HOUSING OPPORTUNITY WORKSHOP - 7/30/25

 WHAT AND WHERE?

Wednesday evening around 60 of your friends and neighbors attended the first of what is supposed to be 10 opportunities for us to express our preferences on the types of new housing being planned for Costa Mesa.  It began at 6:00 p.m. and was scheduled to run a couple hours. Seating was available for 70 and, when counting city staff and consultants, there may have been 90 souls in the Norma Hertzog Community Center.  I left shortly after 7:00.

GRUB AND KID-FRIENDLY

Refreshments were provided and there was a little table with coloring supplies for children attending.  I did see a couple children last night.

PHOTOS MAY HELP

I’ve included several photos of the evening, which might help give you a sense of the event.

THE THEME

The evening was themed “Neighborhoods where we all belong.”  

CARRIE KICKS IT OFF

Carrie Tai, our new Director of Economic and Development Services, kicked the evening off, then handed the proceedings off to representatives of the Dudek organizations - consultants for this process.  In addition to their team there were many members of the Development Services staff on hand to answer questions.  And, for the most part, there was good outreach to non-English speakers via translators - a very welcome change from years past.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS, PLUS

As anticipated, many of the usual resident activists attended this meeting to learn and opine.  I will list a few I recognized.  I saw council members Arlis Reynolds and Jeff Pettis, Planning Commission Chairman Jeffrey Harlan and current commissioners David Martinez and Angely Andrade Vallarta. Arts Commissioner Charlene Ashendorf and her hubby, Dennis were there.  Former councilman Jay Humphrey and his wife Sally were in the crowd, as was former councilwoman Wendy Leece and former Planning Commissioner Diane Russell.  Major property owner George Sakioka and current FIPAC committee member Ralph Taboada attended. Uber activists Cynthia McDonald and her hubby, Rick Huffman attended, as did my pal and super-blogger Jenn Tanaka of Goat Hill Rodeo fame.  I also saw Daily Pilot ace reporter Sara Cardine chatting with attendees and taking notes.  There were also a couple photographers scampering around, but I didn’t recognize them.

MANY NEW FACES

I was encouraged by the number of new, young faces in the small crowd last night.  After all, this will be their city and they need to express their wishes in this kind of setting.

SHORT VIDEO

Following the presentation of a short video which explained why we were there - too many people, not enough housing, and expensive housing when it is available.  We learned that Costa Mesa has 100,000 jobs, and that 7,000 were added in the last 10 years.  We were told the average home price exceeds $1,000,000 and that the average monthly rent is over $2,400.

BREAKOUT!

Following the video we were permitted to scatter around the room, view the various display boards and either affix “dots” where we could indicate choices or scribble post-it notes with suggestions/preferences.

WHAT DID THEY WANT?

Many attendees carefully crafted Post-it notes asking for things like "Affordability", 

"Safety", "Schools", "Affordable Senior Housing", "Pathway to Home Ownership", "More Light At Night For Residential", "Trees For Shade", "Mixed Use", and more.

WHAT THEN?

I was told that the information provided will be homogenized and blended with information for the remaining 9 similar opportunities for community members to gather and opine scheduled for the rest of this year.  Those meetings will take place throughout the city at different venues.  The data will then be compiled and presented to the Planning Commission and City Council sometime next year.

OBSERVATIONS

I noted with great interest that there was no mention of the Fairview Developmental Center property as an “Opportunity Site”, even though that more than 100 acre site could resolve many of our housing needs.  I also noted that only slight mention was made of the State-mandated RHNA numbers - 11,760 housing units demanded by the state for our city.  That, of course, is the prime motivator for this entire exercise.

BEEN THERE - DONE THAT

I came away with the feeling of deja vu - like we’ve been here before.  Yes, the folks from Dudek are bright and professional and have a proven system for gathering public opinion on these kind of issues.  Yes, the City Staff was helpful answering questions.  I’m concerned that this has been a long time coming and that it could get mired in the “process”, as has been the case many times in the past.  Several of us have gone through these kinds of exercises before, only to find the “progress” seemed to be slogging through quicksand.  We shall see.

