Another Grass Roots Organization Pops Up
WAKE UP, GUYS!
Yoo Hoo, City Council! Are you paying attention? Remember these names - Michelle Simpson and Bonnie Copeland. They've provided the womb for yet another group of concerned residents to meet, talk and strategize about issues important to them. It will be interesting to see what happens to this embryo of concern.
NEW FACES, NEW ANGER
Based on reports from the scene, last night an angry, frustrated group of resident
s met at Simpson's home in the heart of the Westside to address their concern about a possible 19th Street Bridge across the Santa Ana River. According to Joe Serna's Daily Pilot article this evening, HERE, more than five dozen people met to vent their collective spleens, apparently in response to out-of-touch carpetbagging Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer's position that he was in favor of such a bridge. Other reports from the scene indicate numbers greater than the 60 or so Serna reported - 100 and 200 were mentioned. The number really is not as relevant as the fact that, again, from reports from the scene, most were "new" faces - folks not normally in attendance at council and commission meetings.
CONCERNS ABOUT TRAFFIC AND "THAT BRIDGE"
Of course, the Banning Ranch and Sunset Ridge Park issues in Newport Beach have many Westside residents very anxious about the future of that side of town. The traffic that would result from the current proposal for the development of Banning Ranch is very significant - thousands of NEW car trips each day would be generated by Banning Ranch and most would flow along Costa Mesa streets. And, there is a perception that the development will also increase the demand for that 19th Street Bridge.
ANOTHER CONCERNED GROUP
What we're seeing here is yet another group of residents made very nervous about the way our city is being governed these days. The current city council majority has demonstrated, month after month, that they are not concerned so much about the future of the city as they are about the political future of some of their members.
UH-OH, SOMEBODY'S AWAKE NOW
It appears to me that we are finally seeing that silent majority - that group of residents that Righeimer assumes support him because they've not said they don't - awakening from their hibernation and are looking around and seeing things they don't much like. Are you grumpy when you first wake up? I know I am, and I suspect these folks are not going to get any happier as they learn more about just what's going on.
ACTIVISTS OR "KOOKS"?
It's going to be very interesting to see what kind of activism emanates from this group. Will some of their number step up to the speaker's podium and tell the council of their concerns? If so, will the council take them seriously or simply brush them off as a bunch of kooks and give them the cold shoulder, as they do many others who take the time to air their grievances before them? I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Yoo Hoo, City Council! Are you paying attention? Remember these names - Michelle Simpson and Bonnie Copeland. They've provided the womb for yet another group of concerned residents to meet, talk and strategize about issues important to them. It will be interesting to see what happens to this embryo of concern.NEW FACES, NEW ANGER
Based on reports from the scene, last night an angry, frustrated group of resident
s met at Simpson's home in the heart of the Westside to address their concern about a possible 19th Street Bridge across the Santa Ana River. According to Joe Serna's Daily Pilot article this evening, HERE, more than five dozen people met to vent their collective spleens, apparently in response to out-of-touch carpetbagging Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer's position that he was in favor of such a bridge. Other reports from the scene indicate numbers greater than the 60 or so Serna reported - 100 and 200 were mentioned. The number really is not as relevant as the fact that, again, from reports from the scene, most were "new" faces - folks not normally in attendance at council and commission meetings.CONCERNS ABOUT TRAFFIC AND "THAT BRIDGE"
Of course, the Banning Ranch and Sunset Ridge Park issues in Newport Beach have many Westside residents very anxious about the future of that side of town. The traffic that would result from the current proposal for the development of Banning Ranch is very significant - thousands of NEW car trips each day would be generated by Banning Ranch and most would flow along Costa Mesa streets. And, there is a perception that the development will also increase the demand for that 19th Street Bridge.ANOTHER CONCERNED GROUP
What we're seeing here is yet another group of residents made very nervous about the way our city is being governed these days. The current city council majority has demonstrated, month after month, that they are not concerned so much about the future of the city as they are about the political future of some of their members.
UH-OH, SOMEBODY'S AWAKE NOW
It appears to me that we are finally seeing that silent majority - that group of residents that Righeimer assumes support him because they've not said they don't - awakening from their hibernation and are looking around and seeing things they don't much like. Are you grumpy when you first wake up? I know I am, and I suspect these folks are not going to get any happier as they learn more about just what's going on.ACTIVISTS OR "KOOKS"?
