McCarthy Paints A Picture Of Graffiti

IT'S OLD NEWS
On Saturday the Daily Pilot published a commentary by Costa Mesa Planning Commissioner Colin McCarthy, HERE, in which he bemoans the graffiti problem in our city and outlines his view of "solutions". While accurate, McCarthy's observations are not new - we've heard the same laments in this city for more than a decade.

THREE-PRONGED ATTACK
McCarthy places the needs in three categories - Enforcement, Prevention and Planning.

TOUGHER ENFORCEMENT
He suggests a tougher anti-graffiti ordinance similar to one passed in Santa Ana which nails the parents of offending graffiti artists and taggers for the clean-up costs and penalties.

PREVENTION - WHAT ABOUT INTERVENTION?
He, correctly, postulates that prevention is an important element in the control of graffiti. He did not use the word "intervention", though, which was disappointing. The current council majority has already let us know, loud and clear, that they don't think intervention should be part of the solution. Mayor Mansoor and his cronies feel that enforcement alone should be the solution to graffiti in Costa Mesa, despite the fact that every credible expert on this issue states the opposite view. This is just another example of the prevailing philosophy on the council dais that refuses to be influenced by facts once they have their narrow minds made up.

CAN HE CONVINCE THE COUNCIL?
It will be great news for our city if McCarthy, using all his lawyerly skills, is able to convince members of the council majority that intervention is an important element in reducing graffiti. However, if by ignoring intervention in his commentary, he has joined the council majority view, that is not good news. Until we take positive action to provide alternatives to tagging and graffiti for our young folks, this plague will continue to affect our city.

"GRAFFITI NOT A LATINO PROBLEM"
His final category, Planning, is very interesting because he states, "Graffiti is not a Latino problem or a Caucasian problem; it's a housing problem. Graffiti festers and spreads near our high-density rental housing." He goes on to address the fact that our city is upside-down from a housing standpoint, with too many rental units when compared to owner-occupied homes. This is not a new observation. It's one that Mansoor and others have complained about for years - even though, ironically, Mansoor is a renter in this city.

"THE MOUTH" CHIMES IN...
Well, that comment got the attention of one of his Mesa North neighbors - the guy I refer to as The Mouth - who posted a lengthy tome on his blog once again re-stating HIS solution. That solution is to plow under the apartment buildings that he, and apparently McCarthy, feel are the problem.

SWAMPS AND ALLIGATORS
The Mouth has, for years, ranted and raved about what he calls "slums" in our city and has used the metaphor of draining the swamp (eliminating the apartment houses) so the alligators will leave. Those "alligators" are the members of Costa Mesa's Latino population - roughly one-third of our residents.

MC CARTHY AND "THE MOUTH"
I don't want to demonize McCarthy by lumping him with The Mouth philosophically. My opinion, supported by his writings and actions, is that The Mouth is a flat-out racist who will only be happy when the last non-white person leaves our city. I give McCarthy the benefit of the doubt when it comes to associating him with his neighbor - until he demonstrates otherwise.

WHERE ARE THE SOLUTIONS?
I don't disagree with McCarthy's assessment of the problem, but kind of expected more from him in the way of solutions. Since he's a lawyer who works in the real estate arena, I hoped he might have some new light to shed on how we might legally shift the renters vs. owners imbalance in our city. I suspect that, as long as apartment owners associations continue to pump campaign dollars into local elections it's going to be difficult to actually make the changes.

NO BUCKS FOR APARTMENT REMOVAL
If part of the solution is to rid our city of apartment buildings, that requires lots of money. We need to buy the property and also pay huge relocation fees to the current residents. In these difficult financial times, that's just not going to happen. And, because of the current trends in housing, I expect a greater demand for rental units as opposed to owner-occupied housing in our city for years to come.


ENFORCEMENT and INTERVENTION
In my opinion, the only real solutions available to us are a tightening of our graffiti ordinance and enforcement thereof AND the establishment, with the school district, of a solid intervention program to re-direct the energies and artistic urges of those young people currently or contemplating tagging.

LET "GOD" HANDLE IT

Or, now that we've got Wendy Leece's motto, "In God We Trust", hanging on the wall behind the dais in the council chambers, maybe we can just depend on divine intervention to take care of the graffiti problem.

(photo courtesy of the Daily Pilot)

Fairgrounds, Huscroft House, Skosh and God

DERAIL THE SALE!
Here's my question for the day... Is there any resident of Orange County who actually wants the Fairgrounds to be sold? Other than the current Fair Board, that is... Based on the recent public meetings held in Costa Mesa, I'd say the answer is a resounding NO!

