Thursday, January 31, 2008

CM PRESS # 289


SAT SCORES FOR THE RING OF CITIES 2007

(Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Ft. Valley, Irvine, Santa Ana)




University High (Irvine)...............................1,861 BEST
Northwood High (Irvine)..............................1,762
Woodbridge High (Irvine).............................1,721
Irvine High (Irvine)........................................1,714
Corona del Mar High (Newport)...................1,698
OC School of the Arts (Santa Ana)................1,661
Ft. Valley High (Ft. Valley)............................1,656
Marina High (H.B.)..........................................1,645
Edison High (H. B.)..........................................1,628
Huntington Beach High (H.B.).......................1,627
Newport Harbor High (Newport).................1,598
Ocean View High (H. B.).................................1,552
Middle College High (Santa Ana)..................1,508
Westminster High (Westminster).................1,489
Middle College High(Costa Mesa)..................1,481 Lousy
Costa Mesa High (Costa Mesa).......................1,460 Lousier
Estancia High (Costa Mesa)...........................1,407 Lousiest
Saddleback High (Santa Ana)..........................1,309
Santa Ana High (Santa Ana)............................1,304
Valley High (Santa Ana)...................................1,265
Century High (Santa Ana)...............................1,183 WORST

WHAT'S IT MEAN?

In yet another statistic indicating the quality of a city, Costa Mesa is in the basement with Santa Ana.

No doubt, we'll now hear some illegal alien friendly Return to Reason supporter tell us that Costa Mesa's low scores don't matter because kids in Costa Mesa are receiving an education in tolerance and diversity.

Go tell that to Harvard when your kid wants to get in.

Newport's scores are lower than Irvine's because there are many students from Costa Mesa (read children of illegal aliens) in Newport's schools. The geographically closer the Newport school is to Costa Mesa, the lower the score.

The Orange County average score is 1,590 and Statewide it's 1,497. Costa Mesa is below both of these! Good Grief!

Folks, don't believe those who have their heads stuck in the sand. All is not well in Costa Mesa, and these figures are just another indication of how unwell things are.

Costa Mesa needs some serious improvement, not more sweet nothings.

Here's the LINK to the OC REGISTER where you can read all the sad statistics about Costa Mesa's schools.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

CM PRESS # 288


GANGS OF COSTA MESA--THE REALITY

(They're primarily Hispanic, but some in the CMPD apparently don't want you to know that)

The CM PRESS is hearing a buzz from concerned citizens about signs of increased gang activity in Costa Mesa.

This buzz increased after the murder of a 17-year-old on West 19th Street last week, and after two attempted kidnappings of young girls--one on the Westside and one behind Davis Elementary School, and after the carjacking this week. We're also getting reports of more gang graffiti around the city.

The perp and victim in the murder on 19th Street are both Hispanic. The suspects in the kidnappings are Hispanic. The suspects in the car jacking are Hispanic. The suspects and victims in the drive by shootings last year in Costa Mesa are Hispanic. The gang graffiti in Costa Mesa is Hispanic.

So, what is the Costa Mesa Police Department doing? It's apparently looking for White gangs.

Huh?

On the Daily Pilot blog this week we read the following post from a concerned citizen, quoted below in relevant part:
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Jan 29, 2008 9:40 AM:

" [T]wo years ago I enrolled in the[Costa Mesa] Citizens Police Academy. When we did the module on gangs the whole two hours was only about white gangs in the city. They passed around pictures of arrested gang members, all white, sporting their tatoos of PEN1. When it got to issues of graffitti, the police showed us pix and said it was not gang related in most cases, just sort of "art". Hopefully, the CMPD will give up this politically correct nonsense...."
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The above poster's comments are a further indication to the CM PRESS that something is wrong in the CMPD's approach to stopping gangs and gang violence in our city.

We had a similar experience as the poster and we reported it in CM PRESS # 99, March 9, 2007. Here's a quick synopsis of that CM PRESS report:

The CM PRESS had heard that Costa Mesa High School had suddenly called a special assembly and forced all the students to attend. When we spoke to one of the students after the assembly, she told us that the whole assembly was about White gangs, even though the problems on campus and in the city were/are caused by Hispanic gangs. She felt the whole thing was biased propaganda. We then made a Public Records Act request to the NMUSD and watched a film of the entire CMPD presentation.

The student was right. The whole presentation put on by a CMPD officer was about White gangs. There was nothing about Hispanic gangs. There were even graphics of White supremacist tattoos, etc. that may have been supplied by an outside private group, with religious/political/social biases, that once got in trouble in San Francisco when it was discovered that a high ranking San Francisco police officer was using police computers, resources and facilities to spy on private citizens for no legitimate reasons. Those spied on were involved in legal political activities. This officer then supplied personal information on these law abiding citizens to the private group. If memory serves, the police officer later fled the country when he was caught and indicted.

The CM PRESS saw nothing in the presentation at CMHS about the real problem in Costa Mesa: Hispanic gangs.

This past year when the CMPD presented a report to the City Council about gangs, the report never once used the words "Hispanic" or "Latino." Instead, it only mentioned one group by race/ethnicity: "Whites." And, the report even said that White gangs are not a problem in Costa Mesa. So, if they're not a problem, why were they mentioned?

Chief Shawkey has now reorganized the CMPD. Here's a portion of the reorganization relating to gangs:

SPECIAL OPERATION LIEUTENANT, LT. CLAY EPPERSON

--Accountable/Responsible for all specialty assignments & responsibilities including:
-Special Enforcement Detail
-Gang Detail -School Resource Officers -Park Rangers -S.W.A.T. -Research/Development pertaining to Pole Cameras, CCTV and other video surveillance system technology -Tactical Event Planning/Mobile Field Force
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Here's what the CM PRESS believes the City Council needs to do to rid our city of gangs:

1. Destroy their habitats and safe havens by thinning out the slums.
2. Discourage the over concentration of non-profits on the Westside that serve illegal aliens.
3. Reduce the industrial zoning on the Westside by about half.
4. Encourage the building of executive homes on the Westside Bluffs to attract upwardly mobile people back to the Westside and the city as a whole.
5. Enact and enforce proper day worker municipal codes similar to those in the city of Orange.
6. Ensure that ALL CMPD officers are bringing suspects to the ICE agent.
7. Use gang injunctions.
8. Stop the overcrowding of slum apartments.
9. Cross train some CMPD officers for ICE type duties.
10. Make it very clear that Costa Mesa does not want to be an illegal alien sanctuary.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.




