Council Meeting Could Have Been Shorter

SHOULDA BEEN SHORTER
The Costa Mesa City Council held it's only meeting of May last night and what should have been a fairly short meeting turned out to stretch until 10:30.  Actually, I guess we should be grateful that it didn't stretch into Wednesday.

SPECIAL PLEDGE
The meeting was special in at least one way.  Costa Mesa Police Department staffer Jeanette Chervony led the Pledge of Allegiance, then spoke briefly of her father, Eddie Chervony, who was killed in Vietnam on this date in 1968.  Mayor Steve Mensinger later closed the meeting in his honor.

SOLEMN EXPRESSION
Sayed Mostafa Qazwini, the Imam of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County in Costa Mesa led the moment of solemn expression.

MAYOR'S AWARD TO AUTO CLUB
Mensinger presented the Mayor's Award to the Automobile Club of Southern California, a premiere employer in our City which is housed in a building of over 700,000 square feet and employes more than 3,000 people in Costa Mesa.

PENSION OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE REPORT
Jeff Arthur, Chairman of the Pension Oversight Committee presented a report - the first one in more than 15 months - in which he presented charts showing the status of our pension liability and the duration of time it would take to bet out from under it.  These are shown below.  There was no response later when a member of the public asked if they had considered plans similar to those recently implemented in Irvine or Newport Beach, which would pay off their pension liabilities in a much shorter time.  The council majority has shown NO inclination to pay down this debt, instead continues to put our money into infrastructure, expensive parties and similar items, while bemoaning the unfunded pension liability as our biggest problem.  Seems like an odd management strategy - identify the "biggest problem", then ignore it and apparently hope it goes away.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
Fourteen people spoke during Public Comments.  Here's a very short summary of some of the comments:

• Richard Russell expressed gratitude for continuing the Fireworks over the upcoming July 4th holiday.
• Robin Leffler raked Mensinger over the coals for his refusal to take personal responsibility for the now-infamous DG Path incident, choosing, instead to let the City foot the bill for the remediation and legal battles.
• Mary Spadoni questioned contract City Attorney, Tom Duarte, about our current method of requiring speaker cards, citing a recent meeting of women lawyers who opined that it was a Brown Act violation.  No response was given.  She also asked if the Pension committee had polled Irvine and Newport Beach on their solution.
• Wendy Leece expressed concern for Public Safety, and specifically the Fire Department.  She suggested that the plan to close Station 6 should be revisited, and that greater emphasis should be placed on getting our transport ambulances into service so the City could realize that revenue stream instead of having it to a private company.  (Which just happens to be a big campaign contributor to Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer).
• Ann Parker reminded the council that heroin is a huge problem - one that has been ignored each time she previously brought it up.  She mentioned a suicide at a rehab home and another death nearby.  She spoke of corrupt politicians and implied that Righeimer worked for Scott Baugh - former Chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.  Righeimer later took exception to her comments.
• Chuck Perry praised the council for their infrastructure improvements and criticized those who expressed concern about what he called the "stupid DG Trail".  Should we mention that he's good buddies with Mensinger?  
• Jay Humphrey spoke briefly on the parking standards and provided a slide show on an analysis he recently performed demonstrating that, contrary to what has been espoused in recent months about our "strict" parking standards, other cities nearby have even more strict standards.
• Patrick Singer spoke with concern for the rehab folks.
• Lisa Sabo expressed concern about the bioswale being installed on Arlington Avenue because of the problems it creates for members of the equestrian community trying to enter and depart from the Fairgrounds.
• Teresa Drain again demanded a forensic audit of the 60th Anniversary Celebration, and gave examples of exactly why it's necessary.
• Pamela Wilson complained about the unfunded pension liability.  It was not clear that she'd heard Arthur's earlier presentation.
•  Tea Party Tom Pollitt complained about the recently-approved plan to remodel and re-purpose the old Print Shop space in City Hall, expressing the opinion that the "Convention Center" could be used if meeting space was needed.  Of course, he meant the Community Center, but one never knows what will come out when he opens his mouth.  He expressed interest in a big report showing Costa Mesa crime stats for 15 years back.
• Laurene Keane inquired about the availability of any reports on crime in the City, and expressed concern about drug trafficking.
• Gene Hutchins, formerly a member of the Pension Oversight Committee, thanked the committee then opined that if we, the public, were concerned about not having enough police officers we should "tell the unions to do more.", meaning participate in the cost of pensions more.

COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS
Council Member Comments were next, and here are some of the thoughts presented by them:

• Steve Mensinger - Thanked Arthur for his report and the "Pension Oversight Board" (it's a committee!).
• Katrina Foley -  Asked for the City Staff to do a parking standards survey of all Orange County cities.  She inquired, again, about the memo she asked for regarding the audit of the 60th Celebration.  She inquired of Assistant CEO Tammy Letourneau about the pension deductions for new employees, since it was implied by one speaker that members of the Police Department pay nothing.  They, in fact, do pay toward their pension as required by state law.  She observed that a new restaurant recently opened in SoCo, and that there will be a remembrance of Henry Segerstrom on May 7th.
• Sandra Genis - Mentioned the budget workshop and spoke about landscaping.  She suggested the Planning Commission look at parking in general in the city and address the Small Lot Ordinance in particular.
• Gary Monahan had nothing - again.
• Jim Righeimer made up for it, though.  He echoed the need for a study of parking and the Small Lot Ordinance parking standards.  He then went off on a rant about Pensions and the Police Department in particular, using his bully pulpit to castigate those people he is suing.  He has so sense of shame or deportment.

HATCH
During his report CEO Tom Hatch covered a number of items.  He spoke about the recently-introduced plan to run a dedicated bus line from Costa Mesa (South Coast Plaza area) directly to and from the Disneyland Resort area of Anaheim.  At $5.00 per head round trip, that sounds like a GREAT deal for anyone heading up to Disneyland, for sure.  He also offered a compliment to the CMPD, citing a recent sweep of parole and probation violators.  He mentioned recent graduates of the Costa Mesa High School Teen CERT academy.  He told us of upcoming budget meetings.  On Tuesday, May 12th there will be a Budget Study session.  On Thursday, May 21st, there will be a community budget meeting.  On June 15th the 2015-2016 budget will be discussed and approved.  He then had a video of the Water Quality project being completed in Lions Park shown.

CONSENT CALENDAR
Five items were pulled from the Consent Calendar, with the remainder being passed with one vote.  Of those five, by the time they were called at the end of the meeting only two were discussed because folks who pulled the others had left.  Both passed on 5-0 votes.  See my earlier report on the issues involved.

CONSOLIDATED PLAN AND CDBG FUNDS
Public Hearing #1, the Consolidated Plan and distribution of CDBG funds was up next.  Consultant Mike Linares - whose contract was extended in the Consent Calendar - led the discussion and showed an extensive slide show.  The following are highlights.

Four people spoke on this issue, including a member of the committee that hammered out the distribution of the CDBG funds.  The council voted to receive and file the report at 7:40 p.m.

ANOTHER DEVELOPER GIVE-AWAY
The next item, Public Hearing #2, the proposed development at 1239 Victoria Street, came next.  This is for 28 units replacing an office building that once was a manufacturing site.  The Planning Commission approved it with some requirements dealing with roof gardens and a fence along the park across Victoria Street.  I'm not going to cover every word that was said in the 3:40 minutes it took to cover this issue.  23 people spoke to it, of which a third - 7 - were against it.  The others were made up mostly of the same cadre of young folks who spoke before the Planning Commission.  They said the same spiel, almost word for word, that they did before.  Most seemed to have a tie to the developer or development/real estate.  At the end Righeimer convinced the council majority that the rooftop patios removed by the Planning Commission should be added back into the units where they had been deleted, and that the fence should not be the responsibility of the developer.  This will get a second reading in June.

BIA RENEWAL
At 10:00 Public Affairs Manager Dan Baker led the discussion of the renewal of the BIA program, confirmed that eleven (11) hotels now particpate and that the Conference and Visitors Bureau will receive around $2.37 million to market our community to the outside world.  Paulette Lombardi-Fries of the CVB spoke about their activities briefly and emphasized their recent 70 page annual report and their recently freshened web site at TravelCostaMesa.com.

