Quiet 4th And More Fireworks Tonight (Amended)*
FIRE CHIEF REPORTS A QUIET 4TH
Well, how was your weekend? Safe and sane, I hope. According to Costa Mesa Interim Fire Chief Kirk Dominic this morning, it was a quiet weekend. Except for some trash fires caused by folks discarding hot fireworks in their trash cans, things were quiet from a fire response standpoint. That's wonderful news. There were no structure fires reported.
EASTSIDE WAR ZONE
On the Eastside of Costa Mesa there were lots of illegal fireworks fired-off throughout the evening of the 4th, beginning before dark and continuing until just before midnight.
MORE MONEY FOR YOUTH SPORTS?
No word yet from our friends who were selling the safe and sane fireworks around town. Logic would tell you that they'd have more sales than in years past because folks could shoot the fireworks off for three evenings instead of just one.
KUDOS TO ALL
Kudos to all who used the fireworks for doing so safely.
***
CITY COUNCIL MEETING TONIGHT
Tonight the Costa Mesa City Council meets in its first meeting of the new fiscal year. It looks like it may be a short meeting - a nice change.
REDUCING INCOME?
The first Public Hearing - scheduled to commence at 7:00 (the meeting itself begins at 6:00), we will hear a proposal to REDUCE income to the city by establishing a new schedule of rates, fees and charges for police department coverage of special/community events. You can read the staff report HERE. The theory is apparently to reduce costs charged by the city for police presence at special events and thereby entice more such events to our city. Seems like a curious tactic at a time when we're struggling to balance our budgets and potentially laying off half the city staff to do so. This is just another affirmation that the current city council's actions are not about finances, they are about politics.
"MASSAGING" THE MASSAGE PARLOR ORDINANCE
The third Public Hearing (there's another one, but it's being recommended for
continuance to the next meeting) deals with a revision of the ordinance governing Massage Establishments and Practitioners. You can read the staff report HERE and the actual ordinance HERE. Certainly, this is a necessary modification to our ordinances since we're told that many such establishments in our city are actually fronts for illicit activities. As I scrolled down through the ordinance I came to the definitions on page 4. Some of the terms used therein snapped these old eyeballs open, for sure. I'll let you visit the ordinance to read them for yourselves.
*OCEA AUDIT TO BE EXPLAINED - AGAIN
I forgot to mention that Steve Foti, the man who actually performed the audit recently for the OCEA, will appear before the City Council tonight to explain his numbers. I have no idea how it will play out, but at least this time around we will hear from the horse's mouth, not a Union surrogate who was clearly unprepared for the hand-to-hand combat she was subjected to by Jim Righeimer at the last council meeting.
***
OCEA/CITY IN COURT TODAY
Over at the LiberalOC blog, writer Chris Prevatt reports that the Orange County Employee's Association (OCEA) will be in court today requesting a Preliminary Injunction to stop the layoffs of more than 100 Costa Mesa city employees. HERE. We've seen this issue on closed session agendas in recent weeks, but were not aware that the court date was today. In fact, it's on the closed session agenda again this evening. We hope that some member of the staff will report the results of the court date in open session tonight.
Well, how was your weekend? Safe and sane, I hope. According to Costa Mesa Interim Fire Chief Kirk Dominic this morning, it was a quiet weekend. Except for some trash fires caused by folks discarding hot fireworks in their trash cans, things were quiet from a fire response standpoint. That's wonderful news. There were no structure fires reported.EASTSIDE WAR ZONE
On the Eastside of Costa Mesa there were lots of illegal fireworks fired-off throughout the evening of the 4th, beginning before dark and continuing until just before midnight.
MORE MONEY FOR YOUTH SPORTS?
No word yet from our friends who were selling the safe and sane fireworks around town. Logic would tell you that they'd have more sales than in years past because folks could shoot the fireworks off for three evenings instead of just one.
KUDOS TO ALL
Kudos to all who used the fireworks for doing so safely.***
CITY COUNCIL MEETING TONIGHT
Tonight the Costa Mesa City Council meets in its first meeting of the new fiscal year. It looks like it may be a short meeting - a nice change.
