Tuesday, September 30, 2008

CM PRESS # 499

Updated Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 7:49 AM--scroll down for ICE article
SPECIAL JOINT SESSION OF THE COSTA MESA AND NEWPORT BEACH CITY COUNCILS TODAY AT 4:00 PM


John Wayne Airport

The major item on the two item agenda is cooperation by and between the two cities on keeping John Wayne Airport from destroying both cities by continually growing. LINK

Train to plane

The plan that many people are pushing is a train to plane plan.

The idea is that you'd go to John Wayne Airport, enter the terminal and get on a train (or bus) that would take you to an airport in San Bernardino or Riverside. Here's the paragraph in the Memorandum of Understanding that will probably be signed today about this:

J. In cooperation with the Orange County Board of Supervisors and other public agencies, actively support development and implementation of proposals that enable Orange County residents and businesses to conveniently access underused out-of-county airports using roadway improvements and air passenger rail links.

The CM PRESS believes that this may not be the best solution.

By leaving paragraph J as it is, we are putting all our eggs in this one train to plane basket just as we once put all our eggs in an airport at El Toro basket. And, you may recall how all those El Toro eggs got smashed.

To paragraph J. we would add the following after rail links, "and pursue other alternative proposals that may include, but not be limited to, the possibility of building a new international airport on a portion of Camp Pendleton."


Why Camp Pendleton makes sense


The CM PRESS Camp Pendleton proposal would only use about 3% of Camp Pendleton. The rest of the present base (97% ) would continue as a military base.

Consider:
John Wayne Airport is 501 acres.
Los Angeles International Airport is 3, 425 acres.
Camp Pendleton is 125,000 acres and has 17 miles of coastline.

In other words, you could fit about 250 John Wayne Airports or 36 Los Angeles International Airports on Camp Pendleton.

Take just a tiny 3% of Camp Pendleton and build a state of the art, 100-year-airport there.

This 3% would be 3, 750 acres.

That's 325 acres larger than LAX and 3, 249 acres larger than JWA!

Plus, the planes can take off over the ocean.

This new airport at Camp Pendleton would also have easy freeway access and we wouldn't need to send people on trains into the middle of the desert to get on planes.
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ANOTHER ADVANTAGE OF TRAINING LOCAL COPS IN ICE TECHNIQUES
When a local police department sends cops for the five week training in ICE techniques, they not only then have cops right in the department who can question suspects about their citizenship, but the department gets access to the ICE data base to quickly determine who is here legally and who isn't. LINK
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.




Monday, September 29, 2008

CM PRESS # 498



MORE "FRIENDS" OF FLOPSY FOLEY GET THE BOOT!

Here's a LINK to an article about ICE rounding up more than a thousand illegal aliens in the past few days in California.

Say, did we mention that Flopsy Katrina Foley, the City Council's very own snow bunny, refused to sign a letter to President Bush in May 0f 2005 about immigration and that she also refused to sign another letter to him in June of 2007 about securing our borders?

Did we mention that Flopsy was the only City Councilmember who actually went to a meeting of day workers, including suspected illegal aliens, and let them know, through an interpreter, that she's their pal?

And, Flopsy Foley wants you to vote for her again this year, folks.

We guess Flopsy feels she hasn't done enough to help illegal aliens feel comfortable in Costa Mesa and wants four more years to continue taking Costa Mesa down the path to becoming a new Santa Ana (where they have almost daily gang shootings).

Flopsy Foley is endorsed by other soft on crime lefties such as Loretta and Linda Sanchez and by out of town union bosses.

Flopsy Foley is too far left for Costa Mesa. Send her back to the slopes, not to the dais.

A vote for Flopsy Foley is a vote for the Santa Anaization of Costa Mesa.
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LEARN ABOUT THE CANDIDATES--THE MORE YOU KNOW, THE MORE YOU'LL WANT TO VOTE FOR IMPROVEMENT

And, remember, Improvement activists say that Righeimer, Monahan and Bever are the 3 best choices for a safer and nicer Costa Mesa, and these activists are encouraging voters to vote for these 3 as a slate.

Candidate Meet & Greet Wed. October 8th, 6:30pm to 8:30pm Paularino School, 1060 Paularino Ave, CM 92626

Candidate Forum--Thurs. October 9th, 6 pm to 9 pm, Costa Mesa Community Center, 1860 Anaheim Ave, CM 92627---DON'T MISS

Gary Monahan Meet & Greet--Tues. October 14th, 4:30pm to 7:30 pmO C Cigar Lounge, 2470 Newport Blvd, CM 92627

Candidate Forum--Wed. October 15th, 6 pm to 9 pm Costa Mesa City Hall, 77 Fair Dr,. CM 92628Candidate Forum Wed. October 22nd, 6:30pm to 9 pm Sonora Elementary School, 966 Sonora Rd, CM 92626--DON'T MISS

Candidate Forum-- Wed. October 22nd, 6:30pm to 9 pmSonora Elementary School, 966 Sonora Rd, CM 92626--DON'T MISS
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

CM PRESS # 497

Updated--September 28, 2008, 6:05 PM-scroll down
CHECK OUT THE COSTA MESA CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES


Candidate Meet & Greet Wed. October 8th, 6:30pm to 8:30pm Paularino School, 1060 Paularino Ave, CM 92626


Candidate Forum--Thurs. October 9th, 6 pm to 9 pm, Costa Mesa Community Center, 1860 Anaheim Ave, CM 92627---DON'T MISS


Gary Monahan Meet & GreetTues. October 14th, 4:30pm to 7:30 pmO C Cigar Lounge, 2470 Newport Blvd, CM 92627


Candidate Forum--Wed. October 15th, 6 pm to 9 pm Costa Mesa City Hall, 77 Fair Dr,. CM 92628Candidate Forum Wed. October 22nd, 6:30pm to 9 pm Sonora Elementary School, 966 Sonora Rd, CM 92626--DON'T MISS
Candidate Forum-- Wed. October 22nd, 6:30pm to 9 pmSonora Elementary School, 966 Sonora Rd, CM 92626Candidate ForumWed. October 22nd, 6:30pm to 9 pmSonora Elementary School, 966 Sonora Rd, CM 92626--DON'T MISS
...................................................
NINE IN THE RACE
Don't forget, there are nine candidates in the race for three seats on the City Council. You'll get to vote for three.
The CM PRESS, which is not part of any candidate's campaign, believes that Righeimer, Monahan and Bever will be best for improving Costa Mesa and for driving down crime and getting rid of gangs.
# # #
WONDERING ABOUT THE PRESENT FINANCIAL CRISIS?
REMEMBER THIS ARTICLE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES OR SIMILAR ONES IN OTHER PAPERS?