CLOSED IN MEMORY OF EDDIE CHERVONY

After the "pulled" Consent Calendar items were heard, Mensinger read a note that Jeanette Chervony had written about her father, then closed the meeting in his honor.  The next council meeting will be in June.

Pitiful Turnout For Consolidated Plan Workshop

SPARSE TURNOUT FOR WORKSHOP
The second and final community outreach workshop for the City of Costa Mesa Consolidated Plan was held tonight at the Costa Mesa Senior Center and about a dozen souls attended the presentation.  One early arrival left a few minutes into the meeting for another meeting and four people arrived a few minutes late.  We were told by those in charge that it actually doubled the turnout for the first one, but that's the one with almost no notification in advance.  In fact, in response to a question, we were told that this is an excellent turnout for a city our size.  Now, THAT is depressing!  Among the residents who turned out tonight were two former council candidates - Jay Humphrey and Tony Capitelli and Crissy Brooks Nolf, who runs a social service agency in the city that has been a recipient of CDBG funds in the past.

CONSULTANTS
Mike Linares led off the discussion with a very brief overview.  He then handed off the remainder of the very informal meeting to John Oshimo, President of GRC Associates, the consulting organization assisting the city with the preparation of this plan - a critical, esssential requirement to meet the qualifications for Federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant funding.  Among the things we learned tonight was that the funding for both Federal Grants Costa Mesa currently receives - the CDBG and HOME - is way down from previous years and is expected to drop another 7% for the 2016/2017 year.  We were told the complete slide show from this presentation will be uploaded to the City web site soon.

SURVEY PARTICIPATION IMPORTANT
The main point the consultants tried to get across was the need for residents to participate in the online survey, which can be found on the City website HERE.  The deadline for participation in the survey was to have been February 17th, but the consultants agreed to keep it open through the end of the month to provide the opportunity for more community participation.

CURRENT SURVEY RESULTS
As of tonight there had been 101 surveys completed.  Here are a few slides showing the results of the concerns of those participating.

As you can see from that final slide, the areas of greatest concern as compiled from those 101 surveys indicate that Anti-Crime Services and Homeless Services hold the top spots.

SCHEDULE
Here is the schedule of events for the completion of the Consolidated Plan:

The consultants will next meet with the Housing & Public Services Ad-Hoc Committee - the remnant of the old 3R committee - to gain their input.  That data, plus the survey data, will be combined with boilerplate information provided by HUD for the completion of the Plan.  The draft Consolidated Plan should be completed in March and be available for public review for a month.  Sometime in April the Plan will be presented to the City Council, who will adopt it and, prior to May 15, 2015, the adopted Consolidated Plan will be submitted to HUD.

PLEASE TAKE TIME TO DO THE SURVEY

I encourage you to follow that link above to the survey and complete it.  It doesn't take long.  Keep in mind, this survey is only for certain qualifying areas within the city, so follow the instructions carefully.  Thanks, in advance, for your participation.  The other nineteen people who took time out of their busy lives to attend the one of the two workshops also thank you.

Consolidated Plan Workshop Tomorrow Night

TOMORROW, 6-8 P.M.
Just a little reminder for you.  The City of Costa Mesa will host a workshop on the Consolidated Plan tomorrow, Thursday, February 12, 2015 from 6-8 p.m. at the Costa Mesa Senior Center.  I've attached their announcement with all the information about the workshop, including a map to the Senior Center.  Click on the image to enlarge it.  Call Mike Linares at 714-754-5678 for more information.

CHECK OUT THE "NEW" SENIOR CENTER
Join me at this event and check out the recently-renovated Senior Center.  See how two hundred grand of your tax dollars was spent.  See you there.

Big Week In Costa Mesa

A BUSY WEEK AHEAD
Another big week is ahead for us government watchers in Costa Mesa.  Here's a quick recap of what's ahead.

PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MONDAY
Monday, February 9, 2015 is the first meeting of the Costa Mesa Planning Commission, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Council Chambers.  You can read that agenda HERE.  First returning commissioner Jeff Mathews and new appointee Stephan Andranian will be sworn-in.  Then a new Chairman and Vice Chairman will be selected.  One presumes that current Vice Chairman Rob Dickson will be chosen as the Chairman.  That's probably a good choice since he seems to go about his job in a very business-like manner, always seems prepared and always seems able to frame a position clearly.  Vice Chair is another matter.  I won't be at all surprised if former Chairman Colin McCarthy is selected.

