Fairgrounds Battle Is Not Over Yet!

THE BEAT GOES ON...
The day following the announcement by the Acting Director of the State Department of General Services to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that all bids for the Orange County Fair and Events Center had been rejected, the beat goes on.


GENIS' NEWS CONFERENCE THIS MORNINGThis morning former Costa Mesa Mayor and professional land planner Sandra Genis, president of the Orange County Fairgrounds Preservation Society, held a news conference at the Fairgrounds to announce that, although this battle has been won, the war is far from over. Those who fought the good fight over the past nine months to keep the sale from happening cannot let down their guard now. The DGS has promised Governor Schwarzenegger that they will be moving "promptly" to find a better deal for the Fairgrounds.

DGS STILL ON A MISSION TO SELL THE FAIRGROUNDS
Currently unemployed Mayor Allan Mansoor is quoted today in an article in the Orange County Register that "it's not over." He's right. Nobody really knows quite what to expect now. The DGS is chartered by the governor to get the Fairgrounds sold. Their auction didn't work, so who knows what kind of a scheme they may try next?


NO TIME TO LET UP!
In the meantime, all those interesting diverse constituencies that banded together to fight the sale must remain vigilant. No celebrating yet - the game is still on.

FAIR BOARD TO CONSIDER SECURITY SYSTEM FOR BEAZLEY
The Fair Board will hold a meeting on Thursday, the 25th in which they will address the sale of the Fairgrounds. Of greater interest is the item listed below:

8. GOVERNANCE PROCESS
A. Installation and monthly service for security system at CEO’s home

BEAZLEY WORRIED ABOUT FAMILY'S SAFETY?
Yep, apparently Fair CEO Steve Beazley and his family have been harassed to the point where he's concerned about their safety so he's asking for the Fair Board to pay for a security service for his personal residence. Reports of really nasty posters appearing in his neighborhood have circulated for several months. I understand that there are a few people around town who are unhappy with the way Beazley does his job, but for that anger to manifest itself in threats to him and his family is absolutely unacceptable. This whole "Fairgrounds" issue has created some very strange circumstances...

"THE MOUTH" SLAMS MCEVOY
And, before I close tonight, I want to observe the knee-jerk reaction by The Mouth From Mesa North against former council candidate Chris McEvoy. McEvoy stood before the council last Tuesday and criticized The Mouth for his boorish behavior at the speaker's podium a few minutes earlier. He was critical of the name-calling The Mouth engaged in when he referred to Councilwoman Katrina Foley as a "grinning idiot". McEvoy was correct in his comments, but it brought down the wrath of The Mouth in his pathetic blog today. He's such a sad, unhappy man and a huge waste of an intellect. I'm still willing to pay for his bus ticket to Idaho...

Council Meeting Report From The Cheap Seats

FOLEY VS. THE MOUTH - AGAIN
As anticipated, the Costa Mesa City Council meeting last night did provide some fireworks between Councilwoman Katrina Foley and the racist buffoon, The Mouth From Mesa North. You can watch the entire meeting HERE.

"GRINNING IDIOT"
The Mouth, still fuming from Foley's rebuff two weeks ago, ended his first rant of the evening by turning to leave the speaker's podium and tossing back over his shoulder the phrase "grinning idiot" directly at Foley. If you really want to, you can scroll to 24:00 on the timer for the meeting to see that rant.

MANSOOR SHOULD HAVE SPOKEN UP
In my view, and others as well, this stepped well past the level of decorum normally expected by participants in the process. At that point Mayor Mansoor should have address that issue with The Mouth - it was an unacceptable breach of proper etiquette and should not be tolerated.

AVOIDING THE STENCH
Later, as The Mouth jumped up to the podium to address the SR-55 Access issue, Foley left the dais for the duration of his rant. I sure don't blame her - the stench of his racism is palpable!


A CLIP WORTH WATCHING
Speaking of the SR-55 issue, Eric Bever requested the city staff show the video clip they prepared for presentation to the Orange County Transportation Authority. It's an excellent production and can be viewed on the streaming video clip at 51:20 on the timer.

DOPERS ON PARADE - AGAIN
Another covey of medical marijuana advocates spoke at the meeting again last night. Even more interesting was the fact, as relayed by some of the speakers, that Mayor Mansoor had taken the time to speak with several of them during the hours before the council meeting at exactly the same time the Costa Mesa Police Department was raiding yet another of the illegal dispensaries in our city. As you might imagine, the dope advocates were flummoxed by the raid.

GRAFFITI ORDINANCE
One of the big items on the agenda was a lengthy discussion of graffiti in our community. Possible amendments to the municipal code were discussed, including tightening up the definitions of graffiti and the penalties involved. One thing that caught my attention was the recommendation by the staff of a penalty to be imposed on property owners who suffer graffiti application on their site. As I understood the discussion, it is the intent to penalize a property owner who experiences frequent graffiti vandalism in the form of fines and, possibly, liens being placed on the property. Further discussion with some involved informs me that this would be directed primarily at absentee property owners who either fail to remove graffiti or do not do so in a timely manner - that it is not anticipated it would be applied to single family residential properties, but it was not specifically excluded. This needs more study.

LET THE COUNCIL KNOW HOW YOU FEEL
The council voted to "continue" this issue to their meeting on April 20th. They and staff are looking for input from the public on this subject. I suggest you review the tape and staff report, then communicate with your leaders to let them know how you feel.


A "MEA CULPA" FOR MONAHAN
Finally, it seems appropriate on this day, St. Patrick's Day, that I again address the sign plastered all over Skosh Monahan's pub. It seems that our Code Enforcement folks have determined that, since it is a "political sign", it may remain in place. Unclear is just how long it may remain. Part of the Municipal Code requires it be removed "10 days from the date of the election to which it pertains"... well, I'm not sure that sign pertains to any election. Anyhow, I guess Monahan is not in violation of the sign ordinance - this time. Enjoy your St. Patrick's Day - drive safely.