September 30, 1999
Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
By STEVEN A. HOLMES
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.
''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''
Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''
Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.
Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.
Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.
In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.
Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.
In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.
The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Friday, September 26, 2008

CM PRESS # 496

Last updated: Friday, September 26, 2008, 1:05 PM--Scroll down for IQ test.


YES, THE CHOICE IS CLEAR THIS YEAR IN COSTA MESA

You can vote for the Righeimer, Monahan, Bever vision of Costa Mesa...

or you can vote for the vision of the Flopsy Katrina Foley team.

(PHOTO IS OF A SLUM OUTSIDE MEXICO CITY)

Remember, Flopsy Foley is the ONLY Councilmember who refused to send a letter to President Bush asking him to secure our borders!

Remember, also, Flopsy Foley is the ONLY Councilmember who went to a meeting of day workers, including many suspected illegal aliens, and told them--through an interpreter--that she's their pal!

And, don't forget that if Flopsy Foley and her wine and cheese crew had been in charge, we probably wouldn't now have an ICE agent in our jail, and we wouldn't have had ICE holds put on at least 800 illegal alien criminals who might now be wandering our streets to commit murders, rapes, burglaries and other crimes big and small.

And, don't forget that Flopsy Foley puts her jet-set, beautiful people skiing trips before the welfare of the citizens of Costa Mesa by going to the slopes instead of to a City Council meeting. (That's why we call her Flopsy--as in Flopsy the ski bunny.)

But, on the bright side, if any of your family members are shot and killed by gangs, Flopsy Foley will show up on your doorstep with a plate of Lasagna for a photo op as she did in a killing last year.

Don't be fooled by Foley--she's a left winger with left wing ideas. She is supported by out-of-town union bosses, charity richniks, illegal alien advocates and extremist liberals such as Loretta and Linda Sanchez!
In our opinion, Foley is too far left for Costa Mesa. We can no longer afford to have her on the City Council.

As far as we're concerned, she's not part of the solution to our violent crime and gang problems.
If things don't get better, we're afraid that many of our neighborhoods will be too dangerous and/or too undesirable for stable, long time citizens of this city to remain living here.

# # #
TODAY'S I.Q. TEST

Below are two pictures of parks. Which one is appropriate for soccer and other team sports.






A. The one on the top.
B. The one on the bottom.
C. Both, because they're both called "parks," and parks are where our kids are supposed to play soccer.
The correct answer is "B." If this was your choice, congratulations, you probably have an IQ above 98.

"A" is wrong because the park is too small and is not safe for soccer games.

"C" is also wrong, but is the answer you might have chosen if you work for the almost daily Daily Pilot or if you're one of the local loons who have trouble distinguishing between things.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

CM PRESS # 495


CLEAR CHOICE IN THE ELECTION IN COSTA MESA THIS YEAR


Righeimer, Monahan and Bever



or...



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MORE OF OUR WONDERFUL WESTSIDE CULTURE ON DISPLAY

Here's the LINK to the almost daily Daily Pilot story about Costa Mesa gang members getting into a brawl in a courtroom.

And, here's what City Council candidate Chris McEvoy has to say about the Westside (Remember, he also thinks Flopsy Foley should be put back on the dais):

"Our population on the west side is wonderful and adds to the culture/uniqueness of the city."

......................................

Almost daily Daily Pilot, get ready for the scold...

No doubt, the ADDP resident scold and trash can burner, Auntie Steve Smith will now scold the ADDP for not hiding the above story about gangs in Costa Mesa.

It seems that Smith wants to hide the truth about our high violent crime rate and our gangs which both have a link to illegal aliens, so he probably gets his skirts all ruffled when such stories are published.

Problems exist even if you hide them

Some of us believe, in contrast to Smith's views, that such information should be published so that people will be more alert to possible danger and can make informed decisions about their safety.

And, we also believe that problems such as our high violent crime rate and our gang problems shouldn't be swept under the rug. They're a reality and they're a problem, and only by realizing that we have a problem can we properly address it.

Fashion models

Back when the CM PRESS first started publishing, we wrote of gang problems in the city and said we should bring them out into the open and solve them.

Some elites in the city then actually denied that we had gang problems.

They said that people wearing gang clothes were just making fashion statements. After that, we started referring to gang members as "fashion models," to poke fun at the elites.

Graffiti? According to the elites, it wasn't from gangs, but from kids just having fun.

Then, we had a gang related murder at the corner of Harbor and Wilson. The elites said it was just a random shooting and not a gang problem.

Then we had more shootings, stabbings, murders.

The advent of the gang detail

Suddenly, the truth deniers could deny no more and the CMPD started a gang detail. And, then the gang detail grew. And, it's probably going to grow some more.

The truth about our high violent crime rate and our gang problem is that both are related to the elites who are trying to make Costa Mesa an illegal alien sanctuary city.

Stop the elites from their mad plan to turn Costa Mesa into a new Santa Ana, and our violent crime rate and our gang problems will go away.

Flopsy is an elite

Who is one of these elites? Flopsy Katrina Foley. It's time to retire Foley and let her spend more time skiing instead of helping screw up our city.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

CM PRESS # 494


GIRL FALLS IN PARK, BITES TONGUE, GET READY FOR LAWSUIT

Here's the LINK to an article in the OC REGISTER about a 7-year-old girl whose family has just filed a claim against a school district in Huntington Beach because the girl fell and bit her tongue.

Such lawsuits happen when a property owner, in this case, either the school district or the City of Huntington Beach, has conditions on its property that are dangerous and which harm someone.

