Claire Flynn Bids Costa Mesa A Very Fond Adieu

A LIFE-CHANGE AWAITS
Early last week I got some news that I received with very strong mixed emotions... Costa Mesa's Assistant Director of Development Services, Claire Flynn, is moving on.  Her last day with the city she's served for more than fifteen years will be next Friday, July 8th.  I'm happy for her, but sad for the loss it means to our city.

CANNOT LET HER GO WITHOUT COMMENT
Claire is a very private person and didn't what any kind of hoopla to be made as she leaves.  So, I waited as long as I could, but cannot let her departure go without comment - she's been too important to my city to just watch her fade into the sunset.

A LOCAL STAR
A Costa Mesa High School graduate, Claire came to the City of Costa Mesa from Mission Viejo's Community Development Department in 2001.  During the decade and a half with the City she's held five progressively more responsible roles in planning and development and has been in her current role since 2011.

STRONG GUIDANCE AND SUPPORT
She worked under some excellent leaders - Don Lamm and Kimberly Brandt were among her most influential mentors.  Lamm moved to the City of Westminster as City Manager and currently has his own consulting firm.  Brandt is presently Community Development Director for the City of Newport Beach.  And, of course, during most of her career at Costa Mesa she worked under the guidance and leadership of City Manager Allan Roeder.

WILL LEAVE A VOID
Many of us who follow city issues recognize the huge hole this leaves in the Development Services Department.  Claire has been the rock - the consummate professional who could always be depended upon to provide the right answers at the right time to those decision makers she served.

A REAL PRO
Personally, I've always found Claire to be patient, approachable and professional - always ready, willing and able to provide information on development issues to even the most dense of us.  I'm going to miss her.

BALANCING LIFE AND CAREER
Claire will join a private sector organization where her planning education - she has a Master's Degree in Urban and Regional Planning - and more than twenty-two years experience can be fully utilized and also provide her some time flexibility.  Her goal starting this new chapter of her life is to achieve better balance in her planning profession and family life.

 GOOD LUCK, CLAIRE - AND THANKS
So, as she moves off into the sunset of her Costa Mesa career I want to thank Claire Flynn for her service to our city and wish her all the best.  Her talents will be well-utilized in her new assignment and her young daughter will certainly benefit from more quality "Mom time".

OC Register Editors Get It Wrong!

MISGUIDED PRAISE
This morning the editors at the Orange County Register published an opinion on their pages, which can be found online HERE, that postulates that "after decades of attempting to root out several problematic motels through coercion and police action" Costa Mesa stumbled upon a more "novel solution: the free market."

COSTA MESA MOTOR INN
In their piece they refer specifically to the recent decision by the operators of the Costa Mesa Motor Inn, the largest of the so-called problem motels and the one which racked up the greatest number of calls for public safety services in recent years, to demolish their 236-room facility and build a new "luxury" apartment complex with 224 units - 20 of which would be aimed at the "moderate income" demographic.  In Costa Mesa, that would be someone earning north of $100,000.

LOSS OF LOW INCOME HOUSING
One of the impacts of this decision is that it removes from the city inventory a significant number of housing units currently being utilized by very low or low income families and individuals.  Yes, city officials will correctly observe that those rooms were NOT counted as part of their government-recognized numbers, but the fact is that facility has housed many such individuals and families.

YES, THE "PROBLEM MOTELS" HAVE DETERIORATED
Nobody will argue that the Costa Mesa Motor Inn - a place where families headed for a beach vacation would book a room or two for a week or two back in the 1970s when it first opened - and many of it's contemporaries in the motel business in Costa Mesa, currently provide accommodations acceptable to most of us.  They have deteriorated into venues for folks temporarily - and sometimes not so temporarily - down on their luck.  They are the last bastion for many before becoming homeless or the first step up on their way back from homelessness.  Mayor Steve Mensinger has regaled us many times with his personal story of picking up Estancia High School students - young men on his beloved Eagle football team - who lived at that motel because it was the only place their families could afford.

YES, SOME ARE CRIME-RIDDEN
Yes, some of those places have become havens for crime - drugs, prostitution, etc. - which makes the plight of those forced to seek shelter there even more traumatic.  Yes, they need to be cleaned up.  Yes, the photos of some of the units presented in open council sessions shook us to the bone. 

