanic and 26.8% White)?
Apparently, the major points of the plan are to extend instruction time and to teach more English to the children of Mexico who are in these schools.
The plan won't work.
Get ready for the state to take over these schools which will be another embarrassment for Costa Mesa as the world learns that the libs in this city have turned our once nice coastal community into a Third World dump and a sanctuary for illegal aliens.
And, these three schools are just the tip of the iceberg. There are more failing schools right behind these that will soon be in danger of being taken over. You'll be reading about these in the coming months. The problems of the Westside are spreading city wide.
Frankly, we wouldn't be surprised if Newport Beach parents try to take their schools out of the NMUSD. Costa Mesa schools are lowering the reputation of Newport Beach schools. Newport may tell us to go link up with Santa Ana.
As we've written many times before, the NMUSD has its hands tied in trying to make Costa Mesa's schools better. NMUSD has to work with the students that the city supplies. And, Costa Mesa is supplying thousands of non-English speaking children of illegal aliens.
Our bad schools are also keeping upwardly mobile people from wanting to move here. This creates a vacuum that is filled by more illegal aliens.
It's a downward spiral that has to be reversed. And, the way to reverse it is to upscale our city and make it a desirable location for upwardly mobile families once more.
We can do that by using our greatest natural resource: our closeness to the ocean.
Maybe we should dump Linda Dixon's "City of the Arts" slogan for this city and return to the old "Hub of the Harbor," as starters.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
CM PRESS # 76
THIS AND THAT...
OUR COMMENTS ON THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD LAST NIGHT (2/6)
WESTSIDE BLUFFS --CITY NEEDS TO BE A SALESMAN
When the CM PRESS suggested to the Council that we need to aggressively pursue developers to come in and start the evolution of the Westside Bluffs away from industrial uses and to homes, Councilmember Leece replied that the Council does talk to developers.
With all due respect to Ms. Leece, we need to do more than just talk to them. We need to invite them down for luncheons. We need to give them tours of our city. We need to sell them on our city. We need to say, "Here's what we want to do, how can we help you, Mr. Developer, make it happen for us? Do you need financial breaks to make things work? Do you need help with permits? Tell us, Mr. Developer, how can we make it happen?"
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55 Freeway
In answer to comments made by the CM PRESS about putting the 55 underground down to 15th Street to relieve the congestion by Triangle Square, Mayor Mansoor, who now also sits on the board of OCTA, said that OCTA has authorized $ 400,000 to conduct a study on how best to improve the 55, and that requests for proposals have been sent out to consultants.
Mayor Pro Tem Bever also moved this item up to Tier 1 of Council priorities.
This is good news for Costa Mesa, because now things may be moving forward to improve the downtown area and the gateway to the Westside.
Also, if something meaningful is done to fix the 55, then it may help prevent the 57 from being built on the edge of Mesa Verde all the way down to PCH.
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JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT
In answer to the CM PRESS's comments about finding a new location--such as on the northern part of Camp Pendleton--to keep JWA from expanding and ruining Costa Mesa, Councilmember Leece said that the Council is constantly getting information on various airport related matters from two groups concerned about the growth of JWA.
Again, with all due respect to Ms. Leece, that was not a good answer. We don't need information. We need action. The two groups she referred to are mostly interested in the impacts of JWA on Newport Beach--not Costa Mesa--and, they are mostly just working to put caps on the number of flights. This is not going to save Costa Mesa.
If you want an eye opener, visit JWA. It has a gigantic terminal but one dinky runway. Now, why would JWA need such a giant terminal for one runway? Hmmmm? The terminal could meet the needs of several runways. Get our drift? No? Look overhead.
What needs to be done is to mount a full court press to get a viable alternative location to JWA. Some have suggested airports in Ontario and San Bernardino. These are not good suggestions.
The air travel demand is along the coast. Again, the best location would be on the northern part of Camp Pendleton.
Our City Council should start thinking ahead and start talking to our Congressmen about getting a new airport location or you can expect most of Costa Mesa to be under a moving steel sky and you can expect JWA to expand over at least to Red Hill and maybe even further towards Bristol.
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SPORTS FIELDS
The City Council was told by staff last night that there are problems getting the state to sign an agreement so that Costa Mesa can lease the Fairview Hospital grounds to use as sports fields.
It appears, according to staff, that the state keeps throwing roadblocks in the way of this project. As soon as staff overcomes one roadblock, the state comes up with another one. Staff said that even after the state signs an agreement, if it ever does, that it will take two to three years to bring such sports fields on line.
You may recall, that many people had been pinning most of their hopes for additional sports fields on this Fairview Hospital land. This is not good news for them.
The CM PRESS suggested to the Council that it might be wise to have the City, as an entity, start investing in our city by buying up properties on the open market, right in the neighborhoods where there is a high demand for sports fields, and turning them into sandlot type fields.
We pointed out that there are three buildings all in a row on Shalimar that are for sale right now and that these could be bought by the City, torn down, and made into a sandlot sports field.
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CHARITIES ASKING FOR YOUR MONEY ALL THIS WEEK
On Monday night (2/5), the 3R Committee started interviewing the charity bosses who show up each year at this time to ask for more of your tax money.
