CM PRESS # 8

IF YOU CAN'T BRING COSTA MESA TO THE SEA, BRING THE SEA TO COSTA MESA

This is what the start of dredging would look like below the Westside bluffs if the City Council decided that instead of just having another park--of the sort that you can have thousands of miles away from the ocean--that Costa Mesa should have water adjoining our land.

Stick a sharp stick in the dirt below our bluffs and you'll find water.

Alas, dear readers, the CM PRESS despairs of being able to convince the Council that this makes sense.

At the City Council meeting tonight (11/21/06) the CM PRESS suggested to the Council that they hold off approving a Memorandum of Agreement for Orange Coast River Park that a group calling itself the Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks wanted the Council to sign.

We pointed out that the park envisioned by the group might benefit Newport Beach and Huntington Beach (you see, they already have water adjoining their land and don't need any more) but it wouldn't do much for landlocked Costa Mesa except create another dry land park. The "river" part of the appellation apparently refers to the nearby concrete Santa Ana River that no one can get to because it's 15 or so feet below sheer concrete walls and behind permanent chain link fences.

Unfortunately, the Council voted to sign the agreement.

So, what the C0uncil did tonight was sign on to throwing parts of Fairview and Talbert Parks, which are both in Costa Mesa, into the pot to become part of this "river" park.

Sure, Costa Mesa can opt out of the deal with a 30 day notice, but jumping into this without a full public airing sends the wrong signal and starts us down a path that may not be in our best interest.

Hey, all you people who live in Marina Highlands and you who live in Newport Terrace and you others who live near the bluffs, why weren't you at the meeting tonight? Don't you want to see water near your land? Don't you know that this would increase your home values?

Marina Highlands was built to look down on a marina. It has never done so. It just looks down on dirt. Newport Terrace was built to be adjacent to water. It never has been. It just faces bushes where homeless people live.

As far as we can tell, this river park won't change things.

If you want further information on this, contact the City Clerk's office and ask for Item Number VI-5 of the November 21, 2006 City Council meeting. You can also contact Carol C. Proctor at (714) 754-5688 and get a copy of the report
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CM PRESS # 7

MANSOOR/LEECE VOTE LEAD GROWS!

As of 6:41 am this morning, Allan Mansoor's vote total had swelled to 9956 votes, and Wendy Leece's total had grown to 9349 votes.

On election night, Leece led her closest rival Bruce Garlich by 852 votes. This has now grown to a lead over Garlich of 1255 votes.

This win over Garlich is remarkable since Garlich's name appeared as the first name on the ballot. This is the coveted pole position on ballots and it usually translates into several hundred automatic votes for such a candidate and is often the winning position.

Another way of looking at this election is that the Mansoor/Leece team has received more than 50% of the votes cast, and this was done after the anti-improvers threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at Mansoor and Leece.

Mansoor/Leece and their supporters were smeared and were called names. Mansoor/Leece had their campaign signs stolen and defaced, and every extremist, liberal and kook in Costa Mesa and surrounding cities crawled out from under rocks to try to defeat them.

SO, WHAT'S THIS ALL MEAN?

It means that the citizens of Costa Mesa saw through the hate and said they want improvement. They said they don't want this city to be an illegal alien sanctuary. They said they want good schools. They said they want safe streets. They said they want a city that is more like our coastal neighboring cities. They said they want the Westside revitalization to move forward.

WILL MANSOOR/LEECE UNDERSTAND THE TRUE MESSAGE?

The danger for all politicians (being human) is that they may let their egos take over and that they'll believe that they won the election because of who they are instead of what their message is.

Long time readers of the CM PRESS will recall that a few years ago, big "I" Improvers helped get a guy elected with more votes than anyone else running--after he had previously lost nine elections--and after all the local pundits (and one local Congressman) said it was impossible to get this guy elected. They'll also remember that once this guy took his seat on the dais he suddenly ignored those who had brought him to the dance and he started voting against improvement.

When that happened, the Improvers turned on him overnight and they then worked to get him off the dais. In the next election, he didn't even come close to winning. The mojo was gone.

NOT A TIME FOR A CARETAKER CITY COUNCIL

The majority on the City Council; Mansor, Leece and Bever have a mandate from the voters to fix this broken city. This is not time for them to sit back and do nothing to avoid being criticized by the usual kooks and lefties. Now is the time to surge forward with bold visions and meaningful changes to our city.

WATCH OUT FOR THE BACKSTABBERS AND 'NEW BEST FRIENDS"

And, in the dark hours ahead when the kooks start criticizing the majority on the Council, let these elected officials remember back to this remarkable election.

Let them not forget that they were opposed in this election by many former mayors, two former police chiefs, the unions, illegal alien advocates, out of town industrialists, charity bosses, at least one mega bucks guy, liberal cops and firemen, the Daily Pilot, and assorted cranks and crackpots with silly little blogs. Let them not forget the name calling they had to endure right in City Hall itself. Let them not forget that Katrina Foley and Linda Dixon, their fellow Councilmembers, fought hard to get them defeated.

Let them not forget that they have weathered a baptism of vitriol and hate unlike any we have seen in this city before.

