CM PRESS # 275

MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRL BEATEN

The Daily Pilot story in today's paper about the beating of a girl is bare bones. Daily Pilot LINK

Because the perps are identified as Newport Harbor High School students, white hating bloggers are already jumping to the conclusion that it was rich white kids involved. This has not been established.

In fact, Newport Harbor High School has a large number of Hispanic students from Costa Mesa in that school. The NMUSD Web site shows that 26.8 percent of students at NHHS are Hispanic and 69.3 percent are white. LINK

Here's info not in the Daily Pilot or which may be unclear in that paper's report:

According to a report in the OC REGISTER, the girl was a much younger middle school student while the perps were two High School girls.

Also according to the OC REGISTER, the beating took place in Costa Mesa at Pinkley Park at 360 Ogle Street. MAP

Neither newspaper indicted which cities the perps and the victim are from.

The CM PRESS will try to get more details, but officials usually clam up about such incidents, especially if such attacks involve a non-white on white attack.

If, the attackers are white, however, and the victim non-white, this information will usually be released.

Don't expect to see a description of the perps in the Daily Pilot unless they are white.

In fact, the DP is usually so consistent in publishing racial/ethnic descriptions of perps only if they are white, that most of the time you can just assume the perps are non-white when you see a news report in the DP with no racial/ethnic description given.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 274

WANT TO IMPROVE COSTA MESA SCHOOLS?

IMPROVER TRUTH # 3

If Costa Mesa stops being an illegal alien sanctuary city, our student test scores will improve and more upwardly mobile parents--seeing those higher scores-- will decide to buy homes here and put their kids in local schools. This will improve the student test scores more and this will cause even more upwardly mobile parents to buy homes here and put their kids in local schools.

Look folks, when we talk about "failing schools," what we really mean is that student test scores are low.

"Good schools" and "failing schools" are all about the students and nothing else.

It's never about the school buildings, the books, the teachers, the budget, happy students or teachers, good communication, having tea and coffee, visiting the school campuses, perception, or the school district. These are all PC red herrings.

Good and bad schools are about one thing and one thing only: STUDENT TEST SCORES ON STANDARDIZED TESTS GIVEN IN ALL SCHOOLS.

You'll hear all sorts of sweet nothings from the schools and the school district and various PTA types about why student test scores in Costa Mesa are so low, but it's all baloney.

The real reason our school test scores are so much lower than the schools in the Newport Beach part of the district is because of demographics.

Costa Mesa's schools are full of students of suspected illegal alien parents, because the city itself is full of many suspected illegal aliens.

Many of these students do not speak English. Many are transitory.

Teach English to non-English speaking students this year, and by next year many of these students will have moved to another city or gone back to Mexico, and they'll be replaced by other children of suspected illegal aliens who must be taught English. That's what happens in illegal alien friendly cities such as Costa Mesa.

Steve Smith has a dopey PR puff piece in the Daily Pilot today about Adams School that is worth reading as an almost text book example of how some try to hide the truth.

Here are some relevant portions of Smith's column with our comments in red [ ].
Be sure to read Smith's entire column by following the link below.
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GIVE ADAMS MORE THAN GOSSIP

by Steve Smith (Daily Pilot column 1/15/08) LINK

At last Tuesday’s Newport-Mesa Unified District school board meeting, four members of the Mesa Verde Education Committee told the panel of their concerns about the quality of the education at the schools in Mesa Verde. Adams Elementary School got slammed. [It should get slammed.]

Among his replies, Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard said, “I think Adams is a good school.” [Huh? Hasn't Hubbard read the school's report card? The school stinks.]

So, which is it? Is Adams a good school or not? [It's not.]

I asked Susan Astarita, the district’s assistant superintendent for elementary education, how Adams got to the point where parents came together to say, “This is not a good school.” [Ah, Steve, it's probably because some parents are smart enough to read the Adams School report card and understand what it means.]

