NO MORE MR. NICE GUY
Some long time readers of the CM PRESS may have noticed that we've taken a more mellow tack over the past year or so.
That's ending. We're getting closer to the election.
We're fed up with the mumbling do-nothings on the City Council and the two commissions.
These people are paid by us to do a job, yet most of them just show up every two weeks (if they even bother to show up) and do little but rubber stamp whatever staff puts in front of them.
We can't tell you how many City Council meetings we've gone to and watched the five City Council members have nothing to say during their comment period or who waste our time telling us about the latest cookie bake sale or some similar sweet nothing.
Look folks, Costa Mesa has problems and they need to be solved. If these people have nothing to say, it's because they aren't thinking. And, if they aren't thinking, who needs them?
How is it that a few citizens always have something relevant to say at each meeting about the improvement of this city, yet the people we pay to improve it can't think of anything to say?
Here's an example. At a recent City Council Study Session, only two of the City Council members even bothered to show up. Missing were Bever, Foley and Dixon. Only Mansoor and Leece were there.
And, at that meeting, which was with Supervisor John Moorlach, the CM PRESS asked about acquiring land near the ocean for Costa Mesa. Moorlach answered that it might be possible if the city bids on an area near the mouth of the Santa Ana River.
Has the Council done anything about this? Not as far as we know. Mansoor and Leece didn't even bother to follow up at the meeting. It would be too much like work to actually do something.
What about Fairview Park? There are some items about this on the agenda for the November 6th City Council meeting.
This park should be a natural park, but everyone with some hobby or need wants to stuff it into this park. One guy on the Parks and Recreation Commission wants a big parking lot. Others want to put in a dog park and a skateboard park. The model railroad engineers even want to build a 2,000 square foot building in the park. In the past, Dixon and Bever tried to stuff the Huscroft House in the park.
The CM PRESS thinks this park should remain as natural as possible. Take your parking lot and your buildings and your sports facilities and stuff them where the sun doesn't shine! Or, find and buy some more park land and put them there.
The Council recently had a chance to buy three buildings in the Shalimar slum and turn them into park space, but they didn't do it. Why? They mumbled that we we don't have the money.
Why don't we have the money? Because these idiots are acting like drunken sailors and spending our money on all sorts of stupid things. For example, instead of having the supermarkets keep their shopping carts on their property, the Council is paying $ 40,000 per year to pick up and return the carts. That's your money, folks. You're subsidizing the supermarkets and the suspected illegal aliens who are taking the carts.
And, that's just one example. We're throwing away hundreds of thousands of dollars every year because of a lack of proper priorities.
Check out the brand new trucks that just about every pick and shovel employee of the City is now driving around in.
But, don't take our word for this, check out the budget for yourself and see if you don't see lots of lard that can be cut out.
It's a matter of priorities, and our City Council doesn't seem to have any priorities or has ones that are screwball and don't help our city become the great place it can be.
As we get closer to the election, you're going to be hearing more from us. So-called improvers are not going to get a pass from us because they pretend they're well intentioned. If they think they can just sit on the dais and scratch their butts, we're going to tell you about it.
Have you seen any really major changes to the Westside, yet? Nope. Why? Because the Council isn't pushing things hard enough in that regard.
What about the boarded up shopping center in Katrina Foley's Mesa del Mar neighborhood? That thing has been empty for about a year and is a major eyesore. What is the Council doing? Nothing. Just the usual mumbling of eunuchs with no gonads.
Where the hell are our leaders? It's as though we have five low level clerical employees sitting on the dais instead of leaders. We have five people who take orders from staff. We have five people who have no vision for this city. We have five privates instead of five generals.
And, where the hell are the Westside activists? Few of them even bother to show up at meetings anymore. The CM PRESS is about the only constant voice for improving the Westside. And, we don't even live on the friggin' Westside.
What about the no-Planning Commission? We were told by members of the no-Planning Commission that the City Council is keeping the no-Planners from actually doing any planning. They've turned this commission into a hapless zoning administration board.
And, the present Council also seems hell-bent on helping a small clique of overtly political liberal cops within the CMPD who used the tax payer supported police station to try to defeat improvement candidates in the last election.
Maybe the majority on the Council is making the Chris Steel mistake and thinking that these libs are their new best friends. Get over it. They smile to your faces because you're on the Council. They'll be trying to defeat you when you run again.
And what's with the cops only turning about 50 illegal aliens over to ICE each month? It's always about the same number. Month after month. How can that be? Is there a quota? Are they doing just enough to look like they're doing something and doing no more?
And, where does the CMPD hold DUI/paper checkpoints? Mostly on the Eastside where there are few illegal aliens. Why aren't they holding more on the Westside and in the north part of the city?
The last time they held such a checkpoint at Baker and Fairview was when Chief Hensley had just come to the department. The CM PRESS was there. The tow trucks couldn't keep up with the number of cars that were being towed away because the drivers didn't have proper papers. Why hasn't that been done again?
We have a flyer in our hand as we type this that was sent to us in the last election asking us to vote for anti-improvement candidates Bruce Garlich and Mike Scheafer.
This flyer is from the Costa Mesa Police Officers PAC, ID # 1244504. You know what that PAC used as its address? "99 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626." You know where that is? That's the Costa Mesa police station that you and I are paying for. Did you say it was okay for your tax money to be used to fund this PAC by giving them an office or address in the police station? I sure as hell didn't.
And, speaking of the police. At the November 6th City Council meeting, the City Council will have a recommendation from the CMPD to pay a paltry $ 250 reward to a tipster who turned in a guy destroying city property with permanent graffiti. The City can pay up to $2,000 reward for this and has always paid no less than $500.
So, what's going on here? Why the smaller than usual reward? It looks like politics to us (we may report more about this in the future as we learn more). According to our source, the CMPD even tried to stiff the tipster and deny any reward at all. Then, after we wrote about this in the CM PRESS, the CMPD reluctantly offered this small amount.
Look folks, we've had it with the phony baloney good time Charlies who are helping screw up this city on our dime. We are citizens. This is our city. This is our municipal government. We are not beggars showing up at the back door of city hall and asking for a handout.
We demand a nicer city. And, if the present five City Councilmumblers can't fix things, then we have no use for them and we'll work hard to replace every single one of them with people who can do the job.
We're tired of seeing people get elected to the City Council who then become part of the problem instead of being part of the solution.
If you're also fed up, join with us. Come to the November 6th City Council meeting and be prepared to speak out about making Costa Mesa nicer, and about Fairview Park, and about priorities. If we haven't met, come up and introduce yourself. We aim to make Costa Mesa a nicer city and we aim to help good candidates get elected who want to do more than just mumble and collect a check each month.
If you're a slacker and you aren't going to speak out strongly and work to make Costa Mesa nicer, don't waste our time. Don't email or call us or whisper in our ear that you agree with us, but you're just going to remain silent.
We're fed up with the graffiti, with the gangs, with the slums, with the failing schools and with seeing Costa Mesa turned into a Third World city (except for South Coast Metro--which most people don't even consider to be part of Costa Mesa), while our public officials mumble to themselves and act as though they have no power to change things.
We've often written that we have no friends in politics, and we mean that. Sweet nothings mean nothing to us. We can't be co-opted with back slaps and friendly smiles. We want action not schmoozing.
# # #
Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.
