JIM FISLERWe think Jim wants to improve Costa Mesa. If so, we like that.
We here at the CM PRESS are totally dedicated to improving Costa Mesa and we have been since we began publication in 2000.
But, "improvement" is a broad term and it can mean all sorts of things, so we further define that term to mean that we want Costa Mesa to be as nice as our surrounding coastal cities.
By this, we mean we want our vital statistics that indicate low crime, good schools, a high quality of life, etc. to be on a par with upscale cities.
Long time readers know that the CM PRESS has done much more than just talk. Talk is cheap. We attend most city meetings and we don't just report on them after the fact, we take part in them and posit ideas that we believe will help our city. Some have called us relentless.
To take the ambiguity out of the word "improvement" and to have a reasonably objective device for measuring how Costa Mesa is doing, the CM PRESS invented the "ring of cities" concept for taking our vital signs.
What we do is compare our statistics--from crime, to home prices, to school scores to you name it--with the five cities that surround Costa Mesa and which touch some part of our land.
The ring of cities is composed of: Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Irvine and Santa Ana.
Of the cities in the ring of cities, Newport Beach is almost always at the top as the best in everything and Santa Ana is almost always at the bottom.
Unfortunately, Costa Mesa is often right next to Santa Ana in far too many things.
The CM PRESS believes, due to our geography (close to the ocean), and our historic ties to Newport Beach, along with our business/tax advantages (South Coast Metro, primarily), that Costa Mesa should actually be in the top three, not in the bottom two in the ring of cities. We want to help make this a reality.
We also believe that the key to improving all of Costa Mesa is the Westside and in particular the 60 acres of the Westside that are the overly industrialized Westside Bluffs.
Fix the Westside and the rest of Costa Mesa will fall in place. Don't fix it, and it'll be a cancer that will kill our city.
ABOUT BEING ON THE CITY COUNCIL
We understand the human psychology of being on the City Council. Once there, you're pulled in many different directions. Big developers and industrialists and assorted important people, who wouldn't give you the time of day before, are now treating you like their best friend as they try to curry favor with you. We also understand that you have to rely on staff to help you understand and manage the volumes of information that come before you.
It takes an extraordinary person to not have his or her head turned by all the attention of the Big Suits and even of staff and to stay focused on what is important.
The CM PRESS believes the best way to stay true to improvement goals is to simply ask of all things: "Would this be acceptable in Newport Beach?"
Thus, one must ask in a general sense:
Would Newport Beach allow 60 acres of industrial buildings on the bluffs in Corona del Mar?
Would Newport Beach allow slum apartment buildings to exist in that city?
Would Newport Beach allow the city to become an illegal alien sanctuary city?
But, these larger policy questions also trickle down to the smaller nitty gritty things that come before the Council all the time, such as...
"Would Newport Beach allow condos to be built that have inadequate parking?"
"Would Newport Beach keep giving tax money to charities that support illegal aliens?"
It is the cumulative effect of many bad small decisions that has brought Costa Mesa down to the level of Santa Ana. These small decisions are important and citizens have to stay on top of them and speak out when they see the Council getting ready to approve bad "small" things.
IF JIM FISLER GETS ELECTED, WILL HE REALLY HELP IMPROVE COSTA MESA?
We're seeing Jim starting to take public stands on issues--most notably illegal immigration. That's no surprise. He's against illegal immigration and has been for many years.
While the general subject of illegal immigration is the most important issue in Costa Mesa, we want to hear more from Mr. Fisler about specific proposals to get Costa Mesa out of the illegal alien sanctuary business and be more like our coastal neighbors.
We want to know if he'll support more housing on the over industrialized Westside Bluffs.
We want to know what he'll do to rid our city of flophouses for illegal aliens.
We want to know what he'll do to beef up our city codes to stop illegal aliens from endangering themselves and others by soliciting work from passing motorists.
We want to know if he'll work to help find an alternate airport to take the pressure off the continuous expansion of John Wayne.
We want to know if he'll work to get a tunnel or some other solution to the 55 Freeway mess in our downtown.
We want to know his position on Banning Ranch and on parks and open space.
We want to know that he's solidly focused on the improvement of Costa Mesa and won't sell his soul to out of town industrialists in order to raise money for the election.
We want to know that he's a fighter and not a shrinking violet who will pee his pants the first time someone calls him a name and that he won't side with the mostly out of town industrialists who want to keep the Westside Bluffs mired in industrial buildings forever.
And, that's just for starters.
The CM PRESS has often said that we have no friends in politics. We mean it. Again, we are totally focused on improving Costa Mesa. We do not vote for personalities. We want to see good people on the City Council who will make our city the great place it can be.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