AWAITING THE GOAT WRANGLER’S TAKE

I expect my pal, the Goat Wrangler, will provide us with a much better, more thorough account of this meeting.  When she does I will share the link to it on my Facebook page. 

MY OPINION?

Well, because we’re a 99% built-out city, Measure K authorizes us to re-zone certain commercial and industrial areas to accommodate housing and the ONLY way to make that work is to go UP!  (The image shown here shows those areas, although they should have used darker colors.)  Yeah, I know -  “Up” is a nasty word, but it’s a fact of life. We’re just going to have to figure out how to carefully plan for nearly 12,000 new dwelling units and the nearly 30,000 new residents they will accommodate.  Our neighbors in the City of Irvine have figured it out, which you can see in the Jamboree corridor north of the 405 freeway.  And, they’ve managed to soften the impact of big complexes by using lots of large trees! Traffic and parking will be HUGE considerations, too, as will the need for more schools, shopping areas, fire stations and police officers to keep us all safe.

FINGERS CROSSED FOR PROGRESS

In the meantime, I will keep my fingers tightly crossed that this process will move forward with quickness and, by this time next year, we will have some sense of what our city leaders plan to do on our behalf.  Of course, that will be in the middle of the runup to the 2026 municipal elections, when the balance of power on our city council could change dramatically.  As I said… we shall see.  

WATCH FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

Be alert for future similar meetings, where details can be fleshed out with consultants and staff.  It’s a chance for you to voice your opinion on what our city will look like downstream.

New Senior Commissioners Sworn-in And Briefed

 NEW COMMISSIONERS TAKE THE OATH
The new (well, mostly new, since Gary Parkin and Lee Ramos were re-appointed after serving on the commission previously) Costa Mesa Senior Commission met this morning just after sunrise - that's how 9:00 a.m. felt to me, anyhow - at the Costa Mesa Senior Center for the first time for this group.

ASHENDORF AND NEFT TO LEAD THE GROUP
Costa Mesa City Clerk Brenda Green was on hand to swear-in the commissioners and to facilitate the selection of a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson.  The human energizer bunny, Charlene Ashendorf, was chosen unanimously by her peers as Chairperson.  Darrell Neft was chosen as Vice Chairman, but not without a little drama.  Gary Parkin nominated Lee Ramos as Vice Chair, but he failed to receive a second from the remaining four members.  Neft was nominated, seconded and was elected unanimously.  The commission is one person short because appointee Olga Reynolds resigned before being sworn-in due to the drama surrounding the selection process.  Recruitment for that position has begun and a new commissioner will be chosen before the next meeting - two months from now.

ALL READY TO GO
So, Ashendorf and Neft will lead commissioners Alexa Merchant, Gary Parkin, Lee Ramos and Barbara Steck as they move forward to provide guidance and oversight for Senior activities in our city.  I wish them the best of luck.

INTRODUCTIONS
While awaiting additional staff information each of the commissioners introduced themselves to their peers and to the small group of attendees - there were nine of us today.

Gary Parkin presented himself as a retired General Motors engineer and volunteer on the previous commission and other committees.

Alexa Merchant is a first-time volunteer, a Registered Nurse who works in geriatrics and is enthusiastically looking forward to bringing her skills to the Senior Commission.

Darrell Neft, a resident since 1966, attended UCI and worked at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard until it closed as an engineer.

Lee Ramos described himself as a long time resident and retiree.  He also is a returnee to the commission and has participated in other city committees.

Barbara Steck has lived in Costa Mesa since 1960 and is looking forward to helping guide senior issues.

Charlene Ashendorf has been active in many city committees for many years and has worked in the private non-profit sector in senior leadership roles - and it showed.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
During Public Comments Lisa Knowles, a volunteer with the CMPD, inquired about the operations of the senior transportation process which operates out of the Senior Center.  She has been unable to use it to be transported from home to her volunteer work at the Police Headquarters due to unreliability of scheduling.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Senior Center Program Administrator Yvette Aguilar provided the commission an overview of the current One, Three and Five Year Goals and Objectives as cobbled together by the previous iteration of this commission over many months.  The following series of slides provides you with a thumbnail of her presentation.

ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT
Following that presentation Aguilar provided the commissioners with her Senior Center Program Administrator's Report, in which she outlined many of the statistics of Senior Center activities.  For example, there are now 1,387 members of the Senior Center.  She spoke about past and upcoming events - the 3rd Annual Knowledge & Health Fair Expo at the Senior Center tomorrow from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. A large turnout is expected for this event.  On Friday there will be a St. Patrick's Day luncheon.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS
During Commissioner Comments most of the commissioners acknowledged being overwhelmed by the staff presentations.

Ramos expressed an interest in exploring a Senior Day at City Hall and wondered if there is a staff report available regarding how to proceed in the event of a Massive Emergency at the Senior Center.  He also suggested to his peers that they attend the many social events at the Center and move from table to table to meet members and gather their ideas.

Neft wondered if some of the Senior Center programs overlap with those offered at the library and whether there is public WIFI available at the Center.  Yes, there is.  He also wondered if there is volunteer assistance to seniors having electronic problems.  He also wondered about reading old radio program scripts and/or listening to old radio program recordings.  He also suggested a "Senior Commissioner ID Badge", so folks could identify them as they moved around the Center.

Merchant wondered if there is value in delegating a specific topic or segment of activities to an individual commissioners, who would be the focus of questions and become a subject expert and report activities and questions to the other commissioners?  She also wondered about the workload for the part-time social worker who attends to the Senior Center needs.

Parkin thanked the staff for all their hard work.  As he put it, "There's a lot of work being done here."  He wondered if all members must now use their ID cards for entry or sign-in?  The answer was yes.  He also asked if he could arrange for a ride-along with the Meals on Wheels staff.

Steck wondered if the Senior Center communicates via email or just mail.

Ashendorf suggested the commissioners visit the art gallery and enjoy the exhibits.  She also suggested they try to attend meetings of the Senior Advisory Committee to become informed about their activities.  She reminded all of the April 8th Members Social coming up.  She also proudly directed them to the "wrapped" utility boxes around the city, including one near the Center.  She also suggested strengthening the content of The Chronicle to include recent information about Veterans, Elder Abuse and other senior issues.  She also suggested participating in the upcoming Costa Mesa Community Run on April 22nd.  Recreation Manager Justin Martin remarked that last year was the first time members of the Senior Center participated and that the Senior Center will pay the admission for any Seniors wishing to participate this year, either running, walking or whatever...

TRANSPORTATION ISSUES BEING MONITORED
In response to the question about the transportation issues, Aguilar advised that they have a new staffer on board with that responsibility and they are monitoring the program to improve it.  Their first responsibility is to get seniors to and from the center.

NEXT MEETING IN MAY
The meeting wrapped up just after 10:00 a.m.  The next meeting will be Tuesday, May 9, 2017.

Police Claim Rejected And More

GOOD NEWS - A SHORT MEETING
Well, the good news is that the Costa Mesa City Council meeting ended really early last night!  We were out of there shortly after 8:00!  Sandy Genis hammered the meeting adjourned at precisely 8:11 p.m. - Mayor Jim Righeimer and Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger had recused themselves from the last two items trailed from the Consent Calendar because both dealt with the lawsuit they've filed against the Costa Mesa Police Officers...

BAD NEWS - MAYOR DISPLAYS HIS MEAN SIDE
The bad news is that, during this abbreviated meeting, we had reaffirmed for us that our mayor may be the most vindictive partisan political hack ever to occupy a chair on the dais.  In my memory only Eric Bever showed such signs of petty, peevish and downright mean-spirited behavior, but he doesn't come close to Righeimer in that regard.  Nope... old Eric is a choir boy of perfect decorum compared to the carpetbagger who now sits on the throne.

LATE START, STILL FINISHED EARLY
I expected this meeting to be a brief one, and it was despite getting a late start.  When they finally called the meeting to order it was 6:15 - a little long considering they had 90 minutes to wrap up their five-item closed session.