A property owner has a duty to those coming on to the property to make the property safe or to warn of potential dangers (The duty to either "make safe" or "warn" largely depends on whether, under the law of negligence, the injured party is an invitee or a licensee).

So, for example, if your city owns a postage stamp size "park" with hills and trees and no sports fields and sprinkler holes and sidewalks through the middle of the park and a tot lot in the middle, and tacitly allows people to use that park for activities that might foreseeably cause them to be injured or to injure others, get ready for the guys who advertise on the backs of buses to be waiting.

Here's another example. LINK

And another. LINK

Imagine something more serious
The people in the above examples have relatively minor injuries.

Imagine something a little more serious. Suppose a city allows people to play soccer in a park that has no soccer field and which a reasonable person would know is not safe for such play, but that the soccer players believe it is safe because the city allows that activity.

Further imagine that a 28-year-old soccer player chasing a ball, trips in a sprinkler hole in the park, breaks his ankle and flies up in the air and smashes head first into a tree or lands on his head on the sidewalk in the middle of the soccer field that is not a soccer field.

Suppose that he is so injured that he is in a coma for a year, and when he wakes up he is paralyzed from the neck down and can't work. And, further suppose that he is the sole breadwinner of a family with four kids.

You get to pay

Who do you think will pay for his medical bills, his pain and suffering and for the support of the injured and his family for the rest of their lives? The citizens of that city.

Add it up. There's easily a couple of million dollars worth of medical bills in this case along with a couple million more for pain and suffering. And, the amount of money this individual makes each month at his job that he can no longer do, times the years that he could have been expected to work, will add up to a pretty penny. And, then there's college for his four kids.

And if the above happens, watch as those same knee-jerk writers and posters who seem incapable of critical thinking and who are now so quick to complain about some parks being made passive, suddenly change their tune and start saying that the city should have known about the dangers in those particular parks and should have made such parks passive so activities that might not be dangerous on a proper sports field could not be played in such parks where there are no proper sports fields and where such activities are dangerous.

...........................................................................

Costa Mesa Parks--A Camel is a Horse Designed by a Committee

(Ah, City Council, here's the horse you ordered.)

The Parks and Recreation Commission did a good and thorough job in their report to the City Council concerning active/passive parks, and they are to be commended for their work.

Unfortunately, there appears to have been some miscommunication and maybe too many chefs in the kitchen.

The CM PRESS believes that what the Council intended was for the PRC to look at all the parks and determine which ones were SAFE and appropriate for certain activities and then to see what the individual neighborhoods thought about the uses of the parks in their neighborhoods.

And in their original report, the PRC pretty much did that. Remember, the PRC didn't originally come up with a plan to make all parks either active or passive.

The PRC originally had THREE designations. Active, passive and active/passive.

As the PRC proposal was on the road to the City Council, it apparently met some folks along the way and they cut off the third designation (active/passive) so that all the parks that had some areas that were both safe and appropriate for sports activities, and other areas that weren't safe or appropriate for such activities, were changed to being totally passive. It became all or nothing. Ooops.

The rationale for lopping off the third designation seems to have been one of administrative convenience. Some individuals apparently felt that it would be too difficult to manage and police parks that had both active and passive areas in the same park.

So, the horse that the City Council had ordered and which the PRC had designed, ended up on the City Council doorstep as a camel.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.




Tuesday, September 23, 2008

CM PRESS # 493


SOME STILL DON'T GET IT ABOUT PARKS

We continue to read nonsense from the usual cast of characters who write things such as: "If you move next to a park, you shouldn't complain about soccer in that park."

What such people are usually trying to elucidate, but not very well, is a "coming to the nuisance"defense found in nuisance law.

Here's how this works without getting into the fine points of public vs. private nuisances and other matters:

1800's PIG FARM
Say the year is 1800 and you own a huge pig farm out in a deserted prairie and then someone builds his home right next to your pig farm even though that person had miles of empty land as an alternative.

Then, this person who built his home next to your pig farm says you should shut down your pig farm because the smell bothers him.

Well, under the totality of the above facts, the courts would probably rule that the homeowner "came to the nuisance." He knew there was a pig farm there when he built his home so he's out of luck.
Modern courts
Modern courts use more of a balancing test and they consider various factors in weighing the rights of the parties.

Today, for example, as our population grows and more and more people move out to once barren prairies, the courts, depending on many factors, may rule that the pig farm is such a lousy neighbor that the pig farmer has, in effect, condemned all the land around his pig farm--within smelling range--to similar lousy uses forever.

In other words, the pig farmer has in effect taken, without paying for them, all the surrounding properties in a sort of private citizen pocket eminent domain fashion, because he has made them all unsuitable for anything except pig farms.

In such a case (in simplest terms) the pig farmer may be asked to move his pig farm or take some action to abate the nuisance (the smell, for example), so adjoining properties can be used for higher and better uses. If this happens, he is compensated so that he may find and acquire another desolate spot for his pig farm or for the cost of doing something to lessen the smell.

A TWIST
Put a twist into this. Suppose you're the guy who built your home next to the pig farm and you did it because you like the smell of pigs. In fact you love pigs. You wanted to live near the pigs.

The problem, however, is that you soon discover that the pig farmer isn't just raising pigs. He is also raising crocodiles that he lets roam his property and all properties nearby. Well, you had no way of knowing that the guy was also raising crocodiles. That's not what you'd expect on a pig farm. Those crocodiles are ruining the quiet enjoyment of your property. You can no longer just enjoy the smell of pigs.

So, now you argue that the nuisance is the crocodiles and that the pig farmer should stop raising them. The pig farmer will again argue that you came to the nuisance. In this case, however, his argument is weak and you may prevail.
CROCODILES IN OUR PIG FARMS
Now, how does this relate to the use of various parks in Costa Mesa?

Well, the answer is that if you buy a home next to a soccer field, you probably shouldn't complain if soccer breaks out. Soccer is the intended purpose of a soccer field. It is designed for soccer.

