CM PRESS # 518

[ Last updated: Thursday, October 23, 2008, 8:25 PM--scroll down]

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

1. Fountain Valley

Fountain Valley

is about to pass an ordinance to require stores to retrieve or contain their own shopping carts at the expense of the stores. LINK to OC REGISTER article.

2. Costa Mesa

When citizens of Costa Mesa complained about shopping carts in our city, our City Council decided to make citizens pay for the retrieval of the carts.

As a result, Costa Mesa citizens now pay about $40,000 per year for a shopping cart retrieval service for the benefit of stores and for the mostly suspected illegal aliens who take the carts and abandon them in the slums around this city.

If you think this is stupid, why didn't you speak out? The CM PRESS went to the Council meeting and spoke against having us pay for this service.

This is just one example of an expense that citizens of Costa Mesa should not have, and how our local government passes these things on to citizens.

Now, we're in tough economic times and local tax and spend lefties and liberals are whining that we may have to cut services to citizens unless we raise taxes.

Well,the CM PRESS has a better idea. How about cutting this shopping cart expense for starters? How about having the stores put restraint systems on their carts such as the ones on the carts at Smart & Final on W. 19th Street or at the 99 Cent store on Harbor Blvd.?

And then...
How about cutting some of the day care and similar programs that mostly benefit suspected illegal aliens but which are paid for by citizens?

These programs just make illegal aliens feel welcome in Costa Mesa and then we end up having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the graffiti and gang problems that they bring with them.

And, the galling thing is that these are not our problems at all. Illegal aliens should not be here, and it is not our responsibility to feed and take care of them and make them feel comfortable here.

Tighten things up

Jim Righeimer, who is running for City Council, has it right when he says we don't have an income problem in our municipal government in Costa Mesa, we have a spending problem.

It's $40,000 for this little program, $30,000 for this other one,$70,000 for this, and it goes on and on.

# # #

CANDIDATE FORUM LAST NIGHT

The CM PRESS attended the City Council candidate forum last night in Halecrest, but left after about half an hour.

Even we get tired of the same old things said again and again.

Look folks, there are nine people running for City Council, but only four of them are "real" candidates--Jim Righeimer, Gary Monahan, Eric Bever and Katrina Foley--the rest have no chance of winning and most will quickly disappear after the election and we'll never hear from them again.

Of these four real candidates, only three will really help make Costa Mesa a better city for citizens--Jim Righeimer, Gary Monahan and Eric Bever.

Katrina Foley is a lame duck even if she gets elected. Listening to her is like listening to a grade school teacher talking to little children. She says little of substance, but smiles a lot and then we read comments from some of her supporters about how great she is for the city! Are they nuts?

Listen to what Foley says and then go back and try to find something of substance. It's almost impossible. She strings together sweet nothings. Where's the beef? There is none. It's empty words.

Foley is also the Councilmember who refused to sign a letter to President Bush asking him to protect our borders.

She was also against then Mayor Mansoor's plan to train some of our cops in ICE techniques.

Our guess is that if we had a Foley majority on the Council that we'd be having more gang and crime problems and Costa Mesa would become even more of a true sanctuary city for illegal aliens and we'd see more and more of our middle class flee to safer and nicer cities.

Fortunately, we don't have a Foley majority. And, hopefully, voters will turn her out of office this year and let her go skiing all the time instead of cutting City Council meetings to do that.
# # #
GOOD POST FROM COLIN MCCARTHY OVER AT THE ALMOST DAILY DAILY PILOT BLOG (LINK)

colin mccarthy wrote on Oct 23, 2008 7:27 AM:

" Costa Migra? The statistics don't lie. FBI stats show in 2007, Zero murders on Costa Mesa, ZERO. Violent crime down 16% from 2006; robbery, assault, burglary, auto theft, arson, ALL DOWN from 2005 and 2006. More needs to be done, but it was Bever, Monahan and Mansoor who supported the ICE program and took a stand on public safety. If you want Costa Mesa to be a safer place for you and your family, Bever and Monahan deserve your vote this election. Check for yourself, www.fbi.gov. "

Remember the name Colin McCarthy. He's the president of the Mesa North Community Association and many of us see him as a rising star in Costa Mesa politics. Maybe Planning Commission after the election? City Council after that? You heard it here first.
# # #

MAYOR BEVER DESERVES PRAISE FOR THE FREEDOM HOMES PLANS

Mayor Eric Bever has been a busy, er...since he was elected four years ago, and he's initiated or spearheaded many concrete improvements in various neighborhoods in the city.

The guy's more of a doer than a talker, so many people may not know about all the things that he's done. And, these are things that he didn't have to do. He could have just sat on the dais like a couple of the bumps on a log up there and few would know the difference. To his credit, he didn't do this.

One of the things he's done is come up with some standard plans to help homeowners in the Freedom Homes tract visualize how to improve their homes. These plans are available at City Hall.

In case you don't know this...
The Freedom Homes tract has about 830 homes that were built in 1953. The original homes are small, have a single bathroom, three bedrooms and usually no garage. Over the years, more and more people have been improving these homes to more modern standards and Mayor Bever's plans should help even more people upgrade.

It's a gem
Here's the thing about the Freedom Homes neighborhood that you may not know unless you've driven around in the neighborhood: it's an absolute gem! Get thirty feet into the tract off Victoria and you'll think you're miles away out in the country. Seriously.

If you know any young couples looking to locate in Costa Mesa, tell them about the Freedom Homes tract. It's a great neighborhood for families with young children and it's close to Victoria School which is one of the best grade schools in Costa Mesa. You can also bicycle to the beach by going through Canyon Park. There's also a brand new Trader Joe's about ready to open just over the river on Brookhurst and Hamilton (Victoria turns into Hamilton).

Much praise to Mayor Bever. He's helping improve all of Costa Mesa with a sensitivity to the differences in each neighborhood and with an eye to keeping what's best in each neighborhood, while not allowing the city to become one big plastic cookie cutter metropolis.

You might want to vote Bever back in on November 4. There's a lot more work to be done to improve Costa Mesa.

# # #

APPEALS COURT RULES AGAINST SAN FRANCISCO SANCTUARY POLICY

LINK

# # #

Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.