FOLEY AND LEECE LEAD THE WAY
Last night the Costa Mesa City Council, following an outstanding presentation by Councilwoman Katrina Foley and Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece, heard dozens of residents and other stakeholders present their individual views on this subject. Heck, they were even serenaded by blogger Vern Nelson, who appeared in a red, hooded cape, and sang "Tainted Sale" to the music of "Tainted Love", which brought down the house. Even Mayor Allan Mansoor cheered him when he finished.

HISTORY AND PLANS OUTLINED
Foley and Leece outlined the history of this sale scheme and gave the audience the time line that we face if the sale is to be stopped. They also presented the steps the City is taking to slam the door on potential buyers. It was announced that, during their closed session meeting, the council had agreed to proceed with plans to make a bid outright for the Fairgrounds and authorized spending $250,000 dollars of staff time toward that planning.

THREE-PRONGED ACTION
The upshot of the meeting was a three-pronged motion presented by Foley. To quote Foley, "The first part is to prepare a letter to all Orange County legislators and Speaker of the Assembly requesting that they put forth legislation to cancel the sale. The second part to prepare a letter signed by all of the city council members to demand that the governor terminate the sale. And, thirdly, to authorize member Leece and myself to personally communicate our city's position to the governor, state elected and local officials and representatives to work with the City Manager in making it our top priority to stop the sale." The motion passed unanimously. Now the hard work begins because the time constraints and holidays will severely tax a staff thinned by budget constraints.

FAIR BOARD TO BE INVESTIGATED?
One interesting issue was broached by one speaker - that of the possible illegality on the part of the Fair Board and their hired representative in the sale of the Fair. As mentioned in an earlier post, R. Scott Moxley at the OC Weekly, HERE, indicated that the county attorney was pursuing legal action. The Orange County Register, HERE, further reported today that the State Attorney General declined to investigate because he is the legal counsel for the Fair Board. The buck has been passed back to the county, where District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will be asked to investigate this allegation. It was also suggested that Federal authorities take part in this investigation.

WHERE WAS RIGGY?
Another question arose as I watched the proceedings on television tonight - where's Riggy? Costa Mesa Planning Commission Chairman Jim Righeimer has been omnipresent at every other meeting on this subject and had begun his own effort to place the subject on the ballot. He's been taking a lot of flack over the past week or so for his censoring of comments on his Save The Fair web site and, reports have it, that he's had at least one toe-to-toe heated discussion with a member of the public who questioned his motives.

HE'S STILL A CARPETBAGGER...
My opinion of Riggy has not changed over the past couple years. I've referred to him as a carpetbagging political opportunist, who used his GOP connections to get himself appointed to the Planning Commission after helping get Mansoor re-elected two years ago after having resided in Costa Mesa for only a few months. I don't like his heavy-handed approach on the Planning Commission, which is now made all the more onerous because he's been joined by Steve Mensinger and Colin McCarthy - all three have strong developer ties. To me, that's like asking the fox to be housemother in the chicken coop.

A NEW LOWER PROFILE?
I was suspicious of his motivation with his Save The Fair scheme and the passage of time has done nothing to change my opinion. Hopefully, the council action last night will eliminate any need for him to insert himself into this process.

A GIFT THAT KEEPS ON TAKING...
A sidebar at the meeting was the concern expressed by several residents about the evolving sale of the Huscroft House on Bernard Street. After the city bent over backwards helping the buyer of that derelict building in the form of financial incentives and relaxation of zoning issues, it seems the owner has sold the place to an outfit that plans to use if for a recovery home! Actually, it sounds like it's a series of recovery homes, to stay within the 6-person-per-house rule.

NEIGHBORS APPREHENSIVE
This has created much angst among residents along that street, several of whom have purchased homes in an adjacent development assuming the Huscroft House would remain an owner-occupied dwelling and be an anchor of a revitalized section of the Westside of town.

THANK YOU, LINDA DIXON
This whole deal was bad from the beginning, but then-councilwoman Linda Dixon carried the torch for that ramshackle building and the council at the time got snookered. When will we learn? The City Attorney will investigate to see what, if anything, can be done. They shouldn't hold their breath, as our friends down in Newport Beach can tell you.