“This is not the first group of parents that has approached us. It’s been ongoing — probably 10 years — where we end up with a small group of parents that comes to us every two or three years concerned about Adams. [Why do the parents keep doing this? Because they see the school scores and they want the best for their kids.]

We always greet them warmly, [So what?] and we are very interested in working with them.[So?] We’ve hosted teas, information nights, coffees in people’s homes [So, the parents came because they wanted tea and coffee?] and [board member] Dave Brooks has been a great supporter and helped us at the board level. [So?]

“So it has been ongoing and it is generally a group of parents who have incoming kindergartners. They live very close to this school, they’d love to come to this school but yet their neighbor may [send their kids to] Huntington Beach or a private school and they don’t understand why.” [Yes they do. It's because of low scores.]
(snip)

Astarita told me that the negative talk is usually neighborhood word of mouth.[Yes, parents tell each other of the low student scores and other conditions that might affect their kids.]

“We’ve encouraged these families to please give us a chance. Come and visit the school. [Adams Principal Candy Cloud] is open to tours at any time. [Always with the come and visit talk as though that will change student scores]I am so proud of the work that they have done over the last five years since we’ve refined our program for English-learners, our new language arts curriculum has come on board and the work we are doing is fabulous.”[Who cares if you're proud or not? What about the student scores?]

Fabulous it may be, but perception is reality. [Perception is not reality. Student test scores are reality.]

(snip)

Astarita, Cloud and the entire staff at Adams have given their commitment to meet with parents at any time and address any concern. [So what? The parents want their kids in a school with high performing students. They don't want smiles and hugs and more tea and coffee.]
But it takes two to dialogue. During the meeting last Tuesday, I gave my name and phone number to the president of the Mesa Verde Education Committee and asked her to call me. [It's not about dialogue. Get the student test scores up and you won't have to dialogue.]

She has not, and that says to me that the committee has to own some part of this breakdown in communication and the ongoing poor perception of the school. [It's not about perception, it's about student scores.]

The truth is that Adams is not as bad as the committee claims, nor as good as Hubbard would like us to believe — as usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle. [What are the student test scores, Steve?]

Whatever the school and the district have been doing to improve the school’s image is not working after 10 years of trying. That means that it’s time to try something new. [How about getting student test scores on a First World level?]

But I’m going to err on the side of the district, which has done more than its part to try to patch things up. [It's not about patching things up, but about getting this school to have First World student test scores.]

District officials have met concerned parents more than halfway and owned part of the poor communication on the website. [Geez. I'm going to scream! It's not about meeting anyone halfway or about poor communications. It's about getting student test scores higher.]

So until I hear from the committee, my perception is that they are only interested in lobbing hand grenades and gossiping. [Smith, get over this perception nonsense and start looking at substance. Go look at the school report cards, Smith.]

And as you know, perception is reality. [Smith, stop using this tired cliche. Perception is not reality. Student scores are reality.]
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Notice how Smith talks about perception, image, etc. constantly but never once gives the school test scores. Compare this school to similar schools in Newport Beach and you'll see why parents are concerned.

Don't buy a used car from Smith. He may talk to you about the paint job and the upholstery and not mention that it doesn't have an engine.

Here's a LINK to Adams School's School Report Card.

Here's a LINK to Newport Elementary's School Report Card.

Read the entire report cards at the above links. But, here are just a few things that you'll see.

Adams has an API rank of 4 (10 is highest) and the Feds have intervened because the student scores are so low. CST results: English is 38, Math 47, Science 49 [These scores stink.]

Newport Elementary has an API rank of 9 (10 is highest). CST results: English 73, Math 75, Science 67.

Which school would you want your kid in? Would you prefer to buy a house near Adams School or Newport Elementary?

Are you going to believe Smith and his rose colored glass friends in the school establishment, or the results of the tests mandated by the state and feds so parents wouldn't constantly be given a used car salesman approach to try to hide the reality of the schools?

Folks, if a slick talker tells you that your kid's school is great or fun or that the school officials want to show you around campus or give you a cup of tea and dialogue with you, be sure you count your fingers after shaking their hands.

