The Week Ahead, And Tucson

AH, WHAT GREAT FOOTBALL!
I hope you all had a great weekend. I sure did! Any weekend with as many good football games on the old "telly" is a good time for me.


PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MONDAY
This week sees a new configuration on the Planning Commission for it's meeting on Monday, with newbie Rob Dickson beginning his four-year term, filling the hole created by the departure of Jim Righeimer. He'll join Colin McCarthy, Sam Clark and Jim Fitzpatrick for a four-person commission until the other newbie, Edward Salcedo, is sworn in next month.

CAN HE OR CAN'T HE?
Speaking of Jimmy Fitzy, it's still unclear whether he will actually be able to serve both on the Planning Commission and the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Board, to which he was elected in November. According to City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow at last week's City Council meeting when responding to a question from Wendy Leece, it's not her call. She did say that if challenged and it was determined that Jimmy Fitzy cannot serve on both organizations simultaneously, that he would have to resign from one of them. Actually, if he were to be required to leave one of them today, before he's sworn in again for his new term next month, he would have to resign from the Planning Commission. However, if he is challenged and forced to resign AFTER he's re-sworn in on the commission, he would have to resign from the Sanitary District Board. I know of no challenge being made at this time.

SMALL AGENDA = SHORT MEETING - MAYBE
The meeting on Monday should be a short one, with only a few items for the commission to consider. That's good, because otherwise it might distract me from the National Championship game between Auburn and Oregon. Go, Ducks!

COUNCIL BUDGET REVIEW STUDY SESSION TUESDAY
Tuesday, as mentioned in my previous post, the City Council will hear a report on our current financial situation during their Study Session. This meeting has all the components to be very interesting, particularly if Jim Righeimer and his new pal on the dais, Steve Mensinger, are unwilling to accept good news for what it is. I'm sure there will be more than a few people eager to see their reaction.

TUCSON - A SAD TIME FOR US ALL
Before I close this post I want to express my sincere condolences to the families and friends of those innocent people gunned down in Tucson over the weekend and to those who were injured and survived. It's been impossible to turn on any news program without seeing re-run after re-run of the scene of the carnage and the face of the alleged perpetrator plastered across the screen.

WE KNOW THAT AREA WELL...
We know Tucson more than a little. We have several relatives who attended the University of Arizona and have friends who are currently being treated at the University Medical Center - the site of the heroic surgery that appears to have saved Representative Gabrielle Giffords' life and the lives of at least a half-dozen more victims. We have driven past the site of the massacre several times in the past. Based on the most recent reports, any one of us could have been caught in that horrific event if we were stopping in to buy a gallon of milk at the Safeway store. It certainly does make one pause and reflect a little about the deranged wackos among us.