It's going to be very interesting to see what kind of activism emanates from this group. Will some of their number step up to the speaker's podium and tell the council of their concerns? If so, will the council take them seriously or simply brush them off as a bunch of kooks and give them the cold shoulder, as they do many others who take the time to air their grievances before them? I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Labels: 19th Street Bridge, Banning Ranch, Costa Mesa Westside Community Group, Jim Righeimer
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 11/30/2011 10:55:00 PM
26 Comments:
i agree with this group but hope they do not act like some of the kooks who have become regular speakers at council. this group has a real issue that it seems most can get behind and support as opposed to the group who wants to use all our money on pay and benefits for cops and firefighters (a very unpopular position). Good luck to them but please remember that Greg Ridge caused Repair Costa Mesa to become a video producer of lies. Don't follow his anarchist ways or you will become irrelevant like Repair has. Also, refrain from personal attacks on council, allow them their opinions too, and just state your case without Leffler tears, Genis gotchas, etc. You have a good platform, don't let the kooks take it over. That way you reach a much broader audience, imncluding the OCGOP members who are in agreement with you.
This group would be smart to limit Greg Ridge's involvement. His proud sponsorship of Repair Costa Mesa, with all of its proven lies and false propaganda, will only detract from the important message this group hopes to convey to the council.
Who supports the bridge? I support our Council and the tough financial decisions they are making and I'm opposed to this horrible idea. Has anyone actually gone on record supporting it? Or is this just more anti-Righeimer rhetoric from the BC. Seperate fact from fiction please
Riggy's strategy, do what he can to please the developers and line his pockets unless there is a political backlash then pretent he is against the bridge then.......didn't we just go through this with the fairgrounds? It's funny that some of Riggy's boys are jumping on this one when it affects them but still trying to put down other Westside activists. Leading from behind boys?
Riggspeak:
A "Kook" is any person who does not kowtow to Das Riggmarshal
It is funny how some of you are so worried about Greg's involvement with this group. Why do you care? Also why should anyone refrain from personal attacks against the council? The council sure likes to lob personal attacks against employees and constituents. Stop trying to limit a persons rights to free speech. You don't have to like what is said or printed, so quit trying to stifle it.
Not surprised - it's always put with the personal attacks and this person and this group are bad. They pull that kinda crud out when they are losing and don't have anything to offer people. I think folks are wising up and getting sick of the division. Division created to line the pockets of the council and it's OCGOP goons.
The Westside and these issues are bigger than Greg Ridge. Banning Ranch and the 19th Street bridge are extremely important issues that need real, rational debate and factual input from residents to the Council.
Greg Ridge's involvement as anything more than a concerned Westside resident politicizes a non-political issue. It becomes another of his anti-council campiagns, not a grassroots pro-Westside campaign.
If you're too ignorant to see the damage Ridge could do to this cause, there is no hope for you.
Whatever legitimacy and credibility Michelle Simpson and Bonnie Copeland and their neighbors have can and will be compromised by Ridge's involvment - he completely supported many proven fabrications and not only refused to retract them, he defended them. His laughably grassroots RCM was nothing but a union funded sham.
Missing the point......Name a fabrication that Greg Ridge Supported.......one will suffice.
Troll Missing the point:
"Whatever legitimacy and credibility Michelle Simpson and Bonnie Copeland and their neighbors have can and will be compromised by Ridge's involvment"
Translation:
Ridge's involvement would out the bad guys and their schemes.
Joe,
What do you care? Do you live on the Westside, or do you just oppose everybody and everything that you imagine might be something you might not support, even when you really don't know what it is about?
Ridge lives on the Westside, he should participate, comment and object, but he should let others take the lead. The point, again, for the hopelessy partisan or contrary, is that he has taken a high-profile role against the city council and helped create Repair Costa Mesa. Repair Costa Mesa made several imaginative and ultimately false accusations and claims. That creates a credibility crisis, which the grassroots efforts regarding Banning Ranch and 19th street bridge don't need.
Missing the point entirely, Don't look for your other post... won't publish links to that site here.
