THIS AND THAT...
OUR COMMENTS ON THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HELD LAST NIGHT (2/6)
WESTSIDE BLUFFS --CITY NEEDS TO BE A SALESMAN
When the CM PRESS suggested to the Council that we need to aggressively pursue developers to come in and start the evolution of the Westside Bluffs away from industrial uses and to homes, Councilmember Leece replied that the Council does talk to developers.
With all due respect to Ms. Leece, we need to do more than just talk to them. We need to invite them down for luncheons. We need to give them tours of our city. We need to sell them on our city. We need to say, "Here's what we want to do, how can we help you, Mr. Developer, make it happen for us? Do you need financial breaks to make things work? Do you need help with permits? Tell us, Mr. Developer, how can we make it happen?"
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55 Freeway
In answer to comments made by the CM PRESS about putting the 55 underground down to 15th Street to relieve the congestion by Triangle Square, Mayor Mansoor, who now also sits on the board of OCTA, said that OCTA has authorized $ 400,000 to conduct a study on how best to improve the 55, and that requests for proposals have been sent out to consultants.
Mayor Pro Tem Bever also moved this item up to Tier 1 of Council priorities.
This is good news for Costa Mesa, because now things may be moving forward to improve the downtown area and the gateway to the Westside.
Also, if something meaningful is done to fix the 55, then it may help prevent the 57 from being built on the edge of Mesa Verde all the way down to PCH.
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JOHN WAYNE AIRPORT
In answer to the CM PRESS's comments about finding a new location--such as on the northern part of Camp Pendleton--to keep JWA from expanding and ruining Costa Mesa, Councilmember Leece said that the Council is constantly getting information on various airport related matters from two groups concerned about the growth of JWA.
Again, with all due respect to Ms. Leece, that was not a good answer. We don't need information. We need action. The two groups she referred to are mostly interested in the impacts of JWA on Newport Beach--not Costa Mesa--and, they are mostly just working to put caps on the number of flights. This is not going to save Costa Mesa.
If you want an eye opener, visit JWA. It has a gigantic terminal but one dinky runway. Now, why would JWA need such a giant terminal for one runway? Hmmmm? The terminal could meet the needs of several runways. Get our drift? No? Look overhead.
What needs to be done is to mount a full court press to get a viable alternative location to JWA. Some have suggested airports in Ontario and San Bernardino. These are not good suggestions.
The air travel demand is along the coast. Again, the best location would be on the northern part of Camp Pendleton.
Our City Council should start thinking ahead and start talking to our Congressmen about getting a new airport location or you can expect most of Costa Mesa to be under a moving steel sky and you can expect JWA to expand over at least to Red Hill and maybe even further towards Bristol.
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SPORTS FIELDS
The City Council was told by staff last night that there are problems getting the state to sign an agreement so that Costa Mesa can lease the Fairview Hospital grounds to use as sports fields.
It appears, according to staff, that the state keeps throwing roadblocks in the way of this project. As soon as staff overcomes one roadblock, the state comes up with another one. Staff said that even after the state signs an agreement, if it ever does, that it will take two to three years to bring such sports fields on line.
You may recall, that many people had been pinning most of their hopes for additional sports fields on this Fairview Hospital land. This is not good news for them.
The CM PRESS suggested to the Council that it might be wise to have the City, as an entity, start investing in our city by buying up properties on the open market, right in the neighborhoods where there is a high demand for sports fields, and turning them into sandlot type fields.
We pointed out that there are three buildings all in a row on Shalimar that are for sale right now and that these could be bought by the City, torn down, and made into a sandlot sports field.
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CHARITIES ASKING FOR YOUR MONEY ALL THIS WEEK
On Monday night (2/5), the 3R Committee started interviewing the charity bosses who show up each year at this time to ask for more of your tax money.
Many of these charities, as we've written before, appear to act as magnets and pull in more illegal aliens to our city than we had before. With the aid of your tax money, many illegal aliens can live the good life in Costa Mesa on very little or no taxable income.
Yes, dear readers, you are helping support illegal aliens. You are helping them get free child care, free medical and dental care, free bags of groceries, free money to help pay their rent and utility bills, free English lessons, free homework help, and more.
After the 3R Committee interviews all the charity bosses, by the end of this week, it will make recommendations to the City Council about how much of your money to give to each of the charities.
If the Council really cares about the quality of life of the citizens who live in Costa Mesa, it can help shape our city by not funding those charities that are magnets for illegals.
The Council can make reasonable guesses as to which charities are magnets by looking at the demographic reports that the charities are required to file. If a charity is 90% Hispanic in our city that is only about 30% Hispanic, one can guess it's a magnet.
Some of these charities have been at it for more than ten years, yet they can't show that they've helped improve the quality of life for Costa Mesa citizens. They only say they're helping more people than ever--which helps make the CM PRESS's point that they're acting as magnets.
Some charities that are involved with after school homework help say that they're helping "kids" (pull out the violin) succeed, yet most of the kids that they've "helped' are in the three schools that are now in danger of being taken over by the state. So, what kind of help is that? Why are we paying for failure?
As we've reported before, one of these charities even told a white girl that she was the wrong color to use their after school homework help service. Also, as we've previously reported, this isn't just an empty claim by the CM PRESS; we've obtained copies of the federal papers filed against this charity forcing them to stop discriminating against white citizens in favor of non-white suspected illegal aliens.
Some charities say they are keeping kids out of gangs, yet Costa Mesa has more gangs than ever and more gang crime than ever.
The Council may buy liberal double speak and voodoo sociology when "kids" are mentioned, but we think most citizens in this city are more grounded in reality and don't buy the sweet talk.
Will the Council have the backbone to stop the magnets? Stay tuned.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