The reality is that the teachers and administrators quoted or mentioned in Smith's column are probably every bit as good and in some cases may be better than their peers in the Newport Beach schools. And, our school buildings and books are the same. The only difference in this equation is the students.

If you're a school administrator or teacher in Newport Beach, you're going to look good even if you just go to the beach every day.

But if you're an administrator or teacher in Costa Mesa, you're going to look bad even if you put in 80 hours a week doing your job.

That's reality folks. That's demographics. That's the result of having Costa Mesa being illegal alien friendly.

That has to change. And, it has to change at the city level. The school district can't improve the school scores in Costa Mesa until the city improves.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

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CM PRESS # 273

WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE FOR IMPROVER SUPPORTED CANDIDATES FOR CITY COUNCIL IN COSTA MESA?

REASON # 1: They'll make Costa Mesa safer for you and your family and especially your kids.


Foley and Dixon and their soul mate lib pals are hardwired to be soft on crime.

By contrast, Improver supported candidates are hardwired to be tough on crime.

Yesterday, 1/13/08, yet another kid was killed in a gang related shooting in Santa Ana.

Folks, there are almost daily shootings in Santa Ana, and the officials in that city can't stop them because, like Foley and Dixon and other libs, they're hardwired to be soft on crime.

One of the worst slums in Costa Mesa is right in Foley's own Mesa del Mar neighborhood.

So, what is important City Councilperson Foley doing about it? Nothing.

Instead, she went skiing.

She also planted flowers in front of the slums. And, she collected cans of food for South County. She also had comments in the Daily Pilot about the closing of a spa that her mother-in- law belongs to in South Coast Plaza. She also met with some suspected illegal alien day workers to reassure them that she's their friend.

Do you feel safer in your homes and for your kids because Foley is on the City Council? What has she done for you, Mr. and Mrs. Citizen of Costa Mesa?

Here's the LINK to the OC Register report on this latest kid killing.

Keep Costa Mesa moving in the right direction, folks.

That means moving closer in quality of life issues to our coastal neighbors and further away in such issues from cities such as Santa Ana.

It's early, but so far the CM PRESS believes that Eric Bever, Jim Fisler and Gary Monahan (if he runs) are the best candidates running for City Council this year.

Oh, don't be fooled by the Return to Reason crowd of Foley supporters.

It sounds as though they're dropping that RtR name, but they'll be back this year, perhaps under a new name.

And, some of their shills are already getting stuff published in the RtR Daily Pilot that makes them sound like improvers. They're bogus, folks. Leopards can't change their spots.

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them. We'll be publishing more reasons why you should vote for improvement supported candidates in future issues of the CM PRESS.

CM PRESS # 272

SNOW BUNNY KATRINA BACK FROM THE SLOPES

Useless bumponthelog City Councilperson Katrina Foley is apparently back from the slopes.

On Saturday, the Daily Pilot carried a puff piece by Foley about sports fields. Foley apparently wants voters to think she's responsible for fixing up sports fields. LINK

Foley ends her drivel with her Web site address. LINK

From information on her Web site, it appears that Foley is planning on making some time in her busy skiing lifestyle to attend the upcoming January 15th City Council meeting.

On her Web site, Foley is trying to call out the troops to support her bikes in the drainage ditch scheme that will cost us $ 100, 000 for an 'outreach' (read PR campaign) to push through this multi-million dollar plan of hers.

The CM PRESS will be at the meeting to share some of our thoughts on spending priorities. Hint: Our thoughts don't include a scheme for taking your money to put a bike trail in a drainage ditch behind homes whose owners mostly don't want it.

There are lots of questions that have to be answered by Foley about this proposal. Among them are:

--What will the total cost be?
--What will the on-going upkeep costs be?
--How many people will use the drainage ditch for their bikes?
--Will the trails go anyplace meaningful so that they'll take bikes off the streets or will they just be for go nowhere recreation?
--Will the police be able to see the drainage ditch bike trails from the street and be able to get police cars up and down them in case of expected burglaries and other crimes?
--How will the city protect the privacy and security of homeowners who back up to the trails?