Reader 'Honeyman' had a problem posting this entry via the normal channels and asked, via an email, for me to post it for him:
I was at the meeting as I live a 5 iron....well, a Tiger Woods 5 iron...check that, a Rory McElroy 5iron, from Michelle. Ridge voiced his opinion, as did many others (a couple of them, gasbags). A certain CM council member was also there and added some input. I'll letcha' guess who. Sandy Genis added some thoughts as well. Chris McEvoy too. Hopefully, the group will grow and serve some real purpose. There was no council member bashing per se, but it was clearly brought up who supports the Banning Ranch project and who does not. The group is in a formative stage, but I think will gain momentum and hopefully contribute some good.
it would be interesting who they (this group) say supports Banning Ranch since that group has lied about elected officials before. Asking for a study does not automatically mean support for it. Leece asked to study lowering council stipends and then voted against it is an example. FYI:Ridge lies example: "half the workforce has been laid off",and he aired a video claiming the CEO has a car allowance twice what it really was., there are others but why give them press? I support Terry Welsh and his group, I was not trying to stifle Ridge, just saying it would be better for the group if he was low profile. This is because he has made enemies out of most elected officials, including the school board, water, sanitation, and council. That is not the road to success. I do not know if anyone in local gov't in Newport has heard of him but if he does his usual schtick to them he will be a hinderance for success. Ridge is a loose cannon, sort of a Keith Oberman type snide guy. Good Luck Terry Welsh, but please consider someone actually owns that land and you should not deprive him of economic gain. You need to raise some serious cash , so you need all the support you can get, including OCGOPers. Cannot happen with Ridge around.
Obviously Righeimer is for the bridge otherwise he wouldn't have considered it at all.
Monahan USED to be against it. Does anyone know where he stands now? Maybe he will flip flop like he did on term limits and a whole bunch of other things.
Colin McCarthy said something about how he wants more cut through traffic in the past.
I will not vote for any politician that is for the 19th street bridge.
Troll X:
".. Ridge is a loose cannon, sort of a Keith Oberman type snide guy."
Me:
If only we had 50000 more of each.
Troll X:
"..so you need all the support you can get, including OCGOPers. Cannot happen with Ridge around."
Me:
The Riggclones fear Ridge and citizens like him.
X, maybe you should refrain from personal attacks yourself as well. Disagreeing with any politician or policy is our American right. Having said that, I do agree with your view about the bridge. It's a horrible idea. It's possible it's a stunt but who knows. I have no allegiance to any political ideology so I see lies and bad ideas for what they really are.
Missing the point entirely, resubmit...
Thanks.. once a comment is "rejected" I can't retrieve it.
Sorry posted this in the wrong thread....Yeah, that pesky car allowance, Hatch had it in his Managers office budget but then proceeded to deny that they would ever use it when the video aired, but then a couple short months later they did this......
From the may 18th bubbling cauldron...
Consultant Tammy Letourneau gets car allowance.
" Speakers wondered why this was necessary and, in particular, if we're paying someone $145,000 for the rest of this calendar year, why are we also paying her a car allowance amounting to $500 per month? It was a great question that was NOT answered. "
So it turns out that at the time Repair declared this Hatch was able to deny it, but in actuality, it is now FACT. They didn't use the car allowance for the then un-filled asst. mgrs. position, instead they padded the overpriced consultant with it, because at $300 an hour , God knows you need an extra $500 bucks a month to drive from her house in Irvine.
Muir provided the invoices from Entemann-Rovin Co. to substantiate the claims – two $175 badges plus $23 cases plus shipping and handling brought the bill to $445.54.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/-299496--.html
Missing the point....
Your name fits
anyone who believes those so called "fact checks" has missed the point entirely.
Don't believe their lies. Unless of course, you are one of the liars.
Angry White Man,
Thank you for helping illustrate my point - facts are the enemy as far as Repair Costa Mesa and its supporters are concerned. Please don't endanger or maginalize the anti-Banning Ranch / 19th Street Bridge efforts with your involvement.
Facts are also the enemy of the city councilmen... everyone has their agendas. Whatever happened to just representing the electorate, and not special interests?
Call me one of the "kooks" but I believe CM needs to use eminent domain to purchase ALL the apartment complexes and ALL the older rental houses in the westside. It would get rid of about 30,000 undesirables and cure much more than the traffic problems. (Take out SOS and the gay bars at the same time would be nice). Demolish the buildings and build an entirely new community. Give everything south of Wilson and west of Superior a re-do.
About the time the project is done the housing market will have recovered CM spins it off for a huge profit to a developer who will build homes for regular people - not "low income" blight.
Wm. B.III,
I think you've described yourself pretty well...
Post a Comment
<< Home