Tuesday, January 29, 2008

CM PRESS # 287


PROTECT, ENHANCE AND IMPROVE THE VIBE OF COSTA MESA

Here's the LINK to today's Daily Pilot article about Mayor Bever in which Bever praises the vibe of our city.

We think Mr. Bever gets it about the vibe in Costa Mesa. That's something we've often said ourselves. However, we hope that Mr. Bever understands that a city is not static like a pond, but is constantly moving like a stream.

Yesterday's vibe may be gone tomorrow if citizens and their elected and appointed officials aren't quick to see problems and make corrections as we move along.

There is no auto pilot in governance at the municipal level. You have to keep your eyes on the road, your hands on the wheel and your feet on the pedals--not just yesterday or a minute ago, but all the time.

Elected and appointed officials are the ones with the power to make things happen.

Elected officials along with their appointed Planning Commissioners and Parks and Recreation Commissioners should be initiating things that are then implemented by staff. Unfortunately, in Costa Mesa, we see far too little initiating by elected and appointed officials. Instead, we see some councilmembers and their commission appointees just showing up at meetings and doing little else.

Some are like hapless individuals who walk up to a door and wait for it to open. That's not what we need, folks. We need people who push that door open and boldly walk through it.

Waiting for things to be presented to you for you to rubber stamp is not leadership. That's clerical work. We could have brand new file clerks right out of high school do as much as some of these officials do.

We don't need deadwood on the council or on the commissions. We need active, intelligent people looking for ways to make Costa Mesa a better city for citizens.

Unfortunately, we've seen far too many people get a seat on the city council or on one of the two commissions and suddenly become confused about what is needed. And, we've seen many who lose the common touch and forget why they were elected or appointed.

Some substitute their hungry passion for running for office or for being appointed to a commission with a new sated desire just to be a safe politician and live off the fat of the land.

Costa Mesa is losing its vibe, Mr. Bever.

That's because we're still a de facto illegal alien sanctuary city. We still have people in local government and in the private sector who benefit financially or psychologically off the backs of illegal aliens and who are resisting the improvement of Costa Mesa.

Frankly, we are not seeing enough initiative for the improvement of the Westside. And, the Westside is the key to improving all of Costa Mesa. Fix it, and the rest will pretty much fall in place if principles established in fixing the Westside are applied to other areas that need a little help. Let the Westside continue to rot and the city as a whole will rot.

What do we mean?

1. We have an over concentration of non-profits that serve illegal aliens on the Westside. These help create a ghetto situation whereby illegal aliens tend to cluster near the free services.

2. We have too many barracks style apartment slums on the Westside (also in Mesa del Mar and in Mesa North). These are functionally obsolete and can never attract upwardly mobile people. However, because we are close to Newport Beach, the landlords can charge high rents. Illegal aliens then join together in groups of five, ten, twelve or more people and pool their money to rent these apartments which become breeding grounds for crime, gangs and social dysfunction.

3. The best land in our city has the worst uses. The Westside Bluffs offer million dollar views to machine shop workers instead of to homeowners. More than sixty acres of land that should be used for homes is used for downscale industrial uses. The Westside Bluffs, if developed with homes would help lead the Westside out of the wilderness.

Want to see an example of what many improvers think might be good on the Westside Bluffs?

Take a drive to the train station in Santa Ana, and you'll find some lofts being built in that area that would be absolutely beautiful if they were on the Westside Bluffs of Costa Mesa.

Here's the LINK to the Website for Lennar Homes, the builder of the lofts in Santa Ana. The pictures don't do justice to what is being done in Santa Ana. You actually have to drive there to get an idea of the scale and how these fit in and give an artsy feel to the area.

If these were built on Costa Mesa's Bluffs, the CM PRESS would be at the head of the line to buy one.

Don't get us wrong. We're not criticizing Mayor Bever, we're just saying: DO MORE, DO MORE, DO MORE, DO MORE. And, when you get tired of that: DO MORE, DO MORE, DO MORE.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
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Here's our permanent link where you can read every exciting issue of the CM PRESS:

http://cmpress.blogspot.com/

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Monday, January 28, 2008

CM PRESS # 286


SOME QUICK ITEMS OF INTEREST

HERE'S THE LINK TO THE CMPD PRESS RELEASE ABOUT THE MURDER ON W. 19TH STREET.
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There is no press release on the carjacking in Katrina Foley's Mesa del Mar neighborhood.
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There is also no press release about the attempted kidnapping of a young girl in Foley's Mesa del Mar neighborhood.
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There is also no press release about the other attempted kidnapping of an older girl on the Westside.
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There was gang graffiti on the fence along the Shalimar slum facing Placentia at about 10 am this morning.
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Day workers were seen this morning along the sidewalk just south of the old job center trying to get work by waving and yelling at passing trucks. If Costa Mesa's City Council would enact a proper series of municipal codes similar to those in Orange, this would be stopped.
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Readers of the CM PRESS are not happy with the crime in CM that mostly seems to have a connection to illegal aliens and they're wondering why the City Council isn't having the CMPD take a more proactive approach such as gang injunctions, etc.
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About that murder on W. 19th Street where a 17 year old Hispanic was stabbed to death allegedly by a 23 year old Hispanic--

We wonder if either the perp or the victim are illegal aliens and if they have/had been using some of the charities on the Westside that keep taking our money and telling us that they are stopping gang activity.
----------------
Although we were told by City Hall and the CMPD that monthly ICE reports would be posted on the City's Web site, we still haven't seen them posted.