Many of these charities, as we've written before, appear to act as magnets and pull in more illegal aliens to our city than we had before. With the aid of your tax money, many illegal aliens can live the good life in Costa Mesa on very little or no taxable income.
Yes, dear readers, you are helping support illegal aliens. You are helping them get free child care, free medical and dental care, free bags of groceries, free money to help pay their rent and utility bills, free English lessons, free homework help, and more.
After the 3R Committee interviews all the charity bosses, by the end of this week, it will make recommendations to the City Council about how much of your money to give to each of the charities.
If the Council really cares about the quality of life of the citizens who live in Costa Mesa, it can help shape our city by not funding those charities that are magnets for illegals.
The Council can make reasonable guesses as to which charities are magnets by looking at the demographic reports that the charities are required to file. If a charity is 90% Hispanic in our city that is only about 30% Hispanic, one can guess it's a magnet.
Some of these charities have been at it for more than ten years, yet they can't show that they've helped improve the quality of life for Costa Mesa citizens. They only say they're helping more people than ever--which helps make the CM PRESS's point that they're acting as magnets.
Some charities that are involved with after school homework help say that they're helping "kids" (pull out the violin) succeed, yet most of the kids that they've "helped' are in the three schools that are now in danger of being taken over by the state. So, what kind of help is that? Why are we paying for failure?
As we've reported before, one of these charities even told a white girl that she was the wrong color to use their after school homework help service. Also, as we've previously reported, this isn't just an empty claim by the CM PRESS; we've obtained copies of the federal papers filed against this charity forcing them to stop discriminating against white citizens in favor of non-white suspected illegal aliens.
Some charities say they are keeping kids out of gangs, yet Costa Mesa has more gangs than ever and more gang crime than ever.
The Council may buy liberal double speak and voodoo sociology when "kids" are mentioned, but we think most citizens in this city are more grounded in reality and don't buy the sweet talk.
Will the Council have the backbone to stop the magnets? Stay tuned.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
CM PRESS # 75
WE SAY IT AGAIN--A BAD CITY EQUALS BAD SCHOOLS. PERIOD.
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District is going to have a public hearing tonight(2/6) about what the district intends to do to improve Pomona Elementary School, Wilson Elementary School and TeWinkle Middle School to keep them from being taken over by the state just as we see schools being taken over in various big city slums.
The problem with these schools, as we've written many times before, is with the students. The reason we have our schools packed with students who can't pass tests is because the city of Costa Mesa is packed with illegal aliens--it is the children of illegal aliens who are causing Costa Mesa school scores to be in the dumpster.
These students shouldn't be in our schools at all. They should be in schools in Mexico and the citizens of that country should be paying for their education and worrying about why they test so low on standardized tests.
Aside from the hard truth about why schools in Costa Mesa are showing low test scores for students, the CM PRESS has a problem with the NMUSD and its constant sweet nothings gushiness. We got that when the district and it's hug-a-lot pals pushed through a bond. Remember that? Have the schools improved because many voters were fooled into passing it? You know they haven't.
In the Daily Pilot today we get these gems from Susan Astarita, the NMUSD assistant superintendent of elementary education:
"I don't know of any other district in the state of California that's been forward-thinking enough to work with the union and come up with a procedure to handle the Program Improvement sanctions the federal government has implemented."
We translate: We're just a swell bunch, we administrators and teachers, and we all love each other. Too bad the feds are about ready to take over the first three of many failing schools, but, hey, let's have a group hug and use a lot of words to say nothing substantive.
And...
"To have teachers, classified employees, parents working with the administration in this effort is really to be commended."
We translate: Let's have another group hug. The students are testing at slum city levels, but we can talk about community involvement instead of substance, just like they do in the big city slums. Naturally, we won't accomplish anything but we'll all feel good. We're a swell bunch and you are too and life is swell and the schools are swell and all is, well, swell.
The NMUSD meeting tonight on this nonsense conflicts with the Costa Mesa City Council meeting, that is also being held tonight, so many activists will probably pass on the NMUSD meeting. Maybe things were planned that way.
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HERE'S HOW THE NMUSD CAN KEEP POMONA, WILSON AND TEWINKLE FROM BEING TAKEN OVER BY THE STATE (Yes, Ms. Foley and Ms. Dixon, this is tongue in cheek, sort of.)
Bus 90% of the failing students from these schools in Costa Mesa to schools in Newport Beach and fill their seats in Costa Mesa with a corresponding number of high performing students from Newport Beach.
The feds will then be amazed at the miraculous increase in student test scores in Costa Mesa. Overnight, Costa Mesa schools will have gone from DENSA to MENSA.
Then, next year, when the feds see three formerly high performing schools in Newport suddenly failing, and they threaten to take those schools over, you can put the original high performing Newport students back in those schools and move the failing Costa Mesa students back to schools in Costa Mesa.
There you go NMUSD, just keep those bus engines fired up for quick transfers and you'll fool the feds with this shell game.
Of course, if the City of Costa Mesa starts upscaling itself and stops being an illegal alien sanctuary, the schools here will improve automatically as citizen parents put their kids back in our neighborhood schools.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
http://frankspeech.com/
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http://frankspeech.com/
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CHICAGO: GANG OF BLACK GIRLS CHOKING AND ROBBING CAB DRIVERS Interestingly, the above news report does give the race of the attackers. ...