THREE PUBLIC HEARINGS
There are three public hearings.  I won't go into too much detail, except to provide you with links to the staff report and a short idea of what's involved.  I'll report on the meeting later.

Public Hearing #1, HERE, is the conversion of four rental condos into ownership units at 191 - 199 Orange Avenue, across from the Santa Ana Country Club, using the Small Lot Ordinance.

Public Hearing #2, HERE, is the demolition of the current Burger King restaurant at 3150 Harbor Blvd. and the construction of a brand new "Raising Cane's" drive-thru chicken place.

Public Hearing #3, HERE, is the request to demolish the kiosk at the 76 gas station at 2281 Newport Blvd. (at Fairview Drive) and erect a 1,190 square foot convenience store at the location.

SPECIAL BUDGET STUDY SESSION
Tuesday, February 10, 2015, beginning at 5:00 p.m. in Conference Room 1A at City Hall is the Special Budget Study Session.  You can read the agenda HERE.  This is a very important meeting because the council will discuss any mid-year corrections to be made to the fiscal direction of the city.  Public comments are much more limited during a study session.

TWO SEGMENTS - LOTS OF INFORMATION
The agenda is broken into two sections, the Financial and Budget Policies section, HERE; and the Fiscal Year 2014-2015 Mid-Year Budget Report, HERE.  Please follow the links on each of those for very informative charts and more data.  The second segment, in particular, has a number of additional attachments with very valuable information.

BIG BUDGET SURPLUS
When you read the staff reports you'll find a huge increase in the fund balance - to more than $9.6 million - and the staff's recommendations on how to allocate those dollars.  Interestingly, none include paying anything toward the much-bemoaned unfunded pension liability.  It will be interesting to see how the conversation goes Tuesday.  There will be as second study session on the budget on Tuesday, February 24th.

CONSOLIDATED PLAN WORKSHOP
On Thursday, February 12, 2015, the City will hold another Consolidated Plan Workshop from 6-8 p.m. at the new, recently spiffed-up Costa Mesa Senior Center at 695 W. 19th Street.  You may recall the first workshop received only short notice a couple weeks ago.  If you have questions call Mike Linares at 714-754-5678.  Here's the City graphic, including a map.  Click on the image to enlarge it.

CLOSED FOR PRESIDENTS' DAY NEXT MONDAY
Incidentally, the City Hall will be closed again next Monday, February 16, 2015 for the Presidents' Day Holiday.

A "Consolidated Plan Workshop" - With Enough Notice

CONSOLIDATED PLAN WORKSHOP
The City of Costa Mesa issued a press release today inviting community input at the second workshop on the Consolidated Plan.  You may recall the first one was announced with very short notice a couple weeks ago.  This will be an exercise similar to the many General Plan workshops held over the past couple years. (photo) This meeting will be held at a new venue - the Costa Mesa Senior Center, 695 West 19th Street, on Thursday, February 12, 2015 from 6-8 p.m.  (See map below)

COME CHECK OUT THE SENIOR CENTER
This should be a great opportunity for us to check out the recently-renovated Senior Center - to see how a couple hundred grand of our taxpayers dollars were spent on our behalf.

THE CITY ANNOUNCEMENT
The entire announcement is shown below:

Public input sought for city's Consolidated Plan at Feb. 12 meeting

Posted Date: 2/3/2015

The City of Costa Mesa Housing and Community Development Division—which is in the process of preparing the city’s Consolidated Plan—and will seek input from residents and other stakeholders at a community workshop from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12 at the Costa Mesa Senior Center (695 W. 19th Street).

The Consolidated Plan identifies needs and priorities related to housing, community service, public facilities/infrastructure, and economic opportunities that are funded with federal monies. Federal Community Development Block Grant and HOME Investment Partnerships Grant funds are utilized over a five-year period to address the needs outlined in the Consolidated Plan.

Residents and stakeholders interested in providing input may also submit an online survey available on the City’s website.

For additional information regarding the survey or workshop, or to learn more about the Consolidated Plan process, contact Mike Linares at (714) 754-5678 or mike.linares@costamesaca.gov.

 (click on map to enlarge)