Back In The Saddle...

I'M BAAACK!
After a much-needed post-election vacation I had hoped to return refreshed and ready to wade into the important local events that face us in the new year. Sadly, that turned out not to the be case.

SO MUCH FOR REST AND RELAXATION...
Although the vacation - 1600 miles that included visiting relatives and old friends, exciting times in San Francisco and Carmel and a very enjoyable Thanksgiving day on the glorious Central Coast - was fun and relaxing, it also included picking up - as a parting gift from a sniffling little grand-niece - my first cold of the year. I won't bore you with the details, except to say, thank goodness for absorbent, long-sleeved sweatshirts...

FORCE-FED BAD NEWS
Then, upon our return, I began to plow through the accumulated two weeks worth of the Los Angeles Times (and Daily Pilot) that had been saved for me. Although I'd tried to stay current on events of the world while driving, there is nothing quite like being force-fed the headlines that covered those events of those two weeks in just a few hours. Fires, war, financial disasters, auto industry non-bailouts and on and on and on.... It was a real bummer.

SAME OLD, SAME OLD...
And then I turned to our local news, the most important of which to me was the final results of our local elections. Those numbers were covered in my previous post. Today I look forward to the Costa Mesa City Council meeting tomorrow at which the election will be authenticated and the new (old) council members will be sworn in. Tomorrow we will find out just which of the majority - a four-person "super majority" now - will be elected as Mayor and which will be Mayor Pro Tem. We'll see if Bever and Mansoor will switch seats again, or will they fold Wendy Leece into the fold as Mayor Pro Tem. Or, will Gary Monahan - beginning his 13th year at the public trough - be re-elected Mayor? Does Katrina Foley have a snowballs chance in hades of being elected to either office? It should be interesting.

LEPRECHAUN BACK AT THE TROUGH(S)
Speaking of Monahan, I guess he is going to have a tough scheduling problem in the months ahead. My understanding is that he will continue to be a member of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board, too. That gig includes the opportunity to be paid around $2,000 per month, on top of the city council stipend of $952.00, plus medical and pension credits. I guess it's a good time for a bartender with a shaky business to be nose-deep at the municipal trough again.

HERE WE GO AGAIN...
So, dear readers, off we go again... I'll try to stay abreast of important issues around our town and region and give you an opinion or two along the way. Feel free to offer a counterpoint to my views if you choose - a healthy debate of issues is good for the community. As always, I appreciate your participation and your attempts to set me straight.