BULLYING WAS THE MOTIVATION
But, please do not be wooed by the Register Editorial writers into going along with the premise that these property owners just magically recognized the free market as a solution.  They did not!  They have been bludgeoned into that decision by our elected leaders and their policies.

TARGETED GOVERNMENTAL TERRORISM
The owners of those properties have been the targets of a specific campaign of what amounts to governmental terrorism, spearheaded by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Righeimer.  Ever since he took a seat on the City Council he has made it very clear, in unequivocal terms from the dais, that his goal was to "help" the owners take a more realistic view of the value of their properties.  He meant they thought they were worth more than his developer-buddies wanted to spend to turn them into high density apartment complexes.

USING HIS POWER
Toward that goal - and he IS a goal-oriented guy - he unleashed the full fury of his position.  He created a brand new Code Enforcement entity, apart from the established Code Enforcement group, and had them charged with specifically making those "problem motels" the focus of their activities.   Police, Fire and Code Enforcement organizations began to pay special attention to those handful of businesses.  Fines were levied and they were publicly called-out for their perceived transgressions.  And yet that was not enough.

TIGHTENING THE SCREWS
So, with the warped "wisdom" so common with bullies, in January, 2014 he and the council majority crafted a special treat for those businesses - Title 14, Chapter VI of the Costa Mesa Municipal Code, HERE, the Excessive Use Of Resources Ordinance.  Those "problem motels" were assigned a specific number of calls for service they were permitted to make.  If those numbers were exceeded, the violating business would be subject to very significant fines.  One could almost feel the screws being tightened.

TOUGH DECISIONS
This forced some of those operators to make some very difficult decisions.  If there was an emergency - say a screaming woman in one of their units - and they had already "used up" their quota of calls, their choice was to either call the police or not, and let the chips - and the screaming woman - fall where they may.  And, of course, they kept their fingers crossed that nobody else would call, because it didn't make any difference WHO called - the penalties were the same.

THE LAST STRAW
Following months of intense focus by public safety organizations the Costa Mesa Motor Inn was the recipient of a special "inducement" a little over a year ago when the city decided to revoke it's Conditional Use Permit for long term occupancy rooms.  Straw, meet camel's back.

"LOCKDOWN"
In the case of the Costa Mesa Motor Inn, they accomplished a dramatic drop in calls for service by creating a virtual - and literal - prison at their establishment.  It is on "lockdown" 24/7/365.  Based on the testimony at the recent Planning Commission hearing where their request was heard, they chose not to become operators of a prison, so they're asking for code changes so they can scrape their property and build apartments - market rate apartments, except for those few designated for moderate income folks.  But don't for a second think that doing this was a voluntary decision.  One can take only so many punches to the gut in the form of fines before you begin to see the light - while you can still see anything.

RELOCATION PACKAGE TO BE OFFERED
And, to their credit, they have planned to offer a "relocation package" to current residents who continue to pay their bill and keep their room in good condition which will include 3-months rent reimbursement plus $1,500 if they stay until given eviction notices - likely to be next June for an August evacuation date.  This could amount to $4,500 - $5,500 each - perhaps enough to secure housing elsewhere, but not likely in Costa Mesa.  In an attempt to abrogate that issue, their consultant, former Costa Mesa Director of Development Services, Don Lamm, told the Planning Commission that only 17% of the current residents of the Costa Mesa Motor Inn are from Costa Mesa.

AMAZING!
I'm astonished that the editors of the most widely-read newspaper in our county would so openly condone the governmental bullying tactics that got the Costa Mesa Motor Inn to this point.  Their last sentence is "Let the market work."  I don't think they actually envisioned the market "working" with brass knuckles, but that's the reality of this situation. 

DEMONSTRATION THURSDAY
Whether you agree with this outcome or not, next Thursday, October 22, 2015, from 5-6:30 p.m., activists from the Costa Mesa Affordable Housing Coalition - distraught at the loss of those affordable units and with no official relief in sight - will demonstrate in front of the Costa Mesa Motor Inn to draw more public attention to this issue.  And, I suspect, they will present themselves to the City Council when this issue is heard before that body. 

