Vindictive Righeimer Will Toss Vrska

THE REST WILL COME LATER, BUT NOW...
The agenda for the Costa Mesa City Council meeting next Tuesday, March 1, 2016, is up and I'll post about it on a separate entry.

FALSE BRAVADO
New Business #2, HERE, is the final agenda item listed and it requires special attention.  This one is a demand by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer for the removal of Anna Vrska from her position on the now-dormant Fairview Park Citizen's Advisory Committee.  While this issue doesn't really require Righeimer to explain himself, I doubt he will be able to contain himself on it - expect at least 10 minutes of verbal posturing and false indignation.

NO REASON NEEDED, BUT...
As specified in the staff report, the council DOES NOT need a reason to remove a person from a committee.  The Council Policy, HERE, is quite specific on that subject.  In that policy, under Practices and Procedures, item 2e states, "The City Council, at any time, may request the resignation of or terminate membership of any committee member."  But, the timing of her removal - from a committee that has been dormant and without a Chairman for many months - is curious, at best.

VINDICTIVE RETRIBUTION
For Righeimer to demand Vrska's removal at this time is clearly an act of vindictive retribution - and the kind of dictatorial act we've come to expect from him.  Clearly, this is in response to Vrska calling the Sergeant-at-arms at the Planning Commission meeting last Monday night a "Nazi" - an offensive and unfortunate choice of words, for sure.  She said it.. she owns it.. but that's her right, right?  Free speech and all that...

NO BIG DEAL
I watched that drama unfold - the Sergeant-at-arms responded to clapping by a woman - she seldom attends these meetings - to show support from a comment made to the commission.  The officer rose from his seat in the front of the auditorium, walked to the center aisle, then up to the row where the woman sat, leaned in and told her clapping was not permitted.  He then returned to his seat.

A FIRM HAND
This particular officer runs the meeting with a firm hand.  I'm OK with that.  It's a rare occurrence, though, to have an officer at a Planning Commission meeting.  Regardless, he enforced his understanding of the rules of decorum, albeit with a firm hand.  I'm OK with that.

I DON'T KNOW WHY...
I don't know what was in Vrska's mind when, following her presentation on the Smart Growth Initiative, used the last few seconds of her three minutes to address the officer's actions and use that very offensive word.  I've not spoken with her about it.  However, social media has been white-hot on the subject ever since it happened.

MC CARTHY - OPPONENTS ARE "HATERS"
Adding fuel to the controversial fire, Planning Commissioner Colin McCarthy launched his "commissioner comments"segment with a scathing indictment of ALL the women who spoke in favor of the Smart Growth Initiative - he calls it the no-growth initiative - with the following statement: "Nothing from me tonight except the absurdity of the no-growth hater crowd never ceases to amaze me and I guess it never will."  And, he had much, more to say, as I outlined in my blog entry about the meeting, HERE.

NO SANCTIONS FOR HIM
It was completely unacceptable for McCarthy to label folks simply presenting a view of the initiative as "haters".  I'm convinced that his remark was precipitated by Vrska's use of the word "Nazi" just a couple minutes earlier.  And, we see no sanctions being suggested for his denigration of members of the public who respectfully presented their views on the initiative - an issue he strongly opposes, by the way.

POPP USED THE "NAZI" REFERENCE, TOO
And, there's more.  There is very clearly a double standard being applied here.  Dennis Popp, the pompous pontificator who used to operate a miserable blog in town, is also a member of the Fairview Park Citizen's Advisory Committee.  During the time when it was active he took strong exception to ideas and opinions expressed by speakers before that group.  Far and away, the opinions expressed were to keep Fairview Park natural.  He would frequently opine on his pathetic blog about experiences on that committee, including an entry, HERE, in which he accuses speakers of using "Nazi tactics".  He used the term several times.  Where was the outrage from Righeimer then?  Why was he not tossed from the committee?

HE COMPARES CITIZENS TO TERRORISTS
Want more?  As recently as a year ago Popp bloviated about the speakers before the committee in an entry HERE, in which he accused speakers of using "terrorist tactics", going on to compare them to "disparate groups of radical Muslims".  He actually used the term "Al Qaeda approach" in his commentary.  Where was the outrage then?

