MORE ON THE COSTA MESA SENIOR CENTER(That's in a building owned by the citizens of Costa Mesa)
After the ultra-liberal almost daily Daily Pilot ran a hit piece on Councilperson Wendy Leece's attempt to get straight answers from the Costa Mesa Senior Center, the paper then ran these seven posts from people who want the Senior Center to continue to not answer reasonable questions from an elected official or have City Council oversight.
When people using your property and your money won't answer questions and don't want oversight, doesn't it make you wonder?
We've put our comments in [].
santa wrote on Dec 11, 2008 6:51 PM:
" As a former board member I know for a fact that the city is overseeing their funds and taxpayers money.The city does not distribute any funds to the center till they receive financial statements, audited reports, yearly breakdown of programs and comparison with five surrounding cities. There is NO hidden agenda.The board does not need a person such as Wendy Leece. History should not repeat itself as she caused many problems when sitting on the school board. One needs to call them! "
[What do you mean "a person such as Wendy Leece"? When Wendy was on the school board, she was one of the few who actually provided proper oversight for an organization that sometimes seems to be more of a private social club, with some members who have been there for decades, than a school board. And, did you forget about the embezzlement of $ 3.7 million dollars from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District by its finance officer Stephen A. Wagner? Had people been asking the right questions, this might not have happened. LINK
No, we're not saying that anyone is suggesting anything like that is going on at the Senior Center, but citizens expect their City Council to mind the store and that's what Wendy is trying to do.]
-------------------------------------------
RichD wrote on Dec 11, 2008 6:42 PM:
" There were quite a few non-profits lined up for Federal monies distributed by Costa Mesa Council a few months ago.Please, Wendy, tell me what organizations have a City Council member on their Board of Directors.If you are going to continue to undermine and malign the Senior Center with your presence, could you please urge A L L Council Members to pick a board until each non profit organization in Costa Mesa has at least one City Council member on it's board of directors. That would be fair "
[She "undermine[s] and malign[s] the Senior Center with [her] presence"? Nonsense. We need proper oversight. It's our building and we have an interest in seeing that our senior citizens are being treated with respect and are getting all that we're paying for.]
-----------------------------------------
santa wrote on Dec 11, 2008 6:37 PM:
" As a former board member I know for a fact that the city is overseeing their funds given to the Center and taxpayers money. The city does not distribute any funds to the center till they receive financial statements, audited reports, yearly breakdown of programs and comparison with five surrouding cities. There is No hidden agends.The board does not need a person such as Wendy Leece. History should not repeat itself as she caused many problems when sitting on the school board. One needs to call them! "
[Oh, we get it. We should just trust you. Sorry, it doesn't work that way, and if you want trust, why don't you even use your real name? The Senior Center is using property and money that belongs to citizens. We have a right to ask questions.]
------------------------------------------
mikes wrote on Dec 11, 2008 3:28 PM:
" continued for mr mc carthy and others, if you knew her real motive for wanting to be on this board you might have a better understanding. she listens too closely to a couple of complaining seniors, unfounded complaints at that.the cm senior center is an independent body. if the city were to run it, the cost to taxpayers would exceed $1 million. know the real facts before spouting off. "
["[S]he listens too closely to a couple of complaining seniors"? Well, good. We want to listen to our seniors and make sure they're being treated properly. The other three good members of the City Council (Bever, Mansoor, Monahan) should also be listening to the seniors and they should also be asking questions.]
-----------------------------------------
mikes wrote on Dec 11, 2008 3:26 PM:
" mr mccarthy, what you don't understand is that the center is already held accountable. before the center gets a dime the city requires quarterly reports and accounting. no city funds are given until all programs are inspected and accounted for. believe me, there are bigger taxpayer expenses that Ms Leece should be looking after. if she is so hot about being a voting board member, why did she miss 6 meetings this year in her role as council representative? "
[Here we go again. It sounds like the board is a private club. Why are you so afraid of questions and oversight?]
-----------------------------------------
Go Away wrote on Dec 11, 2008 1:03 PM:
" No one wants her on the City Council either ! Leece leave the senior center alone ! They don't want you there ! It's suppose to be a place of peace and tranquility !! "
["No one wants her on the City Council either!"? Who's "No one"? Wendy won election very easily, so this comment doesn't make much sense. Why don't you put your real name with such comments you coward?]
-----------------------------------------
billwarmington wrote on Dec 11, 2008 8:50 AM:
" What in the world is the councilwoman,s problem with the Mesa Center? Can,t she understand they don,t want her their and all she does is get press for stiring up trouble. These are words from many members. Here we go agin grandstanding politics" "
[Ms. Leece is doing her job. Why are so many of you afraid of a few questions? What do you have to hide? Most intelligent citizens want to know that their elected officials are minding the store.]
------------------------------------------
Here's the one post that gets it right...
colin mccarthy wrote on Dec 11, 2008 12:51 PM: " Since when does seeking accountability for programs using taxpayer dollars translate into meddling. This action appears long overdue and the taxpayers should be pleased that Ms. Leece is looking into things. All this uproar just leads me to believe they're hiding something. We need extra transparency when OUR money is at stake. What's wrong with that? "
# # #
Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
