Sunday, December 5, 2010

CM PRESS # 338

STEVE SMITH BEMOANS A RECYCLING OUTFIT HAVING TO MOVE FROM W. 19TH STREET
Link

Smith apparently doesn't see the big picture.

As the Westside improves, the retail tenant mix has to change and improve.  Right now, West 19th Street is just a few steps above being a skid row.

West 19th Street has the potential to be an upscale street with many prosperous businesses on it.  This will be good for the Westside, and will increase our tax base.

In fact, as we've written before, it can easily evolve to being much like 2nd Street in Belmont Shore.

But, what about this tenant mix stuff?   Sophisticated shopping center owners and knowledgeable city planners give a lot of thought to getting the right tenant mix.  When they get such a mix, all the retailers prosper and the center (or, the street) as a whole prospers.

Some readers may remember that years ago, South Coast Plaza had a Woolworth's and other downscale retailers.  Over time, management changed that to make South Coast Plaza one of the most successful malls on the planet.

Let's make West 19th Street a top entertainment and retail street in Costa Mesa.  And, of course, that has been one of the goals of the Improvers right from the very start.
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CITY COUNCIL TO DECIDE ON WHETHER OR NOT TO ACCEPT FEDERAL FUNDS (YOUR MONEY) FOR CMPD
Link to Daily Pilot story with the details.

The money will allow the CMPD (Costa Mesa Political Department)  to either hire five new union members or keep five on the payroll who might otherwise be laid off.

Some will portray this as free money.  We're here to tell you that there's no such thing.  As Libertarians say: TANSTAAFL.  Translation:  There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

The Feds are putting conditions on the bucks.  They always put conditions on what they give cities.

One of those conditions, according to the PILOT, is that after three years, the citizens of Costa Mesa will have to start paying the union members hired or retained and we'll have to also fund their benefits.

No doubt there are other conditions as well.

Should the City Council take this money?

Some citizens we've spoken to say that it shouldn't. 

They say that they have no confidence in the CMPD, and that the department either needs a serious reorganization or it needs to be replaced with the Sheriff's Department.

They also point out that if the City takes this money, we'll just have five more union members who probably won't live in Costa Mesa and who can be counted on to oppose any candidate(s) the stable citizens of Costa Mesa try to elect in two years.

Just five more union members to hitch a big negative sign to the back of a Cadillac Escalade and drive around town trying to elect a puppet who will keep picking our pockets.

Just five more union members to donate money to political hacks who will keep screwing citizens to help the union members.

Just five more union members to fill City Council chambers in an attempt to intimidate the Council into doing their bidding.

Just five more union members to help pay for election fliers to smear any candidate who promises to look at their pay and benefits--as they did with Jim Righeimer this year.

Just five more union members to give a stink-eye to a City Council member putting up a legal sign.

Just five more union members who aren't supposed to speak to the press, but do so anyway in an attempt to smear someone.

Just five more union members who won't respond to quality of life calls from citizens.

Just five more union members to sneer at the CM PRESS and tell us that it's okay for cars to endanger little school kids by parking with engines running next to a red curb.

Just five more union members who won't arrest illegal aliens but who will play basketball with them.

Just five more union members who will donate money to charities that act as magnets pulling illegal aliens to Costa Mesa.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

3 comments:

  1. That's just what Costa Mesa needs. Five more overpaid, underworked, cops!

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  2. The city council should just say NO like Nancy Reagan once suggested!!!!!!

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  3. Seems like you who missed the "big picture," which is the city chasing away a good 20-year business partner. I am surprised at you, who are always writing about how the city needs to be more business friendly. Now, why don't you write about that vacant lot mentioned in the article? You're always writing about blight, too. Maybe you don't have the brass to confront the Segerstroms either.

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