STACKING THE COMMITTEE DIDN'T WORK
The creation of - and the stacking of the membership - backfired on the council majority.  I think they expected a huge public outpouring of support for their ideas to plow under parts of the park for playing fields, but just the opposite occurred.  Overwhelmingly - estimated at 90+% - speakers demanded the park remain natural.  And member Anna Vrska - a very smart, very tenacious person -  was a burr under their blanket because she demanded facts - statistics to support the contention of an unmet demand for playing fields.  Those numbers were never presented.

THE DICTATOR WILL PREVAIL
So, I fully expect Jim Righeimer - the de facto dictator in our community - will get his wish.  Anna Vrska will be summarily booted from the committee for the use of a word that was unrelated to her assignment on that body.  And Dennis Popp, an insider, will go unsanctioned for his despicable characterizations of folks with opposing views using the same terminology.  And Colin Mc Carthy will receive not so much as a scolding for his scathing diatribe.  This is what happens when the form of government deteriorates into a dictatorship - where the council majority has a stranglehold on every aspect of governance.  That can all change in November.

Costa Mesa Brief Interviews Chief Sharpnack

AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE

Costa Mesa Brief released an exclusive, lengthy interview with new Costa Mesa Police Chief Rob Sharpnack on its YouTube Channel.  You can see it HERE.

WORTH AN HOUR OF YOUR TIME
I've watched this nearly 55 minute interview and think it's worth an hour of your time.  You'll get a good sense of Chief Sharpnack's idea of enforcing laws in our city and his plans for the future.  He gives you a summary of the current challenges facing the CMPD - staffing, impact of recent laws on law enforcement, staff development -  and a clear idea of where he hopes to take the organization from a leadership, staffing, organizational and technological standpoint.

EXCEPT...

This interview is conducted by Costa Mesa resident Dennis Popp, who was apparently chosen by Costa Mesa Brief for this assignment because he, we are told, has a law enforcement background.  Watching him interview a real cop I got the impression he was trying to pretend he was Walter Cronkite... badly, by the way.  I guess it's good that Popp surfaced for this assignment... some were concerned that he was no longer with us, since he has not posted a single new word on his pathetic blog since April 24th.  You'll have to get past the sanctimonious, pompous pontification of the interviewer.  Just hold your nose, close your eyes and ignore him if you can.  You'll be glad you did.  I used this image of him smiling because all you'll see on the video is the grumpier, normal side of Popp.

GOOD JOB, BARRY
Thanks to Barry Friedland of Costa Mesa Brief for, once again, providing this public service.

Fairview Park Committee Goes On Hiatus With A Dull Thud

OPTIMISTIC FLOOR PLAN
Arriving a little early at the Victoria Room of the Neighborhood Community Center last night for the most recent - and maybe final - meeting of the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee I was surprised by the optimistic number of chairs arranged for the event.  You can take the time to count them from this panorama shot, but my best guess was that just over 100 seats were available for attendees.  Fewer than half that many were actually used.

SMITH AT THE HELM...
Vice Chairman, now identified as "Acting Chair", Steve Smith kicked the meeting off following the roll call which saw member Anna Vrska absent due to travel complications - she's stuck in Munich - with a glib statement that "the rest of us are here because we didn't have a good excuse."  Nobody in the "crowd" of fewer than 20 people at the time laughed, which kind of marked the way the meeting would proceed.  The remaining other six members of the committee were present: Smith, Ron Amburgey, Terry Cummings, Dennis Popp, Lee Ramos and Frank Davern.  Council Liaison, Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer, was absent and his alternate, Sandra Genis, showed up well into the program.  A footnote: former Chairman Dr. Richard Mehren attended the meeting and sat quietly observing the proceedings near the front of the room.

...AND STAYED THERE
Smith then addressed the issue of possibly electing a new Chairman, citing the fact that this may be their last meeting for at least a year.  Nobody nominated anyone else, so Smith proceeded to conduct the meeting.