However, if you buy a home next to a postage stamp size piece of grass with trees, rolling hills and a tot lot with no bathroom and no soccer fields, and the quiet enjoyment of your property is impacted by large, intense and very competitive soccer games being played by beer drinking adults from an adjoining city who urinate and defecate in the park, break your windows with their soccer balls, force you out of the park, leave the park full of trash, destroy the turf that you, as a taxpayer will have to pay to repair, and endanger themselves and others in such a way that it is foreseeable that someone will eventually bring a lawsuit against the city that your taxes will have to be used to defend, you have a right to complain.

And, even if intense soccer games are played by kids and younger adults in such a postage stamp size park, as described above, that park is not a soccer field and it is foreseeable that someone will be injured at some time either by running into a tree, hitting a toddler with a soccer ball, running over a toddler, tripping on weak turf or sprinkler holes, falling on a sidewalk in the middle of the soccer field, kicking a ball into traffic on a nearby street and possibly causing an automobile accident, running into the street chasing a ball and being hit by a car, or any number of other situations.

And it is also foreseeable that such activity may ruin the quiet enjoyment of homeowners on nearby properties. They willingly chose to move next to a small postage stamp park, but they didn't sign on to be next to a soccer field a baseball field or a football field.

If you are one of these folks living near the park, your argument is this: "I bought my home next to this small grassy, hilly area full of trees and with a tot lot because I wanted to enjoy low intensity activities with my kids and my toddlers--maybe throw or kick a ball, run around and do similar things, use the tot lot, and relax, but now I can't use the park because it has been turned into a soccer field with opposing teams taking over the whole park.

"It was not reasonably foreseeable that anyone would turn such an area into a soccer field. It's unsafe for the players and other users of the park and makes the park unusable by others. I moved next to a small park with no sports field and I have a reasonable expectation that it would not be a soccer or a football or a baseball field because it is not adequate for such uses."

That's the situation we have in Costa Mesa with some of our postage-stamp size parks.

Each park and each situation is different

As we've written many times, all of our parks are different. Some are not suitable for intense sports, and a home buyer looking at such a park would not reasonably believe that huge soccer games would be played on rolling hills, on a sidewalk and around trees and through a tot lot right next to a busy street with nothing to keep balls from going into traffic.

Soccer games in such parks are like crocodiles raised at a pig farm.

Each park in each neighborhood must be evaluated individually. Blanket passive or blanket active rules are a mistake.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Monday, September 22, 2008

CM PRESS # 492

Updated: Monday, September 22, 2008, 4:12PM--Scroll down
ILLEGALS LEAVE ARIZONA FOR TEXAS--VIOLENT CRIME DROPS IN ARIZONA AND RISES IN TEXAS



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800 ILLEGALS BOOTED OUT OF COSTA MESA AND VIOLENT CRIME DROPS IN CITY


Costa Mesa's violent crime rate dropped 14.93 % 1n 2007 as compared to 2006. LINK

# # #

--Update--4:12PM

CMPD TELLS WHY ICE DETAINERS ARE DOWN IN COSTA MESA

As we reported in an earlier CM PRESS, we recently asked the CMPD why our ICE stats were so much lower this year than last.

For example, in August 2007, there were 50 ICE detainers issued and in August 2008, there were only 25. Fifty-percent fewer.

Here's the answer we just received from the CMPD.

"In July of 2008, Orange County closed their South Court for renovation, directing the case load from that court to Harbor Court, which CMPD uses. Because of that change and the subsequent impact on our ability to directly book arrestees into Harbor Court, we are forced to utilize Orange County Jail (OCJ) almost on a daily basis. The CMPD jail now holds significantly fewer arrestees for more than 24 hours. Some arrestees that were traditionally screened the following morning by our ICE agent are being transported to OCJ instead. At that point, ICE agents and cross-designated 287g sheriff’s deputies fulfill the ICE screening role at OCJ. Of course, it can also be an indication that the plan is working, i.e., we are arresting fewer people who may be in the country illegally, but it’s likely the majority of it is due to the required change in our booking procedures."

...........................................................

So...

It may be that just as many or even more illegal aliens are being taken off the streets of Costa Mesa, but the statistics for this aren't reflected in the Costa Mesa ICE reports that the CM PRESS gets each month.

But...


Will the honchos at ICE look at our reduced numbers and decide to pull the ICE agent from our jail?

And...

If that happens, Costa Mesa doesn't have a backup plan because we have not trained any of our officers under the 287g plan.

Thus...

Maybe it would be a good idea to discuss a Plan B and lay the groundwork for having some of our officers take the 287g training, just in case the ICE agent is pulled from our jail.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading the CM PRESS.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

CM PRESS # 491

Updated: Sunday, September 21, 2008, 1:52 PM--scroll down

TONY DODERO ASSEMBLES THE EDITORIAL CREW AT THE ALMOST DAILY DAILY PILOT-- LINK
(We didn't have an actual photo of the loons so we grabbed this one as a reasonable facsimile)

Tony Dodero and the editorial crew at the almost daily Daily Pilot, who manage to visit Costa Mesa from their far flung homes once in a while, still have difficulty understanding that all parks are not the same and that soccer is not appropriate in all parks.

Subtle, discrete thinking is not their forte. "Duhhh, a park is a park is a park."

Say, ADDP, let's follow your implied logic (our apologies to logicians) and allow pick-up soccer games in all Costa Mesa parks. After all, you have implied that a park is a park is a park.

How about an editorial calling for soccer games in the Dog Park or the Skate Park? What, you mean they're off limits to soccer players? It must be anti-Latino and anti-kid. Whaaaa, whaaa, where are our kids going to play? Whaaaaaaa. Let the kids [the 35 year-0ld-men from Santa Ana] play. Whaaaaaaa.

Or, let's take it even further. If soccer can be played in parks where it is not appropriate, then why can't the folks who want to have picnics and play with their toddlers do this in the middle of The Farm Complex?