WHO'S NEXT?
A final question for you to consider.  Who will be next in the cross-hairs for your elected leaders?  What kind of business will next be found to be undesirable and be targeted for extinction in Costa Mesa?  We already know industrial business owners on the Westside of town are feeling pressure.  We know that Roger MacGregor - one of the most respected small boat builders in the country and an institution on the Westside for decades - saw the handwriting on the wall, retired in 2013 and his daughter decamped much of the business to Florida.  His iconic former headquarters remains a sobering reminder of what an industrial powerhouse the Costa Mesa Westside once was.

Plums, Tattoos, Motor Scooters And "Monsters"

ANOTHER LONGER THAN NECESSARY MEETING
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission met on a rare Tuesday evening - Memorial Day was Monday - and took four hours to take care of business.  And, as an aside, this is the first Planning Commission meeting in recent memory at which a member of the Costa Mesa Police Department was deployed as Sergeant-at-Arms.  Fortunately, no riot occurred.

MCEVOY AIMS AT INDIVIDUALS
Public Comments saw several residents step up to voice their concerns about important issues. Former City Council candidate Chris McEvoy pointed accusatory fingers at commissioners Colin McCarthy, Tim Sesler, Mayor Steve Mensinger and the commission in general.  He felt some of them had been untruthful and may have been influenced by campaign contributors.


HUFFMAN ON "OUT OF SCALE DEVELOPMENT"

Rick Huffman gave a PowerPoint presentation of what he felt was Out Of Scale Development.  He showed examples of several projects that he felt were not compatible to the surrounding neighborhoods.  The final slide is the development at the corner of Superior and 17th Street, which he felt was more appropriate because it sat in an industrial area.  He quoted from the Westside Overlay Plans, citing some of their goals which seemed to not be met by recent projects.

PARKING ISSUES, AGAIN
Barrie Fisher again criticized parking problems throughout the city.

SOBER LIVING HOMES AGAIN
Ann Parker again raised the specter of the proliferation of Sober Living Homes throughout the city, and particularly on the Eastside.  She complained that commissioner Stephan Andranian reversed his decision to appeal a recent decision on one case, forcing her to spend the money to have the item appealed.

SPADONI WANTS ANSWERS, TOO
Mary Spadoni echoed Parker and wondered about Code Enforcement activities.  She asked for an update on the R-2 Ordinance.

ANDRANIAN
During Commissioner comments Stephan Andranian read a memo he sent to staff on the issue raised by Parker and felt that, without a new ordinance in place, nothing could be done, which is why he pulled his request for an appeal.  It's unclear whether Parker will continue with her appeal.

SESLER
Tim Sesler speculated that 30/40 houses wouldn't make a dent in our housing shortage and responded to Fisher's comment about parking by observing that that problem exists wherever there is high density housing.

MCCARTHY
Colin McCarthy observed that we could solve the parking problem instantly by imposing a "No Parking After 2 a.m." rule city-wide.  Then he praised the Mayor's Ball.  He made an interesting observation - that it was nice to see so many staffers at the event, stating that they "didn't have to go", but it was nice that they did.  Yeah, no pressure there or anything... He also observed that the Fish Fry was coming this weekend.

MATHEWS
Vice Chair Jeff Mathews had nothing to say.

DICKSON
Chairman Rob Dickson made up for it, though.  He wondered to staff about Code Enforcement staffing, the status of the R-2 Sober Living Ordinance, Westside Plans updates, the Parking issues and illegal units, indicating that he thought the city should adopt the policy in place in Newport Beach and other cities in which every home sale requires a pre-sale inspection by the City to ensure code compliance, including bootleg granny flats.

PACIFIC ARTS PLAZA DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
Public Hearing #1, the review of the development agreement of Pacific Arts Plaza was up next.  Dickson recused himself because the law firm for which he works does work for The Irvine Company, so Mathews took over.  This one didn't take long.  After a very brief staff report by Assistant Director of Development Services, Claire Flynn, the representative of The Irvine Company stepped up and said they had no current development plans for the property.  In a curious comment, McCarthy observed that he and his wife had been out to dinner and were driving home through that area and he actually complained that there was no traffic!  He's an odd duck.  The commission moved the item by minute order, 4-0.

PLUMS EXPANSION AND VALET PARKING
Next came the request from Plums Cafe for some changes in operating hours and approval of their parking plans, to include the use of Valet Parking to accommodate the requirement for additional parking due to the expansion of their operations.   In what should have been a pretty straight forward item, the discussion stretched and stretched and it took nearly two hours before the vote was taken to approve the plan, 5-0, but not without some dicey moments.