MEJIA PRESENTS...
We then heard the Staff Presentation conducted by Parks Project Manager Bart Mejia on the "field" related issues that the staff had been working on since January - the February and March meetings were canceled.  Unlike in previous meetings, there would be NO vote by the committee as to whether they would recommend them being forwarded to the Parks and Recreation Commission or not.  The three issues that would be presented were:

 Mejia would just present the staff report and that would be that.

OVERVIEW AND CONSTRAINTS
He began with an overview of the Southeast Quadrant of the Park - the final remaining chunk of land to be considered.  He then spoke briefly of the Constraints that were faced when considering placing fields of any kind in this quadrant.

BURROWING OWLS
He spoke of the biological resources thought to be part of this section of the park, including the burrowing owl and other species.

POSSIBILITIES
He then went through several slides showing possible sites for playing fields within the existing infrastructure - mainly the Orange County Model Engineers tracks and buildings.

FEASIBILITIES AND IMPACTS
Based on the staff analysis he presented the following thoughts about the feasibility of certain types of fields in the existing configurations:

GRADING THE ENTIRE SITE
He then went through the scenario if the entire Southeast Quadrant was to be graded to overcome some of the topographical constraints that currently exist, and the Model Engineers infrastructure was to be relocated.

"IF"..."AND"...
The result was the following configuration, which he stated would be the best use of the land IF fields were to be considered AND if funding could be found to do it. As you can see, this configuration provides parking along Placentia, relocated the Model Engineers facility slightly, and includes (1) a synthetic turf field, (2) two youth ball fields), (3) a multipurpose field overlaying the ball fields and (4) two soccer fields.

IMPACTS AND COST
The impacts to the Master Plan are shown below.

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!
And that was that!  Following the short - ten (10) minute - presentation by Mejia, Chairman Smith said, "And that fulfills the requirement assigned to us by the council." He told us the PowerPoint presentation would be available online shortly and we moved on without comment from any of the members.  It was bizarre, since this analysis took many, many hours of staff time to prepare and has the potential to make the greatest impact on the park, yet none of the members were permitted to make any kind of observations.  I found myself thinking about just how frustrating this must be for the staff, which has toiled for nearly two years on this project.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
Smith then opened up the meeting for Public Comments, limiting each speaker to two (2) minutes each.  From my vantage point I got photos mostly of backs of heads, so I'll just try to give you a short summary of what most speakers said.  Let me say right up front that 20 speakers - about half the number in the room -  addressed the committee in two segments because Smith botched up the first segment.  Of those speakers, only two were in support of playing fields anywhere in the park.

Mary Spadoni led off with a quote from member Ramos from a Feet To The Fire Forum last fall in which he said he wanted to keep the park as it is, and accusing him of lying to the public in a campaign because he voted to proceed with the analysis of playing fields on the Southeast Quadrant.

Jay Humphrey briefly thanked the committee and staff for all the work they'd done and said he was looking forward to the committee reconvening in 2016.  He encouraged them to continue to be involved with the consultant hired for the update of the Master Plan, and to look into the acquisition of the Fairview Developmental Center property.

Gary Stickle, a professor from UCLA, spoke of the protected species and the Native American artifacts, calling Fairview Park our "Stonehenge".

Patricia Martz - a frequent speaker at these meetings - observed that "capping" of the area to make fields was inappropriate because they are sacred burial grounds and kids shouldn't be playing on burial grounds.

Terry Koken stepped up and chided Popp about his birthday, then stated that Fairview Park should be left the way it is.

Lynn Redmond spoke about the project his son, Christian, was completing in the park - replanting native plants, and thanked those who supported the project by helping and contributing.

Beth Refakes thanked the committee for their efforts, but suggested that we had the cart before the horse because we had not done a needs assessment first.  She suggested that if the decision was made to move forward with playing fields, particularly in light of the probable costs, then the issue should be placed before the voters.

Cindy Brenneman also stepped up and said the park should be kept natural.

Ann Parker chided Ramos for lying to the people and suggested that he was just a plant by Mayor Mensinger and Righeimer on the committee to sway it toward playing fields.

Gay Royer spoke of her personal experience with development on Native American locations.

Kim Hendricks said no data had been presented that showed a shortage of playing fields and said the committee failed to listen to the public.