We've long known that some of the folks at the ADDP seem to be selected for not being able to think in shades of gray and that everything must be black and white, but maybe the paper should hire a few folks over there who can distinguish between different things.

the ADDP might even try to find someone who can distinguish between a plastic trash container and a metal one. I know. Some of the folks at the ADDP are now scratching their heads. I can almost hear them saying, "Duhhh, what's the difference between a plastic trash container and a metal one, what does he mean? A trash container is a trash container is a trash container."
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WONDERFUL WESTSIDE CULTURE--SOMETHING DOESN'T ADD UP
(The "F" Team gets another, er, F)

One City Council candidate this year, Chris McEvoy, says that he wants to preserve the wonderful Westside culture and not have the area be improved as the Improvers would like.

In fact, here's how McEvoy puts it in his own wonderful words on his election blog: "Our population on the west side is wonderful and adds to the culture/uniqueness of the city."

As you read McEvoy's wonderful words, you just know that he has to be a soul mate of wonderful Flopsy Foley and wonderful Dancing William Sneen.

Sure enough, on his blog, McEvoy tells voters that Foley and Sneen along with Chris Bunyan also deserve their votes this year [in addition to McEvoy, of course].

Now, McEvoy makes a big deal on his election blog about being a math teacher. From his recommendations of himself, Foley, Sneen and Bunyan, we figure he must be involved in the new math.

Let's see if we can figure this out. There are three seats being voted on in this election. That means you get to vote for, ah, 3. Or to use a little higher math: 1, 2, 3. Hmmm. We must be missing something.

McEvoy, Foley, Sneen, Bunyan. 1,2,3,4. Hold on, we're going to count that again. Yup, it still adds up to 4. Well, anyway, math teacher McEvoy wants you to cast your 3 votes for 4 candidates.

When you try to vote for 4 instead of 3, don't be surprised if your voting machine suddenly starts giving off smoke, then sounds a klaxon alarm and repeats in a monotone 1950's mechanical robot voice: "Will not compute, will not compute."

And, speaking of will not compute...
Here are just two recent examples of McEvoy's wonderful culture. We didn't have to go far to find these, just a couple days of any local newspaper will give you many examples.LINK1 LINK2

Seems like a nice kid
Now to tell the truth, folks, McEvoy seems like a pretty nice kid. He's soft spoken and appears to be polite. But someone has to wean him away from some of these illogical lefty views he has, so he can actually help improve our city instead of trying to keep it in the dumps. Seriously.

You'd think a guy who apparently likes numbers [well, except for that little counting problem] would be a little more scientific in his views and would look at the statistics and see that they logically lead to conclusions that do not include the word "wonderful." "Wonderful" and many of our statistics are like apples and pears.

Apples and pears are different?
Oh, no, we can almost see the loons at the almost daily Daily Pilot scratching their heads again and saying: "Duhhhhh, we don't get it. Apples and pears are different? Hey, they're both fruit, and a fruit is a fruit is a fruit, just like a park is a park is a park. Duhhhhh. Hey, this isn't Costa Mensa, you know. Duhhh, we don't need to make no fine line distinctions no how."

Turning Costa Mesa into a new Santa Ana
Well, anyway, when you go to the polls, if you want the "F" team to help turn Costa Mesa into a new Santa Ana, do an even better job with voting than McEvoy suggests and be sure to cast your three votes for Foley, Sneen, McEvoy, Bunyan, Reedy, and Moss. Hmmm. Let's see, 1,2,3,4,5, 6. Yup, that's 3 all right. It's new math.

On the other hand...
Of course, if you want Costa Mesa to be nicer, to have less crime, fewer gangs, better schools, higher home values and a higher quality of life, then you may want to cast your 3 votes for Righeimer, Monahan and Bever (that's the order of their names on your ballot). And, oddly enough, the "A" team does actually add up to 3.

Meanwhile, over at the ADDP...
And, over at the almost daily Daily Pilot they continue scratching their heads. "Duhhhh. Three is different than six? Says who? Hey, they're both numbers, so they're the same thing. A number is a number is a number. Duhhhh."
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Note to: T--He's the one with the goatee.
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ALMOST DAILY DAILY PILOT LAUDS DO-NOTHING FLOPSY FOLEY AND BUMP ON THE LOG DIXON FOR NOTHING--LINK

Man, these lefties are screwy.

The entire City Council turned down the blanket passive park plan. No one who really thought about the idea thought it was a good one. Only one person spoke in favor of it, and we later learned that he wasn't really in favor of it either but was trying to get a park near his home made passive.

So, how did the whole park thing get so screwed up? Well, as we said at the City Council meeting when we spoke against the blanket passive rule, we think the Council may not have communicated what they had in mind to staff and the Parks and Recreation Commission.

And, staff and the Parks and Recreation Commission did a very thorough job on what they thought they were being asked to do. Their original idea of having three designations,had more merit than the two designation plan (but, really, a better idea would be what we finally ended up with--let the neighborhoods decide-which is what the CM PRESS has been saying for several years).

As we wrote before the City Council meeting, along the way, the Parks and Recreation Commission plan of naming parks either 1)active, 2) passive, or 3) passive with active areas, was changed to eliminate # 3. So, what the Council got at their meeting was an either or situation.

It almost looked as though the majority on the Council was being set up.

And, it also looked as though Foley and Dixon and their supporters were expecting the majority to name all the parks passive, and that they were disappointed when the majority didn't take the bait.

So, almost daily Daily Pilot, your praise for Foley and Dixon for killing off the blanket park matter is misplaced. This thing was dead on arrival, and wasn't going to pass even if no one showed up to speak against it.

The neighborhoods will decide. This is as it should be. Thank the majority of Bever, Mansoor and Leece for getting us to the point where we can have safe and usable parks in all our neighborhoods. Give a Bronx Cheer to Foley and Dixon for their attempt to take credit for something they had nothing to do with. Next, these two will claim they are the ones who are driving down our crime by deporting illegal alien criminals.

If more of the suits at the almost daily Daily Pilot actually lived in Costa Mesa, they might avoid such stupid editorials and actually know the finer points of what's going on in Costa Mesa.