CONDITION "UNACCEPTABLE"
Plums representative, Bill Dunlap, at one point told the commission that condition #10, which would require them to close the enhanced operation if the parking plan didn't work out, was "unacceptable".  Maybe, but it is a standard requirement and it remained a part of the approved plan.

APPARENT DISSENT, BUT NOBODY SHOWED
The discussion waltzed around the recently-created 28 parking spaces adjacent to Pinkley Park behind the shopping center in which Plums is located.  They were off limits for the purposes of considering whether the expanded project is properly parked.  Several people spoke in favor of the plan, but the commission had a list of 13 business owners in the center who were against the project.  None of them took the time to come to the meeting to speak and explain why, though.

A STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCE
There was also discussion of the on-again, off-again potential agreement with the Pitfire Pizza store next door about using part of that parking lot for valet space.  Dunlap produced a barely legible memo, which McCarthy demanded be included in the record, that stated Pitfire's intent to cooperate.  A few minutes later, as the discussion moved forward, McCarthy said he had contacted the author of that letter - which had just been presented to them a few minutes earlier during the meeting - who indicated that he didn't want it to be part of the conditions of approval because he wasn't sure what the future of Pitfire might be and didn't want a potential new restaurant to be burdened with the agreement.  It's strange that McCarthy is communicating privately with a party to an issue before the commission DURING the meeting, and delivers his version of what that person said on an issue that is important to the decision the commission will be making.  Methinks the commissioners should be required to park their cell phones with the clerk during the meetings to avoid the inappropriate distractions.  Here's the barely-legible note Dunlap presented.

BELIEVING HIS GUT, NOT THE CONSULTANTS
Another interesting element of this discussion was McCarthy's apparent disbelief of the parking study presented by the consultant hired by Plums, Linscott Law and Greenspan.  Instead, he relied on his own personal experience in the shopping center to tell him that there are parking problems.  As confirmed by Flynn, LLG has worked on such projects in Costa Mesa for nearly a half century and had NEVER had a traffic or parking projection prove to be inaccurate.  And yet, there is McCarthy, choosing to disregard their work in favor of his anecdotal personal experience.

MCNIFF - "GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME!"
Five people rose to speak on this project - most of them in favor of it.  The lone dissenter was Grant McNiff, who lives nearby on Tustin Avenue and has suffered from the Beach Pit BBQ joint for years.  He cited rats in the garbage, parking agreements that went south when ownership changed in an adjacent business where parking was part of the equation.  He counseled the council to get it right this time, indicating that Ogle Street was so impacted by traffic and parking now that it had not been swept for 28 years.

ANOTHER MCCARTHY STRANGE MOVE
The commission approved the project with the valet parking intact and the staff will perform a personal review within 30 days of the completion of the project.  McCarthy wanted to "condition" the action on the applicant working with Pitfire, but the staff sat shaking their collective heads on that one.  It was NOT part of the approval.  Another report is due from the applicant two months later.  It was an interesting part of the evening.

NEWPORT ITALIAN
Next up was the scooter store at 1536 Newport Blvd, which has been operating without a proper conditional use permit for a couple years.  A complaint apparently brought this up.  Apparently, according to the applicant who spoke, a lawsuit had been involved and the applicant won.  His partner in the business died a few months ago.  Several times he said all he wanted was some peace and quiet so he could run his business.  It only took about 20 minutes for the commission to pass this request unanimously.

VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT = DON LAMM
Then came the biggie of the evening.  At 9:00 the commission began hearing about the 4-unit development at 2068 Maple Avenue and, once again, the spokesperson for the developer was former Director of Development Services and Deputy City Manager, Don Lamm, who appears to be making quite a nice living representing developers in Costa Mesa these days.  In a nutshell, this project crams four 3-story vertical units with rooftop patios onto a single quarter acre lot next to a similar project being built amongst single family homes on the other side of the street.  Lamm admitted that he advised his client to try to produce a product like the one next door.  This project does some sleight-of-hand with the parking - it provides the correct raw numbers, but goes about it in a strange way.  Five people spoke against this project, including the above-mentioned Huffman, who used it as a perfect example of the wrong project in the wrong place.  He cited the place next door as a "monster", then said the mindset is to build the monster, then use it as a justification for another monster next door.

