More On The Week Ahead
You'll recall that I mentioned last week that this coming week is going to be hectic. Well, it just got MORE hectic. Taking it from the top...
TUESDAY, MAY, 28TH
Budget Study Session
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At 4:30 p.m. the City Council will hold a Special Study Session on the 2013-2014 Preliminary Budget in Conference Room 1A. A meeting of the Finance Advisory Committee, scheduled for earlier in the day, has been canceled so those members can attend this study session. Finance and Information Technology Director will lead a discussion to look for ways to resolve the current $12 million deficit. This meeting, usually anticipated for 90 minutes, may run much longer.. which leads us to the next meeting.City Council Closed Session
Scheduled at 6:00, but will probably be held immediately following the Budget Study Session, the City Council will hold a Special City Council Closed Session meeting to hear from labor negotiators. The public may not attend this meeting. Planning Commission
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29TH
The Pension Oversight Committee seems to have a full agenda for its meeting Wednesday in Conference Room 1A, HERE. I'm still curious about the precise mission of this group, since there is virtually nothing they can do about our pension situation.
THURSDAY, MAY 30TH
Meet The Mayor?It's unclear whether Mayor Jim Righeimer will, in fact, hold another in his series of "Meet The Mayor" events at a venue somewhere in town. When that is confirmed I'll announce it for you.
FRIDAY, MAY 31ST - SUNDAY, JUNE 2ND
Fish Fry
The 66th Annual Costa Mesa/Newport Harbor Lions Club Fish Fry at Fairview Park kicks off Friday night for rides only. The famous fried fish and games continue on Saturday and Sunday.
Costa Mesa Community Run
On Sunday, June 2nd the Costa Mesa Community Run will be conducted, also at Fairview Park and in conjunction with the Fish Fry.
Just a thought... all these meetings take up a heck of a lot of staff time, both for the preparation and attendance at the meetings themselves. I find myself wondering just how exhausted these staffers must be these days. And this doesn't even take into account those council members and commissioners who prowl the corridors of City Hall, taking up valuable staff time with inappropriate requests. It's clear that the city policy that specifically forbids council members from giving direction to members of the staff is being ignored by more than one such person. Somebody - CEO Tom Hatch - should set them straight and do so promptly.
Labels: Budget Proposal, Costa Mesa Community Run, Costa Mesa Planning Commission, Fish Fry, General Plan, Jim Fitzpatrick, Pension Oversight Committee
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 5/27/2013 10:49:00 PM
23 Comments:
Yes,Mr. West, "Meet the Mayor" continues but it has been renamed "Meet the Developer," and it will be help either at OCGOP headquarters in Newport Beach, or a beautiful Caribbean resort. Bloggers won't be credentialed.Only minions and contributors of $1,000.00 will be welcome.
so if the council and commissions are taking up staff time inappropiately by roaming the halls asking questions, how do you feel about members of the public asking for multitudes of public records requests, week after week? They are absolutely draining staff resources in what appears to be a "denial of service" type event of serial pr requests. Is that inappropriate? Or valuable? How does a commissioner or committee member question rank vs. public records requests. abuse is abuse or info is info. which is it? and definitely no credentials for bloggers at the meet the mayor event. just come as public, not fantasy press. go to home depot and buy a knob that says "press" and be happy. (look closely, some say "pull", get the right one)
Yes. We should do a request and compare. How much does Wendy request for meaningless things. And how much time does Sandy waste beating up on staff to demonstrate who knows more about planning issues.
Let's ask how much time is wasted with this blogger taking up valuable time knowing the people have a full plate.
Who is the mole that reports to an angry blogger about who is doing what and where?
Does city hall have a policy against cruising the internet or calling angry old bloggers on company time?
Come on Geoff! Spineless Hatch isnt going to enforce anything. Hes lucky they havent fired him for failing to rid of those city employees.
Get ready for another dog and pony show with made up numbers folks.
As to how staff is holding up...well, the ones who sold their souls to the 5th floor are resting easy for now until they get canned.
Why dont we get the results of the listening group to see what lies they tell about how happy our employees are! I dont know about you but id be so happy to work for a place who is constantly trying to find new ways to get rid of me! May I have yet another pink slip?
