Tuesday, July 31, 2007

CM PRESS # 187


FOLEY PRETENDS TO DO SOMETHING, AGAIN. IS SHE FOOLING YOU?

Costa Mesa City Councilbumponalog Katrina Foley is at it again with nice sounding nostrums that offend no one but do nothing.

In # 186 we wrote about Foley and her plan to "improve" the Mission-Mendoza slum by planting some flowers out front.

Now, the Daily Pilot is reporting on her efforts to make the city green. "There's so much that I think we as a community and as a country need to do to protect the environment," Foley told the Pilot.

Like, like, like...according to the Daily Pilot...putting plants on the roof of City Hall, and by having waterless urinals (what does Foley know about urinals, anyway?).

Hey, Foley and Daily Pilot, why aren't you discussing protecting the environment on the Westside Bluffs?

Remember the 60 plus acres of industrial buildings in which all sorts of chemicals are being used? Remember that what is done on the Bluffs doesn't stay on the Bluffs because they're upwind of most of the people who live in Costa Mesa?

Why no talk about the soil that has to be dug up and trucked to a hazardous waste dump from a site on Monrovia Ave. because it is contaminated and dangerous to humans? Why not discuss how one of your anointed and losing City Council candidates in the last election told the CM PRESS that there's no pollution on the Bluffs? Laugh out loud!

If this were a real time article about the sinking of the Titanic we'd probably read in the Pilot that Foley is rearranging the deck chairs. "There's so much we can do to make the Titanic look nicer. Next, I'm going to make sure those darn urinals on this ship are clean, by golly."

Folks, don't be confused by the busy work and sweet nothings that Foley is always pushing.

Costa Mesa needs more than these cookie baking types of sweet nothings. We need substantive changes.

Because Foley and her buddy Linda Dixon are pals with the mostly out of town industrialists who own the factories on the Westside Bluffs, you won't find Foley or Dixon talking much about cleaning up the Bluffs. Instead, they'll talk about waterless urinals and plants at City Hall.

There is some hope to clean up the toxic Bluffs, however. The State of California has now moved in and is supervising the cleanup of the land on Monrovia that we mentioned above.

That land that the State is working to clean up right now is just the tip of the iceberg. The State says that the toxic chemicals in the soil didn't originate at that location but are part of a plume of toxic chemicals about 20-30 feet below the surface on the Bluffs that comes from a point to the north and east of this location that still needs to be pinpointed and cleaned up.

The soil on Monrovia is so toxic that it will be trucked out of our city in special trucks along a special predetermined route, early in the morning before most people are awake, that will lessen the danger to citizens of Costa Mesa.

We imagine...

An accident victim is bleeding profusely from a missing arm. Katrina Foley rushes up and decides the most important thing to do is comb the victim's hair. "There is so much we can do to make accident victims look nicer," said Ms. Foley to the Daily Pilot. The Daily Pilot headline: "Heroic Katrina Foley rushes to aid of accident victim." Then, in the very last paragraph of the Pilot story, we read that the accident victim bled to death while his hair was being combed.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Monday, July 30, 2007

CM PRESS # 186


KATRINA FOLEY HAS SOME MEANINGLESS BUSY WORK FOR LIBS

According to a small notice in today's Orange County Register, Costa Mesa Citycouncilbumponthelog Katrina Foley is looking for about 200 volunteers "to help paint, build fences and play areas, plant landscaping and haul away debris at the Mesa del Mar Neighborhood Clean-up from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on August 5. For more information, contact Foley at (714) 754-5177."

So, what's wrong with Foley's call for volunteers?

Just this:

1. This is not truly a Mesa del Mar Neighborhood Clean-up. Mesa del Mar is already nice and clean except for the barracks style, illegal alien and crime infested Mission-Mendoza slum that is a cancer on the whole neighborhood. So, what is being billed as a neighborhood clean-up is nothing of the sort.

2. As we've written many times before (most recently in # 182), the Mission-Mendoza slum is functionally obsolete. It should be razed, or at least be thinned out by removing buildings. It can't be fixed with this sort of meaningless feel good work. This just gives the impression that something meaningful is being accomplished. And, it can have a dangerous consequence as it lulls some into falsely thinking that all is well with this slum.

Watch as we have more crime and more murders in this slum over the next year. You may recall that a young female student from OCC was murdered in a unit that she had rented in this slum. This crime is still unsolved. Will more OCC students see the flowers and paint and figure the area is safe?