Rumors are circulating that some cops--including some brass--don't want to arrest illegal aliens and are overlooking many crimes. The ICE reports would help dispel these rumors if they are false.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

CM PRESS # 285


B-R-E-A-K-I-N-G N-E-W-S (Sunday, 1/27/08, 1:38 p.m.)

CM PRESS,
I heard on a KFI news report that a man was stabbed last night in a parking lot at 19th and Placentia (Vista Center?), and died today.

[The CM PRESS has not verified the above breaking news story, but we have no reason to doubt it]

UPDATE--Sunday, 1/27/08, 6:58 p.m.--According to the DP, a 17 year old boy was stabbed to death in the parking lot of the El Metate market at 19th and Placentia. A suspect is in custody. LINK
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GUNPOINT CARJACKING IN KATRINA FOLEY'S NEIGHBORHOOD!


The Daily Pilot (LINK) is reporting today that a man was carjacked at gunpoint in the 1000 block of Mission Drive in Mesa del Mar on Friday. MAP

This is in the Mission-Mendoza slum that the CM PRESS has called on the city to tear down.

Mission Drive also backs up to the flood control channel where Foley and her nitwit pals wanted to spend millions of dollars of your money to build a bike trail for our kids.

As you may recall, the CM PRESS argued against putting in a bike trail in this illegal alien and crime infested area because we felt it would put a lot of law abiding people at risk. The improver majority on the Council finally turned Foley down on this screwball scheme.

This is also the slum where a student from OCC was murdered and where a man was shot to death in the now closed down eyesore shopping center and near where another man was shot last year in a drive by shooting.

It's also the slum where Foley, after much fanfare in the Daily Pilot, had a group hug and flower planting event a couple of months ago.

Funny, the flowers didn't stop this carjacking and they're not stopping the gangs and the crime.

When you look at the above map, also look at the bottom where you'll see Presidio Square. This is the street right behind Davis Elementary School where two Latinos tried to kidnap a young girl last month.

Does Presidio Square ring a bell? That's the street where the CM PRESS tried to get the cops to stop drivers from sitting with running cars at a red curb and endangering kids going to and from school. What did a high ranking cop tell us? The cops weren't going to ticket drivers who violated this law. Our guess at the time was that this cop didn't want his officers ticketing suspected illegal aliens--which was most of those who were endangering kids.

When it comes time to vote this year, remember that Foley is trying to stop Costa Mesa from being improved and that her very own neighborhood is full of crime.

What has Foley been doing about crime? Well, she met with a group of suspected illegal aliens and told them she's their pal. Then, she went skiing instead of attending a city council meeting. Don't worry though, Foley did do something for people in need. Why, she collected canned food for people in South County and got her name in the Daily Pilot again.
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Those are opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Friday, January 25, 2008

CM PRESS # 284


DAILY PILOT IN A SNIT

The Daily Pilot is in a snit after a political group distributed fliers that the Pilot says misrepresents the paper's position on a location for a new Newport Beach city hall.

Before whining, Pilot, how about cleaning your own house?

The Pilot once carried a story saying that U. Know Who was opposed to building homes on the Westside Bluffs. That's exactly 180 degrees opposite of Mr. Who's well known position.

The Pilot also allows a couple of local pukes to use innuendos and things taken out of context to smear private individuals in the Pilot's blogs and opinion pieces.

Here's the LINK.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

CM PRESS # 283
















SANTA ANA HEIGHTS--THE NEW SURFRIDGE?
(From # 188)

See those streets on the left of the photo? There used to be more than 800 homes in that neighborhood called Surfridge.

Great location, right on the beach in tony Playa Del Rey in Los Angeles County. It's now a ghost town. Wonder why? That's Los Angeles International Airport on the right. Get it?

Meanwhile, down the coast in Orange County,the folks in Santa Ana Heights got their wish and are now part of tony Newport Beach. That's the good news for them.

The bad news is that Santa Ana Heights may go the way of Surfridge.

The problem for Surfridge was that it was under the landing and takeoff flight paths at Los Angeles International Airport--just as Santa Ana Heights is under the flight paths of John Wayne Airport.

Folks in Surfridge didn't worry much, though. Hey, they could cap flights out of LAX and do other things to keep their area safe from the airport. Why, they could even stop LAX from expanding by writing letters to the newspapers.

In truth, they were just whistling past the graveyard.

The inevitability of bigger airplanes and more air traffic caught up with them. It's a shame, too, because, given their ocean close location, even tear down shacks in that area (sans an airport) would now probably sell for more than a million dollars each.

The people in Surfridge--more than 2,000 of them--didn't have much of a chance of stopping the expansion of LAX, even though they apparently didn't know it or wouldn't accept that fact.

That's because there was no alternative location available to replace LAX.

The folks in Santa Ana Heights do have a chance of stopping the expansion of JWA. That's because there is an alternative location available to replace it--a relatively small part of massive Camp Pendleton.

Unfortunately, about the only people talking about the possibility of building an LAX size airport on a tiny portion of Camp Pendleton are those of us in the CM PRESS skyscraper.

We've watched some of the others involved in trying to keep JWA from expanding. To us, some of them look like a bunch of chickens running around with their heads cut off. Their only ideas seem to be to keep trying to cap flights out of JWA or to use some sort of fast trains to Ontario, or to a former airforce base in San Bernardino that they think could be turned into an international airport.

We think those choices are bad ones and that some are just wasting time and effort that could be put into a focused campaign to build an airport on Camp Pendleton that will serve the area's needs for the next hundred years and which will head off the necessity of JWA growing.

Don't buy our arguments above? Well, here's our axioms. Prove us wrong:

1. Demand for air travel will continue to grow.
2. Planes will continue to get larger.
3. To accommodate both the demand for air travel and for larger planes, airports will have to grow.
4. If no alternative airport is found to take the pressure off JWA, it will continue to grow.
5. Santa Ana Heights is to JWA as Surfridge was to LAX.

So, what's to be done? Residents of Santa Ana Heights (or whatever they now call their area) need to get better organized and start contacting politicians at all levels of government to get them on their side, and they need to present them with an alternative to JWA. And, they need to speak with one voice about one alternative. They also have to make their case to others in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa who are not as directly affected by JWA.