Thank goodness they read this blog to stay informed.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Friday, September 19, 2008

CM PRESS # 490

Last updated: Friday, September 19, 2008, 7:34PM--scroll down
CURIOUS POSTS AT THE ALMOST DAILY DAILY PILOT

Below, are two posts from BKrochman that appeared in the almost daily Daily Pilot regarding the passive/active parks issue. LINK

BKrochman wrote on Sep 17, 2008 8:38 PM:
" Silverthorn, I understand your point, but really the city shouldn't be making rules that people have to adapt to. Our Chief of Police stated at the meeting that when a problem occurs they respond (typically the Park Rangers) and they mediate/educate and that takes care of it. Codifying new regulations just makes things rigid. We don't need rigid, we need a community that works their problems out. As a last resort they can ask for help from the Park Rangers. It is working well by everyone but Martin Millard's standards and he has a reprehensible agenda. "


BKrochman wrote on Sep 17, 2008 10:57 AM:
" We didn't take Boy Scouts, it was Cub Scouts. Boys Scouts are far more adventurous. It was disappointing to see Mansoor try to derail the double barrel public pummeling he must have known was coming. Martin Millard was obviously concerned enough that if all parks were made passive his imaginary Marauding Mexicans would return to Paularino because everyone would openly ignore the passive designations. Why else would he have supported eliminating the plan? To Eric Bever: It is ALL about kids. More restrictions on everyone mean less play opportunities for KIDS! "
................

HUH?

We're not sure how BKrochman arrived at his conclusions about our positions on the issue since we've never spoken to him, and his conclusions are 180 degrees opposite of what we've said and written about it. Just read earlier editions of the CM PRESS (# 485 and # 487) and you'll see our real positions.

To try to find out how BKrochman came to his conclusions, and to get more of BKrochman's views on the local scene--and especially on what he thinks we think--and a few other stories we're working on, we contacted BKrochman via email.

As of today, he hasn't responded. It may be that he just hasn't opened his email yet, and will do so after he reads about it here.

Or, perhaps someone who Mr. Krochman knows, such as, apparently, William Sneen (Dancing Sneen to the CM PRESS), who is running for the City Council this year, will let Mr. Krochman know he has an email waiting for him.

There are a number of reasons why we figure Mr. Sneen can let Mr.Krochman know we'd like his comments.

Among these is the fact that when we went to the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce website (as of 8:00AM on Friday, September 19, 2008) to look up the Costa Mesa High School Foundation, there was a link listing "Bruce Krochman," but when we clicked on Mr. Krochman's name, an email message box addressed to wsneen@hotmail.com opened. LINK to CMCC http://www.costamesachamber.com/cw_mccc.php Scroll down to Costa Mesa High School Foundation.

So, Mr. Krochman, email us. We'd like to learn more about what we think, and about our "reprehensible agenda," and about "Marauding Mexicans."

We also have a few questions for you.
--DEVELOPING--

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COLOR OF VIOLENT CRIME IN NYC

Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.



Thursday, September 18, 2008

CM PRESS # 489


COULD THIS BE THE REASON ICE DETAINERS ARE DOWN?

In Joseph Serna's column about ICE in the almost daily Daily Pilot today,we read this:

"Many officers did not find the mayor’s proposal to be a wise choice, with one officer saying the proposed enforcement was essentially racist because the idea behind it was to target Latinos, testimony shows."

Good cops/bad cops
There have been rumors in the community that there may be some in the CMPD who resist enforcing laws against suspected illegal aliens except when the laws broken are very serious.

Some citizens believe that this is a result of biases or political agendas and that it is one of the reasons why Costa Mesa has such a high violent crime rate and why Latino gangs seem to be flourishing and growing in our city.

Little crimes lead to big crimes--one broken window leads to more broken windows
In fact, we know that at least one politician was motivated, at least in part, to run for the office partly because of problems in the politician's neighborhood that some CMPD officers often failed to handle and would often clear with an "unable to locate," report.

Be specific and document your calls
The CM PRESS suggests that when citizens call the CMPD at 1-(714) 754-5252, to report violations, that they do the following in addition to writing down the date and time and a word or two about the violation:

1. Ask for and write down the CMPD's Operator Number (the operator is actually a civilian in the call center). They have to tell you this.

2. Ask for and write down the incident number. They have to tell you this. This number is evidence that the operator actually put your complaint into the computer system. Once there, it has to be "cleared," by an officer.

3. Call back in a half hour or hour and ask how incident number______was cleared and which officer responded and cleared the call. Was it cleared with "unable to locate"?

4. If the problem you complained about involves a recurring problem, do the above each time you call about it.

5. Then, when you have actual records with dates, times, etc., you can take your complaint to the Police Chief, the City Manager and the City Council. If you don't have things documented, you may just be blown off.

You need specific information, not a general and vague: "They didn't do their job, but I don't know who didn't do it and I don't know the date or time they didn't do it and I don't know when I called it in or who I spoke to."

We know of incidents where officers have cleared calls with "unable to locate" while the officers were observed to be directly in front of the violators that they were reporting they couldn't locate and while the violators were continuing to violate the law in plain sight of the officers.

Do we want cops who lie on their reports?
This is serious. Do we want police officers who will lie on their reports? If you can't trust a cop, who can you trust? Some countries are known for having corrupt police departments. No one trusts the police because most of the cops have various personal agendas and they are known to lie. We don't want that in the U.S. and we don't want that in Costa Mesa.

A few officers with biases and political agendas in a police department can have a corrosive effect on police/community relations, and this isn't good for anyone.
Help the CMPD help you by being a responsible citizen and by taking notes when you report incidents.

We all need to help drive down the high violent crime rate in Costa Mesa. You can help by being involved and engaged.
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FORMER COLORADO GOVERNOR LAMM SAYS ILLEGAL ALIENS AREN'T CHEAP LABOR LINK

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COSTA MESA'S WESTSIDE COMES IN #82 OUT OF 83 ZIP CODES IN OC IN OCR'S ZIPPY AWARDS (The only worse zip code in OC was in Santa Ana). LINK

Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.