3. These buildings are private property. The owners rent the units out for a profit. So, why are volunteers helping the owners maintain their properties this way? And, how much taxpayer money is going into this?

Who is paying for the paint, the material to build fences and play areas, and the plants for the landscaping on these private properties?

Foley has already had the city spend many thousands of our dollars to repave an alley in the slum and at least one of the streets in front of the barracks style buildings. This money would have been better spent if the City had bought a few of the buildings and replaced them with pocket parks as it did on Shalimar.

This isn't to say that everyone in the Mission-Mendoza slum is an illegal alien, a criminal, or a gang member. However, it is foolish to think that barracks style apartment buildings in our area can ever again be a plus for the community as a whole or that making some cosmetic changes will improve matters.

So, Foley and her bushy tailed, happy faced lib volunteers will put on some old work shirts, smile a lot for the cameras, have a big group hug and revel in the sheer humanity of it all.

As darkness falls on the slum, there will be moist eyes and beatific smiles aplenty along with job well done hugs. Then, the saintly libs, full of that smugness that so characterizes them, will quickly jump back in their cars and go back to their safe homes. And, even before the gangs emerge in the alleys and the police helicopter circles up above, as is usual in the slum, the libs will fall asleep thinking that they "just made a difference."

And, what have they changed in the slum? Nothing.

Now, we want to be clear about something. While we at the CM PRESS will make fun of politicians and parody them in various ways, we are not prone to simply sit back and snipe at them unless we can offer what we think are real solutions to some of the problems we face in Costa Mesa.

And, as we wrote above, the real solution for the Mission-Mendoza slum is to raze it or thin it out. That's what will work. Paint and flowers may look nice, but they're a bandaid on a cancer that will just keep growing until it is cut out.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

CM PRESS # 185


THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN, CT. WANTS ILLEGAL ALIENS? ILLEGAL ALIENS IN COSTA MESA, ARE YOU LISTENING?


The City of New Haven, Connecticut has apparently thrown out the welcome mat for illegal aliens and is now issuing a city ID card so they can be comfortable in that city.

Here's part of what New Haven's Website says about this: "In the summer of 2007 the City of New Haven will be offering a multi-purpose municipal identification card to all New Haven residents, regardless of age or immigration status."

Illegal aliens in Costa Mesa may wish to move to New Haven. Click here for the official New Haven Website. Or you can call Mayor John De Stefano, Jr's office at New Haven's City Hall (203) 946-7660 for more info.



Here, from Map Quest, is how to get to New Haven's City Hall from Costa Mesa's City Hall. Have a nice trip.

1: Start out going EAST on FAIR DR toward CITY HALL. 0.3 miles Map

2: Turn LEFT onto NEWPORT BLVD. <0.1> Map

3: Merge onto CA-55 N via the ramp on the LEFT. 13.9 miles Map

4: Merge onto CA-91 E toward RIVERSIDE. 16.8 miles Map

5: Merge onto I-15 N toward BARSTOW (Passing through NEVADA and ARIZONA- then crossing into UTAH). 484.1 miles Map

6: Merge onto I-70 E via EXIT 132 toward RICHFIELD / DENVER (Crossing into COLORADO). 501.9 miles Map

7: Keep LEFT to take I-76 E via EXIT 269B toward FT MORGAN (Crossing into NEBRASKA). 187.4 miles Map

8: I-76 E becomes I-80 E (Crossing into IOWA). 474.0 miles Map

9: Merge onto I-80 E via EXIT 123B toward CHICAGO / MINNEAPOLIS. 166.6 miles Map

10: Merge onto I-280 E via EXIT 290 toward ROCK ISLAND / MOLINE (Crossing into ILLINOIS). 27.4 miles Map

11: I-280 E becomes I-80 E (Portions toll) (Crossing into INDIANA). 168.3 miles Map

12: Merge onto I-80 E via EXIT 16 toward OHIO (Portions toll) (Crossing into OHIO). 354.9 miles Map

13: Merge onto I-80 E via EXIT 218 toward YOUNGSTOWN (Passing through PENNSYLVANIA- then crossing into NEW JERSEY). 373.1 miles Map

14: Merge onto I-287 N via EXIT 43 toward BOONTON / MAHWAH (Crossing into NEW YORK). 26.0 miles Map

15: Merge onto I-287 E / I-87 S / NEW YORK STATE THRUWAY S toward TAPPAN ZEE BR / NEW YORK CITY (Portions toll). 18.7 miles Map