Again, our belief is that the most viable alternative to JWA would be a new airport on a tiny part of Camp Pendleton. That's the location we would push if we lived in Santa Ana Heights.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

CM PRESS # 282


“When our kids left Adams they left with an education in diversity and tolerance.” LINK

So writes a poster on the Daily Pilot blog in defense of Adams Elementary School and its low student test scores.

Reading, writing and arithmetic apparently don't matter.

Students should learn diversity and tolerance. That's what's important.

In a few years, when you fly out of John Wayne International Airport, which will have grown to the size of Los Angeles International Airport, will you have a pilot whose schooling was in diversity and tolerance and who went through a system that believes test scores (even on pilot exams), should take a back seat to diversity and tolerance?

WE TUNE IN TO A CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE TOWER AND A PILOT:

Tower: Flight 92, you're cleared for takeoff on runway...

Pilot: Tower, this is Flight 92. There was no smile in your voice and you didn't say 'please.' Also,we're not ready to take off yet. We're having a group hug with the stakeholders on the plane to celebrate our diversity and then we're going to try to reach consensus about when we're going to take off. We don't need your intolerant attitude.

Right now, we're working through our differences in a loving way. Some of the stakeholders want kosher food, others want halal. We also have some vegans who want assurances that no vegetables were touched with utensils that touched meat. Others are upset that there is liquor on the plane. Some don't want us to take off during their prayers. Some want separate seating areas for men and women. Some want to have gay only restrooms. Others want separate restrooms for transsexuals.

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DAILY PILOT NOW REQUIRES REGISTRATION TO POST ON ITS BLOG

The Daily Pilot has suddenly switched to a registration system for its blog.

If you want to post comments about what you see in the paper, you'll have to give the DP your name, address, email address and even your age. DNA samples come next.

If the CM PRESS is right, we'll now see traffic to the DP site drop and comments will mostly follow the Return to Reason line.

One local dimwit will also soon find fewer people reading his low I.Q. rants against improving Costa Mesa.

If traffic does in fact drop, advertisers may reconsider their ad buys. If ad revenue drops, Sam Zell may take notice. You know what happens next. Zell is a quick stepper.

The Daily Pilot may soon hear the roar of Zell's Harley and see him riding up with the rest of the Hells Managers gang--a rough and tumble, take no prisoners bunch if I ever saw one. Oh no, he may have the Teutuls with him!
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.


Tuesday, January 22, 2008

CM PRESS # 281

DAY WORKERS MOBBING THE 7-11 CENTER AT BAKER AND BRISTOL (stock photo)

The CM PRESSMOBILE passed the corner of Baker and Bristol at about 10 am this morning and we saw about 40 day workers standing around looking for work. In fact, the parking lot was chock full of these guys.

Many were wearing clothes normally worn by house painters, so it seems clear that they were at this center because of the Dunn-Edwards paint store that is also in the center.

The last we heard, this center is owned by a family trust of a former Newport Beach city council member.

Come on Costa Mesa City Council, get off your fat duffs and start taking action. Our present municipal codes relating to this issue are not working.

It's time to adopt more stringent rules similar to the ones recently enacted in the City of Orange.

If this center were in Orange, the owner of the center would have to apply for a CUP to run this unofficial job center in his parking lot.

This mob cheapens our neighborhood and impacts nearby shopping areas.

And, while you're cleaning up this mess, you'll be able to do the same thing for the 7-11 Center at Victoria and Placentia.

Come on Mayor Bever, you probably pass the corner of Victoria and Placentia several times a day. You must be aware of the problem.

You were elected to improve this city, not to be a life long politician and everybody's best friend.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
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HERE'S THE LINK TO THE CM PRESS WHERE YOU CAN READ EVERY EXCITING ISSUE:

http://cmpress.blogspot.com/

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Monday, January 21, 2008

CM PRESS # 280


TEACHERS: DON'T WORRY ABOUT COMPARISONS

As long time readers are aware, the CM PRESS is a big believer in using statistics and figures to cut through the BS about conditions in Costa Mesa.

That's why we came up with the ring of cities concept, in which we constantly compare Costa Mesa with the five cities that surround us and which actually touch some part of our land.

Without the hard numbers and the comparisons, the status quo Pollyannas in the local establishment would carry the day--as they have for years--with their goo goo talk that tells us that all is wonderful in Costa Mesa and that we shouldn't worry our pretty little heads about anything.

The numbers often say something else. They tell the truth.

Improvers were not surprised when we had drive by shootings last year, because we had been seeing the numbers and the comparisons and we knew that it was just a matter of time for drive bys.

Many others, however, were completely shocked. They had been sticking their heads in the sand for so long that they wondered why "suddenly" we had drive by shootings.

They weren't sudden. The conditions had been building for years.

At any rate, the above is background to what follows.

The CM PRESS also believe in using similar numbers and comparisons for determining the quality of education that our kids are getting.

However, there are some individuals, including many in the school establishment, who argue that we shouldn't use comparisons based on objective test data to see if our kids are in good schools or not. Some of these individuals even show contempt and scorn for the tests and the results.

We imagine the inner thoughts of one teacher or administrator: "Stupid government, making us give tests to our students that are then compared with test results of other students in other schools so the stupid government can tell if what we're doing is working or not #$@^%$#@!. Why can't the government just accept our loosey goosey talk about our students being happy?"

According to such test deniers, it is enough that the students smile a lot, and that the teachers are having tea and cookie meetings with parents.

Of course, those who argue this way are usually aware that many schools in Costa Mesa have low student scores and that some schools are in danger of being taken over by the feds. Their happy talk is really just an attempt to minimize the importance of the tests that tell the real tale.

At any rate, the CM PRESS got a chuckle when we read an article in the Daily Pilot about how the teachers and administrators rely on salary comparisons from other school districts to determine how their salaries stack up against others. LINK

So, comparisons are meaningful when the teachers and administrators think they can use them to get more money, but when it comes to comparing test results of students in different schools, many of these same teachers say we shouldn't give too much credence to the test results. Right. Sure.

