Monday, February 17, 2014

Catching Up

VIDEOS TO WATCH...
Catching up on some interesting video now available to us for viewing after the fact.

COSTA MESA BRIEF CANDIDATE VIDEOS
Our "pal", Barry Friedland over at Costa Mesa Brief, captured the discussion by 2nd District Supervisorial candidates Allan Mansoor and Michelle Steel at the Newport-Mesa Tea Party confab last Thursday evening.  Each segment is just under 30 minutes long, but are certainly worth viewing - especially if you are searching for information to make an informed decision in the Primary Election in June.  You can watch the Mansoor segment HERE and the Steel segment HERE.  There are two other candidates running for that office, but apparently neither were invited to this event.  In fact, when I asked Tea Party Tom Pollitt about it earlier in the week, he had no clue
 about other candidates.  Then, again....

BARRY'S DOING A GOOD JOB
I must give old Barry credit.  He's providing excellent video coverage of important events in the City.  His coverage, for example, of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District Town Hall last month at which the proposed Organics Recycling program was explained, is quite good.  You can watch that one HERE.

HATCH ON CITY TALK
There's a brand, new City Talk segment available for viewing on the City website, HERE.  Host Dane Bora asks City Chief Executive Officer Tom Hatch a variety of questions about the current state of affairs in the city.  Viewing this clip will be thirty minutes well-spent.

In wrapping up the segment Bora asked Hatch a series of four questions.  The last one went like this:

Bora - "If you could grant one wish for Costa Mesa, what would that be?"

Hatch - "A more, ah, civil discussion about, ah, about, ah, moving this community forward.  We're doing some great things.  We have a lot of great people who care deeply and love this town.  Ah, we, ah, our tone and approach is, ah, is, makes it hard.  And, we have such strong opinions, and change is difficult and so, I hope we have more of a civil discussion moving forward.

WHAT WAS HE THINKING?...
I've replayed that segment a couple of times.  I'm sure Hatch is correct - a more civil discourse could make it easier to move forward.  I found myself wondering just who he might have been thinking of as he haltingly uttered those words.  Was he thinking about the cadre of concerned residents who take time from their lives to study important issues, then present themselves before the City Council and other official bodies to offer their questions and views?

Or, might he have been thinking about some current elected officials who sometimes veer from the path of civility when addressing folks speaking to them, and other council members, as well?

Or, might he have been thinking about those of us who write critically about issues and events in The City?

Or, was he contemplating all of the above?

AN EARLY NIGHT TOMORROW?  WE'LL SEE...
Tomorrow's City Council meeting, which gives the appearance of being relatively brief, may surprise us.  Much depends on how many speakers take the time to exercise their right to address concerns with the council - even though Mayor Jim Righeimer continues to fine-tune his obstructionist moves to keep that from happening.  I'm predicting a departure by 10:25 p.m.  We'll see.

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5 Comments:

Anonymous Terry Koken said...

"There was a wicked messenger, from Eli he did come,
With a mind that multiplied the smallest matter;
When they asked him who had sent for him, he answered with his thumb,
For his tongue, it could not speak, but only blather."
Bob Dylan

2/17/2014 07:25:00 PM  
Anonymous Arthur Nern said...

Yes Mr. Hatch, a civil discussion is in order. Despite the damage to the city since 2010, we can still be civil and say, "Jim, we wish you well in your new home in Moreno Valley."

2/18/2014 04:54:00 AM  
Anonymous Arthur Nern said...

@Terry:
"You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."
Bob Dylan

2/18/2014 05:00:00 AM  
Anonymous Where's My Coffee? said...

A lot of rhetoric from a guy who has done virtually nothing. Now he wants a new level so he can do more nothing?

2/18/2014 09:45:00 AM  
Anonymous Terry Koken said...

Continuing in the same vein, "Don't think twice -- it's all right."

Seems as though the CEO's favorite vocalized pause (most people just say "uh, uh, uh") is the phrase "moving forward". He uses it, or a slight variation on it, at least four times in this video.

My take: Hatch doesn't deserve the totality of blame for the current state of affairs, moving forward. He looks like a man constrained to sit between hammer and anvil. Moving forward. I consider that under a more reasonable city council, moving forward, he would be a better city manager (but not a CEO).

See you at council meeting tonight. Moving forward.

2/18/2014 04:17:00 PM  

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