ALL MCCARTHY, ALL THE TIME
In response to some of the criticisms, McCarthy pointed out that this project is governed by three sets of zoning rules: 1) It's zoned R2-MD (medium density), 2) The Westside Overlay and 3), The Small Lot Ordinance, all of which justify this kind of development.  He cited it as "textbook Urban Plan" development, and said "we can't change the zoning"... which was yet another strange thing for him to say.  The commission passed this item on a 5-0 vote.

TATTOO PARLOR OK'D
The final item of the night was the request for a CUP for a tattoo shop at the corner of Bay Street and Newport Boulevard.  The commission took less than 10 minutes to hear and approve this request from Raymond Burciaga - a man who was raised in Costa Mesa and plans to raise his family here.  In a final bit of strangeness from McCarthy, he voted no because, "I don't like tattoo parlors."  Good Grief!

Surprises In Marathon Planning Commission Meeting

LONG AND LOADED
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission met last night and, although most observers expected it to be a long meeting, few expected it to run well past midnight.  Even fewer expected there to be charges of racism leveled against staff members.  It was a night of surprises.

CHANGED MY PLANS
I arrived at the Planning Commission meeting a few minutes late, finding half a hundred people in the auditorium.  My grand plan was to attend the Organics Recycling meeting first, then scamper to the Planning Commission meeting.  However, that first one was packed to overflowing, so I gave up my seat and adjourned to the other meeting.  I'll attend the next Organics Recycling meeting Saturday morning at the Neighborhood Community Center starting at 9 a.m.

MATHEWS ABSENT
Back to the Planning Commission.  I arrived just as Public Comments were finishing and Commissioner Comments were about to commence.  I noted that Vice Chair Jeff Mathews was absent.  Apparently an earlier speaker addressed the development on Victoria Street approved by the City Council last week with changes recommended by the Planning Commission removed because Chairman Rob Dickson found it necessary to speak about it.

COLIN ON PARKING AND FUN
Colin McCarthy responded to apparent criticism of parking in the city, indicated that he'd been working under the assumption that Costa Mesa had the tightest parking rules in the county.  Assistant Director of Development Services, Claire Flynn, advised him that a consultant is working on that issue and will report back this summer.  He also addressed traffic and home prices, indicating that he wants to invite someone from the Orange County Business council to address home prices county-wide and citing the lack of housing stock as a major negative on our economy.  He also said he was looking forward to the Mayor's Ball, which he described as his favorite event of the year - a great place to just laugh and joke.  I smiled...

SESLER ON COMPLAINTS
Tim Sesler complained about people complaining about Westside housing - must have meant during public comments.  He attributed the traffic problem to high density apartments, and stated that people want to live in the homes being built on the Westside.

ANDRANIAN ON FIRST FRIDAY ROAD SHOW
Stephan Andranian spoke about parking and the First Friday Road Show, which he described as a great event.

DICKSON ON VICTORIA STRET PROJECT - AGAIN
Rob Dickson again spoke about the Victoria Street project, citing a "hybrid plan" the developer put together for the City Council that the Planning Commission had not seen - apparently defending their decision, which was overturned by the council.

EASY ONE TOOK AWHILE AND WAS SHOVED OUT
One of the surprises of the evening was Public Hearing #1, a nice little two-unit development on Orange Avenue.  This item took an hour for the commission to hear, and then they voted to continue it off calendar so the staff could work with the developer again on a 3-1 vote.  Sesler voted No.

RADIOS AND RACISM
Public Hearing #2, the appeal of the denial of a permit for a radio antenna at an office building location on Fair Drive at Harbor Blvd, brought the most distasteful moments of the evening.  The item was actually pretty straightforward.  They wanted to build a 70 foot tall radio tower and the maximum permitted is 30 feet.  However, when the appellant, Mrs. Mary Luna, began talking she eventually accused Flynn of being racist because Mrs. Luna felt "unwelcome" in Costa Mesa.  I've never heard such a preposterous charge uttered by any applicant.