Well, wouldn't it be funny if parents used the same language about salary comparisons for teachers and administrators as some teachers and administrators are using about test comparisons for students?

Maybe it would go something like this: "Teachers and administrators, you shouldn't rely on comparisons. Remember, one size doesn't fit all. Don't worry about others. Isn't it enough that you're happy teaching kids? Say, why don't we sit down and have some tea and cookies and discuss this? Don't believe those comparisons that show you may be making less money than others. It's just a communications problem. Perception is reality. If you believe you make as much money as others then that will be reality. See how easy that is? Turn that frown upside down and it's a smile. Let's have a group hug. Would you like some more tea and cookies?"
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

CM PRESS # 279


LA TIMES FIRES TOP EDITOR

The newspaper industry isn't what it once was.

Even before the present real estate slump, advertising revenue was falling at many newspapers due to circulation drops related to competition from the internet.

In addition, with the real estate industry having a tough time, ad revenues from that major and usually reliable segment of our economy are falling at many newspapers.

As a result, newspapers are scrambling to make changes and stay profitable. This often means cutting staff.

The LA TIMES announced today that it had fired its top editor, James O'Shea, after O'Shea refused to cut staff.

O'Shea had been brought in to replace another editor who had previously refused to cut staff. You'd think O'Shea would have gotten a clue from that earlier firing, but maybe--we're just speculating here--he thought he was too valuable to be fired.

Both O'Shea and his predecessor are newspapermen. Our guess is that both found their identities and sense of self-worth in that word "newspaperman" and that they simply couldn't adapt to changing business circumstances. LINK

WHAT ABOUT THE DAILY PILOT?

The Daily Pilot is owned by the LA TIMES, which in turn is owned by the Tribune Company. Tribune recently went private and is now under the firm control of real estate magnate Sam Zell.

Zell and his team are calling the shots at the LA TIMES and they're the ones who fired O'Shea.

Zell is not a newspaperman and the industry does not appear to have an emotional hold on him.

Will things be changing at the Daily Pilot as a result of the new ownership of Tribune?

Time will tell.

The CM PRESS has not always been happy with the Daily Pilot. In fact, we cancelled our subscription because we didn't want to help support a newspaper that so often takes political positions in Costa Mesa that we feel help the dark status quo forces that are fighting improvement.

Notwithstanding the above, it does seem to us that the Pilot may be getting a little more even handed in the way it handles Costa Mesa matters. If so, we'd hate to see the Pilot go away.

Since Zell can probably be expected to make his decisions based on unemotional business facts, we hope that Tom Johnson's recent statements about the Pilot being on solid footing are correct and that he's not just whistling past the graveyard.

It seems to us, speaking very generally now, that newspapers such as the Pilot, that serve one or two communities in depth, may be bright lights in large media companies such as Tribune, because such newspapers are often better able to compete for local ad dollars due to their local focus.

Such local newspapers haven't had to compete as much with the internet as have their larger cousins, whose main thrust has been to deliver international and national news. Because of the internet, these larger newspapers are now delivering old news; often many hours after internet users have already read it.

Old news is no news, and no news is bad news for newspapers.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.


Saturday, January 19, 2008

CM PRESS # 278
























MORE ON THE BEATING OF THE YOUNG GIRL IN COSTA MESA--WAS IT A RACIALLY MOTIVATED HATE CRIME? IF SO, IS IT BEING COVERED UP?


Below are a few posts that are appearing with a couple of the Daily Pilot reports about the above incident. LINK

Since the schools that these girls attend are in Newport Beach, the anti-white bigots jumped on this with their coded anti-white racist screeds and anti-white racial stereotypes.

The bigots saw "Newport Beach" and just assumed that the attackers and the victim are rich [read white] girls from Newport Beach.

Because bigots aren't very bright, they didn't bother to notice that the attack took place in Costa Mesa, not Newport Beach, and that the schools are on the border of the two cities and have a high percentage of Hispanics in them.

Here's one particularly vicious post from an anonymous poster who calls himself "CM RESIDENT" Notice the poor English of this poster:

CM RESIDENT wrote on Jan 18, 2008 6:58 PM:

" Where from are you kidding me? What does that have to do with anything or is this some rich Newporter that wants to blame Costa Mesa. You have no problem with taking the Costa Mesa United funds that were fundraised by our childrent for our HS Pool and HS football field and use it for you little league. These girls are vicious and should be held accountable. Your rich little girls [read white] are going to jail. Go have a cocktail and give your kids some money to buy drugs. "[Typical stereotype of whites in Newport Beach held by some pukes. Similar language was used by other pukes, showing how ingrained this anti-white racism has become.]
--------------
While the authorities haven't released many details of the incident, check the post from "video viewer," below.

He claims that he saw the video and says the perps are Hispanic and the victim white. If true, will the police seek hate crime charges against the attackers? Probably not. You know how that goes.

video viewer wrote on Jan 18, 2008 7:35 PM:

" These girls that did the attack were hispanic. The girl that got beat up was white. I wonder what would have happened if the colors were reversed? Since the video isn't available anymore, this isn't mentioned to anyone. I think these girls should be put in prison until they are 25 for the brutal attack the did!! "
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And, from another DP blog about this story, we read:

ensignparent wrote on Jan 17, 2008 6:55 AM:

" white kids? the kids doing the beatings were not white... get your facts straight! "
--------------------------

If posters "video viewer" and "ensignparent" are correct, why haven't we heard about possible hate crime charges against the attackers?

Here's why. Many whites (especially liberals) bend over backwards to avoid finding racial motives when non-whites attack whites but go out of their way to find such motives when the roles are reversed.

Remember the incident in Long Beach last year? A group of blacks attacked several white girls. The blacks used racial epithets during the attack and one of the white girls had to undergo reconstructive surgery because of the broken bones in her face.

Hate crime charges? Nope. The authorities couldn't find any hate crimes in the attack.

If it had been whites attacking black girls, this would have been on every news show and the attackers would face long prison terms for hate crimes.
So, what's going on with this double standard and why does it exist?