16: Keep LEFT to take I-287 E / CROSS WESTCHESTER EXPY via EXIT 8 toward WHITE PLAINS / RYE. 11.3 miles Map

17: Merge onto I-95 N (Crossing into CONNECTICUT). 48.2 miles Map

18: Merge onto CT-34 W via EXIT 47 on the LEFT toward DOWNTOWN NEW HAVEN. 0.6 miles Map

19: Take EXIT 1 toward DOWNTOWN NEW HAVEN. <0.1> Map

20: Stay STRAIGHT to go onto N FRONTAGE RD. 0.1 miles Map

21: Turn RIGHT onto CHURCH ST. 0.3 miles Map

22: End at 165 Church St
New Haven, CT 06510-2010, US
Map
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Total Est. Time: 42 hours, 44 minutes Total Est. Distance: 2874.93 miles
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

CM PRESS # 184

NUTJOBS ON THE LOOSE IN COSTA MESA!

It's not been happy times for the local nutjobs in Costa Mesa ever since the improvers came on the scene and helped Chris Steel get elected.

The nutjobs never thought Steel could get elected. In fact, he actually won with more votes than anyone else running that year with the help of the improvers.

When that happened, the nutjobs whispered to each other that "it was racists who elected him."

Then Allan Mansoor won. It was racists again.

Next came Eric Bever. Racists were behind it.

Wendy Leece. You guessed it.

And, along the way when improvers complained about gangs in the city, they were called racists as local liberal politicians tried to hide the fact that we have gangs in the city and that there's a connection between the gangs and illegal aliens.

Then, we started having gang killings. Suddenly, overnight, the City started a police gang detail. Amazing how we went from no gangs at all to a whole bunch of gangs, wasn't it?

Well, it's not so amazing. The improvers were right, as usual, and there were/are gangs here. But, the nutjobs wanted citizens to believe that claims there were gangs was some sort of racist conspiracy. "See, daaaahling, these racists just don't like Latinos. Why, there are no gangs. There are just people making fashion statements." (We kid you not, that was an actual claim by a liberal City Councilwoman in Costa Mesa.)

Conspiracies? We'll tell you about conspiracies. There is a small group of nutjobs in Costa Mesa and beyond the city limits that wants to keep Costa Mesa from improving. That's the conspiracy.

One of their ways of stopping improvement is to shout "racism" at every substantive move to make our city nicer. And, if the cry of racism fails, they shout that people are trying to chase poor people out of the city.

These nutjobs don't want homes on our view bluffs. If you do, you're a racist. They don't want the cops to check for legal status. If you want our laws upheld, you're a racist. The nutjobs want to keep funding the charities that help illegal aliens. If you don't want your money to fund illegal aliens, you're a racist. If you want slums removed, you're a racist. If you want people double parking in front of red curbs at local schools to be told to move, you're a racist. If you want the parks made safe, you're a racist. If you want our city to be nicer, you're a racist.

"Racist" has become the primary smear word of our era. Because the term is usually never precisely or correctly defined, it can be used in just about any circumstance. Why, dear friends, you can even use the term yourself against liberal nutjobs. Start calling them racists whenever you're in an argument and you can't think of facts to bolster your position. That's what liberals do all the time. It's time for conservatives and libertarians to fight fire with fire.

Some of these nutjobs are on the boards of various organizations with their fellow nutjob directors from other organizations. On paper, some of these nutjobs look like upstanding citizens and compassionate souls helping mankind. In reality, they have a little nutjob clique that works to keep the city a cash cow for members of the clique.

You can connect up the dots yourself. Just google a couple of charities and look at the names of those serving on their boards. Then, follow the dots to other charities and to local politicians and media figures. You'll start to see some of the same names popping up. Follow the dots some more. It's eye opening.

You'll see Nutjob A sits on this non-profit board with Nutjob B who in turn also sits on the board of this other non-profit with Nutjob C and with Politician Nutjob D and that the nutjobs all support this liberal nutjob candidate for political office and the liberal nutjob candidate doesn't mind having polluting factories on our Westside Bluffs, but pretends to be a green candidate because he or she talks about electric cars.

There's money in slums and downscale cities, folks, for those who know how to take advantage of the situation. And we have some nutjobs who are taking advantage of the situation and who are putting you and your kids in danger from criminals and who are having you send your kids to schools that are failing.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.


Tuesday, July 24, 2007

CM PRESS # 183












MORE DISINFORMATION FROM THE DAILY PILOT


The latest Daily Pilot scribe to misunderstand and misstate the nature of the passive park designation for Paularino Park is Steve Smith in today's Pilot.