Tuesday, September 16, 2008

CM PRESS # 488


CRIME RATES IN THE RING OF CITIES 2007

Violent crime rates per 10,000 residents

Irvine...................................... 7.08 [Best]
Huntington Beach.................19.28
Fountain Vealley...................19.88
Newport Beach......................21.40
Costa Mesa.............................23.49
Santa Ana...............................57.23 [Worst]

Property crime rates per 10,000 residents

Irvine.....................................161.29 [Best]
Huntington Beach.................206.85
Santa Ana..............................229.17
Fountain Valley....................257.80
Newport Beach.....................277.19
Costa Mesa............................303.73 [Worst]

The good news is that since the implementation of our ICE program and the deportation of approximately 800 criminals from Costa Mesa, our violent crime rate decreased 14.95 per cent from 2006 and our property crime rate went down 0.42 per cent.
You can thank Mayor Bever, Mayor Pro Tem Mansoor and Councilmember Leece for this.
If Flopsy Foley and her wine and cheese crew had been the majority on the Council, those 800 criminals would still be on our streets today.

LINK to the OCR report on crime.
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REPORT FROM CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 17, 2008

Flopsy Foley and the missing letter
As we did during the last City Council meeting two weeks ago, the CM PRESS once again used part of our public comments time to ask Flopsy Katrina Foley when she was going to finish her letter to President Bush asking that he secure our borders. As expected, Flopsy didn't answer the question. We promised to be there every two weeks to ask the question again until we get an answer.

Why the slow down in ICE detainers?
We also asked why there appears to be a slow down in ICE detainers, and requested that Staff email us an explanation. If we get one, we'll publish it.

Passive vs. Active Parks
The Council did the right thing and decided not to put a blanket "passive" designation over almost all the parks in Costa Mesa, but to treat each park as an individual case as problems arise.

This has been the CM PRESS's position all along.

Oddly, a TV reporter babe approached us and indicated that one of the wannabe City Council candidates this year had told her that we wanted all the parks to be made passive.

We straightened her out. We've always been for neighborhood control of neighborhood parks, and we've always said that each park is different and a blanket policy over all of them is a mistake. Philosophically, we believe that government governs best when it is closest to the people it governs.

Three parks with the most problems
CMPD Lt. Dondero told the Council that parks in the city that seem to have the most problems [and which might benefit from a passive designation] are Vista Park, Lions Park and Canyon Park.

Wakeham Park--Active
Most of the people in the audience were there to speak in favor of keeping Wakeham Park active. [Perhaps ten people]

Brentwood Park--Passive
The second largest contingent appeared to be composed of those who live near Brentwood Park. They all spoke in favor of having that park designated as a passive park.

Paularino Park
Everyone seemed to agree that making Paularino Park passive has been resoundingly successful and that it should serve as the model for any other parks if they are made passive.

Friends of Flopsy Foley
It was interesting to see that some of the wannabe City Council candidates showed up to mumble their plastic indignation about something they know nothing about, in order to get some free publicity. For some of them, this was probably the first time they had ever been in the City Council chambers. Those who spoke, said nothing. It was mostly oral flatulence.

The Ostrich
Lisa Reedy (The Ostrich) was there and seemed to have gotten rid of the thing that landed on her head, died and then melted that we wrote about before. Reedy didn't speak but sat next to Dancing Bill Sneen and his wife.

Dancing Bill Sneen
Dancing Bill was constantly jumping up from his seat and dancing out to the foyer looking like a used car salesman who had just spotted his new best friend--any drunk who had stumbled on to his used car lot.

Our guess is that Dancing Bill was pumping hands, kissing metaphorical babies and handing out imaginary cigars.

Dancing Bill mumbled a few things at the podium and demanded, demanded we say, that the Council vote on the parks issue. Yawn. Clearly, this guy is looking for an issue, any issue, that he thinks will redound with voters and give him some name recognition. He failed on both counts.

The Beard
Chris McEvoy said a few things at the podium about parks, but we're not sure what he said other than that he's against having Vista Park made safe for people who don't want to be assaulted by soccer players.

Baldy
Nick Moss was sitting in the audience but didn't speak.

The Lonely Old Man
Those in attendance were thankfully spared having to be in the presence of the Lonely Old Man--the wart on the face of Costa Mesa that the genteel folks try not to look at out of a sense of politeness.

Indeed, stomachs were spared their upset that would surely follow had eyes actually seen this low on testosterone flabby creep who blessedly usually hides under his rock in the dark with the other loathsome creatures instead of showing up at most meetings and waddling around looking like a two legged maggot.

Flopsy Foley's Strategy

As usual, it can be expected that Flopsy Foley will try to fool voters into thinking that she's a conservative Republican instead of the ultra-liberal Democrat that she really is.

Remember in the last election cycle how Flopsy actually bought name space on Republican slate mailers? ROFL! Expect her to do the same thing this election cycle.

But, what Flopsy and her crew realize is that this time they have some real problems. Most voters want improvement in the city and are fed up with crime and gangs, and most voters know that Flopsy and her crew are soft on crime and gangs while Bever, Righeimer and Monahan are tough on crime and gangs.

So, how are Flopsy and crew trying to counter the improvement juggernaut? They're trying to convince voters that the council will be better off with dissenting voices on it.

The problem with that strategy is that the candidates who the improvers think will make Costa Mesa a nicer and safer city: Bever, Righeimer and Monahan aren't in lockstep on all issues.
They are very different individuals with different backgrounds and life experiences and they each have their own opinions.

They are an "improver slate" not because they have chosen to be so considered, but because improvers think these three are the best.

Diversity of opinions is normal for improvement minded people.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 487


ACTIVE VS. PASSIVE PARKS ON THE CITY COUNCIL AGENDA TONIGHT

PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEY: "So, you say that the City of Costa Mesa said it was okay for you to play soccer in a small park even though that park had no soccer fields and was full of hazards that a reasonable city should have known could lead to the types of foreseeable injuries you've now suffered due to the City's negligence? Of course I'll take the case."

There's a lot of misinformation floating around about the issue of passive vs. active parks, as some lefties and nobody City Council wannabes try to turn it into a political issue.

The most important thing to know is that "passive" doesn't mean no one can throw a ball or engage in similar activities in a passive park as they always have.

It just means that the parks aren't safe or appropriate for intense team sports with many players, and that playing such sports in these parks may endanger both the players and other users of the parks.

