City Council Agenda Items

Next Tuesday the Costa Mesa City Council will address several items that cry out for comment.

CLOSED SESSION ITEMS
In their closed session, which precedes the regular session at 5:00 p.m. and is not open to the public, they have two items on the agenda which evoke much interest.

UNION STRATEGY
The first is a conference with the City Manager and Director of Administrative Director regarding negotiations with the four public employee unions. While I hope that the council will hear good news - that the unions have agreed to meet and talk - I doubt that will be the case.

LINGERING ACOSTA SUIT
The second deals with the civil suit filed by Benito Acosta as a result of the events of the evening of January 3, 2004, when he was strong-armed by the Costa Mesa Police Department, dragged bodily from the council chambers and arrested. You will recall that the criminal case against Acosta was dismissed by the judge because of a boneheaded move by our legal counsel.

FLY ON THE WALL
I'd love to be a fly on the wall in that session.



RETURN OF THE SCHONES FAMILY - AGAIN
On the agenda for the regular meeting the council will, once again, hear a presentation by the Schones family regarding their illegal dwelling unit at their home on Costa Mesa Street. I've lost track of the number of times this issue has been heard by the council and Planning Commission. Yikes!

"SECRET" AGENDA ITEMS?
Way down at the end of the agenda, under New Business #2, are two interesting new ordinances that are being proposed. The first, (a), apparently deals with the timing of adjustments for city council compensation. The second, (b), apparently deals with adjustments to council benefits. I say "apparently" because there is no staff report and no text of the ordinances available for review. For there to be an agenda published without any detail on the items is very unusual and the absence of information on these items makes it virtually impossible for concerned residents to address these issues prior to the council meeting. I'm not the only person concerned about this situation...

DONN HALL SERVICE SATURDAY
Just a reminder, Saturday, March 14th, a public memorial service will be held for former mayor Donn Hall. The event begins promptly at 2:00 in front of the Estancia Adobe. Parking is available at Estancia Park, 1900 Adams Avenue.