CMPOA CLAIM REJECTED, 3-0
When asked for a report out of the Closed Session contract City Attorney Tom Duarte reported on two items.  Number 4 on that agenda was the claim placed by the Costa Mesa Police Officers Association requesting that the City cover its legal fees in the lawsuit filed by Righeimer and Mensinger.  Since both men had to recuse themselves from any involvement on that issue, the remaining council members - Gary Monahan, Sandra Genis and Wendy Leece - voted unanimously to reject the claim.  Duarte also reported that the council, on a 4-1 vote, agreed to authorize litigation against Civic Center Barrio organization.  So, more litigation is in the city's future... no surprise.

MADAME SCARECROW PRESENTS...
During the Presentations segment the ever-vivacious Charlene Ashendorf gave a report to the Council about the success of the Scarecrow Festival - a part of the 60th Anniversary celebration.   She provided a brief history of similar events in the region's history.  Apparently the first such festival in 1938 drew over 20,000 visitors.  This year, which we're told will be the inaugural event, 32 scarecrows were fabricated and displayed.  She told us plans are already underway for the 2014 version, and referred to the rousing success of a similar event in the small Central Coast community of Cambria, where 500 scarecrows dotted the landscape during the month of October.  Kudos to all her team members for a job well done.

DOING IT BECAUSE HE CAN
When the agenda turned to the Public Comments Righeimer attempted, quite ham-handedly, to explain why he, on his own initiative, recently chose to change the rules and - as a direct result - disenfranchised many people who had attended previous meetings to speak to the council only to be shut out because he arbitrarily decided to place restrictions on the number of speakers in the beginning and to trail the remainder to the end.  At the last meeting, that meant five speakers who couldn't wait until 11:30 went home without having a chance to speak to the council.  It's clear that Righeimer thinks that is the sole arbitor of who can speak and when they can speak.

RIGHEIMER VIOLATING THE LAW
Sandra Genis opined that Righeimer's action violated state and municipal law, and quoted chapter and verse to him.  He arrogantly then instructed CEO Tom Hatch to just put the issue on the agenda so they can resolve it, knowing full well he has the votes.  Poor guy, now he'll just have to deal with the bother of following the rules - not something he does very well.

LOOKING FOR A LITTLE GRACE
The Public Comments segment began promptly at 6:30 and Righeimer named off 10 people who had turned in speaker cards.  Wendy Leece beseeched him to have the grace to permit more speakers if the first ten finished before 7:00.  And, in fact, that's what happened - thirteen speakers managed to address the council in that half hour - and most took the opportunity to criticize the new method of managing the comments segment.

FINALLY, SHE GETS TO SPEAK!
Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee member Anna Vrska, who has been shut out at the last meeting twice, asked for some clarifications and offered suggestions for the change.  She was the first of nine speakers who addressed the issue during the first segment.

HOMELESS TERRORIZING SENIOR CENTER
Senior Center Executive Director Aviva Goelman address the council on the on-going and growing problem of homeless folks infesting the grounds of the Senior Center.  It is so bad now that young children who attended church there last Sunday were approached by homeless men and threatened with razor blades if they didn't bring food for them.  Goelman told the council that many activities have shown a severe drop off in participation - like the ballroom dancing tonight, which has dropped from around 50 participants down to fewer than a dozen because of the fear of the homeless folks.

FEAR AND INTIMIDATION - REALLY?
Tea Party Tom Pollitt, who had been handing out bootlicking leaflets to arriving audience members praising the council for their "accomplishments" - most of which had already been scheduled before his pals took office - rose to complain about intimidation and bullying.  I had to fight back a smile as he said that because his pals are the primary offenders of bullying.  He praised Righeimer and Mensinger for "putting their lives on the line" as they bravely lead the city.  What a load of crap!

CAN'T FUNCTION? - STEP ASIDE!
If those guys are so traumatized by the events as they allege in their lawsuit - if they cannot earn a living, as they allege in the lawsuit - then they should step down from their council positions and permit people who are actually able to function to be seated in their places.  Anyone paying attention realizes that nothing has changed with those guys.  They continue to make boneheaded decisions - just as they did before their lawsuit - and will undoubtedly continue to do so down stream.