One reason it exists is because of what I call noblesse oblige racism. This is a form of racism by whites--often liberal whites--who subconsciously feel superior to non-whites and who believe that non-whites shouldn't be held to the same "high" standards of whites.

Thus, non-whites can get away with murder if the victim is white, but the reverse isn't true.

Yes, dear friends, the dirty little secret about many "non-racist" whites is that they are secretly noblesse oblige racists who expect their fellow whites to be superior to non-whites.

Because of this belief, these noblesse oblige racist whites are less tolerant when their fellow whites do something wrong and especially if it relates to race.


If this sounds a little like the old British Empire mind-set that almost always caused the Brits to describe people in various lands as "childlike natives," it is. It is just updated by the libs these days.

You will often see these noblesse oblige racist whites being more polite to non-whites than to their fellow whites. Again, this is just part of the syndrome.

As I've written elsewhere, I've identified different species of these noblesse oblige racists. One type I call Great White Mothers and Great White Fathers. Another type, I call Lord Jims and Lady Jims. (see CM PRESS # 217 for a fuller explanation of these terms).


We believe the public has a right to know more details about this incident.

At a minimum, we'd like to hear answers to the following:

1. Which city do the perps live in.


2. Which city does the victim live in.

3. What are the ethnicities of the perps and the victim.


4. Where there any racial epithets used by the perps, or perhaps coded racist language about the victim being "rich," or "white"?

5. Was this just a minor spat with no racial overtones that has been blown out of proportion?

Nothing stops rumors faster than the truth. So, how about it school officials, NBPD and CMPD?
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Friday, January 18, 2008

CM PRESS # 277



TOM (Waving) JOHNSON, PUBLISHER OF THE DAILY PILOT, REFUSES TO LET FEMALE IN HIS HOUSE 'DATE' THE 'OTHER!' ASKS THAT SUITORS BE 'HER KIND.'

Agonized libs ask: "Don't we all bleed red blood?"

Move by Johnson indicates a deep seated but often repressed understanding that genes actually matter.

Johnson has now become a candidate for the reeducation camp.

Here's the LINK to Johnson's public confession about this.

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

CM PRESS # 276


ORANGE OFFICIALS SAY DAY WORKER CRACKDOWN IS WORKING

The CM PRESS has urged the Costa Mesa City Council to consider changing our municipal code sections relating to day worker issues to incorporate the best parts of the new codes in Orange.

So far, no Councilmember in Costa Mesa, that we know of, has brought this suggestion forward.

Here's the link to the article in the OC REGISTER about the Orange crackdown. LINK
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REAL ESTATE IN A BIG SLUMP...EXCEPT IN COASTAL CITIES

The CM PRESS has been shouting for years to make Costa Mesa a coastal community. Some told us that they liked Costa Mesa just the way it is and that they don't want Costa Mesa to be a coastal community.

Well, here's a report from the OC REGISTER that shows that while most inland areas are in a major real estate slump, coastal cities are doing better.

Surprised? You shouldn't be. One of the oldest pieces of advice in real estate is to "Buy land near the ocean, because they're not making any more of that stuff." LINK
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CM PRESS # 275


MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRL BEATEN

The Daily Pilot story in today's paper about the beating of a girl is bare bones. Daily Pilot LINK

Because the perps are identified as Newport Harbor High School students, white hating bloggers are already jumping to the conclusion that it was rich white kids involved. This has not been established.

In fact, Newport Harbor High School has a large number of Hispanic students from Costa Mesa in that school. The NMUSD Web site shows that 26.8 percent of students at NHHS are Hispanic and 69.3 percent are white. LINK

Here's info not in the Daily Pilot or which may be unclear in that paper's report:

According to a report in the OC REGISTER, the girl was a much younger middle school student while the perps were two High School girls.

Also according to the OC REGISTER, the beating took place in Costa Mesa at Pinkley Park at 360 Ogle Street. MAP

Neither newspaper indicted which cities the perps and the victim are from.

The CM PRESS will try to get more details, but officials usually clam up about such incidents, especially if such attacks involve a non-white on white attack.

If, the attackers are white, however, and the victim non-white, this information will usually be released.

Don't expect to see a description of the perps in the Daily Pilot unless they are white.

In fact, the DP is usually so consistent in publishing racial/ethnic descriptions of perps only if they are white, that most of the time you can just assume the perps are non-white when you see a news report in the DP with no racial/ethnic description given.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

CM PRESS # 274


WANT TO IMPROVE COSTA MESA SCHOOLS?

IMPROVER TRUTH # 3

If Costa Mesa stops being an illegal alien sanctuary city, our student test scores will improve and more upwardly mobile parents--seeing those higher scores-- will decide to buy homes here and put their kids in local schools. This will improve the student test scores more and this will cause even more upwardly mobile parents to buy homes here and put their kids in local schools.

Look folks, when we talk about "failing schools," what we really mean is that student test scores are low.

"Good schools" and "failing schools" are all about the students and nothing else.

It's never about the school buildings, the books, the teachers, the budget, happy students or teachers, good communication, having tea and coffee, visiting the school campuses, perception, or the school district. These are all PC red herrings.

Good and bad schools are about one thing and one thing only: STUDENT TEST SCORES ON STANDARDIZED TESTS GIVEN IN ALL SCHOOLS.


You'll hear all sorts of sweet nothings from the schools and the school district and various PTA types about why student test scores in Costa Mesa are so low, but it's all baloney.

The real reason our school test scores are so much lower than the schools in the Newport Beach part of the district is because of demographics.

Costa Mesa's schools are full of students of suspected illegal alien parents, because the city itself is full of many suspected illegal aliens.

Many of these students do not speak English. Many are transitory.

Teach English to non-English speaking students this year, and by next year many of these students will have moved to another city or gone back to Mexico, and they'll be replaced by other children of suspected illegal aliens who must be taught English. That's what happens in illegal alien friendly cities such as Costa Mesa.

Steve Smith has a dopey PR puff piece in the Daily Pilot today about Adams School that is worth reading as an almost text book example of how some try to hide the truth.