STATE REJECTS ALL FAIRGROUNDS BIDS!

FAIRGROUNDS SALE BIDS REJECTED
The Daily Pilot reports, HERE, that the state Department of General Services has rejected ALL seven bids for the sale of the Orange County Fair and Events Center!

"NOT IN BEST INTERESTS..."
According to Mona Shadia's article, the letter to the governor indicated that the offers, "are not in the best interest of the citizens of California because they do not obtain the highest and most certain return for the state."

LEASE/PURCHASE NOW AN OPTION?
This may mean that the rumored lease purchase agreement being knocked around by Costa Mesa city officials might actually have a chance of succeeding.

Calls to the City Manager for comment went unanswered. * I did hear from Allan Roeder this evening. My comment above was misleading... when I called his office around 3:15 this afternoon he was juggling other calls like the proverbial one-armed paper hanger. Because I hoped to get this entry published quickly, and because of him being deluged with other calls, I didn't really expect to hear from him before I pushed the "Publish" button. I didn't leave word for him to call me. If I had, I know he would have done so promptly. I didn't view my call as a priority for him.


FOLEY "ECSTATIC"
I did speak with Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who was ecstatic, in her words. She said this just shows what can happen when "the people" band together and make their views known - the politicians listen. She expressed gratitude to all those diverse constituencies who banded together to fight this effort to sell the Fairgrounds. She was especially effusive about the efforts by Assemblyman Jose Solorio and his staff.

WAY TO GO!
Congratulations to all those hard-working folks who marched, gathered signatures, created web sites and provided leadership to fight the sale - even Jim Righeimer!

*(UPDATE) DGS WILL CONTINUE TO WORK ON SALE
It's clear from the letter from the DGS to Schwarzenegger that they plan to move briskly to find a way to sell the Fairgrounds. With that in mind, (and with the words of Mayor Mansoor today in which he reminded us that this is not over ringing in our ears) the celebratory press conference called by Sandra Genis' Orange County Fairgrounds Preservation Society scheduled at The Fairgrounds Centennial Farms location at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, March 18th (tomorrow) may be a muted affair.

A "Mouth-A-Rama" Tonight?

PUTTING ON THE GLOVES?
Tonight's Costa Mesa City Council meeting could be interesting, if only for the possible tension between Councilwoman Katrina Foley and our municipal racist laureate, the guy I refer to as The Mouth From Mesa North. You may recall that Foley refused to take anymore of his crap without comment at the last council meeting.

ONLY HIS VIEW COUNTS
The Mouth has already laid the groundwork for confrontation with his pathetic blog entries over the past couple days. He continues to rant about the A.B.L.E helicopter - a sophisticated Eurocopter - versus an American made Robinson machine. In the recent past Chief Chris Shawkey has, with more patience than The Mouth deserved, explained precisely why the Eurocopter is the appropriate machine. Still, The Mouth barfs out his venom on the subject. As it the case on every subject he addresses, he figures since he's obviously the smartest guy in the room, the REAL decision-makers must be deaf or stupid to ignore his views.

LOOKING FOR THE SPOTLIGHT
In fact, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see him yank a couple items from the Consent Calendar, just to prolong the proceedings and to give himself a couple more chances to spout off in the spotlight. I suspect he'll pull items 5 (the MOU on the next phase of the SR-55 Access Study), item 8 (the gift of $182,000 from AYSO Region 120 for lights on the Farm fields 5 & 6), and Item 9 (the 2009 Annual review of the 2000 General Plan). He will do this to feel important since he doesn't get much play on his blog these days. Seems like he's begging for comments several times a week. He was probably better off in his own little fantasy world before he permitted comments, when he could dream that he had hundreds of sycophants out there, sopping up his racist drivel. Guess again, you yapping hyena!

CLOSED SESSION LEADS THE WAY TONIGHT
Back to the important work of the City Council. Tonight, in a closed session preceding the regular meeting, they will again hear a discussion on the Fairgrounds Purchase and on the potential litigation filed by Asociacion De Jornaleros De Costa Mesa and the Colectivo Tonantzin. We're assuming the Fairgrounds issue involves the potential lease/purchase agreement that Gary Monahan spoke of on the radio earlier this year.

WILL MONAHAN SHOW UP TONIGHT FOR A CHANGE?
Speaking of which, I wonder if Monahan will show up tonight. You may recall that he bailed out last year because the meeting was on St. Patrick's Day and he was going to be busy pulling taps of green beer at his pub. I wouldn't be surprise if he misses tonight, too - it would be his second consecutive missed meeting if he does - so he can rest up for tomorrow's festivities. Or, maybe he has to change the light bulbs on his current illegal banner.. One never knows with him, since he continues to show us exactly how he feels about the rules.

WENDY AND THE GOP CENTRAL COMMITTEE
In my previous post I introduced you to Wendy Leece's most recent blog, OC Public Square, in which she provides links but almost no original thought, to provide readers with an insight into her conservative self. In case you were wondering, she has thrown her hat into the ring for a seat at the table of the GOP Central Committee and will apparently appear in that race on the June ballot. We still don't know if she's going to run for re-election to the Costa Mesa City Council in November, but we assume she will.

A NASTY HAIRBALL POOL
So, tonight should be interesting, again. Let's all watch to see how long it takes The Mouth to deride one or all of the council members. I'm betting that he will cough up a hairball of nastiness within the first 30 seconds of his first trip to the speaker's podium. Any takers?