GRASPING AT RACISM STRAWS
Adding to that theme, Victor Mendez, the founder of the organization who wanted the radio station, emphasized his duel ethnicity - Latino and Black - then dragged out a document that apparently showed that he was an American citizen.  Part of their spiel was that the FCC had "assigned them" to Costa Mesa.  Clearly, all the people in their entourage had trouble comprehending exactly what the FCC told them, and they certainly didn't understand the municipal code.  The City enlisted lawyer Jonathon Kramer - a radio expert - to help sort out the issues.  Resident Art Goddard, who helped create radio antenna ordinance a

couple decades ago, stepped up to refute the claims by the appellant.

SESLER SETS HER STRAIGHT
As the discussion continued Sesler - clearly angry - advised Luna that,  "crying racism is a very serious charge and reflects very poorly on your organization."  He was right.

NO TOWER FOR NOW
In the end the commission voted unanimously to uphold the Zoning Administrator's rejection of their application.  It was very bizarre.

MOVING SUTRA
At 9:00 p.m., following a very short break, the commission began hearing Public Hearing #3, the relocation of the Sutra Lounge from one end of The Triangle to the other, the placement of a restaurant in the vacated spot and the possible use of 7,000 square feet of wine storage space in that center.  Former Director of Development Services, Don Lamm, represented the owners of The Triangle and first provided some history of the shopping center and told us that the current owner had spent $30 million on the center since acquiring it in 2012.  Much of the discussion revolved around the controversial planned patio,  noise, police calls for service and parking.  Eleven members of the public spoke on the issue - 7 for and 4 against.  One of the speakers, Mary Spadoni, mentioned that we lack the ability to enforce our drunk driving laws. 

PULLED PATIO REQUEST
Rob Ariano, Marketing and Event Director of Sutra Lounge, told the commission that they had reevaluated their situation and the request for the patio along 19th Street was being withdrawn.

PARKING
Much discussion was about parking, both within and outside The Triangle.  Neighbors complained about drunks in their neighborhood and parking from cars using The Triangle.

APPROVED
Eventually - at 11:25 p.m. - the commission voted in favor of the requested actions, 4-0,  but wanted the withdrawal of the patio codified and parking reviewed before the 7,000 square feet could be leased for any purpose.

THE BIGGIE
Which brought us - the 30 folks remaining in the auditorium at 11:30 - to Public Hearing #4, the 177-unit project on West 17th Street at the corner of Pomona Avenue, the site of the old J.C. Carter industrial venue.  This site has been vacant for years, with the contamination of both the water and soil a major factor in it not being developed.  According to McCarthy, the cost of remediation was more than the value of the land at one point.

NO TRAFFIC IMPACT?  REALLY, DON?
Lamm was the representative on this project, too.  He began his presentation at midnight, emphasizing that this was exactly the kind of project the Westside Overlays anticipated.  He made a curious statement when he said, "This project has no impact on traffic in this area."  Really?  Hard to imagine, isn't it? We're adding 400 people to an area!

MCEVOY WADES IN
The first member of the public to speak on this item was former council candidate, Chris McEvoy, who introduced himself as "Boycott Skosh Monahan's".  He leveled many complaints about dense development on the Westside, traffic, checking garages for use parking cars and not storage and overflow parking.  Ten more people spoke - many of them the same young people who spoke - twice - in favor of the Victoria Street project last week.  Eight speakers favored the project.  McEvoy and two others did not.

DIRT IS TOXIC
No small degree of concern was expressed about the need to clean up this site, described as a possible Super Fund toxic site by McCarthy.  The water side of the clean up is complete, but millions of tons of dirt will have to be "remediated" - maybe completely removed and replaced - before homesites can be built.  When asked for the possible price point for the units, Lamm speculated they might be in the low $600,000 to mid $800,000 range.

NO SHOWERS IN WORK UNIT!
When it finally passed - at 1:01 a.m. - Chair Dickson required the full bathrooms shown on the plans for the live/work units that formed part of this project be reduced to 1/2 baths - a sink and toilet - to preclude using them for another bedroom or a rental unit.  During the discussion McCarthy took time to thank the people who spoke in favor of the project, lambasting those who "come down here and say they hate everything, then go away."  Those, of course, would be the people who take the time to actually study the issues, go survey the project sites and take time out of their busy lives to dare to step up to speak to the commission on these important issues.

WHEW!
So, that was it for the evening/morning.  More on that Organics Recycling meeting later.