Let's see if we can help Mr. Smith think this through a little more clearly.

Smith's column starts off with the headline "Government shouldn't regulate play."

Huh? Actually, Mr. Smith, it does that all the time in every park in every neighborhood in the city. For example, every park in the city has a sign saying you can't hit a golf ball in the park. Some parks also say you can't ride bicycles in the park. And there are many other regulations as well.

You see, Mr. Smith, local government has to act for the health and safety of all and we all have to give up some of our freedoms in order to live in a city with many other people who also have rights. People don't like getting hit in the head with golf balls, Mr. Smith...or soccer balls, or baseballs, or footballs.

Now as to the specific issue of Paularino Park. One has to actually see the park to understand. And, it seems that many people who write for or who write to the Pilot haven't seen the park. Of course, that doesn't keep them from giving their uninformed opinions. Ho hum.

Paularino Park is one of the smallest parks in the city. In addition, it's hardly a park as you would think of a park. It's essentially a long narrow "bowling alley" of grass squeezed behind a row of homes and Paularino School. It's essentially a rectangle shaped strip of land that was left over and was too narrow for homes when the Mesa North tract was designed.

Still don't get the picture? Think bike trail. In fact, that's not what it is, but that's a little what Paularino Park looks like. It has a single winding sidewalk that bisects the park and connects up two streets. In the middle of this "bike trail" is a tot lot. Around the sidewalk are trees and hillocks.

Folks, Paularino Park is in no way, shape, or form a sports field. To allow group sports activities, or activities where projectiles are launched, thrown, or kicked at a distance puts others in this very small park in apprehension of being struck with the projectiles.

Residents of the neighborhood are fed up with the problems from the park.

This isn't the first time that Mesa North has acted to make the park safe. There used to be a restroom in the park. Then, there was a rape there. Gangs hung out by it. Drugs were being dealt there. Finally, the residents of Mesa North asked the city to remove the restroom and it was done.

Today, there is gang graffiti on play equipment and on trees. Neighbors have had broken windows in homes that back up to the park. They've had strange men climbing into their backyards looking for soccer balls--and in the process, taking a good look around. Residents using the park have been endangered by some of the sports activities. There have been soccer balls hitting cars on Paularino Avenue. There have been soccer players darting out into the street to retrieve balls. Strange men are urinating and defecating in the bushes and even in the tot lot. And, on and on.

Folks, when you hear "soccer," don't think of a bunch of happy, fresh faced little kids in AYSO. That's not what's going on at Paularino Park. Not even close. We're talking, in many cases, about pick-up games, often played by adults who arrive in cars, probably from Santa Ana, to judge from stickers on some of the cars and to judge by the fact that no one in the neighborhood seems to know who some of these people are.

Why should Costa Mesa residents be inconvenienced and endangered in their own small park, located in the interior of a housing tract, that their taxes pay for, by people who may not even live in Costa Mesa who want to play sports where there is no sports field and who are disrespectful of the rights and safety of the people who live near the park?

When soccer teams take over the park, residents can't even use the sidewalk in the park for fear of being hit by soccer balls or of being run into by soccer players who are often adults. And, the tot lot? What responsible parent would put their toddler in a sand box in the middle of a soccer game?

Despite the hate coming from the Daily Pilot, the people of Mesa North spoke. It was not one individual or two individuals as the Pilot wants you to believe, it was the community as a whole.

The City of Costa Mesa held a public meeting for all residents of Mesa North, and the residents asked the City to make this park passive so that they could use their own park as they, themselves, determine is best. And, who should decide on what is right for people? The people who are most affected. That's the way our government is supposed to work.

The people of Mesa North, no less than citizens in any other neighborhood in the city, do not want to have people such as Linda Dixon and her pal Thomas H. Johnson, who don't even live in Mesa North, try to tell them what is right for the neighborhood.

There are more than 700 single family homes in Mesa North. Not one of them is occupied by Linda Dixon, Katrina Foley, Thomas H. Johnson, Steve Smith or the others who are trying to dictate to Mesa North.

DAILY PILOT--WHAT ABOUT BASKETBALL BEING STOPPED IN MESA VERDE?
WHY THE SILENCE? WHY NO SMEARS?

As we've previously reported, the residents who live near a basketball court in a park in Mesa Verde complained that there was too much noise--just noise, mind you--and the City of Costa Mesa stopped basketball there.

