Wednesday, May 21, 2008

CM PRESS # 369














DEMOLITION OF EL CAMINO CENTER TO START TODAY ?

(FOR UPDATE SCROLL DOWN)

At its regularly scheduled meeting last night, the Costa Mesa City Council granted the owner of the El Camino Center a requested one year extension on its plans to build 24 homes on the site.

This came after the owner said that demolition, which will cost the owner $100,000, will begin today.

Unfortunately, it appears that until homes are built, the site will remain a dirt covered empty lot with a chain link fence all around it.

Linda Dixon wanted the owner to plant the site with grass and let people use the site. The CM PRESS pointed out that this could cause problems including, possibly, a claim of an easement by prescription if the land laid fallow long enough.

NOTE: We'll update this report in this spot later today concerning the demolition.

About that slum in Mesa del Mar...

The CM PRESS suggested to the Council that one of the problems facing a developer who wants to build quality homes on the El Camino Center site is the fact that the city has done nothing to thin out the massive slum that is right across the street from the site.

We also pointed out that the City Council, in allowing hundreds of condos and upscale apartments to be built in South Coast Metro, with no requirement for affordable housing in that area, is not doing any favors for the central core of Costa Mesa which will be under increasing pressure to not only not thin out the "affordable" slums--such as are found in Mesa del Mar--but to build even more to fulfill the increased state required quota for such units that should have fallen on the developers in South Coast Metro since they're the ones who have increased our quota by adding to our housing stock.

After we spoke, Lisa Reedy, the President of the Mesa del Mar Homeowner's Association, told the Council that it's not helpful for people to talk about the slum in her neighborhood and that Mesa del Mar is just one big [happy] community.

Huh?

Bury your head in the sand, Ms. Reedy, but most people can read the police reports and people we know who live very close to the slum report much crime activity and an almost constant police helicopter overhead. You also have at least one of the most active gangs in Costa Mesa in that slum.

Your slum is a problem, Ms. Reedy. And, it's not going to get better by pretending it doesn't exist. Slums don't improve with age.
# # #


DEMOLITION UPDATE: 12:15 p.m.--5/21/08--The CM PRESS saw a single passenger car and a single small Bob Cat type tractor along with its trailer on the site, but there were no people there that we could see. There was an approximately four foot high, four foot wide, pile of dirt on the parking lot pavement and a few metal poles lying on the ground, but it's not clear if they were there before today or not. There are no clear signs of demolition that we can report. Just the crew's lunchtime?

# # #
MAYOR BEVER CALLS FOR COUNCIL TO STUDY ORANGE'S DAY LABOR LAW

Also at the City Council meeting last night, Mayor Eric Bever called on staff to prepare a report on Orange's day labor law for discussion at an upcoming study session.

When this is discussed, the CM PRESS plans on being there and will report what happens.

The Orange ordinance has some provisions that the CM PRESS believes will be good for Costa Mesa, but there is a Constitutional issue relating to a reasonable time, place, and manner that will have to be addressed and handled correctly.
# # #
REA SCHOOL

During our comments to the Council, we again asked that the Council look into what's being done on the Rea School campus which seems to be stuffed with all sorts of non-profits and uses that are far beyond what one expects to find on an active school campus.

Whether the Council will look into this or not we're not sure.

The Councilmember most qualified to look into this is Wendy Leece who used to be on the School Board.

But, perhaps Ms. Leece is slightly shell shocked (we hope she's tougher than that) about the uproar from some numbnuts who didn't want her to ask some simple questions about where the money is going at the Senior Center, and who think it's not the City's business where taxpayer money goes.

Keep asking those questions, Ms. Leece. Ignore the haters.
# # #
Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

 http://frankspeech.com/