FOLEY'S SOFT 'EMINENT DOMAIN'?

Say you buy a home in Mesa del Mar that backs up to a drainage ditch. You know the ditch is there, and you expect it to stay there. That's a reasonable expectation from what we know about drainage ditches.

The purpose of a drainage ditch is to drain water--it is not for bicycling. You may have bought your house because you like it quiet and sans people out back, and you may have relied on the reality of this drainage ditch in making your buying decision.

With the ditch, you sleep sound at night knowing you don't have people, perhaps with bad motives, being in the ditch and being able to look into your yard and home, while pretending to be bicycling, and know when you're home or not and know who lives in your house and the ages of your kids.

Then, along comes do-gooder Katrina Foley--your neighbor--who has power because she's on the City Council. What does she do? She comes up with a scheme to put a bike trail behind your house!

Now, you don't own that drainage ditch, so Foley is not taking your real property, but you do have a right to the quiet enjoyment of your property (read peace of mind) and maybe you figure a bike trail takes that away from you.

What should you do? Complain. Go to the City Council meeting on the 15th and let the Council know of your concerns. If you can't go, then send an email to the City Council via the City's Web site or even Foley's Web site (she has a link there).

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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 271

BANNING RANCH WOULD RATHER GO TO NEWPORT BEACH THAN COSTA MESA

Not only does Banning Ranch, west of Costa Mesa, want to be annexed to Newport Beach, but neighborhoods on our east also want to be annexed to Newport.

The fat cats, including some out of town industrialists, some charity bosses, and others who have been making money off downscale conditions in Costa Mesa, along with some of their nitwit shills, will try to tell you this has nothing to do with the fact that Costa Mesa has allowed a massive 14% of its land to be used for industrial purposes including 60 acres of the best land in our city--the Westside Bluffs, that blend seamlessly into Banning Ranch.

And, they'll try to tell you that the way to improve the Westside is to do nothing. Just wish really hard. "Keep the government out of it," they'll tell you. "Why, it's un-American for the government to blah, blah, blah, blah."

Actually, folks, we are the government. You and I are the bosses of government.

And, while this concept gets lost when we talk about larger government entities; local municipal government is government that can and should work for us.

If it doesn't, then we need to elect more of our local citizens to the City Council who don't want to be politicians, but who are compelled to run for office because those who have been elected have forgotten why they were elected and have been assimilated by the fat cats

When Banning Ranch goes to Newport Beach, how will the new Newporters, who will buy homes that will be built there, get out of their upscale neighborhoods?

Many, if not all of them, will come up West 17th Street through Costa Mesa. It will be Costa Mesa citizens who will pay to improve and maintain West 17th and surrounding streets for the benefit of the Newporters.

Think that won't happen? Think again. Costa Mesans already pay to maintain and improve that part of West 19th Street that leads to the Newport Beach neighborhood of Newport Terrace at the end of West 19th Street and which can only be accessed through Costa Mesa.

Here's a LINK to the latest Daily Pilot article about Banning Ranch.
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CM PRESS # 270

DEEP IN THE IMPROVER CAVE BELOW THE WESTSIDE BLUFFS

Improvers fire up their super secret electric computing machines and lie detectors in preparation for the Costa Mesa City Council election.

These cleverly designed machines are powered by the hot air put out by obstructionists who are trying to stop the Westside from being improved.

And, there's plenty of hot air:

"Oh, we want the Westside improved...but, but, but...we think 60 acres of industrial buildings on ocean close and ocean view bluffs is improvement."

"Oh, we want the Westside improved...but, but, but...we think having many charities on the Westside is improvement and we don't think people who use charity services flock to be near those charities."

"Oh, we want the Westside improved...but, but, but... the City government shouldn't try to encourage the building of homes on ocean close bluffs...why, that's un-American."