MONAHAN WAS CITED AND FINED
On the subject of councilman Gary Monahan's illegal banner on his pub, city officials tell me he was issued a citation late last week and has 30 days in which to pay the $75.00 fine and remove the banner. If he fails to do so he will be cited again, this time with a $200.00 fine and another 30 days to take the banner down. If he continues to thumb his nose at the city he will be cited a third time and fined $500.00. If he doesn't remove the banner after that citation the issue will be turned over to the city prosecutor for disposition. We all remember what a bang-up job he did with the Benito Acosta criminal trial, don't we? He dropped the ball and the case was dismissed.

ABUSE OF POWER
I expect Monahan will continue to rack up the fines and write them off as a cost of doing business. The time line above will take him through the football season. However, I fully expect to see another similar illegal banner in March, advertising March Madness, and the process will begin all over again. As I've said before, Monahan seems more than willing to abuse his position on the council for his own personal gain and ignore any rules he doesn't like. Thanks to all of you who voted him back into office after a dozen years of these kinds of shenanigans.

IT'S OFFICIAL - "IN GOD WE TRUST"
Oh, yes... at the end of the council meeting, after many impassioned speakers on both sides of the issue, the council agreed with Wendy Leece and voted, 5-0, to hang the motto, "In God We Trust", in bold brass letters on the wall behind the speaker's dais. Of the many excellent presentations we heard on this issue, Byron de Arakal's suggestion struck me as the best compromise. He thought, if we really had to have a patriotic phrase hanging behind the council, it should be the first three words of the Constitution- "We, the people"... I agree.


A WORD OF CAUTION
I encourage the city staff to use great care when placing that motto on the wall behind the Mayor's chair. We sure don't want Mayor Mansoor to look like the motto is running through his head - even though it would likely find no obstruction to impede it.

Fair Quicksand, "God" and Monahan Thumbs His Nose

THE FAIRGROUNDS PLOT THICKENS
This whole "Fairgrounds Sale" plot continues to thicken. Right now it must be feeling like quicksand to a few politicians around Orange County. For example, over at the OC Weekly's Navelgazing site, R. Scott Moxley has produced an interesting investigative piece entitled, " County Lawyer Seeks State Probe of OC Fair Privatization Plan". You can read it HERE. Moxley discusses the role former Senator Dick Ackerman may have had as a hired gun for the Fair Board in their role in getting a For Sale sign placed on the Orange County Fair and Exhibits Center. This has been nibbled at by several bloggers for several weeks, but the news of an official investigation is HUGE! There are times when being a Republican can be a painful experience.

A LETTER TO ARNOLD
Tuesday the Costa Mesa City Council will debate Katrina Foley and Wendy Leece's proposal and vote on whether to send a letter to the governor requesting him to quash the sale. Another full council chambers is anticipated as stakeholders and other residents line up along the walls to express their concerns. Let's hope a certain Mesa North resident shows up on time so he can get a seat and not be asked to leave the auditorium, as was the case a week ago. Of course, an auditorium without him in it will be an improvement in the air quality all by itself.

NON-BELIEVERS BEWARE
And, of course, following that item on the agenda Leece will overlay her personal religious views on city business and ask the council to place the motto, "In God We Trust" behind them on the wall of the chambers. According to her warped public comment, placing that motto will make us "more patriotic". Give me a break! Someone needs to remind Wendy that we do not live in a theocracy! Based on public comments by Mayor Mansoor and Councilman Gary Monahan, it seems like Leece has the votes, so every person who enters the chambers to do business before the city will be reminded of the city's religious affiliation. Yep, if you don't believe in "God" or believe in many "gods", don't expect to get a fair hearing in Costa Mesa, where "In God We Trust". If you're an agnostic, atheist, sun-worshiper or if, for whatever reason, you choose to rely on yourself rather than put your blind faith in a supreme being, you're out of luck in Costa Mesa. Don't come whining about not being treated fairly, either, because you will have been warned by that big, embossed sign behind The Mayor's head that tells you, "In God We Trust". Oh, and don't worry about the cost because city officials tell us it will be covered by private donations. Great - Wendy has co-conspirators, willing to pony up less than a thousand bucks for the sign.

MONAHAN THUMBS HIS NOSE AT CITY RULES
By the way, Councilman Skosh Monahan still has the illegal "Sunday Football" sign up on his building. I told you earlier that the deadline for him to remove it was last Wednesday. I guess the rules are made for someone besides Monahan - something to remember when he asks you to name him the directly-elected Mayor for life next year. This is just one more example of why he got into politics in the first place - to get what he can for himself by using his position and power to bend the rules in his favor. He's the perfect example of why you just can't trust politicians to do the right thing most of the time.