Did you see the Daily Pilot and its publisher, Thomas H. Johnson, who lives in Newport Beach, make a big deal about it? Did you even see one word in the Pilot about it? Did you read that we're going to have fat kids if they can't play basketball? Did you read that it was racially motivated? Did you read that government shouldn't regulate play? Of course not.

How about some answers, Mr. Johnson? Why no stories about the closing down of the basketball court in Mesa Verde? Why wasn't the Daily Pilot full of stories and letters about this? Hmmmmm? What do you think, Mr. Johnson, was it a vocal minority in Mesa Verde that wanted basketball stopped? Did they have a racial motive? Were they trying to kick minorities out of their neighborhood and the city?

Don't get us wrong. We're not slamming the folks in Mesa Verde. They know the conditions in their neighborhood parks better than those who don't live there. We just think that its hypocritical of the Pilot and some local politicians to treat people in Mesa Verde with respect while insulting people in Mesa North.

We won't hold our breath for an answer from Johnson.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Monday, July 23, 2007

CM PRESS # 182


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/

Sunday, July 22, 2007

CM PRESS # 181


JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THE DAILY PILOT COULDN'T GET ANY WORSE

It's a bad time for liberal newspapers, dear friends. Their circulation figures are down. Their advertising revenues are falling. Fewer people are reading them. More and more people are turning to the Internet. Newspaper types are in a foul mood.

Nevertheless, we here at the CM PRESS think a good daily newspaper can be good for a community. We only wish we had one in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.


Now, maybe we just expect too much from the Daily Pilot. Granted, it's not exactly a major newspaper...but, with a readership potential of a couple hundred thousand souls, you'd think it would be a little better.

Not only is the paper allowing smears from the usual dimwit and cowardly cranks in Costa Mesa, who hide under rocks with the rest of the loathsome creatures, but now some on the payroll are also putting out garbage.

Back when S. J. Cahn was the editor of the Pilot, we congratulated the paper on the improvements we saw. Then, overnight, Cahn was gone and the paper started getting worse again. In our opinion, it's been going downhill at a steady clip.

These days, the Pilot is thrashing about like a headless fish and seems to even be engaging in some hate mongering. "Pssst, didja hear that making our parks safe for little kids is really a secret plot to chase Latinos out of the city? Pass it on. Remember, you read about it in the Daily Pilot so it must be true." Isn't that what Thomas H. Johnson, publisher of the Daily Pilot, was really saying in his column the other day?

Newspapers are inanimate things. They are good or bad because of the people running them. And, it is Thomas H. Johnson who runs the Pilot. Johnson, and Johnson alone, is responsible for what you read in the Pilot. When you read letters from bigots who smear others, Johnson is ultimately responsible for those letters being in the newspaper. When you read hate on the Pilot's blog, it is Johnson who is ultimately responsible.

Never fear, change may be in the wind, dear friends. Maybe (keep your fingers crossed) there will be an attitude change at the Pilot. Maybe the paper will get better and actually try to help make Newport Beach and Costa Mesa nicer communities.

Here's why. The Tribune Company, which owns the Los Angeles Times and the Pilot and much more, may soon go private.

One local character--a guy who donated some of his retirement income to the two losing Return to Reason candidates in the last election--wrote a smarmy letter to the Pilot alluding to this ownership change. And, his buddy, Thomas H. Johnson, dutifully published the letter, probably because it attempted a childish smear of me--suggesting (tongue in cheek) that if I don't like the Pilot, that I might contact (real estate magnate) Sam Zell. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

In case you don't know this, Sam Zell has the inside track on being the new owner of the Tribune Company and, as mentioned above, everything that Tribune owns, including the Daily Pilot.

Yuck, yuck, yuck. Think I should contact Sam? Okay. I may give Sam a call. Or, maybe I'll talk to him at the shareholder meeting. Or, failing that, I may just wait until I run into him at a convention. I have a suggestion or two that he may want to consider.

But, again, Sam Zell doesn't own the outfit just yet. Escrow has not closed, as we say in the biz. The Tribune shareholder meeting is scheduled for August 21, and it's generally expected that the company will be Sam's after that. If I don't have time to fly back for the meeting, I may just ask that a letter from me be read to the board as has been done in the past.

Now, before we go on, don't blame the reporters and the folks in the press room at the Pilot for the low quality of the thinking that's being done over there. They have to do what Thomas H. Johnson, publisher of the Daily Pilot, tells them to do. Remember, he's the guy who sets the tone and he's the responsible party.