WHAT ABOUT EARLY-RELEASE CONS
Resident Scott Morlan spoke about a recent meeting of Speak Up Newport at which the Newport Beach Chief of Police address the issue of the early release of state prisoners.  He apparently has hired new staff to deal specifically with that problem.  Must be nice to have a council that will agree to that kind of staff adjustments for critical issues - we here in Costa Mesa have exactly the opposite issue. We have a council majority that is so clueless about what it really takes to provide a safe city that they refuse to let the City hire more officers on a timely basis.  Morlan asked just what Costa Mesa is doing in anticipation of the increase in early-release convicts in our community.

AN ACTIVISTS WHO'S WHO...
Among the other speakers who chastised Righeimer for his abuse of the comments segment were Robin Leffler, Cindy Brenneman, Jay Humphrey, Greg Thunnell, Perry Valantine and Beth Refakes.  Each address other issues, too, but their anger was palpable on the mayor's abuse of his authority simply because he doesn't like to hear complaints from the residents of this city.

DEVELOPERS OVER RESIDENTS
During Council Member Comments Righeimer led off by explaining that Chief Tom Gazsi has a plan for the early-release convicts and he requested a report at a future meeting.  He then, again, launched off into a tirade about why he chose to split the public comments and also to trail any "pulled" consent calendar items.  As we listened to his sputtering fusillade of rhetoric it was very clear where his allegiance lies.  To him, it's much more important that developers not be required to hang around too long to present their schemes to the council.  His choice is to make the residents - the voters - wait to air their grievances.  I'm VERY sure this behavior and his arrogant disregard for the rules will become part of the campaign dialogue in the coming months.  He stated that he wants to be sure the BUSINESS of the city gets done - he emphasized that word, hence the caps.  Yep, business is more important to him than the residents of this city.  Laughter erupted throughout the auditorium as he said, "This process works great!"

HAT TIP  TO SANDY....
During her comments Genis addressed the need to move forward for a permanent facility for local Veterans, then addressed recent comments from the speaker's podium that were tinged with ethnic intolerance, describing that behavior as unacceptable.  When she mentioned my blog entry about the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address I thought Mensinger and Righeimer's heads would explode.  I smiled...

LEECE DEFENDS OUR 'BASIC HUMAN RIGHT'
Leece addressed some of the concerns by earlier speakers, including Goelman's concerns about the safety at the Senior Center, Pollitt's comments about bullying and Morlan's concern about early prison releases.  She then launched into a dialogue about Righeimer's scheme to transform the Public Comments segment, describing them as an abridgment of our "Basic Human Right" to be heard.  She then discussed her decision to vote to deny the claim from the CMPOA, indicating it was a tough choice, but the correct one.

'SHOCKED AND APPALLED!'
Righeimer then - even though he'd already had his turn to speak - AGAIN launched off into a rant about the lawsuit, stating over and over again that he was "shocked and appalled" at the silence he hears on the subject.  He said, "The silence is deafening!"  He has obviously already convicted his "enemies" before ANY evidence has been presented and before ANYONE has been charged with a crime.  From where I sit, it seems that many members of the community - while concerned about the charges being alleged - have the maturity to wait for the legal process to run its course before making judgments.  Clearly, the mayor has a HUGE problem communicating with the community.  That "silence" he perceives should be telling him something...

MONAHAN ACTUALLY TALKED!
 For the first time in months Gary Monahan actually had a few things to say tonight.  He first expressed concern about the coyote problem and invited everyone to contact him on his private email address, gary@skoshmonahan.com, if they've had problems in their neighborhoods with coyotes.  He then told us that local radio station KOCI, 101.5 FM is gathering cash and toys for the Toys for Tots campaign.  He also congratulated Newport Harbor High School for remaining in the football playoffs and promised to wear a USC cap since the Trojans defeated Stanford last weekend.  (Genis pointed out that she, in deference to the Trojans defeat of her Stanford Cardinal, was wearing Trojan colors)

HALF THE CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS ARE "PULLED"
Then the Consent Calendar was considered and more than half the items were pulled, either by the council or public.  The remainder were passed and the pulled items were trailed to the end - again, delaying the process for residents with concerns.