"badges..." good idea on the "press" knobs at home depot. I am gonna get one for little johnny.
Have they determined when the special meeting for the general plan update will be presented to the Building Industry Association? It still says the time "will be determined". Should be an eye opener. The BIA gave almost $15,000 in the last election season, laundered through the sham PAC front called the Orange County Jobs Coalition. Guess it's time for pay back.
Oh.....and another thing. Previewing the General Plan housing element report, got a little vomit in the back of my throat , reading the City spin on Righeimers "Granny unit ordinance". The City is claiming adherence to the standards of promoting secondary housing units being as an element in the plan.
Thats just a load of "horse apples".
Righeimer decimated the ability of R! homeowners in this city to build additional housing on their properties. His flippant adjustment to the lot requirements of a minimum 8500 sq ft. disqualified 92% of this cities homeowners of that privilege.
In the General Plan Housing Element they keep stating they are in adherence with the spirit of promoting secondary units because they "updated" the ordinance in 2011. What they don't mention is that the "update" basically ELIMINATED the ability to build any. .....OK got that outta my system.
NOTE:
The City announced that Mayor Jim Righeimer will hold his "Meet The Mayor" event on Thursday, May 30th at the Tower on 19th Sreet (formerly Bethel Towers) , 678 W. 19th Street from 6-7:30 p.m.
Community residents are welcome to ask any questions of the mayor at that time.
"Badges" there is a distinct difference between a citizen's legal right to request public information and a council member's specific prohibition on interfering with the city's employees' work or giving them direct orders.
Perhaps, if the Council respected all the law and statute they swore to uphold, fewer citizens would feel the need to check by requesting so many records.
Gericault, what planet do you live on? $15,000 from BIA? What about the $500,000 PLUS poured into our last election by unions? What about their payback? By your logic, Wendy and Sandy are totally corrupt.
R1 zones are single-family zones, not multi-family. With the legislative removal of age restrictions, "granny-units" became unrestricted rentals. No one wants that in already overcrowded R1 zones.
What do you stand for?
I agree with "CORRUPTION"'s reply to Gericault. Gericault is a serious student of governance and his opinions must be respected but he knows how to spin and leave out the damning union monies and their results. That is how the game is played now, it is personal, not so full of facts, and now that every citizen can go safely blast away at electeds during public comments it will be interesting to see how far he and others will go. will comments be limited to supposed corruption, or calling their wives ho's, or nasty names all in defense of their "rights" to blast away. Benito calling the mayor a f****ing racist pig must make them happy. idiots. when you have no logical answer, yell and call names. especially nazi, racist,"Bell" etc. sad really. but that is how they were brought up. pray for their children
Mary Anne,
many of the PR requesters are self annointed watchdogs who feel important in that they can fill out the request form and make staff jump through hoops. hinders the ability of staff to concentrate on important issues. Most of the info is on the website actually, they are just lazy. pathetic really.
"Jump To It" - I don't deny that there are many requests, but there can be no demand to "jump to it" as there is a prescribed process.
On the other hand, there is a "jump to it"policy barked by certain council members despite specific ordinance that bans the behavior.
They both require time, but one is allowed by law and the other is not. There is a difference.
And to "Corruption", what do last election's contributions have to do with Wendy? She wasn't running.
I am all for good debate, but there has to be some logic to the arguments, folks.
Having the Meet the Mayor event at the Tower is a great idea with all the major construction going there, the complete lack of parking and a bunch of pissed off seniors who feel as though this City Council have abandoned them.
Can't wait for this one.
@CORRUPTION!!!!
FYI: We already have an overcrowding issue in R1 neighborhoods due to "Homeowners" that collect monthly rents on their un-used bedrooms which do not require 2 designated on-site parking spaces like legally permitted "granny flats". And if you don't believe me, check out Craigslist mid-summer before school starts. There will plenty of ads for you to view.
I know that some of my nearby R1 "Homeowner" neighbors rent rooms to wealthy foreign students that attend OCC & UCI. Two very lucrative "room for rent" leases will cover their entire mortgage payment! At least I don't have to deal with multiple 3-4 person families renting rooms like my friend on the Westside. She's got it way, way, WAY, worse over there!
