Smart Growth Initiative Petitions Submitted To City
Early this afternoon representatives of the grass roots organization Costa Mesa First trekked to Costa Mesa City Hall to turn in 427 Petition pages bearing more than 6,900 signatures in an attempt to qualify their so-called Smart Growth Initiative for the November, 2016 ballot. Fighting a cold, I chose to stay home rather than attend and spread that "wealth", but you can read Bradley Zint's first person account in the Daily Pilot HERE. And, you can read the entire initiative plus the City Attorney summary on the Costa Mesa First website, HERE. (Photo credits to Mary Spadoni)
Former City Councilman Jay Humphrey, one of those very busy activists who created this initiative, was on hand for the event and presented the pile of paper - 11 inches - to City Clerk Brenda Green.
The signature gathering process has taken months and the deadline was this week. The husband and wife team of Rick Huffman and Cynthia McDonald plus the tireless Mary Spadoni were also on hand. According to Zint, and others, a total of 6,918 signatures were presented and 6,908 will be delivered to the Orange County Registrar of Voters Tuesday so he can begin the certification of the signatures. 4,995 were required to qualify for the ballot.
As you read Zint's article you'll find quotations from Mayor Steve Mensinger and Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer. Perhaps the funniest one was attributed by Zint to Mensinger. He apparently said, "It's bad for public safety". Really? This from a guy who has made life miserable for the Costa Mesa Public Safety family ever since he took office, teaming with Righeimer to create such a toxic work environment that many seasoned police officers have bailed out.
DEVELOPER GRAVY TRAIN
Both Mensinger and Righeimer are developers themselves, and have made life easy for their pals in the development business by creating a Small Lot Ordinance which codified many variances to normal projects - making it easier for their pals to put up projects that would have been questionable in the past.
Kudos to those mentioned above, plus the dozens of other volunteers who walked neighborhoods and set up tables on street corners to gather signatures. We should know later this month just how many of those signatures made the cut. If there are more than 4,995 then the initiative will appear on the November ballot. If it qualifies you can expect a full court press by Mensinger, Righeimer and their sycophants on the Planning Commission, PLUS a ton of money coming into the city from developers to fight this. It's going to be especially interesting for Mensinger, who will likely run for re-election. It will be interesting to see how he fabricates the "facts" of this initiative while trying to get people to believe him. It's going to be an interesting year, for sure.
Labels: Bradley Zint, Costa Mesa First, Cynthia McDonald, Jay Humphrey, Mary Spadoni, Rick Huffman, Smart Growth Initiative
posted by The Pot Stirrer at 1/04/2016 10:41:00 PM
5 Comments:
Wow! that's a lot of signatures! Great job, CM1st and a great way to make an event out of presenting the petitions. I especially like the photo of Daily Pilot powerhouse reporter Brad Zint taking a photo. That's cute.
Uh oh. This isn't what Riggy and Stevie promised their buddies. The Lincoln Club is very upset that its two Costa Mesa puppets are not performing well. A new paint job and new strings might be coming...
Sycophants Colon, Dickson, Andranian, Sesler, and Mathews on the planning commission are seeing their little political aspirations slowly go down the drain as their leaders are out maneuvered and replaced with a new majority. No more reassuring texts, phone calls, or perks from the Bobsey Twins; just outhouse overfill.
Hurray, its going to be on the ballot. We had a 98% success rate while gathering signatures. Now there will be a ton of developer money, and negativity from the councilMEM toward this initiative. I saw Mensinger's comments, but they were just too stupid and laughable to even respond to. The only way it will hurt public safety is to add so many more people that they will have a hard time trying to provide service with the extremely low personnel numbers they now have to work with. And, bad for business? A business is only as good as the ability of people to get there. With little to no parking you cannot eat, shop or buy unless you can get out of your car, much less get there in the first place with all the traffic. (Oh yeah, I forgot. According to Mensinger and Righeimer, thats all a figment of our imaginations.)
Congratulations Costa Mesa. You are taking back your city. Don't believe the crap from city hall. They'd rather lie to your faces than give up their lucrative business deals.
Steve Mensinger doesn't believe in "Ballot Box voting"? He said that? I'm not questioning Brad - he's a careful reporter and goodness knows Costa Mesa gives him lots of fodder. How does Mr. Mensinger propose America should govern itself then? What a dumb thing to say. He does so much better when he keeps his mouth shut. Oh, maybe this is why he wants the City to stop filming and airing candidates forums.
Congratulations and Thank You to Costa Mesa First and
all who worked so hard to make this possible.
Will Righeimer and Mensinger use their Council Comments
minutes tonight to rail against the initiative?
Will they spew lie after lie about how it will "kill business"
and "destroy" our city when it in fact it will save it??
I believe they will.
The only "business" it destroys are their agreements with
their developer buddies who expect a big return for their
campaign contributions.
Sorry council guys, our city, its residents and future are
more important.
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