Here are some relevant portions of Smith's column with our comments in red [ ].
Be sure to read Smith's entire column by following the link below.
----------------------------------------------------------

GIVE ADAMS MORE THAN GOSSIP

by Steve Smith (Daily Pilot column 1/15/08) LINK

At last Tuesday’s Newport-Mesa Unified District school board meeting, four members of the Mesa Verde Education Committee told the panel of their concerns about the quality of the education at the schools in Mesa Verde. Adams Elementary School got slammed. [It should get slammed.]

Among his replies, Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard said, “I think Adams is a good school.” [Huh? Hasn't Hubbard read the school's report card? The school stinks.]

So, which is it? Is Adams a good school or not? [It's not.]

I asked Susan Astarita, the district’s assistant superintendent for elementary education, how Adams got to the point where parents came together to say, “This is not a good school.” [Ah, Steve, it's probably because some parents are smart enough to read the Adams School report card and understand what it means.]

“This is not the first group of parents that has approached us. It’s been ongoing — probably 10 years — where we end up with a small group of parents that comes to us every two or three years concerned about Adams. [Why do the parents keep doing this? Because they see the school scores and they want the best for their kids.]

We always greet them warmly, [So what?] and we are very interested in working with them.[So?] We’ve hosted teas, information nights, coffees in people’s homes [So, the parents came because they wanted tea and coffee?] and [board member] Dave Brooks has been a great supporter and helped us at the board level. [So?]

“So it has been ongoing and it is generally a group of parents who have incoming kindergartners. They live very close to this school, they’d love to come to this school but yet their neighbor may [send their kids to] Huntington Beach or a private school and they don’t understand why.” [Yes they do. It's because of low scores.]
(snip)

Astarita told me that the negative talk is usually neighborhood word of mouth.[Yes, parents tell each other of the low student scores and other conditions that might affect their kids.]

“We’ve encouraged these families to please give us a chance. Come and visit the school. [Adams Principal Candy Cloud] is open to tours at any time. [Always with the come and visit talk as though that will change student scores]I am so proud of the work that they have done over the last five years since we’ve refined our program for English-learners, our new language arts curriculum has come on board and the work we are doing is fabulous.”[Who cares if you're proud or not? What about the student scores?]

Fabulous it may be, but perception is reality. [Perception is not reality. Student test scores are reality.]

(snip)

Astarita, Cloud and the entire staff at Adams have given their commitment to meet with parents at any time and address any concern. [So what? The parents want their kids in a school with high performing students. They don't want smiles and hugs and more tea and coffee.]
But it takes two to dialogue. During the meeting last Tuesday, I gave my name and phone number to the president of the Mesa Verde Education Committee and asked her to call me. [It's not about dialogue. Get the student test scores up and you won't have to dialogue.]

She has not, and that says to me that the committee has to own some part of this breakdown in communication and the ongoing poor perception of the school. [It's not about perception, it's about student scores.]

The truth is that Adams is not as bad as the committee claims, nor as good as Hubbard would like us to believe — as usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. [What are the student test scores, Steve?]

Whatever the school and the district have been doing to improve the school’s image is not working after 10 years of trying. That means that it’s time to try something new. [How about getting student test scores on a First World level?]

But I’m going to err on the side of the district, which has done more than its part to try to patch things up. [It's not about patching things up, but about getting this school to have First World student test scores.]

District officials have met concerned parents more than halfway and owned part of the poor communication on the website. [Geez. I'm going to scream! It's not about meeting anyone halfway or about poor communications. It's about getting student test scores higher.]

So until I hear from the committee, my perception is that they are only interested in lobbing hand grenades and gossiping. [Smith, get over this perception nonsense and start looking at substance. Go look at the school report cards, Smith.]

And as you know, perception is reality. [Smith, stop using this tired cliche. Perception is not reality. Student scores are reality.]
------------------------------------------------

Notice how Smith talks about perception, image, etc. constantly but never once gives the school test scores. Compare this school to similar schools in Newport Beach and you'll see why parents are concerned.

Don't buy a used car from Smith. He may talk to you about the paint job and the upholstery and not mention that it doesn't have an engine.


Here's a LINK to Adams School's School Report Card.

Here's a LINK to Newport Elementary's School Report Card.

Read the entire report cards at the above links. But, here are just a few things that you'll see.

Adams has an API rank of 4 (10 is highest) and the Feds have intervened because the student scores are so low. CST results: English is 38, Math 47, Science 49 [These scores stink.]

Newport Elementary has an API rank of 9 (10 is highest). CST results: English 73, Math 75, Science 67.

Which school would you want your kid in? Would you prefer to buy a house near Adams School or Newport Elementary?

Are you going to believe Smith and his rose colored glass friends in the school establishment, or the results of the tests mandated by the state and feds so parents wouldn't constantly be given a used car salesman approach to try to hide the reality of the schools?

Folks, if a slick talker tells you that your kid's school is great or fun or that the school officials want to show you around campus or give you a cup of tea and dialogue with you, be sure you count your fingers after shaking their hands.

The reality is that the teachers and administrators quoted or mentioned in Smith's column are probably every bit as good and in some cases may be better than their peers in the Newport Beach schools. And, our school buildings and books are the same. The only difference in this equation is the students.

If you're a school administrator or teacher in Newport Beach, you're going to look good even if you just go to the beach every day.

But if you're an administrator or teacher in Costa Mesa, you're going to look bad even if you put in 80 hours a week doing your job.

That's reality folks. That's demographics. That's the result of having Costa Mesa being illegal alien friendly.

That has to change. And, it has to change at the city level. The school district can't improve the school scores in Costa Mesa until the city improves.
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Monday, January 14, 2008

CM PRESS # 273


WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR IMPROVER SUPPORTED CANDIDATES FOR CITY COUNCIL IN COSTA MESA?

REASON # 1: They'll make Costa Mesa safer for you and your family and especially your kids.


Foley
and Dixon and their soul mate lib pals are hardwired to be soft on crime.

By contrast, Improver supported candidates are hardwired to be tough on crime.

