More Views Of Outsourcing Decision

BLEARY-EYED REPORT
Still sleep-deprived, but now semi-functioning, this evening I present for you a roster of articles published locally and not-so locally on the decision the four members of the Costa Mesa City Council made last night to outsource a sizable segment of the jobs currently being done by city employees.

Joe Serna in the Daily Pilot, "Almost half of city work force gets pink slips" and Jon Cassidy in the Orange County Register, "Costa Mesa votes to lay off 203 workers", updated their reports from last night and now report that 203 employees will receive pink slips. According to Serna, that's 43% of the current employees.

Norberto Santana, Jr., at he Voice of OC presents, "Costa Mesa Becomes Ground Zero in the Ideological Budget Battle".

Chris Prevatt at the TheLiberalOC Blog gives us, "Costa Mesa Votes to Layoff First, Ask Questions Later."

Chasen Marshall at the OC Weekly covers it with, "Costa Mesa Council Votes In Favor of Outsourcing One-Third of City Services"

HolyCoast.com, down in Mission Viejo, gives us this entry, "Costa Mesa Moves To Outsource Half of Its Services"

Tip of the hat to reader Rich for this link to the San Jose Mercury News coverage, "Costa Mesa Council votes to outsource city services"

Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit gives us his view with, "Costa Mesa workers nailed by perfect storm"

In a related article Daily Pilot reporter Mike Reicher solicited reader input when he asked, "Will outsourcing hurt or help Costa Mesa?"

STORY NOT GOING AWAY
Clearly, this is not a story that's going away soon. And, in a predictable turn of events, some of the comment threads on these articles contain some troubling posts - or did if they've been removed by now. When you mess with the lives and futures of families strong emotions are bound to surface.

ROEDER SEND-OFF DINNER TONIGHT A HUGE SUCCESS
On a much happier note, tonight's employee send-off for Allan Roeder at the Costa Mesa Country Club was a rousing success. Reports from the event say that laughs and tears were evenly mixed as more than two hundred employees and family members said good-bye to the only boss many of them have had.

TOMORROW IS THE FINALE
Thursday night I'll be attending the final event of "Allan Roeder Week" here in Costa Mesa as the Segerstrom Family and the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce host a dinner honoring Roeder at the Westin Hotel. More on that Friday.