REDUCING INCOME?
The first Public Hearing - scheduled to commence at 7:00 (the meeting itself begins at 6:00), we will hear a proposal to REDUCE income to the city by establishing a new schedule of rates, fees and charges for police department coverage of special/community events. You can read the staff report HERE. The theory is apparently to reduce costs charged by the city for police presence at special events and thereby entice more such events to our city. Seems like a curious tactic at a time when we're struggling to balance our budgets and potentially laying off half the city staff to do so. This is just another affirmation that the current city council's actions are not about finances, they are about politics."MASSAGING" THE MASSAGE PARLOR ORDINANCE
The third Public Hearing (there's another one, but it's being recommended for
continuance to the next meeting) deals with a revision of the ordinance governing Massage Establishments and Practitioners. You can read the staff report HERE and the actual ordinance HERE. Certainly, this is a necessary modification to our ordinances since we're told that many such establishments in our city are actually fronts for illicit activities. As I scrolled down through the ordinance I came to the definitions on page 4. Some of the terms used therein snapped these old eyeballs open, for sure. I'll let you visit the ordinance to read them for yourselves.*OCEA AUDIT TO BE EXPLAINED - AGAIN
I forgot to mention that Steve Foti, the man who actually performed the audit recently for the OCEA, will appear before the City Council tonight to explain his numbers. I have no idea how it will play out, but at least this time around we will hear from the horse's mouth, not a Union surrogate who was clearly unprepared for the hand-to-hand combat she was subjected to by Jim Righeimer at the last council meeting.***
OCEA/CITY IN COURT TODAY
Over at the LiberalOC blog, writer Chris Prevatt reports that the Orange County Employee's Association (OCEA) will be in court today requesting a Preliminary Injunction to stop the layoffs of more than 100 Costa Mesa city employees. HERE. We've seen this issue on closed session agendas in recent weeks, but were not aware that the court date was today. In fact, it's on the closed session agenda again this evening. We hope that some member of the staff will report the results of the court date in open session tonight.Labels: Chris Prevatt, July 4th, Kirk Dominic, LiberalOC, Massage Parlors, OCEA
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 7/05/2011 10:34:00 AM
16 Comments:
Not so fast on the fireworks report. You declared doom for the city when additional days of shooting fireworks were approved. But you underestimated the overall responsibility of Costa Mesans, who behaved extremely well. Where's the apology to us for that? Or don't you apologize when you are wrong? We set an example, now you set one.
All was quiet,
I acknowledged the contributions of ALL who used the fireworks safely - what more do you want?
What about those idiots who violated the law the entire weekend by discharging ILLEGAL fireworks, including late into the night Monday?
How was I "wrong"?
@ All was quiet--It was a quiet weekend for the CMFD,not for residents on the Eastside ( myself included) who listened to those idiots shooting bottle rockets, cherry bombs and sky rockets every night since June 30th. What apology? That the idiots had
four more nights to blow up everything in their sights?
They started the day sales began! I don't think so!
I have a question that I am not sure if anyone can answer. What happens in September if no work is awarded to an outside firm? Does the layoff notice expire?
Geoff,
I don't have any info on fireworks sales as of yet. We did have a supply problem as another state opened up fireworks sales after orders were placed with the manufacturers and some of the supply to California were diverted. We will see if that had an measurable effect.
Bruce,
Thanks... I hope, after all this turmoil and angst, that at least the booths made more money. Otherwise, why bother?
based on what i observed last night, i declare the recession over! hopefully the non-profits got a share, the chinese certainly did.
concerning the presence of authority, on a street i was visiting on the east side, the cmfd paramedics answered a call followed by the hook and ladder truck, which appeared to be cruising the neighborhoods in the traditional show of force. shortly after that, a police car drove by with one of the policemen who regularly keeps the city council meetings in line. that was a pleasant surprise. i think i heard/saw the hb chopper once. all that was in the late afternoon. once darkness fell, no semblance of authority was seen the rest of the evening and people took full advantage of it. and this morning, as has become the norm, i found a large bottle rocket in my drive way.