TRAFFIC IMPACT FEES STAY THE SAME
Righeimer then jumped right into Public Hearing #1, the discussion of the Traffic Impact Fees.  After a ten minute discussion the staff recommended action was approved on a 5-0 vote.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS
Then Righeimer finally recognized that he, once again, forgot the CEO report, so turned the meeting over to Tom Hatch.  He announced three future study sessions that might be of interest to the public.  They are as follows:

12/10/13 - Homeless situation

1/14/14 - General Plan Update

2/25/14 - Mid-Year Budget Review

NEW INFORMATION DIRECTOR ON BOARD
Hatch then introduced the new Interim Information Technology Director, Steve Ely.  Those who follow these things realize that he will immediately have a full plate to deal with, since the entire city government complex, including public safety venues, will be undergoing significant technology upgrades, both in hardware and software and a whole new internet backbone.  I spoke with him after the meeting.  He comes from Xerox and apparently has strong credentials.  He's going to need them.

RECEPTION FOR THE NEW FIRE CHIEF
Hatch also mentioned that our new permanent Fire Chief, Dan Stefano, will report for work on Monday, December 2nd and there will be a reception for him before the council meeting on the 3rd from 5-6 p.m. in Conference Room 1A.

A NEW RECORD!
Old Business #1, the new Fire and Building codes, took a record 30 seconds to consider and pass!

KOKEN'S FOIL SOLUTION
We then reached the "trailed" segment of the Public Comments and the remaining three individuals who were shut out earlier had a chance to speak.  The irrepressible Terry Koken led off, not with a song as he sometimes does, but with an invention he made to help deflect whatever external beams that are affecting certain council members - a foil device that he offered free of charge.

MORE CLARIFICATION
Sue Lester asked for clarification of the process of determining who gets to speak during Public Comments and asked that someone confirm that Righeimer and Monahan, who were absent from a recent meeting, had received the critical training on governmental ethics.  Nobody responded.

TRAILED CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS
The trailed items from the Consent Calendar involving the tract map, the bike grant application, new public safety computer systems and the two items involving our new investment strategy were all dispatched promptly on 5-0 votes.

'SMASHING GENIS IN THE FACE'
Then as the end of the meeting approached, the remaining two items from the Consent Calendar were to be heard.  However, Righeimer and Mensinger recused themselves because they involved the lawsuit they filed against the Costa Mesa Police.  Before they departed, though, Righeimer again went on a rant about this situation and said, "I will vote on the contract.  A judge will decide and I will vote!"  He compared this situation to one where a developer might "smash councilwoman Genis in the face" after she'd expressed her view that she wouldn't support the project.  She would then sue him and she couldn't vote on the project.  He used that analogy twice before he and Mensinger sauntered out of the chambers.  I thought his comments were, at the very least, in poor taste - nothing new for him.

FINAL VOTES...
Monahan, Genis and Leece voted 3-0 on Item 14 - the new salary structures for the police - and voted to receive and file item #2, since it was only a reading folder item and was rendered moot by their earlier closed session vote.

CLOSING WITH A SMILE...

The meeting ended on an amusing note when, following those votes, someone asked if they should bring Righeimer and Mensinger back, Genis exclaimed, "No!", then gaveled the meeting adjourned.  I smiled.

MOUNTAIN OF PAPER!
Silly me... I forgot to mention something else interesting from last night's meeting!  As I gathered the staff reports from the foyer of the auditorium I notice a big stack of papers clamped together near the bottom of the shelf.  I grabbed one of the piles, then later asked City Clerk Brenda Green what this was.  I could already see the complete text of the lawsuit filed by Mensinger and Righeimer and his wife.  She told me that it was ALL the correspondence they had on the lawsuit and it was provided because the council has decided that if a majority of the council members have the information then the public should have it too!  Well, this pile of paperwork weighs in at just over 3 pounds and is at least three hundred sheets thick, most printed on both sides!  I suppose sometime between now and Christmas I might find a day or two to read it all... Ugh!