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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http://cmpress.blogspot.com/
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