Many of my neighbors called the police regarding the huge number of illegal fireworks in our neighborhood. I must admit, it was the best fireworks show in all of Orange County, and it was free for the masses. However ....
In spite of those calls, and the fact that the police could view the illegal fireworks show from the police department front windows, police did not respond and no helicopter flew over. The 911 operator just shined the callers on.
Some police department. Huh?
Happy Independence Day/Night? Not quiet out here - the eastside was hell...and this morning the street is gross. I swept up in front of my house as best I could... There were plenty of illegal fireworks being shot off. It was annoying and continued way past 10pm. My cat is still jumpy. I'm glad they didn't burn my "cancel the layoffs" sign, because I was worrying about fire with those dangerous fireworks that were flying around.
Looks like fireworks sales were outsourced to another state! Ha!
The Tijuana illegal-fireworks stands made way mo' money than the "safe & sane" CM based youth sports/non-profs stands this year.
We rode bikes on the SA River Trail to watch MVCC, OCC, & HB Pier professional firework displays. All along the path we could see & hear tons of illegal fireworks by Balearic, Lower Birds, Fairview/Talbert Reserve & Westside Bluffs.
BTW, we never saw any HB choppers fly over to patrol those places. However, we did notice a smoky-haze over most of these CM areas due to all the spent illegal fireworks & the unusually thick, humid night-air. Luckily, the winds were very calm, and no fires broke out from all the falling bottle rockets so near the two nature preserves.
Hey next year maybe we can we contract with "Fire Marshall Bill" to patrol our streets instead..."Let me schowya schumthin', ahhh-hahaha!"
What a bunch of little old ladies here! Did you people just move to Costa Mesa? Bottle rockets! Trash from fireworks! Scared pets! Oh, my heavens - it's time to call Sheriff Taylor and Barney Fife! Big deal - that all happens every year at this time. You whiners see the rain, the rest of us see the rainbow: Youth groups just made the bulk of their budgets for the next year! Hooray for fireworks sales!
Mad- did you seriously think a police department that is down 40 officers was really going to have time to deal with one of the hundreds of fireworks calls they received? Do you really think service of that level will ever happen again while this council is getting rid of every officer possible? Firework calls are just the beginning. Don't expect a police response to any low level call in the near future. And for clarification those calls include: drinking in public, loud neighbor, loud party, out of control teenagers, skateboarders on private property, minor traffic collisions, hit and run traffic collisions, disorderly conduct, neighbor disputes, dine and dash, and I can go on. Welcome to your new normal and Costa Mesa you have no one to blame but yourselves. You were warned and chose to ignore it- except for geoff.
Massage is a proven therapy to help people live longer with a much higher quality of life. I need them to prevent migraine headaches and help with sore muscles after regular exercise. The only other option I have is to take muscle relaxing drugs which is not a healthy long term solution.
Forcing a legitimate spa to shutdown earlier will prevent most people that work full time from enjoying the benefits of massage therapy. I'm ok with the other staff recommendations but that particular recommendation is a bull in a china shop approach that will cause collateral damage to perfectly legal and necessary day spas.
I say next year they make the illegal fireworks legal. Kinda like the way Riggy made it legal to do the safe and sane the 2nd 3rd and 4th. "Lets make them legal to take the criminals off the street"
So, as I said, make the illegals legal, the CMFD guy said no fires so they must not be a problem. This way Menses can make MORE MONEY for the EHS football team. This will save a lot of gas money too...
BTW, did anyone see the Chest Bumper this morning cleaning up the streets, or any of his cheerleaders. They said they would... Just wondering.
@Mad as Hell-
You might want to to go the Pot Stirrers' other blog up top and read a comment by a blogger called Phil.
He stated all was quiet on the 4th so you might want to get with that guy and state your experience.
If not, don't worry, I covered it for you telling me he should read your comment.
Who knows, why police did not respond? I would love to hear from the cops and fire guys as to why your neighbors calls went unanswered.
"What did you expect" covered a common sense answer that I agree with but would still like to hear facts.
I guess it depends where you live in the city?
Oh well, I'm sure this is not going to be any better next 4th.
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