Lou Desandro identified himself as "the other side" - one of those in support of playing fields in the park.  He said those speaking didn't represent the majority of residents, then suggested that the Southeast Quadrant be converted to playing fields, "because the rest of the park is natural".

Steve James, a professor from Cal State Fullerton, suggested that the Native American sites are too precious to be defiled, and that the park should remain natural.

Cindy Black identified the committee as "tools" - of the council and suggested that Ramos and Davern didn't know anything about the park when appointed.  She suggested that big campaign contributors - "Argyros, Segerstrom and Buck Johns" - should provide some cash to identify other sites for playing fields.

Margaret Mooney also cited Ramos campaign comments and noted how quickly folks were supporting lighting, but said it should be done at other venues, not Fairview Park.

Robin Leffler thanked the committee for their work, then observed the lack of a needs analysis and suggested that the committee should remember they are to serve all the people.  That took us to 7:00 p.m.

FORCED TO DO THE RIGHT THING
A half hour later, just as the meeting was about to close, Smith was forced to permit four other speakers to exercise their time because of his screw-up.  When originally challenged about it his response was, "It's not my problem!"  Not very "leaderly", to say the least.

Anyhow, a pair of soccer moms stepped up with their two little girls in tow and pleaded for the park to remain natural.  The children spoke, too.

John Rubright - an AYSO supporter and the only other "pro-fields" speaker - stepped up and chided those who wanted to keep Fairview Park natural.  He chided the OCME site, stating that it "was not natural".  Rubright has spoken before to the committee and each time he doesn't serve his side well because he doesn't present a compelling argument for more fields.

Cindy Black stepped up (again) because Smith had screwed up earlier on the  final agenda item and refused to let the public speak to it.  She said 'No" to the trail.

The final public commentor was self-described Soccer Dad and AYSO referee, Kevin Shannon, who strongly recommended that Fairview Park be kept natural.

EAST FAIRVIEW CHANNEL TRAIL
Back to 7:00 p.m.  The final item on the agenda was the consideration of a possible East Fairview Channel Trail.  No member indicated an interest in discussing it and Smith failed to permit public comments on it but the committee voted, 5-1, to have the staff prepare a study!  They won't hear about this for a year.  This was a major boneheaded move on many levels and showed a tremendous lack of leadership on Smith's part.  Interesting, since he has been openly critical of former Chairman Mehren's leadership but did virtually nothing to help him for the past nearly two years!

CUMMINGS IS CORRECT
As the committee began winding down it was time for Committee Members comments and Cummings led off with a prepared statement.  He observed that the February and March meetings had been canceled and he didn't know why.  He observed that Mehren and Eckles were gone, so the committee was down to seven members from nine.  He observed Senate Bill 639, which placed Fairview Developmental Center in play, was in the works and that the city should be considering that venue for any new playing fields.  He made four points:
1 - The FDC property would be free of environmental or cultural complications.
2 - It would be a great project for new State Senator John Moorlach to champion.
3 - Sports Fields should be made a priority for the property and the consultant dollars for the Master Plan should be diverted to investigating the acquisition of the FDC property.
4 - Leave the existing Master Plan in force and adjourn to 4/1/2020.

AMBURGEY
Ron Amburgey had nothing to say.

POPP
Dennis Popp expressed disappointment in the personal attacks.

RAMOS
Ramos said he was suprised that it became "Lee Ramos Fan Night", referring to several critics.  He said he does believe in passive parks and criticized member "Varska" - he meant Anna Vrska, but added a vowel to her name - for taking up staff time demanding statistics.    He defended his knowledge of the park by stating he walks it three days a week.

DAVERN
Davern, who replaced deceased David Stiller midstream, responded to criticism by Cindy Black, indicating he DOES know about Fairview Park, having hiked "280 miles" there.  He said, to her, "I've yet to see you there."  He said he formed his opinion about the need for more fields by talking with the people he encountered in the park - "mostly Latinos" - who said they need playing fields.  He said 99% of the residents don't attend these meetings.  Well, duh!

SMITH
Smith then said, "The real losers in this year-long delay are the kids of the community."  He cited the need to continue moving forward, particularly with the school district, to find more fields.  He thanked the City staff for their hard work.  At that point, as he was about to adjourn, we had the followup Public Comments.