At any rate, take a look at the Pilot's lead editorial today (Sunday, 7/22/07), for an example of poor thinking that actually, and laughably, was printed on a newspaper page for all to see. Its lack of logic is embarrassing and it is chock full of fallacies that any bright sixth grader would avoid.

The editorial starts off with this canard: "Remember the days when kids played in parks?'

"Yeah. Uh, uh, shucks golly, we remember those days, don't we Mildred?"

Hey, Pilot, remember the days when "kids" playing in Paularino Park didn't have five o'clock shadows and didn't drive up in cars and didn't drink beer and urinate and defecate in the park and do you remember when these "kids" wouldn't endanger younger kids and themselves with their activities?

Next up in the editorial, we read a series of facetious remarks making fun of claims that soccer balls and soccer games are dangerous, including: "Soccer balls are dangerous weapons, the park silencers said. Some people can be killed by soccer balls." Yuck, yuck. Being hit by a soccer ball is dangerous? Who ever heard of such a thing? Look here.

The editorial then facetiously suggests that we should be "requiring spectators" at AYSO soccer games" to wear helmets...because balls...fly from the field and onto the sidelines at high velocity...."

"Yuck, yuck, why slap my knee, Mildred! He sure did tell them thar folks who live near Paularino Park, didn't he though? Guffaw, guffaw. Shucks, it makes my buck teeth ache with laughter."

A couple of things about this, Mr. or Ms. Editorial Writer, and Thomas H. Johnson, publisher of the Daily Pilot:

1. AYSO games are not played at Paularino Park. Mr. Johnson, did you think you could divert attention from what is happening at Paularino Park by suddenly switching to talking about AYSO? It's apples and pears.

The reason AYSO games aren't played at Paularino Park is because the park has no sports fields and players might injure themselves by running into trees, by falling on the small hillocks, by tripping in sprinkler holes, by slipping on the sidewalk, etc. In fact, the City of Costa Mesa never grants permits to play soccer in such parks. Way too much liability.

AYSO games are played on special fields that take a long time to construct and which cost taxpayers big bucks. They are very flat. They don't have hillocks. They don't have trees. They don't have a sidewalk bisecting the field. They don't have a tot lot and swings in the center of the field. They don't have unwilling "spectators" (often in diapers) sitting in the middle of the games.

Now, we know it's difficult for Thomas H. Johnson, publisher of the Daily Pilot, and his editorial writer to understand the difference between a soccer field and a tiny park with all the aforementioned potential hazards--it's a little too nuanced for them, apparently, but you, dear reader, not being the publisher of the Daily Pilot, probably immediately understand the differences right away. Of course, you probably have an advantage over Thomas H. Johnson, publisher of the Daily Pilot, in that you may actually live in Costa Mesa, unlike Thomas H. Johnson, publisher of the Daily Pilot.

And what about my statement above about proper soccer fields taking a long time to construct and costing taxpayers big bucks? Check out all the time and money that the City of Costa Mesa is putting into constructing soccer fields at the Fairview Developmental Center for evidence of this. And, those fields actually started out as flat fields without hillocks, trees, etc.

2. There are no sidelines at Paularino Park, Mr. Johnson. The park is too small to have anything like regular sidelines. In addition, and to state it once again, the tot lot is in the center of the "soccer field," that is not a soccer field.

The writer of this editorial, if he or she has been able to spawn, should show us how safe it is to sit in the middle of a soccer field during a game when you're a toddler.

Come on, editorial writer, put your toddlers in the middle of a soccer game and see if they get injured or not. That's right, do an experiment. Put your kids in a sandbox in the middle of a soccer game. Bring Thomas H. Johnson's kids and/or grandkids with you too. Just sit your one and two-year-olds with their little sand buckets and shovels in the middle of a soccer game. Be sure that the soft spots on the tops of their little heads are easily hit by soccer balls or easily reached by soccer players with cleats. Let us know how it turns out.

Remember, dear readers, don't bring up park safety issues or the Daily Pilot and its shills will say your concerns are racially motivated. And, don't try to improve the Westside or that's racially motivated. Don't try to have cars stopped from endangering kids at drop off points at schools or that's racially motivated. Forget about removing slums. That's racially motivated. Having homes built on the Westside Bluffs where they belong? Racially motivated. Complaining about gangs? That's racially motivated.

See a pattern here, dear readers? In fact, about the only thing some of these libs will accept is for you to sit like a pig in swill as the city falls apart.

But, maybe we have it wrong. Read the Pilot for yourself and draw your own conclusions.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

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