In other words, "passive parks," among other things, don't have sports fields that have been designed, groomed and maintained to be safe for team sports.

Passive parks may have trees and hills and ankle wrenching holes with buried sprinkler heads and turf that is too thin or of the wrong type over soil that is also of the wrong type. Passive parks may also be too small for team sports or be configured in such a way that team sports will conflict with other uses of the park or surrounding areas.

PAULARINO PARK
In the particular case of Paularino Park, all of the above negatives for it being a sports field apply and, in addition, there are no restroom facilities.

The park is their toilet
In the past, adult soccer players would drive up in cars and have "pick-up" games at Paularino Park. Since many of these adults apparently didn't live nearby, they would use the trees and even the tot lot to urinate and defecate.

Sidewalk in the middle of the soccer field that is not a soccer field
When they played soccer in Paularino Park, because of the small size and narrow shape of the park, the soccer games would have to be played across the only sidewalk in the park. This blocked the sidewalk for others who might want to use the park.

Get out of the park, you're disturbing our soccer game
In at least one case, soccer players demanded that a neighborhood grandmother get off the sidewalk and out of the park because by using the sidewalk she was in the middle of their soccer game.

Strange man in her backyard
In another case, an elderly woman, whose house backs up to the park,was severely frightened when she looked out into her back yard and saw an adult male standing there. He had apparently climbed over her 6' tall wall to retrieve a soccer ball.

City employee tells the elderly woman if she doesn't like it, move
When this woman reported this to the City, an employee of the recreation department rudely told her that if she didn't like it, she should move.

Broken picture window
Another homeowner near the park had his expensive picture window smashed by a soccer ball, and the soccer players then all ran away leaving the homeowner with the job of getting the window replaced. If memory serves, the bill was something like $1,500.00.

Soccer players and balls in the middle of Paularino Avenue
When soccer games were being played in Paularino Park, there were many instances of soccer balls being kicked into cars travelling on Paularino Ave. and in at least one case a driver had to do a panic stop to avoid hitting a soccer player who suddenly darted into the street from between two parked cars.
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IS SOMEONE TRYING TO SNOOKER THE MAJORITY ON THE CITY COUNCIL?

Tonight, the City Council will be voting on whether to make 28 parks passive and leave just 2 as active.

This is overkill, given the misunderstanding of the term passive park.

Each park is different and each neighborhood is different. If there are no problems in other parks, then the Council should just leave them alone as they are right now.

But, the Council should establish a mechanism for review of the uses of the parks should there be problems in the future as there were at Paularino Park.

TREAT EACH PARK INDIVIDUALLY
Remember, the lumpen term "park" covers everything from postage stamp size areas to vast acres of open ground. What is appropriate in one park may not be appropriate in another.

For example:

BARK PARK
We have a Bark Park in Costa Mesa. It has rules and regulations that work for that park. These rules and regulations wouldn't make much sense in other parks.

SKATEBOARD PARK
We have a Skateboard Park in Costa Mesa. It has rules and regulations that work for that park. These rules and regulations wouldn't make much sense in other parks.

BICYCLE RIDING
Bicycle riding is banned in at least one small park we know of, but not in others. Clearly, there was a problem with this in this particular park, so a sign was erected banning this activity.

THE MISSING BASKETBALL HOOP
Residents near one small park had the City remove the basketball hoop because it was attracting crowds that were causing problems. It was a problem specific to this one park.

POWERED MODEL AIRPLANES
You can fly model airplanes in Fairview Park, but not in others.
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BUREAUCRATS LIKE THINGS UNIFORM
Bureaucrats like to have everything uniform, but the parks in Costa Mesa are not uniform and they must be treated individually.
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HERE'S WHAT THE CM PRESS THINKS THE CITY COUNCIL SHOULD DO, BY THE NUMBERS

l. Leave Paularino Park a passive park. This is already a settled matter and has gone through countless community and city meetings.

2. Leave most other large parks with flat fields and restroom facilities as they are right now. Do nothing. Just leave them as they are and don't erect any signs about passive or active. If they're not broken, don't try to fix them.

3. Set up a mechanism whereby residents of various neighborhoods can petition the Council or the Parks and Recreation Commission to have their parks made passive if neighborhoods so wish.

4. Do a better PR job of explaining that "passive" does not mean what it sounds like.

5. Let it be known that this is a health and safety issue and that parks without proper playing fields pose a danger to players and others who misuse the parks, and that such misuse also often presents a nuisance to others who wish to use the parks.

6. It should also be made clear that many of our rules and regulations regarding parks are "rubber clauses" so that problems can be addressed if they arise, but are generally not enforced if there are no complaints. We don't have cops hiding in the bushes looking for sports activities.

7. At tonight's meeting, have speakers tell which park they live near and why they want it passive or active. Try to avoid having speakers address all parks throughout the city as a whole. This is a neighborhood specific issue.
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DARWIN AWARD

As you may know, the Darwin Award is an award that is usually given to those among us who have, through their stupidity, removed themselves from our gene pool.

Usually, this is given to people who blow themselves up by putting dynamite in mouse holes or similar things.

Here in Costa Mesa we have an individual, a despicable, tiny brain sissy full of self-hatred and hatred of others who spews his bile far and wide. In our book, this guy is a permanent Darwin Award winner.

In his case, it appears that Mother Nature herself realized her mistake early on and kept him out of our gene pool by keeping him from being able to reproduce.

Of course, now that this bigot is an old man, he has turned bitter. He sees his own mortality, and knows, in his rare lucid moments, that he is the last of his line. So, he impotently flails about like a drowning man grasping at straws while trying to be noticed--to feel like he is somebody--to have his meaningless life validated. "Please notice me," he screams out. "Tell me I am somebody. Give me some solace in my old age--tell me that my life wasn't meaningless."

There are no straws for him. There are no do-overs in his life. He is not a somebody. He is a nobody. He is wretched. For him, there is only the great nothingness--which is what his whole "life"(if you can call it that) has been anyway. When looking at this loser, pro-life people might even consider that the abortionists might be right after all.

The gene pool is safe. Thank you, Mother Nature!
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.



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