Of Planning Commissioners, Charters And Business License Fees
It's going to be another interesting week in the land of the Newport-Mesa.
PLANNING COMMISSION MEETINGMonday, July 9th, the Costa Mesa Planning Commission will hold its monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers at City Hall and will have a couple very interesting items on the agenda. It could be a short meeting.
They will consider an ordinance to apply some municipal regulation to the installation of wireless towers in the public right-of-way, HERE. This seems to be an essential piece of regulation because of the proliferation of wireless communication. This photo shows the "unregulated" tower installed not too far from my Eastside home recently. I refer to it as a "super suppository" for very obvious reasons.
REPLACING JIMMY FITZY?
Of more importance, in my view, is the agenda item dealing with candidates to replace resigned Planning Commissioner, Jim Fitzpatrick. The commission, after getting the "who's responsible for what" issue out of the way, will evaluate the candidates and make a recommendation to the City Council for a person to replace Fitzpatrick and serve out the remainder of his term - which ends in January, 2015. Here's the list of candidates. You can read all about them in the staff report, HERE.
Byron de Arakal
James Kane
Marshall Krupp
Paul Loubet
Jeff Mathews
Andrew Pham
Jonathan Zich
James Kane
Marshall Krupp
Paul Loubet
Jeff Mathews
Andrew Pham
Jonathan Zich
Some of those names are very familiar and others are complete unknowns. Reviewing their applications you'll find that some seem to be VERY qualified while others are not. It will be VERY interesting to see how much partisan politics plays a part in this selection.
BUSINESS LICENSE FEE STUDY SESSION
Tuesday, July 10th, the Costa Mesa City Council will have an interesting evening. Right off the top, at a new start time for Study Sessions at 5:00 p.m. in Council Chambers, they will tackle the issue of a possible Business License Fee increase. You can read the staff report, including attachments showing comparisons to local communities and the current system compared to the proposed plan HERE. I find myself wondering if anyone in City government has spoken with the "big dogs" in town - the Segerstroms, Ikea, the new SoCo Collection and representatives from the Harbor Boulevard of Cars? At the top end, the fees would increase from $200 per year to $10,000! Yes, the discussion will be lively.
Then, beginning at 7:00, the council will hold the second and final public hearing on Jim Righeimer's Charter. The staff report is HERE. There seems to be no new information - it's the same old unacceptable Charter that Righeimer crafted by himself to meet his own personal political goals. It is almost certain that he will use his time during this "hearing" to vent his spleen about the recent Vista court decision and to use the recent Stockton bankruptcy and the possible similar fate for Mammoth Lakes to frighten the voters into supporting this bogus document. I put that word, "hearing" in quotes because this council may "hear" this item, but they won't be "listening". NOTE: I used this image of Righeimer and Bell's discredited City Manager, Robert Rizzo, not to imply that Righeimer is dishonest - I don't know if he is or not - but to demonstrate the mischief that can happen with a poorly-crafted Charter.
There's much more to say about things that happened during my brief holiday hiatus - the dramatic jump in violent crime and the new council candidates, for example - but I'll do that in another post soon.
Labels: Business License Fees, Charter City, Jim Fitzpatrick, Jim Righeimer, Robert Rizzo, Wireless Telecommunication
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 7/08/2012 11:58:00 PM
4 Comments:
Krupp won't be planning commissioner that is for sure. He has bad mouthed council, why would they give it to him? Mathews would be OK but short lived as he will win an election this fall, zich has always had an interest and is intelligent so has a shot but my money would be on Byron. He has seen the light politically and though his Return to Reason past is an issue, he has repented and perhaps can be counted on as a guy willing to move forward instead of backward or be one of the go slow wendy types. is he trusted?
ifectiz 32 wrote:
"Krupp won't be planning commissioner that is for sure. He has bad mouthed council, why would they give it to him?..."
Go away Fitzy. Do you have a full-time job or are you just Riggy's "shoeshine" boy?
The PC staff report makes it look like the appt to replace Fitzy is only through January 2013.
I sure don't read it that way. Fitzy's term expires January, 2015. There was confusion initially, which is why the Planning Commission is involved in the first place - they never have before in the past.
I suppose the council could appoint a replacement for Fitzy for the remainder of his term or they could appoint someone to serve until next January, then appoint three commissioners - McCarthy and Clark's terms also expire at that date.
This is actually a corruption of the system - one that takes more time than necessary. The selection of Planning Commissioners IS NOT within the purview of the commission - it belongs soley to the City Council. The council should be making this decision and should have done so at the July 3rd meeting. Having missed that one, they should do it on the 17th. There is no reason to drag this out until August.
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