UNCLEAR FUTURE AND THE BROWN ACT
Then, at about 7:30, the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee folded up its tent and departed.  Nobody knows when - or even if - this group will meet again to discuss the future of Fairview Park.  And, since the committee has NOT been disbanded, the members are still governed by the Brown Act, so if, for example, Ramos, Popp, Amburgey and Davern gather and discuss this issue they will be violating the Brown Act.  The City Council should disband this committee to remove that burden for the unknown period of time into the future and, if necessary, re-constitute it in the future.

SOME THOUGHTS
A couple observations.  This committee was hastily-created by a council majority intent on finding a way to develop playing fields in Fairview Park, and stacked the membership toward that end.  I doubt if they, the council, actually thought it would take nearly two years to reach this point, and then to basically have nothing they were looking for to show for all the time and effort.

PREMATURE
This effort - which was premature at best, because there was no data presented at ANY TIME to demonstrate the need for more playing fields anywhere, much less in Fairview Park - should not have been launched in the first place.  The update of the Master Plan of Parks and Open Spaces was pending and this effort should have been subordinated to that process. 

VAST MAJORITY OPPOSE FAIRVIEW FIELDS
I've attended almost all of the meetings of this committee and among the things that have been consistent is the ratio of members of the public who spoke out against playing fields versus those who stepped up to ask for them.  The numbers were overwhelming from the very beginning.  One would think - with the organizational skills of the youth sports groups - that they would have eventually rallied THEIR troops to present THEIR side of the issue to the committee.  That effort was feeble to the point of being almost non-existent.  Where the heck were they?

WORK THE RIGHT PROBLEM
I'm NOT saying we don't need more places for kids to practice organized sports, and actually to just "play".  In recent months the pro-fields groups have uniformly acknowledged that the shortage is in "lighted" fields for kids to practice - not "game day" fields on which to compete.  Well, if 10% of the effort expended with this committee had been spent working with the school district to hammer out an agreement about field use and lights thereon, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

WORK ON FAIRVIEW DEVELOPMENTAL CENTER
In my view, THAT is where our municipal energies should be aimed right now.  And, I agree with Terry Cummings - the City should be making EVERY effort to line up our ducks toward acquiring the Fairview Developmental Center property when it becomes available - and NOT to just have it become more congested, rabbit-warren type housing that we're seeing sprout up all over town like mushrooms.

SO LONG, FAREWELL...
So, farewell to the men and woman of the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee.  All of you - current and past members - worked long and hard and actually DID accomplish a lot over the past 20 months.

...AND THANKS
And a HUGE thank you to Ernesto Munoz, Bart Mejia, Yolanda Summerhill, Fariba Fazeli and the rest of the City staff for the thousands of hours spent on this effort.  Good job!

He's Back - And Still Wrong!

HAVE NOT MISSED HIM
I've hesitated to mention that old Dennis Popp, the pompous pontificator on the CM Conserve blog, has been in hibernation since January 23rd.  I had assumed that he'd used up all the words that had been rattling around in his cranium, so had gone into a state of suspended animation.  Or, better yet, he just flat gave up.  But, no... we're not that lucky... he's back...

POPP ON BANNING RANCH
Today old Dennis finally produced another blog entry, HERE, this one vilifying those folks who are trying to save Banning Ranch.  Those of you who disagree with him will get agitated when you read the entry.  I apologize in advance for your discomfort and the rise in your blood pressure.

THIS IS 'CONSERVATION'?
I was amused that, near the end of his piece, he tries to provide an example of a responsible conservation organization by using an outfit called Ducks Unlimited, HERE.  He talks about how the members of this organization raise money to buy lands themselves, blah, blah, blah.  What he neglects to mention is that this organization does all this "conservation" so they have more water fowl to KILL!  Yep, they buy and create habitats so they can go blast more flying critters out of the sky for "sport".

SHOULDA KEPT SLEEPIN'...
Methinks old Dennis should have stayed in hibernation.  I can hardly wait to see him huff and puff at the Fairview Park Citizens Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday night.  The guy is pathetic!