Yesterday, 1/13/08, yet another kid was killed in a gang related shooting in Santa Ana.

Folks, there are almost daily shootings in Santa Ana, and the officials in that city can't stop them because, like Foley and Dixon and other libs, they're hardwired to be soft on crime.

One of the worst slums in Costa Mesa is right in Foley's own Mesa del Mar neighborhood.

So, what is important City Councilperson Foley doing about it? Nothing.

Instead, she went skiing.

She also planted flowers in front of the slums. And, she collected cans of food for South County. She also had comments in the Daily Pilot about the closing of a spa that her mother-in- law belongs to in South Coast Plaza. She also met with some suspected illegal alien day workers to reassure them that she's their friend.

Do you feel safer in your homes and for your kids because Foley is on the City Council? What has she done for you, Mr. and Mrs. Citizen of Costa Mesa?

Here's the LINK to the OC Register report on this latest kid killing.

Keep Costa Mesa moving in the right direction, folks.

That means moving closer in quality of life issues to our coastal neighbors and further away in such issues from cities such as Santa Ana.

It's early, but so far the CM PRESS believes that Eric Bever, Jim Fisler and Gary Monahan (if he runs) are the best candidates running for City Council this year.

Oh, don't be fooled by the Return to Reason crowd of Foley supporters.

It sounds as though they're dropping that RtR name, but they'll be back this year, perhaps under a new name.

And, some of their shills are already getting stuff published in the RtR Daily Pilot that makes them sound like improvers. They're bogus, folks. Leopards can't change their spots.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them. We'll be publishing more reasons why you should vote for improvement supported candidates in future issues of the CM PRESS.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

CM PRESS # 272


SNOW BUNNY KATRINA BACK FROM THE SLOPES

Useless bumponthelog City Councilperson Katrina Foley is apparently back from the slopes.

On Saturday, the Daily Pilot carried a puff piece by Foley about sports fields. Foley apparently wants voters to think she's responsible for fixing up sports fields. LINK

Foley ends her drivel with her Web site address. LINK

From information on her Web site, it appears that Foley is planning on making some time in her busy skiing lifestyle to attend the upcoming January 15th City Council meeting.

On her Web site, Foley is trying to call out the troops to support her bikes in the drainage ditch scheme that will cost us $ 100, 000 for an 'outreach' (read PR campaign) to push through this multi-million dollar plan of hers.

The CM PRESS will be at the meeting to share some of our thoughts on spending priorities. Hint: Our thoughts don't include a scheme for taking your money to put a bike trail in a drainage ditch behind homes whose owners mostly don't want it.

There are lots of questions that have to be answered by Foley about this proposal. Among them are:

--What will the total cost be?
--What will the on-going upkeep costs be?
--How many people will use the drainage ditch for their bikes?
--Will the trails go anyplace meaningful so that they'll take bikes off the streets or will they just be for go nowhere recreation?
--Will the police be able to see the drainage ditch bike trails from the street and be able to get police cars up and down them in case of expected burglaries and other crimes?
--How will the city protect the privacy and security of homeowners who back up to the trails?

FOLEY'S SOFT 'EMINENT DOMAIN'?

Say you buy a home in Mesa del Mar that backs up to a drainage ditch. You know the ditch is there, and you expect it to stay there. That's a reasonable expectation from what we know about drainage ditches.

The purpose of a drainage ditch is to drain water--it is not for bicycling. You may have bought your house because you like it quiet and sans people out back, and you may have relied on the reality of this drainage ditch in making your buying decision.

With the ditch, you sleep sound at night knowing you don't have people, perhaps with bad motives, being in the ditch and being able to look into your yard and home, while pretending to be bicycling, and know when you're home or not and know who lives in your house and the ages of your kids.

Then, along comes do-gooder Katrina Foley--your neighbor--who has power because she's on the City Council. What does she do? She comes up with a scheme to put a bike trail behind your house!

Now, you don't own that drainage ditch, so Foley is not taking your real property, but you do have a right to the quiet enjoyment of your property (read peace of mind) and maybe you figure a bike trail takes that away from you.

What should you do? Complain. Go to the City Council meeting on the 15th and let the Council know of your concerns. If you can't go, then send an email to the City Council via the City's Web site or even Foley's Web site (she has a link there).

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Friday, January 11, 2008

CM PRESS # 271


BANNING RANCH WOULD RATHER GO TO NEWPORT BEACH THAN COSTA MESA

Not only does Banning Ranch, west of Costa Mesa, want to be annexed to Newport Beach, but neighborhoods on our east also want to be annexed to Newport.

The fat cats, including some out of town industrialists, some charity bosses, and others who have been making money off downscale conditions in Costa Mesa, along with some of their nitwit shills, will try to tell you this has nothing to do with the fact that Costa Mesa has allowed a massive 14% of its land to be used for industrial purposes including 60 acres of the best land in our city--the Westside Bluffs, that blend seamlessly into Banning Ranch.

And, they'll try to tell you that the way to improve the Westside is to do nothing. Just wish really hard. "Keep the government out of it," they'll tell you. "Why, it's un-American for the government to blah, blah, blah, blah."

Actually, folks, we are the government. You and I are the bosses of government.

And, while this concept gets lost when we talk about larger government entities; local municipal government is government that can and should work for us.

If it doesn't, then we need to elect more of our local citizens to the City Council who don't want to be politicians, but who are compelled to run for office because those who have been elected have forgotten why they were elected and have been assimilated by the fat cats

When Banning Ranch goes to Newport Beach, how will the new Newporters, who will buy homes that will be built there, get out of their upscale neighborhoods?

Many, if not all of them, will come up West 17th Street through Costa Mesa. It will be Costa Mesa citizens who will pay to improve and maintain West 17th and surrounding streets for the benefit of the Newporters.

Think that won't happen? Think again. Costa Mesans already pay to maintain and improve that part of West 19th Street that leads to the Newport Beach neighborhood of Newport Terrace at the end of West 19th Street and which can only be accessed through Costa Mesa.

Here's a LINK to the latest Daily Pilot article about Banning Ranch.
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