In the mean time, my fellow "homeowner neighbors" and I have to habitually park up the street, and around the corner from our own homes so our elderly parents & visitors can park safely on our driveways.
All these so-called R1 "Homeowners" are essentially Mom & Pop landlords that don't pay the City, State, or Feds any taxes on their lucrative "R1" property rental business income. And they ultimately create "family-neighborhood" nuisances more so than any legally permitted "granny flat".
Stop complaining about citizen watchdogs, have a drink, chillax, and come MEET THE DEVELOPER on May 30th at The Tower!
Free blueprints and zoning apps for everyone!
Free Diet Coke with receipts!
The Developer Pro Tem will be doing Football Face Painting!
Everyone in attendance will receive an autographed copy of the Developer's new book "How to Win Friends and Influence People with a Charter!"
Mary Ann,
Wendy was a chief foe of the charter, campaigning from the dais on a bi-weekly basis. If you want to get technical, lets go back to the election before that, where she was the beneficiary of massive public employee union dollars, a big influx of which came right after she reneged on her promise to reform public employee pensions. Not a get set of facts to point out...
R1 Musical,
R1 is R1, regardless of what people are doing, and allowing a second unit, parked or no, makes it multi-family. Nope.
Corruption?
Now who's lying like a rug?
I was the on the receiving end of those "massive amounts" of "union cash", of which you know absolutely none of the specifics.
Wendy Leece got mentioned on a one dual late election campaign mailer. It was a complete independent expenditure of which she had no knowledge or any idea we were even doing it.
Unlike Colin McCarthy, in this last election, who, as a candidate, isn't supposed to have any communication with PACs about independent expenditures, but he's listed as a cash recipient. He received money as a consultant on campaign literature he was forbidden by law to even know about. All of that money came from the BIA, thru the The OC Jobs Coalition, which I have never even seen listed with the CA SOS. The only reason I know they got the money is because the BIA actually lists who they made the checks out to.
As for R1's , you should read the Housing Element report and then speak. You obviously know less about that than you do about the campaign cash awash in this city. Mensinger spent over $7 bucks per vote,.......Sandy Genis spent about $1.75 a vote and just trounced him.
anollob The General Plan Update meeting with the BIA is set for 10 AM on Wednesday, May 29th, in Conference Room 1A. It is open to the public.
Gericault,
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quid+pro+quo?s=t
Maybe someone from a public safety "association" can explain it to you.
Monahan made the majority on that vote you keep tarring Weny Leece with, but for some reason you never mention that. The new contract with the employees passed 3-2. Monahan, Leece , Foley voting yes, Bever, Mansoor voting no.
Quid pro quo for the Apartment Associations and Senior Living Developers happened when the R1 granny ordinance was written to disenfranchise 92% of the homeowners. To try and twist it in the Housing Element portion of our General plan as a positive, is just a bald faced lie.
Affordable Housing is a strong component in building a sustainable community. Without that, we i end up with over crowding and slum conditions, of which I think you know what I am referring to. I can show you the properties. The alternative universe this City is trying to paint in the housing element is a joke. Rents are up 23%. Wages are stagnant. The population is getting older. It takes a minimum yearly salary of $107,000 a year to buy a median home, $68,000 a year to rent an apartment. Yet, the one area where the council really is trying their hardest is in trying to suppress wages for the working stiffs, while simultaneously going after the Homeless and people in Motels. See the disconnect?
The only solution being planned to actually transport our workforce into the city is a pay to play toll lane on the freeway by the OCTA.
Newport Beach has R1 "granny units" being built by the developers. They just call them " maids quarters", and guess what? They rent out just as easily.
car·pet·bag·ger/ˈkɑrpɪtˌbægər/
1. U.S. History . a Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War and became active in Republican politics, especially so as to profiteer from the unsettled social and political conditions of the area during Reconstruction.
2. any opportunistic or exploitive outsider: Our bus company has served this town for years, but now the new one run by carpetbaggers from the city is stealing our business.
3. Napoleon Righeimer, who moved to Costa Mesa from Fountain Valley.
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