"Oh, we want the Westside improved...but, but, but...we support those Councilmembers who believe in a free market economy and who won't actually do anything to improve the city."

"Oh, we want the Westside improved...but, but, but...we don't think anyone should do anything about the slums."
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 269

COME ON CITY COUNCIL--JUMP START THE REVITALIZATION OF THE WESTSIDE



Back when some of us were on CRAC and WROC--the two citizen committees started by the City of Costa Mesa to make recommendations on what to do about revitalizing the Westside--outside consultants prepared lengthy reports indicating that most of the area was economically blighted.

Immediately after the word "blight" was heard, the mostly out of town industrialists and their supporters pretended they didn't know that the term, in this context, was mainly being used to indicate "economic blight" or stagnation, and these industrialists then tried to confuse citizens by arguing that their buildings looked nice or that they were being painted or fixed up.

Of course, looking nice has very little to do with "economic blight." The area was, and is, blighted precisely because there is such a large industrial zone there.

Those professionally prepared reports of blight could have led to one of four major changes:

1. The entire Westside Bluffs could have been put into a Redevelopment Area and the City could have used eminent domain to scrape the Bluffs clean and start over with expensive ocean close homes in upscale neighborhoods.

2. Just part of the Bluffs could have been put into a Redevelopment Area, etc.

3. The Bluffs could have been rezoned from industrial to residential with some retail zoning mixed in for one or more shopping centers--think the bluffs in Huntington Beach by Golden West.

4. An overlay of residential zoning could be placed on top of the existing industrial zoning that would allow those who want to build homes on the Bluffs to be able to do so in the midst of the industrial properties. This was a market forces approach.

Number 4, above, is the choice that was selected.

And, while market forces will eventually help transform the Bluffs, some have taken that term "market forces" to mean that the City should do nothing to encourage the building of homes.

Folks, it doesn't work that way. The industrial uses on the Bluffs have actually been protected by the City for at least 50 years.

To think that just because a residential overlay is put on top of a 50 year old industrial zone that nothing else needs be done, is an error in thinking.

The economic engine has to be jump started. It doesn't start all by itself. Thinking that it will, would be a little like sitting in your car and expecting it to start and drive you to where you want to go all on its own.

That's not the way it works, folks. People have to take action. People have to make projects happen. People have to do something more than nothing.

To get people to take action, the City has to reach out and let everyone know that it wants homes on the Bluffs. And, the City has to listen to developers and others to see if the residential overlay is working.

If it isn't, then adjustments need to be made.

Remember, the goal has never been to just put in a residential overlay. That was just a means to an end.

The goal has always been to revitalize the Westside. Things that work, have to be done. If what is being tried doesn't work, then something else has to be tried.

If you hear someone constantly harping on how we should do nothing more than the residential overlay, you can be pretty sure you're dealing with an out of town industrialist or one of their shills.

Don't let their slight-of-hand fool you folks.

THE GOAL IS NOT TO HAVE AN OVERLAY, BUT TO FIX THE BROKEN WESTSIDE. THIS CAN'T BE DONE UNLESS HOMES ARE BUILT ON THE BLUFFS. IF THE OVERLAY IS NOT WORKING, THEN MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 268

WE IMAGINE...

A MESSAGE IS SENT FROM THE SLOPES BY KATRINA...

YOO HOO, COSTA MESANS, THANKS FOR ELECTING ME TO THE CITY COUNCIL SO I CAN MISS MEETINGS TO GO SKIING!

Oh, and by the way, I'm still working on that letter to President Bush about securing the border. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

When I get back, I have some big plans to make your lives better in Costa Mesa.

First, I'm going to collect canned food for poor people in Malaysia. Then, I'm going to send clothes to people in Nigeria. And, I hear the weather hasn't been good in Cambodia so I intend to collect umbrellas to send there.

Now, aren't you glad you elected me to help make your life better?