Let them not forget that some of those opposed to them will now try to kiss up to them and have them do their bidding and that many will now try to be their "new best friends." In reality, these new best friends--these anti-improvement people--would like to see the Council majority fall off the planet.

Remember, the "new best friends" of the aforementioned Councilmember, who the Improvers helped get elected and who they then removed, quickly abandoned him once he lost his next election, and the Improvers also aren't his friends anymore.

Let this majority on the Council not make the mistake of keeping counsel with fair weather friends. The anti-improvers hated the majority before they were elected, they hate them now, and they'll continue to hate them behind their backs until the end of days.

Let the majority not forget that they won because they carried the banner of the citizens of this city who want Costa Mesa to be nicer for the citizens.

Let them not forget that if they get their heads turned by those who want to stop improvement, that the Improvers will turn on them in a heartbeat.

And, in the days ahead, let the majority on the Council keep a list of who opposed them and not be tricked into thinking these people are now their friends. This isn't hard to do, the anti-improvers published such lists of all their supporters in their campaign literature.

This is a time to improve our city; not engage in phony kiss and make up nonsense.

And, as Costa Mesa improves, some of those who opposed the majority may even wake up and see that their families are safer, their homes have more value, their schools are better, and their city is a better place.

Yes, a rising tide does lift all boats, and improvement will improve all parts of Costa Mesa for all citizens of all political stripes.
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CM PRESS # 6

WHITE GUILT DOESN'T HELP BLACKS [OR ANYONE ELSE]

John Stossel has a column in the OC REGISTER today with the above title.

In his column, Stossel points out that some black intellectuals, such as Shelby Steele (who has written a book on the subject of white guilt), are now saying that many people are stuck in old thinking from the '50's and that big discussions on so-called "white privilege" simply mask what blacks themselves are doing and that when whites go along with supposed white guilt and try to compensate blacks with things such as affirmative action that this is actually a subtle form of racism.

"They [whites]," writes Steele, "make the argument that whites can solve [black people's] problems. ...The problem with that is...you reinforce white supremacy all over again. And black dependency."

Steele gets it right.

However, both Stossel and Steele could have saved a lot of words if they had simply used a term that I coined and have used for several years in some of my national columns and in my own books: "Noblesse Oblige Racism."

This term covers what these two are saying and then some. I've also broken down this term into three major subcategories, but there is no need to discuss them at length here, so I'll just mention them in passing: Great White Mothers and Great White Fathers, Lord Jims, and Mother Teresas.

Why is any of this important for Costa Mesa?

It's important for a deeper understanding of some of the dynamics and psychology at work in our city. In Costa Mesa, we have a whole slew of noblesse oblige racists (whose neuroses are often masked with phony compassion), but because of our demographics the recipients of their racist largess are often illegal aliens instead of blacks. Brown skin just substitutes for black skin in Costa Mesa with these neurotics.

Some of these noblesse oblige racists act as though illegal aliens are escaped slaves in the old south and they treat them like helpless children incapable of taking care of themselves and who have to be hidden and protected by the noblesse oblige racists. This dehumanizes people and puts them in an inferior position to the noblesse oblige racist whites.

Some of our local noblesse oblige racists also don't want our local cops to check identification or to turn illegal aliens over to ICE. Unfortunately, some of these noblesse oblige racists may even be in the CMPD--perhaps mostly as holdovers from a past administration. We see them looking the other way when quality of life violations are reported by citizens. This is helping ratchet down the quality of life in our city.

We see such officers bending over backwards in some cases to not see things that our local ordinances prohibit, such as: using hand powered push carts, stealing shopping carts, parking large vending trucks in the wrong places or remaining in the city when they are supposed to be off our streets. We also see this in officers not ticketing suspected illegal aliens for parking in front of red curbs near our schools and other places, not reaching out to merchants to have them post signs that will allow the cops to remove loitering day workers, not stopping team sports that endanger toddlers in parks that aren't sports fields, and more.

The CM PRESS has been contacted by some citizens who believe that they are being treated more harshly by some cops than illegal aliens and that some cops may be racially profiling white citizens (maybe also black and yellow citizens). Consider: If you're a cop and you don't want to turn illegal aliens over to ICE and if your department has some brass who send down subtle messages that illegal aliens are to be given a pass, and if you have to prove that you're doing your job by writing traffic tickets, then who are you going to ticket for minor infractions? Right. White, yellow and black citizens.

After all, if you ticket browns, the odds are higher that they may be illegal aliens. And, if they're illegal aliens they may not have drivers licenses, car registrations, auto insurance. So, if you're a cop and you see browns breaking minor traffic laws, what do you do to keep them from being discovered as being illegal aliens? You don't ticket them.

But, that gives you a problem. Remember, you have to show that you're doing your job by writing a reasonable number of traffic tickets each day. This means that you're going to go after whites, blacks and yellows and ticket them, because you know that most of them are probably citizens.

Is the above going on? Got us. The City Council or the City Manager could ask for statistics on who is ticketed and this might give us some clues. Don't count on this happening, though. If our past experience with the city about such matters is any clue, top administrators will say that they don't keep such statistics. How convenient.