Just think of me as Snow Bunny Katrina.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 267

THE PHILOSOPHY OF IMPROVEMENT IS SIMPLE:

COSTA MESA, DUE TO ITS CLOSENESS TO THE OCEAN AND IT'S TRADITIONAL SISTER CITY STATUS WITH NEWPORT BEACH, SHOULD BE A NICER CITY THAN IT IS AT PRESENT. THIS SHOULD BE REFLECTED IN VITAL STATISTICS THAT SHOW COSTA MESA IS CLOSER, IN THESE STATISTICS, TO NEWPORT BEACH THAN TO SANTA ANA.

A poster on the DP blog gets it right:

Better city wrote on Jan 3, 2008 7:52 PM:

" Starting in 2000, the people of Costa Mesa signaled that they wanted change in this city. " They said they weren't happy with crime and poor school scores and other problems and they started electing candidates for change. In 2008, I expect the people will vote to keep the change moving forward. I don't think they want to go back to the old politics of low expectations that helped Costa Mesa become a third world sanctuary. I think they know that if we lift up the Westside, we'll lift up the whole city. "
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How do we know how we are doing as a city? The same way you tell if your child is sick or not: You check vital signs.

In the case of a child, this means you take his or her temperature.

If you didn't have something to compare that temperature to, it would be meaningless.

However, we know from years of comparisons with other humans that a normal temperature is around 98.6 degrees. If your child's temperature deviates from that, you can be reasonably sure the child is sick.

If the child is then taken to a doctor, blood or other tests may be performed. These are checked against what medical science knows is normal in humans.

Improvers generally say the same type of thinking is valid for checking Costa Mesa.

That's why the CM PRESS came up with the ring of cities concept. We check the vital signs of Costa Mesa and compare them to Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Ft. Valley, Irvine and Santa Ana.

These five cities all surround Costa Mesa and touch some part of our land. By looking at our home prices, crime rates, school scores, education levels, income levels, land use percentages, number of renters vs. owners, and much more, we can see how Costa Mesa is doing.

By using this scientific and objective method to quantify how we're doing, we remove the issue from the imprecise thinking that relies on adjectives and opinions instead of facts.

Here are two posts on this subject from the DP blog that illustrate why we should use facts and statistics to tell how Costa Mesa is doing. We have removed the posters' names out of a surfeit of kindness.

Notice in the following two posts, that very few meaningful facts are given. They're mostly fluff.

" Costa Mesa is truly the heart of Orange County. [No facts given] We have the preeminent performing arts venues, [No facts given] the preeminent shopping venue, universities, colleges, law school, [No facts given] the finest municipal golf courses,[No facts given] county fairgrounds, thriving commercial/industrial core [No facts given] with some of the nation's most recognizable companies, [No facts given] and beautiful, safe neighborhoods and parks.[No facts given] We have a dynamic municipal government [No facts given] that is truly responsive to its constituents.[No facts given] We have a proactive and experienced police department and one of the best fire departments in the state. [No facts given] We have a strong City Council that is working hard to continuously improve CM. [No facts given] We're doing great on our own. " [No facts given]

What you have in the above post is a strung together list of superlatives and adjectives (which we have put in bold face) with unsupported assertions of supposed fact. In other words, you have what sounds like a travel brochure or advertising copy. It's all empty opinion.

Here's another poster's entry:

" Okay, Tell us...So you measure quality of life by cold, hard statistics? [That's right. The cold, hard statistics are the quantification of the reality that we see. They allow us to measure things rather than rely on empty opinions] Quality of life is as each of us define it. [Not exactly. Here's a definition of quality of life: The well-being or quality of life of a population is an important concern in economics and political science. It is measured by many social and economic factors.] My family has lived in Costa Mesa for 20 years. We have never been the victim of crime, enjoy our home and the equity we've accumulated in it, and all our children received fine educations in the local schools and have moved on to higher education. [No doubt, others have similar stories. So what? We're dealing with the city as a whole. Others have been affected by crime, etc. We can't tell the quality of a city by a few anecdotal stories. That's like saying there are no cancer clusters in Costa Mesa because you don't have cancer]
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 266

MORE FROM THE NON-CANDIDATE WHO IS NOT RUNNING FOR CITY COUNCIL

U. Know Who tells more about his positions for his non-campaign in which he is not running for city council

I will not open a new job center.

I will work to stop Costa Mesa from being a sanctuary city.

I will not rest until student scores in our schools are at top levels.

I will not rest so long as we have slums that breed gangs and crime.

I will not rest until the Westside is transformed into one of the nicest parts of our city.

I will not waver in my quest to make Costa Mesa one of the safest and nicest cities in OC.

I will work to stop cut through traffic from other cities.

I will work to make our streets safer with traffic calming and speed reducing strategies.

I will work to have our city prevent crime before it happens.

I will work to have our city government buy equipment, cars, trucks, etc. locally instead of out of town.

I will support charities that exist to help those in our community who need help; I will not support those charities that exist to provide life time high paying jobs for the charity bosses and which attempt to attract clients to our city to give job security to the charity bosses.

I will work to keep out of town interests from dictating the way our city is run or develops.

I will always remember that my bosses are the citizens of this city, and that their needs will always come before the needs of others.
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Oh, by the way, since I'm NOT running for City Council or for anything else, those of you who are running might consider some of these positions. I don't own them and my guess is that some of you may already have thought of these things. So, let's hear you speak out. Don't try to get elected on smiles and handshakes alone.
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Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

CM PRESS # 265

U. KNOW WHO TO RUN?

Apparently, there are unfounded rumors circulating that U. Know Who is going to run for City Council.

The CM PRESS caught up with Mr. Who and asked him to tell us what he would do if elected.

After telling us that he's not running for the City Council, Mr. Who still offered the following off the cuff comments:

U. KNOW WHO'S PLATFORM

Costa Mesa needs to be improved to provide a higher quality of life for our citizens. Everything that will help accomplish this is on the table.

To know how we're doing as a city, I will constantly compare our statistics with our surrounding cities.

When our specific statistics are close to corresponding statistics in higher quality of life cities, we'll know we're going in the right direction. When our statistics are closer to lower quality of life cities, we'll know we're going in the wrong direction and we'll move to improve those statistics.

Here are a few specifics, in no particular order, of what I'll work to do:

1. Change the priorities of the City Budget so that the City can start investing in itself by buying up slum properties to be turned into open space and other uses.

2. Ensure that all of our police officers are cooperating fully with ICE.

3. Cross train some of our police officers in ICE procedures.

4. Encourage the building of more upscale homes on the Westside Bluffs.

5. Improve our municipal codes concerning solicitation. Use the codes recently enacted in Orange as a guide.

6. Establish a public/private partnership to remove slum buildings that are safe havens and breeding grounds for gangs.

7. Change our municipal codes to ensure we are not stuck with empty eyesore buildings and lots.

8. Investigate the possibility of merging Costa Mesa with Newport Beach.

9. Eliminate group homes.

10. Find an alternative site for an airport to stop the expansion of John Wayne.

11. Get 55 Freeway traffic removed from our city streets.

12. Ensure that when projects are approved for development in the city that not only will it be clear as to what will be developed, but also when they will be developed.

13. Attract a college or college satellite campus to the Westside of Costa Mesa.

14. Restart the conversation of putting in a marina/beach below the Westside Bluffs.

15. Work to turn West 19th Street into a destination location similar to 2nd Street in Long Beach.

16. Cut off tax funds to non-profits in Costa Mesa that serve illegal aliens.

17. Attempt to break up the over concentration of non-profits on the Westside.

18. Reach out to up-scale retailers and encourage them to locate on the Westside.

19. Have regular meetings right in all of our neighborhoods where residents of those neighborhoods can make suggestions for the improvement of their own neighborhoods.

20. Bring a supermarket to the Westside.

21. Help establish part of the Westside as an art colony.