At any rate, the good, decent citizens of this city rejected the divisive and negative nonsense of a small vocal group and sent a message in the election this month that they want our laws enforced fairly and without prejudice for or against anyone and that they want our city improved even if this discomfits those who benefit psychologically or economically from Costa Mesa being downscale.
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CM PRESS # 5

WE TRY TO STRAIGHTEN OUT THE DAILY PILOT...FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME

Editor DAILY PILOT:

Your question in the Pilot today about an ICE agent in the local jail misses the real point of much that has been happening in Costa Mesa over the past several years.

Call what's been happening, "the larger issue."

The larger issue is that we've seen our city slide ever downwards to Third World status. Schools that were once on a par with Newport Beach are now failing. Gangs rule the streets. Slums are growing. Charities are expanding. Second hand stores are opening. People are soliciting work from street corners. People are living in garages. Multiple families are moving into single family homes in traditional neighborhoods. Group homes are destroying neighborhoods. There are almost nightly shootings or stabbings. We now have no-go neighborhoods.

Our guess is that most citizens don't want downscale conditions and want a Costa Mesa that is as nice as our coastal neighbors.

Enter illegal immigration. To become like our coastal neighbors means that Costa Mesa has to stop being an illegal alien sanctuary.

Thus do we come to all the talk about illegal immigration as though that's the real issue in Costa Mesa. It's not; except as it drives down the quality of life of our citizens. The Daily Pilot does a disservice to its readers by atomizing the larger issue and by making it appear that illegal immigration is the focus of most of those who want a nicer Costa Mesa.

Put this in other terms and it may become clearer. Say you're sick and you go to the hospital. All you want is to be well again. The doctors find out that you're sick because of your heart. Naturally,you want a healthy heart. Being a moderately intelligent and engaged person you might then do your own research on hearts and start talking it up about hearts. Does this make you a healthy heart advocate? Well, yes, but the larger issue is that you are a healthy person advocate. The heart is just what is making you sick right now. Had you been sick because of your liver or kidneys or for any other reason, you probably would have been talking up those organs.

To put a point on this: Illegal immigration has come to the fore because it is a large part of the reason for our crime and for our downscale conditions. It cannot be viewed as though it exists in a vacuum. Most of those who are called anti-illegal immigration advocates would actually be better characterized as nicer city advocates.

It seems to us that the citizens of Costa Mesa want a better quality of life, in a safe city, with good schools, and they want Costa Mesa to be as nice as our surrounding coastal cities.

/s/

CM PRESS

CM PRESS # 4

BREAKING RUMOR

Word on the street is that ICE has sent a letter to the City of Costa Mesa offering to put ICE agents in the Costa Mesa jail. Check Friday's OC Register for details.
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CM PRESS # 3

DAILY PILOT EDITOR TO PURSUE OTHER OPPORTUNITIES

The Daily Pilot announced today (Wednesday, 11/15) that editor S. J. Cahn will be leaving the paper as of Friday, 11/17.

Does this have anything to do with the fact that the Pilot is so out of touch with the community it serves that it never seems to be able to endorse political candidates who end up winning elections in Costa Mesa? Time will tell.

The CM PRESS will be watching the Pilot and we'll be reporting on that paper as things develop.

It's not just dead tree publications that can inform the community these days, and the editorial board of the CM PRESS (me) believes that this electronic newsletter is more in touch with the majority of the citizens of this area than the Pilot.
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CM PRESS # 2

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE--COSTA MESA VERSION

The CM PRESS believes that one of the most important issues now before the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach city councils is the matter of Banning Ranch and surrounding areas.

Both cities want Banning Ranch within their borders. Both cities seem intent on putting in fairly standard housing developments on the ranch if they prevail. Both cities are fighting over who gets the land.

Both cities may be missing the boat...literally.

As we've written many times before, Costa Mesa has a tremendous opportunity to add value to this city by not turning our back on what nature has given us--closeness to the ocean.

Newport now also has a similar opportunity with a slight twist. By putting in a marina and pocket beaches along the Santa Ana River up to Victoria Street, and appropriate homes with views of the marina, both cities would benefit.

A past Costa Mesa city council lacked vision. It took the short nickle instead of the long dollar by turning down a marina proposal on a 3 to 2 vote.

Will the new Costa Mesa city council see the potential and transform Costa Mesa into a true ocean community and at the same time help Newport establish another boating oriented community in a new marina?

Do our negotiators on the city council have a proper vision? Are they smart enough to make a case for a marina? Time will tell. The CM PRESS believes that the window on this opportunity will close forever if Banning Ranch goes to either city without an agreement on a marina vision set in stone first.

The CM PRESS thinks this is a win/win situation for both cities.
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CM PRESS # 1

LATEST VOTE TOTALS FOR WINNERS

As of 5 p.m. today, Allan Mansoor had 9545 votes and Wendy Leece had 8963 votes.

On election night, Leece led her closest rival, Bruce Garlich, by 852 votes. The latest count shows Leece's lead has increased to 1162 votes.
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